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BX    9333    .N42    1848 
Neal,    Daniel,    1678-1743. 
The   history  of   the   Puritans, 
or,    Protestant                              ^ 

Thr  J«»liii   .>!.  Krebs  L>oiiati«»n. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2009  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://www.archive.org/details/historyofpuritan011848neal 


'\  ?r^-.-s . 


SJS&BJSfSD,A  STBBLi^     . 


37® HEW  WSOSIC^  o  m'.rWo 


THE 


HISTORY  OF   THE  PURITANS, 


OR 


PROTESTANT    NONCONFORMISTS; 

FROM 

THE   REFORMATION   IN   1517,   TO    THE   REVOLUTION   IN    1688; 

COMPRISING 

^11  Account  of  thrir  H^vintipltn; 

THEIR    ATTEMPTS    FOR    A    FARTHER    REFORMATION    IN    THE    CHURCH  ;    THEIR    SUFFERIM08  ; 
AND  THE    LIVES    AND    CHARACTERS    OF    THEIR    MOST    CONSIDERABLE    DIVINES. 

BY    DANIEL    N  E  A  L,  M.A. 

REPRINTED 

yROM    THE    TEXT    OF    DR.    TOULMIn's    EDITION  :    WITH    HIS    LIFE    OF    THE    AUTHOR 

AND    ACCOUNT    OF    HIS    WRITINGS. 
REVISED,    CORRECTED,    AND    ENLARGED,    WITH    ADDITIONAL    NOTES 

BY    JOHN    0.    CHOULES,    M.A, 

^&itfi  nine   Portraits   on    ^teeU 

IN     TWO     VOLUMES. 

V  O  L.  I. 


NEW-YORK: 

PUBLISHED   BY   HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  82   CLIFF-STREET. 

1848 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1843, 

By  Harper  &  Brothers, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  Southern  District  of  New- York- 


;7 

PREFACE. 


A  THOUGHTFUL  man  is  not  only  convinced  that  God  has  created  this  world, 
he  is  as  deeply  persuaded  that  God  has  a  Church  in  it  j  that  he  planted  it  here, 
and  waters  and  nourishes  it,  and  exerts  in  its  favour  a  heavenly  influence. 

In  Revelation  we  are  furnished  with  a  lively  emblem  of  the  Church,  "  a  bush 
burning  with  fire,  and  not  consumed." — Exodus,  iii.,  2.  The  Church  has  not, 
however,  sustained  the  conflict  in  her  own  strength,  but  because  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  the  angel  of  the  covenant,  has  been  in  the  bush,  "  either  to  slack  the 
fire,  or  to  strengthen  the  bush,  and  make  it  incombustible."  The  history  of 
the  Church  is  a  record  of  sufiering  and  affliction  j  she  has  ever  had  the  cross 
in  her  experience  j  and  all  who  have  followed  Christ  and  his  apostles  have  received 
the  Word  in  much  affliction. —  1  Thessalonians,  i.,  4. 

The  persecutions  of  God's  people  were  great  under  the  pagan  emperors  ;  but 
still  the  Church  has  suffered  more  from  Rome  papal  than  Rome  pagan.  That 
idolatrous  and  apostate  communion  may  truly  be  said  to  be  drunk  with  the 
blood  of  the  saints.  We  talk,  and  write,  and  preach  about  the  reformation 
from  popery,  and  seem  almost  to  imagine  that  the  beast  is  destroyed ;  we  for- 
get too  commonly  the  partial  character  of  the  Reformation,  the  imperfect 
views  of  the  early  champions  for  truth,  and  the  grasp  which  popery  retained  in 
England  through  the  unsanctified  alliance  of  the  Church  and  State. 

Very  few  are  thoroughly  informed  as  to  the  events  connected  with  the  strug- 
gles for  truth  in  the  reigns  of  the  Tudor  family.  The  reformation  of  Henry  the 
Eighth  and  the  Sixth  Edward  was  certainly  a  glorious  achievement,  but  can 
never  be  regarded  as  a  complete  triumph,  a  perfect  work.  It  was  effected  by 
those  who  only  saw  men  as  trees  walking,  and  who  just  felt  that  all  around 
them  were  men  still  blinder  than  themselves.  Satan,  when  he  cannot  destroy 
a  good  thing,  is  content  to  mar  it.  Elizabeth  was  a  Protestant  but  in  name  j 
her  religion  was  papistical ;  all  her  sympathies  were  with  external  pomp  and 
showy  ceremony;  she  regarded  religion  as  a  mere  matter  of  state  policy,  and 
the  Church  as  an  affair  to  be  governed  by  her  will,  expressed  by  parliamentary 
statutes.  To  Christ's  sceptre  she  never  bowed — the  supremacy  of  his  laws  she 
never  recognised — of  Christ's  headship  in  the  government  of  the  Church  she 
never  dreamed.  A  haughty  princess  and  a  proud  and  persecuting  prelacy  fash- 
ioned the  Church  as  it  suited  their  taste  and  purpose,  and  they  have  handed  it 
down  to  us  with  so  many  alterations  and  additions,  that  the  fishermen  of  Galilee 
and  the  early  disciples  of  Jesus  would  be  unable  to  recognise  it  as  the  "  kingdom 
not  of  this  world." 

The  power  and  excellence  of  the  Gospel  are  never  seen  to  greater  advantage 
than  in  the  days  of  persecution.     It  is  true  that  God's  children  are  like  stars 


Ti  PREFACE. 

that  shine  brightest  in  the  darkest  skies ;  like  the  chamomile,  which,  the  more 
it  is  trodden  down,  the  faster  it  spreads  and  grows.  The  glories  of  Christian- 
ity in  England  are  to  be  traced  in  the  sufferings  of  confessors  and  martyrs  in 
the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  j  and  it  was  under  the  influence  of 
Christian  principles,  imbibed  at  this  very  period,  that  the  Mayflower  brought 
over  the  band  of  Pilgrims  to  Plymouth. 

Afflictions  and  religious  persecutions  have  for  a  long  period  been  unknown  to 
the  happy  citizens  of  these  United  States,  and  we  have  strangely  forgotten  the 
times  that  tried  the  souls  of  our  fathers. 

There  is  a  resurrection  in  the  land  at  the  present  time  of  feelings  and  prin- 
ciples which  were  once  generally  prevalent,  and  which  so  eminently  distin- 
guished our  English  ancestry.  Now,  after  a  long  period  of  carelessness  and  in- 
attention to  the  history  of  Protestant  Nonconformity,  the  descendants  of  the 
Pilgrims  have  been  compelled  to  fall  back  upon  the  history  and  faith  of  their 
fathers,  in  consequence  of  the  pressing  impertinence  with  which  the  claims  of 
popery,  prelacy,  and  priestcraft  have  been  urged  upon  them  and  their  children. 
God  has  been  building  up  Zion  in  all  our  borders  for  two  hundred  years,  ma- 
king our  land  the  praise  of  the  nations  ;  he  has  granted  the  quickening  influ- 
ence of  his  Spirit  to  the  ministrations  of  thousands  of  all  religious  names,  who 
have  published  the  deathless  love  of  his  adorable  Son;  and  yet  a  comparative 
handful  of  our  fellow-Christians  gravely  deny  that  our  solemn  gatherings  make 
Christian  churches ;  that  our  pastors  and  teachers  have  any  authority  to  speak 
in  His  name  who  has  so  unequivocally  blessed  them  in  their  labour;  and  as  for 
Zion's  chief  and  holiest  feast,  that  they  stigmatize  as  "  the  blasphemous  mock- 
ery of  a  lay  sacrament."  We  have  again  to  fight  the  battle  for  all  that  we  hold 
dear ;  but  we  enter  the  contest  cheered  by  the  undying  renown  of  the  names 
which  illustrate  the  early  history  of  the  struggles  for  religious  freedom.  It  is 
as  fitting  and  proper  for  an  American  to  forget  or  scorn  the  names  of  Lexing- 
ton and  Bunker  Hill,  Trenton  and  Princeton,  Hancock  and  Adams,  Washing- 
ton and  Jefferson,  as  for  a  New-Englander  to  be  unaffected  by  the  utterance  of 
Smithfield,  Lambeth  Palace,  and  the  ever-honoured  names  of  Rogers  and  Rid- 
ley, Hooper,  Lawrence,  Latimer,  and  their  fellow-martyrs.  We  should  never 
forget  that  the  prison,  the  scaffold,  and  the  stake  were  stages  in  the  march  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty  which  our  forefathers  had  to  travel,  in  order  that  we 
might  attain  our  present  freedom. 

It  is  quite  clear,  that  in  the  United  States  there  is  a  general  attention  direct- 
ed to  the  subject  of  Church  History,  partly  arising  from  the  almost  total  apa- 
thy which  has  so  long  existed,  and  in  a  considerable  degree  owing  to  the  ex- 
traordinary movement  in  the  Church  of  England  by  that  party  who  regard  their 
amputation  from  Rome  as  original  sin  and  ac);ual  transgression.  I  have  long 
wished  to  see  Neal's  admirable  History  of  the  Puritans  in  the  hands  not  only 
of  the  ministry  and  students,  but  all  private  reading  Christians,  a  growing  class 
in  this  country ;  but  its  very  expensive  price  has  been  an  insuperable  bar- 
rier to  general  circulation.  Consultation  with  many  of  our  most  influential 
clergy  of  all  denominations  interested  has  induced  me  to  prepare  an  edition 
which  shall  not  only  be  so  cheap  as  to  admit  of  general  use,  but  shall  imbody 
the  valuable  information  which  has  been  garnered  up  by  the  writers  of  the  last 
century.     Since  Neal  finished  his  work  we  have  had  the  writings  of  Towgood 


PREFACE.  ^ 

and  Toulmin,  Wilson  and  Palmer,  Brooks  and  Conder,  Fletcher  and  Orme  and 
especially  the  admirable  contributions  of  Drs.  Vaughan  and  Price.     The  works 
alluded  to,  and  very  many  others,  have  been  faithfully  and  laboriously  con- 
sulted in  order  to  enrich  this  edition.     It  may  have  soine  errors  in  typography 
which  have  escaped  my  notice,  but  I  can  assure  the  reader  that  it  is  the  most 
perfect  edition  extant,  and  that  I  have  made  scores  of  corrections  from  the  la- 
test London  edition.     Not  an  iota  has  been  altered  in  the  original  text  of  Neal, 
and  every  edition  of  the  immortal  work  has  been  carefully  collated  and  com- 
pared.    To  the  Congregational,  Presbyterian,  Baptist,  and  Methodist  ministry 
of  the  land,  I  beheve  these  volumes  will  be  welcome,  and  if  our  pastors  are 
faithful  to  their  high  trust,  they  will  see  that  they  are  placed  in  the  hands  and 
houses  of  their  people  :  should  this  be  the  case,  we  may  defy  the  machinations 
of  Rome,  and  laugh  at  the  absurdity  oi  apostolical  succession. 

I  anticipate  the  happiest  results  from  the  wide  circulation  of  this  History.    It 
will  create  an  interest  in  favour  of  the  venerable  sufferers  in  behalf  of  truth. 
We  shall  see  that  the  persecuting  party,  who  had  also  enjoyed  a  partial  escape 
from  anti-Christian  despotism,  secured  their  political  ascendency  only  by  acci- 
dental causes  j  and  we  shall  see  "  that  in  these  circumstances,  the  same  con- 
victions and  feelings  which  had  led  all  the  friends  of  the  Reformation  to  resist 
the  papal  tyranny  of  Rome,  determined  the  consistent  advocates  of  that  refor- 
mation to  oppose  the  Protestant  tyranny  of  the  Tudors  and  the  Stuarts.     They 
were  anxious  to  attain  a  greater  degree  of  simplicity  and  purity  in  the  admin- 
istration and  ritual  of  the  Reformed  Church.     When,  at  a  subsequent  period,  an 
Act  of  Uniformity  was  passed,  it  was  not  for  the  sake  of  vestments  and  forms 
that  the  successors  of  the  Puritans  withheld  their  acquiescence,  but  because  in 
the  principles  which  led  to  their  adoption  by  legislative  arrangements  there 
was  no  recognition  of  personal  and  social  rights ;  no  accordance  with  the  lib- 
erty of  the  Christian  dispensation  ;   no  allowance  for  weak  and  tender  con» 
sciences ;  no  desire  for  a  liberal  and  enlarged  comprehension ;  but  a  system 
of  arbitrary  and  capricious  enactments,  independent  both  of  personal  and  rep- 
resentative consent,  and  supported  by  a  usurpation  of  authority  which  directly 
impugned  the  great  principles  of  the  Reformation,  and  invaded  the  prerogative 
of  Him  who  is  our  '  only  Master  and  Lord  !'     Not  finding  a  sufficient  code  for 
the  regulation  of  their  ecclesiastical  system  in  the  New  Testament,  they  added 
an  apocryphal  book  of  Leviticus  to  its  canon,  and  claimed  for  this  appendage  of 
human  origin  implicit  faith  and  unresisting  obedience."    Thus  originated  Non- 
conformity.    Before  our  children  remove  their  religious  connexions,  and,  en- 
amoured with  a  show  of  pomp  and  circumstance,  embrace  a  religion  which  may 
cause  its  professor  to  be  greeted  in  the  high  places — before  they  leave  the  old 
paths  of  God's  Word,   alone    sufficient  for  man's   faith,  guidance,   and   sal- 
vation— before  they  barter  their  birthright  for  a  mess  of  pottage — let  us  place 
in  their  hands  this  chronicle  of  the  glorious  days  of  the  suffering  Churches,  and 
let  them  know  that  they  are  the  sons  of  the  men  "  of  whom  the  world  was  not  wor^ 
thy,"  and  whose  sufferings  for  conscience'  sake  are  here  monumentally  re- 
corded. 

JOHN  OVERTON  CHOULES. 
August  12,  1843. 


PREFACE 

TO  VOLUME  I.  OF  THE  ORIGINAL  EDITION 


The  design  of  the  following  work  is  to  preserve  the  memory  of  those  great  and 
good  men  among  the  Reformers  who  lost  their  preferments  in  the  Church  for  attempt- 
ing a  farther  reformation  of  its  discipline  and  ceremonies,  and  to  account  for  the 
rise  and  progress  of  that  separation  from  the  national  establishment  which  subsists 
to  this  day. 

To  set  this  in  a  proper  light,  it  was  necessary  to  look  back  upon  the  sad  state  of 
religion  before  the  Reformation,  and  to  consider  the  motives  that  induced  King  Henry 
VIII.  to  break  with  the  pope,  and  to  declare  the  Church  of  England  an  independent 
body,  of  which  himself,  under  Christ,  was  the  supreme  head  upon  earth.  This  was 
a  bold  attempt,  at  a  time  when  all  the  powers  of  the  earth  were  against  him,  and 
could  not  have  succeeded  without  an  overruling  direction  of  Divine  Providence. 
But  as  for  any  real  amendment  of  the  doctrines  or  superstitions  of  popery,  any  far- 
ther than  was  necessary  to  secure  his  own  supremacy,  and  those  vast  revenues  of 
the  Church  which  he  had  grasped  into  his  hands,  whatever  his  majesty  might  design, 
he  had  not  the  honour  to  accomplish. 

The  Reformation  made  a  quick  progress  in  the  short  reign  of  King  Edward  VI., 
who  had  been  educated  under  Protestant  tutors,  and  was  himself  a  prodigious  genius 
for  his  age ;  he  settled  the  doctrines  of  the  Church,  and  intended  a  reformation  of  its 
government  and  laws  ;  but  his  noble  designs  were  obstructed  by  some  temporizing 
bishops,  who,  having  complied  with  the  impositions  of  King  Henry  VIII.,  were  will- 
ing to  bring  others  under  the  same  yoke  ;  and  to  keep  up  an  alliance  under  the 
Church  of  Rome,  lest  they  should  lose  the  uninterrupted  succession  of  their  charac- 
ters from  the  apostles.     The  controversy  that  gave  rise  to  the  separation  began  in 
this  reign,  on  occasion  of  Bishop  Hooper's  refusing  to  be  consecrated  in  the  popish 
habits.     This  may  seem  an  unreasonable  scruple  in  the  opinion  of  some  people,  but 
was  certainly  an  affair  of  great  consequence  to  the  Reformation,  when  the  habits 
were  the  known  badges  of  popery  ;  and  when  the  administrations  of  the  priests  were 
thought  to  receive  their  validity  from  the  consecrated  vestments,  as  I  am  afraid  many, 
both  of  the  clergy  and  common  people,  are  too  inclinable  to  apprehend  at  this  day. 
Had  the  Reformers  fixed  upon  other  decent  garments,  as  badges  of  the  episcopal  or 
priestly  office,  which  had  no  relation  to  the  superstitions  of  popery,  this  controversy 
had  been  prevented.     But  the  same  regard  to  the  old  religion  was  had  in  revising 
the  liturgy,  and  translating  it  into  the  English  language ;  the  Reformers,  instead  of 
framing  a  new  one  in  the  language  of  Holy  Scripture,  had  recourse  to  the  offices 
of  the  Church  of  Rome,  leaving  out  such  prayers  and  passages  as  were  offisnsive, 
and  adding  certain  responses  to  engage  the  attention  of  the  common  people,  who,  till 
this  time,  had  no  concern  in  the  public  devotions  of  the  Church,  as  being  uttered  in 
an  unknown  tongue.     This  was  thought  a  very  considerable  advance,  and  as  much 
as  the  times  would  bear,  but  was  not  designed  for  the  last  standard  of  the  English 
reformation  ;  however,  the  immature  death  of  young  King  Edward  put  an  end  to  all 
farther  progress. 

Upon  the  accession  of  Queen  Mary,  popery  revived  by  the  supremacy's  being 
lodged  in  a  single  hand,  and,  within  the  compass  of  little  more  than  a  year,  became 
a  second  time  the  established  religion  of  the  Church  of  England  j  the  statutes  of 
King  Edward  were  repealed,  and  the  penal  laws  against  heretices  were  put  in  execu- 
tion against  the  Reformers  ;  many  of  whom,  after  a  long  imprisonment,  and  cruel 
trials  of  mockings  and  scourgings,  made  a  noble  confession  of  their  faith  before  many 
Vol.  I.— B 


X  PREFACE. 

witnesses,  and  sealed  it  with  their  blood.  Great  numbers  fled  into  banishment,  and 
were  entertained  by  the  reformed  States  of  Germany,  Switzerland,  and  Geneva,  with 
great  humanity ;  the  magistrates  enfranchising  them,  and  appointing  churches  for 
their  public  worship.  But  here  began  the  fatal  division  :*  some  of  the  exiles  were 
for  keeping  to  the  liturgy  of  King  Edward  as  the  religion  of  their  country,  while 
others,  considering  that  those  laws  were  repealed,  apprehended  themselves  at  full 
liberty ;  and  having  no  prospect  of  returning  home,  they  resolved  to  shake  off  the 
remains  of  antichrist,  and  to  copy  after  the  purer  forms  of  those  churches  among 
whom  they  lived.  Accordingly,  the  congregation  at  Frankfort,  by  the  desire  of  the 
magistrates,  began  upon  the  Geneva  model,  with  an  additional  prayer  for  the  afflicted 
state  of  the  Church  of  England  at  that  time  ;  but  when  Dr.  Cox,  afterward  Bishop  of 
Ely,  came  with  a  new  detachment  from  England,  he  interrupted  the  public  service 
by  answering  aloud  after  the  minister,  which  occasioned  such  a  disturbance  and  di- 
vision as  could  never  be  healed.  Mr.  Knox  and  Mr.  Whittingham,  with  one  half 
of  the  congregation,  being  obliged  to  remove  to  Geneva,  Dr.  Cox  and  his  friends 
kept  possession  of  the  church  at  Frankfort,  till  there  arose  such  quarrels  and  conten- 
tions among  themselves  as  made  them  a  reproach  to  the  strangers  among  whom  they 
lived.     Thus  the  separation  began. 

When  the  exiles,  upon  the  accession  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  returned  to  England, 
each  party  were  for  advancing  the  Reformation  according  to  their  own  standard. 
The  queen,  with  those  that  had  weathered  the  storm  at  home,  were  only  for  resto- 
ring King  Edward's  liturgy  ;  but  the  majority  of  the  exiles  were  for  the  worship  and 
discipline  of  the  foreign  churches,  and  refused  to  comply  with  the  old  establishment, 
declaiming  loudly  against  the  popish  habits  and  ceremonies.  The  new  bishops, 
most  of  whom  had  been  their  companions  abroad,  endeavoured  to  soften  them 
for  the  present,  declaring  they  would  use  all  their  interests  at  court  to  make  them 
easy  in  a  little  time.  The  queen  also  connived  at  their  nonconformity  till  her  gov- 
ernment was  settled,  but  then  declared  roundly  that  she  had  fixed  her  standard,  and 
would  have  all  her  subjects  conform  to  it ;  upon  which  the  bishops  stiffened  in  their 
behaviour,  explained  away  their  promises,  and  became  too  severe  against  their  dis- 
senting brethren. 

In  the  year  1564,  their  lordships  began  to  show  their  authority,  by  urging  the 
clergy  of  their  several  dioceses  to  subscribe  the  liturgy,  ceremonies,  and  discipline 
of  the  Church ;  when  those  that  refused  were  first  called  Puritans,  a  name  of  re- 
proach derived  from  the  Cathari,  or  Puritani,  of  the  third  century  after  Christ,  but 
proper  enough  to  express  their  desires  of  a  more  pure  form  of  worship  and  discipline 
in  the  Church.  When  the  doctrines  of  Arminius  took  place  in  the  latter  end  of  the 
reign  of  James  I.,  those  that  adhered  to  Calvin's  explication  of  the  five  disputed 
points  were  called  Doctrinal  Puritans  ;  and  at  length,  says  Mr.  Fuller,t  the  name 
was  improved  to  stigmatize  all  those  who  endeavoured  in  their  devotions  to  accom- 
pany the  minister  with  a  pure  heart,  and  who  were  remarkably  holy  in  their  conver- 
sations. A  Puritan,  therefore,  was  a  man  of  severe  morals,  a  Calvinist  in  doctrine, 
and  a  Nonconformist  to  the  ceremonies  and  discipline  of  the  Church,  though  they 
did  not  totally  separate  from  it. 

The  queen,  having  conceived  a  strong  aversion  to  these  people,  pointed  all  her 
artillery  against  them  ;  for,  besides  the  ordinary  courts  of  the  bishops,  her  majesty 
erected  a  new  tribunal,  called  the  Court  of  High  Commission,  which  suspended  and 
deprived  men  of  their  livings,  not  by  the  verdict  of  twelve  men  upon  oath,  but  by  the 
sovereign  determination  of  three  commissioners  of  her  majesty's  own  nomination, 
founded,  not  upon  the  statute  laws  of  the  realm,  but  upon  the  bottomless  deep  of  the 
canon  law  ;  and  instead  of  producing  witnesses  in  open  court  to  prove  the  charge, 
they  assumed  a  power  of  administering  an  oath  ex  officio,  whereby  the  prisoner  was 
obliged  to  answer  all  questions  the  court  should  put  to  him,  though  never  so  prejudi- 
cial to  his  own  defence  ;  if  he  refused  to  swear,  he  was  imprisoned  for  contempt ; 
and  if  he  took  the  oath,  he  was  convicted  upon  his  own  confession. 

*  Fatal  division ;  i.  e.,  on  account  of  the  animosities  it  created,  and  the  miseries  in  which  it  involved  very 
many  persons  and  families  ;  but  in  another  view,  it  was  a  happy  division,  for  it  hath  been  essentially  ser- 
viceable to  civil  as  well  as  religious  liberty,  and,  like  other  evils,  been  productive  of  many  important  good 
efifects;  as  the  author  himself  points  out,  p.  xi.— Ed.         +  Church  History,  b.  ix.,  p.  76,  and  d.  x.,  p.  100. 


PREFACE.  ad 

The  reader  will  meet  with  many  examples  of  the  high  proceedings  of  this  court 
in  the  course  of  this  history  ;  of  their  sending  their  pursuivants  to  bring  ministers  out 
of  the  country,  and  keeping  them  in  town  at  excessive  charges  ;  of  their  interroga- 
tories upon  oath,  which  were  almost  equal  to  the  Spanish  Inquisition  ;  of  their  exam- 
inations and  long  imprisonments  of  ministers  without  bail,  or  bringing  them  to  a  trial ; 
and  all  this  not  for  insufficiency,  or  immorality,  or  neglect  of  their  cures,  but  for  not 
wearing  a  white  surplice,  for  not  baptizing  with  the  sign  of  the  cross,  or  not  subscri- 
bing to  certain  articles  that  had  no  foundation  in  law.  A  fourth  part  of  all  the 
preachers  in  England  were  under  suspension  from  one  or  other  of  these  courts,  at  a 
time  when  not  one  beneficed  clergyman  in  six  was  capable  of  composing  a  sermon. 
The  edge  of  all  those  laws  that  were  made  against  popish  recusants,  who  were  con- 
tinually plotting  against  the  queen,  was  turned  agamst  Protestant  Nonconformists ; 
nay,  in  many  cases,  they  had  not  the  benefit  of  the  law,  for,  as  Lord  Clarendon* 
rightly  observes.  Queen  Elizabeth  carried  her  prerogative  as  high  as  in  the  worst 
times  of  King  Charles  I.  "  They  who  look  back  upon  the  council-books  of  those 
times,"  says  his  lordship,  "  and  upon  the  acts  of  the  Star  Chamber  then,  shall  find  as 
high  instances  of  power  and  sovereignty  upon  the  liberty  and  property  of  the  subject 
as  can  be  since  given.  But  the  art,  order,  and  gravity  of  those  proceedings  (where 
short,  severe,  constant  rules,  were  set,  and  smartly  pursued,  and  the  party  felt  only 
the  weight  of  the  judgment,  not  the  passion  of  his  judges)  made  them  less  taken  no- 
tice of,  and  so  less  grievous  to  the  public,  though  as  intolerable  to  the  person." 

These  severities,  instead  of  reconciling  the  Puritans  to  the  Church,  drove  them  far- 
ther from  it ;  for  men  do  not  care  to  be  beat  from  their  principles  by  the  artillery  of 
canons,  injunctions,  and  penal  laws  ;  nor  can  they  be  in  love  with  a  church  that 
uses  such  methods  of  conversion.  A  great  deal  of  ill  blood  was  bred  in  the  nation 
by  these  proceedings ;  the  bishops  lost  their  esteem  with  the  people,  and  the  num- 
ber of  Puritans  was  not  really  lessened,  though  they  lay  concealed,  till  in  the  next 
age  they  got  the  power  into  their  hands  and  shook  off  the  yoke. 

The  reputation  of  the  Church  of  England  has  been  very  much  advanced  of  late 
years  by  the  suspension  of  the  penal  laws,  and  the  legal  indulgence  granted  to 
Protestant  dissenters.  Long  experience  has  taught  us  that  uniformity  in  doctrine 
and  worship  enforced  by  penal  laws  is  not  the  way  to  the  Church's  peace  ;  that 
there  may  be  a  separation  from  a  true  church  without  schism,  and  schism  within  a 
church  without  separation  ;  that  the  indulgence  granted  by  law  to  Protestant  Non- 
conformists, which  has  now  subsisted  above  forty  years,  has  not  been  prejudicial  to 
Church  or  State,  but  rather  advantageous  to  both  ;  for  the  revenues  of  the  Established 
Church  have  not  been  lessened  ;  a  number  of  poor  have  been  maintained  by  the  Dis- 
senters, which  must  otherwise  have  come  to  the  parish ;  the  separation  has  kept  up 
an  emulation  among  the  clergy,  quickened  them  to  their  pastoral  duty,  and  been  a 
check  upon  their  moral  behaviour  ;  and  I  will  venture  to  say,  whenever  the  separate 
assembhes  of  Protestant  Nonconformists  shall  cease,  and  all  men  be  obliged  to  wor- 
ship at  their  parish  churches,  that  ignorance  and  laziness  will  prevail  among  the 
clergy  ;  and  that  the  laity  in  many  parts  of  the  country  will  degenerate  into  supersti- 
tion, profaneness,  and  downright  atheism.  With  regard  to  the  state,  it  ought  to  be 
remembered  that  the  Protestant  Dissenters  have  always  stood  by  the  laws  and  Consti- 
tution of  their  country ;  that  they  joined  heartily  in  the  glorious  revolution  of  King 
William  and  Queen  Mary,  and  suffered  for  their  steady  adherence  to  the  Protestant 
succession  in  the  illustrious  house  of  his  present  majesty,  when  great  numbers  that 
called  themselves  churchmen  were  looking  another  way ;  for  this,  the  Schism  Bill 
and  other  hardships  were  put  upon  them,  and  not  for  their  religious  differences  with 
the  Church ;  for  if  they  would  have  joined  the  administration  at  that  time,  it  is  well 
known  they  might  have  made  much  better  terms  for  themselves ;  but  as  long  as 
there  is  a  Protestant  Dissenter  in  England,  there  will  be  a  friend  of  liberty  and  our 
present  happy  Constitution.  Instead,  therefore,  of  crushing  them,  or  comprehending 
them  within  the  Church,  it  must  be  the  interest  of  all  true  lovers  of  their  country, 
even  upon  political  views,  to  ease  their  complaints,  and  to  support  and  courtenance 
their  Christian  liberty. 

*  Vol.  i.,  p.  72,  8vo. 


Tii  PREFACE. 

For,  though  the  Church  of  England  is  as  free  from  persecuting  principles  as  any  es- 
tablishment in  Europe,  yet  still  there  are  some  grievances  remaining,  which  wise  and 
good  men  of  all  parties  wish  might  be  reviewed  ;  not  to  mention  the  subscriptions 
which  affect  the  clergy,  there  is  the  act  of  the  twenty-fifth  of  King  Charles  11.  for 
preventing  dangers  arising  from  popish  recusants,  commonly  called  the  Test  Act, 
"  which  obliges,  under  very  severe  penalties,  all  persons  [of  the  laity]  bearing  any 
office  or  place  of  trust  or  profit  (besides  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance  and  supremacy, 
and  subscribing  a  declaration  against  transubstantiation)  to  receive  the  sacrament  of 
the  Lord's  Supper  according  to  the  usage  of  the  Church  of  England,  in  some  parish 
church,  on  a  Lord's  Day,  immediately  after  Divine  service  and  sermon,  and  to  deliver 
a  certificate  of  having  so  received  it,  under  the  hands  of  the  respective  ministers  and 
church-wardens,  proved  by  two  credible  witnesses  upon  oath,  to  be  recorded  in  court." 
It  appears  by  the  title  of  this  act,  and  by  the  disposition  of  the  Parliament  at  that 
time,  that  it  was  not  designed  against  Protestant  Nonconformists ;  but  the  Dissent- 
ers in  the  house  generously  came  into  it,  to  save  the  nation  from  popery  ;  for  when 
the  court,  in  order  to  throw  out  the  bill,  put  them  upon  moving  for  a  clause  to  except 
their  friends,  Mr.  Love,  who  had  already  declared  against  the  dispensing  power, 
stood  up,  and  desired  that  the  nation  might  first  be  secured  against  popery,  by  pass- 
ing the  bill  without  any  amendment,  and  that  then,  if  the  house  pleased,  some  re- 
gard might  be  had  to  Protestant  Dissenters  ;  in  which,  says  Mr.  Echard,  he  was  sec- 
onded by  most  of  his  party.*  The  bill  was  voted  accordingly,  and  another  brought 
in  for  the  ease  of  his  majesty's  Protestant  dissenting  subjects,  which  passed  the 
Commons,  but  before  it  could  get  through  the  Lords,  the  king  came  to  the  house  and 
prorogued  the  Parliament.  Thus  the  Protestant  Nonconformists,  out  of  their  abun- 
dant zeal  for  the  Protestant  religion,  shackled  themselves,  and  were  left  upon  a  level 
with  popish  recusants. 

It  was  necessary  to  secure  the  nation  against  popery  at  that  time,  when  the  pre- 
sumptive heir  of  the  crown  was  of  that  religion ;  but  whether  it  ought  not  to  have 
been  done  by  a  civil  rather  than  by  a  religious  test,  I  leave  with  the  reader.  The 
obliging  all  persons  in  places  of  civil  trust  to  receive  the  holy  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  seems  to  be  a  hardship  upon  those  gentlemen  whose  manner  of  life 
loudly  declares  their  unfitness  for  so  sacred  a  solemnity,  and  who  would  not  run  the 
hazard  of  eating  and  drinking  unworthily,  but  that  they  satisfy  themselves  with 
throwing  off  the  guilt  upon  the  imposers.  Great  Britain  must  not  expect  an  army 
of  saints,  nor  is  the  time  yet  come  when  all  ner  officers  shall  be  peace,  and  her  ex- 
actors righteousness.  It  is  no  less  a  hardship  upon  a  great  body  of  his  majesty's 
most  dutiful  and  loyal  subjects,  who  are  qualified  to  serve  their  king  and  country  in 
all  offices  of  civil  trust,  and'  would  perform  their  duty  with  all  cheerfulness,  did  they 
not  scruple  to  receive  the  sacramem  after  the  usage  of  the  Church  of  England,  or  to 
prostitute  a  sacred  and  religious  institution  as  a  qualification  for  a  civil  employment. 
I  can  see  no  inconvenience  either  to  Church  or  State,  if  his  majesty,  as  the  common 
father  of  his  people,  should  have  the  service  of  all  his  subjects  who  are  willing  to 
swear  allegiance  to  his  royal  person  and  government ;  to  renounce  all  foreign  juris- 
diction, and  to  give  all  reasonable  security  not  to  disturb  the  Church  of  England,  or 
any  of  their  fellow-subjects,  in  the  peaceable  enjoyment  of  their  religious  or  civil 
rights  and  properties.  Besides,  the  removing  this  grievance  would  do  honour  to  the 
Church  of  England  itself,  by  obviating  the  charge  of  imposition,  and  by  relieving  the 
clergy  from  a  part  of  their  work,  which  has  given  some  of  thetn  very  great  uneasi- 
ness ;  but  I  am  chieffy  concerned  for  the  honour  of  religion  and  public  virtue,  which 
are  wounded  hereby  in  the  house  of  their  friends.  If,  therefore,  as  some  conceive, 
the  sacramental  test  be  a  national  blemish,  I  humbly  conceive,  with  all  due  submis- 
sion, the  removal  of  it  would  be  a  public  blessing. 

The  Protestant  Nonconformists  observe  with  pleasure  the  right  reverend  fathers 
of  the  Church  owning  the  cause  of  religious  liberty,  "  that  private  judgment  ought  to 
be  formed  upon  examination,  and  that  religion  is  a  free  and  unforced  thing."  And 
we  sincerely  join  with  the  Lord-bishop  of  Lichfield  and  Coventry,  in  the  preface  to 
his  excellent  Vindication  of  the  Miracles  of  our  Blessed  Saviour,!  "  in  congratulating 

*  Echard's  Church  History,  ad  ann.  1672-3.  t  Pre!.,  p.  viiL 


PREFACE  xiii 

our  country  on  the  enjoyment  of  their  civil  and  ecclesiastical  liberties  within  their 
just  and  reasonable  bounds,  as  the  most  valuable  blessings,"  though  we  are  not 
fully  satisfied  with  the  reasonableness  of  those  bounds  his  lordship  has  fixed.  God 
forbid  that  any  among  us  should  be  patrons  of  open  profaneness,  irreligion,  scurrility, 
or  ill-manners  to  the  established  rehgion  of  the  nation;  much  less  that  we  should 
countenance  any  who  blasphemously  revile  the  founder  of  it,  or  who  deride  what- 
soever is  sacred !  No  ;  we  have  a  fervent  zeal  for  the  honour  of  our  Lord  and  Mas- 
ter, and  are  desirous  to  "  contend  earnestly  for  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints" 
with  all  sorts  of  spiritual  weapons ;  but  we  do  not  yet  see  a  necessity  of  stopping 
the  mouths  of  the  adversaries  of  our  holy  religion  with  fines  and  imprisonments, 
even  though,  to  their  own  infamy  and  shame,  they  treat  it  with  indecency :  let  scan- 
dal and  ill-manners  be  punished  as  they  deserve,  but  let  not  men  be  terrified  from 
speaking  out  their  doubts,  or  proposing  their  objections  against  the  Gospel  revelation, 
which  we  are  sure  will  bear  a  thorough  examination ;  and  though  the  late  ungener- 
ous attacks  upon  the  miracles  of  our  blessed  Saviour  may  have  had  an  ill  influence 
upon  the  giddy  and  unthinking  youth  of  the  age,  they  have  given  occasion  to  the 
publishing  such  a  number  of  incomparable  defences  of  Christianity  as  have  confirmed 
the  faith  of  many,  and  must  satisfy  the  minds  of  all  reasonable  inquirers  after  truth. 

Nor  do  we  think  it  right  to  fix  the  boundaries  of  religious  liberty  upon  the  degree 
of  people's  differing  from  the  national  establishment,  because  enthusiasts  or  Jews 
have  an  equal  right  with  Christians  to  worship  God  in  their  own  way ;  to  defend 
their  own  peculiar  doctrines,  and  to  enjoy  the  public  protection  as  long  as  they  keep 
the  peace,  and  maintain  no  principles  manifestly  inconsistent  with  the  safety  of  the 
government  they  live  under. 

But  his  lordship  apprehends  he  has  a  chain  of  demonstrable  propositions  to  main- 
tain his  boundaries:  he  observes,!  "1.  That  the  true  ends  of  government  cannot 
subsist  without  religion,  no  reasonable  man  will  dispute  it.  2.  That  open  impiety, 
or  a  public  opposition  made  to,  and  an  avowed  contempt  of  the  established  religion, 
which  is  a  considerable  part  of  the  Constitution,  do  greatly  promote  the  disturbance 
of  the  public  peace,  and  naturally  tend  to  the  subversion  of  the  whole  Constitution." 
It  is  here  supposed  that  one  particular  religion  must  be  incorporated  into  the  Consti- 
tution, which  is  not  necessary  to  the  ends  of  government ;  for  religion  and  civil  gov- 
ernment are  distinct  things,  and  stand  upon  a  separate  basis.  Religion  in  general  is 
the  support  of  civil  government,  and  it  is  the  office  of  the  civil  magistrate  to  protect 
all  his  dutiful  and  loyal  subjects  in  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion ;  but  to  incor- 
porate one  particular  religion  into  the  Constitution,  so  as  to  make  it  part  of  the  com- 
mon law,  and  to  conclude  from  thence  that  the  Constitution,  having  a  right  to  pre- 
serve itself,  may  make  laws  for  the  punishment  of  those  that  publicly  oppose  any 
one  brapch  of  it,  is  to  put  an  effectual  stop  to  the  progress  of  the  Reformation  through- 
out the  whole  Christian  world  :  for  by  this  reasoning  our  first  reformers  must  be  con- 
demned ;  and  if  a  subject  of  France,  or  the  ecclesiastical  states,  should  at  this  time 
write  against  the  usurped  power  of  the  pope,  or  expose  the  absurdities  of  transub- 
stantiation,  adoration  of  the  host,  worshipping  of  images,  &c.,  it  would  be  laudable 
for  the  legislative  powers  of  those  countries  to  send  the  writer  to  the  galleys,  or  shut 
him  up  in  a  dungeon,  as  a  disturber  of  the  public  peace,  because  popery  is  supported 
by  law,  and  is  a  very  considerable  part  of  their  constitution. 

But  to  support  the  government's  right  to  enact  penal  laws  against  those  that  opposed 
the  established  religion,  his  lordship  is  pleased  to  refer  us  to  the  edicts  of  the  first 
Christian  emperors  out  of  the  Codex  Theodosianus,  composed  in  the  fifth  century, 
which  acquaints  us  with  the  sentiments  of  that  and  the  preceding  age,  but  says 
nothing  of  the  doctrine  of  Scripture,  or  of  the  practice  of  the  Church  for  three  hun- 
dred years  before  the  empire  became  Christian.  His  lordship  then  subjoins  sundry 
passages  out  of  a  sermon  of  Archbishop  Tillotson,  whom  he  justly  ranks  among  the 
greatest  of  the  moderns.  But  it  ought  to  be  remembered,  that  this  sermon  was 
preached  at  court  in  the  year  1680,  when  the  nation  was  in  imminent  danger  from 
the  Popish  Plot.  His  lordship  should  also  have  acquainted  his  readers  with  the  arch- 
bishop's cautious  introduction,  which  is  this :  "  I  cannot  think  (till  I  be  better  in- 

»  Pref.  p.  ix.,  I. 


xiT  PREFACE. 

formed,  which  I  am  always  ready  to  be)  that  any  pretence  of  conscience  warrants  any 
man  that  cannot  work  miracles  to  draw  men  off  from  the  established  religion  of  a 
nation,  nor  openly  to  make  proselytes  to  his  own  religion,  in  contempt  of  the  magis- 
trate and  the  law,  though  he  is  never  so  sure  he  is  in  the  right."*  This  proposition, 
though  pointed  at  the  popish  missionaries  in  England  at  that  time,  is  not  only  incon- 
sistent with  the  Protestant  Reformation  (as  I  observed  before),  but  must  effectually 
prevent  the  propagating  of  Christianity  among  the  idolatrous  nations  of  the  Eastern 
and  Western  Indies,  without  a  new  power  of  working  miracles,  which  we  have  no 
ground  to  expect ;  and  I  may  venture  to  assure  his  lordship  and  the  world  that  the 
good  archbishop  lived  to  see  his  mistake,  and  could  name  the  learned  person  to 
"whom  he  frankly  confessed  it  after  some  hours'  conversation  upon  the  subject.!  But 
human  authorities  are  of  little  weight  in  points  of  reason  and  speculation. 

It  was  from  this  mistaken  principle  that  the  government  pressed  so  hard  upon 
those  Puritans  whose  history  is  now  before  the  reader,  in  which  he  will  observe 
how  the  transferring  the  supremacy  from  the  pope  to  the  king  united  the  Church 
and  State  into  one  body  under  one  head,  insomuch  that  writing  against  the  Church 
was  construed  by  the  judges  in  Westminster  Hall  a  seditious  libelling  the  queen's 
government,  and  was  punished  with  exorbitant  fines,  imprisonment,  and  death.  He 
■will  observe,  farther,  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  penal  laws  ;  the  extent  of  the  regal 
supremacy  in  those  times ;  the  deplorable  ignorance  of  the  clergy ;  with  the  oppo- 
site principles  of  our  church-reformers,  and  of  the  Puritans,  which  I  have  set  in  a 
true  light,  and  have  pursued  the  controversy  as  an  historian  in  its  several  branches, 
to  the  end  of  the  long  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth ;  to  all  which  I  have  added  some 
short  remarks  of  my  own,  which  the  reader  will  receive  according  to  their  evidence. 
And  because  the  principles  of  the  Scotch  Reformers  were  much  the  same  with 
those  of  the  English  Puritans,  and  the  imposing  a  liturgy  and  bishops  upon  them 
gave  rise  to  a  confusion  of  the  next  age,  I  have  inserted  a  short  account  of  their  re- 
ligious establishment,  and  have  enlivened  the  whole  with  the  lives  and  characters 
of  the  principal  Puritans  of  those  times. 

A  history  of  this  kind  was  long  expected  from  the  late  reverend  and  learned  Dr. 
John  Evans,  who  had  for  some  years  been  collecting  materials  for  this  purpose,  and 
had  he  lived  to  perfect  his  design,  would  have  done  it  to  much  greater  advantage ; 
but  I  have  seen  none  of  his  papers,  and  am  informed  that  there  is  but  a  very  small 
matter  capable  of  being  put  in  order  for  the  press.  Upon  his  decease,  I-  found  it 
necessary  to  undertake  this  province,  to  bring  the  history  forward  to  those  times 
when  the  Puritans  had  the  power  in  their  own  hands ;  in  examining  into  which,  I 
have  spent  my  leisure  hours  for  some  years  ;  but  the  publishing  those  collections 
will  depend,  under  God,  upon  the  continuance  of  my  health,  and  the  acceptance  this 
meets  with  in  the  world. 

I  am  not  so  vain  as  to  expect  to  escape  the  censures  of  critics,  nor  the  reproaches 
of  angry  men,  who,  while  they  do  nothing  themselves,  take  pleasure  in  exposing  the 
labours  of  others  in  pamphlets  and  newspapers  ;  but  as  I  shall  be  always  thankful  to 
any  that  will  convince  me  of  my  mistakes  in  a  friendly  manner,  the  others  may  be 
secure  of  enjoying  the  satisfaction  of  their  satirical  remarks  without  any  disturbance 
from  me. 

I  have  endeavoured  to  acquaint  myself  thoroughly  with  the  times  of  which  I  write  ; 
and  as  I  have  no  expectations  from  any  party  of  Christians,  I  am  under  no  tempta- 
tion to  disguise  their  conduct.     I  have  cited  my  authorities  in  the  margin,  and  flatter 

♦  Abp.  Tillotson's  Works,  vol.  i.,  fol.,  p.  320,  321. 

+  The  learned  person  to  whom  Mr.  Neal  refers,  I  conceive,  was  Mr.  Howe :  the  purport  of  the  conver- 
sation he  had  with  the  bishop,  on  the  proposition  contained  in  his  sermon,  was  given  to  the  pubUc  by  Dr. 
Calamy,  in  his  Memoirs  of  Mr.  Howe,  p.  75,  76.  The  fact  was,  that  the  bishop  was  sent  for,  out  of  his 
turn,  to  preach  before  the  king,  on  account  of  the  sickness  of  another  gentleman,  and  had  prepared  his 
discourse  in  great  haste,  and  impressed  with  the  general  fears  of  popery :  the  sentiment  above  quoted  from 
it  was  the  occasion  of  its  being  published  from  the  press.  For  the  king  having  slept  most  part  of  the  time 
while  the  sermon  was  delivered,  a  certain  nobleman,  when  it  was  over,  said  to  him,  "  'Tis  pity  your  maj- 
esty slept,  for  we  have  had  the  rarest  piece  of  Hobbism  that  ever  you  heard  in  your  Ufa."  "Odsfish,  he 
shall  print  it,  then,"  replied  the  king.  When  it  came  from  the  press,  the  author  sent  a  copy,  as  a  present, 
to  Mr.  Howe,  who  freely  expostulated  with  Dr.  Tillotson  on  this  passage,  first  in  a  long  letter,  and  then  in 
a  conversation  which  the  doctor  desired  on  the  subject,  at  the  end  of  which  he  fell  to  weeping  freely,  and 
said  "  that  this  was  the  most  unhappy  thing  that  had  of  a  long  time  befallen  him." 


PREFACE.  ^^ 


myself  that  I  have  had  the  opportunity  of  bringing  many  things  to  light  relating  to 
the  suffermgs  of  the  Puritans,  and  the  state  of  the  Reformation  in  those  times,  which 
have  hitherto  been  unknown  to  the  world,  chiefly  by  the  assistance  of  a  large  manu- 
script collection  of  papers,  faithfully  transcribed  from  their  originals  in  the  University 
of  Cambridge,  by  a  person  of  character  employed  for  that  purpose,  and  crenerously 
communicated  to  me  by  my  ingenious  and  learned  friend.  Dr.  Benjamin  Grosvenor ; 
for  which  I  take  this  opportunity  of  returning  him  my  own  and  the  thanks  of  the 
public.  Among  the  ecclesiastical  historians  of  these  times,  Mr.  Fuller,  Bishop  Bur- 
net, and  Mr.  Strype,  are  the  chief;  the  last  of  whom  has  searched  into  the  records 
of  the  English  Reformation  more  than  any  man  of  the  age  ;  Dr.  Heylin  and  Collyer 
are  of  more  suspected  authority,  not  so  much  for  their  party  principles,  as  because 
the  former  never  gives  us  his  vouchers,  and  yet  the  latter  follows  him  blindly  in  all 
things. 

Upon  the  whole,  I  have  endeavoured  to  keep  in  view  the  honesty  and  gravity  of 
an  historian,  and  have  said  nothing  with  a  design  to  exasperate  or  widen  the  difter- 
ences  among  Christians  ;  for,  as  1  am  a  sincere  admirer  of  the  doctrines  of  the  New 
Testament,  I  would  have  an  equal  regard  to  its  most  excellent  precepts,  of  which 
these  are  some  of  the  capital,  that  "  we  love  one  another ;  that  we  forgive  ofl'ences  ; 
that  we  bear  one  another's  infirmities,  and  even  bless  them  that  curse  us,  and  pray 
for  them  that  despitefully  use  us  and  persecute  us."  If  this  spirit  and  temper  were 
more  prevalent,  the  lives  of  Christians  would  throw  a  bright  lustre  upon  the  truth  and 
excellence  of  their  Divine  faith,  and  convince  the  atheists  and  infidels  of  the  age, 
more  than  all  their  arguments  can  do  without  it. 

I  would  earnestly  recommend  this  temper  to  the  Protestant  Nonconformists  of  the 
present  age,  together  with  a  holy  emulation  of  each  other  in  undissembled  piety  and 
sanctity  of  life,  that  while  they  are  reading  the  heavy  and  grievous  suff'erings  of  their 
ancestors  from  ecclesiastical  commissions,  spiritual  courts,  and  penal  laws,  for  con- 
science' sake,  they  may  be  excited  to  an  humble  adoration  of  Divine  Providence, 
which  has  delivered  them  so  far  from  the  yoke  of  oppression  ;  to  a  detestation  of  all 
persecuting  principles ;  and  to  a  loyal  and  dutiful  behaviour  to  the  best  of  kings,  un- 
der whose  mild  and  just  government  they  are  secure  of  their  civil  and  religious  lib- 
erties. And  may  Protestants  of  all  persuasions  improve  in  the  knowledge  and  love 
of  the  truth,  and  in  sentiments  of  Christian  charity  and  forbearance  towards  each 
other,  that,  being  at  peace  among  themselves,  they  may  with  greater  success  bend 
their  united  forces  against  the  common  enemy  of  Christianity ! 
,   _,     „.  ,  Daniel  Neal. 

London,  Feb.  Ut,  1731-3. 


ADVERTISEMENT 

TO  VOLUME   I.  OF  DR.  TOULMIN'S   EDITION. 


More  than  half  a  century  has  elapsed  since  the  work  now  again  offered  to  the 
public  made  its  first  appearance.  The  author  gave  it  a  second  edition  in  4to.  In 
1755  it  was  printed  at  Dublin,  on  the  plan  of  the  first  impression,  in  four  volumes 
octavo.  The  English  editions  have  for  a  number  of  years  been  scarce,  and  copies 
of  the  work,  as  it  has  been  justly  held  in  estimation  by  dissenters,  have  borne  a  high 
price.  Foreigners  also  have  referred  to  it  as  a  book  of  authority,  aflTording  the  most 
ample  information  on  that  part  of  the  English  history  which  it  comprehends.* 

A  republication  of  it  will,  on  these  accounts,  it  is  supposed,  be  acceptable  to  the 
friends  of  religious  liberty.  Several  circumstances  concur  to  render  it,  at  this  time, 
peculiarly  seasonable.  The  Protestant  Dissenters,  by  their  repeated  applications  to 
Parliament,  have  attracted  notice  and  excited  an  inquiry  into  their  principles  and 
history.  The  odium  and  obloquy  of  which  they  have  recently  become  the  objects 
are  a  call  upon  them  to  appeal  to  both,in  their  own  justification.  Their  history,  while 
it  brings  up  to  painful  review  scenes  of  spiritual  tyranny  and  oppression,  connects 
itself  with  the  rise  and  progress  of  religious  liberty,  and  necessarily  brings  forward 
many  important  and  interesting  transactions  which  are  not  to  be  met  with  in  the  gen- 
eral histories  of  our  country,  because  not  falling  within  the  province  of  the  authors 
to  detail. 

The  editor  has  been  induced,  by  these  considerations,  to  comply  with  a  proposal 
to  revise  Mr.  Neal's  work.  In  doing  this,  he  has  taken  no  other  liberty  with  the 
original  text  than  to  cast  into  notes  some  papers  and  lists  of  names,  which  appeared 
to  him  too  much  to  interrupt  the  narrative.  This  alteration  in  the  form  of  it  prom- 
ises to  render  it  more  pleasing  to  the  eye,  and  more  agreeable  to  the  perusal.  He 
has,  where  he  could  procure  the  works  quoted,  which  he  has  been  able  to  do  in  most 
instances,  examined  and  corrected  the  references,  and  so  ascertained  the  fairness 
and  accuracy  of  the  authorities.  He  has  reviewed  the  animadversions  of  Bishops 
Maddox  and  Warburton,  and  Dr.  Grey,  and  given  the  result  of  his  scrutiny  in  notes  ; 
by  which  the  credit  of  the  author  is  eventually  established.  He  has  not  suppressed 
strictures  of  his  own,  where  he  conceived  there  was  occasion  for  them.  It  has  been 
his  aim,  in  conducting  this  work  through  the  press,  to  support  the  character  of  the 
diligent,  accurate,  and  impartial  editor.  How  far  he  has  done  this  he  must  leave  to 
the  candid  to  determine. 

Whatever  inaccuracies  or  mistakes  the  eye  of  criticism  may  discover,  he  is  con- 
fident that  they  cannot  essentially  affect  the  execution  of  the  design,  any  more  than 
the  veracity  of  the  author.  The  remark,  which  Mr.  Neal  advanced  as  a  plea  in  his 
own  defence,  against  the  censure  of  Bishop  Maddox,  will  apply  with  force,  the  edi- 
tor conceives,  to  his  own  case,  as  in  the  first  instance  it  had  great  weight.  "  The 
commission  of  errors  in  writing  any  history  of  times  past,"  says  the  ingenious  Mr. 
Wharton,  in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Strype,  "  being  altogether  unavoidable,  ought  not  to  de- 
tract from  the  credit  of  the  history  or  the  merits  of  the  historian,  unless  it  be  ac- 
companied with  immoderate  ostentation  or  unhandsome  reflections  on  the  errors  of 
others."! 

The  editor  has  only  farther  to  solicit  any  communications  which  may  tend  to  im- 
prove this  impression  of  Neal's  History,  or  to  furnish  materials  for  the  continuation 
of  the  History  of  the  Protestant  Dissenters  from  the  Revolution,  with  which  period 
Mr.  Neal's  design  closes,  to  the  piresent  times,  as  he  has  it  in  contemplation,  if 
Providence  favour  him  with  life  and  health,  to  prepare  such  a  work  for  the  press. 

Taunton,  13th  June,  1793. 

*  Mosheim,  Dictionnaire  de  Heresies,  and  Wendebom. 

t  Mr.  Wharton  discovered  as  many  errors  in  Mr.  Strype's  single  volume  of  Memorials  of  Archbishop 
Cranmer  as  filled  three  sheets ;  yet  Mr.  Strype's  collections  were  justly  entitled  to  the  commendations  of 
posterity,  as  a  work  of  great  utility  and  authority.— See  Neal's  Review,  p.  6.  8vo. 


MEMOIR 


OF     THE 


LIFE    OF   MR.  DANIEL    NEAL,  A.M.* 


Mr.  Daniel  Neal  was  bom  in  the  city  of  Loudon,  on  the  14th  of  December,  1678. 
"When  he  was  very  young,  his  parents  were  removed  by  death,  and  left  him,  their  only 
surviving  child,  in  the  hands  of  a  maternal  uncle,  whose  care  of  his  health  and  educa- 
tion was  faithful  and  affectionate,  and  was  often  mentioned  by  his  nephew  with  grati- 
tude. 

He  received  his  classical  education  at  Merchant  Tailors'  School,  to  which  he  was 
sent  when  he  was  seven  or  eight  years  of  age,  and  where  he  stayed  till  he  was  head 
scholar.  In  this  youthful  period  he  gave  a  proof  of  the  serious  and  conscientious  prin- 
ciples by  which  he  was  governed ;  for,  an  exhibition  to  St.  John's  College  in  Oxford 
being  offered  to  him,  out  of  a  foundation  belonging  to  that  school,  he  declined  it,  and 
chose  an  education  for  the  ministry  among  the  Protestant  Dissenters. 

About  the  year  1696  or  1697  he  removed  from  this  seminary  to  a  dissenting  acade- 
my, under  the  direction  of  the  Reverend  Thomas  Rowe,  under  whose  tuition  several 
eminent  characters  were,  in  part,  formed.f  To  this  gentleman  Dr.  Watts  addressed 
his  animated  ode,  called  "  Free  Philosophy,"  which  may,  in  this  view,  be  considered 
as  an  honourable  testimonial  to  the  candid  and  liberal  spirit  with  which  Mr.  Rowe  con- 
ducted the  studies  of  his  pupils. 

Mr.  Neal's  thirst  after  knowledge  was  not  to  be  satisfied  by  the  limited  advantages 
of  one  seminary,  but  prompted  him  to  seek  farther  improvement  in  foreign  universi- 
ties. Having  spent  three  years  with  Mr.  Rowe,  he  removed  to  Holland,  where  he 
prosecuted  his  studies  for  two  years,  under  the  celebrated  Professors  D'Uries,  Greevius, 
and  Burman,  at  Utrecht ;  and  then  one  year  at  Leyden. 

About  the  middle  or  latter  end  of  1703  he  returned  to  England,  in  company  with  Mr. 
Martin  TomkinsJ  and  Mr.  (afterward  the  eminent  Dr.)  Lardner,  and  soon  after  appear- 
ed in  the  pulpit. 

*  This  narrative  is  drawn  up  chiefly  from  the  memoir  of  Mr.  Neal's  life  in  the  funeral  sermon  by  Dr.  Jen- 
Tiings.  and  a  MS.  account  of  him  and  his  works  by  his  son,  Nathaniel  Neal,  Esq.,  communicated  by  his 
grandson,  Daniel  Lister,  Esq.,  of  Hackney. 

f  Among  others,  Dr.  Watts,  Dr.  Hort,  afterward  Archbishop  of  Tuam,  Mr.  Hughes  the  poet,  Dr.  John 
jEvans,  Mr.  Grove,  and  Dr.  Jeremiah  Hunt. 

t  This  gentleman  was  settled  with  a  dissenting  congregation  at  Stoke  Newington.  In  the  year  1718, 
Mr.  Asty,  the  pastor  of  a  congregation  in  Ropemaker's  Alley,  Moorfields,  on  making  an  exchange  with  Mr. 
Tomkins  for  one  Lord's  day,  thought  fit  to  alarm  his  people  with  the  danger  of  pernicious  errors  and  dam- 
nable heresies  creeping  in  among  the  Dissenters  ;  and  particularly  referred  to  errors  concerning  the  doc- 
trine of  Christ's  deity.  Mr.  Tomkins,  to  counteract  the  ill  tendency  of  this  discourse,  and  of  the  censures 
it  conveyed,  preached  the  succeeding  Lord's  day  from  John,  xx.,  21-23,  on  the  power  of  Christ  to  settle 
the  terms  of  salvation.  The  inference  which  he  deduced  from  the  discussion  of  his  subject  was,  "that  no 
man  on  earth,  nor  body  of  men,  no,  nor  all  the  angels  in  heaven,  have  power  to  make  anything  necessary 
to  salvation  but  what  Christ  hath  made  so."  In  the  conclusion  of  his  discourse,  he  applied  this  general 
principle  as  a  test  by  which  to  decide  on  the  importance  of  the  orthodox  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  and  of  the 
deity  of  Christ.  Here  he  entered  into  a  particular  survey  of  the  various  passages  in  the  historical  and  epis- 
tolary books  of  the  New  Testament  connected  with  this  point,  and  gave  at  large  his  reasons  why  he  did 
not  apprehend  the  orthodox  notion  concerning  the  deity  of  Christ  to  be  a  fundamental  doctrine  of  Christi- 
anity. This  sermon,  though  the  preacher  neither  denied  nor  intimated  any  doubt  of  the  truth  of  the  orthodox 
doctrine,  gave  much  disgust,  and  made  a  great  noise.  The  minds  of  his  people  were  irritated,  and  every 
attempt  which  Mr.  Tomkins  used  to  calm  them  and  restore  harmony  proving  unsuccessful,  he  resigned  his 
pastoral  connexion,  after  ten  years'  services  among  them.  Prejudice  rose  so  high  against  him,  that  he  was 
afterward  denied  the  communion  of  the  church,  in  which  he  had  been  many  years  before ;  when,  on  being 
disengaged  from  stated  ministerial  functions,  he  desired  to  return  to  it. 

Mr.  Tomkins  did  not  again  settle  as  the  pastor  of  a  congregation,  but  did  not  wholly  lay  aside  the  char- 
acter, or  drop  the  studies,  of  the  Christian  minister  ;  for  he  occasionally  preached,  and  published  several  val- 
Bable  theological  tracts.  The  first,  about  the  year  1723,  was  "  A  Sober  Appeal  to  a  Turk  or  an  Indian  con- 
cerning the  plain  sense  of  Scripture,  relating  to  the  Trinity :  being  an  answer  to  Dr.  I.  Watts's  late  book,  enti- 
tled '  The  Christian  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity ;  or,  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit,  three  Persons  and  one  God,  asserted 
and  proved  by  plain  evidence  of  Scripture,  without  the  aid  and  encumbrance  of  human  schemes.'  "  This 
piece  was  drawn  up  in  terms  of  decency  and  respect,  and  in  the  language  of  friendship  towards  that  excel- 
lent and  eminent  person,  to  whose  tract  it  was  a  reply  ;  and  the  whole  was  written  in  an  exemplary  strain 
of  moderation  and  candour.  In  the  year  1748  it  came  to  a  second  edition:  to  which  were  added,  1.  Ke- 
.marks  on  Dr.  Watts's  three  citations  relating  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  published  in  1724.    2.  A  sober 

Vol.  L— C 


XTiii  MEMOIR   OF   THE   LIFE   OF 

It  was  not  long  before  his  furniture  and  abilities  attracted  notice ;  and,  in  the  next 
year,  he  was  chosen  assistant  to  Dr.  John  Singleton,*  in  the  service  of  an  Independent 
congregation  in  Aldersgate-street ;  and,  on  the  doctor's  death,  in  1706,  he  was  elected 
their  pastor.  In  this  relation  he  continued  for  thirty-six  years,  till  about  five  months 
before  his  decease.  When  he  accepted  the  pastoral  office,  the  church,  though  some 
persons  of  considerable  fortune  and  character  belonged  to  it,  was  very  small  as  to 
numbers ;  but  such  acceptance  did  his  ministry  meet  with,  that  the  place  of  worship 
became,  in  a  few  years,  too  strait  to  accommodate  the  numbers  that  desired  to  attend 
on  Mr.  Neal's  preaching,  which  obliged  them  to  remove  to  a  larger  house,  in  Jewin- 
street. 

He  fulfilled  the  duties  of  his  character  with  attention  and  diligence  :  statedly  preach- 
ing twice  every  Lord's  day,  till  the  three  or  four  last  years  of  his  life,  and  usually  de- 
votnig  two  or  three  afternoons  in  a  week  to  visiting  his  people.  He  pursued  his  stud- 
ies with  so  close  an  application  as  to  reserve  little  or  no  time  for  exercise  ;  though  he 
was  assiduous  m  his  preparations  for  the  pulpit,  he  gave  liimself  some  scope  in  his  lit- 
erary pursuits,  and  particularly  indulged  in  the  study  of  history,  to  which  his  natural 
genius  strongly  led  him.  "  He  still,"  observes  Dr.  Jennings,  "  kept  his  character  and 
profession  in  view  as  a  Christian  divine  and  minister."! 

The  first  fruits  of  his  literary  labours  appeared  in  1720,  under  the  title  of  "  The  His- 
tory of  New-England  :  being  an  impartial  account  of  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  affairs 
of  the  country,  with  a  new  accurate  map  thereof:  to  which  is  added  an  appendix,  con- 
taining their  present  charter,  their  ecclesiastical  discipline,  and  their  municipal  laws," 
in  two  volumes  8vo.  This  work  contains  an  entertaining  and  instructive  narrative 
of  the  first  planting  of  the  Gospel  in  a  foreign  heathen  land  ;  and,  besides  exhibiting 
the  rise  of  a  new  commonwealth,  struggling  in  its  infant  state  with  a  thousand  difficul- 
ties, and  triumphing  over  them  all,  it  includes  biographical  memoirs  of  the  principal 
persons  in  Church  and  State.  It  was  well  received  in  New-England ;  and  the  next 
year  their  university  honoured  the  author  with  the  degree  of  master  of  arts,  the  high- 
est academical  title  they  had  power  to  confer. 

In  the  same  year  there  came  from  Mr.  Neal's  pen,  "  A  Letter  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Fran- 
cis Hare,  Dean  of  Worcester,  occasioned  by  his  reflections  on  the  Dissenters,  in  his  late 
visitation-sermon  and  postscript,"  Svo.J 

In  1721,  he  published  "  The  Christian's  Duty  and  Interest  in  a  time  of  public  danger, 
from  Ezekiel,  ix.,  4.  A  sermon  preached  at  the  Rev.  Mr.  Jennings's  meeting-place  ia 
Wapping,  on  Friday,  October  27,  being  a  time  of  solemn  prayer  on  account  of  the 
plague. "<j     This  discourse  is  preserved  in  the  library  of  Queen's  College,  Cambridge. |[ 

Appeal  to  all  that  have  read  the  New  Testament,  whether  the  reputed  orthodox  are  not  more  chargeable 
with  preaching  a  new  Gospel  than  reputed  Arians?  3.  A  Reply  to  Dr.  Waterland's  Animadversions  upon 
some  passages  in  the  "  Sober  Appeal."  To  neither  of  the  editions  of  this  treatise  was  the  author's  riame 
affixed.  In  1732,  I\Ir.  Tomkins  published,  also  without  his  name,  a  piece  which  gained  him  great  reputa- 
tion, entitled  "Jesus  Christ  the  Mediator  between  God  and  Man ;  an  Advocate  for  us  with  the  Father,  and 
a  Propitiation  for  the  Sins  of  the  World."  A  new  edition  of  this  work  appeared  in  1761.  He  published, 
in  1738,  "  A  Calm  Inquiry  whether  v^e  have  any  warrant  from  Scripture  for  addressing  ourselves,  in  away 
of  prayer  or  praise,  directly  to  the  Holy  Spirit :  humbly  offered  to  the  consideration  of  all  Christians,  par- 
ticularly of  Protestant  Dissenters."  This  piece  has  seriously  impressed  the  minds  of  many,  and  has,  un- 
doubteilly,  contributed  very  much  to  the  disuse  of  the  Trinitarian  doxology  among  the  Dissenters.  Mr. 
Toinkins  himself,  so  far  back  as  the  time  when  he  was  minister  to  the  congregation  at  Stoke  Newington, 
had  forborne  it,  because  he  could  find  no  instance  of  it  in  Scripture.  All  Mr.  Tomkins's  pieces  are  proofs 
of  the  candour  of  his  spirit,  and  of  the  clearness  and  strength  of  his  judgment.  Long  since  his  death,  there 
has  appeared,  in  the  Theological  Repository,  vol.  iii.,  p.  '257,  "A  Letter  from  him  to  Dr.  Lardner,  in  reply 
to  his  letter  on  the  Logos,  in  defence  of  the  Arian  hypothesis."  In  this  enumeration  of  his  publications,  it 
had  almost  escaped  me  to  mention  another,  and  that  the  lirst  in  order  of  time,  viz.,  "  The  Case  of  Mr.  Mar- 
tin Tomkins,  being  an  Account  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Dissenting  Congregation  at  Stoke  Newington, 
upon  occasion  of  a  sermon  preached  by  him  July  13,  1718."  This  piece  bears  on  it  all  the  marks  of  being 
a  fair  and  impartial,  as  it  is  an  instructive,  narrative.  The  character  of  candour  and  piety  which  he  sup- 
ported, and  with  which  his  writings  are  impressed  ;  the  simplicity  and  integrity  with  which  he  bore  his  tes- 
timony to  Scriptural  worship.  Christian  moderation,  and  the  Divine  unity  ;  and  the  weight  and  influence  of 
his  publications  in  the  Trinitarian  controversy,  have  justly  entitled  Mr.  Tomkins  to  this  particular  mention. 
*  Dr.  John  Singleton  was  a  student  in  the  University  of  Oxford ;  from  whence,  after  he  had  been  there 
eight  years,  he  was  turned  out  by  the  commissioners  in  1660.  He  then  went  to  Holland,  and  studied 
physic,  but  never  practised  it  any  farther  than  to  give  his  advice  to  particular  friends.  His  settlements 
were  various.  Residing  some  time  with  Lady  Scott  in  Hertfordshire,  he  preached  then  to  some  Dissent- 
ers at  Hertford.  He  was  afterward  pastor  to  a  congregation  in  London.  When  the  meetings  were  gener- 
ally suppressed,  he  went  into  Warwickshire,  and  lived  with  his  wife's  brother,  Dr.  Timothy  Gibbons,  a 
physician.  Upon  King  James  giving  liberty,  he  preached  first  at  Stretton,  a  small  hamlet,  eight  miles 
from  Coventry,  and  then  became  pastor  to  the  Independent  congregation  in  that  city.  From  whence  he 
was  again  called  to  London,  to  succeed  Mr.  T.  Cole.— Palmer's  Nonconformists'  Memorial,  vol.  i.,  p.  170. 
There  is  a  sermon  of  Dr.  Singleton's  in  the  Morning  Exercises, 
t  Funeral  Sermon  for  Mr,  Neal,  p.  33. 

t  The  title  of  this  sermon  was  "  Church  Authority  Vindicated."     This  discourse  also  attracted  the  no 
tice  of  Bishop  Hoadiey,  who  published  an  answer  to  it. 

^  ()  It  then  raged  at  Marseilles,  in  France,  being  brought  thither  from  the  Levant ;  and  eighteen  thousand 
died  of  it.  II  Cooke's  Index  to  Sermons,  vol.  ii.,  page  241,  article  Neal. 


MR.  DANIEJ.  NEAL.  nx 

Mr.  Neal  gave  to  the  public,  in  1722,  "  A  Narrative  of  the  method  and  success  of  in- 
oculating the  smallpox  in  New-England,  by  Mr.  Benjamin  Colman ;  with  a  reply  to 
the  objections  made  against  it  from  principles  of  conscience,  in  a  letter  from  a  minis- 
ter at  i]oston.  To  which  is  now  prefixed  an  historical  introduction."  On  the  appear- 
ance of  this  piece,  her  royal  highness  Caroline,  princess  of  Wales,  sent  foi-  him  to  wait 
on  her,  that  she  might  receive  from  him  farther  satisfaction  concerning  the  practice  of 
inoculation.  He  was  introduced  by  a  physician  of  the  royal  family,  and  received  by 
the  princess  in  her  closet,  whom  he  found  reading  "  Fox"s  Martyrology."  Her  high- 
ness did  him  the  honour  of  entering  into  a  free  conversation  with  him  for  near  an  hour 
on  the  subject  of  inoculation ;  and  afterward  on  other  subjects,  particularly  the  state 
of  the  dissenting  interest  in  England,  and  of  religion  in  New-England.  After  some 
time  the  Prince  of  Wales,  afterward  George  H.,  came  into  the  room,  and  condescend- 
ed to  take  a  part  in  the  conversation  for  above  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  Mr.  Neal  had 
the  honour  of  kissing  the  hands  of  both  the  royal  personages.* 

In  1722  he  published,  at  request,  a  sermon  preached  to  the  Societies  for  Reformation 
of  Manners,  at  Salters'  Hall,  on  Monday,  June  25th.  This  discourse,  grounded  on 
Psalm  xciv.,  16,  is  to  be  met  with  in  the  library  mentioned  before. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  next  year  the  request  of  the  managers  of  the  charity-school 
m  Gravel  Lane,  Southwark,  procured  from  him  the  publication  of  a  sermon,  preached 
January  1st,  for  the  benefit  of  that  institution,  on  Job,  xxix.,  12,  13,  entitled,  "  The 
Method  of  Education  in  the  Charity-schools  of  Protestant  Dissenters  ;  with  the  Ad- 
vantages that  arise  to  the  Public  from  them." 

After  this  nothing  of  Mr.  Neal's  appeared  from  the  press  for  several  years,  till,  in 
1726,  the  death  of  the  Rev.  Matthew  Clarke,  a  minister  of  considerable  eminence 
among  the  Dissenters  of  that  period,  gave  occasion  for  his  publishing  a  funeral  sermon 
for  him,  from  Matt.,  xxv.,  21.  This  discourse  was  next  year  reprinted,  and  annexed 
to  a  volume  of  sermons  upon  several  occasions,  by  Mr.  Clarke  ;  of  which  Mr.  Neal 
was  the  editor,  and  to  which  he  prefixed  some  memoirs  of  the  author.f 

At  the  beginning  of  this  year  he  printed  a  sermon,  entitled,  "  Of  sorrowing  for  them 
who  sleep  in  Jesus,"  occasioned  by  the  death  of  Mrs.  Anne  Philhbrowne,  who  departed 
this  life  February  1st,  1726-7,  in  the  forty-third  year  of  her  age.  This  discourse  is 
also  to  be  found  in  Queen's  College  library,  Cambridge. 

In  1730,  the  united  request  of  the  ministers  and  the  church  prevailed  with  him  to 
publish  a  sermon,  entitled,  "  The  Duty  of  Praying  for  Ministers  and  the  Success  of 
their  Ministry,"  from  2  Thess.,  iii.,  1 ;  preached  at  the  separation  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Rich- 
ard Rawlin,J  to  the  pastoral  office  in  the  church  at  Fetter  Lane,  June  24th.  A  passage 
in  this  discourse  deserves  to  be  quoted,  to  show  the  cathohc  and  generous  sentiments 
of  Mr.  Neal.  Having  referred  to  the  persecutions  of  the  Christians  under  the  Roman 
emperors,  and  then  to  the  prevalence  of  darkness  and  superstition  for  a  thousand  years 
after  Rome  became  papal,  he  proceeds,  "  The  hght  of  the  Gospel  broke  out  again  at 
the  Reformation  ;  but,  alas  !  what  obstructions  has  it  met  with  ever  since  !  how  much 
blood  has  been  spilled,  and  how  many  families  ruined,  and  sent  into  banishment,  for  the 
profession  of  it !  There  is  at  this  tmie  a  bloody  inquisition  in  Spain  ;  and  the  sword 
of  the  magistrate  is  drawn  against  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  Italy,  France,  Po- 
land, in  several  parts  of  Germany,  and  in  other  popish  countries.     I  wish  I  could  say 

*  The  MS.  account  of  Mr.  Neal. 

■f  Mr.  Matthew  Clarke,  a  gentleman  of  eminence  among  the  dissenting  ministers  of  that  period,  and  the 
father  to  Dr.  Clarke,  a  physician  of  extensive  practice,  who  died  not  long  since  at  Tottenham,  in  Middle- 
sex, was  descended  from  a  genteel  family  in  the  covmty  of  Salop.     He  was  the  son  of  the  Rev.  Matthew 
Clarke,  who  was  ejected  from  Harborough,  in  Leicestershire,  and  was  born  February  2d,  1663-4.     His 
lather,  who  had  been  an  indefatigable  student  in  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  led  Aim  through  the  learned 
languages.     His  academical  studies  were  pursued  under  the  learned  Mr.  Woodhouse,  at  Sherifhales,  in 
Shropshire,  a  tutor  of  eminence  in  those  times.     Mr.  Clarke,  when  he  had  finished  his  academical  course, 
spent  two  years  in  London,  for  the  benefit  of  conversing  with  learned  m^n,  and  forming  himself  on  the 
model  of  the  most  celebrated  preachers.     He  began  his  ministry  in  168<^,  with  great  acceptance  :  so  that 
great  additions  were  made  to  the  church,  which  his  father  had  formed,  at  Market  Harborough  ;  and  he  laid 
the  foundation  of  several  societies  of  Protestant  Dissenters  in  those  parts.     Being  engaged,  when  he  was 
on  a  visit  to  London,  in  1687,  to  supply  the  congregation  at  Sand'vich,  in  Kent,  ibr  a  lew  Lord's  days,  he 
was  prevailed  with  to  spend  two  years  there,  which  he  did  with  eminent  success.     In  1689,  he  was  unan- 
imously invited  to  become  assistant  to  the  aged  Mr.  J"ord,  the  pastor  of  a  congregation  in  Miles's  Lane, 
which  was  then  reduced  to  a  very  low  state  ;  but  tbe  auditory  in  a  few  years  became  crowded,  and  seven 
or  eight  in  a  month  were  added  to  the  communion.     In  1697,  Mr.  Clarke  was  chosen  one  of  the  lecturers 
at  Pinners'  Hall.    He  married,  in  1696,  Mrs.  y\nne  Frith,  daughter  of  Mr.  Robert  Frith,  of  Windsor,  who 
was  repeatedly  mayor  of  that  corporation.     His  pulpit  abilities  were  greatly  admired,  and  his  services 
much  sought ;  so  that  he  usually  preached  twice  or  three  times  on  a  Lord's  day,  and  several  times  in  the 
week.     He  died  March  27,  1 426,  aged  sixty-two  years,  much  beloved  and  much  lamented,  and  leaving  be- 
liind  him  the  character  of  haTiiig  been  among  the  best  and  most  useful  divines  of  his  age. — Mr.  Neat's  Me- 
moirs of  his  Life. 

t  Mr.  Kawlin  was  a  minister  of  reputation  among  the  Independents,  one  of  the  six  preachers  of  the  Mer- 
chants' lecture  at  Pinners'  Hall,  and  the  author  of  a  volume  of  sermons  on  Justification,  which  met  with 
great  acceptance,  and  passed  through  more  than  one  edition. 


XX  MEMOIR  OF  THE   LIFE  OF 

that  all  Protestant  governments  were  willing  the  Gospel  should  have  its  free  course  • 
but  our  fathers  in  this  nation  have  drunk  of  the  bitter  cup  of  persecution  ;  our  teachers 
have  been  driven  into  corners,  and  the  mouths  of  thousands  stopped  in  one  day  :  bless- 
ed be  God  that  there  is  now  a  more  open  door  !  Let  us  pray  that  all  penal  laws  for 
religion  may  be  taken  away,  and  that  no  civil  discouragements  may  lie  upon  Christians 
of  any  denommation  for  the  peaceable  profession  of  their  faith,  but  that  the  Gospel 
may  have  free  course." 

In  the  year  1732  came  out  the  first  volume  of  Mr.  Neal's  great  work,  "The  History 
of  the  Puritans."    The  following  circumstances  gave  birth  to  this  publication      Dr 
Edmund  Calamy,  many  years  before,  had,  in  his  "  Abridgment  of  the  Life  of  Mr  Rich- 
ard Baxter,  and  the  continuation  of  it,"  laid  before  the  public  a  view  of  the  state  of  non- 
conformity, and  of  the  characters  and  sufferings  of  the  principal  adherents  to  it  durinff 
the  period  that  immediately  succeeded  to  the  Act  of  Uniformity  in  1662.     Dr  John  Ev- 
ans,* on  this,  formed  a  design  of  writing  "  A  History  of  Nonconformity,"  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Reformation  to  1640,  when  the  civil  wars  began.     Mr.  Neal  was  re- 
quested, by  several  ministers  and  other  persons  of  considerable  figure  among  the  Dis- 
senters, to  take  up  the  history  from  the  year  1640,  and  to  carry  it  on  to  the  Act  of  Uni- 
formity.    Dr.  Evans  proceeded  a  great  way  in  the  execution  of  his  design,  by  collect- 
mg,  for  several  years,  with  great  industry  and  expense,  proper  materials  from  all  quar- 
ters, and  by  filling  several  quires  of  paper  with  references,  under  each  year,  to  the 
books  he  had  read  on  the  subject.     He  had  gone  so  far  as  to  have  written  out  fairly 
about  a  third  part  of  the  two  folios  he  intended  to  fill.     But  his  constant  employment 
as  a  minister,  the  multiplicity  of  public  affairs  which  passed  through  his  hands,  ill 
health,  and  various  disappointments  and  troubles  in  his  own  concerns,  greatly  inter- 
rupted his  close  application  to  the  work :  and  his  death,  in  the  year  1730,  put  a  final 
period  to  the  design,  which  was  left  in  an  unfinished  state.      In  the  mean  time,  Mr 
Neal  had  prosecuted  his  work  with  so  much  application  and  spirit,  that  he  had  com- 
pleted his  collections,  and  put  them  in  order  for  the  press,  some  length  of  time  before 
the  doctor's  decease.     This  event  obstructed  his  immediate  progress,  and  opened  to 
him  a  new  field  of  study  and  investigation  :  for  he  now  found  it  necessary  to  take  up 
himself  the  long  period  of  history  from  the  Reformation  to  the  commencement  of  the 
civil  wars,  that  his  own  collections  might  be  published  with  more  acceptance,  and  ap- 
pear with  greater  advantage,  than  he  apprehended  they  could  have  done  if  the  doctor's 
province  had  been  entirely  neglected. f 

The  approbation  which  followed  the  publication  of  the  first  volume  of  "  The  History 
of  the  Puritans"  encouraged  him  to  prosecute  his  design,  and  the  next  year,  1733 
produced  a  second  volume  of  that  work.  '  ' 

Between  the  appearance  of  this  and  the  subsequent  parts  of  his  history,  we  find  Mr. 
Neal  engaged  with  some  of  his  respectable  brethren  in  carrying  on  two  courses  of 
lectures  :  one  at  Berry-street,  the  other  at  Salters'  Hall. 
The  former  was  preached  at  the  request  and  by  the  encouragement  of  William  Cow- 

*  Dr.  John  Evans,  the  author  of  two  volumes  of  judicious  and  admired  sermons  on  the  Christian  temper 
and  of  many  single  sermons,  was  the  son  of  Mr.  John  Evans,  of  Bahol  College,  Oxford,  and  ejected  by  the 
Act  of  Unifonnity  from  Oswestry.    He  was  born  at  Wrexham,  in  the  year  1679.    His  mother  was  the  daugh- 
ter of  the  eminent  Colonel  Gerard,  governor  of  Chester  Castle.     He  received  his  education  first  under 
Mr.  1  homas  Rowe,  of  London  ;  and  afterward  under  Mr.  Richard  Frankland,  at  Rathmill,  in  Yorkshire 
He  enjoyed  great  advantages  under  both,  and  made  a  singular  proficiency  in  all  the  parts  of  rational  and 
polite  literature.    His  first  settlement  was  in  the  family  of  Mrs.  Hunt,  of  Boreatton  in  Shropshire,  relict  of 
Koland  Hunt,  ii.sq    and  sister  ol  Lord  Paget,  ambassador  to  the  Ottoman  court.     In  this  retirement  he  read 
over  entire  Mr.  role  k  Latm  Synopsis,  in  five  volumes  folio,  which  laid  the  foundation  of  his  great  .skill  in 
i^''^?^"  T®  criticism,  anO.  all  the  Christian  writers  of  the  first  three  centuries,  under  the  direction  of  the  learn- 
ed Mr.  James  Owen.     His  first  settlement  as  a  minister  was  in  the  place  of  his  nativity  ;  from  whence 
he  removed  to  London,  to  be  assistant  to  Dr.  Daniel  Wilhams,  pastor  of  a  congregation  in  Hand  Allev 
Bishopsgate-street ;  which  a&.erward  remo\-ed  to  New  Bond-street,  Petty-France.     Dr.  Evans,  after  sev^ 
era!  years,  was  by  Dr.  Willmnn's  desire  made  copastor  with  him,  and  succeeded  him  at  his  death.    On 
takmg  the  whole  charge  of  the  congregation,  he  spent  a  week  in  solemn  retirement  and  in  extraordinary 
exercises  of  devotion.     He  was  one  of  the  six  preachers  of  the  Merchants'  lecture  at  Salters'  Hall,  and  for 
several  years  concerned  in  the  Lord's  4ay  evening  lecture  in  that  place.     Besides  the  sermons  mentioned 
above,  tie  pubhshed  a  small  volume  addi^ssed  lo  young  persons,  which  has  been  reprinted  within  these  few 
years,  and  a  tract  or  two  on  the  "Importance  ot  Scripture  Consequences,"  drawn  up  in  a  masterly  way 
with  great  clearness  and  judgment,  sobriety  and  decency.     Both  the  universities  of  Edinburgh  and  Aberdeen 
without  Ins  Knowledge  and  in  a  most  honourable  manner,  conferred  on  him  their  highest  academical  hon- 
our.    A  complication  of  distempers  broke  down  his  constitution,  and  deprived  the  world  of  his  abilities  and 
labours,  at  so  early  a  period  as  the  fifty-first  year  of  his  age,  May  23,  1730.     He  excelled  in  the  several  vir- 
tues of  integrity,  greatness  and  generosity  of  mind ;  in  compabsion  and  tenderness,  in  a  catholic  temper  and 
a  pubhc  spirit,  and  in  a  steady,  regular  piety.     His  solidity  of  jadgment  united  with  vivacity,  his  industry 
and  prudence,  were  distinguishmg  and  superior  to  most  others.    Among  the  Krtinent,  devout,  and  excellent 
sentiments  he  dropped  in  the  course  of  his  illness,  when  he  looked  upon  hisbody  swollen  with  distemper, 
he  would  often  say  with  pleasure,  "  This  corruptible  shall  put  on  incorruption— Oh,  glorious  hope  '»— i?/ 
Hams  s  J'uneral  Sermon  for  Dr.  Evans,  in  his  Funeral  Discourses,  p.  285-296 

■K, i  ?''•  ^^^""P^'f  Tv?""^-''^^  Sermon  for  Dr.  Evans,  in  his  volume  of  Funeral  Discourses,  p.  289,  290 ;  and  the 
MS.  Account  of  Mr.  JNeal.  ' 


MR.   DANIEL  NEAL. 


xxi 


ard,  Esq.,  of  Walthamstow.     It  consisted  of  fifty-four  sermons  on  the  principal  heads 
of  the  Christian  rehgion,  entitled  "  Faith  and  Practice."     Mr.  Neal's  associates  in  this 
service  were  Dr.  Watts,  Dr.  J.  Guise,  Mr.  Samuel  Price,  Mr.  John  Hubbard,  and  Dr. 
David  Jennings.*     The  terms  on  which  Mr.  Neal  complied  with  Mr.  Coward's  request', 
made  through  a  common  friend,  to  take  part  in  this  service,  are  proofs  of  the  independ- 
ence and  integrity  of  mind  whicii  he  possessed,  and  was  determined  to  maintain.     His 
requisitions  were,  that  he  would  draw  up  the  dedication,  write  the  preface,  and  choose 
his  own  subjects,  in  which  Mr.  Coward,  though  they  were  not  very  pleasing  to  a  gen- 
tleman of  his  known  humour  and  fondness  for  adulation  and  control,  acquiesced,  rath- 
er than  the  lecture  should  lose  the  advantage  and  reputation  that  it  would  derive  from 
Mr.  Neal's  abilities  and  name.f      The  subjects  handled  by  him  were  "  The  Divine  au- 
thority and  perfection  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,"  from  2  Tim.,  iii.,  16.     "  Of  God,  as  the 
Governor  and  Judge  of  the  moral  world,  angels,  and  men,"  on  Daniel,  iv.,  35.    "  The  in- 
carnation of  Christ  as  the  promised  Messiah,"  the  text  Gal.,  iv.,  4,  5.     "  Effectual  call- 
ing, with  its  fruits,  viz.,  regeneration  and  santification  by  the  Holy  Spirit,"  from  2  Tim., 
i.,  9.     "  Confession  of  sin,  repentance,  and  conversion  to  holiness,"  on  Acts,  iii.,  19! 
"  Of  fearing  God  and  trusting  m  him,"  Psalm  xxxi.,  19.    "  The  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper,"  on  1  Cor.,  xi.,  23,  36.     "  The  love  of  our  neighbour,"  the  text  John,  in.,  34,  35 ; 
and  "  The  pleasure  and  advantage  of  vital  religion,"  from  Rom.,  vii.,  22.     These,  with 
the  discourses  of  the  other  preachers,  were,  after  the  course  was  finished,  published 
in  two  vols.  8vo,  in  1735,  and  have  passed  through  several  editions.      Dr.  Doddridge, 
Avhen  speaking  of  them,  says,  "  I  cannot  recollect  where  I  have  seen  a  set  of  impor- 
tant thoughts  on  such  various  and  weighty  subjects  more  judiciously  selected,  more 
naturally  digested,  more  closely  compacted,  more  accurately  expressed,  or,  in  a  few 
words,  more  powerfully  enlbrced,  than  L  have  generally  found  in  those  sermons."]: 
Without  determining  whether  this  encomium  be  exaggerated  or  not,  it  may  certainly 
be  pronounced,  that  the  practical  strain  in  which  the  discourses  are  drawn  up,  and  the 
good  temper  with  which  the  subjects  of  greatest  controversy  are  here  handled,  without 
any  censure  or  even  ilhberal  insinuation  against  others  mingling  with  the  representa- 
tion of  their  own  views  on  the  points  discussed,  do  great  honour  to  the  heart  and  spirit 
of  the  authors. 

The  other  course  of  lectures,  in  which  Mr.  Neal  was  engaged,  arose  from  an  alarm 
concerning  the  increase  of  popery,  which  prevailed  about  the  end  of  the  year  1734. 
Some  eminent  dissenting  ministers  of  the  day,  of  the  Presbyterian  denomination,  in 
conjunction  with  one  of  each  of  the  other  persuasions,  agreed  to  preach  a  set  of  ser- 
mons on  the  main  principles  and  errors,  doctrines  and  practices,  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,  to  guard  Protestants  against  tlie  efforts  of  its  emissaries.  The  gentlemen  who 
engaged  in  tins  design  were  Mr.  John  Barker,  Dr.  Samuel  Chandler,  Mr.  George  Smith, 
Dr.  Samuel  Wright,  Dr.  William  Harris,  Dr.  Obadiah  Hughes,  Dr.  Jeremiah  Hunt  Mr 
Joshua  Bayes,  Mr.  John  Newman,  Dr.  Jabez  Earle,  Mr.  Moses  Lowman,  Dr.  Benjamin 
Grosvenor,  Mr.  Thomas  Leavesly,  Mr.  Joseph  Burroughs,  a  minister  of  the  Antipaedo- 
baptist  persuasion,^  and  Mr.  Neal,  who  was  an  Independent.     The  subject  which  fell 

*  It  is  needless  to  say  anything  here  of  the  first  name  on  this  list,  Dr.  Watts,  whose  fame  by  his  various 
writings  has  been  so  universally  diffused. 

_  Mr.  Samuel  Price,  the  uncle  of  the  late  Dr.  Richard  Price,  served  forty-five  years  in  the  ministry  of  the 
Uospel,  with  Dr.  Watts,  as  assistant  or  copastor.  He  was  a  man  of  exemplary  probity  and  virtue,  of  sound 
and  solid  sense,  a  judicious  and  useful  preacher,  eminent  for  his  gift  in  prayer,  and  for  wisdom  and  prudence 
in  the  management  of  afifaus  He  was  a  native  of  Wales,  received  his  academical  learning  under  Mr.  Tim- 
othy JoUie,  at  Atterchffe,  and  died  in  1756. 

Dr.  John  Guise  was  well  known  as  a  popular  preacher,  and  as  the  author  of  a  paraphrase  on  the  New 
1  estament,  in  three  vols,  quarto. 

Mr.  Hubbard  was  minister  of  a  congregation  at  Stepney,  and  about  three  years  before  his  death  was 
chosen  tutor  of  a  seminary  for  educating  young  men  for  the  ministry.  He  filled  both  capacities  with  con- 
siderable reputation,  and  is  said  to  have  had  so  e.'ctensive  and  familiar  an  acquaintance  with  the  Scriptures 
as  to  supersede  the  use  ot  a  concordance,  which  had  no  place  in  his  library. 

^  Dr  David  Jennings  has  left  behind  him  "An  Introduction  to  the  Use  of  the  Globes  and  Orrery,"  "An 
introduction  to  the  Knowledge  of  Medals,"  and  "  Jewish  Antiquities,"  as  monuments  of  his  genius  and  learn- 
ing, b  or  many  years  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  seminary  endowed  by  Mr.  Coward's  munificence,  and  for 
forty-four  years  pastor  ot  a  congregation  in  Old  Gravel  Lane,  Wapping.  He  was  a  pleasing  and  pathetic 
preacher,  an  early  riser,  very  methodical  and  punctual  in  the  arrangements  of  his  studies  and  business,  and, 
notwithstanding  that  he  lived  much  in  his  study,  his  conversation  was  lively  and  instructive,  and  his  ad- 
dress easy  and  atfable.  He  [lublished  several  sermons,  and  was  the  author  of  several  other  pieces  besides 
the  above.     He  died  September  26,  1762,  in  his  seventy-first  year. 

t  From  private  information.  f  Dotldridge's  Ten  Sermons,  13mo.     Preface,  p.  ix. 

6  Mr.  John  Barker  was  lor  a  number  of  years  a  preacher  of  popular  talents  and  great  eminence,  first  at 
Hackney,  and  then  at  Salters'  Hall.  Many  single  sermons  came  from  his  pen,  and  he  published  a  volume 
of  discourses  in  his  lifetime,  which  was  succeeded  by  a  second  volume  after  his  death  in  1763. 

Dr.  Samuel  Chandler  is  well  known  as  rising  superior  to  most,  either  within  the  pale  of  the  establishment 
or  out  ot  it,  in  learning  and  abilities. 

Mr  George  Smith  officiated  to  the  society  of  the  Gravel-pit  meeting.  Hackney,  for  thirty  years,  as  a 
preacher  excelled  by  none  and  equalled  by  lev/.    He  died  May  1, 1746,  aged  fifty-seven,  looked  upon  by  his 


xxw  MEMOIR  OF  THE  LIFE    OF 

to  his  lot  to  discuss  was,  "  The  supremacy  of  St.  Peter,  and  the  bishops  of  Rome,  his 
successors."  These  discourses  were  separately  pi-inted_  immediately  after  each  was 
preached,  and  when  the  lecture  was  closed,  were  collected  together,  and  formed  two 
volumes  8vo.* 

own  brethren  as  holding  the  first  rank  in  merit  among  them ;  and  not  less  honoured  and  valued  by  those 
of  the  establishment  who  knew  him. 

Dr.  Samuel  Wright,  the  author  of  many  single  sermons  and  several  valuable  practical  works,  was  distin- 
guished by  pulpit  talents.  He  was  thirty-eight  years  pastor  of  the  congregation  which  originally  met  for 
rehgious  worship  in  Blackfriars,  and  then,  greatly  increasing  under  his  preaching,  which  was  serious  and 
judicious,  solemn  and  striking,  removed  to  Carter  Lane.     He  died  in  his  sixty-fourth  year,  1740. 

Dr.  William  Harris,  who  was  upward  of  forty  years  pastor  of  a  congregation  in  Crutched  Friars,  was  a 
very  acceptable  preacher,  and  the  author,  besides  many  single  sermons,  of  a  volume  of  discourses  on  "  The 
principal  Representations  of  the  Messiah  throughout  the  Old  Testament,"  arid  of  another  called  "Funeral 
Discourses,  in  two  Parts:  containing,  1.  Consolation  on  the  Death  of  our  Friends;  and,  2.  Preparation  for 
our  own  Death."  His  compositions  were  laboured  and  finished.  It  was  among  the  excellences  of  his 
character,  that  he  was  scarce  ever  seen  to  be  angry,  was  a  very  great  patron  and  friend  of  young  ministers, 
and  had  a  concern  in  many  great  and  useful  designs  of  a  public  nature.  He  died,  high  in  reputation  and 
usefulness,  May  25,  1740,  aged  sixty-five. 

Dr.  Obadiah  Hughes  "  was  many  years  minister  of  a  congregation  in  Southwark,  from  which  he  re- 
moved to  Westminster.  He  was  an  acceptable  preacher,  and  printed  some  occasional  sermons." — Dr. 
Kippis's  Life  of  Dr.  Lardner. 

Dr.  Jeremiah  Hunt,  of  Pinners'  Hall,  was  a  most  respectable  character,  a  man  of  extensive  learning  and 
profound  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  ;  he  pubhshed  many  occasional  sermons,  and  "  An  Essay  towards 
explaining  the  History  of  the  Revelations  of  Scripture."    He  died  5th  of  September,  1744,  aged  sixty-seven. 

Mr.  Joshua  Bayes  was  pastor  of  the  congregation  in  Hatton  Garden. 

Mr.  John  Newman  was  for  many  years  one  of  the  most  celebrated  preachers  in  the  city  of  London,  who 
delivered,  to  crowded  audiences,  long  and  laboured  sermons  without  any  assistance  of  notes.  He  was  firs'" 
assistant  to  Mr.  Nathaniel  Taylor,  and  then  copastor  with  Mr.  William  Tong,  at  Salters'  Hall ;  appearing  in 
the  same  place  for  five-and-forty  years,  with  great  credit  and  comfort,  and  died  while  he  was  esteemed  and 
beloved,  in  full  reputation  and  usefulness,  much  missed  and  lamented,  in  his  sLxty-iifth  year,  July  25,  1741 

Dr.  Jabez  Earle,  a  classical  scholar,  remarkable  for  a  vivacity  and  cheerfulness  of  temper,  which  nevei 
forsook  him  to  the  last,  was  for  near  seventy  years  a  noted  minister  in  London.  He  preached  to  the  last 
Sunday  in  his  Ufe,  and  died  in  his  chair  without  a  groan  or  sigh,  aged  ninety-two.  He  was  pastor  of  a  con- 
gregation at  Long-acre,  and  one  of  the  Tuesday  lecturers  at  Salters'  Hall.  He  printed,  besides  several  ser- 
mons, a  little  tract  called  Sacramental  Exercises  ;  and  in  the  second  edition  of  the  "  Biographia  Britannica," 
under  the  article  Amory ,  there  is  a  small  copy  of  verses  which  he  sent  to  his  friend  Dr.  Harris,  on  their  both 
receiving  diplomas  from  a  Scotch  university. 

Mr.  Moses  Lowman,  more  than  forty  years  minister  of  a  congregation  at  Clapham,  Surrey,  to  a  great 
character  for  general  literature  added  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  Jewish  learning  and  antiquities.  His 
treatise  on  the  civil  government  of  the  Hebrews,  another  on  the  ritual  of  that  people,  and  a  commentary  on 
the  Revelations,  have  been  held  in  liigh  estimation.  A  small  piece  drawn  up  by  him,  in  the  mathematical 
form,  to  prove  the  unity  and  perfections  of  God  a  priori,  was  called  by  Dr.  Chandler  a  truly  golden  treatise, 
and  asserted  to  be  a  strict  demonstration.  After  his  decease  there  appeared  from  the  press  tlii-ee  tracts  on 
the  Shechinah  and  Logos,  published  from  his  MSS.  by  Dr.  Chandler,  Dr.  Lardner,  and  Mr.  Sandercock. 
He  reached  the  age  of  seventy-two,  and  died  May  3,  1752. 

Dr.  Benjamin  Grosvenor  was  a  minister  in  London,  of  distinguished  reputation,  upward  of  fifty  years.  A 
singular  acumen,  lively  imagination,  and  warm  devotion  of  heart,  characterized  his  discourses,  which  were 
deUvered  with  a  graceful  utterance.  He  was  born  in  London,  1st  January,  1675;  was  chosen  minister  to 
the  congregation  in  Crosby  Square  in  1704,  which  he  soon  raised  into  a  flourishing  church  and  crowded  au- 
ditory ;  and  in  1716  he  was  elected  one  of  the  six  preachers  at  the  Merchants'  lecture  at  Salters'  Hall.  In 
1749  he  retired  from  all  public  services,  and  died  August  27th,  1758,  in  the  eighty-third  year  of  his  age. 
He  published  many  single  sermons;  the  most  distinguished  of  which  was  one  on  "  The  Temper  of  Jesus 
towards  his  Enemies,"  which  was  reprinted  at  Cambridge  so  lately  as  the  year  1758  ;  it  was  a  transcript  of 
his  own  heart  and  life ;  "  An  Essay  on  Health,"  and  an  excellent  treatise  entitled  "  The  Mourner,"  both 
of  which  have  passed  through  several  editions,  and  will  contmue  to  be  memorials  of  liis  genius,  learning, 
and  spirit.  Of  the  latter  the  following  passage  in  his  diary  is  an  amiable  specimen :  "  I  thank  God,"  says 
he,  "for  that  temper  of  mind  and  genius  which  has  made  it  natural  for  me  to  have  an  aversion  to  bigotry. 
This  has  improved  constantly  with  my  knowledge  ;  and  the  enlarging  my  mind  towards  those  who  differ 
from  me  has  kept  pace  with  my  illumination  and  intellectual  improvements.  'Agree  to  differ'  is  a  good 
motto.  The  reason  and  loveliness  of  such  a  friendly  disposition  would  recommend  it,  and  I  am  persuaded 
people  would  almost  take  it  of  themselves,  if  it  were  not  for  the  several  arts  used  to  prevent  it." 

Mr.  Thomas  Leavesly  was  for  some  years  minister  of  the  Old  Jewry  in  London. 

Mr.  Joseph  Burroughs  was  a  learned  and  judicious  divine  ;  of  which,  not  only  the  sermon  in  the  above 
collection,  but  a  volume  of  sermons  published  in  1741,  and  "A  View  of  Popeiy,"  taken  from  the  creed  of 
Pope  Pius  IV.,  afford  ample  proof  He  was  also  the  author  of  several  single  sermons,  and  of  "  Two  Dis- 
courses relating  to  Positive  Institutions,"  which  brought  on  a  controversy  between  him  and  the  worthy 
Dr.  Caleb  Fleming  on  the  mode  and  subject  of  baptism.  He  was  fifty-two  years  connected  with  the  gen- 
eral Baptist  congregation  in  Barbican,  London,  first  as  an  assistant  to  the  Rev.  Richard  Allen,  and  from  the 
year  1717,  as  pastor,  to  November  23,  1761,  when  he  died,  in  the  seventy-seventh  year  of  his  age ;  having 
supported,  through  so  long  a  life,  the  character  of  the  steady  friend  to  liberty  and  free  inquiry,  of  a  zealous 
advocate  for  the  importance  of  the  Christian  revelation,  and  of  the  strenuous  promoter  of  every  scheme  that 
tended  to  advance  the  common  interests  of  religion,  as  well  as  those  which  were  particularly  calculated  for 
the  benefit  of  Baptist  societies  ;  while  through  the  greatest  part  of  this  period  he  had  as  a  minister  served 
the  church  with  which  he  was  united  with  the  greatest  lidehty,  affection,  and  zeal. 

The  length  of  this  note  might  appear  to  require  an  apology,  were  not  the  names  to  whose  memory  it  is 
devoted  too  eminent  in  their  day  to  be  passed  over  without  some  respectful  notice.  Several  of  the  prece- 
ding gentlemen,  viz.,  the  Drs.  Grosvenor,  Wright,  and  Evans,  and  Mr.  Lowman,  were  engaged  in  the  years 
1716,  1717,  1718,  with  Dr.  Avery  and  Mr.  Simon  Brown,  in  a  valuable  pubhcation,  entitled,  "  The  Occa- 
sional Paper,"  a  work  sacred  to  the  cause  of  religious  liberty,  free  inquiry',  and  charity. 

*  It  is  proper  to  add,  that  this  defence  of  Protestantism  did  not  terimnate  with  the  delivery  of  the  ser- 


.MR.   DANIEL  NEAL.  xxiii 

In  the  year  1736  came  out  the  third  volume  of  the  History  of  the  Puritans  ;  and  Mr. 

Neal's  design  was  completed  by  the  publication  of  the  fourth,  in  the  year  1738,  which 
brought  down  the  history  of  Nonconformity  to  the  Act  of  Toleration  by  King  William 
and  Queen  Mary,  in  the  year  1689.  This  and  Mr.  Neal's  other  historical  works  spread 
his  name  through  the  learned  world,  and  justly  secured  to  him  great  and  permanent 
reputation.  Dr.  Jennings,  speaking  of  them,  says,  "  I  am  satisfied  that  there  is  no  ju- 
dicious and  unprejudiced  person  that  has  conversed  with  the  volumes  he  wrote,  but 
will  acknowledge  he  had  an  excellent  talent  at  writing  history.  His  style  is  most  easy 
and  perspicuous  ;  and  the  judicious  remarks  which  he  leads  his  readers  to  make  upon 
facts  as  they  go  along,  make  his  histories  to  be  not  only  more  entertaining,  but  to  be 
more  instructive  and  useful,  than  most  books  of  that  kind."* 

While  this  work  was  preparing  for  and  going  through  the  press,  part  of  his  time  was 
occupied  in  drawing  up  and  publishing  an  answer  to  Dr.  Maddox,  bishop  of  St.  Asaph, 
who  wrote  a  pretty  long  "  Vindication  of  the  Doctrine,  Discipline,  and  Worship  of  the 
Church  of  England,  established  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  from  the  Injurious 
Reflections  (as  he  was  pleased  to  style  them)  of  Mr.  Neal's  first  volume  of  the  History 
of  the  Puritans."  This  answer  was  entitled,  "A  Review  of  the  Principal  Facts  ob- 
jected to  the  first  volume  of  the  History  of  the  Puritans."  It  was  reckoned  to  be  writ- 
ten with  great  judgment,  and  to  establish  our  historian's  character  for  an  impartial  re- 
gard to  truth.  And  it  was  reasonably  concluded,  from  this  specimen  of  his  powers  of 
defence,  that,  if  his  declining  state  of  health  had  permitted  him,  he  would  have  as  thor- 
oughly vindicated  the  other  volumes  from  the  animadversions  afterward  published 
against  them  by  Dr.  Zachary  Grey. 

The  pleasure  Mr.  Neal  had  in  serving  the  cause  of  religious  liberty  had  carried  him 
through  his  undertaking  with  amazing  alacrity.  But  he  engaged  in  it  at  an  advanced  age, 
and  when  his  health  had  begun  to  decline :  this,  joined  with  the  close  application  he 
gave  to  the  prosecution  of  it,  brought  on  a  lingering  illness,  from  which  he  never  re- 
covered. He  had  been  all  his  life  subject,  in  some  degree,  to  a  lowness  of  spirits,  and 
to  complaints  of  an  indisposition  in  his  head.  His  love  of  study,  and  an  unremitting 
attention  to  the  duties  of  his  office,  rendered  him  averse  to  the  frequent  use  of  any  ex- 
ercise that  took  him  oft'  fi'om  his  books.  In  the  end,  repeated  strokes  of  the  palsey, 
first  gentle  and  then  more  severe,  which  greatly  enfeebled  all  his  powers  both  of  body 
and  mind,  baffled  the  best  advice,  the  aids  of  medicine,  and  repeated  use  of  the  Bath 

mons  from  the  pulpit  at  Salters'  Hall.  Dr.  Chandler  pursued  his  subject  in  "A  second  treatise  on  the  notes 
of  the  Church,"  as  a  supplement  to  his  sermon  at  that  place  on  the  same  subject.  And  Dr.  Harris  Ibl- 
lowed  up  his  sermon  on  transubstantiation  with  "  A  second  discourse,  in  which  the  sixth  chapter  of  St. 
John's  Gospel  is  particularly  considered:  preached  at  the  Merchants'  lecture  at  Salters'  Hall,  April  22, 
1735,"  which  was  reckoned  to  possess  pecuUar  merit.  Mr.  Burroughs  farther  showed  himself  an  able  wri- 
ter, in  the  cause  for  which  the  sermons  were  preached,  by  his  "Review  of  Popery."  The  course  of  lec- 
tures had  not  gone  on  a  month,  when  a  gentleman  or  two  being  in  company  with  a  Romish  priest  at  the 
Pope's-head  tavern  in  Cornhill,  they  became  the  subject  of  conversation ;  and  the  latter  objected,  in  par- 
ticular, against  some  passages  in  Mr.  Barker's  sermon,  as  what  could  not  be  supported  by  proper  vouchers. 
This  brought  on,  by  appointment,  "  Two  conferences  on  the  ~th  and  13th  of  February,  1734-5,  at  the  Bell 
tavern  in  Nicholas  Lane,  on  the  blasphemy  of  many  popish  writers  in  giving,  and  of  popes  in  receiving, 
the  title  of  Our  Lord  God  the  Pope  ;  on  the  doctrines  of  substantiation  ;  praying  to  saints  and  angels  ;  and 
of  denying  the  use  of  the  Scriptures  to  the  laity."  At  the  first  of  these  conferences  twenty  were  present, 
and  the  dispute  was  supported  by  the  Romish  priest.  Dr.  Hunt,  and  a  divine  of  the  Church  of  England  ; 
at  the  second  the  debate  lay  between  the  former  Catholic  gentleman,  Mr.  Morgan,  accompanied  by  Mr. 
Vaughan,  supposed  to  be  a  priest,  and  Dr.  Hunt,  Dr.  Chandler,  and  Mr.  John  Eames,  well  known  to  the 
world  for  his  integrity  and  learning :  Dr.  Talbot  Smith  was  chosen  chairman,  and  the  whole  company  con- 
sisted of  thirty.  A  statement  of  these  disputations  was  soon  published  by  an  anonymous  author,  entitled, 
"Two  Conferences  held,"  &c.  The  Catholic  party  also  gave  a  representation  of  them  to  the  public  in  a 
pamphlet  entitled,  "  The  two  Conferences,  &c.,  truly  stated."  This  brought  out  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Chan- 
dler, "An  account  of  the  Conference  held  in  Nicholas  Lane,  February  13th,  1734-5,  between  two  Romish 
priests  and  some  Protestant  divines,  with  some  remarks  on  the  pamphlet,"  &c.  The  doctor's  account  is 
confined  to  the  second  conference,  because  he  was  not  present  at  the  first. 

Soon  after  these  Salters'  Hall  sermons  were  published,  there  appeared  a  pamphlet  in  1735,  which  m 
1736  ran  to  a  third  edition,  entitled,  "A  Supplement  to  the  Sermons  lately  preached  at  Salters'  Hall 
against  Popery  :  containing  just  and  useful  remarks  on  another  great  corruption  therein  omitted."  The 
author  of  this  tract  was  Mr.  G.  Killingworth,  a  respectable  lay-gentleman  of  Norwich.  The  design  of  it 
was  to  show  that  the  reasoning  of  the  gentlemen  who  preached  those  sermons  aftected,  not  only  the  pa- 
pists, but  themselves,  in  rejecting  the  baptism  of  adult  persons,  and  substituting  in  the  room  thereof  the 
sprinkling  of  infants.  The  author,  with  this  view,  besides  stating  from  the  New  Testament  the  evidence 
in  favour  of  his  own  sentiments,  shrewdly  applied  a  great  number  of  passages  from'the  sermons,  somewhat 
in  the  way  of  a  parody,  to  estabUsh  his  own  conclusion  ;  and  to  prove  that,  if  those  gentlemen  practised  or 
beheved  anything  as  a  part  of  the  religion  of  the  Holy  Jesus  which  could  not  be  plainly  and  clearly  proved 
from  the  New  Testament  (as  he  conceived  that  they  did  in  the  matter  of  sprinkling  of  infants),  they  must 
look  upon  themselves  as  self-condemned,  their  own  arguments  being  a  full  confutation  of  them.  Mr.  Kil- 
lingworth showed  himself  an  able  writer  by  other  pieces  in  favour  of  the  sentunents  for  which  he  was  a 
strenuous  advocate  ;  and  published  also  "  An  Answer"  to  the  late  very  respectable  Mr.  Micajah  Tow- 
food's  tract,  entitled,  "  Infant  Baptism  a  Reasonable  Semce,"  by  way  of  appendix  to  an  examination  of 
Dr.  Forster's  "  Sermon  on  Catholic  Communion."  In  one  of  liis  pieces,  he  likewise  replied  to  the  argu- 
•lents  of  Mr.  Emlyn's  previous  question.  *  Funeral  Sermon,  p.  32. 


xxiv  MEMOIR    OF    THE    LIFE    OF 

waters,  brought  him  to  his  grave,  perfectly  worn  out.  in  the  sixty-fifth  year  of  his  age. 
He  died  April  4th,  1743. 

During  the  declining  state  of  his  health,  Mr.  Neal  applied  to  the  excellent  Dr.  DokI- 
dridge  to  recommend  some  young  minister  as  an  assistant  to  him.  A  gentleman  was 
pointed  out,  and  appeared  in  his  pulpit  with  this  view ;  and  a  letter,  which  on  this  oc- 
casion he  wrote  to  Dr.  Doddridge,  and  which  the  doctor  endorsed  with  this  memoi-aa- 
dum, "  Some  wise  Hints,"  affords  such  an  agreeable  specimen  of  Mr.  Neal's  good  sense, 
candour,  and  prudence,  as  cannot  fail,  we  think,  to  render  it  acceptable  to  our  readers. 

"  Dear  Sir, 

"  Your  letter,  which  I  received  yesterday,  gave  me  a  great  deal  of  agreeable  enter- 
tainment, and  made  me  almost  in  love  with  a  person  that  I  never  saw.  His  character 
is  the  very  picture  of  what  I  should  wish  and  pray  for.  There  is  no  manner  of  excep- 
tion that  I  can  hear  of,  but  that  of  his  dehvery,  which  many,  with  you,  hope  may  be 
conquered,  or  very  much  amended.     All  express  a  very  great  respect  and  value  for 

Mr.  and  his  ministry,  and  are  highly  pleased  with  his  serious  and  affectionate 

manner.  And  I  am  apt  to  think,  when  we  have  heard  him  again,  even  the  thickness 
of  the  pronunciation  of  some  of  his  words  will  in  a  great  measure  vanish ;  it  being 
owing,  in  a  great  measure  (according  to  my  son),  to  not  making  his  under  and  upper 
lip  meet  together ;  but,  be  that  as  it  will,  this  is  all,  and  the  very  worst  that  I  know  of, 
to  use  your  own  expression. 

"  I  wish,  as  much  as  you,  that  the  affair  might  be  speedily  issued ;  but  you  know- 
that  things  of  this  nature,  in  which  many,  and  those  of  a  different  temper,  are  concern- 
ed, must  proceed  with  all  tenderness  and  voluntary  freedom,  without  the  least  shadow 
of  violence  or  imaginary  hurry.  Men  love  to  act  for  themselves,  and  with  spontane- 
ity ;  and,  as  I  have  sometimes  observed,  have  come  at  length  cheerfully  and  volunta- 
rily into  measures  which  they  would  have  opposed  if  they  had  imagined  they  were  to 
be  driven  into  them. 

"  I  don't  mention  this  as  if  it  was  the  present  case,  for  I  can  assure  you  it  is  not ; 
but  to  put  you  in  mind  that  it  may  possibly  not  always  be  for  the  best  to  do  things  too 
hastily  ;  and  therefore  I  hope  you  will  excuse  the  digression.  I  am  exceedingly  ten- 
der of  Mr. 's  character  and  usefulness,  and  therefore  shall  leave  it  to  your  pru- 
dence to  fix  the  day  of  his  coming  up ;  and  you  may  depend  upon  my  taking  all  the 
prudential  steps  in  favour  of  this  affair  that  I  am  master  of.  I  hope  the  satisfaction 
will  be  general,  but  who  can  answer  for  it  beforehand  1  It  has  a  promising  appear- 
ance ;  but,  if  it  comes  out  otherwise,  you  shall  have  a  faithful  account. 

"  I  am  pleased  to  hear  that  Mr. is  under  so  good  an  adviser  as  yourself,  who 

cannot  but  be  apprized  of  the  great  importance  of  this  affair,  both  to  your  academy,  to 
myself,  and  to  the  public  interest  of  the  Dissenters  in  this  city ;  and  I  frankly  declare 
I  don't  know  any  one  place  among  us  in  London  where  he  can  sit  more  easy,  and  en- 
joy the  universal  love  and  affection  of  a  good-natured  people,  which  will  give  him  all 
fitting  encouragement.  We  are  very  thankful  to  you,  sir,  for  the  concern  you  express 
for  us,  and  the  care  you  have  taken  for  our  supply.  I  hope  you  will  have  a  return  from 
above  of  far  greater  blessings  than  this  world  can  bestow,  and  you  may  expect  from 
me  all  suitable  acknowledgments. 

"  Pray  advise  Mr. ,  when  you  see  him,  to  lay  aside  all  undue  concern  from 

his  mind,  and  to  speak  with  freedom  and  ease.  Let  him  endeavour,  by  an  articulate 
pronunciation,  to  make  the  elder  persons  hear,  and  those  that  sit  at  a  greater  distance, 
and  all  will  be  well.  He  has  already  got  a  place  in  the  affections  of  many  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  I  believe  will  quickly  captivate  them  all.  Assure  him  that  he  has  a  candid 
audience,  who  will  not  make  a  man  an  offender  for  a  word.  Let  him  speak  to  the 
heart  and  touch  the  conscience,  and  show  himself  in  earnest  in  his  work,  and  he  will 
certainly  approve  himself  a  workman  that  needs  not  be  ashamed.  I  beg  pardon  for 
these  hints.  Let  not  Mr. impress  his  mind  too  much  with  them.  My  best  re- 
spects attend  your  lady  and  whole  family,  not  forgetting  good  Mr. ,  etc. 

I  am,  sir,  in  haste,  your  affectionate  brother  and  very  humble  servant, 

"  Daniel  Neal.* 

"London,  Saturday  evening,  May  12,  1739. 

"  Brethren,  pray  for  us  !" 

Disease  had,  for  many  months  before  his  death,  rendered  him  almost  entirely  mca- 
pable  of  public  service.  This  induced  him  to  resign  the  pastoral  office  in  the  Novem- 
ber preceding.  The  considerate,  as  well  as  generous  manner  in  which  he  did  it,  wiU 
appear  from  the  following  letter  he  sent  to  the  church  on  that  occasion  : 

*  The  above  letter  was  very  obligingly  communicated  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Stedman,  vicar  of  St.  Chad's^ 
Shrewsbury. 


■EhgraviH  bj    iri>nf>^r  ftrtu    an    Ori^inaL. 


WA^Z'^hwij)   '%i\Ki%%,  h.m 


MR.   DANIEL  NEAL.  xxv 

"  To  the  Church  of  Christ  meeting  in  Jewin-street,  London. 
"  My  dear  Brethren,  and  beloved  in  the  Lord, 

"  God,  in  his  all-wise  providence,  having  seen  meet  for  some  time  to  disable  me  in 
a  great  measure  from  serving-  you  in  the  Gospel  of  his  Son,  and  therein  to  deprive  me 
of  one  of  the  greatest  satisfactions  of  my  life,  I  have  been  waiting  upon  him  in  the  use 
of  means  for  a  considerable  time,  as  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  do.  But,  not  having  found 
such  a  restoration  as  might  enable  me  to  do  stated  service,  it  is  my  duty  to  acquiesce 
in  his  will ;  and,  having  looked  up  to  him  for  direction,  I  think  it  best,  for  your  sakes, 
to  surrender  my  office  of  a  pastor  among  you. 

"  Upon  this  occasion  it  becomes  me  to  make  my  humblest  acknowledgments  to  the 
blessed  God  for  that  measure  of  usefulness  he  has  honoured  me  with  in  the  course  of 
my  labours  among  you  ;  and  I  render  you  all  my  unfeigned  thanks  for  the  many  affec- 
tionate instances  of  your  regard  towards  me. 

"  May  the  Spirit  of  God  direct  you  in  the  choice  of  a  wise  and  able  pastor,  who  may 
have  your  spiritual  and  everlasting  welfare  at  heart.  And,  for  that  end,  beware  of  a 
spirit  of  division  ;  be  ready  to  condescend  to  each  other's  infirmities  ;  keep  together  in 
the  way  of  your  duty,  and  in  waiting  upon  God  for  his  direction  and  blessing  ;  remem- 
ber, this  is  the  distinguishing  mark  of  the  disciples  of  Christ, '  that  they  love  one  an- 
other.' Finally,  my  brethren,  farewell !  Be  of  good  comfort,  and  of  one  mind  ;  live  in 
peace  ;  and  the  God  of  love  and  peace  shall  be  with  you. 

''  I  am  your  aifectionate  well-wisher  and  obedient,  humble  servant, 

"  Daniel  Neal."* 

From  the  first  attack  of  his  long  illness,  it  appears  he  had  serious  apprehensions 
how  it  would  terminate  ;  and  a  letter  written  from  Bath,  in  April,  1739,  to  a  worthy 
friend,!  shows  the  excellent  state  of  his  mind  under  those  view^.. 

"  My  greatest  concern,"  he  says, "  is  to  have  rational  and  solid  expectations  of  a  future 
happiness.  I  would  not  be  mistaken,  nor  build  on  the  sand,  but  would  impress  my 
mind  with  a  firm  belief  of  the  certainty  of  the  future  woi'ld,  and  live  in  a  practical 
preparation  for  it.  I  rely  very  much  on  the  rational  notions  we  have  of  the  moral 
perfections  of  God,  not  only  as  a  just,  but  a  benevolent  and  merciful  Being,  who  knows 
our  frame,  and  will  make  all  reasonable  allowances  for  our  imperfections  and  follies 
in  life  ;  and  not  only  so,  but,  upon  repentance  and  faith  in  Christ,  will  pardon  our  past 
sins,  though  never  so  many  or  great. 

"  In  aid  of  the  imperfection  of  our  rational  notions,  I  am  very  thankful  for  the  glori- 
ous truths  of  Gospel  revelation,  which  are  an  additional  superstructure  on  the  other: 
for,  though  we  can  believe  nothing  contrary  to  our  reason,  we  have  a  great  many  ex- 
cellent and  comfortable  discoveries  built  upon  and  superadded  to  it.  Upon  this  double 
foundation  would  I  build  all  my  expectations,  with  an  humble  and  awful  reverence  of 
the  majesty  of  the  great  Judge  of  all  the  earth,  and  a  fiducial  reliance  on  the  mercy 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  eternal  life.  In  this  frame  of  mind,  I  desire  to  fear  God, 
and  keep  his  commandments." 

In  all  his  sensible  intervals,  during  his  last  illness,  he  enjoyed  an  uncommon  seren- 
ity of  mind,  and  behaved  becoming  a  Christian  and  a  minister.^ 

This  peaceful  state  of  mind  and  comfortable  hope  he  possessed  to  the  last.i^  About 
a  month  before  his  death,  he  appeared  to  his  fellow-worshippers,  at  the  Lord's  Supper, 
with  an  air  so  extraordinarily  serious  and  heavenly  as  made  some  present  say,  "  He 
looked  as  if  he  were  not  long  for  this  world." 

The  preceding  particulars  and  his  writings  will,  in  part,  enable  the  reader  to  form  for 

*  From  the  MS.  account. 

t  This  friend  was  Dr.  Henry  Miles,  an  eminent  Dissenting  minister  at  Tooting,  in  Surrey,  and  a  respect- 
able member  of  the  Royal  Society,  who  died  February  10,  1763,  in  the  sixty -fifth  year  of  his  age.  He  was 
a  native  of  Stroud,  in  Gloucestershire.  His  knowledge  in  natural  history,  botany,  and  experimental  philos- 
ophy, for  which  he  had  a  remarkable  taste,  occasioned  liis  being  elected  a  member  of  the  Royal  Society  in 
1743,  in  the  transactions  of  which  appear  several  papers  from  his  pen ;  and  Dr.  Birch,  in  the  preface  to  his 
fine  edition  of  Mr.  Boyle's  works,  handsomely  says,  that  the  conduct  and  improvement  of  that  edition  were 
chiefly  to  be  ascribed  to  the  great  labour,  judgment,  and  sagacity  of  the  learned  Mr.  Miles,  and  that  to  him 
the  puplic  owed  considerable  additions  never  before  pubhshed.  Besides  this,  he  could  never  be  prevailed 
upon  to  publish  more  than  a  single  sermon,  preached  at  the  Old  Jewry,  on  occasion  of  a  public  charity,  in 
1738.  He  was  a  hard  student.  His  preparations  for  the  pulpit  cost  liim  incessant  labour ;  and,  for  a  course 
of  thirty  years,  he  constantly  rose,  two  days  in  the  week,  at  two  or  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  to  com- 
pose his  sermons.  He  lived  like  an  excellent  Christian  and  minister :  his  behaviour  was  on  all  occasions 
that  of  a  gentleman ;  the  simplicity  of  his  spirit  and  manners  was  very  remarkable ;  his  conversation  in- 
structive and  entertaining ;  his  countenance  was  always  open,  mild,  and  amiable ;  and  his  carriage  so  con- 
descending and  courteous,  even  to  his  inferiors,  as  plainly  discovered  a  most  humane  and  benevolent  heart. 
He  was  the  friend  of  Dr.  Laidner  and  Dr.  Doddridge ;  and,  in  the  correspondence  of  the  latter,  published 
by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Stedman,  there  are  several  of  his  letters.  See  also  Dr.  Furneaux's  Funeral  Sermon  for 
Dr.  Miles.  %  Letters  to  and  from  Dr.  Doddridge,  1790,  p,  358. 

^  Dr.  Jennings's  Funeral  Sermon,  and  the  MS.  account. 

Vol  I.— D 


CONTENTS 


OF 


THE    FIRST    VOLUME. 


Page 

Editorial  Preface v 

Preface  to  Vol.  I.  of  the  Original  Edition        .  ii 
Advertisement  to  Vol.  I.  of  Dr.  Toulmin's  Edi- 
tion          xvi 

Memoir  of  the  Author xvii 

PART  I. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS  FROM  THE  ACCESSION 
OF  HENRY  VIII.  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  QOEEN  ELIZ- 
ABETH, A.D.  1509-1602. 

CHAPTER  I, 
Reign  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  A.D.  1509-1547    .      29 

CHAPTER  n. 

Reign   of  King  Edward  the   Sixth,  A.D. 
1547-1553       


43 


CHAPTER  m. 
Reign  of  Queen  Mary,  A.D.  1553-1559 

'CHAPTER  IV. 
From  the  beginning  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign 
to  the  separation  of  the  Protestant  Noncon- 
formists, A.D.  1558-156G        .... 

CHAPTER  V. 

From  the  separation  of  the  Protestant  Noncon- 
formists to  the  death  of  Archbishop  Parker, 
A.D.  1566-1575 \  . 

CHAPTER  VI. 
From  the  death  of  Archbishop  Parker  to  the 
death  of  Archbishop  Grindal,  A.D.  1575-1585 

CHAPTER  VII. 

From  the  death  of  Archbishop  Grindal  to  the 
Spanish  invasion  in  1588       .... 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
From  the  Spanish  invasion  to  the  death  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  A.D.  1588-1602 


57 


71 


106 


139 


156 


188 


Pjreface  to  Vol.  II.  of  the  Original  Edition 
Advertisement  to  Vol.  II.  of  Dr.  Toulmin's  Edi- 
tion         

pArt  II. 


219 
225 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS  FROM  THE  DEATH  OF 
QUEEN  ELIZABETH  TO  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE 
CIVIL   WAR   IN   THE  YEAR   1642. 

CHAPTER  1. 
From  the  death  of  Queen  Elizabeth  to  the 
death  of  Archbishop  Bancroft,  A.D.  1603-1610    227 


CHAPTER  H. 

From  the  death  of  Archbishop  Bancroft  to  the 
death  of  King  James  I.,  A.D.  1610-1625 


Stat 


256 


CHAPTER  HI. 
From  the  death  of  King  James  I.  to  the  dis- 
solution  of  the  third   Parliament  of  King 
Charles  I.  in  the  year  1628    ....    278 

CHAPTER  IV. 
From  the  dissolution  of  the  third  Parliament  of 
King  Charles  I.  to  the  death  of  Archbishop 
Abbot,  A.D,  1628-1633 297 

CH.A.PTER  V. 

From  the  death  of  Archbishop  Abbot  to  the 
beginning  of  the  commotions  in  Scotland  in 
the  year  1637 310 

CHAPTER  VI. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  commotions  in  Scot- 
land to  the  Long  Parliament  in  the  year  1640    334 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  character  of  the  Long  ParUament.— Their 
arguments  against  the  late  convocation  and 
canons.— Impeachment  of  Dr.  William  Laud, 
archbishop  of  Canterbury.  —  Votes  of  the 
House  of  Commons  against  the  promoters 
of  the  late  innovations 350 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
The  antiquity  of  liturgies,  and  of  the  episco- 
pal order,  debated  between  Bishop  Hall  and 
Smectymnuus. — Petitions  for  and  against 
the  hierarchy.— Root  and  branch  petition. — 
The  ministers'  petition  for  reformation. — 
Speeches  upon  the  petition. — Proceedings 
against  papists 363 

CHAPTER  IX. 

From  the  impeachment  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford 
to  the  recess  of  the  Parliament  upon  the 
king's  progress  into  Scotland,  A.D.  1640^1      374 

CHAPTER  X. 

From  the  reassembling  of  the  Parliament  to 
the  king's  leaving  his  palace  of  Whitehall, 
January  10, 1641-2 395 

CHAPTER  XI. 
From  the  king's  leaving  V^Tiitehall  to  the  be- 
ginning of  the  civil  war,  A.D.  1642        .        .    409 

CHAPTER  Xn. 

The  state  of  the  Church  of  England.— Reli- 
gious character  of  both  parties.— Summary 
of  the  ground  of  the  civil  war        .        .        .    423 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


CHAPTER  I. 


REIGN   OF   HENRY   VIII. 


King  William  the  Conqueror,  having  got  pos- 
session of  the  crown  of  England  by  the  assist- 
ance of  the  See  of  Rome,  and  King  John  hav- 
ing afterward  sold  it  in  his  wars  with  the  bar- 
ons, the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  English 
clergy  were  delivered  up  into  the  hands  of  the 
pope,  who  taxed  them  at  his  pleasure,  and  in 
process  of  time  drained  the  kingdom  of  immense 
treasures ;  for,  besides  all  his  other  dues,  arising 
from  annates,  first-fruits,  Peter-pence,  &c.,  he 
extorted  large  sums  of  money  from  the  clergy 
for  their  preferments  in  the  Church.  He  ad- 
vanced foreigners  to  the  richest  bishoprics,  who 
never  resided  in  their  diocesses,  nor  so  much 
as  set  foot  upon  English  ground,  but  sent  for  all 
their  profits  to  a  foreign  country  ;  nay,  so  cov- 
etous was  his  holiness,  that,  before  livings  be- 
came void,  he  sold  them  provisionally  among 
his  Italians,  insomuch  that  neither  the  king  nor 
the  clergy  had  anything  to  dispose  of,  but  every- 
thing was  bargained  for  beforehand  at  Rome. 
This  awakened  the  resentments  of  the  Legisla- 
ture, who,  in  the  twenty-fifth  year  of  Edward 
ni.,  passed  an  act,  called  the  stafute  of  provi- 
sors,  to  establish  "  that  the  king  and  other 
lords  shall  present  unto  benefices  of  their  own, 
or  their  ancestors'  foundation,  and  not  the  Bishop 
of  Rome."  This  act  enacted  "  that  all  forestall- 
ing of  benefices  to  foreigners  shall  cease  ;  and 
that  the  free  elections,  presentments,  and  colla- 
tions of  benefices,  shall  stand  in  right  of  the 
crown,  or  of  any  of  his  majesty's  subjects,  as 
they  had  formerly  enjoyed  them,  notwithstand- 
ing any  provisions  from  Rome." 

But  still  the  power  of  the  court  of  Rome  ran 
very  high,  for  they  brought  all  the  trials  of  titles 
to  advowsons  into  their  own  courts  beyond 
sea ;  and  though  by  the  seventh  of  Richard  H. 
the  power  of  nomination  to  benefices,  without 
the  king's  license,  was  taken  from  them,  they 
still  claimed  the  benefit  of  confirmations,  of 
translations  of  bishops,  and  of  excommunica- 
tions ;  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury  and  York 
might  still,  by  virtue  of  bulls  from  Rome,  as- 
semble the  clergy  of  their  several  provinces,  at 
what  time  and  place  they  thought  fit,  without 
leave  obtained  from  the  crown  ;  and  all  the  can- 
ons and  constitutions  concluded  upon  in  those 
synods  were  binding,  without  any  farther  ratifi- 
cation from  the  king  ;  so  that  the  power  of  the 
Church  was  independent  of  the  civil  govern- 
ment. This  being  represented  to  the  Parlia- 
ment of  the  sixteenth  of  Richard  H.,  they  pass- 
ed the  statute  commonly  called  prcemumre,  by 
■which  it  was  enacted,  "  that  if  any  did  purchase 
translations  to  benefices,  processes,  sentences 
of  excommunication,  bulls,  or  any  other  instru- 
ments from  the  court  of  Rome,  against  the  king 
or  his  crown ;  or  whoever  brought  them  into 


England,  or  did  receive  or  execute  them,  they 
were  declared  to  be  out  of  the  king's  protection, 
and  should  forfeit  their  goods  and  chattels  to  the 
king,  and  should  be  attached  by  their  bodies,  if 
they  may  be  found,  and  brought  before  the  king 
and  council  to  answer  to  the  cases  aforesaid ; 
or  that  process  should  be  made  against  them, 
by  ■pramunirc  facias,  in  manner  as  it  is  ordained 
in  other  statutes  of  provisors  ;  and  other  which 
do  sue  in  any  other  court  in  derogation  of  the 
regality  of  the  king."*  From  this  time  the  arch- 
bishops called  no  more  convocations  by  their 
sole  authority,  but  by  license  from  the  king  ; 
their  synods  being  formed  by  writ  or  precept  from 
the  crown,  directed  to  the  archbishops,  to  as- 
semble their  clergy,  in  order  to  consult  upon  such 
affairs  as  his  majesty  should  lay  before  them. 
But  still  their  canons  were  binding,  though  con- 
firmed by  no  authority  but  their  own,  till  the 
act  of  submission  of  the  clergy  took  place. 

About  this  time  flourished  the  famous  John 
WicklifTe,  the  morning-star  of  the  Reformation. 
He  was  born  at  WicklifTe,  near  Richmond,  in 
Yorkshire, t  about  the  year  1324,  and  was  edu- 

*  Fuller's  Church  History-,  book  iv.,  p.  145-148. 

t  See  the  very  valuable  Life  of  WicklifTe,  pubUsh- 
ed  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Lewis,  of  Margate,  which  begins 
thus :  "  John  de  WicklifTe  was  born,  very  probably, 
about  the  year  1324,  in  the  parish  of  WicklifTe,  near 
Richmond,  in  Yorkshire,  and  was  first  admitted  com- 
moner of  Queen's  College,  Oxford,  then  newly  found- 
ed by  Robert  Egglesfield,  S.T.B.,but  was  soon  after 
removed  to  Merton  College,  where  he  was  first  pro- 
bationer and  afterward  fellow.  He  was  advanced  to 
the  professor's  chair,  1372.  It  appears  by  this  inge- 
nious writer,  as  well  as  by  the  Catalogus  Testium, 
that  WicklifTe  was  for  'rejecting  all  human  rites, 
and  new  shadows  or  traditions  in  religion ;  and  with 
regard  to  the  identity  nf  the  order  of  bishops  and  priests 
in  the  apostolic  age,'  he  is  very  positive.  Unum  au- 
dacter  assero,  one  thing  I  boldly  assert,  that  in  the 
primitive  Church,  or  in  the  time  of  the  Apostle  Paul, 
two  orders  of  clergy  were  thought  sufficient,  viz., 
priest  and  deacon ;  and  I  do  also  say,  that  in  the  time 
of  Pa.\l[,fuit  idem  presbyter  atque  episcoptis,  a  priest 
and  a  bishop  were  one "  and  the  same :  for  in  those 
times  the  distinct  orders  of  pope,  cardinals,  patriarchs, 
archbishops,  bishops,  archdeacons,  officials,  and  deans 
were  not  invented." 

Mr.  Neal's  review  of  the  first  volume  of  the  Histo- 
ry of  the  Puritans,  subjoined  to  the  quarto  edition  of 
this  history,  vol.  i.,  p.  890.— En. 

To  Mr.  Neal's  account  of  WicklifTe's  sentiments,  it 
may  be  added,  that  he  advanced  some  tenets  which 
not  only  symbolize  with,  but  directly  led  to,  the  pe- 
culiar opinions  of  those  who,  called  Baptists,  have  in 
subsequent  ages  formed  a  large  body  of  dissenters, 
viz., "  that  wise  men  leave  that  as  impertinent  which 
is  not  plainly  expressed  in  Scripture ;  that  those  are 
fools  and  presumptuous  which  affirm  such  infants 
not  to  be  saved  which  die  without  baptism  ;  that  bap- 
tism doth  not  confer,  but  only  signify  grace,  which 
was  given  before.  He  also  denied  that  all  sins  are 
abolished  in  baptism ;  and  asserted  that  children  may 
be  saved  without  baptism ;  and  that  the  baptism  of 
water  profiteth  not,  without  the  baptism  of  the  Spir 


30 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


cated  in  Queen's  College,  Oxford,  where  he  was 
divinity  professor,  and  afterward  pastor  of  Lut- 
terworth in  Leicestershire.  He  flourished  in  the 
latter  end  of  the  reign  of  King  Edward  III.  and  the 
beginning  of  Richard  II.,  about  one  hundred  and 
thirty  years  before  the  Reformation  of  Luther. 
The'University  gave  this  testimonial  of  him  af- 
ter his  death :  "  That,  from  his  youtli  to  the  time 
of  his  death,  his  conversation  was  so  praisewor- 
tliy,  that  there  was  never  any  spot  or  suspicion 
noised  of  him;  that  in  his  reading  and  preach- 
ing he  behaved  like  a  stout  and  valiant  champion 
of  the  faith  ;  and  that  he  had  written  in  logic, 
philosophy,  divinity,  morality,  and  the  specula- 
tive arts,  without  an  equal."  While  he  was  di- 
vinity professor  at  Oxford,  he  published  certain 
conclusions  —  against  transubstantiation  and 
against  the  infallibility  of  the  pope;  that  the 
Church  of  Rome  was  not  the  head  of  all  other 
churches  ;  nor  had  St.  Peter  the  power  of  the 
keys  any  more  than  the  rest  of  the  apostles  ; 
that  the  New  Testament,  or  Gospel,  is  a  per- 
fect rule  of  life  and  manners,  and  ought  to  be 
read  by  the  people.*  He  maintained,  farther, 
most  of  those  points  by  which  the  Puritans  were 
afterward  distinguished  ;  as,  that  in  the  sacra- 
ment of  orders  there  ought  to  be  but  two  de- 
grees, presbyters  or  bishops  and  deacons  ;  that 
all  human  traditions  are  superfluous  and  sinful ; 
that  we  must  practise  and  teach  only  the  laws 
of  Christ ;  that  mystical  and  significant  cere- 
monies in  religious  worship  are  unlawful ;  and 
that  to  restrain  men  to  a  prescribed  form  of 
prayer  is  contrary  to  the  liberty  granted  them 
by  God.  These,  with  some  other  of  Wickliffe's 
doctrines  against  the  temporal  grandeur  of  the 
prelates  and  their  usurped  authority,  were  sent 
to  Rome  and  condemned  by  Pope  Gregory  XL, 
in  a  consistory  of  twenty-tliree  cardinals,  in  the 
year  1378.  But  the  pope  dying  soon  after,  put 
a  stop  to  the  process.  Urban,  his  successor, 
wrote  to  young  King  Richard  II.  and  to  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  the  University 
of  Oxford,  to  put  a  stop  to  the  progress  of 
Wickliflism;  accordingly,  Wickliffe  was  cited 
before  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  his 
brethren,  the  prelates,  several  times,  but  was 
always  dismissed,  either  by  the  interest  of  the 
citizens  of  London,  or  the  powerful  interposi- 
tion of  some  great  lords  at  court,  or  some  other 
uncommon  providence,  which  terrified  the  bish- 
ops from  passing  a  peremptory  sentence  against 
him  for  a  considerable  time  ;  but  at  length  his 
new  doctrines,  as  they  were  called,  were  con- 
demned, in  a  convocation  of  bishops,  doctors, 
and  bachelors,  held  at  London  by  the  command- 
ment of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  1382,  and 
he  was  deprived  of  his  professorship,  his  books 
and  writings  were  ordered  to  be  burned  and 
himself  to  be  imprisoned;  but  he  kept  out  of  the 
way,  and  in  the  time  of  his  retirement  wrote  a 
confession  of  his  faith  to  the  pope,  in  which  he 
declares  himself  willing  to  maintain  his  opinions 
at  Rome,  if  God  had  not  otherwise  visited  him 
with  sickness  and  other  infirmities  :  but  it  was 
well  for  this  good  man  that  there  were  two  anti- 
popes  at  this  time  at  war  with  each  other,  one 
at  Rome,  and  the  other  at  Avignon.  In  Eng- 
land, also,  there  was  a  minority,  which  was  fa- 

it."— Fuller's  Church  History,  b.  iv.,  p.  130.     Trialo- 
gus,  lib.  iv.,  cap.  i. — Ed. 

*  Fox's  Martyrol.    Pierce's  Vindicat.,  p.  4,  5. 


vourable  to  Wickliffe,  insomuch  that  he  ven- 
tured out  of  his  retirement,  and  returned  to  hia 
parish  at  Lutterworth,  where  he  quietly  depart- 
ed this  life,  in  the  year  1384.  This  Wickliffe 
was  a  wonderful  man  for  the  times  in  which  he 
lived,  which  were  overspread  with  the  thickest 
darkness  of  anti-Christian  idolatry;  he  was  the 
first  that  translated  the  New  Testament  into 
English  ;  but  the  art  of  printing  not  being  then 
found  out,  it  hardly  escaped  the  inquisition  of 
the  prelates  ;  at  least,  it  was  very  scarce  when 
Tyndal  translated  it  a  second  time  in  1526.  He 
preached  and  published  the  very  same  doctrines 
for  substance  that  afterward  obtained  at  the  Ref- 
ormation ;  he  wrote  near  two  hundred  volumes, 
all  which  were  called  in,  condemned,  and  order- 
ed to  be  burned,  together  with  his  bones,  by  the 
Council  of  Constance,  in  the  year  1425,  forty- 
one  years  after  his  death  ;  but  his  doctrine  re- 
mained, and  the  number  of  his  disciples,  who 
were  distinguished  by  the  name  of  Lollards,  in- 
creased after  his  decease,*  which  gave  occasion 
to  the  making  sundry  other  severe  laws  against 
heretics. 

The  clergy  made  their  advantage  of  the  con- 
tentions between  the  houses  of  York  and  Lan- 
caster ;  both  parties  courting  their  assistance, 
which  they  did  not  fail  to  make  use  of  for  the 
support  of  the  Catholic  faith,  as  they  called  it, 
and  the  advancement  of  their  spiritual  tyranny 
over  the  consciences  of  men.  In  the  primitive 
times  there  were  no  capital  proceedings  against 
heretics,  the  weapons  of  the  Church  being  only 
spiritual ;  but  when  it  was  found  that  ecclesi- 
astical censures  were  not  sufficient  to  keep  men 
in  a  blind  subjection  to  the  pope,  a  decree  was 
obtained  in  the  fourth  Council  of  Lateran,  A.D. 
1215,  "that  all  heretics  should  be  delivered 
over  to  the  civil  magistrate  to  be  burned." 
Here  was  the  spring  of  that  anti-Christian  tyr- 
anny and  oppression  of  the  consciences  of  men 
which  has  since  been  attended  with  a  sea  of 
Christian  blood  :  the  papists  learned  it  from  the 
heathen  emperors,  and  the  most  zealous  Prot- 
estants of  all  nations  have  taken  it  up  from 
them.  Conscience  cannot  be  convinced  by 
fines  and  imprisonments,  or  by  fire  and  fagot ; 
all  attempts  of  this  kind  serve  only  to  make 
men  hypocrites,  and  are  deservedly  branded 
with  the  name  of  persecution.  There  was  no 
occasion  for  putting  these  sanguinary  laws  ia 
execution  among  us  till  the  latter  end  of  the 
fourteenth  century;  but  when  the  Lollards,  or 
followers  of  Wickliffe,  threatened  the  papal  pow- 
er, the  clergy  brought  this  Italian  drug  from 
Rome,  and  planted  it  in  the  Church  of  England. 

In  the  fifth  year  of  Richard  II.,  it  was  enacted 
"  that  all  that  preached  without  license  against 
the  Catholic  faith,  or  against  the  laws  of  the 
land,  should  be  arrested,  and  kept  in  prison  till 
they  justified  themselves  according  to  the  law 
and  reason  of  Holy  Church.  Their  commitment 
was  to  be  by  writ  from  the  chancellor,  who  was 
to  issue  forth  commissions  to  the  sheriffs  and 
other  the  king's  ministers,  after  the  bishops  had 


*  Knighton,  a  canon  of  Leicester  and  a  contempo- 
rary of  Wickliffe,  tells  us  that  in  the  year  1382  "  their 
number  very  much  increased,  and  that,  starting  Uke 
saplings  from  the  root  of  a  tree,  they  were  multiplied, 
and  filled  every  place  within  the  compass  of  the 
land."— i)r.  Vaughan's  Life  of  Wickliffe,  vol.  ii.,  p  154» 
2d  edition. — C. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


31 


returned  the  names  of  the  delinquents  into  the 
Court  of  Chancery. 

When  Richard  II.  was  deposed,  and  the 
crown  usurped  by  Henry  IV.,  in  order  to  gain 
the  good- will  of  the  clergy,  it  was  farther  en- 
acted, in  the  second  year  of  his  reign,  "  that  if 
any  person  were  suspected  of  heresy,  the  ordi- 
nary might  detain  them  in  prison  till  they  were 
canonically  purged,  or  did  abjure  their  errors; 
provided,  always,  that  the  proceedings  against 
them  were  publicly  and  judicially  ended  within 
three  months.  If  they  were  convicted,  the  dio- 
cesan, or  his  commissary,  might  imprison  and 
fine  theoi  at  discretion.  Those  that  refused  to 
abjure  their  error,  or,  after  abjuration,  relapsed, 
were  to  be  delivered  over  to  the  secular  power, 
and  the  mayors,  sheriffs,  or  bailiffs,  were  to  be 
present,  if  required,  when  the  bishop,  or  his 
commissary,  passed  sentence,  and  after  sen- 
tence they  were  to  receive  them,  and  in  some 
high  place  burn  them  to  death  before  the  peo- 
ple." By  this  law  the  king's  subjects  were  put 
from  under  his  protection,  and  left  to  the  mercy 
of  the  bishops  in  their  spiritual  courts,  and 
might,  upon  suspicion  of  heresy,  be  imprisoned 
and  put  to  death,  without  presentment  or  trial 
by  jury,  as  is  the  practice  in  all  other  criminal 
cases. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Henry  V., 
who  was  a  martial  prince,  a  new  law  passed 
against  the  Lollards  or  Wickliffites,*  "that  they 
should  forfeit  all  the  lands  they  had  in  fee-sim- 
ple, and  all  their  goods  and  chattels  to  the  king. 
All  state  officers,  at  their  entrance  into  office, 
were  sworn  to  use  their  best  endeavours  to  dis- 
cover them,  and  to  assist  the  ordinaries  in 
prosecuting  and  convicting  them."  I  find  no 
mention,  in  any  of  these  acts,  of  a  writ  or  war- 
rant from  the  king,  de  hczretico  comburcndo ;  the 
sheriff  might  proceed  to  the  burning  of  heretics 
without  it ;  but  it  seems  the  king's  learned 
counsel  advised  him  to  issue  out  a  writ  of  this 
kind  to  the  sheriff,  by  which  his  majesty  took 
them,  in  some  sort,  under  his  protection  again ; 
but  it  was  not  as  yet  necessary  by  law,  nor  are 
there  any  of  them  to  be  found  in  the  rolls  before 
the  reign  of  King  Henry  VIII. 

By  virtue  of  these  statutes,  the  clergy,  accord- 


*  It  marks  the  profaneness,  as  well  as  cruelty  of 
the  act  here  quoted  by  Mr.  Neal,  that  it  was  not  di- 
rected merely  against  the  avowed  followers  of  Wick- 
liffe,  as  such,  but  against  the  perusal  of  the  Scrip- 
tures in  English :  for  it  enacted,  "  that  whatsoever 
they  were  that  should  read  the  Scriptures  in  the 
mother  tongue  (which  was  then  called  Wideue's 
learning),  they  should  forfeit  land,  catel,  lif,  and 
godes,  for  theyr  heyres  forever,  and  so  be  condemp- 
ned  for  heretykes  to  God,  enemies  to  the  crowne, 
and  most  arrant  traitors  to  the  lande."  —  Emhjn's 
Complete  Collection  of  Stale  Trials,  p.  48,  as  quoted  in 
Dr.  Flemming's  Palladium,  p.  30,  iiote. 

So  great  an  alarm  did  the  doctrine  of  Wickliffe 
rai.se,  and  so  high  did  the  fear  of  its  spread  rise,  that 
by  the  statute  of  5  Rich.  II.  and  2  Hen.  IV.,  c.  15,  it 
was  enacted,  as  part  of  the  sheriff's  oath,  "that  he 
should  seek  to  redress  all  errors  and  heresies,  com- 
monly called  Lollards."  And  it  is  a  striking  instance 
of  the  permanent  footing  which  error  and  absurdity, 
and  even  iniquity  gain,  when  once  estabhshed  by 
law,  that  this  clause  was  preserved  in  the  oath  long 
after  the  Reformation,  even  to  the  first  of  Charles  I., 
when  Sir  Edward  Coke,  on  being  appointed  sheriff 
of  the  county  of  Buckingham,  objected  to  it,  and  ever 
since  it  has  been  left  out.— TAe  Complete  Sheriff, 
p.  17.— Ed.  ^  ■" 


« 


ing  to  the  genius  of  the  popish  religion,  exer- 
cised  numberless  cruelties  upon  the  people.  If 
any  man  denied  them  any  degree  of  respect,  or 
any  of  those  profits  they  pretended  was  their 
due,  he  was  immediately  suspected  of  heresy, 
imprisoned,  and,  it  may  be,  put  to  death  ;  of 
which  some  hundreds  of  examples  are  upon 
record.* 

Thus  stood  the  laws  with  respect  to  religion, 
when  King  Henry  VIII.,  second  son  of  King 
Henry  VII.,  came  to  the  crown  ;  he  was  bora 
in  the  year  1491,  and  bred  a  scholar:  he  under- 
stood the  purity  of  the  Latin  tongue,  and  was 
well  acquainted  with  school  divinity.  No  sort 
of  flattery  pleased  him  better  than  to  have  his 
wisdom  and  learning  commended.  In  the  be- 
ginning he  was  a  most  obedient  son  of  the  pa- 
pacy, and  employed  his  talents  in  writing  against 
Luther  in  defence  of  the  seven  sacraments  of 
the  Church.  This  book  was  magnified  by  the 
clergy  as  the  most  learned  performance  of  the 
age  ;  and  upon  presenting  it  to  the  pope,  his 
holiness  conferred  upon  the  King  of  England, 
and  his  successors,  the  glorious  title  of  de- 
fender OF  THE  F.iiTH  ;t  It  was  voted  in  full 
consistory,  and  signed  by  twenty-seven  cardi- 
nals, in  the  year  1531.t 

At  the  same  time,  Cardinal  Wolsey,  the  king's 
favourite,  exercised  a  sovereign  power  over  the 
whole  clergy  and  people  of  England  in  spiritual 
matters  :  he  was  made  legate  in  the  year  1519, 
and  accepted  of  a  bull  from  the  pope,  contrary  to 
the  statute  of  prcemunire,  empowering  him  to  su- 
perintend and  correct  what  he  thought  amiss  in 
both  the  provinces  of  Canterbury  and  York, 
and    to    appoint   all   officers    in   the    spiritual 

*  Thus,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  IV.,  John  Keyser 
was  committed  to  jail,  by  Thomas,  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  on  the  suspicion  of  heresy,  because, 
having  been  excommunicated,  he  said  "  that,  not- 
withstanding the  archbishop  or  his  commissary  had 
excommunicated  him,  yet  before  God  he  was  not 
excommunicated,  for  his  corn  yielded  as  well  as  his 
neighbours.'  "  Thus,  also,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VII., 
Hillary  Warner  was  arrested  on  the  charge  of  heresy, 
because  he  said  "  that  he  was  not  bound  to  pay  tithes 
to  the  curate  of  the  parish  where  he  lived." 

Coke's  Institutes,  3  inst.,  p.  42,  quoted  in  a  treatise 
on  heresy  as  cognizable  in  the  spiritual  courts,  p.  22, 
23.— Ed. 

t  Mr.  Fox  observes,  that  though  "this  book  car- 
ried the  king's  name  in  the  title,  it  was  another  who 
ministered  the  notion  and  framed  the  style.  But, 
whoever  had  the  labour  of  the  book,  the  king  had 
the  thanks  and  the  reward." — Acts  and  Monuments  of 
Martyrs,  vol.  ii.,  p.  57.  It  has  been  said  that  the  jester 
at  the  court,  seeing  Henry  overcome  with  joy,  asked 
the  reason ;  and  when  told  that  it  was  because  his 
holiness  had  conferred  upon  him  this  new  title,  he 
replied,  "My  good  Harry,  let  me  and  thee  defend 
each  other,  and  let  the  faith  alone  to  defend  itself." 
"  If  this  was  uttered  as  a  serious  joke,"  says  a  writer, 
"  the  fool  was,  undoubtedly,  the  wisest  man  of  the 
two."— C. 

X  "  The  extravagant  praises  which  he  received  for 
this  performance,"  observes  Dr.  Warner,  "meeting 
with  so  much  pride  and  conceitedness  in  his  nature, 
made  him  from  this  time  impatient  of  all"  contradic- 
tions on  reUgioiis  subjects,  and  to  set  up  himself  for 
the  standard  of  truth,  by  which  his  people  were  to 
regulate  their  belief." — Ecclesiastical  History,  vol.  ii., 
p.  228.  We  are  surprised,  in  the  event,  to  see  this 
prince,  who  was  now  "  the  pride  of  popery,  become 
its  scourge."  Such  are  the  fluctuations  in  human 
characters  and  affairs,  and  so  unsearchable  are  the 
ways  of  Providence ! — Ed. 


32 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


•courts.*  The  king  also  granted  him  a  full  pow- 
er of  disposing  of  all  ecclesiastical  benefices  in 
the  gift  of  the  crown ;  with  a  visitatorial  power 
over  monasteries,  colleges,  and  all  his  clergy, 
exempt  or  not  exempt.  By  virtue  of  these 
vast  powers  a  new  court  of  justce  was  erected, 
called  the  legate's  court,  the  jurisdiction  where- 
of extended  to  all  actions  relating  to  conscience, 
and  numberless  rapines  and  extortions  were 
committed  by  it  under  colour  of  reforming  men's 
manners ;  all  which  his  majesty  connived  at, 
out  of  zeal  to  the  Church. 

But  at  length,  the  king,  being  weary  of  his 
Queen  Katharine,  after  he  had  lived  with  her 
almost  twenty  years,  or  being  troubled  in  con- 
science because  he  had  married  his  brother's 
wife,  and  the  legitimacy  of  his  daughter  had 
been  caUed  in  question  by  some  foreign  princes, 
lie  first  separated  from  her  bed,  and  then  mo- 
ved the  pope  for  a  divorce ;  but  the  court  of 
Rome  having  held  his  majesty  in  suspense  for 
two  or  three  years  for  fear  of  offending  the  em- 
peror the  queen's  nephew,  the  impatient  king, 
by  the  advice  of  Dr.  Cranmer,  appealed  to  the 
principal  universities  of  Europe,  and  desired 
their  opinions  upon  these  two  questions  : 

1.  "  Whether  it  was  agreeable  to  the  law  of 
God  for  a  man  to  marry  his  brother's  wife  1 

2.  "  Whether  the  pope  could  dispense  with 
the  law  of  God?" 

All  the  universities,  and  most  of  the  learned 
men  of  Europe,  both  Lutherans  and  papists,  ex- 
cept those  at  Rome,  declared  for  the  negative 
of  the  two  questions.  The  king  laid  their  de- 
terminations before  the  Parliament  and  convo- 
cation, who  agreed  with  the  foreign  universi- 
ties. In  the  convocation  of  English  clergy,  two 
hundred  and  fifty-three  were  for  the  divorce, 
and  but  nineteen  against  it.  Sundry  learned 
books  were  written  for  and  against  the  lawful- 
ness of  the  marriage ;  one  party  being  encour- 
aged by  the  king,  and  the  other  by  the  pope  and 
emperor.  The  pope  cited  the  king  to  Rome, 
but  his  majesty  ordered  the  Earl  of  Wiltshire 
to  protest  against  the  citation,  as  contrary  to 
the  prerogative  of  his  crown  ;  and  sent  a  letter 
signed  by  the  cardinal,  the  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, four  bishops,  two  dukes,  two  marquis- 
es, thirteen  earls,  two  viscounts,  twenty-three 
barons,  twenty-two  abbots,  and  eleven  common- 
ers, exhorting  his  holiness  to  confirm  the  judg- 
ment of  the  learned  men,  and  of  the  universi- 
ties of  Europe,  by  annulling  his  marriage,  or 
else  he  should  be  obliged  to  take  other  meas- 
ures. The  pope  in  his  answer,  after  having  ac- 
knowledged his  majesty's  favours,  told  him  that 
the  queen's  appeal  and  avocation  of  the  cause 
to  Rome  must  be  granted.  The  king  seeing 
himself  abused,  and  that  the  affair  of  his  mar- 
riage, which  had  been  already  determined  by 
the  most  learned  men  in  Europe,  and  had  been 
argued  before  the  legates  Campegio  and  Wol- 
sey,  must  commence  again,  began  to  suspect 
Wolsey's  sincerity ;  upon  which  his  majesty 
sent  for  the  seals  from  him,  and  soon  after  com- 
manded his  attorney-general  to  put  in  an  in- 
formation against  him  in  the  King's  Bench,  be- 
cause that,  notwithstanding  the  statute  of  Rich- 
ard II.  against  procuring  bulls  from  Rome  un- 
der the  pains  of  a  prcEmunire,  he  had  received 

*  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  i.,  p.  8. 


bulls  for  his  legatine  power,  which  for  many 
years  he  had  executed.  The  cardinal  pleaded 
ignorance  of  the  statute,  and  submitted  to  the 
king's  mercy ;  upon  which  he  was  declared  to 
be  out  of  the  king's  protection,  to  have  forfeited 
his  goods  and  chattels,  and  that  his  person 
might  be  seized.  The  haughty  cardinal,  not 
knowing  how  to  bear  his  disgrace,  soon  after 
fell  sick  and  died,  declaring  that  if  he  had  ser- 
ved God  as  well  as  he  had  done  his  prince,  he 
would  not  have  given  him  over  in  his  gray 
hairs. 

But  the  king,  not  satisfied  with  his  resent- 
ments against  the  cardinal,  resolved  to  be  re- 
venged on  the  pope  himself,  and  accordingly. 
September  19th,  a  week  before  the  cardinal's 
death,  he  published  a  proclamation  forbidding 
all  persons  to  purchase  anything  from  Rome 
under  the  severest  penalties,  and  resolved  to 
annex  the  ecclesiastical  supremacy  to  his  own 
crown  for  the  future.  It  was  easy  to  foresee 
that  the  clergy  would  startle  at  the  king's  assu- 
ming to  himself  the  pope's  supremacy  ;  but  his 
majesty  had  them  at  his  mercy,  for  they  having 
acknowledged  Cardinal  Wolsey's  legatine  pow- 
er, and  submitted  to  his  jurisdiction,  his  majes- 
ty caused  an  indictment  to  be  preferred  against 
them  in  Westminster  Hall,  and  obtained  judg- 
ment upon  the  statute  of  pramunire,  whereby 
the  whole  body  of  the  clergy  were  declared  to  be 
out  of  the  king's  protection,  and  to  have  forfeit- 
ed all  their  goods  and  chattels. 

In  this  condition  they  were  glad  to  submit 
upon  the  best  terms  they  could  get,  but  the 
king  would  not  pardon  them  but  upon  these 
two  conditions  :  (1.)  That  the  two  provinces  of 
Canterbury  and  York  should  pay  into  the  ex- 
chequer £1 18,840,  a  vast  sum  of  money  in  those 
times.  (2.)  That  they  should  yield  his  majesty 
the  title  of  sole  and  supreme  head  of  the  Church 
of  England,  next  and  immediately  under  Christ. 
The  former  they  readily  complied  with,  and 
promised  for  the  future  never  to  assemble  in 
convocation  but  by  the  king's  writ ;  nor  to 
make  or  execute  any  canons  or  constitutions 
without  his  majesty's  license ;  but  to  acknowl- 
edge a  layman  to  be  supreme  head  of  an  eccle- 
siastical body,  was  such  an  absurdity,  in  their 
opinion,  and  so  inconsistent  with  their  alle- 
giance to  the  pope,  that  they  could  not  yield  to 
it  without  an  additional  clause,  as  far  as  is 
agreeable  to  the  laws  of  Christ.  The  king  ac- 
cepted it  with  the  clause  for  the  present,  hut  a 
year  or  two  after  obtained  the  confirmation  of 
it  in  Parliament  and  convocation  without  the 
clause. 

The  substance  of  the  act  of  supremacy*  is  as 
follows  :  "  Albeit  the  king's  majesty  justly  and 
rightfully  is,  and  ought  to  be,  supreme  head  of 
the  Church  of  England,  and  is  so  recognised  by 
the  clergy  of  this  realm  in  their  convocations  ; 
yet,  nevertheless,  for  confirmation  and  corrobo- 
ration thereof,  and  for  increase  of  virtue  in 
Christ's  religion  within  this  realm  of  England, 
&c.,  be  it  enacted  by  the  authority  of  this  pres- 
ent Parliament,  that  the  king,  our  sovereign 
lord,  his  heirs  and  successors,  kings  of  this 
realm,  shall  be  taken,  accepted,  and  reputed 
the  only  supreme  head  on  earth  of  the  Church 
of  England ;  and  shall  have  and  enjoy,  annexed 


*  26  Henry  VIII.,  cap.  i. 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


33 


and  united  to  the  imperial  crown  of  this  reahn, 
as  well  as  the  title  and  style  thereof,  as  all  lion- 
ours,  dignities,  immunities,  profits,  and  com- 
modities, to  the  said  dignity  of  supreme  head  of 
the  said  Church  belonging  and  appertaining; 
and  that  our  sovereign  lord,  his  heirs  and  suc- 
cessors kings  of  this  realm,  shall  have  full 
power  and  authority  to  visit,  repress,  redress, 
reform,  order,  correct,  restrain,  and  amend  all 
such  errors,  heresies,  abuses,  contempts,  and 
enormities,  whatsoever  they  be,  which,  by  any 
manner  of  spiritual  authority  or  jurisdiction, 
ought  or  may  be  lawfully  reformed,  repressed, 
ordered,  redressed,  corrected,  restrained,  or 
amended,  most  to  the  pleasure  of  Almighty 
God,  and  increase  of  virtue  in  Christ's  religion, 
and  for  the  conversation  of  peace,  unity,  and 
tranquillity  of  this  realm  ;  any  usage,  custom, 
foreign  law,  foreign  authority,  prescription,  or 
anything  or  things  to  the  contrary  notwith- 
standing." 

Here  was  the  rise  of  the  Reformation.  The 
whole  power  of  reforming  heresies  and  errors 
in  doctrine  and  worship  was  transferred  from 
the  pope  to  the  king,  without  any  regard  to  the 
rights  of  synods  or  councils  of  the  clergy,  and 
Without  a  reserve  of  liberty  to  such  consciences 
as  could  not  comply  with  the  public  standard. 
This  was  undoubtedly  a  change  for  the  better, 
but  is  far  from  being  consonant  to  Scripture  or 
reason. 

The  Parliament  had  already  forbid  all  appeals 
to  the  court  of  Rome,  in  causes  testamentary, 
matrimonial,  and  in  all  disputes  concerning  di- 
vorces, tithes,  oblations,  &c.,  under  penalty  of 
a  prccmunire*  and  were  now  voting  away  an- 
nates and  first-fruits;  and  providing  "  that,  in 
case  the  pope  denied  his  bulls  for  electing  or 
consecrating  bishops,  it  should  be  done  without 
them  by  the  archbishop  of  the  province  ;  that 
an  archl)ishop  might  be  consecrated  by  any  two 
bishops  whom  the  king  should  appoint ;  and  be- 
ing so  consecrated,  should  enjoy  all  the  rights  of 
his  see,  any  law  or  custom  to  the  contrary  not- 
withstanding." All  which  acts  passed  both  hous- 
es without  any  considerable  opposition.  Tiius, 
while  the  pope  stood  trifling  about  a  contested 
marriage,  the  king  and  Parliament  took  away 
all  his  profits,  revenues,  and  authority  in  the 
Church  of  England. 

His  majesty  having  now  waited  six  years  for 
a  determination  of  his  marriage  from  the  court 
of  Rome,  and  being  now  himself  head  of  the 
Church  of  England,  commanded  Dr.  Cranmer, 
lately  consecrated  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,! 
to  call  a  court  of  canonists  and  divines,  and  pro- 
ceed to  judgment.  Accordingly,  his  grace  sum- 
moned Queen  Katharine  to  appear  at  Dunstable, 
near  the  place  where  she  resided,  in  person  or 

*  24  Henry  VIII.,  cap.  xu. 

t  Cranmer's  elevation  look  place  in  1533.  "  He 
appears  to  have  accepted  the  distinction  with  reluc- 
tance, and  the  best  friends  of  his  reputation  must  re- 
gard his  compliance  with  some  degree  of  regret.  He 
was  destitute  of  that  fortitude  and  determination  of 
mind  which  so  high  a  station  required.  He  was  timid 
and  vacillating;  honest  in  his  purposes,  but  irreso- 
lute in  his  conduct.  In  a  private  station,  or  in  a 
calmer  age,  he  would  have  maintained  an  irreproach- 
ahle  character  ;  but  at  present  he  needs  all  the  syiii- 
l)a(hy  which  his  martyrdom  inspires  to  retain  for  him 
a  high  place  in  the  respect  of  impartial  men." — Dr. 
Price's  History  of  Nonconformity,  vol.  i.,  p.  8. — C. 
Vol.  I.— E 


by  proxy,  on  the  20th  of  May,  1533,  but  her  ma- 
jesty refused  to  appear,  adhering  to  her  appeal  to 
the  court  of  Rome  :  upon  which  the  archbishop, 
by  advice  of  the  court,  declared  her  conlumax, 
and  on  the  23d  of  the  same  month  pronounced 
the  king's  marriage  with  her  null  and  void,  as 
being  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God.  Soon  after 
which  his  majesty  married  Anne  BuUen,  and 
procured  an  act  of  Parliament  for  settling  the 
crown  upon  the  heirs  of  her  body,  which  all  his 
subjects  were  obliged  to  swear  to. 

There  was  a  remarkable  appearance  of  Di- 
vine Providence  in  this  atfiiir  ;  for  the  French 
king  had  prevailed  with  the  King  of  England  to 
refer  his  cause  once  more  to  the  court  of  Rome, 
upon  assurances  given  that  the  po[)e  should  de- 
cide it  in  his  majesty's  favour  within  a  limited 
time  ;  the  pope  consented,  and  fixed  a  time  for 
the  return  of  the  king's  answer,  but  the  courier 
not  arriving  upon  the  very  day,  the  Imperialists, 
who  dreaded  an  alliance  between  the  pope  and 
the  King  of  England,  persuaded  his  holiness  to 
give  sentence  against  him  ;  and  accordingly, 
March  23d,  the  marriage  was  declared  good, 
and  the  king  was  required  to  take  his  wife  again, 
otherwise  the  censures  of  the  Church  were  to 
be  denounced  against  him.*  Two  days  after 
this  the  courier  arrived  from  England  with  the 
king's  submission  under  his  hand  in  due  form, 
but  it  was  then  too  late,  it  being  hardly  decent 
for  the  infallible  chair  to  revoke  its  decrees  in 
so  short  a  time.  Such  was  the  crisis  of  the 
Reformation  ! 

The  pope  having  decided  against  the  king,  his 
majesty  determined  to  take  away  all  his  profits 
and  authority  over  the  Church  of  England  at 
once  :  accordingly,  a  bill  was  brought  into  the 
Parliament  then  sitting,  and  passed  without  any 
protestation,  by  which  it  is  enacted  "  that  all 
payments  made  to  the  apostolic  chamber,  and 
all  provisions,  bulls,  or  dispensations,  should 
from  thenceforth  cease;  and  that  all  dispensa- 
tions or  licenses,  for  things  not  contrary  to  the 
law  of  God,  should  be  granted  within  the  king- 
dom, under  the  seals  of  the  two  archbishops  in 
their  several  provinces.  The  pope  was  to  have 
no  farther  concern  in  the  nomination  or  confirm- 
ation of  bishops,  which  were  appointed  to  be 
chosen  by  congt  d'elire  from  the  crown,  as  at 
present.  Peter's-pence  and  all  procurations  from 
Rome  were  abolished.  Moreover,  all  religious 
houses,  exempt  or  not  exempt,  were  to  be  sub- 
ject to  the  archbishops'  visitation,  except  some 
monasteries  and  abbeys  which  were  to  be  sub- 
ject to  the  king."t  Most  of  the  bishops  voted 
against  this  bill,  but  all  but  one  set  their  hands 
to  It  after  it  was  passed,  according  to  the  cus- 
tom of  those  times.  Thus  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land became  independent  of  the  pope,  and  all 
foreign  jurisdiction. 

Complaints  being  daily  made  of  the  severe 
proceedings  of  the  ecclesiastical  courts  against 
heretics,  the  Parliament  took  this  matter  into 
consideration,  and  repealed  the  act  of  the  second 
of  Henry  IV.,  above  mentioned,  but  left  the  stat- 
utes of  Richard  II.  and  Henry  V  in  full  force, 
with  this  qualification,  that  heretics  should  be 
proceeded  against  upon  presentments  by  two 
witnesses  at  least  ;  that  they  should  be  brought 
to  answer  in  open  court ;  and  if  thry  were  found 


*   Burnet's  Hist.  Kef.,  vol.  i.,  p.  135. 
t  25  Henry  VIII.,  cap.  xx.,  xxi. 


34 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


guilty,  and  would  not  abjure,  or  were  relapsed, 
they  should  be  adjudged  to  death,'  the  king's 
writ  de  hctrelko  combnrendo  being  first  obtained.* 
By  this  act  the  ecclesiastical  courts  were  lim- 
ited, heretics  being  now  to  be  tried  according 
to  the  forms  of  law,  as  in  other  cases. 

Towards  the  latter  end  of  this  session,  the 
clergy,  assembled  in  convocation,  sent  up  their 
submission  to  the  king  to  be  passed  in  Parlia- 
ment, which  was  done  accordingly :  the  con- 
tents were,  "  that  the  clergy  acknowledged  all 
convocations  ought  to  be  assembled  by  the 
king's  writ ;  and  promised  in  verba  sacerdolii, 
that  they  would  never  make  nor  execute  any 
new  canons  or  constitutions  without  the  royal 
assent ;  and  since  many  canons  had  been  re- 
ceived that  were  found  prejudicial  to  the  king's 
prerogative,  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  land, 
and  heavy  to  the  subjects,  that,  therefore,  there 
should  be  a  committee  of  thirty-two  persons, 
sixteen  of  the  two  houses  of  Parliament  and  as 
many  of  the  clergy,  to  be  named  by  the  king, 
who  should  have  full  power  to  revise  the  old 
canons,  and  to  abrogate,  confirm,  or  alter  them, 
as  they  found  expedient,  the  king's  assent  being 
obtained." 

This  submission  was  confirmed  by  Parlia- 
ment; and  by  the  same  act  all  appeals  to  Rome 
were  again  condemned.  If  any  parties  found 
themselves  aggrieved  in  the  archbishops'  courts, 
an  appeal  might  be  made  to  the  king  in  the 
Court  of  Chancery,  and  the  lord-chancellor  was 
to  grant  a  commission  under  the  great  seal  for 
a  hearing  before  delegates,  whose  determination 
should  be  final.  All  exempted  abbots  were  also 
to  appeal  to  the  king ;  and  the  act  concluded 
with  a  proviso  "that,  till  such  correction  of  the 
canons  was  made,  all  those  which  were  then 
received  should  remain  in  force,  except  such  as 
were  contrary  to  the  laws  and  customs  of  the 
realm,  or  were  to  the  damage  or  hurt  of  the 
king's  prerogative."  Upon  the  proviso  of  this 
act  all  the  proceedings  of  the  commons  and 
other  spiritual  courts  are  founded  ;  for  the  can- 
ons not  being  corrected  to  this  day,  the  old  ones 
are  in  force,  with  the  exceptions  above  men- 
tioned ;  and  this  proviso  is  probably  the  reason 
why  the  canons  were  not  corrected  in  the  fol- 
lowing reigns,  for  now  it  lies  in  the  breast  of 
the  judges  to  declare  what  canons  are  contrary 
to  the  laws  or  rights  of  the  crown,  which  is 
more  for  the  king's  prerogative  than  to  make  a 
collection  of  ecclesiastical  laws  which  should  be 
fixed  and  immovable. 

Before  the  Parliament  broke  up  they  gave 
the  annates  or  first-fruits  of  benefices,  and  the 
yearly  revenue  of  the  tenth  part  of  all  livings, 
which  had  been  taken  from  the  pope  last  year, 
to  the  king.  This  displeased  the  clergy,  who 
were  in  hopes  of  being  freed  from  that  burden  ; 
but  they  were  mistaken,  for  by  the  thirty-second 
of  Henry  VIII.,  cap.  xlv,  a  court  of  record  is 
ordered  to  be  erected,  called  the  court  of  the 
first-fruits  and  tenths,  for  the  levying  and  gov- 
ernment of  the  said  first-fruits  forever. 

The  session  being  ended,  commissioners  were 
sent  over  the  kingdom  to  administer  the  oath  of 
succession  to  all  his  majesty's  subjects,  accord- 
ing to  a  late  act  of  Parliament,  by  which  it 
appears    that,   besides    renewing  their   allegi- 

*  25  Henry  VIII.,  cap.  xiv. 


ance  to  the  king,  and  acknowledging  him  to  be 
the  head  of  the  Church,  they  declared,  upon 
oath,  "  the  lawfulness  of  his  marri.ige  with 
Queen  Anne,  and  that  they  would  he  true  to 
the  issue  begotten  in  it.  That  the  Bishop  of 
Rome  had  no  more  power  than  any  other  bish- 
op in  his  own  diocess ;  that  they  would  submit 
to  all  the  king's  laws,  notwithstanding  the 
pope's  censures ;  that  in  their  prayers  they 
would  pray  first  for  the  king  as  supreme  head 
of  the  Church  of  England  ;  then  for  the  queen 
[Anne],  then  for  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
and  the  other  ranks  of  the  clergy."  Only  Fish- 
er, bishop  of  Rochester,  and  Sir  Thomas  More, 
lord-chancellor,  refused  to  take  the  oath,  for 
which  they  afterward  lost  their  lives. 

The  separation  of  the  Church  of  England 
from  Rome  contrii)uted  something  towards  the 
reformation  of  its  doctrines,  though  the  body  of 
the  inferior  clergy  were  as  stiff  for  their  old 
opinions  as  ever,  being  countenanced  and  sup- 
ported by  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  by  the  Lord- 
chancellor  More,  by  Gardiner,  bishop  of  Win- 
chester, and  Fisher  of  Rochester;  but  some  of 
the  nobility  and  bishops  were  for  a  farther 
reformation  :  among  these  were  the  new  queen, 
Lord  Cromwell,  afterward  Earl  of  Essex,  Dr. 
Cranmer,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Shaxton, 
bishop  of  Salisbury,  and  Latimer  of  Worcester. 
As  these  were  more  or  less  in  favour  with  the 
king,  the  reformation  of  religion  went  forward 
or  backv/ard  throughout  the  whole  course  of  his 
reign. 

The  progress  of  the  Reformation  in  Germa- 
ny, by  the  preaching  of  Luther,  Melancthon, 
and  others,  with  the  number  of  books  that  were 
published  in  those  parts,  some  of  which  were 
translated  into  English,  revived  learning,  and 
raised  people's  curiosity  to  look  into  the  stato 
of  religion  here  at  home.  One  of  the  first  books 
that  was  published  was  the  translation  of  the 
New  Testament  by  Tyndal,  printed  at  Antv^erp, 
1526.*    The  next  was  the  Supplication  of  the 

*  Of  this  edition,  which  consisted  of  fifteen  hun- 
dred copies,  only  one  is  supposed  to  exist;  that 
copy  is  preserved  in  the  library  of  the  Baptist  Col- 
lege, Bristol,  England.  The  scarceness  of  this  edi- 
tion is  easily  accounted  for :  "  The  book  that  had 
the  greatest  authority  and  influence  was  Tindal's 
translation  of  the  New  Testament,  of  which  tha 
bishops  made  great  complaints,  and  said  it  was  full 
of  errors.  But  Tonstal,  then  Bishop  of  London,  be- 
ing a  man  of  invincible  moderation,  would  do  no- 
body any  hurt,  yet  endeavoured,  as  he  could,  to  get 
their  books  into  his  hands ;  so,  being  at  Antwerp  in 
the  year  1529,  he  sent  for  one  Packington,  an  Eng- 
hsh  merchant  there,  and  desired  him  to  see  how 
many  New  Testaments  of  Tindal's  translation  he 
might  have  for  money.  Packington,  who  was  a  se- 
cret favourer  of  Tindal,  told  him  what  the  bishop 
proposed.  Tindal  was  very  glad  of  it;  for,  being 
convinced  of  some  faults  in  his  work,  he  was  design- 
ing a  new  and  more  correct  edition ;  but  he  was 
poor,  and  the  former  impression  not  being  sold  off, 
he  could  not  go  about  it ;  so  he  gave  Packington  all 
the  copies  that  lay  in  his  hands,  for  which  the  bishop 
paid  the  price,  and  brought  them  over,  and  burned 
them  publicly  in  Cheapside.  This  had  such  a  hate- 
ful appearance  in  it,  being  generally  called  a  burning 
of  the  Word  of  God,  that  people  from  thence  coiiclu-- 
ded  there  must  be  a  visible  contrariety  between  that 
book  and  the  doctrines  of  those  who  so  handled  it ; 
by  which  both  their  prejudice  against  the  clergy,  and 
their  desire  of  reading  the  New  Testament,  were  in- 
creased.   So  that  next  year,  when  the  second  edition 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


35 


Beggars,  by  Simon  Frith  of  Gray's  Inn,  1529. 
It  was  levelled  against  the  begging  friars,  and 
complains  that  the  common  poor  were  ready  to 
starve,  because  the  alms  of  the  people  were  in- 
tercepted by  great  companies  of  lusty,  idle  fri- 
ars, Avho  were  able  to  work,  and  were  a  burden 
to  the  commonwealth.  More  and  Fisher  an- 
swered the  book,  endeavouring  to  move  the 
people's  passions  by  representing  the  supplica- 
tions of  the  souls  in  purgatory  which  were  re- 
lieved by  the  masses  of  these  friars.  But  the 
strength  of  their  arguments  lay  in  the  sword  of 
the  magistrate,  which  was  now  in  their  hands  ; 
for  while  these  gentlemen  were  in  power  the 
clergy  made  sad  havoc  among  those  people  who 
were  seeking  after  Christian  knowledge  ;  some 
were  cited  into  the  bishops'  courts  for  teach- 
ing their  children  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  Eng- 
lish ;  some  for  reading  forbidden  books ;  some 
for  speaking  against  the  vices  of  the  clergy  ; 
some  for  not  coming  to  confession  and  the  sac- 
rament ;  and  some  for  not  observing  the 
Church  fasts  ;  most  of  whom,  through  fear  of 
death,  did  penance  and  were  dismissed  ;  but 
several  of  the  clergy  refusing  to  abjure,  or  after 
abjuration  falling  into  a  relapse,  suffered  death. 
Among  these  were  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hitton,  curate 
of  Maidstone,  burned  in  Smithfield,  1530 ;  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Bilney,  burned  at  Norwich,  1531  ;  Mr. 
Byfield,  a  monk  of  St.  Edmondsbury ;  James 
Bainham,  Knt.  of  the  Temple ;  besides  two  men 
'andawoman,atYork.  In  theyear  1533,Mr.  John 
Frith,*  an  excellent  scholar  of  the  University  of 
Cambridge,  was  burned  in  Smithfield,  with  one 
Hevvet,  a  poor  apprentice,  for  denying  the  corpo- 
real presence  of  Christ  in  the  sacrament ;  but 
upon  the  rupture  between  the  king  and  the  pope, 
and  the  repeal  of  the  actofKing  Henry  IV.  against 
heretics,  the  wings  of  the  clergy  were  clipped, 
and  a  stop  put  to  their  cruelties  for  a  time. 

None  were  more  adverse  to  the  Reformation 
than  the  monks  and  friars  :  these  spoke  openly 
against  the  king's  proceedings,  exciting  the  peo- 
ple to  rebellion,  and  endeavouring  to  embroil 
his  affairs  with  foreign  princes;  the  king,  there- 
fore, resolved  to  humble  them,  and  for  this  pur- 
pose appointed  a  general  visitation  of  the  mon- 
asteries, the  management  of  which  was  com- 
mitted to  the  Lord  Cromwell,  with  the  title  of 
visiter-general,  who  appointed  other  commis- 
sioners under  him,  and  gave  them  injunctions 
and  articles  of  inquiry.  Upon  this,  several  ab- 
bots and  priors,  to  prevent  a  scrutiny  into  their 
conduct,  voluntarily  surrendered   their  houses 

vvas  timshed,  many  were  brought  over,  and  Coiistan- 
tine  (a  coadjutor  of  Tindal)  being  taken  in  England, 
the  lord-chancellor,  in  a  private  examination,  prom- 
ised him  that  no  hurt  should  be  done  him  if  he  would 
reveal  who  encouraged  and  supported  him  at  An- 
twerp ;  which  he  accepted  of,  and  told  that  the  great- 
est encouragement  they  had  was  from  the  Bishop  of 
London,  who  had  bought  up  half  the  impression. 
This  made  all  that  heard  of  it  laugh  heartily,  though 
more  judicious  persons  discerned  the  great  temper 
of  that  learned  bishop  in  it." — Burnet's  Reform.,  i., 
260.— C. 

*  Mr.  Frith  wrote  a  tract,  published  with  his  other 
works,  London,  1573,  entitled  "  A  Declaration  of 
Baptism." 

Sir  James  Bainham  seems,  from  his  examination 
before  the  Bishop  of  London,  Dec.  15,  1531,  to  have 
been  an  opposer  of  mfanl  baptism. — Crosby's  Hist,  of 
the  English  Baptists,  vol.  i.,  p.  31. 

Fox's  Martyrs,  vol.  ii.,  p.  227,  241,  256,  445.— C. 


into  the  king's  hands ;  others,  upon  examination, 
appeared  guilty  of  the  greatest  frauds  and  im- 
positions on  the  simplicity  of  the  people  :  many 
of  their  pretended  relics  were  exposed  and  de- 
stroyed, as  the  Virgin  Mary's  milk,  showed  in 
eight  places ;  the  coals  that  roasted  St.  Law- 
rence ;  and  an  angel  with  one  wing  that  brought 
over  the  bead  of  the  spear  that  pierced  our  Sav- 
iour's side  ;  the  rood  of  grace,  which  was  so 
contrived,  that  the  eyes  and  lips  might  move 
upon  occasion  ;  with  many  others.  The  images 
of  a  great  many  pretended  saints  were  taken 
down  and  burned,  and  all  the  rich  offerings  made 
at  their  shrines  were  seized  for  the  crown,  which 
brought  an  immense  treasure  into  the  exchequer. 

Upon  the  report  of  the  visiters,  the  Parliament 
consented  to  the  suppression  of  the  lesser  mon- 
asteries under  £200  a  year  value,  and  gave 
them  to  the  king  to  the  number  of  three  hundred 
and  seventy-six.  Their  rents  amounted  to  about 
£32,000  per  annum :  their  plate,  jewels,  and 
furniture,  to  about  £100,000.*  The  churdres 
and  cloisters  were  for  the  most  part  pulled  down, 
and  the  lead,  and  bells,  and  other  materials,  sold. 
A  new  court,  called  the  Court  of  Augmentations 
of  the  King's  Revenue,!  was  erected,  to  receive 
the  rents  and  to  dispose  of  the  lands,  and  bring 
the  profits  into  the  exchequer.  Every  religious 
person  that  was  turned  out  of  his  cell  had  45s. 
given  him  in  money,  of  which  number  there 
were  about  ten  thousand  ;  and  every  governor 
had  a  pension.  But  to  ease  the  government  of 
this  charge,  the  monks  and  friars  were  put  into 
benefices  as  fast  as  they  became  vacant  ;  by 
which  means  it  came  to  pass  that  the  body  of 
the  inferior  clergy  were  disguised  papists  and 
enemies  to  the  Reformation. 

The  lesser  religious  houses  being  dissolved, 
the  rest  followed  in  a  few  years :  for  in  the  years 
1537  and  1539,  the  greater  abbeys  and  monas- 
teries were  broken  up,  or  surrendered  to  the 
crown,  to  prevent  an  inquiry  into  their  lives  and 
manners.     This  raised  a  great  clamour  among 
the  people,  the  monks  and  friars  going  up  and 
down  the  country  like  beggars,  clamouring  at 
the  injustice  of  the  suppression.     The  king,  to 
quiet  them,  gave  back  fifteen  abbeys  and  six- 
teen nunneries  for  perpetual  alms  ;  but  several 
of  the  abbots  being  convicted  of  plots  and  con- 
spiracies against  his  government,  his  majesty 
resumed  his  grants  after  two  years,  and  obtained 
an  act  of  Parliament,  whereby  he  was  empow- 
ered to  erect  sundry  new  cathedral  churches  and 
bishoprics,  and  to  endow  them  out  of  the  prof- 
its of  the  religious  houses.    The  king  intended, 
says  Bishop  Burnet,  to  convert  £18,000  a  year 
into  a  revenue  for  eighteen  bishoprics  and  ca- 
thedrals ;  but  of  them  he  only  erected  six,  viz., 
the  bishoprics  of  Westminster,  Chester,  Peter- 
borough, Oxford,  Gloucester,  and  Bristol.    This 
was  the  chief  of  what  his  majesty  did  for  reli- 
gion, which  was  but  a  small  return  of  the  im- 
mense sums  that  fell  into  his  hands  :  for  the 
clear  rents  of  all  the  suppressed  houses  were 
cast  up  at  £131,607  6.5.  4rf.  per  annum,  as  they 
were  then  rated,  but  were  at  least  ten  times  as 
much  in  value.     Most  of  the  abbey  lands  were 
given  away  among  the  courtiers,  or  sold  at  easy 
rates  to  the  gentry,  to  engage  them  by  interest 
against  the  resumption  of  them  to  the  Church. 

«■  Burnet's  Hist.  Ret'.,  vol.  i.,  p.  223. 
t  27  Henry  VHI.,  cap.  xxvii.,  xxviii. 


36 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


In  the  year  1545,  the  Parliament  gave  the  king 
the  chantries,  colleges,  free  chapels,  liospitals, 
fraternities,  and  guilds,  with  their  manors  and 
estates.  Seventy  manors  and  parks  were  alien- 
ated from  the  archbishopric  of  York,  and  twelve 
from  Canterbury,  and  confirmed  to  the  crown. 
How  easily  might  this  king,  with  his  immense 
revenues,  have  put  an  end  to  the  being  of  Par- 
liaments ! 

The  translation  of  the  New  Testament  by 
Tyndal,  already  mentioned,  had  a  wonderful 
spread  among  the  people  ;  though  the  bishops 
condemned  it,  and  proceeded  with  the  utmost 
severity  against  those  that  read  it.  They  com- 
plained of  It  to  the  king  ;  upon  which  his  majes- 
ty called  it  in  by  proclamation  in  the  month  of 
June,  1530,  and  promised  that  a  more  correct 
translation  should  be  published  :  but  it  was  im- 
possible to  stop  the  curiosity  of  the  people  so 
long ;  for,  though  the  bishops  bought  up  and 
bujned  all  they  could  meet  with,  the  Testament 
was  reprinted  abroad,  and  sent  over  to  mer- 
chants at  London,  who  dispersed  the  copies 
privately  among  their  acquaintance  and  friends. 

At  length,  it  was  moved  in  convocation  that 
the  whole  Bible  should  be  translated  into  Eng- 
lish, and  set  up  in  churches  ;  but  most  of  the 
old  clergy  were  against  it  They  said  this 
"would  lay  the  foundation  of  innumerable  here- 
sies, as  it  had  done  in  Germany  ;  and  that  the 
people  were  not  proper  judges  of  the  sense  of 
Scripture  :  to  which  it  was  replied,  that  the 
Scriptures  were  written  at  first  in  the  vulgar 
tongue  ;  tiiat  our  Saviour  commanded  his  hear- 
ers to  search  the  Scriptures  ;  and  that  it  was 
necessary  people  should  do  so  now,  that  they 
might  be  satisfied  that  the  alterations  the  king 
had  made  in  religion  were  not  contrary  to  the 
Word  of  God.  These  arguments  prevailed  with 
the  majority  to  consent  that  a  petition  should 
be  presented  to  the  king,  that  his  majesty  would 
please  to  give  order  about  it. 

But-  the  old  bishops  were  too  much  disincli- 
jied  to  move  in  it.  The  Reformers,  therefore, 
were  forced  to  have  recourse  to  Mr.  Tyndal's 
Bible,  which  had  been  printed  at  Hamburg, 
1532,  and  reprinted  three  or  four  years  after  by 
Grafton  and  Whitchurch.  The  translators  were 
Tyndal,  assisted  by  Miles  Coverdale,  and  Mr. 
John  Rogers,  the  protomartyr  :  the  Apocrypha 
was  done  by  Rogers,  and  some  marginal  notes 
were  inserted  to  the  whole,  which  gave  offence, 
and  occasioned  that  Bible  to  be  prohibited.  But 
Archbishop  Craniner,  having  now  reviewed  and 
corrected  it,  left  out  the  prologue  and  notes, 
and  added  a  preface  of  his  own  ;  and  because 
Tyndal  was  now  put  to  death  for  a  heretic,  his 
name  was  laid  aside,  and  it  was  called  Thomas 
Matthew's  Bible,  and  by  some  Cranmer's  Bible  ; 
though  it  was  no  more  than  Tyndal's  transla- 
tion corrected.*  This  Bible  was  allowed  by  au- 
thority, and  eagerly  read  by  all  sorts  of  people. 


*  "Craniner  began  with  the  New  Testament,  an 
English  copy  ot  which  he  divided  into  eight  or  ten 
parts,  and  sent  to  the  most  learned  men  of  his  day  for 
their  correclion.  These  were  returned  to  Lambeth 
at  the  aniiointed  time,  with  the  exception  of  the  Acts 
of  the  .\|)oslles,  which  had  been  intrusted  to  Stokes- 
ley,  bisho|)  of  London,  who  wrote  to  Cranmer,  'I 
marvel  what  my  Lord  of  Canterbury  meaneth,  that 
he  thus  abuseth  the  people,  m  giving  thein  Uberty  to 
read  the  Scriptures,  which  doth  nothing  else  but 


The  fall  of  Queen  Anne  Bullcn,  mother  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  was  a  great  prejudice  to  the 
Reformation.  She  was  a  virtuous  and  pious 
lady,  but  airy  and  indiscreet  in  her  behaviour  : 
the  jiopish  party  hated  her  for  her  religion  ;  and 
having  awakened  the  king's  jeajousy,  put  him 
upon  a  nice  observance  of  her  carriage,  by  which 
she  quickly  fell  under  his  majesty's  displeasure, 
who  ordered  her  to  be  sent  to  the  Tower,  May 
1.  On  the  15th  of  the  same  month  she  was 
tried  by  her  peers  for  incontinence,  for  a  pre- 
contract of  marriage,  and  for  conspiring  the 
king's  death  ;  and  though  there  was  little  or  no 
evidence,  the  lords  found  her  guilty,  for  fear  of 
offending  the  king  ;  and  four  days  after  she  was 
beheaded  within  the  Tower,  protesting  her  inno- 
cence to  the  last.  Soon  after  her  execution  the 
king  called  a  Parliament  to  set  aside  the  succes- 
sion of  the  Lady  Elizabeth,  her  daughter,  which 
was  done,  and  the  king  was  empowered  to  nomi- 
nate his  successor  by  his  last  will  and  testament ; 
so  that  both  his  majesty's  daughters  were  now 
declared  illegitimate  ;  but  the  king  having  power 
to  settle  the  succession  as  he  pleased,  in  case 
of  failure  of  male  heirs,  they  were  still  in  hopes, 
and  quietly  submitted  to  their  father's  pleasure. 
Complaint  being  sent  to  court  of  the  diversity 
of  doctrines  delivered  in  pulpits,  the  king  sent  a 
circular  letter  to  all  the  bishops,  July  12  [1535], 
forbidding  all  preaching  till  Michaelmas;  by 
which  time  certain  articles  of  religion,  most 
catholic,  should  be  set  forth.  The  king  himself 
framed  the  articles,  and  sent  them  into  convo- 
cation, where  they  were  agreed  to  by  both  hous- 
es. An  abstract  of  them  will  show  the  stale 
of  the  Reformation  at  this  time. 

1.  "  All  preachers  were  to  instruct  the  people 
to  believe  the  whole  Bible,  and  the  three  creeds, 
viz.,  the  Apostles',  the  Nicene,  and  Athanasian, 
and  to  interpret  all  things  according  to  them. 

2.  "  That  baptism  was  a  sacrament  instituted 
by  Christ ;  that  it  was  necessary  to  salvation  ; 
that  infants  were  to  be  baptized  for  the  pardon 
of  original  sin  ;  and  that  the  opinions  of  the 
Anabaptists  and  Pelagians  were  detestable  her- 
esies. [.\nd  that  those  of  ripe  age,  who  desired 
baptism,  must  join  with  it  repentance  and  con- 
trition for  their  sins,  with  a  firm  belief  of  the 
articles  of  the  faith  ] 

3.  "  That  penance,  that  is,  contrition,  confes- 
sion, and  amendment  of  life,  with  works  of  char- 
infect  them  with  heresy.  I  have  bestowed  never  an 
hour  upon  my  portion,  nor  ever  will.  And  there- 
fore my  lord  shall  have  this  book  again,  for  I  will  never 
be  guilty  of  bringing  the  simple  people  into  error.'* 
So  perverted  were  the  views  of  the  dignitaries  of  the 
Church,  and  so  determined  the  opposition  whicti 
Cranmer  encountered  in  his  labours  tor  its  reforma- 
tion. His  personal  sense  of  the  value  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  deep  conviction  of  their  importance,  led 
him  to  persevere  in  his  design,  and  secured  his  ulti- 
mate success." — Dr.  Price's  Hist,  of  No>ico?iformily, 
vol.  1.,  p.  49.— C. 


*  Wlien  Cnuiiner  exjiressed  his  surprise  at  the  conduct 
of  Stukesley,  wu  are  tuld  that  Mr.  Thuuias  Lawney.  who 
stood  by,  reaiarked,  ■'  I  can  tell  your  grace  why  njy  Lord 
of  Loudon  will  uot  bestow  any  laljour  or  pains  this  way. 
Your  grace  knoweth  well  that  his  portion  is  a  piece  of  the 
New  Testament  ;  but  he,  being  persuaded  that  Christ  had 
bequeathed  bun  nothing  in  his  Testament,  thought  it  mere 
mailness  to  bestow  any  labour  or  pains  where  no  gain  was 
to  l)e  gotten.  And,  besides  this,  it  is  the  Acts  of  the  Ajkis- 
tles,  which  were  simple,  poor  fellows,  and  therefore  my  Lord 
of  London  disdained  to  have  to  do  with  aiiy  of  them." — 
Strt/pe's  Cranmer,  vol.  i.,  p.  48,  49,  59, 82  — C 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


3T 


ity,  was  necessary  to  salvation  ;  to  which  must 
be  added,  faith  in  the  mercy  of  God,  that  he 
■will  justify  and  pardon  us,  not  for  the  worthi- 
ness of  any  merit  or  work  done  by  us,  but  for 
the  only  merits  of  the  blood  and  passion  of  Jesus 
Christ  ;  nevertheless,  that  a  confession  to  a 
priest  was  necessary,  if  it  might  be  had  ;  and 
that  the  absolution  of  a  priest  was  the  same  as 
if  it  were  spoken  by  God  himself,  according  to 
our  Saviour's  words.  That  auricular  confession 
was  of  use  for  the  comfort  of  men's  consciences. 
And  though  we  are  justified  only  by  the  satis- 
faction of  Christ,  yet  the  people  were  to  be  in- 
structed in  the  necessity  of  good  works. 

4.  "  That  in  the  sacrament  of  the  altar,  under 
the  form  of  bread  and  wine,  there  was,  truly 
and  substantially,  the  same  body  of  Christ  that 
was  born  of  the  Virgin. 

5.  "  That  justification  signified  the  remission 
of  sins,  and  a  perfect  renovation  of  nature  in 
Christ. 

6.  "Concerning  images  :  that  the  use  of  them 
was  warranted  in  Scripture ;  that  they  served 
to  stir  uj)  devotion  ;  and  that  it  was  meet  they 
should  stand  in  churches  ;  but  the  people  were 
to  be  taught  that,  in  kneeling  or  worshipping  be- 
fore them,  they  were  not  to  do  it  to  the  image, 
but  to  God. 

7.  "  Concerning  honouring  of  saints,  they  were 
to  be  instructed  not  to  expect  those  favours  from 
them  which  are  to  be  obtained  only  from  God, 
but  they  were  to  honour  them,  to  praise  God  for 
them,  and  to  imitate  their  virtues. 

8.  " For  praying  to  saints  :    that  it  was 

good  to  pray  to  them  to  pray  for  us  and  with  us. 

9.  "  Of  ceremonies.  The  people  were  to  be 
taught  that  they  were  good  and  lawful,  having 
mystical  significations  in  them  ;  such  were  the 
vestments  in  the  worship  of  God,  sprinkling  holy 
water  to  put  us  in  mind  of  our  baptism  and  the 
blood  of  Christ ;  giving  holy  bread,  in  sign  of 
our  union  to  Christ ;  bearing  candles  on  Can- 
dlemas day,  in  remembrance  of  Christ,  the  spirit- 
ual light ;  giving  ashes  on  Ash  Wednesday,  to 
put  us  in  mind  of  penance  and  our  mortality ; 
bearing  palms  on  Palm  Sunday,  to  show  our 
desire  to  receive  Christ  into  our  hearts  as  he 
entered  into  Jerusalem ;  creeping  to  the  cross 
on  Good  Friday,  and  kissing  it,  in  memory  of 
his  death ;  with  the  setting  up  of  the  sepulchre 
on  that  day,  the  hallowing  the  font,  and  other 
exorcisms  and  benedictions. 

Lastly.  "  As  to  purgatory,  they  were  to  de- 
clare it  good  and  charitable  to  pray  for  souls  de- 
parted ;  but  since  the  place  they  were  in,  and 
the  pains  they  suffered,  were  uncertain  by  Scrip- 
ture, they  ought  to  remit  them  to  God's  mercy. 
Therefore,  all  abuses  of  this  doctrine  were  to 
be  put  away,  and  the  people  disengaged  from 
believing  that  the  pope's  pardons,  or  masses 
said  in  certain  places,  or  belbre  certain  images, 
could  deliver  souls  out  of  purgatory." 

These  articles  were  signed  by  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  seventeen  bishops,  forty  abbots 
and  priors,  and  fifty  archdeacons  and  proctors 
of  the  lower  house  of  convocation :  they  were 
published  by  the  king's  autiiority,  with  a  preface 
in  his  name  requirmg  all  his  subjects  to  accept 
them,  which  would  encourage  him  to  take  far- 
ther pains  for  the  honour  of  God  and  the  wel- 
fare of  his  people.  One  sees  here  the  dawn  of 
the  Reformation ;  the  Scriptures  and  the  an- 


cient creeds  are  made  the  standards  of  faith 
without  the  tradition  of  the  Church  or  decrees 
of  the  pope;  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith 
is  well  stated  ;   four  of  the  seven  sacraments 
are  passed  over,  and  purgatory  is  left  doubtful. 
But  transubstantiation,  auricular  confession,  the 
worshipping  of  images  and  saints,  still  remained. 
The  court  of  Rome  were  not  idle  spectators 
of  these  proceedings  ;  they  threatened  the  king, 
and  spirited   up   the  clergy  to  rebellion ;  and 
when  all  hopes  of  accommodation  were  at  aa 
end,  the  pope  pronounced  sentence  of  excom- 
munication against  the  whole  kingdom,  depri- 
ving his  majesty  of  his  crown  and  dignity,  for- 
bidding his  subjects  to  obey  him,  and  ail  foreign 
princes  to  correspond  with  him  ;  all  his  leagues 
with  them  were  dissolved,  and  his  own  clergy 
were  commanded  to  depart  the  kingdom,  and 
his  nobility  to  rise  in  arms  against  him.     The 
king,  laying  hold  of  this  opportunity,  called  a 
Parliament,  and  obtained  an  act  requiring  all  his 
subjects,  under  the  pains  of  treason,  to  swear 
that  the  king  was  supreme  head  of  the  Church 
of  England  ;  and  to  strike  terror  into  the  popish 
party,  three  priors  and  a  monk  of  the  Carthu- 
sian order  were  executed  as  traitors  for  refu- 
sing the  oath,  and  for  saying  that  the  king  was 
not  supreme  head  under  Christ  of  the  Church  of 
England  ;  but  the  two  greatest  sacrifices  were 
John  Fisher,  bishop  of  Pvochester,  and  Sir  Thom- 
as More,  late  lord-chancellor  of  England,  who 
were  both  beheaded  last  year,  within  a  fortnight 
of  each  other.     This  quieted  the  people  for  a 
time,  but  soon  after  there  was  an  insurrection 
in  Lincolnshire  of  twenty  thousand  men,  head- 
ed by  a  churchman  and  directed  by  a  monk ; 
but  upon  a  proclamation  of  pardon,  they  dis- 
persed themselves  :  the  same  year  there  was 
another  more  formidable  in  the  North,  but  after 
some  time  the  rebels  were  defeated  by  the  Duke 
of  Norfolk,  and  the  heads  of  them  executed, 
among  whom  were  divers  abbots  and  priests. 
These  commotions  incensed  the  king  against 
the  religious  houses,  as  nurseries  of  sedition, 
and  made  him  resolve  to  suppress  them  all. 

In  the  mean  time,  his  majesty  went  on  boldly 
against  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  published  cer- 
tain injunctions  by  his  own  authority,  to  regu- 
late the  behaviour  of  the  clergy.  This  was  the 
first  act  of  pure  supremacy  done  by  the  king, 
for  in  all  that  went  before  he  had  the  concur- 
rence of  the  convocation.  The  injunctions  were 
to  this  purpose. 

1.  "  That  the  clergy  should  twice  every  quar- 
ter publish  to  the  people  that  the  Bishop  of 
Rome's  usurped  power  had  no  foundation  in 
Scripture,  but  that  the  king's  supremacy  was 
according  to  the  laws  of  God. 

2,  3.  "  They  were  to  publish  the  late  articles 
of  faith  set  forth  by  the  king,  and  likewise  the 
king's  proclamation  for  the  abrogation  of  cer- 
tain holydays  in  harvest-time. 

4.  "  They  were  to  dissuade  the  people  from 
making  pilgrimages  to  saints,  and  to  exhort 
them  to  stay  at  home  and  mind  their  families, 
and  keep  God's  commandments. 

5.  "  They  were  to  exhort  them  to  teach  their 
children  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Creed,  and  Ten 
Commandments,  in  English.* 

*  "And  every  incumbent  was  to  explain  these, 
one  article  a  day,  until  the  people  were  instructed  in 
them."— Maddox's  Vindic,  p.  2U9.— Ed. 


38 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


6.  "  They  were  to  take  care  that  the  sacra- 
ments were  reverently  administered  in  their 
parishes. 

7.  "  That  the  clergy  do  not  frequent  taverns 
and  alehouses,  nor  sit  long  at  games,  but  give 
themselves  to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures  and  a  ' 
good  life. 

8.  "  Every  beneficed  person  of  £20  a  year  that 
did  not  reside,  was  to  pay  the  fortieth  part  of  his 
benefice  to  the  poor. 

9.  "  Every  incumbent  of  £100  a  year  to  main- 
tain one  scholar  at  the  university  ;  and  so  many 
hundreds  a  year  so  many  scholars. 

10.  "  The  fifth  pait  of  the  profits  of  livings 
to  be  given  to  the  repair  of  the  vicarage  house, 
if  it  be  in  decay." 

Thus  the  very  same  opinions,  for  which  the 
followers  of  WicklifTe  and  Luther  had  been 
burned  a  few  years  before,  were  enjoined  by  the 
king's  authority. 

This  year  a  very  remarkable  book  was  print- 
ed by  Batchelor,  the  king's  printer,  cum  privile- 
gio,  called  "  The  Institution  of  a  Christian  Man." 
It  was  called  the  "  Bishop's  Book,"  because  it 
was  composed  by  sundry  bishops,  as  Cranmer, 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Stokeley  of  London, 
Gardiner  of  Winchester,  Sampson  of  Chiches- 
ter, Reps  of  Norwich,  Goodrick  of  Ely,  Latimer 
of  Worcester,  Shaxton  of  Salisbury,  Fox  of 
Hereford,  Barlow  of  St.  David's,  and  some 
other  divines.  It  is  divided  into  several  chap- 
ters, and  contains  an  explanation  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  the  Creed,  the  Seven  Sacraments,  the 
Ten  Commandments,  the  Ave  Maria.  Justifica- 
tion, and  Purgatory.  "  The  book  maintains  the 
local  descent  of  Christ  into  hell,  and  that  all  ar- 
ticles of  faith  are  to  be  interpreted  according  to 
Scripture  and  the  first  four  general  councils. 
It  defends  the  seven  sacraments,  and  under  the 
sacrament  of  the  altar,  affirms  that  the  body  of 
Christ  that  suffered  on  the  cross  is  substantial- 
ly present  under  the  form  of  bread  and  wine. 
It  maintains  but  two  orders  of  the  clergy,  and 
avers  that  no  one  bishop  has  authority  over 
another  according  to  the  Word  of  God.  The 
invocation  of  saints  is  restrained  to  interces- 
sion, forasmuch  as  they  have  it  not  in  their 
own  power  to  bestow  any  blessings  upon  us. 
It  maintains  that  no  church  should  be  conse- 
crated to  any  being  but  God.  It  gives  liberty 
to  work  on  saints'  days,  especially  in  harvest- 
time.  It  maintains  the  doctrine  of  passive  obe- 
dience. In  the  article  of  justification,  it  says 
we  are  justified  only  by  the  merits  and  satisfac- 
tion of  Christ,  and  that  no  good  works  on  our 
part  can  procure  the  Divine  favour  or  prevail  for 
our  justification."* 

This  book  was  recommended  and  subscribed 
by  the  two  archbishops,  nineteen  bishops,  and 
the  lower  house  of  convocation,  among  whom 
were  Gardiner,  Bonner,  and  others,  who  put 
their  brethren  to  death  for  these  doctrines  m 
the  reign  of  Queen  Mary ;  but  the  reason  of 
their  present  compliance  might  be,  because  all 
their  hopes  from  the  succession  of  the  Prin- 
cess Mary  were  now  defeated.  Queen  Jane  be- 
ing brought  to  bed  of  a  son  October  the  12th, 
1538,  who  was  baptized  Edward,  and  succeeded 
his  father. 

The  translation  of  the  Bible,  already  mention- 

*  Strype's  Mem.  of  Cranmer,  p.  51. 


ed.  was  this  year  printed  and  published.  Crom- 
well procured  the  king's  warrant  for  all  his  maj- 
esty's subjects  to  read  it  without  control  ;  and, 
by  his  injunctions,  commanded  one  to  be  set  up 
publicly  in  all  the  churches  in  England,  that  the 
people  might  read  it.  His  majesty  farther  en- 
joined the  clergy  to  preach  the  necessity  of 
faith  and  repentance,  and  against  trusting  in 
pilgrimages  and  other  men's  works  ;  to  order 
such  images  as  had  been  abused  to  superstition 
to  be  taken  down,  and  to  tell  the  people  that 
praying  to  them  was  no  less  than  idolatry ; 
but  still,  transubstantiation,  the  seven  sacra- 
ments, the  communion  in  one  kind  only,  pur- 
gatory, auricular  confession,  praying  for  the 
dead,  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  sprinkling  of 
holy  water,  invocation  of  saints,  some  mtiages 
in  churches,  Mith  most  of  the  superstitious  rites 
and  ceremonies  of  the  popish  church,  were  re 
tained. 

Here  his  majesty  made  a  stand ;  for  aftei 
this  the  Reformation  fluctuated,  and,  upon  the 
whole,  went  rather  backward  than  forward  ; 
which  was  owing  to  several  causes,  as  (1.)  To 
the  unhappy  death  of  the  queen  in  childbed, 
who  had  possession  of  the  king's  heart,  and 
was  a  promoter  of  the  Reformation.  (2.)  To 
the  king's  disagreement  with  the  Protestant 
princes  of  Germany,  who  would  not  put  him 
at  the  head  of  their  league,  because  he  would 
not  abandon  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation 
and  permit  the  communion  in  both  kinds.  (3.' 
To  the  king's  displeasure  against  the  arch- 
bishop and  the  other  bishops  of  the  new  learn- 
ing, because  he  could  not  prevail  with  them  to 
give  consent  in  Parliament  that  the  king  should 
appropriate  all  the  suppressed  monasteries  to 
his  own  use.  (4.)  To  his  majesty's  unhappy  mar- 
riage with  the  Lady  Anne  of  Cleves,  a  Protest- 
ant ;  which  was  promoted  by  the  Reformers,  and 
proved  the  ruin  of  the  Lord  Cromwell,  who  was 
at  that  time  the  bulwark  of  the  Reformation. 
(5.)  To  the  artifice  and  abject  submission  of 
Gardiner,  Bonner,  and  other  popish  bishops, 
who,  by  flattering  the  king's  imperious  temper, 
and  complying  with  his  dictates,  prejudiced  him 
against  the  reformed.  And,  lastly,  To  his  maj- 
esty's growing  infirmities,  which  made  him  so 
peevish  and  positive  that  it  was  dangerous  to 
advise  to  anything  that  was  not  known  to  be 
agreeable  to  his  sovereign  will  and  pleasure. 

The  king  began  to  discover  his  zeal  against 
the  Sacramentaries  [and  Anabaptists*]  (as 
those  were  called  who  denied  the  corporeal 
presence  of  Christ  in  the  eucharist),  by  prohib- 
iting the   importing  of  all   foreign   books,  or 

*  In  the  articles  of  rehgion  set  forth  in  1536,  the 
sect  of  Anabaptists  is  mentioned  and  condemned. 
Fourteen  Hollanders,  accused  of  holding  their  opin- 
ions, were  put  to  death  in  1535,  and  ten  saved  them- 
selves by  recantation.  In  1428,  there  were  in  the 
diocess  of  Norwich  one  hundred  and  twenty  who 
held  that  infants  were  sufficiently  baptized  if  their 
parents  were  baptized  before  them ;  that  Christian 
people  be  sufficiently  baptized  in  the  blood  of  Christ, 
and  need  no  water;  and  that  the  sacrament  of  baptism 
used  in  the  Church  by  water  is  but  a  light  matter, 
and  of  small  effect.  Three  of  these  persons  were 
burned  alive.  Long  before  this,  it  was  a  charge 
laid  against  the  Lollards  that  they  held  these  opin 
ions,  and  would  not  baptize  their  new-born  children. 
—See  Fox  as  quoted  by  Crosby,  vol.  i.,  p.  24,  40,  41 
—Ed. 


HISTORY   OF  THE  PURITANS. 


39 


printing  any  portions  of  Scripture  till  they  had 
been  examined  by  himself  and  council,  or  by 
the  bishop  of  the  diocess  ;  by  punishing  all  that 
denied  the  old  rites,  and  by  forbidding  all  to 
argue  against  the  real  presence  of  Christ  in  the 
sacrament,  on  pain  of  deatb.  For  breaking  this 
last  order,  he  condenmed  to  the  flames  this 
very  year  that  faithful  witness  to  the  truth, 
John  Lambert,  who  had  been  minister  of  the 
English  congregation  at  Antwerp,  and  after- 
ward taught  school  in  London  ;  but  hearing 
Dr.  Taylor  preach  concerning  the  real  presence, 
he  offered  him  a  paper  of  reasons  against  it : 
Taylor  carried  the  paper  to  Cranmer,  who  was 
then  a  Lutheran,  and  endeavoured  to  make  him 
retract ;  but  Lambert,  unhappily,  appealed  to 
the  king,  who,  after  a  kind  of  mock  trial  in 
Westminster  Hall,  in  presence  of  the  bishops, 
nobility,  and  judges,  passed  sentence  of  death 
upon  lum,  condemning  him  to  be  burned  as  an 
incorrigible  heretic.  Cranmer  was  appointed 
to  dispute  against  him,  and  Cromwell  to  read 
the  sentence.  He  was  soon  after  executed 
m  Smithfield  in  a  most  barbarous  manner; 
"nis  last  words  in  the  flames  were,  "INone  but 
Christ !     None  but  Christ  !"* 

The  Parliament  that  met  next  spring  disserv- 
ed the  Reformation,  and  brought  religion  back 
to  the  standard  in  which  it  continued  to  the 
King's  death,  by  the  act  [31  Hen.  VHL,  cap.  xiv] 
sommonly  known  by  the  name  of  the  bloody 
statute,  or  the  statute  of  the  six  articles  :  it  was 
entitled.  An  act  for  abolishing  Diversity  of  Opin- 
ions in  certain  Articles  concerning  Christian 
Heligion.     The  six  articles  were  these  :t 

1.  "  That  in  the  sacrament  of  the  altar,  after 
the  consecration,  there  remains  no  substance  of 
bread  and  wine,  hut  under  these  forms  the  nat- 
ural body  and  blood  of  Christ  are  present. 

2.  "  That  communion  in  both  kinds  is  not  ne- 
cessary to  salvation  to  all  persons  by  tiie  law  of 
God,  but  that  both  the  flesh  and  blood  of  Christ 
are  together  in  each  of  the  kinds. 

3.  "  That  priests  may  not  marry  by  the  law  of 
God. 

4.  "  That  vows  of  chastity  ought  to  be  observ- 
ed by  the  law  of  God. 

5.  "  That  private  masses  ought  to  be  contin- 
ued, which,  as  it  is  agreeable  to  God's  law,  so 
men  receive  great  benefit  by  them. 

6.  "That  auricular  confession  is  expedient 
and  necessary,  and  ought  to  be  retained  in  the 
Church." 

It  was  farther  enacted,  that  if  any  did  speak, 
preach,  or  write  against  the  first  article,  they 
should  be  judged  heretics,  and  be  burned  with- 
out any  abjuration,  and  forfeit  their  real  and 
personal  estate  to  the  king.  Those  who  preach- 
ed, or  obstinately  disputed  against  the  other  ar- 
ticles, were  to  suffer  death  as  felons,  without 

*  Lambert  having  heard  Dr.  Taylor  preach  on  the 
presence  of  Christ  in  the  sacrament,  he  sought  an 
interview  with  him.  and  stated  his  objections  to  the 
received  doctrine,  which  he  afterward  committed  to 
writing.  Taylor  showed  this  paper  to  Dr.  Barnes,  a 
Lutheran,  and  they  reported  the  matter  to  Cranmer, 
who  summoned  Lambert  into  the  archiepiscopal 
court.  It  is  deserving  of  notice  that  Cranmer,  Tay- 
lor, and  Barnes,  the  chief  agents  in  Lambert's  death, 
were  themselves  brought  to  the  stake  as  heretics  ! — 
Dr.  Price's  Hist,  of  Nuncon.,  vol.  i.,  p.  49,  50. — C. 

t  Cranmer  alone  had  the  courage  to  oppose  the 
passing  these  articles.— W. 


benefit  of  clergy  ;  and  those  who,  either  in  word 
or  writing,  declared  against  them,  were  to  be 
prisoners  during  the  king's  pleasure,  and  to  for- 
feit their  goods  and  chattels  for  the  first  offence, 
and  for  the  second  to  suffer  death.  All  ecclesi- 
astical incumbents  were  to  read  this  act  in  their 
churches  once  a  quarter. 

As  soon  as  the  six  articles  took  place,  Shax- 
ton,  bishop  of  Salisbury,  and  Latimer  of  Wor- 
cester, resigned  their  bishoprics,  and  being  pre- 
sented for  speaking  against  the  act,  they  were 
imprisoned.  Latimer  continued  a  prisoner  to 
the  king's  death,  but  Shaxton,  being  threatened 
with  the  fire,  turned  apostate,  and  proved  a  cruel 
persecutor  of  the  Protestants  in  Queen  Mary's 
reign.  Commissions  were  issued  oirt  to  the 
archbishops,  bishops,  and  -their  commissaries,  to 
hold  a  sessions  quarterly,  or  oftener,  and  to  pro- 
ceed upon  presentments  by  a  jury  according  to 
law  ;  which  they  did  most  severely,  insomuch 
that  in  a  very  little  time  five  hundred  persons 
were  put  in  prison,  and  involved  in  the  guilt  of 
the  statute  ;  but  Cranmer  and  Cromwell  obtain- 
ed their  pardon,  which  mortified  the  popish  cler- 
gy to  such  a  degree,  that  they  proceeded  no  far- 
ther till  Cromwell  fell. 

Another  very  remarkable  act  of  Parliament, 
passed  this  session,  w"as  concerning  obedience 
to  the  king's  proclamations.  It  enacts,  that  the 
king,  with  advice  of  his  council,  may  set  forth 
proclamations  with  pains  and  penalties,  which 
shall  be  obeyed  as  fully  as  an  act  of  Parliament, 
provided  they  be  not  contrary  to  the  laws  and 
customs  in  being,  and  do  not  extend  so  far  as 
that  the  subject  shoidd  suffer  in  estate,  liberty, 
or  person.  An  act  of  attainder  was  also  passed 
against  sixteen  persons,  some  for  denying  the 
supremacy,  and  others  without  any  particular 
crime  mentioned  ;  none  of  them  were  brought 
to  a  trial,  nor  is  there  any  mention  in  the  rec- 
ords of  any  witnesses  examined.*  There  never 
had  been  an  example  of  such  arbitrary  proceed- 
ings before  in  England  ;  yet  this  precedent  was 
followed  by  several  others  in  the  course-of  this 
reign.  By  another  statute,  it  was  enacted  that 
the  councillors  of  the  king's  successor,  if  he  were 
under  age,  might  set  forth  proclamations  in  his 
name,  which  were  to  be  obeyed  in  the  same 
manner  with  those  set  forth  by  the  king  him- 
self I  mention  this,  because  upon  this  act  was 
founded  the  validity  of  all  the  changes  of  reli- 
gion in  the  minority  of  Edward  Vl.f 

Next  year  [1540]  happened  the  fall  of  Lord 
Cromwell,  one  of  the  great  pillars  of  the  Refor- 
mation. He  had  been  lately  constituted  the 
king's  vicegerent  in  ecclesiastical  affairs,  and 
made  a  speech  in  Parliament,  April  12th,  under 
that  character.  On  the  14th  of  April  the  king 
created  him  Earl  of  Essex,  and  Knight  of  the 
Garter  ;  but  within  two  months  he  was  arrested 
at  the  council-table  for  high  treason,  and  sent  to 
the  Tower,  and  on  the  28th  of  July  was  behead- 
ed by  virtue  of  a  bill  of  attainder,  without  being 

*  Burnet's  Hist.  Rcf,  vol.  i.,  p.  263. 

t  In  this  year  sixteen  men  and  fifteen  women  were 
banished  for  opposing  infant  baptism .  they  went  to 
Delft,  in  Holland,  ami  were  there  prosecuted  and  put 
to  death  as  Anabaptists  ;  the  men  being  beheaded, 
and  the  women  drowned.  Among  other  injunctions 
issued  out  in  1539,  was  one  against  those  who  em- 
braced tFie  opinions,  or  possessed  books  containing 
the  opinions,  of  Sacramentarians  and  Anabaptists. — 
Crosbi/,  b.  i.,  p.  42. — Ed. 


40 


HlSTORi'  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


brought  to  a  trial,  or  once  allowed  to  speak  for 
himself.  He  was  accused  of  executing  certain 
orders  and  directions,  for  which  lie  had  very 
probably  the  king's  warrant,  and,  therefore,  was 
not  admitted  to  make  answer.  But  the  true 
cause  of  his  fall*  was  the  share  he  had  in  the 
king's  marriage  with  the  Lady  Anne  of  Cleves, 
■whom  his  majesty  took  an  aversion  to  as  soon 
as  he  saw  her,  and  was,  therefore,  determined 
to  show  his  resentments  against  the  promoters 
of  it ;  but  his  majesty  soon  after  lamented  the 
loss  of  his  honest  and  faithful  servant  when  it 
■was  too  late. 

Two  days  after  the  death  of  Cromwell  there 
was  a  very  odd  execution  of  Protestants  and 
papists  at  the  same  time  and  place.  The  Prot- 
estants were  Dr.  Barnes,  Mr.  Gerrard,  and  Mr. 
Jerome,  all  clergymen  and  Lutherans ;  they  were 
sent  to  the  Tower  for  offensive  sermons  preach- 
ed at  the  Spittle  in  the  Easter  week,  and  were 
attainted  of  heresy  by  the  Parliament  without 
being  brought  to  a  hearing.  Four  papists,  viz., 
Gregory  Buttolph,  Adam  Damplin,  Edmund 
Brindhojme,  and  Clement  Philpot,  were  by  the 
same  act  attainted  for  denying  the  king's  suprem- 
acy, and  adhering  to  the  IBishop  of  Home.  The 
Protestants  -A^ere  burned,  and  the  papists  hang- 
ed :  the  former  cleared  themselves  of  heresy  by 
rehearsing  the  articles  of  their  faith  at  the  stake, 
and  died  with  great  devotion  and  piety  ;  and  the 
latter,  though  grieved  to  be  drawn  in  the  same 
hurdle  with  them  they  accounted  heretics,  de- 
clared their  hearty  forgiveness  of  all  their  ene- 
mies. 

About  this  time  [1543]  was  published  a  very 
remarkable  treaties,  called  A  Necessary  Erudi- 
tion for  a  Christian  Man.  It  was  drawn  up  by 
a  committee  of  bishops  and  divines,  and  was  af- 

*  Dr.  Maddox  remarks  on  this  statement  of  the 
cause  of  Cromwell's  fall,  that  it  is  expressly  contra- 
dicted by  Bishop  Burnet,  who,  speaking  of  the  king's 
creating' him  Earl  of  Essex,  upon  his  marriage  with 
Anne  of  Cleves,  adds,  "This  shows  that  the  true 
causes  of  Cromwell's  fall  must  be  founded  in  some 
other  thing  than  his  making  up  the  king's  marriage, 
who  had  never  thus  raised  his  title  if  he  had  intend- 
ed so  soon  to  pull  him  down." — Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  i., 
p.  275. 

In  reply  to  this,  Mr.  Neal  says,  "  Let  the  reader 
judge :  his  (i.  e..  Bishop  Burnet's)  words  are  these  : 
'  An  unfortunate  marriage,  to  which  he  advised  the 
king,  not  proving  acceptable,  and  he  being  unwilling 
to  destroy  what  himself  had  brought  about,  was  the 
occasion  of  his  disgrace  and  destruction.' — Vol.  iii.,  p. 
172.  If  his  lordship  has  contradicted  this  in  any  other 
place  (which  I  apprehend  he  has  not),  he  must  an- 
swer for  it  himself" 

It  may  be  observed,  that  these  two  passages  stand 
in  a  very  voluminous  work,  at  a  great  distance  from 
one  another,  so  that  the  apparent  inconsistency  might 
escape  the  bishop's  notice  ;  while  his  remark  in  the 
first  can  have  little  force,  when  ap|ilied  to  the  con- 
duct of  a  prince  so  capricious  and  fluctuating  in  his 
attachments  as  was  Henry  VIII.,  ;ind  who  soon  grew 
disgusted  with  his  queen.  It  is  with  no  propriety  that 
Mr.  Meal's  accuracy  and  fidehty  are,  in  this  instance, 
impeached  :  it  justifies  his  representation,  that  nearly 
the  same  is  given  by  Fuller  in  his  Church  History, 
b.  v.,  p.  231.  "  Match-makers,"  says  he,  "bet'vvixt  pri- 
vate persons  seldom  find  great  love  for  their  pains ; 
betwixt  princes,  often  fall  into  danger,  as  here  it 
proved  in  the  Lord  Cromwell,  the  grand  contriver  of 
the  king's  marriage  with  Anne  of  Cleves." 

The  cause  of  Cromwell's  disgrace  is  more  fully  and 
judiciously  investigated  by  Dr.  Warner,  in  his  Eccle- 
siastical History,  vol.  ii.,  p.  197,  198. — Ed. 


terward  read  and  approved  by  the  iDrds  sniritual 
and  temporal,  and  the  lower  house  of  Parlia- 
ment. A  great  part  of  it  was  corrected  by  the 
king's  own  hand,  and  the  whole  was  published 
by  liis  order,  with  a  preface  in  the  name  of  King 
Henry  VIIL,  dedicated  to  all  liis  faithful  sut^ 
jects.  It  was  called  the  King's  Book,  and  was 
designed  for  a  standard  of  Christian  belief.* 
The  reader,  therefore,  will  judge  by  the  abstract 
below,  of  the  sentiments  of  our  first  Reformers 
in  sundry  points  of  doctrine   and  discipline,! 


*  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref ,  vol.  i.,  p.  286. 

t  It  begins  with  a  description  of  Faith,  "  of  which 
(says  the  book)  there  are  two  acceptations.  (1 .)  It  is 
sometimes  taken  for  '  a  belief  or  persuasion  wrought 
by  God  in  men's  hearts,  whereby  they  assent  and 
take  for  true  all  the  words  and  sayings  of  God  re- 
vealed in  Scripture.'  This  faith,  it  it  proceeds  no  far- 
ther, is  but  a  dead  faith.  (2.)  Faith  is  sometimes 
considered  in  conjunction  with  hope  and  charity,  and 
so  it  signifies  '  a  sure  confidence  and  hope  to  obtain 
whatsoever  God  has  promised  for  Christ's  sake,  and 
is  accompanied  with  a  hearty  love  to  God,  and  obe- 
dience to  his  commands.'  This  is  a  lively  and  effect- 
ual faith,  and  is  the  perfect  faith  of  a  Christian.  It 
is  by  this  faith  that  we  are  justified,  as  it  is  joined 
with  hope  and  charity,  and  includes  an  obedience 
to  the  whole  doctrine  and  religion  of  Christ.  But 
whether  there  be  any  special  particular  knowledge, 
whereby  men  may  be  certain  and  assured  that  they 
are  among  the  predestinate,  which  shall  to  the  end 
persevere  in  t^eir  calling,  we  cannot  find  either  ia 
the  Scriptures  or  doctors  ;  the  promises  of  God  being 
conditional,  so  that,  though  his  promise  stands,  we 
may  fail  of  the  blessing  for  want  of  fulfilling  our  ob- 
ligation." 

After  the  chapter  of  Faith  follows  an  excellent  par- 
aphrase on  the  twelve  articles  of  the  Creed,  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  the  Ave  Maria,  or  the  salutation  of  the  angel 
to  the  blessed  Virgin,  and  the  Ten  Commandments  ; 
and  here  the  second  commandment  is  shortened,  the 
words  '  for  I  the  Lord  thy  God,'  &c.,  being  left  out, 
and  only  those  that  go  before  set  down.  Images  are 
said  to  be  profitable  to  stir  up  the  mind  to  emulation, 
though  we  may  not  give  them  godly  honour  ;  never- 
theless, censing  and  kneeling  before  them  is  allowed. 
Invocation  of  saints  as  intercessors  is  declared  law- 
ful ;  and  the  fourth  commandment  only  ceremonial, 
and  obliging  the  Jews. 

Then  follows  an  article  of  Free-will,  which  is  de- 
scribed, "  'A  certain  power  of  the  will  joined  with 
reason,  whereby  a  reasonable  creature,  without  con- 
straint in  things  of  reason,  discerneth  and  willeth 
good  and  evil ;  but  it  willeth  not  that  that  is  accept- 
able to  God  unless  it  be  holpen  with  grace,  but  that, 
which  is  ill  it  willeth  of  itself  Our  wills  were  per- 
fect in  the  state  of  innocence,  but  are  much  impaired 
by  the  fall  of  Adam  ;  the  high  powers  of  reason  and 
freedom  of  will  being  wounded  and  corrupted,  and 
all  men  thereby  brought  into  such  blindness  and  in- 
firmity that  they  cannot  avoid  sin  except  they  are 
made  free  by  special  grace,  that  is,  by  the  supernat- 
ural working  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  light  of  rea- 
son is  unable  to  conceive  the  things  that  appertain  to 
eternal  life,  though  there  remains  a  sufficient  freedom, 
of  will  in  things  pertaining  to  the  present  life.  'With- 
out me,'  says  the  Scripture,  'you  can  do  nothing;' 
therefore,  when  men  feel  that,  notwithstanding  their 
diligence,  they  are  not  able  to  do  that  which  they  de- 
sire, thev  ought  with  a  steadfast  faith  and  devotion 
to  ask  of  him,  who  gave  the  beginning,  that  he  would 
vouchsafe  to  perform  it.  But  preachers  are  to  fake 
care  so  to  moderate  themselves,  that  they  neither  so 
preach  the  crace  of  God  as  to  take  away  free-will, 
and  make  God  the  author  of  sin,  nor  so  extol  free- 
will as  to  injure  the  grace  of  God." 

In  the  article  of  Justification,  it  asserts,  "  that  all 
th^  posterity  of  Adam  are  born  in  original  sin,  atsd 
are  hereby  guilty  of  everlasting  death  and  damnation; 
but  that  God  sent  his  own  Son,  being  naturally  Goiftf 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


41 


which  then  constituted  the  established  doctrine 
of  the  Church  of  England  ;  for  by  the  statute 
of  33  Hen.  VIII.,  cap  xxvi.,  it  is  enacted  "  that 
all  decrees  and  ordinances  which  shall  be  made 

to  take  our  nature  and  redeem  us,  which  he  could 
not  have  done  but  by  virtue  of  the  union  of  his  two 
natures."  It  then  speaks  of  a  twofold  justiHcalion: 
the  tirst  is  upon  our  believing,  and  is  obtained  by  re- 
pentance and  a  lively  faith  in  the  passion  and  merits 
of  our  blessed  Saviour,  and  joining  therewuh  a  full 
purpose  to  amend  our  lives  for  the  future.  The  sec- 
ond, or  final  justification  at  death,  or  the  last  judg- 
ment, impbes,  farther,  the  exercise  of  all  Christian 
graces,  and  the  foilowinff  the  motions  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  in  doing  good  works,  which  will  be  considered 
and  recompensed  in  the  day  of  judgment.  When 
the  Scripture  speaks  of  justification  by  faith  without 
mentioning  any  other  grace,  it  must  not  be  under- 
stood of  a  naked  faith,  but  of  a  lively,  operative  faith, 
as  before  described,  and  refers  to  our  first  justifica- 
tion thus  we  are  justified  by  free  grace  ;  and,  what- 
ever share  good  works  may  have  in  our  final  justifi- 
cation, they  cannot  derogate  from  the  grace  of  God, 
because  all  our  good  works  come  of  the  free  mercy 
and  grace  of  God,  and  are  done  by  his  assistance  ;  so 
that  all  boasting  is  excluded." 

This  leads  to  the  article  of  Good  Works,  ''  which 
are  said  to  be  absolutely  necessary  to  salvat'on  ;  but 
they  are  not  outward  corporeal  works,  but  inward 
spiritual  works  ;  as  the  love  and  fear  of  God,  patience, 
humility,  &c.  Nor  are  they  superstitious  works  of 
men's  invention  ;  nor  only  moral  works  done  by  the 
power  of  reason,  and  the  natural  will  of  man,  without 
faith  in  Christ ;  which,  though  they  are  good  in  kind, 
do  not  merit  everlasting  life  ;  but  such  outward  and 
inward  good  works  as  are  done  by  faith  in  Christ,  out 
of  love  to  God,  and  in  obedience  to  his  commands,  and 
which  cannot  be  performed  by  man's  power  without 
Divine  assistance.  Now  these  are  of  two  sorts : 
(1.)  Such  as  are  done  by  persons  already  justified; 
and  these,  though  imperfect,  are  accepted  for  Christ's 
sake,  and  are  meritorious  towards  the  attaining  ever- 
lasting life.  (2.)  Other  works  are  of  an  inferior  sort, 
as  fasting,  alms-deeds,  and  other  fruits  of  penance, 
which  are  of  no  avail  without  faith.  But,  after  all, 
justification  and  remission  of  sins  is  the  free  gift  of 
the  grace  of  God ;  and  it  does  not  derogate  from  that 
grace  to  ascribe  the  dignity  to  good  works  above 
mentioned,  because  all  our  good  works  come  of  the 
grace  of  God." 

The  chapter  of  Prayer  for  Souls  Departed  leaves 
the  matter  in  suspense  :  "  It  is  good  and  charitable 
to  do  it ;  but  because  it  is  not  known  what  condition 
departed  souls  are  in,  we  ought  only  to  recommend 
them  to  the  mercy  of  God." 

In  the  chapter  of  the  Sacraments,  "all  the  seven 
sacraments  are  maintained,  and  in  particular  the  cor- 
poreal presence  of  Christ  in  the  eucharist." 

In  the  sacrament  of  Orders,  the  book  maintains  no 
real  distinction  between  bishops  and  priests  ;  it  says 
that  "  St.  Pa\il  consecrated  and  ordered  bishops  by 
imposition  of  hands ;  but  that  there  is  no  certain  rule 
prescribed  in  Scripture  for  the  nomination,  election, 
or  presentation  of  them ;  this  is  left  to  the  positive 
laws  of  every  country.  That  the  office  of  the  said 
ministers  is  to  preach  the  word,  to  minister  the  sac- 
raments, to  bind  and  loose,  to  excommunicate  those 
that  vvill  not  be  reformed,  and  to  pray  for  the  univer- 
sal Church;  but  that  they  may  not  execute  their  of- 
fice without  license  from  the  civil  magistrate.  The 
sacraments  do  not  receive  efficacy  or  strength  from 
the  ministration  of  the  priest  or  bishop,  but  from  God  ; 
the  said  ministers  being  only  officers,  to  administer 
wiih  their  hands  those  corporeal  things  by  which  God 
gives  grace,  agreeably  to  St.  Ambrose,  who  writes 
thus:  'The  priest  lays  his  hands  upon  us,  but  it  is 
God  that  gives  grace ;  the  priest  lays  on  us  his  be- 
seeching hands,  but  God  bles.seth  us  with  his  mighty 
hand.' " 

Concerning  the  order  of  Deacons,  the  book  says, 
Vol.  I.— F 


and  ordained  by  the  archbishops,  bishops,  and 
doctors,  and  shall  be  published  with  the  king's 
advice  and  confirmation,  by  his  letters  patent, 
in  and  upon  the  matters  of  Christian  faith,  and 
lawful  rights  and  ceremonies,  shall  be  in  every 
point  thereof  believed,  obeyed,  and  performed, 
to  all  intents  and  purposes,  upon  the  pains  there- 
in comprised  ;  provided  nothing  be  ordained  con- 
trary to  the  laws  of  the  realm."  How  near  the 
book  above  mentioned  comes  to  the  qualifica- 
tions of  this  statute,  is  obvious  to  the  reader. 
It  is  no  less  evident  that  by  the  same  act  the 
king  was  in  a  manner  invested  with  the  infalli- 
bility of  the  pope,  and  had  the  consciences  and 
faith  of  his  people  at  his  absolute  disposal. 

By  this  abstract  of  the  erudition  of  a  Chris- 
tian man,*  it  appears,  farther,  that  our  reformers 

"  Their  office  in  the  primitive  Church  was  partly  to 
minister  meat  and  drink,  and  other  necessaries,  to  the 
poor,  and  partly  to  minister  to  the  bishops  and  priests. 
Then  follows  this  remarkable  passage :  '  Of  these 
two  orders  only,  that  is  to  say,  priests  and  deacons, 
Scripture  maketh  express  mention,  and  how  they 
were  conferred  of  the  apostles  by  prayer  and  imposi- 
tion of  hands ;  but  the  primitive  Church  afterward 
appointed  inferior  degrees,  as  sub-deacons,  acolytes, 
exorcists,  &c. ;  but  lest,  peradventure,  it  might  be 
thought  by  some  that  such  authorities,  powers,  and 
jurisdictions,  as  patriarchs,  primates,  archbishops,  and 
metropolitans  now  have,  or  heretofore  at  any  time 
have  had,  justly  and  lawfully  over  other  bishops,  were 
given  them  by  God  in  Holy  Scripture,  we  think  it 
expedient  and  necessary  that  all  men  should  be  ad- 
vertised and  taught,  that  all  such  lawful  power  and 
authority  of  any  one  bishop  over  another,  were  and 
be  given  them  by  the  consent,  ordinances,  and  posi- 
tive laws  of  mm  otiti/,  and  not  by  any  ordinance  of 
God  in  Holy  Scripture ;  and  all  such  power  and  au- 
thority which  any  bishop  has  used  over  another,  which 
have  not  been  given  him  by  such  consent  and  ordi- 
nance of  men,  are  in  very  deed  no  lawful  power,  but 
plain  usurpation  and  tyranny." 

To  the  view  which  Mr.  Neal  has  given  of  the  doc- 
trinal sentiments  contained  in  this  piece,  which  was 
also  called  the  bishop's  book,  it  is  proper  to  add  the 
idea  it  gave  of  the  duty  of  subjects  to  their  prince. 
Its  commentary  on  the  fifth  commandment  runs  thus  : 
"  Subjects  be  bound  not  to  withdraw  their  fealty, 
truth,  love,  and  obedience  towards  their  prince,  for 
any  cause,  whatsoever  it  be."  In  the  exposition  of 
the  sixth  commandment,  the  same  principles  of  pas- 
sive obedience  and  nonresistance  are  inculcated,  and 
it  is  asserted  "  that  God  hath  assigned  no  judges 
over  princes  in  this  world,  but  will  have  the  judgment 
of  them  reserved  to  himself" — Ed. 

Though  the  Institution  of  a  Christian  Man  is  a  book 
now  disused,  the  same  sentiments,  connected  with  the 
idea  of  the  jure  divino  of  kings,  still  run  through  the 
homilies,  the  articles,  the  canons,  and  the  rubric  of 
the  Church  of  England,  and  have  been  again  and 
again  sanctioned  by  the  resolutions  and  orders  of  our 
convocations.  Bishop  Blake,  on  his  deathbed,  sol- 
emnly professed  "  that  the  religion  of  the  Church  of 
England  had  taught  him  the  doctrine  of  nonresist- 
ance and  passive  obedience,  and  that  he  took  it  to 
be  the  distinguishing  character  of  that  church."— 
High-Church  Politics,  p.  75,  89,  and  the  note  in  the 
last  page. — Ed. 

It  is  not  easy  to  say  what  sincere  or  complete  alli- 
ance there  can  be  between  the  Church  and  State, 
when  the  dogmas  of  the  former  are  in  such  glaring 
repugnance  to  the  constitution  of  the  latter;  when 
the  former  educates  slaves,  the  latter  freemen  ;  when 
the  former  sanctions  the  tyranny  of  kings,  the  latter 
is  founded  in  the  rights  of  the  people.  In  this  re- 
spect, surely,  the  Church  needs  a  reform. — Ed. 

*  Dr.  Warner  observes,  on  this  performance,  that 
there  were  so  many  absurdities  of  the  old  religion 
still  retained,  so  much  metaphysical  jargon  about  the 


42 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


built  pretty  much  upon  the  plan  of  St.  Austin, 
with  relation  to  the  doctrines  of  justification  and 
grace.  The  sacraments  and  ceremonies  are  so 
contrived  as  to  be  consistent  with  the  six  arti- 
cles established  by  Parliament.  But  with  re- 
gard to  discipline,  Cranuier  and  his  brethren 
were  for  being  directed  wholly  by  the  civil 
magistrate,  which  has  since  been  disting-nish- 
ed  by  the  name  of  Erastianisin.  Accordingly, 
they  took  out  commissions  to  hold  their  bishop- 
rics during  the  king's  pleasure,  and  to  exercise 
Iheir  jurisdiction  by  his  authority  only. 

But  notwithstanding  this  reformation  of  doc- 
trine, the  old  popish  forms  of  worship  were 
continued  till  this  year  [1544],  when  a  faint  at- 
tempt was  made  to  reform  them.  A  form  of 
procession  was  published  in  English,  by  the 
king's  authority,  entitled  An  Exhortation  to 
Prayer,  thought  meet  by  His  Majesty  and  his 
Clergy  to  be  read  to  the  People  ;  also  a  Litany, 
with  Suffrages  to  be  said  or  sung  in  the  Time 
of  the  Processions.  In  the  litany  they  invocate 
the  blessed  Virgin,  the  angels,  archangels,  and 
all  holy  orders  of  blessed  spirits  ;  all  holy  patri- 
archs, prophets,  apostles,  martyrs,  confessors, 
virgins,  and  all  the  blessed  company  of  heaven, 
to  pray  for  them.  The  rest  of  the  litany  is  in  a 
manner  the  very  same  as  now  in  use,  only  a 
few  more  collects  were  placed  at  the  end,  with 
some  psalms,  and  a  paraphrase  on  the  I>ord's 
Prayer.  The  preface  is  an  exhortation  to  the 
duty  of  prayer,  and  says  that  it  is  convenient, 
and  very  acceptable  to  God,  to  use  private  pray- 
er in  our  mother-tongue,  that,  by  understanding 
what  we  ask,*  we  may  more  earnestly  and  fer- 
vently desire  the  same.  The  hand  of  Cranmer 
was,  no  doubt,  in  this  performance,  but  it  was 
little  regarded,  though  a  mandate  was  sent  to 
Bonner,  bishop  of  London,  to  publish  it.t 

But  Cranmer's  power  was  now  very  much 
weakened ;  he  strove  against  the  stream,  and 
could  accomplish  nothing  farther,  except  a  small 
mitigation  of  the  rigorous  prosecution  of  the  six 
articles  ;  for  by  the  thirty-fifth  of  Henry  VIII., 
cap.  v.,  it  is  enacted  "that  persons  shall  not 
be  convicted  upon  this  statute  but  by  the  oaths 
of  twelve  men ;  that  the  prosecution  shall  be 
within  a  year ;  and  that,  if  any  one  preaches 
against  the  six  articles,  he  shall  be  informed 
against  within  forty  days."  This  rendered  the 
prosecution  more  difficult ;  and  yet,  after  all, 
several  were  burned  at  this  time  for  denying 
the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  as  Mrs.  Anne 
Askew,  Mr.  Belenian,  Adams,  Lascels,  and  oth- 
ers. The  books  of  Tyndal,  Frith,  Joy,  Barnes, 
and  other  Protestants,  were  ordered  to  be  burn- 
ed ;  and  the  importation  of  all  foreign  books  re- 
lating to  religion  was  forbid,  without  special  li- 
cense from  the  king. 

Upon  the  whole,  the  Reformation  went  very 
much  backimrd  the  three  or  four  last  years  of 
the  king's  life,  as  appears  by  the  statute  of  35 

merit  of  good  works,  about  the  essential  parts  and 
consequences  of  faith,  about  free-will  and  grace,  that 
this  book,  instead  of  promoting  the  Reformation,  visi- 
bly put  it  back. — Ecdes.  Hist.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  205. 

This  work  was  reprinted  by  Bishop  Lloyd,  in  1825, 
under  the  title  of  Formularies  of  Faith  put  forth  by  au- 
thority in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII. — C. 

*  Burnet's  Hist.  Eef.,  vol.  i.,  p.  331,  and  the  Rec- 
ords, b.  iii..  No.  28. 

+  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  in.,  p.  164. 


Henry  VIII.,  cap.  i.,  which  leads  the  people 
back  into  the  darkest  parts  of  popery.  It  says 
"that  recourse  must  be  had  to  the  Catholic  and 
apostolic  Cliurch  for  the  decision  of  controver- 
sies ;  and  therefore  all  books  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament  in  English,  being  of  Tyndal's 
false  translation,  or  comprising  any  matter  of 
Christian  religion,  articles  of  faith,  or  Holy 
Scripture,  contrary  to  the  doctrine  set  forth  by 
the  king  [in  the  six  articles],  1540,  or  to  be  set 
forth  by  the  king,  shall  be  abolished.  No  per- 
son shall  sing  or  rhyme  contrary  to  the  said 
doctrine.  No  person  shall  retain  any  English 
books  or  writings  against  the  holy  and  blessed 
sacrament  of  the  altar,  or  other  books  abolished 
by  the  king's  proclamation.  There  shall  be  no 
annotations  or  preambles  in  Bibles  or  New  Tes- 
taments in  English.  The  Bible  shall  not  be  read 
in  English  in  any  church.  No  woman,  or  artif- 
icers, apprentices,  journeymen,  serving-men, 
husbandmen,  or  labourers,  shall  read  the  New 
Testament  in  English.  Nothing  shall  be  taught 
or  maintained  contrary  to  the  king's  instruc- 
tions. If  any  spiritual  person  shall  be  convicted 
of  preaching  or  maintaining  anything  contrary 
to  the  king's  instructions  already  made,  or  here- 
after to  be  made,  he  shall  for  the  first  offence 
recent,  for  the  second  bear  a  fagot,  and  for  the 
tlurd  be  burned. 

Here  is  popery  and  spiritual  slavery  in  its  full 
extent.  Indeed,  the  pope  is  discharged  of  his 
jurisdiction  and  authority,  but  a  like  authority 
is  vested  in  the  king.  His  majesty's  instruc- 
tions are  as  binding  as  the  pope's  canons,  and 
upon  as  severe  penalties.  He  is  absolute  lord 
of  the  consciences  of  his  subjects.  No  bishop 
or  spiritual  person  may  preach  any  doctrine  but 
what  he  approves,  nor  do  any  act  of  govern- 
ment in  the  Church  but  by  his  special  commis- 
sion. This  seems  to  have  been  given  his  maj- 
esty by  the  act  of  supremacy,  and  is  farther 
confirmed  by  one  of  the  last  statutes  of  his  reign 
[37  Henry  VIII.,  cap.  xvii],  which  declares  that 
"  archbishops,  bishops,  archdeacons,  and  other 
ecclesiastical  persons,  have  no  manner  of  juris- 
diction ecclesiastical,  but  by,  under,  and  from 
his  royal  majesty  ;  and  that  his  majesty  is  the 
only  supreme  head  of  the  Church  of  England 
and  Ireland ;  to  whom,  by  Holy  Scripture,  all 
authority  and  power  is  wholly  given  to  hear  and 
determine  all  manner  of  causes  ecclesiastical, 
and  to  correct  all  manner  of  heresies,  errors, 
vices,  and  sins  whatsoever,  and  to  all  such 
persons  as  his  majesty  shall  appoint  there- 
unto." 

This  was  carrying  the  regal  power  to  the  ut- 
most length.  Here  is  no  reserve  of  privilege 
for  convocations,  councils,  or  colleges  of  bish- 
ops ;  the  king  may  ask  their  advice,  or  call  them 
in  to  his  aid  and  assistance,  but  his  majesty  has 
not  only  a  negative  voice  upon  their  proceed- 
ings, but  may  himself,  by  his  letters  patent,  pub- 
lish injunctions  in  matters  of  religion,  for  cor- 
recting all  errors  in  doctrine  and  worsliip.  His 
proclamations  have  the  force  of  a  law,  and  all 
his  subjects  are  obliged  to  believe,  obey,  and 
profess  according  to  them,  under  the  highest 
penalties.* 


*  "  When  the  religion  of  a  people  is  made  to  depend 
on  the  pleasure  of  their  rulers,  it  is  necessarily  sub- 
jected to  a  thousand  infusions  foreign  from  its  nature. 
The  kingly  or  magisterial  office  is  essentially  poiiti- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


43 


Thus  matters  stood  when  this  great  and  ab- 
solute monarch  died  of  an  nicer  in  his  leg,  being 
so  corpulent  that  he  was  forced  to  be  let  up 
and  down  stairs  with  an  engine.  The  humour 
in  his  leg  made  him  so  peevish,  that  scarce  any- 
body durst  speak  to  him  of  the  atTairs  of  his 
kingdom  or  ot  another  life.  He  signed  his  will 
December  30,  1516,  and  died  January  28th  fol- 
lowing, in  the  thirty-eighth  year  of  his  reign, 
and  the  fifty-sixtli  of  his  age.  He  ought  to  be 
ranked  (says  Bishop  Burnet)  among  the  ill  prin- 
ces, but  not  among  the  worst.* 

cal.  Its  power  may  be  wielded  by  an  irreligious,  im- 
moral, or  profane  man  ;  a  despiser  of  Christianity,  or 
a  blasphemer  of  God.  What,  therefore,  can  be  more 
monstrous  than  to  attach  to  such  an  ollice  a  control- 
ling power  over  the  faith  and  worship  of  the  Church  ; 
to  constitute  its  occupant  the  supreme  head  of  that 
body,  which  is  represented  as  a  congregation  of  faith- 
ful men  (  The  Christian  faith  addresses  men  individ- 
ually, soliciting  an  cvaimnalion  of  its  character,  and 
demanding  an  intelligent  and  hearty  obedience.  But 
where  the  pleasure  ot  a  king  is  permitted  to  regulate 
the  faith  of  a  nation,  authority  is  substituted  lor  rea- 
son, and  the  promptings  of  fear  supplant  the  percep- 
tions of  evidence,  and  the  conlidmg  attachment  of  an 
enlightened  piety.  This  is  the  radical  delect  of  the 
English  Reformation.  The  people  were  prohibited 
from  proceeding  farther  than  the  king  authorized. 
They  were  to  believe  as  he  taught,  anil  to  worship  as 
he  enjoined.  Suspending  their  own  reason,  e.\lin- 
guishing  the  light  divine  within  them,  they  were  to 
follow  their  monarch,  licentious  and  bloodthirsty  as 
he  was,  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  moral  gov- 
ernment and  eternal  welfare  of  their  souls." — Dr. 
Price  s  Hist.  Nonconformity,  vol.  i.,  p.  (J3,  64. — C. 

*  "  The  policy  of  the  king  continued  to  vacillate  to 
the  close  of  his  hie,  which  happened  on  the  2bth  of 
January,  lo47.  Of  his  character  little  need  be  said. 
In  early  life,  his  personal  qualities  were  brilliant  and 
imposing,  and  the  contrast  he  furnished  to  his  pru- 
dent and  parsimonious  father  attached  an  unwonted 
degree  of  popularity  to  the  commencement  of  his 
xeign.  But  his  temper  grew  capricious,  and  his  dis- 
position cruel,  as  he  advanced  in  years.  Casting 
aside  the  tenderness  of  his  youth,  he  became  fero- 
cious and  bloodthirsty ,  the  indiscriminate  persecu- 
tor of  all  parties,  according  as  his  humour  or  policy 
might  suggest.  His  claim  to  our  attention  is  tound- 
ed  on  the  religious  revolution  heetfected.  The  part 
he  acted  in  this  great  change  invested  him  with  a 
false  glory,  which  has  misled  the  judgment  and  per- 
verted the  sympathies  of  his  countrymen.  His  inti 
mate  connexion  with  the  first  movements  of  ecclesi- 
astical reform  has  obtained  him  credit  for  religious 
principles  of  which  he  was  wholly  destitute.  The 
adulatory  style  in  which  he  was  addressed  by  the 
contending  religionists  of  his  day  has  been  mistaken 
for  the  sober  e-vpressions  of  truth;  and  his  name,  in 
consequence,  has  passed  current  as  a  reformer  of  re- 
ligion, a  purifier  of  the  temple  of  God.  A  veil  has 
thus  been  cast  over  the  enormities  of  his  life,  which 
has  preserved  him  from  the  execration  to  which  he 
is  so  justly  obnoxious.  The  motives  by  which  he 
was  actuated,  in  his  separation  from  the  papacy,  were 
anything  but  religious.  The  divorce  which  he  caused 
Cranmer  to  pronounce  in  1533,  as  it  was  designed  to 
make  way  for  his  own  gratitication,  so  it  precipitated 
him  into  a  course  of  measures,  from  the  s[)iritual 
bearings  of  which  his  heart  was  utterly  estranged. 
He  sought  only  the  satisfaction  of  his  own  evil  pas- 
sions. The  man  who  could  profane  with  blood  the 
sanctuary  of  domestic  joys  ;  who  could  win,  with 
flattering  speech,  the  confiding  attachment  of  the 
female  heart,  and  then  consign  the  beautiful  form,  in 
whose  best  atfections  he  was  enshrined,  to  the  block ; 
who  could  raise  talent  from  obscurity,  avail  himself 
of  its  services,  and  then,  with  brutal  indifterence,  re- 
ward them  with  a  public  execution,  retained  so  little 


CHAPTER  II. 

EEIGM    OF    KING    EDWARD    VI. 

The  sole  right  and  authority  of  reforming  the 
Church  of  England  were  now  vested  in  the 
crown  ;  and,  by  the  Act  of  Succession,  in  the 
king's  council,  if  he  were  under  age.  This  waa 
preferable  to  a  foreign  jurisdiction  ;  but  it  can 
hardly  be  proved  that  either  the  king  or  his 
council  have  a  right  to  judge  for  the  whole  na- 
tion, and  impose  upon  the  people  what  religion 
they  think  best,  without  their  consent.  The 
reformation  of  the  Church  of  England  was  be- 
gun and  carried  on  by  the  king,  assisted  by 
Archbishop  Cranmer  and  a  few  select  divines. 
The  clergy  in  convocation  did  not  move  in  it 
but  as  they  were  directed  and  overawed  by 
their  superiors  ;  nor  did  they  consent  till  they 
were  modelled  to  the  designs  of  the  court. 

Our  learned  historian.  Bishop  Burnet,*  en- 
deavours to  justify  this  conduct,  by  putting  the 
following  question,  "  What  must  be  done  when 
the  major  part  of  a  church  is,  according  to  the 
conscience  of  the  supreme  civil  magistrate,  in 
an  error,  and  the  lesser  part  is  in  the  right  1" 
In  answer  to  this  question,  his  lordship  ob- 
serves, that  "  there  is  no  promise  in  Scripture 
that  the  majority  of  pastors  shall  be  in  the 
right ;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  certain  that  truth, 
separate  from  interest,  has  few  votaries.  Now, 
as  it  is  not  reasonable  that  the  smaller  part 
should  depart  from  their  sentiments  because 
opposed  by  the  majority,  whose  interests  led 
them  to  oppose  the  Reformation,  therefore  they 
might  take  sanctuary  in  the  authority  of  the 
prince  and  the  law."  But  is  there  any  prom- 
ise in  Scripture  that  the  king  or  prince  shall 
lie  always  in  the  right  !  or  is  it  reasonable 
that  the  majority  should  depart  from  their  sen- 
timents in  religion  because  the  prince,  with 
the  minority,  are  of  another  mind  1  If  we 
ask  what  authority  Christian  princes  have  to 
bind  the  consciences  of  their  subjects,  by  penal 
laws,  to  worship  God  after  their  maimer,  his 
lordship  answers.  This  was  practised  in  the 
Jewish  state.  But  it  ought  to  be  remembered 
that  the  Jewish  state  was  a  theocracy ;  that 
God  himself  was  their  king,  and  their  chief 
magistrates  only  his  vicegerents  or  deputies ; 
that  the  laws  of  Moses  were  the  laws  of  God ; 
and  the  penalties  annexed  to  them  as  much  of 
Divine  appointment  as  the  laws  themselves.  It 
is  therefore  absurd  to  make  the  special  com- 
mission of  the  Jewish  magistrates  a  model  for 
the  rights  of  Christian  princes.  But  his  lord- 
ship adds,  "  It  is  the  first  law  in  Justinian's 
code,  made  by  the  Emperor  Theodosius,  that 
all  should  everywhere,  under  severe  pain,  follow 
that  faith  that  was  received  by  Damasius,  bish- 
op of  Rome,  and  Peter  of  Alexandria.  And 
why  might  not  the  king  and  laws  of  England 
give  the  like  authority  to  the  Archbishops  of 
Canterbury  and  York!"  I  answer.  Because 
Theodosius's  law  was  an  unreasonable  usur- 
pation upon  the  right  of  conscience.  If  the  Apos- 
tle Paul,  who  was  an  inspired  person,  had  not 
dominion  over  the  faith  of  the  churches,  how 
came  the  Roman  emperor,  or  other  Christia& 

of  the  image  of  humanity,  as  to  be  infinitely  removed 
from  the  spirit  and  temper  of  Christ." — Doct.  Price's 
Hist.  Nonconformity,  vol.  i.,  p.  60,  61. — C. 
*  Hist.  Ref ,  vol.  ii.,  in  preface. 


44 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


princes,  by  such  a  jurisdiction,  which  has  no 
foundation  in  the  law  of  nature  or  in  the  New 
Testament  I 

His  lordship  goes  on,  "  It  is  not  to  be  ima- 
gined how  any  changes  in  religion  can  be  made 
by  sovereign  princes,  unless  an  authority  be 
lodged  with  tlieai  of  giving  tlie  sanction  of  a  law 
to  the  sounder,  tluuigh  llie  lesser  part,  of  a 
church  ;  for  as  princes  and  lawgivers  are  not 
tied  to  an  implicit  obedience  to  clergymen,  but 
are  left  to  the  freedom  of  their  own  discerning, 
so  they  must  have  a  power  to  choose  what  side 
to  be  of,  where  things  are  much  inquired  into." 
And  why  have  not  the  clergy  and  the  common 
people  the  same  power  1  why  must  they  be 
tied  to  an  implicit  faith  in  their  princes  and  law- 
givers 1  Is  there  any  promise  in  tiie  Word  of 
God  that  princes  and  lawgivers  shall  be  infalli- 
ble, and  always  judge  riglit  which  is  the  sound- 
er, though  the  lesser  part  of  a  church  ?  "  If,"  as 
his  lordship  adds,  "the  major  part  of  synods  can- 
not be  supposed  to  be  in  matters  of  faith  so  as- 
sisted from  Heaven  that  the  lesser  part  must 
necessarily  acquiesce  in  their  decrees,  or  that 
the  civil  powers  must  always  make  laws  accord- 
ing to  their  votes,  especially  when  interest  does 
visibly  turn  the  scale,"  how  can  the  prince  or 
civil  magistrate  depend  upon  such  assistance! 
Can  we  be  sure  that  interest  or  prejudice  will 
never  turn  the  scale  with  him  ;  or  that  he  has 
a  better  acquaintance  with  the  truths  of  the 
Gospel  than  his  clergy  or  people  1  It  is  highly 
reasonable  that  the  prince  should  choose  for 
himself  what  side  he  will  be  of,  when  things  are 
much  inquired  into  ;  but  then  let  the  clergy  and 
people  have  the  same  liberty,  and  neither  the 
major  nor  minor  part  impose  upon  the  other, 
as  long  as  they  entertain  no  principles  incon- 
sistent with  the  safety  of  the  government. 
"When  the  Christian  belief  had  not  the  support 
of  law,  every  bishop  taught  his  own  flock  the 
best  he  could,  and  gave  his  neighbours  such  an 
account  of  his  faith,  at  or  soon  after  his  conse- 
cration, as  satisfied  them  ;  and  so,"  says  his 
lordship,  "  they  maintained  the  unity  of  the 
Church."  And  why  might  it  not  be  so  stilH 
Is  not  this  better,  upon  all  accounts,  than  to 
force  people  to  profess  what  they  cannot  believe, 
or  to  propagate  religion  with  the  swcjrJ,  as  was 
too  much  the  case  with  our  Reformers  1  If  the 
penal  laws  had  been  taken  away,  and  the  points 
in  controversy  between  Protestants  and  papists 
had  been  left  to  a  free  and  open  debate,  while 
the  civil  magistrate  had  stood  by  and  only  kept 
the  peace,  the  Reformation  would  certainly  have 
taken  place  in  due  time,  and  proceeded  m  a 
much  more  unexceptionable  manner  than  it  did. 

To  return  to  the  history.  King  Edward  VI. 
came  to  the  crown  at  the  age  of  nine  years  and 
four  months;  a  prince  for  learning  and  piety, 
for  acquaintance  with  the  world,  and  applica- 
tion to  business,  llie  very  wonder  of  his  age. 
His  f'aiher,  by  his  last  will  and  testament,  named 
sixteen  persons  executors  of  liis  will,  and  re- 
gents of  the  kingdom,  till  his  son  should  be 
eighteen  years  of  age:  out  of  these,  the  Earl  of 
Hertford,  the  king's  uncle,  was  chosen  protector 
of  the  king's  realms,  and  governor  of  his  per- 
son. Besides  these,  twelve  were  added  as  a 
privy  council,  to  be  assisting  to  them.  Among 
the  regents,  some  were  for  tlie  old  religion,  and 
others  for  the  new ;  but  it  soon  appeared  that 


the  Reformers  had  the  ascendant,  the  young 
king  having  been  educated  in  their  principles 
by  his  tutor.  Dr.  Cox,  and  the  new  protector, 
his  uncle,  being  on  the  same  side.  Tlie  major- 
ity of  the  bishops  and  inferior  clergy  were  on 
the  side  of  popery,  hut  the  government  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  Reformers,  who  began  imme- 
diately to  relax  the  rigours  of  the  late  reign.* 
The  persecution  upon  the  six  articles  was  stop- 
ped ;  the  prison  doors  w-ere  set  open  ;  and  sev- 
eral who  had  been  forced  to  quit  the  kingdom 
for  their  religion,  returned  home,  as.  Miles 
Coverdale,  afterward  Bishop  of  Exeter;  John 
Hooper,  afterward  Bishop  of  Gloucester  ;  John 
Rogers,  tlie  protomartyr ;  and  many  others,  who 
were  preferred  to  considerable  benefices  in  the 
Church.  The  reforming  divines,  being  deliver- 
ed from  their  too  awful  subjection  to  the  late 
king,  began  to  open  against  the  abuses  of  po- 
pery. Dr.  Ridley  and  others  preached  vehement- 
ly against  images  in  churches,  and  inflamed  the 
people,  so  that  in  many  places  they  outrun  the 
law,  and  pulled  them  down  without  authority. 
Some  preached  against  the  lawfulness  of  soul- 
masses  and  obits  ;  though  the  late  king,  by  his 
last  will  and  testament,  had  left  a  large  sum  of 
money  to  have  them  continued  at  Windsor, 
where  he  was  buried,  and  for  a  frequent  distri- 
bution of  alms  for  the  repose  of  his  soul,  and  its 
deliverance  out  of  purgatory  ;  but  this  charity 
was  soon  after  converted  to  other  uses.  The 
popish  clergy  were  alarmed  at  these  things,  and 
insisted  strongly  that  till  the  king,  their  su- 
preme head,  was  of  age,  religion  should  continue 
in  the  state  in  which  King  Henry  left  it.  But 
the  Reformers  averred  that  the  king's  authority 
was  the  same  while  he  was  a  minor  as  when 
he  was  of  age  ;  and  that  they  had  heard  the 
late  king  declare  his  resolution  to  turn  the  mass 
into  a  communion  if  he  had  lived  a  little  longer, 
upon  which  they  thought  it  their  duty  to  pro- 
ceed. 

After  the  solemnity  of  the  king's  coronation, 
the  regents  appointed  a  royal  visitation,  and 
commanded  the  clergy  to  preach  nowhere  but 
in  their  parish  churches  without  license,  till 
the  visitation  was  over.  The  kingdom  was  di- 
vided into  six  circuits,  two  gentlemen,  a  civil- 
ian, a  divine,  and  a  register,  being  appointed  for 
each.  The  divines  were  by  their  preaching  to 
instruct  the  peojile  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Ref- 
ormation, and  to  bring  them  off  from  their  old 
superstitions.  The  visitation  began  in  the  month 
of  August ;  six  of  the  gravest  divines  and  most 
popular  preachers  attended  it :  their  names  were 
Dr.  Ridley,  Dr  Madew,  Mr.  Briggs,  Cottisford, 
Joseph,  and  Farrar.  A  book  of  homilies, t  or 
sermons,  upon  the  chief  points  of  the  Christian 
faitlijt  drawn  up  chiefly  by  Archbishop  Cranmer, 

*  The  heads  of  the  two  parties  were  these  :  For 
the  Ueformation — King  Edward,  duke  of  Somerset, 
protector  ;  Dr.  Cranmer,  archbishop  of  Canterbury  ; 
Dr.  Holgate,  archbishop  of  York  ;  Sir  W.  Paget,  sec- 
retary of  state  ;  Lord-viscount  Lisle,  lord-admiral ; 
Dr.  Holbeach,  bishop  of  Lincoln  ;  Dr.  Goodrick,  bish- 
op of  Ely ;  Dr.  Latimer,  bishop  of  Worcester ;  Dr. 
Ridley,  elect  of  Rochester.  For  the  old  religion — • 
Princess  Mary  ;  Wriothesiey,  earl  of  Southampton, 
lord  chancellor  ;  Dr.  Tonstaf  bishop  of  Durham  ;  Dr. 
Gardiner,  bishop  of  VVinchester  ;  Dr.  Bonner,  bishop 
of  London. 

t  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  if,  p.  27. 

i  The  book  consisted  of  twelve  discourses,  on  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


45 


was  printed,  and  ordered  to  be  left  with  every 
parish  priest,  to  supply  the  delect  of  preaching-, 
which  tew  of  the  clergy  at  that  time  were  capa- 
ble of  performing.  (Jranmer  communicated  it 
to  Gardiner,  and  would  fain  have  gained  his  ap- 
probation of  It ;  but  he  was  so  mllumed  at  being 
left  out  of  the  king's  will,  that  he  t;ons(fenlly  op- 
posed all  inuovatioii  till  the  king  should  be  of 
age. 

AV'ith  these  homilies  the  visiters  were  to  de- 
liver sundry  injunctions  from  the  king,  to  the 
number  of  thirty-six.* 

The  bishops  were  enjoined  to  see  the  articles 
put  in  execution,  and  to  preach  themselves  four 
times  a  year,  unless  they  had  a  reasonable  ex- 
following  arguments:  1.  Concerning  the  use  of  the 
Scriptures.  2.  Of  the  misery  of  inaakind  by  sin.  3. 
Of  their  salvation  by  Christ.  4.  Of  a  true  and  lively 
faith.  5.  Of  good  works.  6.  Of  Christian  love  and 
charity.  7.  Against  swearing  and  perjury.  8.  Against 
apostacy.  9.  Against  the  fear  of  death.  10.  An  ex- 
hortation to  obedience.  U.  Against  whoredom  and 
adultery.  12.  Against  strife  and  conlention  about 
matters  of  religion.  These  titles  of  the  homilies  are 
taken  verbatim  from  Bishop  Burnet. — Neat's  Review. 

*  The  chief  were, 

1.  "'I'hat  all  ecclesiastical  persons  observe  the 
laws  relating  to  the  king's  supremacy. 

2.  "  That  they  preach  unce  a  quarter  against  pil- 
grimages and  praying  to  images,  and  exhort  to  works 
of  faith  and  charity. 

3.  "  That  images  abused  with  pilgrimages  and  of- 
ferings be  taken  down  ;  that  no  wax  candles  or  ta- 
pers be  burned  before  them  ;  but  only  two  lights  upon 
the  high  altar  before  the  sacrament  shall  remain  still, 
to  signify  that  Christ  is  the  light  of  the  world." 

The  limitation  in  this  article  giving  occasion  to 
great  heats  among  the  people,  some  affirming  their 
images  had  been  so  abused,  and  others  not,  the  coun- 
cil sent  orders  to  see  them  ail  taken  down. 

4.  "That  when  there  is  no  sermon,  the  Paternos- 
ter, the  Creed,  and  Ten  Commaiulaients,  shall  be  re- 
cited out  of  the  pulpit  to  the  parishioners. 

5.  "  That  within  three  months  every  church  be 
provided  with  a  Bible;  and,  wiihiii  twelve  months, 
with  Erasmus's  Paraphrase  on  the  New  Testament. 

9.  "That  they  examine  such  who  come  to  confes- 
sion, whether  they  can  recite  the  Paternoster,  Creed, 
and  Ten  Commandments  m  English,  before  they  re- 
ceive the  sacrament  of  the  altar,  else  they  ought  not 
to  come  to  God's  board. 

21.  "That  ill  time  of  high  ma«is  the  Epistle  and 
Gospel  shall  be  read  in  English  ;  and  that  one  chap- 
ter in  the  New  Testament  be  read  at  matins,  and  one 
in  the  Old  at  even-song. 

23.  "  No  processions  shall  be  used  about  churches 
or  churchyards  ;  but  immediately  before  high  mass 
the  litany  shall  be  said  or  sung  m  English;  and  all 
ringing  of  bells  (save  one)  utterly  forborne. 

24.  "  That  the  holydays,  at  the  lirsl  beginning  god- 
ly instituted  and  ordained,  be  wholly  given  to  God,  in 
hearing  the  Word  of  God  read  and  taught ;  in  private 
and  public  prayers,  in  acknowledging  their  ort'ences 
to  God,  and  promising  amendment ;  in  reconciling 
themselves  to  their  neighbours,  receiving  the  com- 
munion, visiting  the  sick,  &c.  Only  it  shall  be  law- 
ful m  time  of  harvest  to  labour  upon  holy  and  festival 
days,  in  order  to  save  that  thing  which  God  hath 
sent;  and  that  scrupulosity  to  abstain  from  working 
on  those  days  does  grievously  oHi'nd  (Jod. 

28.  "  That  they  take  away  all  shrines,  coverings  of 
shrines,  tables,  candlesticks,  trindills,  or  rolls  of  wax, 
pictures,  paintings,  and  other  monninents  of  feigned 
miracles,  so  that  no  memory  of  them  remain  in  walls 
or  windows  ;  exhorting  the  people  to  do  the  like  in 
their  several  hou.ses." 

The  rest  of  the  articles  related  to  the  advancement 
of  learning,  to  the  encouragement  of  preachhig,  and 
correcting  some  very  gross  abuses. 


cuse.  They  were  to  give  orders  to  none  but 
such  as  were  able  to  preach,  and  to  recall  I  heir 
licenses  from  others.  The  injunctions  were  to 
be  observed  under  the  pains  of  excommunica- 
tion, serpiestration,  or  deprivation. 

In  bidding  of  their  prayers,  they  were  to  re- 
member the  king,  their  supreme  head,  the 
queen  dowager,  the  king's  two  sisters,  the  lord- 
protector,  and  the  council  ;  the  nobility,  the 
clergy,  and  the  commons,  of  this  realm.  The 
custom  of  bidding  prayer,  which  is  still  in  use 
in  the  Church,  is  a  relic  of  popery.  Bishop  Bur- 
net* has  preserved  the  form,  as  it  was  in  use  be- 
fore the  Reformat  ion,  which  was  this  :  After  the 
preacher  had  named  and  opened  his  text,  he 
called  on  the  people  to  go  to  their  prayers,  tell- 
ing them  what  they  were  to  pray  for.  "  Ye 
shall  pray,"  says  he,  "  for  the  king,  for  the  pope, 
for  the  Holy  Catholic  Church,"  &c.  After  which 
all  the  people  said  their  beads  in  a  general  si- 
lence, and  the  minister  kneeled  down  likewise 
and  said  his  :  they  were  to  say  a  Paternoster, 
Ave  Maria,  Deus  misereatur  nostri,  Domine 
salvum  fac  regem,  Gloria  Patri,  &c.,  and  then 
the  sermon  proceeded.  How  sadly  this  bidding 
of  prayer  has  been  abused  of  late  by  some  di- 
vines, to  the  entire  omission  of  the  duty  itself, 
is  too  well  known  to  need  a  remark  ! 

Most  of  the  bishops  complied  with  the  in- 
junctions, except  Bonner  of  London,  and  Gar- 
diner of  Winchester.  Bonner  offered  a  reserve, 
but  that  not  being  accepted,  he  made  an  abso- 
lute submission  ;  nevertheless,  he  was  sent  for 
siniie  time  to  the  Fleet  for  contempt.  Gardiner 
having  protested  against  the  injunctions  and 
homilies  as  contrary  to  the  law  of  God,  was 
sent  also  to  the  Fleet,  where  he  continued  till 
after  the  Parliament  was  over,  and  was  then 
released  by  a  general  act  of  grace. 

The  Parliament  that  met  November  the  9th 
made  several  alterations  in  favour  of  the  Refor- 
mation. They  repealed  all  laws  that  made  any- 
thing treason  but  what  was  specified  in  the  act 
of  25  Edward  HI.,  and  two  of  the  statutes 
against  Lollardies.  They  repealed  the  statute 
of  the  SIX  articles,  with  the  acts  that  followed 
in  explanation  of  it  ;  all  laws  in  the  late  reign 
declaring  anything  felony  that  was  not  so  de- 
clared before  ;  together  with  the  act  that  made 
the  king's  proclamation  of  equal  authority  with 
an  act  of  Parliament.  Besides  the  repeal  of 
these  laws,  sundry  new  ones  were  enacted,!  as 
"that  the  sacramenlof  the  Lord's  Supjier  should 
be  administered  in  both  kinds,"  agreeably  to 
Christ's  first  institution,  and  the  practice  of  the 
Church  for  five  hundred  years  :  and  that  all 
private  masses  should  be  put  down  :  an  act 
concerning  the  admission  of  bishops  into  their 
sees ;  which  sets  forth  that  the  manner  of 
choosing  bishops  by  a  conge  d'elire,  being  hut 
the  shadow  of  an  election,  all  bishops,  here- 
after, shall  be  appointed  by  the  king's  letters 
patent  only,  and  shall  continue  the  exercise 
of  their  jurisdiction  during  their  natural  life, 
if  they  behave  well.l  One  of  the  first  pa- 
tents with  this  clause  is  that  of  Dr.  Barlow, 
bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,*;)  bearing  date  Feb- 
ruary 3,  in  the  second  year  of  the  king's  reign  ; 

*  Hist.  Ref ,  vol.  ii.,  p.  30,  and  Collection  of  Rec- 
ords, b.  i.,  No.  8. 

t  1  Edw.  VI.,  cap.  i.  {  1  Edw.  VI.,  cap.  ii., 

<j  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref,  vol.  ii.,  p.  218. 


46 


HISTORY    OF  THE   PURITANS. 


but  all  the  rest  of  the  bishops  afterward  took 
out  letters  for  their  bishoprics  with  the  same 
clause.  In  this  the  arcliLiishop  had  a  princi- 
pal hand,  for  it  was  his  judgment  tliat  the  ex- 
ercise of  all  episcopal  jurisdiction  depended 
upon  the  prince  ;  and  that,  as  he  gave  it,  he 
miglit  restrain  or  take  it  away  at  his  pleas- 
ure.* Cranmer  thought  the  exercise  of  his 
own  episcopal  authority  ended  with  the  late 
king's  life,  and,  therefore,  would  not  act  as 
an-hhishop  till  he  had  a  new  commission  from 
King  Edward. t 

In  the  same  statute  it  is  declared  "  that, 
since  all  jurisdiction,  both  spiritual  and  tempo- 
ral, was  derived  from  the  king,  therefore,  all 
processes  in  the  spiritual  court  should  from 
henceforward  be  carried  on  in  the  king's  name, 
and  be  sealed  with  the  king's  seal,  as  in  the 
other  courts  of  common  law,  except  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury's  courts,  only  in  all  facul- 
ties and  dispensations ;  but  all  collations,  pre- 
sentations, or  letters  of  orders,  were  to  pass  un- 
der the  bishops'  proper  seals  as  formerly."  By 
this  law,  causes  concerning  wills  and  marriages 
were  to  be  tried  in  the  king's  name ;  but  this 
was  repealed  in  the  next  reign. 

Lastly  :  The  Parliament  gave  the  king  all  the 
lands  for  maintenance  of  chantries  not  pos- 
sessed by  his  father ;  all  legacies  given  for 
obits,  anniversaries,  lamps  in  churches  ;  to- 
gether with  all  guild  lands,  which  any  frater- 
nity enjoyed  on  the  same  account  :t  the  mon- 
ey was  to  be  converted  to  the  maintenance 
of  grammar-schools,  but  the  hungry  courtiers 
shared  it  among  themselves.  After  this  the 
houses  were  prorogued  from  the  24th  of  Decem- 
ber to  the  20th  of  April  foUowmg. 

The  convocation  that  sat  with  the  Parliament 
did  little  ;  the  majority  being  on  the  side  of  po- 
pery, the  archbishop  was  afraid  of  venturing 
anything  of  importance  with  them  ;  nor  are 
any  of  their  proceedings  upon  record  ;  but  Mr. 
Strype  has  collected,  from  the  notes  of  a  pri- 
vate member,  that  the  lower  house  agreed  to 
the  communion  in  both  kinds  ;  and  that,  upon  a 
division  about  the  lawfulness  of  priests'  mar- 
riages, fifty-three  were  for  the  affirmative,  and 
twenty-two  for  the  negative  ij 

The  Reformation  in  Germany  lying  under 
great  discouragements  by  the  victorious  arms 
of  Charles  V.,  who  had  this  year  taken  the  Duke 
of  Saxony  prisoner,  and  dispossessed  him  of  his 
electorate,  several  of  the  foreign  Reformers,  who 
had  taken  sanctuary  in  those  parts,  were  forced 
to  seek  it  elsewhere.  Among  these,  Peter  Mar- 
tyr, a  Florentine,  was  invited  by  the  archbish- 
op, in  the  king's  name,  into  England,  and  had 
the  divinity-chair  given  him  at  Oxford  ;  Bucer 
had  the  same  at  Cambridge  ;  Ochinus  and  Fa- 
gius,  two  other  learned  foreigners,  had  either 
pensions  or  canonries,  with  a  dispensation  of 
residence,  and  did  good  service  in  the  universi- 
ties ;  but  Fagius  soon  after  died. 

The  common  people  were  very  much  divided 
in  their  opinions  about  religion,  some  being 
zealous  for  preserving  the  popish  rites,  and  oili- 
ers  no  less  averse  to  them.  The  country  peo- 
ple were  very  tenacious  of  their  old  shows,  as 

*  Strype's  Mem.  of  Cranmer,  p.  141.    App.,  p.  53. 

t  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  42. 

i  Edw.  VI.,  cap.  42. 

i)  Strype's  Life  of  Cran.,  p.  156. 


processions,  wakes,  carrying  of  candles  on  Can- 
dlemas Day,  and  palms  on  Palm  Sundays,  &c., 
while  others  looked  upon  them  as  heathenish 
rites,  absolutely  inconsistent  with  the  simplici- 
ty of  the  Gospel.  This  was  so  effectually  rep- 
resented to  the  council  by  Cranmer,  that  a  proc- 
lamatioti  was  published,  February  6,  1548,  for- 
bidding the  continuance  of  them.  And  for  put- 
ting an  end  to  all  contests  about  images  that 
had  been  abused  to  superstition,  an  order  was 
published  February  11th,  that  all  images  what- 
soever should  be  taken  out  of  churches  ;  an(l 
the  bishops  were  commanded  to  execute  it  in 
their  several  diocesses.*  Thus  the  churches 
were  emptied  of  all  those  pictures  and  statues 
which  had  for  divers  ages  been  the  objects  of 
the  people's  adoration.  

The  clergy  were  no  less  divided  than  the  lai- 
ty, the  pulpits  clashing  one  against  the  another, 
and  tending  to  stir  up  sedition  and  rebellion : 
the  king,  therefore,  after  the  example  of  his 
father,  and  by  advice  of  his  council,  issued  out 
a  proclamation,  September  3d,  in  the  second 
year  of  his  reign,  to  prohibit  all  preaching 
throughout  all  his  dominions.  The  words  are 
these  :  "  The  king's  highness,  minding  shortly 
to  have  one  uniform  order  throughout  this  realm, 
and  to  put  an  end  to  all  controversies  in  reli- 
gion, so  far  as  God  shall  give  grace,  doth  at  this 
present,  and  till  such  time  as  the  said  order 
shall  be  set  forth,  inhibit  all  manner  of  persons 
whatsoever  to  preach  in  open  audience,  in  the 
pulpit  or  otherwise ;  to  the  intent  that  the 
whole  clergy,  in  the  mean  space,  may  apply 
themselves  in  prayer  to  Almighty  God  for  the 
better  achieving  the  same  most  godly  intent  and 
purpose." 

At  the  same  time  a  committee  of  divines  was 
appointed  to  examine  and  reform  the  offices  of 
the  Church  :t  these  were  the  Archbishops  of 
Canterbury  and  York  ;  the  Bishops  of  London, 
Durham,  Worcester,  Norwich,  St.  Asaph,  Sal- 
isbury, Coventry   and  Lichfield,  Carlisle,  Bris- 
tol, St.  David's,  Ely,  Lincoln,  Chichester,  Here- 
ford, Westminster,  and   Rochester ;  with  the 
Doctors  Cox,  May,  Taylor,  Heins,  Robertson, 
and  Redmayti.     They  began  with  the   sacra- 
ment of  the  eucharist,  in  which  they  made  but 
little  alteration,  leaving  the  office  of  the  mass 
as  it  stood,  only  adding  to  it  so  much  as  chan- 
ged it  into  a  communion  of  both  kinds.    Auricu- 
lar confession  was  left  indifferent.     The  priest, 
having  received  the  sacrament  himself,  was  to 
turn  to  the  people  and  read  the  exhortation : 
then  followed  a  denunciation,  requiring  such  as 
had  not  repented  to  withdraw,  lest  the  devil 
should  enter  into  them  as  he  did  into  Judas. 
After  a  little  pause,  to  see  if  any  would  with- 
draw, followed  a  confession  of  sins  and  absolu- 
tion, the  same  as  now  in  use ;  after  which  the 
sacrament  was  administered  in  both  kinds,  with- 
out elevation.     This  office  was  published,  with 
a  proclamation  declaring  his  majesty's  inten- 
tions to  proceed  to  a  farther  reformation,  and 
willing  his  subjects  not  to  run  before  his  di- 
rection, assuring  them  of  his  earnest  zeal  in 
this  affair,  and  hoping  they  would  quietly  tarry 
for  it. 

In  reforming  the  other  offices,  they  examined 


*  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref,  vol.  ii.,  p.  61,  64. 
t  Id.  ib. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


47 


and  compared  the  Romish  missals  of  Sarum, 
York,  Hereiord,  Bangor,  and  Lincoln  ;  and  out 
of  them  composed  tlie  morning  and  evening 
service,  almost  in  the  same  form  as  it  stands  at 
present ;  only  there  was  no  confession  nor  al)- 
solution.  It  would  have  obviated  many  objec- 
tions if  the  committee  had  thrown  aside  the 
mass-book,  and  composed  a  uniform  service  in 
the  language  of  Scripture,  without  any  regard 
to  theChurch  of  Rome  ;  but  this  they  were  not 
aware  of  or  the  times  would  not  bear  it.  From 
the  same  materials,  they  compiled  a  litany,  con- 
sisting of  many  short  peti-tiuns,  interrupted  by 
suffrages ;  it  is  the  same  with  that  which  is 
now  used,  except  the  petition  to  be  delivered 
from  the  tyranny  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and 
all  his  detestable  enormities  ;  which,  in  the  re- 
view of  the  liturgy  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  time, 
was  struck  out. 

In  the  administration  of  baptism,  a  cross  was 
to  be  made  on  the  child's  forehead  and  breast, 
and  the  devil  was  exorcised  to  go  out,  and  en- 
ter no  more  into  him.  The  child  was  to  be 
dipped  three  times  in  the  font,  on  the  right  and 
left  side,  and  on  the  breast,  if  not  weak.  A 
white  vestment  was  to  be  put  upon  it,  in  token 
of  innocence ;  and  it  was  to  be  anointed  on 
the  head,  with  a  short  prayer  for  the  unction 
of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

In  order  to  confirmation,  those  that  came 
were  to  be  catechised  ;  then  the  bishop  was  to 
sign  them  with  the  cross,  and  lay  his  hands 
upon  them,  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Ghost. 

If  sick  persons  desired  to  be  anointed,  the 
priest  might  do  it  upon  the  forehead  and  breast, 
only  making  the  sign  of  the  cross,  with  a  short 
prayer  fur  his  recovery. 

In  the  office  of  burial,  the  soul  of  the  depart- 
ed person  is  recommended  to  the  mercy  of  God  ; 
and  tiic  minister  is  to  pray  that  the  sins  which 
he  committed  in  this  world  may  be  forgiven 
him,  and  that  he  may  be  admitted  into  heaven, 
and  his  body  raised  at  the  last  day. 

This  was  the  first  service-book  or  liturgy  of 
King  Edward  VI.  We  have  no  certain  account 
of  the  use  of  any  liturgies  in  the  first  ages  of  the 
Church,  those  of  St.  Mark,  St.  James,  and  that 
of  Alexandria,  being  manifestly  spurious.  It  is 
not  till  the  latter  end  of  the  fourth  century  tliat 
they  are  first  mentioned  ;  and  then  it  was  left  to 
the  care  of  every  bishop  to  draw  up  a  form  of 
prayer  for  his  own  church.  In  St.  Austin's 
time  they  began  to  consult  about  an  agreement 
of  prayers,  that  none  should  be  used  without 
common  advice  ;  but  still  there  was  no  uniform- 
ity. Nay,  in  the  darkest  times  of  popery,  there 
was  a  vast  variety  of  forms  in  different  sees  ; 
witness  the  offices  secundum  usum  Sarum,  Ban- 
gor, York,  &c.  But  our  Reformers  split  upon 
this  rock,  sacrificing  the  peace  of  the  Church  to 
a  mistaken  necessity  of  an  exact  uniformity  of 
doctrine  and  worship,  in  which  it  was  impossi- 
ble for  all  men  to  agree.  Had  they  drawn  up 
divers  forfhs,  or  left  a  discretionary  latitude  for 
tender  consciences,  as  to  some  particular  phra- 
ses, all  men  would  have  been  easy,  and  the 
Church  more  firndy  united  than  ever. 

The  like  is  to  be  observed  as  to  rites  and  cere- 
monies of  an  indifferent  nature.  Nothing  is 
more  certain  than  that  the  Church  of  Rome  in- 
dulged a  variety.     Every  religious  order  (says 


Bishop  Burnet*)  had  their  peculiar  rites,  with 
the  saints'  days  that  belonged  to  their  order,  and 
services  for  them ;  but  our  Reformers  thought 
proper  to  insist  upon  an  exact  uniformity  of 
habits  and  ceremonies  for  all  the  clergy  ;  though 
they  knew  many  of  them  were  excep'tionabfe, 
having  been  abused  to  idolatry,  and  were  a  yoke 
which  some  of  the  most  resolved  Protestants 
could  not  bear.  Nay,  so  great  a  stress  was  la'd 
upon  the  square  cap  and  surplice,  that,  rather 
than  dispense  with  the  use  of  them  to  some  ten- 
der minds,  the  bishops  were  content  to  part  ivith 
their  best  friends,  and  hazard  the  Relormalion 
into  the  hands  of  the  papists.  If  there  must  be 
habits  and  ceremonies  for  decency  and  order, 
why  did  they  not  appoint  new  ones  rather  than 
retain  the  old,  which  had  been  idolized  by  the 
papists  to  such  a  degree  as  to  be  thought  to 
have  a  magical  virtue,  or  a  sacramental  effica- 
cy ?  Or,  if  they  meant  this,  why  did  they  not 
speak  out,  and  go  on  with  the  consecration  of 
them] 

The  council  had  it  some  time  under  consid- 
eration whether  those  vestments  in  which  the 
priests  used  to  officiate  should  be  continued.  It 
was  objected  against  them,  by  those  who  had 
been  confessors  for  the  Protestant  religion,  and 
others,  that  "  the  habits  were  a  part  of  the  train 
of  the  mass  ;  that  the  people  had  such  a  super- 
stitious opinion  of  them  as  to  think  they  gave 
an  efficacy  to  their  prayers,  and  that  Divine  ser- 
vice said  without  this  apparel  was  insignificant : 
whereas,  at  best,  they  were  but  inventions  of 
popery,  and  ought  to  be  destroyed  with  that  idol- 
atrous religion."!  But  it  was  said,  on  the  other 
hand,  by  those  divines  that  had  stayed  in  Eng- 
land, and  weathered  the  storm  of  King  Henry's 
tyranny  by  a  politic  compliance,  and  conceal- 
ment of  their  opinions,  that  "  Church  habits  and 
ceremonies  weie  indifferent,  and  might  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  magistrates  ;  that  white  was  the 
colour  of  the  priests'  garments  in  the  Mosaical 
dispensation;  and  that  it  was  a  natural  expres- 
sion of  the  purity  and  decency  that  became 
priests.  That  they  ought  to  depart  no  farther 
from  the  Church  of  Rome  than  she  had  depart- 
ed from  the  practice  of  the  primitive  Church." 

Besides,  "clergy  were  then  so  poor  that  they 
could  scarce  afford  to  buy  themselves  decent 
clothes."  But  did  the  priests  buy  their  own 
garments  1  could  not  the  parish  provide  a  gown, 
or  some  other  decent  apparel,  for  the  priest  to 
minister  in  sacred  things,  as  well  as  a  square 
cap,  a  surplice,  a  cope,  or  a  tippet !  were  these 
the  habits  of  the  primitive  clergy  before  the  rise 
of  papacy  1  But  upon  these  slender  reasons  the 
garments  were  continued,  which  soon  alter  di- 
vided the  Reformers  among  themselves,  and 
gave  rise  to  the  two  parties  of  Conformists  and 
Nonconformists ;  Archbishop  Cranmer  and  Rid- 
ley being  at  the  head  of  the  former,  and  Bishop 
Hooper,  Rogers,  with  the  foreign  divines,  being 
patrons  of  the  latter. 

The  Parliament,  after  several  prorogations,- 
met  the  24th  of  November,  1548 ;  and,  on  the 
15th  of  January  following,  the  act  confirming 
the  new  liturgy  passed  both  houses,  the  Bish- 
ops of  London,  Durham,  Norwich,  Carlisle, 
Hereford,  Worcester,  Westminster,  and  Chi 
Chester  protesting.     The  preamble  sets  forth 


*  Hist.  Ref,  vol.  ii.,  p.  72. 

t  Fuller's  Church  History,  b.  vii.,  p.  402. 


48 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


•"thai  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  with  other 
learned  bishops  and  divines,  luivini^,  by  the  aid 
of  tlie  Holy  Ghost,  willi  one  uniform  agree- 
ment, concluded  upon  an  order  of  Divine  wor- 
ship agreeably  to  Scripture  and  the  primitive 
Church,  the  Parliament  having  considered  the 
book,  gave  the  king  their  most  humble  thanks, 
and  enacted,  that  from  the  feast  of  Whitsun- 
day, 1549,  all  divine  offices  should  be  perform- 
ed according  to  it ;  and  that  such  of  the  clergy 
as  refused  to  do  it,  or  officiated  in  any  other 
manner,  should,  upon  the  first  conviction,  suf- 
fer six  months'  imprisonment,  and  forfeit  a 
year's  profits  of  his  benefice  ;  for  the  second  of- 
fence, forfeit  all  his  Church  preferments,  and 
suffer  a  year's  imprisonment ;  and  for  the  third 
offence,  imprisonment  for  life.  Such  as  writ  or 
printed  against  the  book  were  to  be  fined  £10 
for  the  first  offence,  £20  for  the  second,  and  to 
forfeit  all  their  goods,  and  be  imprisoned  for  life 
for  the  third."  It  ought  to  be  observed,  that 
this  service-book  was  not  laid  before  the  convo- 
cation, nor  any  representative  body  of  the  clergy ; 
and  whereas  it  is  said  to  be  done  by  one  univer- 
sal agreement,  it  is  certain  that  four  of  the  bish- 
ops employed  in  drawing  it  up  protested  against 
it,  viz.,  the  Bishops  of  Norwich,  Hereford,  Chi- 
chester, and  Westminster.  But  if  the  liturgy 
had  been  more  perfect  than  it  was,  the  penal- 
ties by  which  it  was  imposed  were  severe  and 
unchristian,  contrary  to  Scripture  and  primitive 
antiquity.* 

As  soon  as  the  act  took  place,  the  council  ap- 
pointed visiters  to  see  that  the  new  liturgy  was 
received  all  over  England.  Bonner,  who  re- 
solved to  comply  in  everything,  sent  to  the  dean 
and  residentiary  of  St.  Paul's  to  use  it ;  and  all 
the  clergy  were  so  pliable,  that  the  visiters  re- 
turned no  complaints  ;  only  that  the  Lady  Mary 
continued  to  have  mass  said  in  her  house,  which, 
upon  the  intercession  of  the  emperor,  was  in- 
dulged her  for  a  time.t  Gardiner,  bishop  of 
Winchester,  continued  still  a  prisoner  in  the 
Tower,  without  being  brought  to  a  trial,  for  refu- 
sing to  submit  to  the  council's  supremacy  while 
the  king  was  under  age,  and  for  some  other 
complaints  against  him.  His  imprisonment  was 
certainly  illegal :  it  was  unjustifiable  to  keep  a 
man  in  prison  two  years  upon  a  bare  complaint ; 
and  then,  without  producing  any  evidence  in 
support  of  the  charge,  to  sift  him  by  articles 
and  interrogatories  :  this  looked  too  much  like 
an  inquisition  ;  but  the  king  being  in  the  pope's 
room  (says  Bishop  Burnett),  there  were  some 
things  gathered  from  the  canon  law,  and  from 
the  proceedings  ex  officio,  that  rather  excused 
than  justified  the  hard  measures  he  met  with. 
When  the  council  sent  Secretary  Petre  to  the 
bishop,  to  know  whether  he  would  subscribe  to 
the  use  of  the  service-book,  he  consented,  with 
some  exceptions,  which,  not  being  admitted,  he 
was  threatened  with  deprivation. 

But  the  new  liturgy  did  not  sit  well  upon  the 
minds  of  the  country  people,  who  were  lor  go- 

*  Burnet's  Hist.  Rsf ,  vol.  ii.,  p.  93,  95^ 
t  The  intercession  of  the  Emperor  Carolus  was 
supported  by  the  requisition  of  the  council,  and  urged 
by  the  importance  of  ]ireserving  amity  with  him.  But 
the  king,  amiable  as  his  temper  appears  to  have  been, 
with  tears  opposed  the  advice  of  his  council,  and 
finally  denied  the  emperor's  suit. — Fox,  as  quoted  by 
Crosby,  b.  i.,  p.  44. — Ed. 
\  Hist.  Ref ,  vol.  ii.,  p.  152. 


ing  on  in  their  old  way,  of  wakes,  processions, 
church  alos,  liolydays.  censing  of  images,  and 
other  theatrical  rites,  which  strike  the  minds  of 
the  vulgar  :  these,  being  encouraged  by  the  old 
monks  and  friars,  rose  up  in  arms  in  several 
counties,  but  were  soon  dispersed.  The  most 
formidable  insurrections  were  those  of  Devon- 
siiire  and  Norfolk.  In  Devonshire  they  were 
ten  thousand  strong,  and  sent  the  following  ar- 
ticles or  demands  to  liie  king  : 

1.   "That  the  six  articles  should  he  restored. 

2    -'That  mass  should  be  said  in  Latin. 

3.  -'That  the  host  should  be  elevated  and 
adored. 

4.  "  That  the  sacrament  should  be  given  hut 
in  one  kind. 

5.  "  That  images  should  be  set  up  in  churches. 

6.  "That  the  souls  in  purgatory  should  be 
prayed  for. 

V.  "  That  the  Bible  should  be  called  in,  and 
prohibited. 

8.  "  That  the  new  service-book  should  be  laid 
aside,  and  the  old  religion  restored." 

An  answer  was  sent  from  court  to  these  de- 
mands ;  but  nothing  prevailed  on  the  enraged 
multitude,  whom  the  priests  inflamed  with  all 
the  artifice  they  could  devise,  carrying  the  host 
about  the  camp  in  a  cart,  that  all  might  see  and 
adore  it.  They  besieged  the  city  of  Exeter,  and 
reduced  it  to  the  last  extremity  ;  but  the  inhab- 
itants defended  it  with  uncommon  bravery,  till 
they  were  relieved  by  the  Lord  Russell,  who 
with  a  very  small  force  entered  the  town  and 
dispersed  the  rebels.  The  insurrection  in  Nor- 
folk was  headed  by  one  Ket,  a  tanner,  who  as- 
sumed to  himself  the  power  of  judicature  under 
an  old  oak,  called  from  thence  the  Oak  of  Ref- 
ormation. He  did  not  pretend  much  of  religion, 
but  to  place  new  counsellors  about  the  king,  in 
order  to  suppress  the  greatness  of  the  gentry, 
and  advance  the  privileges  of  the  commons. 
The  rebels  were  twenty  thousand  strong ;  but 
the  Earl  of  Warwick,  with  six  thousand  foot 
and  fifteen  hundred  horse,  quickly  dispersed 
them.  Several  of  the  leaders  of  both  rebellions 
were  executed,  and  Ket  was  hanged  in  chains. 

The  hardships  the  Reformers  underwent  in 
the  late  reign  from  the  six  articles,  should  have 
made  them  tender  of  the  lives  of  those  who  dif- 
fered from  the  present  standard.  Cranmer  him- 
self had  been  a  papist,  a  Lutheran,  and  was  now 
a  Sacramentary,  and  in  every  change  guilty  of 
inexcusable  severities  ;  while  he  was  a  Luther- 
an, he  consented  to  the  burning  of  John  Lambert 
and  Anne  Askew,  for  those  very  doctrines  for 
which  he  himself  afterward  suffered.  He  bore 
hard  upon  the  papists,  stretching  the  law  to 
keep  their  most  active  leaders  in  prison  ;  and 
this  year  he  imbrued  his  hands  in  the  blood  of  a 
poor  frantic  woman,  Joan  Bocher,  more  fit  for 
Bedlam  than  a  stake  ;  which  was  owing,  not  to 
any  cruelty  in  the  archbishop's  temper,  but  by 
those  miserable  persecuting  principles  by  which 
he  was  governed. 

Among  others  that  fled  out  of  Gtwmany  into 
England,  from  the  Rustic  war,  tliere  were  some 
that  went  by  the  name  of  Anabaptists  [dissem- 
inating their  errors,  and  making  proselytes], 
who,  besides  the  principle  of  adult  baptism,  held 
several  wild  opinions  about  the  Trinity,  the  Vir- 
gin Mary,  and   the  person  of  Christ.*     Com- 

*  It  is  to  be  wished  that  Mr.  Neal  had  not  charac- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


49 


plaint  being  made  of  them  to  the  council,  April 
12th,.  a  commission  was  ordered  to  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  the  Bishops  of  Ely,  Wor- 
cester [Westminster],  Chichester,  Lincoln, 
Rochester  [Sir  William  Petre,  SirThomas  Smith, 
Dr.  Cox,  Dr.  May],  and  some  others,  any  three 
being  a  quorum,  to  examine  and  search  after  all 
Anabaptists,  heretics,  or  contemners  of  the  com- 
mon prayer,  whom  they  were  to  endeavour  to 
reclaim,  and  after  penance  to  give  them  absolu- 
tion ;  but  if  they  continued  obstinate,  they  were 
to  excommunicate,  imprison,  and  deliver  them 
to  the  secular  arm.  This  was  little  better  than 
a  Protestant  inquisition.  People  had  generally 
thought  that  all  the  statutes  for  burning  here- 
tics had  been  repealed  ;  but  it  was  now  said 
that  heretics  were  to  be  burned  by  the  common 
law  of  England,  and  that  the  statutes  were  only 
lor  directing  the  manner  of  conviction  ;  so  that 
the  repealing  them  did  not  take  away  that  which 
was  grounded  upon  a  writ  at  common  law.  Sev- 
eral tradesmen  that  were  brought  before  the  com- 
missioners abjured  ;  but  Joan  Bocher,  or  Joan 
of  Kent,  obstinately  maintained  that  "  Christ 
■was  not  truly  incarnate  of  the  Virgin,  whose 
flesh  being  sinful,  he  could  not  partake  of  it ;  but 
the  W'ord,  by  the  consent  of  the  inward  man  in 
the  Virgin,  took  flesh  of  her."  These  were  her 
words  :  a  scholastic  nicety  not  capable  of  doing 
much  mischief,  and  far  from  deserving  so  severe 
a  punishment.  The  poor  woman  could  not  rec- 
oncile the  spotless  purity  of  Christ's  human 
nature  with  his  receiving  flesh  from  a  sinful 
creature  ;  and  for  this  she  is  declared  an  obsti- 
nate heretic,  and  delivered  over  to  the  secular 
power  to  be  burned.  When  the  compassionate 
young  king  could  not  prevail  with  himself  to 
sign  the  warrant  for  her  execution,  Cranmer 
"With  his  superior  learning  was  employed  to  per- 
suade him ;  he  argued  from  the  practice  of  the 
Jewish  Church  in  stoning  blasphemers,  which 
rather  silenced  his  highness  than  satisfied  him  : 
for  when  at  last  he  yielded  to  the  archbishop's 
importunity,  he  told  him,  with  tears  in  his  eyes, 
that  if  he  did  wrong,  since  it  was  in  submission 
to  his  authority,  he  should  answer  for  it  to  God.* 
This  struck  the  archbishop  with  surprise,  but 
yet  he  suffered  the  sentence  to  be  executed. t 


terized,  in  this  style,  the  sentiments  of  these  persons ; 
but  had  contented  himself,  without  insinuating  his 
•cwn  judgment  of  their  tenets,  with  giving  his  readers 
the  words  of  Bishop  Burnet ;  for  calling  their  opin- 
ions wild  nolions  Will  have  a  tendency  with  many 
to  soften  their  resentment  against  the  persecutmg 
measures  which  Mr.  Neal  justly  condemns,  and  be 
considered  as  furnishing  an  apology  for  them.  Bishop 
Burnet  says,  "  Upon  Luther's  first  preaching  in  Ger- 
many, there  arose  many  who,  building  on  some  of  his 
principles,  carried  things  much  farther  than  he  did. 
The  chief  foundation  he  laid  down  was,  that  the 
Scripture  was  to  be  the  only  rule  of  Christians." 
I'pon  this  many  argued  that  the  mysteries  of  the 
Tiinity,  and  Christ's  incarnation  and  sufferings,  of 
iSie  fall  of  man,  and  the  aids  of  grace,  were  indeed 
philosophical  subtilties,  and  only  pretended  to  be  de- 
duced from  Scripture,  as  almost  all  opinions  of  reli- 
gion were,  and  therefore  they  rejected  them.  Among 
these  the  baptism  of  infants  was  one.  They  held 
that  to  be  no  baptism,  and  so  were  rebaptized.  But 
isow.  this,  which  was  most  taken  notice  of,  as  being  a 
■viable  thing,  they  carried  all  the  general  name  of 
Atiabaptists. — Burnet's  Hist.  Rrf.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  110,  &c. 
— ^Ed.  ■*  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref ,  vol.  ii.,  p.  112. 

f  Mr.  Neal,  representing  Joan  Bocher  as  a  poor, 

YoL.  I.— G 


Nor  did  his  grace  renounce  his  burning  prin- 
ciples as  long  as  he  was  in  power ;  for  about 
two  years  alter,  he  went  through  the  same 
bloody  work  again.  One  George  Van  Paris,  a 
Dutchman,  being  convicted  of  saying  that  God 
the  Father  was  only  God,  and  that  Christ  was 
not  very  God,  was  dealt  with  to  abjure,  imt  re- 
fusing, he  was  condemned  in  the  same  manner 
with  Joan  of  Kent,  and  on  the  25th  of  April, 
1552,  was  burned  in  Smitlifield  ;  he  was  a  man 
of  a  strict  and  virtuous  life,  and  very  devout ; 
he  suffered  with  great  constancy  of  mind,  kiss- 
ing the  stake  and  fagots  that  were  to  burn  him. 
No  part  of  Archbishop  Cranmer's  life  exposed 
him  more  than  this  :  it  was  now  said  by  the 
papists  that  they  saw  men  of  harmless  lives 
might  be  put  to  death  for  heresy  by  the  confes- 
sion of  the  Reformers  themselves.  In  all  the 
books  published  in  Queen  Mary's  days,  justify- 

frantic  woman,  more  fit  for  Bedlam  thar.  the  stake, 
and  as  obstinately  maintaining  her  opinion,  has  not 
spoken  so  respectfully  of  her  as  her  character  and 
the  truth  of  the  case  required.  The  charge  of  obsti- 
nacy wants  propriety  and  candour;  for  though  an  opin- 
ion in  the  account  of  others  may  be  a  great  and  hurt- 
ful error,  it  cannot,  without  insincerity  and  the  viola- 
tion of  conscience,  be  renounced  by  the  person  who 
has  embraced  it  until  his  judgment  is  convinced  of 
its  falsehood.  Arguments  which  produce  conviction 
in  one  mind,  do  not  carry  the  same  degree  of  clear- 
ness and  strength  to  other  minds  ;  and  men  are  very 
incompetent  judges  of  the  nature  and  force  of  evi- 
dence* necessary  to  leave  on  others  the  impressions 
they  themselves  feel.  The  extraordinary  efforts  used 
to  bring  Joan  Bocher  to  retract  her  opinion,  show  her 
to  have  been  a  person  of  note,  whose  opinions  carried 
more  weight  and  respect  than  it  can  be  supposed 
would  the  chimeras  of  a  frantic  woman.  The  ac- 
count which  Mr.  Strype  gives  of  her  is  truly  honour- 
able. "  She  was,"  he  says,  "  a  great  disperser  of 
Tyndal's  New  Testament,  translated  by  him  into 
English,  and  printed  at  Colen,  and  was  a  great  reader 
of  Scripture  herself  Which  book,  also,  she  dispersea 
in  the  court,  and  so  became  known  to  certain  women 
of  quahty,  and  was  more  particularly  acquaitited  with 
Mrs.  Anne  Ascue.  She  used,  for  the  more  secresy, 
to  tie  the  books  with  strings  under  her  apparel,  and 
so  pass  with  them  into  the  court."-*  By  this  it  ap- 
pears that  she  hazarded  her  life  in  dangerous  times, 
to  bring  others  to  the  knowledge  of  God's  Word  ;  and 
by  Mr.  Neal's  own  account,  her  sentiments,  were 
they  ever  so  erroneous,  were  taken  up  out  of  respect 
to  Christ,  "  for  she  could  not  reconcile  the  spotless 
purity  of  Christ's  human  nature  with  his  receiving 
flesh  from  a  sinful  creature." — Ed. 

When  condemned  to  die,  we  are  informed  she  said 
to  her  judges,  "  It  is  a  goodly  matter  to  consider  your 
ignorance.  It  was  not  long  ago  since  you  burned 
Anne  Ascue  for  a  piece  of  bread,  and  yet  came  your- 
selves soon  after  to  believe  and  profess  the  same  doc- 
trine for  which  you  burned  her.  And  now,  forsooth, 
you  will  needs  burn  me  for  a  piece  of  flesh,  and  in 
the  end  you  will  come  to  beheve  this  also,  when  you 
have  read  the  Scriptures  and  understand  them." 
Where  was  Cranmer's  conscience,  that  this  state- 
ment did  not  arouse  him  ?  I  scarcely  know  a  more 
painful  and  humiliating  fact  than  the  part  he  took  in 
this  criminal  affair.  It  did  not  arise  from  cruelty  of 
disposition,  for  his  heart  was  humane  and  benevolent, 
but  from  the  perverted  views  he  had  early  imbibed  in 
an  intolerant  and  unchristian  school.  How  bitter 
must  the  recollection  of  it  have  been  during  his  own 
imprisonment  at  Oxford  1 — Strype's  Mem.,  vol.  ii.,  i., 
335.— C. 


*  Strype's  Ecclesiastical  Memorials,  vol.  ii.,  p.  214,  as 
quoted  in  XinJse.v's  Apology,  fourth  edition,  p.  43,  and  in 
his  Historical  'View  of  the  Unitarian  Doctrine  of  Worship, 
p.  87. 


50 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


ing  hei  severities  against  Protestants,  these 
instances  were  always  produced  ;  and  when 
Craniner  himself  was  brought  to  the  stake,  they 
called  it  a  just  retaliation.  But  neither  this, 
nor  any  other  arguments,  could  convince  the 
divines  of  this  age  of  the  absurdity  and  wicked- 
ness of  putting  men  to  death  for  conscience' 
sake. 

Bonner,  bishop  of  London,  being  accused  of 
remissness  in  not  settling  the  new  service-book 
throughout  his  diocess,  and  being  suspected  of 
disaffection  to  the  government,  was  enjoined 
to  declare  publicly,  in  a  sermon  at  St.  Paul's 
Cross,  his  belief  of  the  king's  authority  while 
under  age,  and  his  approbation  of  the  new  ser- 
vice-book, with  some  other  articles ;  which  he 
not  performing  to  the  council's  satisfaction, 
was  cited  before  the  court  of  delegates,  and  af- 
ter several  hearings,  in  which  he  behaved  with 
great  arrogance,  sentence  of  deprivation  was 
pronounced  against  him,  September  23d,  by  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Ridley,  Bishop  of 
Kochester,  Secretary  Smith,  and  the  Dean  of 
St.  Paul's.  It  was  thought  hard  to  proceed  to 
such  extremities  with  a  man  for  a  mere  omis- 
sion, for  Bonner  pleaded  that  he  forgot  the  ar- 
ticle of  the  king's  authority  in  his  sermon  ;  and 
it  was  yet  harder  to  add  imprisonment  to  depri- 
vation :  but  he  lived  to  take  a  severe  revenge 
upon  his  judges  in  the  next  reign.  The  vacant 
see  was  tilled  up  with  Dr.  Ridley,  who,  on  the 
24th  of  February,  1549-50,  was  declared  Bjshop 
of  London  and  Westminster,  the  two  bishoprics 
being  united  in  him  ;  but  his  consecration  was 
deferred  to  the  next  year. 

The  Parliament  that  met  the  14th  of  Novem- 
ber revived  the  act  of  the  late  king,  empowering 
his  majesty  to  reform  the  canon  law,  by  naming 
thirty-two  persons,  viz.,  sixteen  of  the  spiritual- 
ity, of  whom  four  to  be  bishops ;  and  sixteen 
of  the  temporality,  of  whom  four  to  be  common 
lawyers,  who  within  three  years  should  compile 
a  body  of  ecclesiastical  laws,  which,  not  being 
contrary  to  the  statute  law,  should  be  published 
by  the  king's  warrant  under  the  great  seal,  and 
have  the  force  of  laws   in  the   ecclesiastical 
courts.     This  design  was  formed,  and  very  far 
advanced  in  King  Henry  VIII. 's  time,  but  the 
troubles  that  attended  the  last  part  of  his  reign 
prevented  the  finishing  it.     It  was  now  resu- 
med, and  in  pursuance  of  this  act  a  commission 
was  first  given  to  eight  persons,  viz.,  two  bish- 
ops, two  divines,  two  doctors  of  law,  and  two 
common  lawyers,  who  were  to  prepare  materi- 
als for  the  review  of  the  thirty-two ;  but  the 
preface  to  the  printed  book  says  that  Cranmer 
did  almost  the  whole  himself.*     It  was  not  fin- 
ished till  the  month  of  February,  1552-53,  when 
another  commission  was  granted  to  thirty-two 
persons  to  revise  it,  of  whom  the  former  eight 
were  a  part,  viz.,  eight  bishops,  eight  divines, 
eight   civilians,   and   eight  common    lawyers ; 
they  divided  themselves  into  four  classes,  and 
the  amendments  of  each  class  were  communi- 
cated to  the  whole.     Thus  the  work  was  finish- 
ed, being  digested  into  fifty-one  titles.     It  was 
translated  mto  Latin  by  Dr.  Hadden  and  Sir 
John  Cheek ;  but  before  it  received  the  royal 
confirmation  the  king  died  ;  nor  was  it  ever  re- 
vived  in  the  succeeding  reigns.      Archbishop 
Parker  first  published  it  in  the  year  1571,  under 

*  Strype's  Life  of  Cranmer,  p.  271. 


the  title  of  Reformatio  Legum  Anglicarum,  &c., 
and  it  was  reprinted  1640.  By  this  book  Cran- 
mer seems  to  have  softened  his  burning  princi- 
ples ;  for  though,  under  the  third  title  of  judg- 
ments for  heresy,  he  lays  a  very  heavy  load  u[»on 
the  back  of  an  obstinate  heretic,  as  that  '•  he  sliall 
be  declared  infamous,  incapable  of  public  trust, 
or  of  being  witness  in  any  court,  or  of  having 
power  to  make  a  will,  or  of  having  the  benefit 
of  the  law,"  yet  there  is  no  mention  of  capital 
proceedings. 

Another  remarkable  act,  passed  this  session,* 
was  for  ordaining  ministers;  it  appoints  "that 
such  forms  of  ordaining  ministers  as  should  be 
set  forth  by  the  advice  of  six  prelates  and  six 
divines,  to  be  named  by  the  king,  and  authori- 
zed under  the  great  seal,  should  be  used  after 
April  next,  and  no  other."  Here  is  no  mention 
again  of  a  convocation  or  synod  of  divines  ;  nor 
do  the  Parliament  reserve  to  themselves  a  right 
of  judgment,  but  intrust  everything  absolutely 
with  the  crown.  The  committee  soon  finished, 
their  Ordinal,  which  is  almost  the  same  with 
that  now  in  use.  They  take  no  notice  in  their 
book  of  the  lower  orders  in  the  Church  of  Rome, 
as  subdeacons,  readers,  acolytes,  &c.,  but  con- 
fine themselves  to  bishops,  priests,  and  dea- 
cons ;  and  here  it  is  observable  that  the  form 
of  ordaining  a  priest  and  a  bishop  is  the  same 
we  yet  use,  tliere  being  no  express  mention  in 
the  words  of  ordination  whether  it  be  for  the 
one  or  the  other  office  :t  this  has  been  altered 
of  late  years,  since  a  distinction  of  the  two  or- 
ders has  been  so  generally  admitted  ;  but  that 
was  not  the  received  doctrine  of  these  times.J 
The  committee  struck  out  most  of  the  modern 
rites  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  contented 
themselves,  says  Bishop  Burnet,  with  those 
mentioned  in  Scripture,  viz.,  imposition  of 
hands,  and  prayer.  The  gloves,  the  sandals, 
the  mitre,  the  ring,  and  crosier,  which  had  been 
used  in  consecrating  bishops,  were  laid  aside. 
The  anointing,  the  giving  consecrated  vest- 
ments, the  delivering  into  the  hands  vessels  for 
consecrating  the  eucharist,  with  a  power  to  of- 
fer sacrifice  for  the  dead  and  living,  which  had 
been  the  custom  in  the  ordination  of  a  priest, 
were  also  omitted.  But  when  the  bishop  or- 
dained, he  was  to  lay  one  hand  on  the  priest's 
head,  and  with  his  other  hand  to  give  him  a  Bi- 
ble, with  a  chalice  and  bread  in  it.  The  chalice 
and  bread  are  now  omitted,  as  is  the  pastoral 
stair  in  the  consecration  of  a  bishop.  By  the 
rule  of  this  Ordinal,  a  deacon  was  not  to  be  or- 
dained before  twenty-one,  a  priest  before  twen- 
ty-four, nor  a  bishop  before  he  was  thirty  years 
of  age. 

The  council  went  on  with  pressing  the  new 
liturgy  upon  the  people,  who  were  still  inclined 
in  many  places  to  the  old  service  ;  but,  to  put  it 
out  of  their  power  to  continue  it,  it  was  order- 
ed that  all  clergymen  should  deliver  up,  to  such 
persons  whom  the  king  should  appoint,  all  their 
old  antiphonals,  missals,  grails,  processionals, 
legends,  pies,  portuasses,  &,c.,  and  to  see  to  the 
observing  one  uniform  order  in  the  Church; 


*  3  and  4  of  Edward  VI.,  cap.  xii. 

t  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref,  vol.  ii.,  p.  144.  Collyer's 
Eccles.  Hist.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  290. 

t  For  a  fidl  viniiic^tion  of  the  above  assertions, 
see  Mr.  Neal's  Review,  p.  8G0-864  of  the  first  vol- 
ume of  the  quarto  edition  of  his  history.— Ed. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


51 


which  the  Parliament  confirmed,  requiring,  far- 
ther, all  that  had  any  images  in  their  houses 
that  had  belonged  to  any  church,  to  deface 
them  ;  and  to  dash  out  of  their  primers  all  pray- 
ers to  the  saints.  

1550.  Ridley,  being  now  bishop  of  London, 
resolved  upon  a  visitation  of  his  diocess.  His 
injunctions  were,  as  usual,  to  inquire  into  the 
doctrines  and  manners  of  the  clergy  ;*  but  the 
council  sent  him  a  letter  in  his  majesty's  name, 
to  see  that  all  altars  were  taken  down,  and  to 
require  the  church-wardens  of  every  parish  to 
provide  a  table  decently  covered,  and  to  place 
it  in  such  part  of  the  choir  or  chancel  as  should 
be  most  meet,  so  that  the  ministers  and  com- 
municants should  be  separated  from  the  rest  of 
the  people.  The  same  injunctions  were  given 
to  the  rest  of  the  bishops,  as  appears  by  the  col- 
lection of  Bishop  Sparrow.  Ridley  began  with 
his  own  cathedral  at  St.  Paul's,  where  he  or- 
dered the  wall  on  the  back  side  of  the  altar  to 
be  broken  down,  and  a  decent  table  to  be  placed 
in  its  room ;  and  this  was  done  in  most  church- 
es throughout  the  province  of  Canterbury.  The 
reasons  for  this  alteration  were  these : 

1.  "Because  our  Saviour  instituted  the  sac- 
rament at  a  table,  and  not  at  an  altar. 

2.  "  Because  Christ  is  not  to  be  sacrificed 
over  again,  but  his  body  and  blood  to  be  spirit- 
ually eaten  and  drunk  at  the  holy  supper ;  for 
which  a  table  is  more  proper  than  an  altar. 

3.  "  Because  the  Holy  Ghost,  speaking  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  calls  it  the  Lord's  table,  1  Cor., 
X.,  21,  but  nowhere  an  altar. 

4.  "  The  canons  of  the  Council  of  Nice,  as  well 
as  the  fathers  St.  Chrysostom  and  St.  Augustine, 
call  it  the  Lord's  table  ;  and  though  they  some- 
times call  it  an  altar,  it  is  to  be  understood 
figuratively. 

5.  "  An  altar  has  relation  to  a  sacrifice  ;  so 
that  if  we  retain  the  one  we  must  admit  the 
other ;  which  would  give  great  countenance  to 
mass-priests. 

6.  "There  are  many  passages  in  ancient 
writers  that  show  that  communion-tables  were 
of  wood  ;  that  they  were  made  like  tables  ;t 
and  that  those  who  fled  into  churches  for  sanc- 
tuary did  hide  themselves  under  them. 

7.  "  The  most  learned  foreign  divines  have 
declared  against  altars  ;  as  Bucer,  CEcolampa- 
dius,  Zuinglius,  Bullinger,  Calvin,  P.  Martyr, 
Joannes  Alasco,  Hedio,  Capito,  &c.,  and  have 
removed  them  out  of  their  several  churches : 
only  the  Lutheran  churches  retain  them. "J 

Ridley,  Cranmer,  Latimer,  and  the  rest  of 
the  English  Reformers,  were  of  opinion  that  the 
retaining  altars  would  serve  only  to  nourish  in 
people's  minds  the  superstitious  opinion  of  a 
propitiatory  mass,  and  would  minister  an  occa- 
eion  of  offence  and  division  among  the  godly  ; 
and  the  next  age  will  show  they  were  not  mis- 
taken in  their  conjectures.    But  some  of  the 


*  Among  the  other  articles  which  he  put  to  the 
inferior  clergy,  this  was  one  :  "  Whether  may  Ana- 
baptists or  others,  use  private  conventicles,   with 
.-*^  different  opinions  and  forms  from  those  established, 
'^and  with  other  questions  about  baptism  and  marri- 
ages."— Crosby,  vol.  i.,  p.  31  — Eo. 

t  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  150.     Strype's 
Ann.,  vol.  i.,  p.  160. 

X  yirype's  Ann  ,  vol.  i.,  p.  162.    Hist.  Ref,  vol.  iii., 
p.  158.    Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  i.,  p.  162. 


bishops  refused  to  comply  with  the  council'!? 
order ;  as  Day,  bishop  of  Chichester,  and  Heath 
of  Worcester,  insisting  on  the  apostle's  words 
to  the  Hebrews,  "  We  have  an  altar  ;"  and,  ra- 
ther than  comply,  they  suffered  themselves  to 
be  deprived  of  their  bishoprics  for  contumacy, 
October,  1551.  Preachers  were  sent  into  the 
countries  to  rectify  the  people's  prejudices, 
which  had  a  very  good  effect ;  and  if  they  had 
taken  the  same  methods  with  respect  to  the 
habits,  and  other  relics  of  popery,  these  would 
hardly  have  kept  their  ground,  and  the  Reformers 
would  have  acted  a  more  consistent  and  pru- 
dent part. 

The  sad  consequences  of  retaining  the  popish 
garments  in  the  service  of  the  Church  began 
to  appear  this  year  :  a  debate,  one  would  think, 
of  small  consequence,  but  at  this  time  appre- 
hended of  great  importance  to  the  Reforma- 
tion. The  people,  having  been  bred  up  in  a  su- 
perstitious veneration  for  the  priests'  garments, 
were  taught  that  they  were  sacred  ;  that  with- 
out them  no  administrations  were  valid ;  that 
there  was  a  sort  of  virtue  conveyed  into  them 
by  consecration ;  and,  in  a  word,  that  they 
were  of  the  same  importance  to  a  Christian 
clergyman  as  the  priests'  garments  of  old  were 
in  their  ministrations;  it  was  time,  therefore, 
to  disabuse  them.  The  debate  began  upon  oc- 
casion of  Dr.  Hooper's  nomination  to  the  bish- 
opric of  Gloucester,  in  the  room  of  Dr.  Wake- 
man,  who  died  in  December,  1549. 

Dr.  Hooper  was  a  zealous,  pious,  and  learned 
man  :  he  went  out  of  England  in  the  latter  end 
of  King  Henry's  reign,  and  lived  at  Zurich  at  a 
time  when  all  Germany  was  in  a  flame  on  ac- 
count of  the  Interim,  which  was  a  form  of  wor- 
ship contrived  to  keep  up  the  exterior  face  of  po- 
pery, with  the  softenings  of  some  other  senses 
put  upon  things.     Upon  this  arose  a  great  and 
important  question   among  the  Germans  con- 
cerning the  use  of  things  indifferent.*     It  was 
said,  "  If  things  were  indifferent  in  themselves, 
they  were  lawful ;  and  that  it  was  the  subject's 
duty  to  obey  when  commanded."     So  the  old 
popish  rites  were  kept  up,  on  purpose  to  draw 
the  people  more  easily  back  to  popery.     Out  of 
this  another  question  arose,  "  whether  it  was 
lawful  to  obey  in  things  indifferent,  when  it 
was  certain  they  were  enjoined  with  an  ill  de- 
sign."    To  which  it  was  replied,  that  the  de- 
signs of  legislators  were  not  to  be  inquired  into. 
This  created  a  vast  distraction  in  the  country : 
some  conformed  to  the  Interim  ;  but  the  major 
part  were  firm  to  their  principles,  and  were 
turned  out   of  their  livings   for  disobedience. 
Those  who  complied  were  for  the  most  part 
Lutherans,  and  carried  the  name  of  Adiapho- 
rists,  from  the  Greek  word  that  signifies  things 
indifferent.    But  the  rest  of  the  Reformed  were 
for  shaking  off  all  the  relics  of  popery,  with  the 
hazard  of  all  that  was  dear  to  them  in  the 
world  ;    particularly  at  Zurich,  where  Hooper 
was,  they  were  zealous  against  any  compliance 
with  the  Interim,  or  the  use  of  the  old  rites  pre- 
scribed by  It. 

With  these  principles  Hooper  came  over  to 
England,  and  applied  himself  to  preaching  and 
explaining  the  Scriptures  to  the  people;  he  was 
in  the  pulpit  almost  every  day  in  the  week,  and 


*  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  199. 


52 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


his  sermons  were  so  popular,  tliat  all  the  church- 
es were  crowded  where  he  preached.*  His  fame 
soon  reached  the  court,  where  Dr.  Poynet  and 
he  were  appointed  to  preach  all  the  Lent  ser- 
mons. He  was  also  sent  to  preach  throughout 
the  counties  of  Kent  and  Essex,  in  order  to 
reconcile  the  people  to  the  Reformation.  At 
length,  in  the  month  of  July,  1550,  he  was  ap- 
pointed Bishop  of  Gloucester  by  letters  patent 
from  the  king,  but  declined  it,  for  two  reasons  : 

1.  Because  of  the  form  of  the  oath,  which  he 
calls  foul  and  impious.     And, 

2.  By  reason  of  the  Aaronical  habits. 

By  the  oath  is  meant  the  oath  of  supremacy, t 
which  was  in  this  form :  "  By  God,  by  the  saints, 
and  by  the  Holy  Ghost ;"  which  Hooper  thought 
impious,  because  God  only  ought  to  be  appealed 
to  in  an  oath,  forasmuch  as  he  only  knows  the 
thoughts  of  men.  The  young  king,  being  con- 
vinced of  this,  struck  out  the  words^with  his 
own  pen.t 

But  the  scruple  about  the  habits  was  not  so  ea- 
sily got  over.  The  king  and  council  were  inclined 
to  dispense  with  them ;  but  Ridley  and  the  rest  of 
the  bishops  that  had  worn  the  habits  were  of  an- 
other mind,  saying  "  the  thing  was  indifferent, 
and,  therefore,  the  law  ought  to  be  obeyed."  This 
had  such  an  influence  upon  the  council,  that  all 
Hooper's  objections  were  afterward  heard  with 
great  prejudice.  It  discovered  but  an  ill  spirit 
in  the  Reformers  not  to  suffer  Hooper  to  decline 
his  bishopric,  nor  yet  to  dispense  with  those  hab- 
its which  he  thought  unlawful.  Hooper  was  as 
much  for  the  clergy's  wearing  a  decent  and  dis- 
tinct habit  from  the  laity  as  Ridley,  but  prayed 
to  be  excused  from  the  old  symbolizing  popish 
garments, 

1.  Because  they  had  no  countenance  in  Scrip- 
lure  or  primitive  antiquity, 

2.  Because  they  were  the  inventions  of  anti- 
christ, and  were  introduced  into  the  Church  in 
the  corruptest  ages  of  Christianity. 

3.  Because  they  had  been  abused  to  supersti- 
tion and  idolatry,  particularly  in  the  pompous 
celebration  of  the  mass ;  and,  therefore,  were 
not  indifferent. 

4.  To  continue  the  use  of  these  garments 
was,  in  his  opinion,  to  symbolize  with  antichrist, 
to  mislead  the  people,  and  was  inconsistent  with 
the  simplicity  of  the  Christian  religion. 

Cranmer  was  inclined  to  yield  to  these  rea- 
sons ;  but  Ridley  and  Goodrick  insisted  strongly 
on  obedience  to  the  laws,  affirming  that,  "  in 
matters  of  rites  and  ceremonies,  custom  was  a 
good  argument  for  the  continuance  of  those  that 
had  been  long  used."  But  this  argument  seem- 
ed to  go  too  far,  because  it  might  be  used  for 
the  retaining  all  those  other  rites  and  ceremo- 
nies of  popery  which  had  been  long  used  in  the 
Church,  but  were  now  abolished  by  these  Re- 
formers themselves. 

Hooper,  not  willing  to  rely  upon  his  own  judg- 
ment, wrote  to  Bucer  at  Cambridge,  and  to  Pe- 

*  He  was  chaplain  to  the  Duke  of  Somerset. 
Fuller  says  he  was  well  skilled  in  Latin,  Greek,  and 
HebrevN  — C. 

t  Mr.  Fuller,  when  he  wrote  his  Church  History, 
conceived  that  the  oath  Bishop  Hooper  refused  was 
that  of  canonical  obedience,  but  when  he  published 
his  "Worthies  he  was  convinced  of  his  mistake,  and 
corrected  it. — Neal's  Review. — Ed. 

i  Hist.  Ref ,  vol.  iii.,  p.  203. 


ter  Martyr  at  Oxford,  who  gave  their  opinions 
against  the  habits,  as  inventions  of  antichrist, 
and  wished  them  removed,  as  will  appear  more 
fully  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,*  but  v/ere 
of  opinion,  since  the  bishops  were  so  resolute, 
that  he  might  acquiesce  in  the  use  of  them  for  a 
time,  till  they  were  taken  away  by  law  ;  and  the 
rather,  because  the  Reformation  was  in  its  infan- 
cy, and  it  would  give  occasion  of  triumph  to  the 
common  enemy  to  see  the  Reformers  at  varianc;e 
among  themselves.  The  divines  of  Switzerland 
and  Geneva  were  of  the  same  mind,  being  un- 
willing that  a  clergyman  of  so  much  learning 
and  piety,  and  so  zealous  for  the  Reformation 
as  Hooper  wa's,  should  be  silenced  ;  they  there- 
fore advised  him  to  comply  for  the  present,  that 
he  might  be  the  more  capable,  by  his  authority 
and  influence  in  the  Church,  to  get  them  laid 
aside.  But  these  reasons  not  satisfying  Hoop- 
er's conscience,  he  continued  to  refuse  for  above 
nine  months. 

The  governing  prelates  being  provoked  with 
his  stiffness,  resolved  not  to  suffer  such  a  pre- 
cedent of  disobedience  to  the  ecclesiastical  laws 
to  go  unpunished.     Hooper  must  be  a  bishop, 
and  must  be  consecrated  in  the  manner  others 
had  been,  and  wear  the  habits  the  law  appoint- 
ed ;  and  to  force  him  to  comply,  he  was  served 
with  an  order  of  council,  first  to  silence  him,  and 
then  to  confine  him  to  his  house.     The  doctor 
thought  this*  usage  very  severe :   to  miss  his 
promotion  was  no  disappointment ;  but  to  be  per- 
secuted about  clothes,  by  men  of  the  same  faith 
with  himself,  and  to  lose  his  liberty  because  he 
would  not  be  a  bishop,  and  in  the  fashion,  this, 
says  Mr.  CoUyer,  was  possibly  more  than  he  well 
understood.   After  some  time,  Hooper  was  com- 
mitted to  the  custody  of  Cranmer,  who,  not  be- 
ing able  to  bring  him  to  conformity,  complained 
to  the  council,  who  thereupon  ordered  him  into 
the  Fleet,  where  he  continued  some  months,  to 
the  reproach  of  the  Reformers.     At  length  he 
laid  his  case  before  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  who, 
by  the  king's  own  motion,  wrote  to  the  arch- 
bishop to  dispense  with  the  habit  at  his  conse- 
cration ;  but  Cranmer  alleged  the  danger  of  a 
prcBmunue ;  upon  which  a  letter  was  sent  from 
the  king  and  council  to  the  archbishop  and  other 
bishops  to  be  concerned  in  the  consecration, 
warranting  them  to  dispense  with  the  garments, 
and  discharging  them   of  all  manner  of  dan- 
gers, penalties,  and  forfeitures  they  might  incur 
any  manner  of  way  by  omitting  the  same  ;  but 
though  this  letter  was  dated  August  the  5th,  yet 
such  was  the  reluctance  of  Cranmer  and  Ridley, 
that  Hooper  was  not  consecrated  till  March  fol- 
lowing ;  in  which  time,  says  Bishop  Burnet, t  the 
matter  was  in  some  sort  compromised,  Hooper 
consenting  to  be  robed  in  his  habits  at  his  con- 
secration, when  he  preached  before  the  king,  or 
in  his  cathedral,  or  in  any  public  place,  but  to 
be  dispensed  with  at  other  times. 
Accordingly, t  being  appointed  to  preach  be- 
*  Collyer's  Eccles.  Hist.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  297.  "" 

t  Hist.  Kef,  vol.  li.,  p.  166. 

i  Mr.  Neal,  in  his  Review,  adds  from  Mr.  Fox, 
that  "  Bishop  Hooper  v/as  constrained  to  appear 
once  in  public  attired  after  the  manner  of  oiher  bisu-^i 
ops,  which,  unless  he  had  done,  some  think  there 
was  a  contrivance  to  take  away  his  life  ;  for  his  ser- 
vant told  me,"  says  Mr.  Fox,  "  that  the  Duke  of  Suf- 
folk sent  such  word  to  Hooper,  who  was  not  himself 
ignorant  of  what  was  doing." — Ed. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


53 


fore  the  king,  he  came  forth,  says  Mr.  Fox,  like 
a  new  player  on  the  stage  ;  his  upper  garment 
was  a  long  scarlet  chymere  down  to  the  loot, 
and  under  that  a  white  linen  rochet  that  covered 
all  his  shoulders,  and  a  four-square  cap  on  his 
head  ;  but  he  took  it  patiently,  for  the  public 
profit  of  the  Church.*  After  this.  Hooper  re- 
tired to  his  diocess,  and  preached  sometimes 
two  or  three  times  a  day,  to  crowds  of  people 
that  hungered  for  the  word  of  life  :  he  was  im- 
partial and  zealous  in  the  faithful  discharge  of 
every  branch  of  his  episcopal  character,  even 
beyond  his  strength,  and  was  himself  a  pattern 
of  what  he  taught  to  others. 

In  the  king's  letter  to  the  archbishop,  Hooper 
is  said  to  be  a  divine  of  great  knowledge,  deep 
judgment,  and  long  study,  both  in  the  Scriptures 
and  profane  learning,  as  also  a  person  of  good 
discretion,  ready  utterance,  and  of  an  honest 
life  ;  but  all  these  qualifications  must  be  buried 
in  silence  and  a  prison,  at  a  time  when  there 
■was  a  famine  of  the  Word,  rather  than  the  above- 
mentioned  uniformity  in  dress  be  dispensed  with. 

Most  of  the  reforming  clergy  were  with  Hoop- 
er in  this  controversy  ;  several  that  had  submit- 
ted to  the  habits  in  the  late  reign  laid  them  aside 
in  this,  as  the  Bishops  Latimer  and  Coverdale, 
Dr.  Taylor,  Philpot,  Bradford,  and  others,  who 
laid  down  their  lives  for  the  Protestant  faith. t 
In  some  ordinations,  Cranmer  and  Ridley  dis- 
pensed with  the  habits  ;  for  Mr.  Thomas  Samp- 
son, parson  of  Bread-street,  London,  afterward 
one  of  the  heads  of  the  Puritans,  and  success- 
ively Dean  of  Chichester  and  Christ  Church,  in 
a  letter  to  Secretary  Cecil,  writes,  "  That  at  his 
ordination  by  Cranmer  and  Ridley,  he  excepted 
agamst  the  apparel,  and  was,  nevertheless,  per- 
mitted and  admitted. "t  If  they  had  not  done 
so  on  some  occasions,  there  would  not  have 
been  clergymen  to  support  the  Reformation. 
Bishop  Burnet  says  they  saw  their  error,  and 
designed  to  procure  an  act  to  abolish  the  po- 
pish garments  ;  but  whether  this  were  so  or  not, 
it  is  certain  that  in  the  next  reign  they  repented 
their  conduct ;  for  when  Ridley  was  in  prison  he 
wrote  a  letter  to  Hooper,  in  which  he  calls  him 
"his  dear  brother  and  fellow-elder  in  Christ," 
and  desires  a  mutual  forgiveness  and  reconcili- 
ation. And  when  he  and  Cranmer  came  to  be 
degraded,  they  smiled  at  the  ridiculous  attire 
with  which  they  were  clothed,  and  declared  they 
had  long  since  laid  aside  all  regards  to  that  pa- 
geantry.ij 

This  behaviour  of  the  bishops  towards  the 
king's  natural-born  subjects  was  the  more  ex- 
traordinary, because  a  latitude  was  allowed  to 
foreign  Protestants  to  worship  God  after  the 
manner  of  their  country,  without  any  regard  to 
the  popish  vestments  ;  for  this  year  a  church  of 
German  refugees  was  established  at  St.  Aus- 
tin's in  London,  and  erected  into  a  corporation 
under  the  direction  of  John  a  Lasco,  superin- 
tendent of  all  the  foreign  churches  in  London, 
with  whom  were  joined  four  other  ministers  ; 

*  Fuller's  Abel  Redivivus,  p.  173. 

t  Pierce's  Vind.,  p.  31-33. 

j  Strype's  Life  of  Cranmer,  p.  192. 

^  Bishop  Maddo.K  maintained  that  the  habits  put 
on  those  Reformers  were  the  popish  habits,  which 
was  the  ground  of  their  dislike.  Mr.  Neal,  in  his 
Review,  controverts  the  truth,  and  e.xposes  the  futil- 
ity, of  this  distinction. — Ed. 


and,  as  a  mark  of  favour,  three  hundred  and 
eighty  of  the  congregation  were  made  denizens 
of  England.  The  preamble  to  the  patent  sets 
forth  that  the  German  Church  made  professioa 
of  pure  and  uncorrupted  religion,  and  was  in- 
structed in  truly  Christian  and  apostolical  opin- 
ions and  rites.*"  In  the  patent  which  incorpo- 
rates them  there  is  the  following  clause  :  "  Item. 
We  command,  and  peremptorily  enjoin  our  lord- 
mayor,  aldermen,  and  magistrates  of  the  city 
of  London,  and  their  successors,  with  all  arch- 
bishops, bishops,  justices  of  the  peace,  and  all 
officers  and  ministers  whatsoever,  that  they  per- 
mit the  said  superintendent  and  ministers  to  en- 
joy and  exercise  their  own  proper  rites  and  cer- 
emonies, and  their  own  proper  and  peculiar  ec- 
clesiastical discipline,  though  differing  from  the 
rites  and  ceremonies  used  in  our  kingdom,  with- 
out impediment,  let,  or  disturbance  ;  any  law, 
proclamation,  or  injunction  heretofore  published 
to  the  contrary  notwithstanding." 

John  a  Lasco  was  a  Polander  of  noble  birth ; 
and,  according  to  the  words  of  the  patent,  a 
man  very  famous  for  learning,  and  for  integrity 
of  life  and  manners.  He  was  in  high  esteem 
with  the  great  Erasmus,  who  says  that  he, 
though  an  old  man,  had  profited  much  by  his 
conversation.  And  Peter  Martyr  calls  him  his 
most  learned  patron. t  But  he  did  not  please 
the  ruling  prelates,  because  he  took  part  with 
Hooper,  and  wrote  against  the  popish  garments, 
and  for  the  posture  of  sitting  rather  than  kneel- 
ing at  the  Lord's  Supper.t 

1551.  Upon  the  translation  of  Ridley  to  the 
see  of  London,  Dr.  Poynet  was  declared  Bishop 
of  Rochester,  and  Coverdale,  coadjutor  to  Vey- 
sey.  Bishop  of  Exeter.  The  see  of  Winchester 
had  been  two  years  as  good  as  vacant  by  the 
long  imprisonment  of  Gardiner,  who  had  been 
confined  all  this  time  without  being  brought  to 
a  trial  :  the  bishop  complained  of  this  to  the 
council,  who  thereupon  issued  out  a  commission 
to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the  Bishops 
of  London,  Ely,  and  Lincoln,  with  Secretary 
Petre,  Judge  Hales,  two  civilians,  and  two  Mas- 
ters in  Chancery,  to  proceed  against  him  for 
contempt.  It  was  objected  to  him,  that  he  re- 
fused to  preach  concerning  the  king's  power 
while  under  age  ;  that  he  had  been  negligent  in 
obeying  the  king's  injunctions,  and  was  so  ob- 
stinate that  he  would  not  ask  the  king  mercy. 
It  was  the  declared  opinion  of  the  popish  cler- 
gy at  this  time,  that  the  king's  laws  were  to  be 
obeyed,  but  not  the  orders  of  his  council  ;  and, 
therefore,  that  all  things  should  remain  as  the 
late  king  left  them,  till  the  present  king,  now  a 
child,  came  of  age.  This  the  rebels  in  Devon 
pleaded,  as  well  as  the  Lady  Mary  and  others. 
For  the' same  opinion  Gardiner  was  deprived  of 
hisbishopic,  April  18th, <5  upon  which  he  appealed 
to  the  king  when  at  age  ;  and  so  his  process  end- 
ed, and  he  was  sent  back  to  the  Tower,  where 
he  lay  till  Queen  Mary  discharged  him.  No- 
thing can  be  said  in  vindication  of  this  severity 
but  this,  that  both  he  and  Bonner  had  taken  out 


*  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref.,  in  Records,  vol.  ii.,  No.  51. 

+  Strype's  Life  of  Cranmer,  p.  239. 

X  About  the  end  of  December,  1550,  after  many 
cavils  in  the  state,  Bishop  Burnet  informs  us  that 
an  act  passed  for  the  king's  general  pardon,  wherein 
the  Anabaptists  were  excepted. — Crosby,  vol.  i.,  p.  50. 

(j  Strype's  Life  of  Cranmer,  p.  191. 


54 


HISTORY    OF   THE    PURITANS. 


commissions,  with  the  rest  of  the  bishops,  to  hold 
their  bishoprics  only  during  the  king's  pleas- 
ure, which  gave  the  regents  a  right  to  displace 
them  whensoever  they  pleased.  Dr.  Poynet 
was  translated  from  Rochester  to  Winchester; 
Dr.  Story  was  made  Bishop  of  Rochester ;  and 
Veysey  resigning,  Coverdale  was  made  Bishop 
of  Exeter  in  his  room  ;  so  that  now  the  bench 
of  bishops  had  a  majority  for  the  Reformation. 
It  was  therelbre  resolved,  in  council,  to  re- 
form the  doctrine  of  the  Church.  Archbishop 
Cranmer  and  Bishop  Ridley  were  appointed  to 
this  work,  who  framed  forty-two  articles  upon 
the  chief  points  of  the  Christian  faith  ;  copies 
of  which  were  sent  to  the  other  bishops  and 
learned  divines,  for  their  corrections  and  amend- 
ments ;  after  which,  the  archbishop  reviewed 
them  a  second  time,  and  having  given  them  his 
last  hand,  presented  them  to  the  council,  where 
they  received  the  royal  sanction.*  This  was 
another  high  act  of  the  supremacy  ;  for  the  ar- 
ticles were  not  brought  into  Parliament,  nor 
agreed  upon  in  convocation,!  as  they  ought  to 
have  been,  and  as  the  title  seems  to  express  : 
when  this  was  afterward  objected  to  Cranmer 
as  a  fraud  in  the  next  reign,  he  owned  the 
charge,  but  said  he  was  ignorant  of  the  title, 
and  complained  of  it  to  the  council,  who  told 
him  the  book  was  so  entitled  because  it  was 
published  in  the  time  of  the  convocation  ;  which 
was  no  better  than  a  collusion.  It  is  entitled, 
"Articles  agreed  upon  by  the  bishops  and  other 
learned  men  in  the  convocation  held  at  London, 
in  the  year  1553,  for  the  avoiding  diversity  of 
opinions,  and  establishing  consent  touching  true 
religion.  Pubhshed  by  the  king's  authority." 
These  articles  are  for  substance  the  same  with 
those  now  in  use,  being  reduced  to  the  number 
of  thirty-nine  in  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  where  the  reader  will  meet 
with  the   corrections   and   alterations.^:     The 

*  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  210. 

t  Bishop  Maddox  objected  to  this  representation, 
and  said  it  was  confuted  by  Archbishop  Wake,  who 
had  examined  the  matter  tally.  Mr.  Neal  rests  the 
vindication  of  his  slate  of  it  on  the  authority  of  Bish- 
op Burnet,  supported  by  the  remark  of  Mr.  CoUyer, 
who  says,  "  'Tis  pretty  plain  they  were  passed  by 
some  members  of  convocation  only,  delegated  by 
both  houses,  as  appears  by  the  very  title,  articles, 
&c.,  agreed  upon  in  the  synod  of  London,  by  the 
bishops  and  certain  other  learned  men." — Eccles. 
Hist.,  vol.  U.,  p.  325.     NeaVs  Review. — Ed. 

}  An  alteration  in  the  twenty-eighth  article  is  not 
noticed  by  Mr.  Neal,  in  the  place  to  which  he  refers. 
The  last  clause  of  the  article  was  laid  down  in  these 
words:  "The  custom  of  the  Church  for  baptizing 
young  children  is  both  to  be  commended,  and  by  all 
means  to  be  retained  in  the  Church."  This  clause 
was  left  out  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  articles.  It  seems 
by  this,  however,  observes  Crosby,  "  that  the  first  Re- 
formers did  not  found  the  practice  of  infant  baptism 
upon  Scripture,  but  took  it  only  as  a  commendable 
custom,  that  had  been  used  in  the  Christian  Church, 
and,  therefore,  ought  to  be  retained." — Hist.  Eng. 
Bapt.,  vol.  i.,  p.  54,  55.  But  what  shall  we  think  of, 
rather,  how  should  we  lament  the  bigotry  and  iliib- 
erahty  of  those  times,  when  men  were  harassed  and 
put  to  death  for  dechning  a  religious  practice,  which 
they  who  enjoined  it  did  not  pretend  to  enforce  on  the 
authority  of  Scripture,  but  only  as  a  custom  of  the 
churches :  a  plea  which  would  have  equally  justified 
#  all  those  other  religious  ceremonies  which  they 
themselves,  notwithstanding  this  sanction,  rejected ! 
—Ed. 


controverted  clause  of  the  twentieth  article,  tliat 
the  Church  has  power  to  decree  rites  and  cere- 
monies, and  authority  in  controversies  of  faith, 
is  not  in  King  Edward's  articles,  nor  does  it 
appear  how  it  came  into  Queen  Elizabeth's.  It 
is  evident,  by  the  title  of  the  articles,  that  they 
were  designed  as  articles  of  truth,  and  not  of 
peace,  as  some  have  since  imagined,  who  sub- 
scribed them  rather  as  a  compromise,  not  to 
teach  any  doctrine  contrary  to  them,  than  as  a 
declaration  that  they  believed  according  to  them. 
This  was  a  notion  the  imposers  never  thought  of, 
nor  does  there  appear  any  reason  for  this  conceit. 
So  that  (says  Bishop  Burnet*)  those  who  sub- 
scribed did  either  believe  them  to  be  true,  or 
else  they  did  grossly  prevaricate. 

With  the  book  of  articles  was  printed  a  short 
catechism,  t  with  a  preface  prefixed  in  the  king's 
name.  It  is  supposed  to  be  drawn  up  by  Bishop 
Poynet,  but  revised  by  the  rest  of  the  bishops 
and  other  learned  men.  It  is  dated  May  7th, 
about  seven  weeks  before  the  king's  death ; 
[and  in  the  first  impression  of  the  articles  it 
was  printed  before  them.  J] 

1552.  The  next  work  the  Reformers  were 
employed  in  was  a  second  correction  of  the 
Common  Prayer  Book.  Some  things  they  add- 
ed, and  others  that  had  been  retained  through 
the  necessity  of  the  times  were  struck  out. 
The  most  considerable  amendments  were  these. 
The  daily  service  opened  with  a  short  confes- 
sion of  sins,  and  of  absolution  to  such  as  should 
repent.  The  communion  began  with  a  rehearsal 
of  the  Ten  Commandments,  the  congregation 
being  on  their  knees ;  and  a  pause  was  made  be- 
tween the  rehearsal  of  every  commandment,  for 
the  people's  devotions.  A  rubric  was  also  add- 
ed, concerning  the  posture  of  kneeling,  which 
declares  that  there  was  no  adoration  intended 
thereby  to  the  bread  and  wine,  which  was  gross 
idolatry  :  nor  did  they  think  the  very  flesh  and 
blood  of  Christ  there  present.  This  clause  was 
struck  out  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  to  give  a  lati- 
tude to  papists  and  Lutherans,  but  was  insert- 
ed again  at  the  restoration  of  King  Charles  IL, 
at  the  request  of  the  Puritans.  Besides  these 
amendments,  sundry  old  rites  and  ceremonies, 
which  had  been  retained  in  the  former  book, 
were  discontinued  ;  as  the  use  of  oil  in  confirm- 
ation and  extreme  unction  ;  prayer  for  the  dead 
in  the  office  of  burial ;  and  in  the  communion 
service,  auricular  confession,  the  use  of  the 
cross  in  the  eucharist,  and  in  confirmation.  In 
short,  the  whole  liturgy  was,  in  a  manner,  re- 
duced to  the  form  in  which  it  appears  at  pres- 
ent, excepting  some  small  variations  that  have 
since  been  made  for  the  clearing  some  ambigu- 
ities. By  this  book  of  Common  Prayer,  says 
Mr.  Strype,^  all  copes  and  vestments  were  for- 
bidden throughout  England  ;  the  prebendaries 
of  St.  Paul's  left  off  their  hoods,  and  the  bish- 
ops their  crosses,  &c.,as  by  act  of  Parliament 
is  more  at  length  set  forth. 

When  the  Parliament  met  January  23d,  the 
new  Common  Prayer  Book  was  brought  into  the 
house,  with  an  ordinal  or  form  of  ordaining  bish- 
ops, priests,  and  deacons,  both  which  passed  the 
houses   without   any  considerable   opposition. 


*  Hist.  Ref,  vol  ii.,  p.  169. 
t  Ibid.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  211,214. 
ij  Life  of  Cranmer,  p.  290. 


t  Neal's  Review. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


55 


The  act  requires  "  all  persons,  after  the  feast  of 
Allhallovvs  next,  to  come  to  common  prayer  ev- 
ery Sunday  and  holyday,  under  pain  of  tiie  cen- 
sures of  the  Cliurch.  All  archhishops  and  bish- 
ops are  required  to  endeavour  the  due  execution 
of  this  act ;  and  whereas  divers  doubts  had  been 
raised  about  the  service-book,  it  is  said  the  king 
and  Parliament  had  now  caused  it  to  be  perused, 
explained,  and  made  more  perfect."  The  new 
service-book  was  to  take  place  in  all  churches 
after  the  feast  of  All  Saints,  under  the  same 
penalties  that  had  been  enacted  to  the  former 
book  three  years  before.* 

By  another  act  of  this  session,  the  marriages 
of  the  clergy,  if  performed  according  to  the  ser- 
vice-book, were  declared  good  and  valid,  and 
their  children  inheritable  according  to  law  ;  and 
by  another,  the  bishopric  of  Westminster  was 
suppressed,  and  reunited  to  the  see  of  London. 
Dr.  Heath,  bishop  of  Worcester,  and  Day  of  Chi- 
chester, were  both  deprived  this  year  [1553], 
with  Tonstal,  bishop  of  Durham,  whose  bishop- 
ric was  designed  to  be  divided  into  two ;  but 
the  act  never  took  effect. 

One  of  the  last  things  the  king  set  his  hand 
to  was  a  royal  visitation,  in  order  to  examine 
what  plate,  jewels,  and  other  furniture  were  in 
the  churches.  The  visiters  were  to  leave  in 
every  church  one  or  two  chalices  of  silver,  with 
linen  for  the  communion-table  and  for  surplices, 
but  to  bring  in  the  best  of  the  church  furni- 
ture mto  the  king's  treasury,  and  to  sell  the  lin- 
en copes,  altar-cloths,  &c.,  and  give  the  money 
to  the  poor.  The  pretence  was,  the  calling  In 
the  superfluous  plate  that  lay  in  churches  more 
for  pomp  than  use.  Some  have  called  this  by 
no  better  name  than  sacrilege,  or  church  theft, 
and  it  really  was  no  better.  But  it  ought  to  be 
remembered,  the  young  king  was  now  languish- 
ing under  a  consumption,  and  near  his  end. 

It  must,  however,  be  confessed,  that  in  the 
course  of  this  as  well  as  the  last  reign,  there 
was  a  very  great  alienation  of  church-lands  : 
the  chantry-lands  were  sold  among  the  laity, 
some  of  whom  held  tive  or  six  prebendaries  or 
canonries,  while  the  clergy  themselves  were  in 
want.  Bishop  Latimer  complains,  in  one  of  his 
sermons,  '•  that  the  revenues  of  the  Church 
were  seized  by  the  rich  laity,  and  that  the  in- 
cumbent was  only  a  proprietor  in  title  ;  that 
many  benefices  were  let  out  to  farm  by  secular 
men,  or  given  to  their  servants  as  a  considera- 
tion for  keeping  their  hounds,  hawks,  and  hor- 
ses ;  and  that  the  poor  clergy  were  reduced  to 
such  short  allowance  that  they  were  forced  to 
go  to  service,  to  turn  clerks  of  the  kitchen,  sur- 
veyors, receivers,"  &c.  And  Camden  com- 
plains "  that  avarice  and  sacrilege  had  strange- 
ly the  ascendant  at  this  time  ;  that  estates  for- 
merly settled  for  the  support  of  religion  and  the 
poor  were  ridiculed  as  superstitious  endow- 
ments, first  miscalled  and  then  plundered."  The 
bishops  were  too  easy  in  parting  with  the  lands 
and  manors  belonging  to  their  bishoprics,  and 
the  courtiers  were  too  eager  in  grasping  at  eve- 
rythmg  they  could  lay  their  hands  upon.t  If 
the  revenues  of  the  Church  had  been  abused  to 
superstition,  they  might  have  been  converted  to 
other  religious  uses  ;  or  if  too  great  a  propor- 


*  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  190. 
+  Hist.  Ref.  *ol.  iii.,  p.  218. 


tion  of  the  riches  of  the  kingdom  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  (;hurch",  they  should  have  made  an 
ample  provision  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
clergy,  and  the  endowment  of  smaller  livings, 
belbre  they  had  enriched  their  friends  and  fam- 
ilies. 

Nor  were  the  lives  of  many  who  were  zeal- 
ous for  the  Reformation  free  from  scandal :  the 
courtiers  and  great  men  indulged  themselves  in 
a  dissolute  and  licentious  life,  and  the  clergy 
were  not  without  their  blemishes.  Some  that 
embraced  the  Reformation  were  far  from  adorn- 
ing their  profession,  but  rather  disposed  the  peo- 
ple to  return  to  their  old  superstitions  :  never- 
theless, there  were  many  great  and  shining  lights 
among  them,  who  preached  and  prayed  fervent- 
ly agamst  the  corruptions  of  the  times,  and  were 
an  example  to  their  flocks,  by  the  strictness  and 
severity  of  their  lives  and  manners,  but  their 
numbers  were  small  in  comparison  to  the  many 
that  were  otherwise,  turning  the  doctrines  of 
grace  into  lasciviousness.* 

We  have  now  seen  the  length  of  King  Ed- 
ward's reformation.  It  was  an  adventurous  un- 
dertaking for  a  few  bishops  and  privy-council- 
lors to  change  the  religion  of  a  nation  only  by 
the  advantage  of  the  supremacy  of  a  minor, 
without  the  consent  of  the  people  in  Parliament 
or  convocation,  and  under  the  eye  of  a  presump- 
tive heir,  who  was  a  declared  enemy  of  all  their 
proceedings,  as  was  the  case  in  the  former  part 
of  this  reign.  We  have  taken  notice  of  the  mis- 
taken principles  of  the  Reformers  in  making  use 
of  the  civil  power  to  force  men  to  conformity, 
and  of  their  stretching  the  laws  to  reach  at 
those  whom  they  could  not  fairly  come  at  any 
other  way.  But,  notwithstanding  these  and 
some  other  blemishes,  they  were  great  and  good 
men,  and  valiant  in  the  cause  of  truth,  as  ap- 
pears by  their  sealing  it  with  their  blood.  They 
made  as  quick  advances,  perhaps,  in  restoring 
religion  towards  its  primitive  simplicity  as  the 
circumstances  of  the  time  would  admit ;  and  it 
IS  evident  they  designed  to  go  farther,  and  not 
make  this  the  last  standard  of  the  Reformation. 
Indeed,  Queen  Elizabeth  thought  her  brother 
had  gone  too  far,  by  stripping  religion  of  too 
many  ornaments,  and,  therefore,  when  she  came 
to  the  crown,  she  was  hardly  persuaded  to  re- 
store it  to  the  condition  in  which  he  left  it. 
King  James  I.,  King  Charles  I.,  Archbishop 
Laud,  and  all  their  admirers,  instead  of  remo- 
ving farther  from  the  superstitious  pomps  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  have  been  for  returning  back 
to  them,  and  have  appealed  to  the  settlement 
of  Queen  Elizabeth  as  the  purest  standard.! 

But  the  Reformers  themselves  were  of  an- 
other mind,  as  appears  by  the  sermons  of  Lati- 
mer, Hooper,  Bradford,  and  others  ;  by  the  let- 
ters of  Peter  Martyr,  .Martin  Bucer,  and  John 
a  Lasco,t  who,  in  his  book  De  Ordinatione  Ec- 
clesiarum  Peregrinarum  in  Anglia,  dedicated  to 
Sigismund,  king  of  Poland,  1555,  says  "  that 
Kmg  Edward  desired  that  the  rites  and  cere- 


*  Strype's  Life  of  Cranmer,  p.  290. 

t  It  IS  evident  to  the  careful  student  of  history, 
that  the  Reformation  in  England  produced  its  happi- 
est effects  in  the  days  of  Edward;  that  the  Church 
of  England  has  never  been  so  pure  a.s  soon  after  its 
transition  from  popery  ;  and  that  its  subsequent  alter- 
ations have  ever  been  in  favour  of  Romanism. — C. 

J  Voet.,  Eccl.  Pol.,  hb.  ii.,  cap.  vi.,  part  i.,  p.  42 L 


56 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


monies  used  under  popery  should  be  purged  out 
by  degrees  ;  that  it  was  liis  pleasure  that  stran- 
gers should  have  churches  to  perforin  all  things 
according  to  apostohcal  observation  only,  that 
by  this  means  the  English  churches  rnight  be 
excited  to  embrace  apostolical  purity  with  the 
unanimous  consent  of  the  states  of  the  king- 
dom." -He  adds,  "  tiiat  tiie  king  was  at  the  head 
of  this  project,  and  that  Crannier  promoted  it, 
but  tliat  some  great  persons  stood  in  the  way." 
As  a  farther  evidence  of  this,  a  passage  was 
left  in  the  preface  of  one  of  their  service-books 
to  this  purpose  :*  "  that  they  had  gone  as  far  as 
they  could  in  reforming  the  Church,  considering 
the  times  they  lived  in,  and  hoped  they  that 
came  after  them  would,  as  they  might,  do  more." 
King  Edward,  in  his  Diary, t  laments  that  he 
could  not  restore  the  primitive  discipline  ac- 
cording to  his  heart's  desire,  because  several  of 
the  bishops,  some  for  age,  some  for  ignorance, 
some  for  their  ill  name,  and  some  out  of  love 
to  popery,  were  unwilling  to  it.  And  the  Church 
herself,  in  one  of  her  public  offices,  laments  the 
want  of  a  godly  discipline  to  this  day. 

Martin  Bucer,  a  German  divine,  and  profes- 
sor of  divinity  in  Cambridge,  a  person  in  high 
esteem  with  the  young  king,  drew  up  a  plan 
and  presented  it  to  his  majesty,  in  which  he 
writes  largely  of  ecclesiastical  discipline. +  The 
king  having  read  it,  set  himself  to  write  a  gen- 
eral discourse  about  reformation,  but  did  not 
live  to  finish  it.  Bucer  proposedi^  that  there 
might  be  a  strict  discipline,  to  exclude  scanda- 
lous livers  from  the  sacrament;  that  the  old  po- 
pish habits  might  be  laid  aside.  He  did  not 
like  the  half  office  of  communion,  or  second 
service,  to  be  said  at  the  altar  when  there  was 
no  sacrament.  He  approved  not  of  godfathers 
answering  in  the  child's  name  so  well  as  in 
their  own.  He  presses  much  the  sanctification 
of  the  Lord's  Day,  and  that  there  might  be 
many  fastings,  but  was  against  the  observation 
of  Lent.  He  would  have  the  pastoral  function 
restored  to  what  it  ought  to  be  ;  that  bishops, 
throwing  off  all  secular  cares,  should  give  them- 
selves to  their  spiritual  eiuployments.  He  ad- 
vises that  coadjutors  might  be  given  to  some, 
and  a  council  of  presbyters  appointed  for  them 
all.  He  would  have  rural  bishops  set  over 
twenty  or  thirty  parishes,  who  should  gather 

*  The  following  quotation,  Mr.  Neal,  in  answer  to 
Bishop  Maddox,  observes,  is  transcribed  from  Mr. 
Pierce's  Vindication,  p.  11,  where  it  is  to  be  found 
verbatim,  with  liis  authority ;  and  in  Bennett's  Me- 
morial of  the  Reformation,  p.  50,  Mr.  Strype  inti- 
mates that  a  farther  reformation  was  intended  (Life 
of  Cran.,  p.  299);  and  Bishop  Burnet  adds,  that  in 
many  of  the  letters  to  foreign  divines,  it  is  asserted 
that  both  Cranmer  and  Ridley  intended  to  procure 
an  act  for  aboUshing  the  habits. — Ed. 

t  King  Edward's  Remains,  num.  2. 

t  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  150. 

(j  Bucer  died  in  1551,  and  was  consulted  on  the  re- 
view of  the  Common  Prayer,  1550.  But  Mr.  Neal 
has  introduced  his  sentiments  in  this  place,  because 
he  was  here  giving  a  summary  of  the  changes  in 
King  Edward's  reign.  And  in  reply  to  Bishop  Mad- 
dox, who,  after  Bishop  Burnet,  says  that  the  most 
material  things  to  which  Bucer  excepted  were  cor- 
rected afterward,  Mr.  Neal  observes,  that  they  who 
will  be  at  the  pains  to  read  over  the  abstract  of  his 
book,  entitled  "Of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ,"  in  CoU- 
yer's  Eccies.  Hist.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  29G,  &c.,  must  be  of 
another  mind. — Review. — Ed. 


their  clergy  often  together,  and  inspect  thea 
closely  ;  and  that  a  provincial  synod  sho'^M 
meet  twice  a  year,  when  a  secular  man,  in  l3« 
king's  name,  should  be  appointed  to  obserK« 
their  proceedings. 

Cranmer  was  of  the  same  mind.  He  dislifcai 
the  present  way  of  governing  the  Church  *y 
convocations  as  they  are  now  formed,  in  whkSi 
deans,  archdeacons,  and  cathedrals  have  an  m- 
terest  far  superior  in  number  to  those  elecSadl 
to  represent  the  clergy.  These,  says  Bisbap 
Burnet,*  can  in  no  sort  pretend  to  be  more  tkso. 
a  part  of  our  civil  constitution.  They  have  bo 
foundation  in  Scripture,  nor  any  warrant  frota 
the  first  ages  of  the  Church  ;  but  did  arise  (raea. 
the  model  set  forth  by  Charles  the  Great,  ajsl 
formed  according  to  the  feudal  law,  by  whicka 
right  of  giving  subsidies  was  vested  in  all  xfba 
were  possessed  of  such  tenures  as  qualified, 
them  to  contribute  towards  the  support  of  t&e 
state.  Nor  was  Cranmer  satisfied  with  the  ijst- 
argy,  though  it  had  been  twice  reformed,  if  we 
may  give  credit  to  the  learned  Bullinger,t  wJi» 
told  the  exiles  at  Frankfort  "  that  the  archbish- 
op had  drawn  up  a  book  of  prayers  a  hundred 
times  more  perfect  than  that  which  was  thea 
in  being ;  but  the  same  could  not  take  plaecv 
for  that  he  was  matched  with  such  a  wicked 
clergy  and  convocation,  and  other  enemies. "$ 

The  king  was  of  the  same  sentiments ;  but 
his  untimely  death,  which  happened  in  the  siz- 
teenth  year  of  his  age  and  seventh  of  his  reiga, 
put  an  end  to  all  his  noble  designs  for  perfect- 
ing the  Reformation.  He  was,  indeed,  an  in- 
comparable prince,  of  most  promising  expecta- 
tions, and,  in  the  judgment  of  the  most  impar- 
tial persons,  the  very  phoenix  of  his  age.  It 
was  more  than  whispered  that  he  was  poisoned. 
But  it  is  very  surprising  that  a  Protestant  di- 
vine, Heylin,  in  his  History  of  the  Reforma- 
tion,^ should  say  "  that  he  was  ill-principled; 
that  his  reign  was  unfortunate  ;  and  that  hLs 
death  was  not  an  infelicity  to  the  Church,"  only 
because  he  was  apprehensive  he  would  have 
reduced  the  hierarchy  to  a  more  primitive  stand- 
ard. With  good  King  Edward  died  all  farther 
advances  of  the  Reformation  ;  for  the  altera- 
tions that  were  made  afterward  by  Queen  Eliz- 
abeth hardly  came  up  to  his  standard.il 


*  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  hi.,  p.  214. 

t  Strype's  Life  of  Cranmer,  p.  2G6.  Bennet's 
Mem.,  p.  52. 

X  The  troubles  at  Frankfort,  in  the  Phoenix,  voL 
ii.,  p.  82,  and  Pierce's  Vindic,  p.  12,  13.  Mr.  Pierce 
remarks  that  this  is  reported,  as  is  plain  to  him  who 
looks  into  the  book  itself,  not  on  the  testimony  o€ 
Bullinger,  as  Strype  represents  it,  but  by  one  of  Dt. 
Cox's  party  on  his  own  knowledge. — Review. — Ed. 

^  Pref ,  p.  4,  part  vii.,  p.  141. 

II  "  It  is  praise  enough  for  young  Edward,"  no 
marks  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  "  that  his  gentlenesf^ 
as  well  as  his  docility,  disposed  him  not  to  siM«t 
blood.  The  fact,  however,  that  the  blood  of  no  Ra- 
man Catholic  was  spilt  on  account  of  religion  in  E&- 
ward's  reign,  is  indisputable.  The  Protestant  ChureSi 
of  England  did  not  strike  the  first  blow.  If  this  psp- 
ceedcd  from  the  virtue  of  the  counsellors  of  Edwad^ 
we  must  allow  it  to  outweigh  their  faults ;  if  it  fol- 
lowed from  their  fortune,  they  ought  to  have  baea 
envied  by  their  antagonists.  Truth  and  justice  se- 
quire  it  to  be  positively  pronounced,  that  Gardiaas" 
and  Bonner  cannot  plead  the  example  of  ^/rannaw 
and  Latimer  for  the  bloody  persecution  whic  a  invob^ 
ed  in  its  course  tho  destruction  of  the  Protestant  pc^ 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS 


57 


We  may  observe,  from  the  history  of  this 
reign, 

1st.  That  in  matters  of  faith  the  first  Reform- 
ers followed  the  doctrine  of  St.  Austin  in  the 
controverted  points  of  original  sin,  predestina- 
tion, justification  by  faith  alone,  effectual  grace, 
and  good  works. 

2dly.  That  they  were  not  satisfied  with  the 
present  discipline  of  the  Church,  though  they 
thought  they  might  submit  to  it  till  it  siiould  be 
amended  by  the  authority  of  the  Legislature. 

3dly.  Thai  they  believed  but  two  orders  of  church- 
men in  Holy  Scripture,  viz.,  bishops  and  deacons ; 
and,  consequently,  that  bishops  and  priests  were  but 
different  ranks  or  degrees  uf  the  same  order. 

4thly.  That  they  gave  the  right  hand  of  fel- 
lowship to  foreign  churches,  and  ministws  that 
had  not  been  ordained  by  bishops  ;  there  being  no 
dispute  about  reordination  in  order  to  any  church 
preferment,  till  the  latter  end  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth's reign ! 

In  all  which  points  most  of  our  modern  church- 
men have  departed  from  them.* 

[To  Mr.  Neal's  remarks  on  the  reign  of  Ed- 
ward VI.  it  may  be  added,  that  the  Reformation 
•was  all  along  conducted  in  a  manner  inconsist- 
ent with  the  principles  on  which  it  was  found- 
ed. The  principles  on  which  the  justification 
of  it  rested  were,  the  right  of  private  judgment, 
and  the  sufliciency  of  the  Scriptures  as  a  rule 
of  faith.  Yet  the  Reformation  was  limited  to 
the  conceptions  and  ideas  of  those  who  were  in 
power.  No  liberty  was  granted  to  the  con- 
sciences of  dissidents  ;  no  discussion  of  points 
on  which  they  themselves  had  not  doubts  was 
permitted  :  such  as  held  sentiments  different 
from  their  model,  and  pursued  their  inquiries 
farther,  without  consideration  of  their  numbers 
or  their  characters,  so  far  from  being  allowed 
to  propose  their  opinions,  or  to  hold  separate 
assemblies  for  religious  worship,  agreeably  to 
their  own  views  of  things,  were  stigmatized  as 
heretics,  and  pursued  unto  death.  Besides  the 
instances  Mr.  Neal  mentions,  the  Anabaptists 
were  excepted  out  of  the  king's  general  pardon, 
that  came  out  in  1550  ;t  they  were  also  burned 
in  divers  towns  in  the  kingdom,  and  met  death 
with  singular  intrepidity  and  cheerfulness. J 
Thus  inquiry  was  stifled  ;  and  the  Reformation 
was  really  not  the  result  of  a  comprehensive 
view  and  calm  investigation  of  all  the  doctrines 
and  practices  which  had  been  long  established, 
but  the  triumph  of  power  in  discarding  a  few 
articles  and  practices  which  more  particularly 
struck  the  minds  of  those  who  were  in  govern- 
ment. These  persons  gained,  and  have  exclu- 
sively possessed,  the  honourable  title  of  Reform- 
ers, without  any  respect  to,  nay,  with  a  com  empt- 
uous  disregard  of,  those  who  saw  farther,  and,  in 
point  of  numbers,  carried  weight.     Bishop  Lat- 

ates.  The  anti-Trinitarian  and  the  Anabaptist,  if  they 
had  regained  power,  might,  indeed,  have  urged  such 
a  mitigation  ;  but  the  Roman  Catholic  had  nut  even 
the  odious  excuse  of  retaliation." — Hist,  of  England. 
ii.,  271.  319.— C. 

*  It  IS  with  pleasure  that  mention  is  made  of  the 
liberal  and  able  essay  of  Archbishop  Whately  on  the 
Nature  of  Christ's  Kingdom ;  this  work  takes  essenti- 
ally different  ground  Irom  that  held  by  the  larger  part 
of  the  EngUsh  and  American  Episcopalians. — C. 

t  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  143. 

X  Crosby's  History  of  the  Eiighsli  Baptists,  vol.  i., 
p,  62. 

Vol  I.— H 


imer,  in  a  sermon  before  the  king,  reported,  on 
the  authority  of  a  credible  person,  that  there 
were,  in  one  town,  five  hundred  Anabaptists.* 
The  Reformers,  in  thus  proscribing  inquiry  and 
reformation  beyond  their  own  standard,  were 
not  consistent  with  themselves  ;  for  they  ac- 
knowledged that  corruptions  had  been  a  thou- 
sand years  introducing,  which  could  not  be  all 
discovered  and  thrown  out  at  once.f  By  this 
concession  they  justified  the  principle,  while 
they  punished  the  conduct  of  those  who,  acting 
upon  it,  endeavoured  to  discover  and  wished  to 
reject  more  corruption.] — En. 


CHAPTER  III. 

KEIGN   OF    QUEEN   MARY. 

It  will  appear,  in  the  course  of  this  reign, 
that  an  absolute  supremacy  over  the  conscien- 
ces of  men,  lodged  with  a  single  person,  may  as 
well  be  prejudicial  as  serviceable  to  true  reli- 
gion ;  for  if  King  Henry  Vlll.  and  his  son.  King 
Edward  VI.,  reformed  some  abuses  by  their 
supremacy,  against  the  inclinations  of  the  ma- 
jority of  the  people,  we  shall  find  Queen  Mary 
making  use  of  the  same  power  to  turn  things 
back  into  their  old  channel,  till  she  had  restored 
the  grossest  and  most  idolatrous  part  of  popery. 
This  was  begun  by  proclamations  and  orders 
of  council,  till  her  majesty  could  procure  a  par- 
liament that  would  repeal  King  Edward's  laws 
for  religion,  which  she  quickly  found  means  to 
accomplish.  It  is  strange,  indeed,  that  when 
there  were  but  seven  or  eight  peers  that  op- 
posed the  laws  made  in  favour  of  the  Reforma- 
tion under  King  Edward,  the  same  House  of 
Lords  should  almost  all  turn  papists  in  the  reign 
of  Queen  Mary  ;  hut  as  to  the  Commons  it  is 
less  wonderful,  because  they  are  changeable,  and 
the  court  took  care  to  new-model  the  magis- 
trates in  the  cities  and  corporations  before  the 
elections  came  on,  so  that  not  one  almost  was 
left  that  was  not  a  Roman  Catholic.  Bribery 
and  menaces  were  made  use  of  in  all  places  ; 
and  where  they  could  not  carry  elections  by 
reason  of  the  superiority  of  the  reformed,  the 
sheriffs  made  double  returns  J  It  is  sad  when 
the  religion  of  a  nation  is  under  such  a  direc- 
tion !  But  so  it  will  be  when  the  management 
of  religion  falls  into  the  hands  of  a  bigoted 
prince  and  ministry. 

Queen  Mary  was  a  sad  example  of  the  truth  of 
this  observation,  whose  reign  was  no  better  than 
one  continued  scene  of  calamity.  It  is  the  genu- 
ine picture  of  popery,  and  should  be  remembered 
by  all  true  Protestants  with  abhorrence ;  the  prin- 
ciples of  that  religion  being  such  as  no  man  can 
receive,  tdl  he  has  abjured  his  senses,  renounced 
his  understanding  and  reason,  and  put  oflf  all 
the  tender  compassions  of  human  nature. 

King  Edward  VI.  being  far  gone  in  a  con- 
sumption, from  a  concern  for  preserving  the 
Reformation,  was  persuaded  to  set  aside  the 
succession  of  his  sisters  Mary  and  Elizabeth, 
and  of  the  Queen  of  Scots,  the  first  and  last  be- 
ing papists,  and  Elizabeth's  blood  being  tainted 
by  act  of  i'arliament ;  and  to  settle  the  crown 

*  Crosby's  Hist.,  vol.  i.,  p.  63. 

t  Burnet's  Hist.  Ret,  vol.  ii.,  p.  190. 

X  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  li.,  p.  252. 


58 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


by  will  upon  Lady  Jane  Grey,  eldest  daughter 
of  the  Duke  of  Suffolk,  a  lady  of  extraordinary 
qualities,  zealous  for  the  Reformation,  and  next 
in  blood  after  the  princesses  above  mentioned. 
One  may  guess  the  sad  apprehensions  the  coun- 
cil were  under  for  the  Protestant  religion,  when 
they  put  the  king,  who  was  a  minor,  and  not 
capable  of  making  a  will,  upon  this  expedient, 
and  set  their  hands  to  the  validity  of  it.  The 
king  being  dead.  Queen  Jane  was  proclaimed 
with  the  usual  solemnities,  and  an  army  raised 
to  support  her  title  ;  but  the  Princess  Mary, 
then  at  Norfolk,  being  informed  of  her  brother's 
death,  sent  a  letter  to  the  council,  in  which  she 
claims  the  crown,  and  charges  them,  upon  their 
allegiance,  to  proclaim  her  in  the  city  of  London 
and  elsewhere.  The  council,  i-^  return,  insisted 
upon  her  laying  aside  her  claim,  and  submitting 
as  a  good  subject  to  her  new  sovereign.  But 
Mary,  by  the  encouragement  of  her  friends  in  the 
North,  resolved  to  maintain  her  right ;  and  to 
make  her  way  more  easy,  she  promised  the 
Suffolk  men  to  make  no  alteration  in  religion. 
This  gained  her  an  army,  with  which  she  march- 
ed towards  London  ;  but  before  she  came  thith- 
er, both  the  council  and  citizens  of  London  de- 
clared for  her  ;  and  on  the  3d  of  August  she  made 
her  public  entry,  without  the  loss  of  a  drop  of 
blood,  four  weeks  after  the  death  of  her  brother. 

Upon  Queen  Mary's  entrance  into  the  Tower 
she  released  Bonner,  Gardiner,  and  others, 
■whom  she  called  her  prisoners.  August  12, 
her  majesty  declared  in  council  "  that,  though 
her  conscience  was  settled  in  matters  of  reli- 
gion, yet  she  was  resolved  not  to  compel  others, 
but  by  the  preaching  of  the  Word."  This  was 
different  from  her  promise  to  the  Suffolk  men  : 
she  assured  them  that  "  religion  should  be  left 
upon  the  same  foot  she  found  it  at  the  death  of 
King  Edward,  but  now  she  insinuates  that  the 
old  religion  is  to  be  restored,  but  without  compul- 
sion." Next  day  there  was  a  tumult  at  St.  Paul's, 
occasioned  by  Dr.  Bourne,  one  of  the  canons  of 
that  church,  preaching  against  the  late  Reforma- 
tion ;  he  spoke  in  commendation  of  Bonner,  and 
was  going  on  with  severe  reflections  upon  the 
late  King  Edward,  when  the  whole  audience  was 
in  an  uproar;  some  called  to  pull  down  the  preach- 
er, others  throwing  stones,  and  one  a  dagger, 
"Which  stuck  in  the  timber  of  the  pulpit.  Mr. 
Rogers  and  Bradford,  two  popular  preachers  for 
the  Reformation,  hazarded  their  lives  to  save 
the  doctor,  and  conveyed  him  in  safety  to  a 
•■neighbouring  house  ;  for  which  act  of  charity 
they  were  soon  after  imprisoned,  and  then  burned 
for  heresy. 

To  prevent  the  like  tumults  for  the  future,  the 
queen  published  an  inhibition,  .\ugust  18Lh,  for- 
bidding all  preaching  without  special  license  ; 
declarmg,  farther,  that  she  would  not  compel  her 
subjects  to  be  of  her  religion  till  public  order 
should  be  taken  in  it  by  common  assent.  Here 
was  another  intimation  of  an  approaching  storm : 
"  the  subjects  were  not  to  be  compelled  till  pub- 
lic order  should  be  taken  for  it."  And,  to  pre- 
vent farther  tumults,  a  proclamation  was  pub- 
lished, for  masters  of  families  to  oblige  their 
apprentices  and  servants  to  frequent  their  own 
parish  churches  on  Sundays  and  holydays,  and 
keep  them  at  home  at  other  times. 

The  shutting  up  all  the  Protestant  pulpits  at 
once  awakened  the  Suffolk  men,  who,  presu- 


ming upon  their  merits  and  the  queen's  promise, 
sent  a  deputation  to  court  to  represent  their 
grievances  ;  but  the  queen  checked  them  for 
their  insolence  ;  and  one  of  their  number,  hap- 
pening to  mention  her  promise,  was  put  in  the 
pillory  three  days  together,  and  had  his  ears 
cut  off  for  defamation.  On  the  22d  of  August, 
Bonner  of  London,  Gardiner  of  Winchester,  Ton- 
sial  of  Durham,  Heath  of  Worcester,  and  Day  of 
Chichester,  were  restored  to  their  bishoprics. 
Some  of  the  Reformers,  continuing  to  preach  af- 
ter the  inliibition,  were  sent  for  into  custody, 
among  whom  were  Hooper,  bishop  of  Glouces- 
ter, Coverdale  of  Exeter,  Dr.  Taylor  of  Hadley, 
Rogers  the  protomartyr,  and  several  others. 
Hooper  was  committed  to  the  Fleet,  September 
1,  no  regard  being  had  to  his  active  zeal  in  as- 
serting the  queen's  right  in  his  sermon  against 
the  title  of  Lady  Jane  ;  but  so  sincerely  did  this 
good  man  follow  the  light  of  his  conscience, 
when  he  could  not  but  see  what  sad  consequen- 
ces it  was  like  to  have.  Coverdale  of  Exeter, 
being  a  foreigner,  was  ordered  to  keep  his  house 
till  farther  order.  Burnet*  says  he  was  a  Dane, 
and  had  afterward  leave  to  retire.  But,  accord- 
ing to  Fuller,!  he  was  born  in  Yorkshire.  Arch- 
bishop Cranmer  was  so  silent  at  Lambeth,  that 
it  was  thought  he  would  have  returned  to  the 
old  religion  ;  but  he  was  preparing  a  protesta- 
tion against  it,  which  taking  air,  he  was  exam- 
ined, and  confessing  the  fact,  he  was  sent  to 
the  Tower,  with  Bishop  Latimer,  about  the  13th 
of  September.  The  beginning  of  next  month, 
Holgate,  archbishop  of  York,  was  committed  to 
the  Tower,  and  Horn,  dean  of  Durham,  was 
summoned  before  the  council,  but  he  fled  be- 
yond sea. 

The  storm  gathering  so  thick  upon  the  Re- 
formers, above  eight  hundred  of  them  retired 
into  foreign  parts  ;  among  whom  were  five  bish- 
ops, viz.,  Poynet  of  Winchester,  who  died  in 
exile  ;  Barlow  of  Bate  and  Wells,  who  was  su- 
perintendent of  the  congregation  at  Embden  ; 
Scory  of  Chichester  ;  Coverdale  of  Exon  ;  and 
Bale  of  Ossory  ;  five  deans,  viz  ,  Dr.  Cox,  Had- 
don,  Horn,  Turner,  and  Sampson  ;  four  arch- 
deacons, and  above  fifty  doctors  of  divinity  and 
eminent  preachers,  among  whom  were  Grindal, 
Jewel,  Sandys,  Reynolds.  Pilkington,  White- 
head, Lever,  Nowel,  Knox,  Rough,  Wittingham, 
Fox,  Parkhurst,  and  others,  famous  in  the  reign 
of  Queen  Elizabeth  :  besides,  of  noblemen,  mer- 
chants, tradesmen,  artificers,  and  plebeians, 
many  hundreds.  Some  fled  in  disguise,  or  went 
over  as  the  servants  of  foreign  Protestants,  who, 
having  come  hither  for  shelter  in  King  Edward's 
time,  were  now  required  to  leave  the  kingdom ;{: 
among  these  were  Peter  Martyr  and  John  a 
Lasco,  with  his  congregation  of  Germans.  But 
to  prevent  too  many  of  the  English  embarking 
with  them,  an  order  of  council  was  sent  to  all 
the  ports  that  none  should  be  suffered  to  leave 
the  kingdcmi  without  proper  passports.  The  Ro- 
man Catholic  party,  out  of  their  abundant  zeal 
for  their  religion,  outrun  the  laws,  and  celebra- 
ted mass  in  divers  churches  before  it  was  re- 
stored by  authority  ;^  while  the  people  that  fa- 
voured the  Reformation  continued  their  public 

*  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  221,  239.  ' 

t  Fuller's  Worthies,  b.  iii.,  p.  198. 

i  Strype's  Life  of  Cranmer,  p.  314. 

I  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  223. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


59 


devotion  with  great  seriousness  and  fervency, 
as  foreseeing  what  was  coming  upon  them  ;  but 
the  rude  multitude  came  into  tlie  churches,  in- 
sulted their  ministers,  and  ridiculed  their  wor- 
ship. Tlie  court  not  only  winked  at  these  things, 
but  fined  Judge  Hales  (who  alone  refused  to  sign 
the  act  which  transferred  the  crown  to  Jane 
Grey)  a  thousand  pounds  sterling,  because  in 
his  circuit  he  ordered  the  justices  of  Kent  to 
conform  themselves  to  the  laws  of  King  Edward, 
not  yet  repealed  ;  upon  which  that  gentleman 
grew  melancholy,  and  drowned  himself 

The  queen  was  crowned  October  1,  1553,  by 
Gardiner,  attended  by  ten  other  bishops,  all  in 
their  mitres,  copes,  and  crosiers  ;  and  a  Parlia- 
ment was  summoned  to  meet  tlie  10th.  What 
methods  were  used  in  the  elections  have  been 
related.  On  the  3 1st  of  October  a  bill  was  sent 
down  to  the  Commons  for  repealing  King  Ed- 
ward's laws  about  religion,  which  was  argued 
six  days,  and  at  length  carried.  It  repeals  in 
general  all  the  late  statutes  relating  to  religion, 
and  enacts,  "that  after  the  20th  of  December 
next  there  should  be  no  other  form  of  Divine  ser- 
vice but  what  had  been  used  in  the  last  year  of 
King  Henry  VIII."  Severe  punishments  were 
decreed  against  such  as  should  interrupt  the 
public  service,  as  should  abuse  the  holy  sacra- 
ment, or  break  down  altars,  crucifixes,  or  cross- 
es. It  was  made  felony  for  any  number  of  per- 
sons above  twelve  to  assemble  together  with  an 
intention  to  alter  the  religion  established  by  law. 
November  3d,  Archbishop  Cranmer,  the  Lord 
Guilford,  Lady  Jane,  and  two  other  sons  of  the 
Duke  of  Northumberland,  were  brought  to  their 
trials  for  high  treason,  in  levying  war  against 
the  queen,  and  conspiring  to  set  up  another  in 
her  room.  They  all  confessed  their  indictments, 
but  Cranmer  appealed  to  his  judges  how  unwil- 
lingly he  had  set  his  hand  to  the  exclusion  of 
the  queen  :  these  judgments  were  confirmed  by 
Parliament ;  after  which,  the  queen's  intended 
marriage  with  Philip  of  Spain  being  discovered, 
the  Commons  sent  their  speaker  and  twenty  of 
their  members  humbly  to  entreat  her  majesty 
not  to  marry  a  stranger,  with  which  she  was  so 
displeased,  that  upon  the  6th  of  December  she 
dissolved  the  Parliament. 

The  convocation  that  sat  with  the  Parliament- 
was  equally  devoted  to  the  court.  Care  had 
been  taken  about  their  elections.  In  the  collec- 
tion of  public  acts,  there  are  found  about  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  presentations  to  livings  before  the 
choice  of  representatives,  so  that  the  lower 
house  of  convocation  was  of  a  piece  with  the 
upper,  from  whence  almost  all  of  the  Protestant 
bishops  were  excluded  by  imprisonment,  depri- 
vation, or  otherwise.  Bonner  presided  as  the 
first  bishop  of  the  province  of  Canterbury. 
Harpsfield,  his  chaplain,  preached  the  sermon  on 
Acts,  XX.,  28,  Feed  the  flock  ;  and  Weston,  dean 
of  Westminster,  was  chosen  prolocutor.  On  the 
20th  of  October  it  was  proposed  to  the  mem- 
bers to  subscribe  to  the  doctrine  of  transub- 
stantiation,  which  all  complied  with  but  the 
following  six  divines,  who  by  their  places  had  a 
right  to  sit  in  convocation  :  Philpot,  archdea- 
con of  Winchester;  Philips,  dean  of  Rochester; 
Haddon,  dean  of  Exeter  ;  Cheyney,  archdeacon 
of  Hereford  ;  Aylnier,  archdeacon  of  Stow  ;  and 
Young,  chanter  of  St.  David's :  these  disputed 
upon  the  argument  for  three  days,  but  the  dis- 


putation was  managed  according  to  the  fashion 
of  the  times,  with  reproaches  and  menaces  on 
the  stronger  side,  and  the  prolocutor  ended  it 
with  saying,  "  You  have  the  word,  but  we  have 
the  sword."* 

This  year  [1554]  began  with  Wyat's  rebel- 
lion, occasioned  by   a  general   dislike   to   the 
queen's  marriage  with  Philip  of  Spain  :  it  was 
a  raw,  unadvised  attempt,  and  occasioned  great 
mischiefs  to  the  Protestants,  though  religion  had 
no  share  in  the  conspiracy,  Wyat  himself  being 
a  papist :  this  gentleman  got  together  four  thou° 
sand  men,  with  whom  he  marched  directly  to 
London  ;  but  coming  into  Soulhwark,  February 
2,  he  found  the  bridge  so  well  fortified  that  he 
could  not  force  it  without  cannon,  so  he  march- 
ed about,  and  having  crossed  the  Thames  at 
Kingston,  he  came  by  Charing  Cross  to  Ludgate 
next  morning,  in  hopes  the  citizens  would  have 
opened  their  gates  ;  but  being  disappointed,  he 
yielded  himself  a  prisoner  at  Temple  Bar,  and 
was  afterward  executed,  as  were  the  Lady  Jane 
Grey,  Lord  Guilford  her  husband,  and  others, 
the   Lady   Elizabeth   herself  hardly  escaping. 
Wyat,  upon  his  trial,  accused  her,  in  hopes  of 
saving  his  life ;  upon  which  she  was  ordered 
into  custody ;  but  when  Wyat  saw  he  must  die, 
he  acquitted  her  on  the  scaffold  ;  and  upon  the 
queen's  marriage  this  summer  she  obtained  her 
pardon. 

As  soon  as  the  nation  was  a  little  settled,  her 
majesty,  by  virtue  of  the  supremacy,  gave  in- 
structions to  her  bishops  to  visit  the  clergy. 
The  injunctions  were  drawn  up  by  Gardiner, 
and  contain  an  angry  recital  of  all  the  innova- 
tions introduced  into  the  Church  in  the  reign  of 
King  Edward  ;  and  a  charge  to  the  bishops 
"  to  execute  all  the  ecclesiastical  laws  that  had 
been  in  force  in  King  Henry  VIII. 's  reign,  but 
not  to  proceed  in  their  courts  in  the  queen's 
name.  She  enjoins  them  not  to  enact  the  oathof 
supremacy  any  more,  but  to  punish  heretics  and 
heresies,  and  to  remove  all  married  clergymen 
from  their  wives  ;  but  for  those  that  would  re- 
nounce their  wives,  they  might  put  them  into 
some  other  cures. t    All  the  ceremonies,  holy- 


*  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  267. 

Bishop  Warburton,  in  his  notes  on  Mr.  Neal's  His- 
tory (see  a  supplemental  volume  of  his  works,  8vo, 
1788,  p.  455),  with  great  anger,  impeaches  the  truth 
of  this  passage.     "This  is  to  lie,"  says  his  lordship, 
"  under  the  cover  of  truth.     Can  anybody  in  his 
senses  behave  that  when  the  only  contention  be- 
tween the  two  parties  was  who  had  the  word,  that  the 
more  powerful  would  yield  it  up  to  their  adversaries? 
Without  all  doubt,  some  Protestant  member,  in  the 
heat  of  dispute,  said,  '  We  have  the  word ;'  upon 
which  the  prolocutor  insultingly  answers,  '  But  we 
have  the  sword,'  without  thinking  any  one  would 
be  so  foolish  as  to  join  the  two  propositions  into 
one,  and  then  give  it  to  the  prolocutor."    In  reply 
to  these  unhandsome  reflections,  it  is  sufficient  to 
say,  that  Mr.  Neal  spoke  on  the  authority  of  Bishop 
Burnet,  whom  he  truly  quotes,  and  whom  it  would 
have  been  more  consistent  with  candour  and  the  love 
of  truth  for  Bishop  Warburton  to  have  consulted  the 
authority  before  he  insinuated  his  conjectures  against 
the  statement  of  a  fact,  and,  without  authority,  point- 
ed his  charge  of  folly  and  falsehood  ;  of  which  Mr. 
Neal,  by  quoting  his  author,  stands  perfectly  clear ; 
and  which,  if  well  founded,  must  fall,  not  on  him,  but 
Bishop  Burnet,  whose  remark  on  the  prolocutor's 
speech  is,  that  "by  it  he  truly  pointed  out  wherein 
the  strength  of  both  causes  lay." — En. 
t  "The  married  clergy  were  observed  to  suffer 


60 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


days,  and  fasts  used  in  King  Henry's  time 
•were  to  be  revived.  Those  clergymen  who 
had  been  ordained  by  tlie  late  service-book 
were  to  be  reordained,  or  have  the  defects  of 
their  ordination  supplied  ;  that  is,  the  anoint- 
ing, the  giving  the  priestly  vestments,  with 
other  rites  of  the  Roman  pontifical.  And,  last- 
ly, it  was  declared  that  all  people  should  be 
compelled  to  come  to  church."*  The  Archbish- 
op of  York,  the  Bishops  of  St.  David's,  Chester, 
and  Bristol,  were  deprived  for  being  married  ; 
and  the  Bishops  of  Lincoln,  Gloucester,  and 
Hereford,  v.ere  deprived  by  the  royal  pleasure, 
as  holding  their  bishoprics  by  such  a  patent.  It 
was  very  arbitrary  to  turn  out  the  married  bish- 
ops, while  there  was  a  law  subsisting  to  legiti- 
mate their  marriages  ;  and  to  deprive  the  other 
bishops  without  any  maiuier  of  process,  merely 
for  the  royal  pleasure.  This  was  acting  up  to 
the  height  of  the  supremacy,  which,  though  the 
queen  believed  to  be  an  unlawful  power,  yet  she 
claimed  and  used  it  for  the  service  of  the  Ro- 
mish Church.  The  vacant  bishoprics  were  fill-, 
ed  up  the  latter  end  of  March,  with  men  after 
the  queen's  heart,  to  the  number  of  sixteen,  in 
the  room  of  so  many  deprived  or  dead. 

The  new  bishops  in  their  visitation,  and  par- 
ticularly Bishop  Bonner,  executed  the  queen's 
injunctions  with  rigour.  The  mass  was  set  up 
in  all  places,  and  the  old  popish  rites  and  cere- 
monies revived.  The  carvers  and  makers  of 
statues  had  a  quick  trade  for  roods  and  other 
images  that  were  to  be  set  up  again  in  church- 
es. The  most  eininent  preachers  in  London 
were  under  confinement,  and  all  the  married 
clergy  throughout  the  kingdom  were  deprived. 
Dr.  Parker  reckons  that  of  sixteen  thousand 
clergymen,  twelve  thousand  were  turned  out  ; 
which  is  not  probable,  for  if  we  coinpute  by  the 
diocess  of  Norwich,  which  is  almost  an  eighth 
part  of  England,  and  in  which  there  were  but 
three  hundred  and  thirty-five  deprived,  the  whole 
number  will  fall  short  of  three  thousand  t  Some 
were  turned  out  without  conviction,  upon  com- 
mon fame :  some  were  never  cited,  and  yet 
turned  out  for  not  appearing.  Those  that  quit- 
ted their  wives,  and  did  penance,  were,  never- 
theless, deprived  ;  which  was  grounded  on  the 
vow  that  (as  was  pretended)  they  had  made. 
Such  was  the  deplorable  condition  of  the  re- 
formed this  summer,  and  such  the  cruelty  of 
their  adversaries. 

The  queen's  second  Parliament  met  April  2d. 
The  court  had  taken  care  of  the  elections  by 
large  promises  of  money  from  Spain.  Their 
design  was  to  persuade  the  Parliament  to  ap- 
prove of  the  Spanish  match  \t  which  they  ac- 

wilh  most  alacrity.  They  were  ben  ring  testimony 
to  the  validity  and  sanctity  of  their  marriage  against 
the  foul  and  unchristian  aspersions  of  tiie  Romish 
persecutors;  the  honour  of  their  wives  and  children 
were  at  stake;  the  desire  of  leaving  them  an  unsul- 
lied name  and  a  virtuous  example,  combined  with 
the  sense  of  religious  duty ;  and  thus  the  heart  deri- 
ved strength  from  the  very  ties  which,  in  other  cir- 
cumstances, might  have  weakened  it." — Southey's 
Book  nf  the  Church,  London  f.d.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  151.— ;C. 

*  Burnet's  Histgry  of  the  Reformation,  vol.  ii.,  p. 
291,  274.     Collection  of  Records,  num.  15. 

t  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref ,  vol.  iii.,  p.  220. 

j  "  This,"  observes  Dr.  Warner,  "  is  the  first  in- 
stance to  be  met  with  in  the  English  history  of  cor- 
rupting parliaments  ;  but  the  precedent  has  been  so 
well  followed  ever  since,  that  if  ever  this  nation 


complished,  with  this  proviso,  that  tlie  queen 
alone  should  have  the  government  of  the  king- 
dom ;  after  which  the  houses  were  presently 
dissolved.  King  Philip  arrived  in  England* 
Jidy  20th,  and  was  inarricd  to  the  queen  on  the 
27th,  at  Winchester,  he  being  then  in  the  twen- 
ty-seventh year  of  his  age,  and  the  queen  in  her 
thirty-eighth.  He  brought  with  him  a  vast 
mass  of  wealth  :  twenty-seven  chests  of  bull- 
ion, every  chest  being  above  a  yard  long;  and 
ninety-nine  horse-loads  and  two  cart-loads  of 
coined  silver  and  gold. 

The  Reformers  complaining  of  their  usage  in 
the  late  dispute  held  in  convocation,  the  court 
resolved  to  give  them  a  fresh  mortification,  by 
appointing  another  at  Oxford  in  presence  of 
the  whole  university  ;  and  because  Archbishop 
Cranmer,  Bishops  Ridley  and  Latimer,  were  the 
most  celebrated  divines  of  the  Reformation, 
they  were  by  warrant  Irom  the  queen  removed, 
from  the  Tower  to  Oxford,  to  manage  the  dis- 
pute. The  convocation  sent  their  prolocutor 
and  several  of  their  members,  who  arriving  on 
the  13th  of  April,  being  Friday,  sent  for  the 
bishops  on  Saturday,  and  appointed  them  Mon- 
day, Tuesday,  and  Wednesday,  every  one  his 
day,  to  defend  their  doctrine.  The  questions 
were  upon  transubstantiation  and  the  propiti- 
atory sacrifice  of  the  mass.  The  particulars  of 
the  dispute  are  in  Mr.  Fqx's  Book  of  Martyrs. 
The  bishops  behaved  with  great  modesty  and 
presence  of  mind  ;  but  their  adversaries  insult- 
ed and  triumphed  in  the  most  barbarous  manner. 
Bishop  Ridley  writes,  "  that  there  were  per- 
petual shoutings,  tauntings,  reproaches,  noise, 
and  confusion."  Cranmer  and  old  Latimer 
were  hissed  and  laughed  at  ;t  and  Ridley  was 
borne  down  with  noise  and  clamour  :  '•  In  all 
my  life,"  says  he,  "  I  never  saw  anything  car- 
ried more  vainly  and  tumultuously  ;  I  could  not 
have  thought  that  there  could  have  been  found 
any  Englishman  honoured  with  degrees  in  learn- 
ing, that  could  allow  of  such  thrasonical  osten- 
tations, more  fit  for  the  stage  than  the  schools." 
On  the  28th  of  April  they  were  summoned  again 
to  St.  Mary's,  and  required  by  Weston  the  pro- 
locutor to  subscribe,  as  having  been  vanquished 
in  disputation  ;  but  they  all  refusing,  were  de- 
clared obstinate  heretics,  and  no  longer  mem- 
bers of  the  Catholic  Church. 

It  was  designed  to  expose  the  Reformers  by 
another  disputation  at  Cambridge  ;  but  the  pris- 
oners in  London  hearing  of  it,  published  a  pa- 
per, declaring,  "  that  they  would  not  dispute 
but  in  writing,  except  it  were  before  the  queen 
and  council,  or  before  either  house  of  Parlia- 
ment, because    of  the   misreports   and   unfair 


should  lose  its  liberties  and  be  enslaved  and  ruined, 
it  will  be  by  means  of  Parliament  corrupted  with 
bribes  and  places." — Ecclesiastical  Histori/,  vol.  ii.,  p. 
311.— Ed. 

*  The  view  of  Philip,  in  this  match,  was  undoubted- 
ly to  make  himself  master  ot  the  kingdom.  When  af- 
terward Mary  was  supposed  to  be  pregnant,  he  applied 
to  Parliament  to  be  appointed  reger}t  during  the  mi- 
nority of  the  child,  and  offered  security  to  resign  the 
government  on  its  coming  of  age.  The  motion  was 
warmly  debated  in  the  House  of  Peers,  and  nearly 
carried ;  when  the  Lord  Paget  stood  up  and  said, 
"  Pray,  who  shall  sue  the  king's  bond '!"  This  lacon- 
ic speech  had  its  intended  effect,  and  the  debate  was 
soon  concluded  in  the  negative. —  Grans:cr's  Biogr. 
History  of  England,  vol.  i.,  p.  161,  note,  8vo  edition. 
— Ed.  t  Strype's  Life  of  Cranmer,  p.  338. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


61 


usage  they  had  everywhere  met  with."  At  the 
same  time  they  printed  a  summary  of  their 
faith,  for  which  they  were  ready  to  offer  up 
their  Uves  to  the  halter  or  the  fire,  as  God 
should  appoint.* 

And  here  they  declared  "  that  they  believed 
the  Scriptures  to  be  the  true  Word  of  God,  and 
the  judge  of  all  controversies  in  matters  of  re- 
ligion ;  and  that  the  Church  is  to  be  obeyed  as 
long  as  she  followed  this  word. 

"  That  they  adhered  to  the  Apostles'  Creed, 
and  those  creeds  set  out  by  the  Councils  of 
Nice,  Constantinople,  Ephesus,  and  Chalcedon  ; 
and  by  the  first  and  fourth  Councils  of  Toledo  ; 
and  the  symbols  of  Athanasius,  Irenaeus,  Ter- 
tullian,  and  Damasus. 

"They  believed  justification  by  faith  alone; 
which  faith  was  not  only  an  opinion,  but -a  cer- 
tain persuasion  wrought  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
which  did  illuminate  the  mind,  and  supple  the 
heart  to  submit  itself  unfeignedly  to  God. 

"  They  acknowledged  the  necessity  of  an  in- 
herent righteousness,  but  that  justification  and 
pardon  of  sins  came  only  by  Christ's  righteous- 
ness imputed  to  them. 

"  They  affirmed  that  the  worship  of  God 
ought  to  be  performed  in  a  tongue  understood 
by  the  people. 

"  That  Christ  only,  and  not  the  saints,  was 
to  be  prayed  to. 

"  That,  immediately  after  death,  departed 
souls  pass  either  into  the  state  of  the  blessed 
or  of  tlie  damned,  without  any  purgatory  be- 
tween. 

"  That  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  are 
the  sacraments  of  Christ,  which  ought  to  be 
administered  according  to  his  institutions  ;  and, 
therefore,  they  condemned  the  denying  the  cup 
to  the  people,  transubstantiation,  the  adoration 
or  sacrifice  of  the  mass  ;  and  asserted  the  law- 
fulness of  marriage  to  all  ranks  and  orders  of 
men." 

These  truths  they  declared  themselves  ready 
to  defend,  as  before ;  and,  in  conclusion,  they 
charged  all  people  to  enter  into  no  rebellion 
against  the  queen,  but  to  obey  her  in  all  points, 
except  where  her  commands  are  contrary  to  the 
law  of  God.  This  put  an  end  to  all  farther  tri- 
umphs of  the  popish  party  for  the  present,  and 
was  a  noble  testimony  to  the  chief  and  distin- 
guishing doctrines  of  the  Protestant  faith.  But 
since  ttie  Reformers  were  not  to  be  run  down 
by  noise  and  clamour,  therefore  their  steadfast- 
ness must  undergo  the  fiery  trial. 

The  queen's  third  Parliament  met  November 
11,  1554.  In  the  writs  of  summons  the  title  of 
Supreme  Head  of  the  Church  was  omitted, 
though  it  was  still  by  law  vested  in  the  crown. 
The  money  brought  from  Spain  had  procured  a 
House  of  Commons  devoted  to  the  court.  The 
first  bill  passed  in  the  house  was  the  repeal  of 
Cardinal  Pole's  attainder.  It  had  the  royal  as- 
sent November  22d,  and  the  cardinal  himself 
arrived  in  England  two  days  after  in  quality  of 
the  pope's  legate,  with  a  commission  to  receive 
the  kingdom  of  England  into  the  bosom  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  under  the  pope  as  their  su- 
preme pastor.  On  the  27th,  he  made  a  speech 
in  Parliament,  inviting  them  to  a  reconciliation 
with  the  apostolic  see.  Two  days  after,  a  com- 
mittee of  jLords  and  Commons  was  appointed  to 

*  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  li.,  p.  285. 


draw  up  a  supplication  to  the  king  and  queen, 
to  intercede  with  the  legate  for  a  reconciliation, 
with  a  promise  to  repeal  all  acts  made  against 
the  pope's  authority.*  This  being  presented  by 
both  houses  on  their  knees  to  the  king  and 
queen,  they  made  intercession  with  the  cardi- 
nal, wlio  thereupon  made  a  long  speech  in  the 
house,  at  the  close  of  which  he  enjoined  them 
lor  penance  to  repeal  the  laws  above  mention- 
ed, and  so,  in  the  pop&'s  name,  he  granted  them 
a  lull  absolution,  which  they  received  on  tiieir 
knees,  and  then  absolved  the  realm  from  all 
censures.  * 

The  Act  of  Repeal  was  not  ready  till  the  be- 
ginning of  January,  when  it  passed  both  houses 
and  received  the  royal  assent.  It  enumerates 
and  reverses  all  acts  since  the  20th  of  Henry 
VIII.  against  the  Holy  See  ;  but  then  it  con- 
tains the  lollowing  restrictions,  which  they  pray, 
through  the  cardinal's  intercession,  may  be  es- 
tablished by  the  pope's  authority  : 

1.  "  That  all  bishoprics,  cathedrals,  or  col- 
leges, now  established,  may  be  confirmed  for- 
ever. 2.  That  marriages  within  such  degrees 
as  are  not  contrary  to  the  law  of  God,  may  be 
confirmed,  and  their  issue  legitimated.  3.  That 
institutions  into  benefices  may  be  confirmed. 

4.  That  all  judicial  processes  maybe  confirmed. 

5.  That  all  the  settlements  of  the  lands  of  any 
bishoprics,  monasteries,  or  other  religious  hous- 
es, may  continue  as  they  were,  without  any 
trouble  from  the  ecclesiastical  courts." 

The  cardinal  admitted  of  these  requests,  but 
ended  with  a  heavy  denunciation  of  the  judg- 
ments of  God  upon  those  who  had  the  goods  ol 
the  Church  in  tiieir  hands,  and  did  not  restore 
them.     And  to  make  the  clergy  more  easy,  thf 
statutes  of  Mortmain  were  repealed  for  twenty 
years  to  come.     But,  after  all,  the  pope  refused 
to  confirm  the  restrictions,  alleging  that  the  le 
gate  had  exceeded  his  powers  ;  so  that  the  pos 
sessors  of  Church  lands  had  but  a  prccariou? 
title  to  their  estates  under  this  reign  ;  for,  eves 
before  the  reconciliation  was  fully  concluded 
the  pope  published  a  bull,  by  which  he,  excoin 
municates  all  those  persons  who  were  in  pos 
session  of  the  goods  of  the  Church  or  monaste 
ries,  and  did  not  restore  them.f    This  aiarmei' 
the  superstitious  queen,  who,  apprehending  her 
self  near  her  time  of  child-birth,  sent  for  hermin 
isters  of  state,  and  surrendered  up  all  the  land.* 
of  the  Church  that  remained  in  the  crown,  to  be 
disposed  of  as  the  pope  or  his  legate  should 
think  fit.     But  when  a  proposal  of  this  kind  was 
made  to  the  Commons  in  Parliament,  some  of 
them  boldly  laid  their  hands  upon  their  swords 
and  said  "  they  well  knew  how  to  defend  their 
own  properties."     But  the  queen  went  on  with 
acts  of  devotion  to  the  Church ;  she  repaired 
several  old  monasteries,  and  erected  new  ones; 
she  ordered  a  strict  inquiry  to  be  made  after 
those  who  had  pillaged  the  churches  and  monas- 
teries, and  had  been  employed  in  the  visitations 
of  Henry  VIII.  and  Edward  VT.    She  command- 
ed Bishop  Bonner  to  rase  out  of  the  public  rec- 

*  Here  popery  developed  its  genuine  character, 
and  clearly  demonstrated  that  it  coidd  not  exist  with 
freedom  of  thought  and  the  diffusion  of  popuiai 
knowledge.  The  Church  of  Rome  has  never  pos 
sessed  power  in  any  nation,  without  callmg  the  peo 
pie  to  make  a  retrograde  march. — C. 

t  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  u.,  p.  309. 


C2 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


ords  a]l  that  had  been  done  against  the  monks  ; 
and  particularly  the  accounts  of  the  visitations 
of  monasteries  ;  which  has  rendered  the  eccle- 
siastical history  of  this  time  defective. 

The  next  ?ct  brought  into  the  house  was  for 
reviving  the  statutes  of  Richard  II.  and  Henry 
IV.  and  V.  for  burning  heretics  ;  which  passed 
both  houses  in  six  days,  to  the  unspeakable  joy 
of  ihe  popish  clergy.  The  houses  having  been 
informed  of  some  heretical  preachers,  who  had 
prayed  in  their  conventicles  that  God  would 
turn  the  queen's  heart  from  idolatry  to  the  true 
•  faith,  or  else  shorten  her  days,  they  passed  an 
act  "  that  all  that  prayed  after  this  manner 
should  be  adjudged  traitors."  After  which,  on 
the  16th  of  January,  1555,  the  Parliament  was 
dissolved. 

The  kingdom  being  now  reconciled  to  the 
Church  of  Rome,  and  the  penal  laws  against 
heretics  revived,  a  council  was  held  about  the 
manner  of  dealing  with  the  reformed.  It  is 
said  that  Cardinal  Pole  was  for  the  gentler 
methods  of  instruction  and  persuasion,  which 
is  somewhat  doubtful  ;*  but  Gardiner  was  cer- 
tainly for  rigour,  imagining  that  a  few  examples 
of  severity  upon  the  heads  of  the  party  would 
terrify  the  rest  into  a  compliance.  The  queen 
was  of  his  mind,  and  commanded  Gardiner,  by 
a  commission  to  himself  and  some  other  bishops, 
to  make  the  experiment.  He  began  with  Mr. 
Rogers,!  Mr.  Cardmaker,  and  Bishop  Hooper, 
who  had  been  kept  in  prison  eighteen  months 
without  law.     These,  upon  examination,  were 


*  Strype's  Memoirs  of  Crannier,  p.  347;  and  Life 
of  Whitgift,  p.  6.  Mr.  Strype's  words  in  the  former 
place  are  as  follows  :  "  In  these  instructions  (given 
t«  ihe  clergy)  there  are  several  strictures  that  make 
it  appear  Pole  was  not  so  gentle  towards  the  here- 
tics as  was  reported,  but  rather  the  contrary,  and 
that  he  went  hand  in  hand  with  the  bloody  bishops 
of  these  days  ;  for  it  is  plain  that  he  put  the  bishops 
upon  proceeding  with  them  (the  Protestants)  accord- 
ing to  the  sanguinary  laws  lately  revived,  and  put  in 
full  force  and  virtue.  What  an  invention  was  that  of 
his,  a  kind  of  inquisition  by  him  set  up,  wherein  the 
names  of  all  such  were  to  be  written,  that  in  every 
place  and  parish  in  England  were  reconciled ;  and 
so,  whosoever  were  not  found  in  those  books,  might 
be  known  to  be  no  friend  to  the  pope,  and  so  to  be 
proceeded  against.  And,  indeed,  after  Pole's  crafty 
and  zealous  management  of  this  reconciliation  (with 
Rome),  all  that  good  opinion  that  men  had  before  of 
him  vanished,  and  they  found  themselves  much  mis- 
taken in  him,  insomuch  that  people  spoke  against 
him  as  bad  as  of  the  pope  himself,  or  the  worst  of  his 
cardinals.  Indeed,  he  had  frequent  conferences  with 
the  Protestants  about  justitication  by  faith  alone, 
&c.,  and  would  often  wish  the  true  doctrine  might 
prevail  ;  but  now  the  mask  was  taken  off,  and  he 
showed  himself  what  he  was." 

In  the  place  answering  to  the  latter  reference, 
Strype  says,  "  He  wholly  Italianized,  and  returned 
into  England  endued  with  a  nature  foreign  and  fierce, 
and  was  the  very  butcher  and  scourge  of  the  English 
Church."— AtUhor's  Review,  p.  89C. 

Dr.  Warner,  whose  character  of  Cardinal  Pole  is 
a  panegyric,  yet  says  "  that  he  was  very  inconsistent 
in  one  particular  ;  which  was,  that  at  the  same  time 
he  was  exclaiming  against  the  persecution  of  the  re- 
formed, and  would  not  himself  take  any  part  in  that 
slaL\?hter,  he  was  giving  commissions  to  others  to 
proceeu  'n  it,  and  returned  a  certificate  into  the  Court 
of  Chancery  of  several  who  had  been  convicted  of 
heresy  before  the  commissaries  of  his  appointing." 
— Ecclesiastical  History,  vol.  ii.,  p.  402. 

t  A  prebend  of  St.  Paul's.  He  was  a  very  learned 
man  and  useful  oreacher. — C. 


asked  whether  they  would  abjure  their  heretical 
opinions  about  the  sacrament,  and  submit  to  the 
Church  as  then  established  ;  which  they  refu- 
sing, were  declared  obstinate  heretics,  and  de- 
livered over  to  the  secular  power.  Mr.  Rogers 
was  burned  in  Smithfield,  February  4,  a  pardon 
being  offered  him  at  the  stake,  which  he  refused, 
though  he  had  a  wife*  and  ten  small  children 
unprovided  for.  Bishop  Hooper  was  burned  at 
Gloucester,  February  9.  He  was  not  suffered 
to  speak  to  the  people  ;  and  was  used  so  barbar- 
ously in  the  fire,  that  his  legs  and  thighs  were 
roasted,  and  one  of  his  hands  dropped  off  before 
he  expired :  his  last  words  were,  "  Lord  Jesus, 
receive  my  spirit. "+  While  he  was  in  prison  he 
wrote  several  excellent  letters,  full  of  devotion 
and  piety,  to  the  foreign  divines. J  In  one  to 
Bullinger,  dated  December  11,  1554,  about  two 
months  before  his  martyrdom,  are  these  expres- 
sions :  "  With  us  the  wound  which  antichrist 
had  received  is  healed,  and  he  is  declared  head 
of  the  Church,  who  is  not  a  member  of  it.  We 
are  still  in  the  utmost  peril,  as  we  have  been  for 
a  year  and  a  half  We  are  kept  asunder  in  pris- 
on, and  treated  with  all  kinds  of  inhumanity  and 
scorn.  They  threaten  us  every  day  with  death, 
which  we  do  not  value.  We  resolutely  despise 
fire  and  sword  for  the  cause  of  Christ.  We 
know  in  whom  we  have  believed,  and  are  sure 
we  have  committed  our  souls  to  him  by  well- 
doing. In  the  mean  time,  help  us  with  your 
prayers,  that  he  that  has  begun  the  good  work 
in  us  would  perform  it  to  the  end.  We  are  the 
Lord's,  let  him  do  with  us  as  seemeth  good  in 
his  sight."  ♦ 

About  the  same  time,  Mr.  Saunders,  another 
minister,  was  burned  at  Coventry.  When  he 
came  to  the  stake  he  said,  "  Welcome  the  cross 
of  Christ ;  welcome  everlasting  life."  Dr.  Tay- 
lor, parson  of  Hadley,  suffered  next :  Gardiner 
used  him  very  roughly,  and,  after  condemning 
and  degrading  him,  sent  him  to  his  own  parson- 
age to  be  burned,  which  he  underwent  with 
great  courage,  February  9,  though  he  had  bar- 
barous usage  in  the  fire,  his  brains  being  beat 
out  with  one  of  the  halberts.ij 

Gardiner,  seeing  himself  disappointed,  med- 
dled no  farther,  but  committed  the  prosecution 
of  the  bloody  work  to  Bonner,  bishop  of  London. 
This  clergyman  behaved  more  like  a  cannibal 


*  He  requested  to  see  his  wife  before  his  execu- 
tion, but  this  favour  was  brutally  denied  by  Gardiner. 
—Fox,  vol.  iii.,  p.  98.— C. 

t  When  engaged  in  prayer  at  the  stake,  a  box  was 
laid  before  him,  containing  his  pardon  if  he  would  re- 
cant ;  but  he  exclaimed,  "  If  you  love  my  soul,  away 
with  it."— C. 

t  Hist.  Ref ,  vol.  iii.,  in  Records,  numb.  38. 

^  Fox  tells  us  the  jailer  had  strict  charge  not  to 
permit  any  one  to  speak  to  him.  His  wife  was,  con- 
sequently, refused  admission;  but  the  keeper,  him- 
self probably  a  father,  took  the  babe  from  her  arms 
and  carried  it  to  Saunders.  He  was  delighted  with 
the  sight  of  his  child,  exclaiming,  "  What  man,  fear- 
ing God,  would  not  lose  this  life  present,  rather  than, 
by  prolonging  it  here,  he  should  judge  this  boy  to  be 
a  bastard,  his  wife  a  whore,  and  himself  a  whore- 
monger? Yea,  if  there  were  no  other  cause  for 
which  a  man  of  my  estate  siiould  lose  his  life.  yet. 
who  would  not  give  it  to  avouch  this  child  to  be  le- 
gitimate, and  his  marriage  to  be  lawful  and  holy?" 
He  likewise  was  offered  a  pardon  at  the  stake,  but 
steadfastly  refused  it,  and  died  exclaiming,  -'WBlcome 
the  cross  of  Christ ;  welcome  everlasting  life," — C. 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


than  a  Christian  ;  he  condemned  without  mercy 
all  that  came  before  him,  ordering  them  to  be 
kept  in  the  most  cruel  durance  till  they  were 
delivered  over  to  the  civil  magistrate.  He  tore 
off  the  beard  of  Tomkins,  a  weaver  in  Sliore- 
ditch,  and  held  his  hand  in  the  flame  of  a  candle 
till  the  sinews  and  vems  shrunk  and  burst,  and 
the  blood  spirted  out  in  Harpsfield's  face,  who 
•was' standing  by.  He  put  others  in  dungeons, 
and  in  the  stocks,  and  fed  them  with  bread  and 
water  ;  and  when  they  were  brought  before  him, 
insulted  over  their  misery  in  a  most  brutish 
manner. 

In  the  month  of  March  were  burned  Bishop 
Ferrar,  at  St.  David's  ;  Mr.  Lawrence,  a  priest, 
at  Colchester ;  Mr.  Tomkins,  a  weaver,  in  Smith- 
field  ;  Mr.  Hunter,  an  apprentice  of  nineteen 
years  of  age,  at  Brentwood;  Mr.  Causton  and 
Mr.  Higden,  gentlemen  of  good  estates,  in  Es- 
sex ;  Mr.  William  Pigot,  at  Braintree  ;  Mr.  Ste- 
phen Knight,  at  Maiden  ;  Mr.  Ravvlings  White, 
a  poor  fisherman,  at  Cardiffe.  In  the  next 
month,  Mr.  March,  a  priest,  at  Chester,  and  one 
Flower,  a  young  man,  in  St.  Margaret's  church- 
yard, Westminster. 

These  burnings  were  disliked  by  the  nation, 
which  began  to  be  astonished  at  the  courage 
and  constancy  of  the  martyrs,  and  to  be  start- 
led at  the  unrelenting  severity  of  the  bishops, 
who,  being  reproached  with  their  cruelties,  threw 
the  odium  upon  the  king  and  queen.  At  the 
same  time,  a  petition  was  printed  by  the  exiles 
beyond  sea,  and  addressed  to  the  queen,  put- 
ting her  in  mind  '•  that  the  Turks  tolerated 
Christians,  and  Christians  in  the  most  places 
tolerated  Jews ;  that  no  papist  had  been  put 
to  death  for  religion  in  King  Edward's  time. 
And  then  they  beseech  the  nobility  and  common 
people  to  intercede  with  her  majesty  to  put  a 
stop  to  this  issue  of  blood,  and  at  least  grant  her 
subjects  the  same  liberty  she  allowed  strangers, 
of  transporting  themselves  into  foreign  parts." 
But  it  had  no  effect.  King  Philip,  being  inform- 
ed of  the  artifices  of  the  bishops,  caused  his 
confessor,  Alphonsus,  to  preach  against  these 
severities,  which  he  did  in  the  face  of  the  whole 
court :  Bonner  himself  pretended  to  be  sick  of 
them,  but  after  some  little  rece.ss  he  went  on. 
And  though  Philip  pretended  to  be  for  milder 
measures,  yet  on  the  24th  of  May  he  and  the 
queen  signed  a  letter  to  Bonner,  to  quicken  him 
to  his  pastoral  duty  ;*  whereupon  he  redoubled 
his  fury,  and  in  the  month  of  June  condemned 
nine  Protestants  at  once  to  the  stake  in  Essex, 
and  the  council  wrote  to  the  sheriffs  to  gather 
the  gentry  together  to  countenance  the  burning 
with  their  presence. 

In  the  month  of  July,  Mr.  John  Bradford,  late 
prebendary  of  St.  Paul's,  and  a  most  celebrated 
preacher  in  King  Edward's  days,  suffered  mar- 
tyrdom. He  was  a  most  pious  Christian,  and  is 
said  to  have  done  as  much  service  to  the  Refor- 
mation by  his  letters  from  prison  as  by  his 
preaching  in  the  pulpit.  Endeavours  were  used 
to  turn  him,  but  to  no  purpose.  He  was  brought 
to  the  slake  with  one  John  Lease,  an  apprentice 
of  nineteen  years  old  ;  he  kissed  the  slake  and 
the  fagots,  but  being  forbid  to  speak  to  the  peo- 
ple, he  only  prayed  with  his  fellow-sufferer,  and 
quietly  submitted  to  the  fire.     His  last  words 

*  Rapin,  p.  184,  188. 


were,  "  Strait  is  the  gate  and  narrow  is  the  way 
that  leadeth  unto  eternal  life,  and  few  there  be 
that  find  it."  From  Smithfield  the  persecution 
spread  all  over  the  country  ;  in  the  months  of 
June  and  July  eight  men  and  one  woman  were 
burned  in  several  parts  of  Kent ;  and  in  the 
months  of  August  and  September,  twenty-five 
more  in  Suffolk,  Essex,  and  Surrey. 

But  the  greatest  sacrifice  to  popish  cruelty  was 
yet  to  come,  for  on  the  16lh  of  October  the 
Bishops  Ridley  and  Latimer  were  burned  at  one 
stake,  in  Oxford.  Latimer  died  presently,  but 
Ridley  was  a  long  time  in  exquisite  torments, 
his  lower  parts  being  burned  before  the  fire 
reached  his  body.  His  last  words  to  his  fellow- 
sufferer  were,  "  Be  of  good  heart,  brother,  for 
God  will  either  assuage  the  fury  of  the  flame  or 
enable  us  to  abide  it."  Latimer  replied,  "  Be 
of  good  comfort,  for  we  shall  this  day  light  such 
a  candle  in  England  as,  I  trust,  by  God's  grace, 
shall  never  be  put  out."  The  very  same  day 
Gardiner,  their  great  persecutor,  was  struck 
with  the  illness  of  which  he  died  ;  it  was  a  sup- 
pression of  urine,  which  held  him  in  great  ago- 
nies till  the  12lh  of  November,  when  he  expired. 
He  would  not  sii  down  to  dinner  till  he  had  re- 
ceived the  news  from  Oxford  of  the  burning  of 
the  two  bishops,  which  was  not  till  four  of  the 
clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  while  he  was  at  din- 
ner he  was  seized  with  the  distemper  which  put 
an  end  to  his  life.*  When  Bishop  Day  spoke  to 
him  of  justification  through  the  blood  of  Christ, 
he  said,  •'  If  you  open  t'aat  gap  to  the  people,  then 
farewell  all  again."  He  confessed  he  had  sin- 
ned with  Peter,  but  had  not  repented  with  him. 

On  the  18th  of  December,  Mr.  Archdeacon 
Philpott  was  burned,  and  behaved  at  the  stake 
with  the  courage  and  resolution  of  the  primitive 
martyrs. 

On  the  21st  of  March  following.  Archbishop 


*  This  is  said  on  the  authonty  of  Fox,  after  whom 
most  historians  repeat  it.  Lr.  Warner,  however, 
gives  no  credit  to  the  story.  He  observes  "  that  the 
bishops  were  burned  on  the  16th  of  October;  on  the 
21sl  the  Parliament  was  opened  by  a  speech  from  the 
lord-chancellor,  and  on  the  23d  he  appeared  again  in 
the  House  of  Lords ;  and  had  he  been  seized  with  a 
retention  of  urine  on  the  ICth,  he  would  scaicely  have 
been  able  to  come  abroad  on  those  days ;  neither 
would  he  probably  have  held  out  till  the  12th  of  No- 
vember following,  which  was  the  day  he  died.  And 
Bishop  Godwui,  who  takes  no  notice  of  this  report, 
says  he  died  of  a  dropsy." — Warner's  Ecclesiastical 
History,  vol.  ii.,  p.  382. — Ed. 

t  It  IS  not  pleasing  to  dwell  on  the  failings  of  gooj 
men,  especially  of  those  to  whose  zeal  and  integrity 
the  cause  of  rehgion  and  truth  is,  in  a  great  degree, 
indebted ;  yet  the  impartiality  of  an  historian,  and 
the  instruction  and  warning  of  future  times,  require 
some  notice  of  them.  Mr.  Neal,  in  this  view,  would 
not  have  done  amiss,  had  he  informed  his  readers 
that  this  eminent  Protestant  divine  and  martyr  in- 
curred the  blame  of  his  friends,  and  discovered  a 
very  illiberal  and  intolerant  spirit,  by  a  highly  insult- 
ing and  passionate  behaviour  towards  some  of  his 
fellow-prisoners,  who  denied  the  doctrine  of  the  Trin- 
ity and  of  the  deity  of  Christ.  It  gave,  even  in  those 
times,  so  much  offence,  that  he  judged  it  proper  to 
attempt  a  vindication  of  himself  in  a  httle  tract,  en- 
titled, "An  apology  of  John  Philpot,  written  for  spit- 
ting upon  an  Arian,  with  an  invective  against  the 
Arians,  the  verie  natural  children  of  Antichrist ;  with 
an  admonition  to  all  that  be  faithful  in  Christ  to  be- 
ware of  them,  and  of  other  late  sprung  he<re>*ic'>,  as 
of  the  most  enemies  of  the  Gospell." — Fd. 


64 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


Cranmer  suffered.  He  had  been  degraded  by 
the  Bishops  Thirlby  and  Bonner  on  I'ebruary 
14th.  Bonner  insulted  him  in  an  indecent 
manner,  but  Thirlby  melted  into  tears.  After 
this,  by  much  persuasion,  and  in  hopes  of  life, 
he  set  his  hand  to  a  paper,  in  which  he  renoun- 
ced the  errors  of  Luther  and  Zuinglius,  and  ac- 
knowledged his  belief  of  the  corporeal  presence, 
the  pope's  supremacy,  purgatory,  and  invoca- 
tion of  saints,  &c.  This  was  qiuckly  published 
to  the  world,  with  great  triumph  among  the  pa- 
pists, and  grief  to  the  Reformers.  But  the  un- 
merciful queen  was  still  resolved  to  have  his 
life,  and  accordingly  sent  down  a  writ  for  his 
execution :  she  could  never  forgive  the  share 
he  had  in  her  mother's  divorce,  and  in  driving 
the  pope's  authority  out  of  England.  Cranmer, 
suspecting  the  design,  prepared  a  true  confes- 
sion of  his  faith,  and  carried  it  in  his  bosom  to 
St.  Mary's  Church  on  the  day  of  his  martyrdom, 
"where  he  was  raised  on  an  eminence,  that  he 
might  be  seen  by  the  people  and  bear  his  own 
funeral  sermon.  Never  was  a  more  awful  and 
melancholy  spectacle  ;  an  archbishop,  once  the 
second  man  in  the  kingdom,  now  clothed  in 
rags,  and  a  gazing-stock  to  the  world  !  Cole, 
the  preacher,  magnified  his  conversion  as  the 
immediate  hand  of  God,  and  assured  him  of  a 
great  many  masses  to  be  said  for  his  soul.  Af- 
ter sermon  he  desired  Cranmer  to  declare  his 
own  faith,  which  he  did  with  tears,  declaring 
his  belief  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  the  Apos- 
tles' Creed,  and  then  came  to  that  which  he 
said  troubled  his  conscience  more  than  anything 
he  had  done  in  his  life,  and  that  was  his  sub- 
scribing the  above-mentioned  paper,  out  of  fear 
of  death  and  love  of  life  ;  and,  therefore,  when 
he  came  to  the  fire,  he  was  resolved  that  hand 
that  signed  it  should  burn  first.  The  assembly 
was  all  in  confusion  at  this  disappointment ; 
and  the  broken-hearied  archbishop,  shedding 
abundance  of  tears,  was  led  immediately  to  the 
stake,  and,  being  tied  to  it,  he  stretched  out  his 
right  hand  to  the  flame,  never  moving  it,  but 
once  to  wipe  his  face,  till  it  dropped  off.  He 
often  cried  out,  "That  unworthy  hand  !"*  which 
■was  consumed  before  the  fire  reached  his  body. 
His  last  -"v^ords  were,  "  Lord  Jesus,  receive  my 
spirit."  He  died  in  the  sixty-seventh  year  of 
his  agp  and  twenty-third  of  his  archbishopric, 
and  vas  succeeded  by  Cardinal  Pole. 

*  "  The  language  of  Cranmer,"  remarks  one  of 
the  most  philosophical  and  candid  of  historians, 
"  speaks  his  sincerity,  and  demonstrates  that  the 
love  of  truth  still  prevailed  in  his  inmost  heart.  It 
gushed  forth  at  the  sight  of  death,  full  of  healing 
power,  which  engendered  a  purifying  and  ennobling 
penitence,  and  restored  the  mind  to  its  own  esteem 
after  a  departure  from  the  onward  path  of  sincerity. 
Courage  survived  a  public  avowal  of  dishonour,  the 
"  hardest  test  to  which  that  virtue  can  be  exposed ; 
and  if  he  once  fatally  failed  in  fortitude,  he  in  his  last 
moments  atoned  for  his  failure  by  a  magnanimity 
equal  to  his  transgression.  Let  those  who  require 
unbending  virtue  in  the  most  tempestuous  limes 
condemn  the  amiable  and  faulty  primate ;  others, 
who  are  not  so  certain  of  their  own  steadiness,  will 
consider  his  fate  as,  perhaps,  the  most  memorable 
example  in  history  of  a  sovil  which,  though  debased, 
is  not  depraved,  by  an  act  of  weakness,  and  preserv- 
ed a  heroic  courage  alter  the  forfeiture  of  honour,  its 
natural  spur,  and,  in  general,  its  inseparable  com- 
panion."— Mackintoshes  England,  vol.  ii.,  p.  327,  Lon- 
don edition. — C. 


It  is  not  within  the  compass  of  my  design  to 
write  a  martyrology  of  these  times,  nor  to  fol- 
low Bishop  li-iniier  and  his  brethren  through 
the  rivers  of  Protestant  blood  which  they  spilt. 
The  whole  year  15.50  was  one  continued  perse- 
cution, in  which  popery  triumphed  in  all  its 
false  and  bloody  colours.  Bonner,  not  content 
to  burn  heretics  singly,  sent  them  by  companies 
to  the  flames.  Such  as  were  suspected  of  her- 
esy were  examined  upon  the  articles  of  the  cor- 
poreal presence  of  Christ  in  the  sacrament,  au- 
ricular confession,  and  the  mass ;  and  if  they 
did  not  make  satisfactory  answers,  they  were, 
without  any  farther  proofs,  condemned  to  the 
fire.  Women  were  not  spared,  nor  infants  in 
the  womb.  In  the  Isle  of  Guernsey,  a  woman 
with  child  being  ordered  to  the  fire,  was  deliv- 
ered in  the  flames,  and  the  infant  being  taken 
from  her,  was  ordered  by  the  magistrates  to  be 
thrown  back  into  the  fire.  At  length  the  butch- 
erly work  growing  too  much  for  the  hands  that 
were  employed  in  it,  the  queen  erected  an  ex- 
traordinary tribunal  for  trying  of  heresy,  like 
the  Spanish  Inquisition,  consisting  of  thirty-one 
commissioners,  most  of  them  laymen  ;  and  in 
the  month  of  June,  1555,  she  issued  out  a  proc- 
lamation that  such  as  received  heretical  books 
should  be  immediately  put  to  death  by  martial 
law.  She  forbid  prayers  to  be  made  for  the 
sufferers,  or  even  to  say  God  bless  them  :  so 
far  did  her  fiery  zeal  transport  her.*  Upon  the 
whole,  the  number  of  them  that  suffered  death 
for  the  Reformed  religion  in  this  reign  were  no 
less  than  two  hundred  and  seventy-seven  per- 
sons,! of  whom  were  five  bishops,  twenty-one 
clergymen,  eight  gentlemen,  eighty-four  trades- 
men, one  hundred  husbandmen,  labourers,  and 
servants,  fifty-five  women,  and  four  children. 
Besides  these,  there  were  fifty-four  more  under 
prosecution,  seven  of  whom  were  whipped,  and 
sixteen  perished  in  prison  :  the  rest,  who  were 
making  themselves  ready  for  the  fire,  were  de- 
livered by  the  merciful  interposure  of  Divine 
Providence  in  the  queen's  death. 

In  a  book  corrected,  if  not  written,  by  Lord 
Burleigh  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  time,  entitled  the 
Executions  for  Treason,  it  is  said  four  hundred 
persons  suffered  publicly  in  Queen  Mary's  reign, 
besides  those  who  were  secretly  murdered  in 
prison  ;  of  these,  twenty  were  bishops  and  dig- 
nified clergymen  ;  sixty  were  women,  of  whom 
some  were  big  with  child  ;  and  one  was  deliv- 
ered of  a  child  in  the  fire,  which  was  burned; 
and  above  forty  men-children. t  I  might  add, 
these  merciless  papists  carried  their  fury  against 
the  reformed  beyond  the  grave  ;  for  they  caused 
the  bones  of  Fagius  and  Bucer  to  be  dug  out  of 
their  graves,  and  having  ridiculously  cited  them 
by  their  commissioners  to  appear,  and  give  an  ac- 
count of  their  faith,  they  caused  them  to  be  burn- 
ed for  nonappearance.     Is  it  possible,  after  such 

*  Clarke's  Martyr.,  p.  506. 

t  Bishop  ]\laddox  observes,  that  Bishop  Burnet 
reckons  the  number  of  sufferers  to  be  two  hundred 
and  eighty-four.  But  Mr.  Strype  has  preserved  {Me- 
morials, vol.  iii.,  p.  291,  Appendix)  an  exact  catalogue 
of  the  numbers,  the  places,  and  the  times  of  execu- 
tion.   The  general  siuns  are  as  follows : 

/'1555 — 71 '\  Total,  two  hundred  and  eighty- 
J  155G — 89  1,  eight,  besides  those  that  dyed 
\  1557— f 


of  famyne  in  sondry  prisons. 


Aimo< 

U558— 40j      —Vindication,  p.  313'— Ed. 
X  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  264. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


65 


d  relation  of  things,  for  any  Protestant  to  be  in  I  of  which  was  for  predestination,  and  against 


love  with  iiigli  coiDinissions,  witli  oaths  ex  ojpau, 
and  laws  to  deprive  men  of  their  hves,  liberties, 
knd  estates,  for  matters  of  mere  conscience  ! 
And  yet  these  very  Reformers,  when  the  power 
returned  into  tlieir  hands,  were  too  mucli  incli- 
ned to  tliese  engines  of  cruelty. 

The  controversy  about  predestination*  and 
free-will  appeared  first  among  the  Reformers  at 
this  time.     Some  that  were  in  the  King's  Bench 
prison  for  the  profession  of  the  Gospel,  denied 
the  doctrines  of  absolute  predestination  and  ori- 
ginal sin.     They  were  men  of  strict  and  holy 
lives,  but  warm  for  their  opinions,  and  unquiet 
in  their  behaviour.     Mr.  Bradford  had  frequent 
conferences  with  them,  and  gained  over  some 
to  his  own  persuasion.     The  names  of  their 
teachers  were,  Harry  Hart,  Trew,  and  Abing- 
don; they  ran  their  notions  as  high  as  the  mod- 
ern Arminians,  or  as  Pelagius  himself,  despising 
learning,  and  utterly  rejecting  the  authorities  of 
the  fathers.     Bradford  was  apprehensive  that 
they  would  do  a  great  deal  of  mischief  in  the 
Church,  and  therefore,  in  concert  with  Bishop 
Ferrar,  Taylor,  and  Philpot,  he  wrote  to  Cran- 
mer,  Ridley,  and  Latimer,  at  Oxford,  to  tal<e 
some  cognizance  of  the  matter,  and  consult  to- 
gether about  remedying  it.     Upon  this  occasion 
Ridley  wrote  back  a  letter  of  God's  election  and 
predestination,  and  Bradford  wrote  another  upon 
the  same  subject.     But  the  free-vvillers  treated 
him  rudely :   "  They  told  him  he  was  a  great 
slander  to  the  Word  of  God  in  respect  of  his  doc 


free-will.  This  confession  he  sent  to  the  Prot- 
estant prisoners  in  Newgate,  whereunto  they 
generally  subscribed,  and  particularly  twelve  that 
were  under  sentence  of  condemnation  to  be 
burned.  Hart,  having  got  a  copy  of  Careless's 
confession,  wrote  his  own  in  opposition  to  it 
on  tlie  back-side;  and  would  have  persuaded 
the  prisoners  in  Newgate  to  subscribe  it,  but 
could  not  prevail.  I  do  not  find  any  of  tliese 
free-willers  at  the  stake  (says  my  author),  or  if 
any  of  them  suffered,  they  made  no  mention  of 
their  distinguishing  opinions  when  they  came  to 
die.  But  these  unhappy  divisions  among  men 
that  were  under  the  cross  gave  great  advantage 
to  the  papists,  who  took  occasion  from  hence  to 
scoff  at  the  professors  of  the  Gospel,  as  disagree- 
ing among  themselves.  They  blazed  abroad 
their  infirmities,  and  said  they  were  suffering  for 
they  knew  not  what.  Dr.  Martin,  a  great  papist, 
exposed  their  weaknesses  :  but  when  Martin 
came  to  visit  the  prisoners,  Careless  took  the 
opportunity  to  protest  openly  against  Hart's 
doctrines,  saying  "  he  had  deceived  many  sim- 
ple souls  with  his  Pelagian  opinions." 

Besides  these  free-willers,  it  seems  there  were 
some  few  in  prison  for  the  Gospel  that  were  Ari- 
ans,  and  disbelieved  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Two  of  them  lay  in  the  King's  Bench,  and  rais- 
ed such  unseemly  and  quarrelsome  disputes, 
that  the  marshal  was  forced  to  separate  the  pris- 
oners from  one  another ;  and  in  the  year  1556 
the  noise  of  their  contentions  reached  the  ears 
trine,  because  he  believed  and  affirmed  the  sal-  I  of  the  council,  who  sent  Dr.  Martin  to  the  King's 


vation  of  God's  people  to  be  so  certain,  that  they 
should  assuredly  enjoy  the  same.  They  said 
it  hanged  partly  upon  our  perseverance  to  the 
end;  but  Bradford  said  it  hanged  upon  God's 
grace  in  Christ,  and  not  upon  our  perseverance 
in  any  point,  otherwise  grace  was  no  grace." 
"When  this  holy  mart;r  saw  he  could  not  con- 
vince them,  he  desired  they  might  pray  one  for 
another.  "I  love  you,"  says  he,  "my  dear  hearts, 
though  you  have  taken  it  otherwise  without 
cause :  I  am  s«ing  before  you  to  my  God  and 
your  God  ;  to  my  Father  and  your  Father ;  to 
my  Christ  and  your  Christ ;  to  my  home  and 
your  home." 

Mr.  Careless,  another  eminent  martyr,  liad 
much  conference  with  these  men  in  the  King's 
Bench  prison,  of  whose  contentiousness  he  com- 
plained in  a  letter  to  Philpot.  In  answer  to 
\vhich  Philpot  writes,  "  that  he  was  sorry  to  hear 
of  the  contentions  that  these  schismatics  raised, 
but  that  he  should  not  cease  to  do  his  endeav- 
ours in  defence  of  the  truth  against  these  arro- 
gant, self-willed,  and  blinded  scatterers;  that 
these  sects  were  necessary  for  the  trial  of  our 
faith."  He  advised  Mr.  Careless  to  be  modest 
and  humble,  that  others,  seeing  his  grave  con- 
versation among  those  contentious  babblers, 
might  glorify  God  in  the  trutli.  He  then  be- 
seeches the  brethern  in  the  bowels  of  Christ  to 
keep  the  bond  of  peace,  and  not  to  let  any  root 
of  bitterness  spring  up  among  them. 

But  this  contention  could  iKtt  be  laid  asleep 
for  some  time,  notwithstanding  their  common 
Bufferings  for  the  cause  of  religion.  They  wrote 
one  against  another  in  prison,  and  dispersed 
their  writings  abroad  in  the  world.  Mr.  Care- 
less wrote  a  confession  of  his  faith,  one  article 


*  Cranmer's  Mem.,  p.  351-353. 
YoL.  I.— I 


Appendix,  p.  83. 


Bench  to  examine  into  the  affair.* 

I  mention  these  disputes  to  show  the  frailty 
and  corruption  of  human  nature  even  under 
the  cross,  and  to  point  the  reader  to  the  first  be- 
ginnings of  those  debates  which  afterward  oc- 
casioned unspeakable  mischiefs  to  the  Church ; 
for  though  the  Pelagian  doctrine  was  espoused 
but  by  a  very  few  of  the  English  Reformers,  and 
was  buried  in  that  prison  where  it  began  for  al- 
most fifty  years,  it  revived  in  the  latter  end  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  under  the  name  of  Arminian- 
ism,  and  within  the  compass  of  a  few  years  sup- 
planted the  received  doctrine  of  the  Reformation. 
Many  of  the  clergy  that  were  zealous  pro- 
fessors of  the  Gospel  under  King  Edward  VI., 
through  fear  of  death  recanted  and  subscribed  ; 
some  out  of  weakness,  who,  as  soon  as  they 
were  out  of  danger,  revoked  their  subscriptions, 
and  openly  confessed  their  fall ;   of  this  sort 
were  Scory  and  Barlow,  bishops,  the  famous 
Mr.  Jewel,  and  others.     Among  the  common 
people,  some  went  to  mass  to  preserve  their 
lives,  and  yet  frequented  the  assemblies  of  the 
Gospellers,  holding  it  not  unlawful  to  be  pres- 
ent with  their  bodies  at  the  service  of  the  mass 
as  long  as  their  spirits  did  not  consent. t    Brad- 
ford and  others  wrote  with  great  warmth  against 
these  temporizers,  and  advised  their  brethren 
not  to  trust  or  consort  with  them.     They  also 
published  a  treatise  upon  this  argument,  enti- 
tled the  Mischief  and  Hurt  of  the  Mass ;  and 
recommended  the  reading  it  to  all  that  had  de- 
filed themselves  with  that  idolatrous  service. 

But  though  many  complied  with  the  times, 
and  some  concealed  themselves  in  friends' 
houses,  shifting  from  one  place  to  another,  oth- 


*  Strype's  Life  of  Cranmer,  p.  3.52. 

t  Strype's  Lite  of  Cranmer,  p.  362,  363. 


6G 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


ers  resolved,  with  the  hazard  of  their  lives,  to 
join  tojfether  and  worship  God  according  to  tlie 
service-book  of  King  Edward.  There  were 
several  of  these  congregations  up  and  down  the 
country,  which  met  together  in  the  night,  and 
in  secret  places,  to  cover  themselves  from  the 
notice  of  their  persecutors.  Great  numbers  in 
Suffolk  and  Essex  constantly  frequented  the 
private  assemblies  of  the  Gospellers,  and  came 
not  at  all  to  the  public  service  ;  but  the  most 
considerable  congregation  was  in  and  about 
London.  It  was  formed  soon  after  Queen 
Mary's  accession,  and  consisted  of  above  two 
hundred  members.  They  had  divers  preachers, 
as  Mr.  Scambler,  afterward  Bishop  of  Peter- 
borough ;  Mr.  Fowler  ;  Mr.  Rough,  a  Scotsman, 
who  was  burned  ;  Mr.  Bernher,  and  Mr.  Ben- 
tham,  who  survived  the  persecution,  and,  in  the 
hegiiming  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign,  was  made 
Bishop  of  Litchfield  and  Coventry  ;  Mr.  Guth- 
bert  Simpson  was  deacon  of  the  church,  and 
kept  a  book  with  names  of  all  that  belonged  to 
it :  they  met  sometimes  about  Aldgate,  some- 
times in  Blackfriars,  sometimes  i«  Thames- 
street,  and  sometimes  on  board  of  ships,  when 
they  had  a  master,  for  their  purpose :  sometimes 
they  assembled  in  the  villages  about  London,  to 
cover  themselves  from  the  bishops'  officers  and 
spies  ;  and  especially  at  Islington  ;  but  here,  by 
the  treachery  of  a  false  brother,  the  congrega- 
tion was  at  length  discovered  and  broke  up : 
Mr.  Rough  their  minister,  and  Mr.  Simpson  their 
deacon,  were  apprehended  and  burned,  with 
many  others.  Indeed,  the  whole  church  was 
in  the  utmost  danger ;  for  whereas  Simpson 
the  deacon  used  to  carry  the  book  wherein  the 
names  of  the  congregation  were  contained  to 
their  private  assemblies,  he  happened  that  day, 
through  the  good  providence  of  God,  to  leave  it 
with  Mrs.  Rough,  the  minister's  wife.  When 
he  was  in  the  Tower  the  recorder  of  London 
examined  him  strictly,  and  because  he  would 
neither  discover  the  book  nor  the  names,  he  was 
put  upon  the  rack  three  times  in  one  day.*  He 
was  then  sent  to  Bonner,  who  said  to  the  spec- 
tators, "You  see  what  a  personable  man  this 
is  ;  and  for  his  patience,  if  he  was  not  a  here- 
tic, I  should  much  commend  him,  for  he  has 
been  thrice  racked  in  one  day,  and  in  my  house 
has  endured  some  sorrow,  and  yet  I  never  saw 
his  patience  moved."  But  notwithstanding  this, 
Bonner  condemned  him,  and  ordered  him  first 
into  the  stocks  in  his  Coal-house,  and  from 
thence  to  Smithfield,  where,  with  Mr.  Fox  and 
Davenish,  two  others  of  the  church  taken  at 
Islington,  he  ended  his  life  in  the  flarnes. 

Many  escaped  the  fury  of  the  persecution  by 
withdrawing  from  the  storm  and  flying  into  for- 
eign countries.  Some  went  into  France  and 
Flanders,  some  to  Geneva,  and  others  into  those 
parts  of  Germany  and  Switzerland  where  the 
keformation  had  taken  place  ;  as  Basil,  Frank- 
fort, Embden,  Strasburgh,  Doesburgh,  Arrow, 
and  Zurich,  where  the  magistrates  received 
them  with  great  humanity,  and  allowed  them 
places  for  public  worship.  But  the  uncharitable- 
ness  of  the  Lutherans  on  this  occasion  was 
very  remarkable  :  they  hated  the  exiles  because 
they  were  Sacrameniarians,  and  when  any  Eng- 
lish I'ame  among  them  for  shelter,  they  expelled 


them  their  cities  ;  so  that  they  found  little  hos- 
pitality in  Saxony  and  other  places  of  Germany 
where  Lutheranism  was  professed.  Philip  Me- 
lancthon  interceded  with  the  Senate  on  their 
behalf,  but  the  clergy  were  so  zealous  for  their 
consubstantiation,  that  they  irritated  the  magis- 
trates everywhere  against  them.  The  number 
of  the  refugees  is  computed  at  above  eight  hun- 
dred ;  the  most  considerable  of  whom  have  been 
mentioned,  as  the  Bishops  of  Winchester,  Bath, 
and  Wells,  Chichester,  Exeter,  and  Ossory  ; 
the  Deans  of  Christ  Church,  Exeter,  Durham, 
Wells,  and  Chichester ;  the  Archdeacons  of 
Canterbury,  Stowe,  and  Lincoln  ;  with  a  great 
many  other  very  learned  divines.*  The  laity 
of  distinction  were,  the  Duchess  of  Suffolk  with 
her  husband.  Sir  Thomas  Wroth,  Sir  Richard. 
Morrison,  Sir  Anthony  Cook,  Sir  John  Cheeke, 
an<l  others. 

The  exiles  were  most  numerous  at  Frankfort, 
where  that  contest  and  division  began  which 
gave  rise  to  the  Puritans,  and  to  that  separation 
from  the  Church  of  England  which  continues  to 
this  day.  It  will,  therefore,  be  necessary  to 
trace  it  from  its  original.  On  the  27th  of  June, 
1554,  Mr.  Whittingham,  Williams,  Sutton,  and 
Wood,  with  their  families  and  friends,  came  to 
settle  at  the  city  of  Frankfort ;  and,  upon  appli- 
cation to  the  magistrates,  were  admitted  to  a 
partnership  in  the  French  Church  for  a  place  of 
worship,  the  two  congregations  being  to  meet  at 
different  hours,  as  they  should  agree  among 
thRinselves,  but  with  this  proviso,  that  before 
they  entered  they  should  subscribe  the  French 
confession  of  faith,  and  not  quarrel  about  cere- 
monies, ID  which  the  English  agreed  ;  and  af- 
ter consultation  among  themselves,  they  con- 
cluded, by  universal  consent  of  all  present,  not 
to  answer  aloud  after  the  minister,  nor  to  use 
the  litany  and  surplice,  but  that  the  public  ser- 
vice should  begin  with  a  general  confession  of 
sins,  then  the  people  to  sing  a  psalm  in  metre, 
in  a  plain  tune;  after  which,  the  minister  to 
pray  for  the  assistance  of  Go<l's  Holy  Spirit,  and 
so  proceed  to  the  sermon  ;  after  sermon,  a  gen- 
eral prayer  for  all  estates,  and  particularly  for 
England,  at  the  end  of  which  was  joined  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  and  a  rehearsal  of  the  articles  of 
belief;  then  the  people  were  to  sing  another 
psalm,  and  the  minister  to  dismiss  them  with  a 
blessing.  They  took  possession  of  their  church 
July  29th,  1554,  and  having  chosen  a  minister 
and  deacons  to  serve  for  the  present,  'hey  sent 
to  their  brethren  that  were  dispersed  to  invite 
them  to  come  to  Frankfort,  where  they  might 
hear  God's  Word  truly  preached,  the  sacraments 
rightly  ministered,  and  Scripture  discipline  used, 
which  in  their  own  country  could  not  be  ob- 
tained. 

The  more  learned  clergymen,  and  some  young- 
er divines,  settled  at  Strasburgh,  Zurich,  and 
Basil,  for  the  benefit  of  the  libraries  of  those  pla- 
ces, and  of  the  learned  conversation  of  the  pro- 
fessors, as  well  as  in  hopes  of  some  little  em- 
ployment in  the  way  of  printing.f  The  congre- 
gation at  Frankfort  sent  letters  to  these  places 
on  the  2d  of  August,  1554,  beseeching  the  Eng- 
lish divines  to  send  some  of  their  number,  vvhom 
they  might  choose,  to  take  the  oversight  of 
them.     In  their  letter  they  commend  their  new 


*  Clarke's  Martyr.,  p.  497. 


*  Strype's  Life  of  Craniner,  p.  .35t,  &c. 

t  Hist,  of  the  Troubles  of  Frankfort,  printed  1575. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


87 


eettiement,  as  nearer  the  policy  and  order  of 
Scripture  than  the  service-book  of  King  Ed- 
ward. The  Strasburgh  divines  demurring  upon 
the  affair,  the  congregation  at  Frani<fort  sent 
for  Mr.  Knox  from  Geneva,  Mr.  Haddon  from 
Strasburgh,  and  Mr.  Lever  from  Zurich,  whom 
they  elected  for  their  ministers.  At  length  the 
students  at  Zurich  sent  them  word  that,  unless 
they  might  be  assured  that  they  would  use  the 
same  order  of  service  concerning  religion  as 
was  set  forth  by  King  Edward,  they  would  not 
come  to  them,  for  they  were  fully  determined 
to  admit  and  use  no  other.  To  this  the  Frank- 
fort congregation  replied,  that  they  would  use 
the  service-book  as  far  as  God's  Word  com- 
manded it,  but  as  for  the  unprofitable  ceremo- 
nies, though  some  of  them  were  tolerable,  yet, 
being  in  a  strange  country,  they  could  not  be 
suffered  to  use  them  ;  and,  indeed,  they  thought 
it  better  that  they  should  never  be  practised. 
"If  any,"  say  they,  "think  that  the  not  using 
the  book  in  all  points  should  weaken  our  godly 
fathers'  and  brethren's  hands,  or  be  a  disgrace 
to  the  worthy  laws  of  King  Edward,  let  Iheui 
consider  that  they  themselves  have,  upon  con- 
sideration and  circumstances,  altered  many 
things  in  it  heretofore  ;  and  if  God  had  not  in 
these  wicked  days  otherwise  determined,  would 
hereafter  have  altered  more  ;  and  in  our  case 
we  doubt  not  but  they  wolilU  have  done  as  we 
do."  So  they  made  use  of  the  book,  but  omit- 
ted the  litany  and  responses. 

But  this  not  giving  satisfaction,  Mr.  Cham- 
bers and  Mr.  Grindal  came  with  a  letter  from 
the  learned  men  of  Strasburgh,  subscribed  with 
sixteen  hands,  in  which  they  exhort  tliem,  in 
the  most  pressing  language,  to  a  full  conformi- 
ty. They  say  they  make  no  question  but  the 
magistrates  of  Frankfort  will  consent  to  the  use 
of  the  English  service,  and,  therefore,  they  can- 
not doubt  of  the  congregation's  good-will  and 
ready  endeavours  to  reduce  their  church  to  the 
exact  pattern  of  King  Edward's  book,  as  far  as 
possible  can  be  obtained  :  "  should  they  deviate 
from  it  at  this  time,  they  apprehend  they  should 
seem  to  condemn  those  who  were  now  sealing 
it  with  their  blood,  and  give  occasion  to  their 
adversaries  to  charge  them  with  inconstancy." 
The  Frankfort  congregation,  in  their  letter  of 
December  3d,  reply,  that  "  they  had  omitted  as 
few  ceremonies  as  possible,  so  that  there  was 
no  danger  of  their  being  charged  with  incon- 
stancy. They  apprehended  that  the  martyrs  in 
England  were  not  dying  in  defence  of  ceremo- 
nies, which  they  allow  may  be  altered  ;  and  as 
for  doctrine,  there  is  no  difference  ;  therefore,  if 
the  learned  divines  of  Strasburgh  should  come 
to  Frankfort  with  no  other  views  but  to  reduce 
the  congregation  to  King  Edward's  form,  and  to 
establish  the  popish  ceremonies,  they  give  them 
to  understand  that  they  had  better  stay  away." 
This  was  signed  by  John  Knox,  now  come  from 
Geneva,  John  Bale,  John  Fox  the  martyrolo- 
gist,  and  fourteen  more. 

Things  being  in  this  uncertain  posture  at 
Frankfort,  King  Edward's  book  being  used  in 
part,  but  not  wholly,  and  there  being  no  pros- 
pect of  an  accommodation  with  their  brethren 
at  Strasburgh,  they  resolved  to  ask  the  advice 
of  the  famous  Mr.  Calvm,  pastor  of  the  church 
at  Geneva,  who,  having  perused  the  EngUsh  lit- 
urgy, took  notice  "  that  there  were  many  toler- 


able weaknesses  in  it,  which,  because  at  first 
they  could  not  be  amended,  were  to  be  suffered, 
but  that  it  behooved  the  learned,  grave,  and  god- 
ly ministers  of  Christ  to  enterprise  farther,  and 
to  set  up  something  more  filed  from  rust,  and 
purer.  If  religion  (says  he)  had  flourished  till 
this  day  in  England,  many  of  these  things  should 
have  been  corrected.  But,  since  the  Reforma- 
tion is  overthrown,  and  a  church  is  to  be  set  up 
in  another  place,  where  you  are  at  liberty  to  es- 
tablish what  order  is  most  for  edification,  I  can- 
not tell  what  they  mean  who  are  so  fond  of  the 
leavings  of  popish  dregs."  Upon  this  letter  the 
Frankfort  congregation  agreed  not  to  submit  to 
the  Strasburgh  divines,  but  to  make  use  of  so 
much  of  the  service-book  as  they  had  done,  tiU 
the  end  of  April,  1555;  and  if  any  new  conten- 
tion arose  among  them  in  the  mean  time,  the 
matter  was  to  be  referred  to  Calvin,  Musculus, 
Martyr.  Bullinger,  and  Vyret. 

But  upon  the  13th  of  March,  Dr.  Cox,  who 
had  been  tutor  to  King  Edward  VI.,  a  man  of  a 
high  spirit,  but  of  great  credit  with  his  country- 
men, coming   to   Frankfort   with   some  of  his 
friends,  broke  through  the  agreement,  and  in- 
terrupted the  public  service  by  answei.ng  aloud 
after  the  minister ;  and  the  Sunday  following, 
one  of  his  company,  without  the  consent  of  the 
congregation,  ascended  the  pulpit,  and  read  the 
whole  litany.     Upon  this,  Mr.  Knox,  their  min- 
ister, taxed  the  authors  of  this  disorder  in  his 
sermon  with  a  breach  of  their  agreement  ;  and 
farther  affirmed,  that  some  things  in  the  ser- 
vice-book were  superstitious  and  impure.     The 
zealous  Dr.  Cox  reproved  him  for  his  censori- 
ousness  ;  and  being  admitted  with  his  company 
to  vote  in  the  congregation,  got  the  majoritv  to 
forbid  Mr.  Knox  to  preach  any  more.  But  Knox's 
friends  applied  to  the  magistrate,  who  command- 
ed them  to  unite  with  the  French  Church,  both 
in  discipline  and  ceremonies,  according  to  their 
first  agreement.     Dr.  Cox  and  his  friends,  find- 
ing Knox's  interest  among  the  magistrates  too 
strong,  had  recourse  to  an  unchristian  method 
to  get   rid  of  him.     This,  divine,  some  years 
before  he  was  in  England,  had  published  an 
English  book,  called  An  Admonition  to  Chris- 
tians, in   which  he  had  said  that  the  emperor 
was  no  less  an  enemy  to  Christ  than  Nero.    For 
which,  and  some  other  expressions  in  the  book, 
these  gentlemen  accused  him  of  high  treason 
against  the  emperor.     The  Senate  being  tender 
of  the  emperor's  honour,  and  not  willing  to  em- 
broil themselves  in  a  controversy  of  this  nature, 
desired  Mr.  Knox,  in  a  respectful  manner,  to 
depart  the  city,  which  he  did  accordingly,  March 
25,  1555. 

After  this.  Cox's  party,  being  strengthened  by 
the  addition  of  several  English  divines  from 
other  places,  sixteen  of  them,  viz.,  three  doc- 
tors of  divinity  and  thirteen  bachelors,  petition- 
ed the  magistrates  for  the  free  use  of  King  Ed- 
ward's service-book,  which  they  were  pleased 
to  grant.  Thus  the  old  congregation  was  broke 
up  by  Dr.  Cox  and  his  friends,  who  now  carried 
all  before  them.  They  chose  new  church-offi- 
cers, taking  no  notice  of  the  old  ones,  and  set 
up  the  service-book  of  King  Edward  without 
interruption.  Knox's  friends  would  have  left 
the  matter  to  the  arbitration  of  divines,  which 
the  others  refused,  but  wrote  to  Mr.  Calvin  to 
countenance  their  proceedings,  which  that  great 


68 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


divine  could  not  do  ;  but  after  a  modest  excuse 
for  intermeddling  in  their  affairs,  told  lliem  that, 
"in  his  opinion,  they  were  too  much  addicted 
to  the  English  ceremonies  ;  nor  could  he  see  to 
what  purpose  it  was  to  burden  the  Church  with 
such  hurtful  and  offensive  things,  when  there 
was  liberty  to  have  a  simple  and  more  pure 
order.  He  blamed  their  conduct  to  Mr.  Knox, 
which  he  said  was  neither  godly  nor  brotherly  ; 
and  concludes  with  beseeching  them  to  prevent 
divisions  among  themselves  "  This  pacific  let- 
ter having  no  effect,  the  old  congregation  left 
their  countrymen  in  possession  of  their  church, 
and  departed  the  city.  Mr.  Fox,  the  martyrol- 
ogist,  with  a  few  more,  went  to  Basil ;  and  the 
rest  to  Geneva,  where  they  were  received  with 
great  humanity,  and  having  a  church  appointed 
them,  they  chose  Mr.  Knox  and  Goodman  their 
pastors.  Here  they  set  up  the  Geneva  disci- 
pline, which  they  published  in  English,  under 
the  title  of  The  Service,  Discipline,  and  Form  of 
Common  Prayers  and  Administration  of  Sacra- 
ments used  in  the  EngHsh  Church  of  Geneva, 
with  a  dedication  to  their  brethren  in  England 
and  elsewhere.  Dated  from  Geneva,  February 
10th,  1556.  The  liturgy  is  too  long  to  be  insert- 
ed in  this  place,  but  is  agreeable  to  that  of  the 
French  churches.  In  their  dedication,  they  say 
"  that  their  discipline  is  limited  within  the  com- 
pass of  God's  Word,  which  is  sufficient  to  gov- 
ern all  our  actions.  That  the  dilatory  proceed- 
ings of  the  bishops  in  reforming  church  disci- 
pline and  removing  offensive  ceremonies  is  one 
cause  of  the  heavy  judgments  of  Goil  upon  the 
land.  Tiiat  the  late  service-book  of  King  Ed- 
ward hieing  now  set  aside  by  Parliament  accord- 
ing to  law  it  was  in  no  sense  the  established 
worship  of  the  Church  of  England,  and,  conse- 
quently, they  were  under  no  obligation  to  use 
it,  any  farther  than  it  was  consonant  to  the 
Word  of  God.  Being,  therefore,  at  liberty,  and 
in  a  strange  land,  they  had  set  up  such  an  order 
as,  in  the  judgment  of  Mr.  Calvin  and  other 
learned  divines,  was  most  agreeable  to  Scrip- 
ture, and  the  best  Reformed  Churches."  Their 
reasons  for  laying  aside  the  late  rites  and  cere- 
monies were  these  :  "  because,  being  invented 
by  men,  though  upon  a  good  occasion,  yet  they 
had  since  been  abused  to  superstition,  and  made 
a  necessary  part  of  Divine  worship.  Thus  Hez- 
ekiah  was  commended  for  breaking  in  pieces 
the  brazen  serpent,  after  it  had  been  erected 
eight  hundred  years,  and  the  high  places  that 
had  been  abused  to  idolatry  were  commanded 
to  be  destroyed.  In  the  New  Testament,  the 
washing  the  disciples'  feet,  which  was  prac- 
tised in  the  primitive  Church,  was  for  wise  rea- 
sons laid  aside,  as  well  as  their  love-feasts.  Be- 
sides, these  rites  and  ceremonies  have  occasion- 
ed great  contentions  in  the  Church  in  every 
age.  The  Galatian  Christians  objected  to  St. 
Paul,  that  he  did  not  observe  the  Jewish  cere- 
monies as  tlie  other  apostles  did  ;  and  yet  he 
observed  them  while  there  was  any  hope  of 
gaining  over  weak  brethren  ;  for  this  reason  he 
'  circumcised  Timothy  ;  but  when  he  perceived 
that  men  would  retain  them  as  necessary  things 
in  the  Church,  he  called  that,  which  before  he 
made  indifferent,  wicked  and  impious,  saying, 
that  '  whosoever  was  circumcised,  Christ  could 
nothing  profit  him.'  The  like  contentions  have 
been  between  the  Greek  and  Latin  Church  in 


later  ages.  For  which,  and  other  reasons,  they 
have  thought  fit  to  lay  aside  these  human  in- 
ventions, which  have  done  so  much  mischief 
and  have  contented  themselves  with  that  wis 
dom  that  is  contained  in  God's  book;  which  di 
rects  them  to  preach  the  Word  of  God  purely, 
to  minister  the  sacraments  sincerely,  and  use 
prayers  and  other  orders  thereby  approved,  to 
the  edification  of  the  Church,  and  increase  of 
God's  glory." 

The  reader  has  now  seen  the  first  breach  or 
schism  between  the  English  exiles,  on  account 
of  the  service-book  of  King  Edward,  which  made 
way  for  the  distinction,  by  which  the  two  parties 
were  afterward  known,  of  Puritans  and  Conform- 
ists. It  is  evident  that  Dr.  Cox  and  his  friends 
were  the  aggressors,  by  breaking  in  upon  the 
agreement  of  the  congregation  of  Frankfort, 
which  was  in  peace,  and  had  consented  to  go 
on  in  their  way  of  worship  for  a  limited  time, 
which  time  was  not  then  expired.  He  artfully 
ejected  Mr.  Knox  from  his  ministry  among  them, 
and  brought  in  the  service-book  with  a  high 
hand  ;  by  which  those  who  had  been  in  posses- 
sion of  the  church  about  nine  months*  were 
obliged  to  depart  the  city,  and  set  up  their  wor- 
ship in  another  place.  The  doctor  and  his 
friends  discovered  an  ill  spirit  in  this  affair. 
They  might  have  used  their  own  forms  without 
imposing  them  upon  others,  and  breaking  a 
congregation  to  pieces  that  had  settled  upon  a 
different  foundation  with  the  leave  of  the  gov- 
ernment under  which  they  lived.  But  they  in- 
sisted that,  because  the  congregation  of  Frank- 
fort was  made  up  of  Englishmen,  they  ought  to 
have  the  form  of  an  English  church  ;  that 
many  of  them  had  subscribed  to  the  use  of  the 
service-book  ;  and  that  the  departing  from  it  at 
this  time  was  pouring  contempt  on  the  martyrs 
who  were  sealing  it  with  their  blood.  But  the 
others  replied,  that  the  laws  of  their  country  re- 
lating to  the  service-book  were  repealed  ;  and 
as  for  their  subscription,  it  could  not  bind  them 
from  making  nearer  approaches  to  the  purity 
and  simplicity  of  the  Christian  worsh^,  es- 
pecially when  there  was  no  established  Prot- 
estant Church  of  England,  and  they  were  in  a 
strange  country,  where  the  vestments  and  cere- 
monies gave  offence.  Besides,  it  was  allowed 
on  all  hands  that  the  book  itself  was  imperfect ; 
and  it  was  credibly  reported  that  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury  had  drawn  up  a  form  of  common 
prayer  much  more  perfect,  but  that  he  could 
not  make  it  take  place,  because  of  the  corrup- 
tion of  the  clergy.  As  for  discipline,  it  was  out 
of  the  question  that  it  was  imperfect,  for  the 
service-book  itself  laments  the  want  of  it ;  and, 
therefore,  they  apprehend  that,  if  the  martyrs 
themselves  were  in  their  circumstances,  they 
would  practise  with  the  same  latitude,  and  re- 
form those  imperfections  in  the  English  service- 
book  which  they  attempted,  but  could  not  ob- 
tain, in  their  own  country. 

*  Mr.  Neal  has  said,  "  almost  two  years  ;"  here, 
by  consulting  his  authority,  "the  troubles  at  Frank- 
fort," it  appears  that  he  is  properly  corrected  by 
Bishop  Maddox.  In  other  respects,  his  lordship's 
aiiiniadversions  on  this  part  of  Mr.  Neal's  History 
are  not  just  or  accurate,  if  Mr.  Neal's  authority,  to 
which  he  has  faithfully  adhered,  deserves  credit. 
This  piece,  when  it  was  become  scarce,  was  reprint- 
ed in  the  "  PhcEni."c,"  vol.  ii.,  1708.  Mr.  Strype  re 
fers  to  it  as  giving  authentic  information. — Ed. 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


To  return  to  Dr.  Cox's  congregation  at  Frank- 
fort. The  doctor  having  settled  Mr.  Horn  in 
the  pastoral  office,  in  the  room  of  Mr.  White- 
head, who  resigned,  after  some  time  left  the 
place.  But  within  six  months  a  new  division 
happened  among  them,  occasioned  by  a  private 
dispute  between  Mr.  Horn,  the  minister,  and 
Mr.  Ashby,  one  of  the  principal  members.  Mr. 
Horn  summoned  Ashby  to  appear  at  the  vestry 
before  the  elders  and  officers  of  the  Church  ; 
Ashby  appealed  from  them,  as  parties,  to  the 
whole  Church,  who  appointed  the  cause  to  be 
brought  before  them  ;  but  Mr.  Horn  and  the 
officers  protested  against  it,  and  chose  rather 
to  lay  down  their  ministry  and  service  in  the 
Church,  than  submit  to  a  popular  decision.  The 
congregation  being  assembled  on  this  occasion, 
gave  it  as  their  opinion  that,  in  all  controversies 
among  themselves,  and  especially  in  cases  of 
appeals,  the  dernier  resort  should  be  in  the 
Church.  It  is  hardly  credible  what  heats  and 
divisions,  factions  and  parties,  these  personal 
quarrels  occasioned  among  a  handful  of  stran- 
gers, to  the  scandal  of  religion,  and  their  own 
reproach  with  the  people  among  whom  they 
lived.  At  length  the  magistrate  interposed, 
and  advised  them  to  bury  all  past  offences  in 
oblivion,  and  to  choose  new  church  officers  in 
the  room  of  those  that  had  laid  down  ;  and 
since  their  discipline  was  defective  as  to  the 
points  of  controversy  that  had  been  before 
them,  they  commanded  them  to  appoint  certain 
persons  of  their  number  to  draw  up  a  new  form 
of  discipline,  or  correct  and  amend  the  old  one  ; 
and  to  do  this  before  they  chose  their  ecclesias- 
tical officers,  that,  being  all  private  persons, 
they  might  agree  upon  that  which  was  most 
reasonable  in  itself,  without  respect  of  persons 
or  parties.  This  precept  was  delivered  in  wri- 
ting, March  1st,  15.57,  and  signed  by  Mr.  John 
Glauburge.  Hereupon  fifteen  persons  were  ap- 
pointed to  the  work,  which,  after  some  time, 
was  finished  ;  and  having  been  subscribed  by 
the  Church  to  the  number  of  fifty-seven,  was 
confirmed  by  the  magistrate;  and  on  the  21st 
of  December,  twenty-eight  more  were  added  to 
the  Church  and  subscribed  ;  but  Mr.  Horn  and 
his  party,  to  the  number  of  twelve,  dissented, 
and  appealed  to  the  magistrates,  who  had  the 
patience  to  hear  their  objections,.and  the  others' 
reply.  But  Mr.  Horn  and  his  friends  not  pre- 
vailing, left  the  congregation  to  their  new  disci- 
pline, and  departed  the  city,  from  which  time 
they  continued  in  peace  till  the  death  of  Queen 
Mary. 

During  these  troubles  died  Dr.  Poynet,  late 
bishop  of  Winchester,' born  in  Kent,  and  edu- 
cated in  Queen's  College,  Oxon,  a  very  learned 
and  pious  divine,  who  was  in  such  favour  with 
King  Edward  for  his  practical  preaching  that 
he  preferred  him  first  to  the  bishopric  of  Ro- 
chester, and  then  to  Winchester.*  Upon  the  ac- 
cession of  Queen  Mary  he  fled  to  Strasburgh, 
where  he  died,  August  2,  1556,  before  he  was 
full  forty  years  old,  and  was  buried  with  great 
lamentations  of  his  countrymen. 

To  return  to  England.  Both  the  universities 
were  visited  this  year.  At  Cambridge  they 
burned  the  bodies  of  Bucer  and  Fagius,  with 
their  books  and  heretical  writings.  At  Oxford 
the  visiters  went  through  all  the  colleges,  and 

*  Fuller's  Worthies,  b.  ii.,  p.  72. 


burned  all  the  English  Bibles,  and  such  hereti- 
cal books  as  they  could  find.  They  took  up  the 
body  of  Peter  Martyr's  wife  out  of  one  of  the 
churches,  and  buried  it  in  a  dunghill,  because, 
having  been  once  a  nun,  she  broke  her  vow; 
but  her  body  was  afterward  taken  up  again  in 
Queen  Elizabeth's  time,  and  mixed  with  the 
bones  of  St.  Fridisvvide,  that  they  might  never 
more  be  disturbed  by  papists.  The  persecution 
of  the  Reformed  was  carried  on  with  all  ima- 
ginable fury  ;  and  a  design  was  set  on  foot  to 
introduce  the  Inquisition,  by  giving  commis- 
sions to  certain  laymen  to  search  for  persons 
suspected  of  heresy,  and  present  them  to  their 
ordinaries,  as  has  been  related.  Cardinal  Pole 
being  thought  too  favourable  to  heretics,  be- 
cause he  had  released  several  that  were  brought 
before  him  upon  their  giving  ambiguous  an- 
swers, had  his  legatine  power  taken  from 
him,  and  was  recalled ;  but  upon  his  submis- 
sion he  was  forgiven,  and  continued  here  till 
his  death,  but  had  little  influence  afterward  ei- 
ther in  the  courts  of  Rome  or  England,  being 
a  clergyman  of  too  much  temper  for  the  times 
he  lived  in. 

Princess  Elizabeth  was  in  constant  danger 
of  her  life  throughout  the  whole  course  of  this 
reign.  Upon  the  breaking  out  of  Wyat's  con- 
spiracy she  was  sent  to  the  Tower,  and  led  in 
by  the  Traitors'  gate  ;  her  own  servants  being 
put  from  her,  and  no  person  allowed  to  have 
access  to  her :  the  governor  used  her  hardly, 
not  suffering  her  to  walk  in  the  gallery  or  upon 
the  leads.  Wyat  and  his  confederates  were 
examined  about  her,  and  some  of  thein  put  to 
the  rack  ;  but  they  all  cleared  her  except  Wyat, 
who  once  accused  her,  in  hopes  to  save  his  life, 
but  declared  upon  the  scaffold  to  all  the  people 
that  he  only  did  it  with  that  view.  After  some 
time  she  was  sent  to  Woodstock  in  custody  of 
Sir  Henry  Benefield,  who  used  her  so  ill  that 
she  apprehended  they  designed  to  put  her  pri- 
vately to  death.  Here  she  was  under  close 
confinement,  being  seldom  allowed  to  walk  in 
the  gardens.  The  politic  Bishop  Gardiner  often 
moved  the  queen  to  think  of  putting  her  out 
of  the  way,  saying  it  was  to  no  purpose  to  lop 
off  the  branches  while  the  tree  was  left  stand- 
ing. But  King  Piiilip  was  her  friend,  who  sent 
for  her  to  court,  where  she  fell  upon  her  knees 
before  the  queen,  and  protested  her  innocence 
as  to  all  conspiracies  and  treasons  against  her 
majesty ;  but  the  queen  still  hated  her :  how- 
ever, after  that,  her  guards  were  discharged, 
and  she  was  suffered  to  retire  into  the  country, 
where  she  gave  herself  wholly  to  study,  med- 
dling in  no  sort  of  business,  for  she  was  always 
apprehensive  of  spies  about  her.  The  princess 
complied  outwardly  with  her  sister's  religion, 
avoiding  as  much  as  she  could  all  discourses 
with  the  bishops,  who  suspected  her  of  an  in- 
clination to  heresy  from  her  education.  The 
queen  herself  was  apprehensive  of  the  danger 
of  the  popish  religion  if  she  died  without  issue  ; 
and  was  often  urged  by  her  clergy,  especially 
when  her  health  was  visibly  declining,  to  se- 
cure the  Roman  Catholic  religion  hy  delivering 
the  kingdom  from  such  a  presumptive  heir. 
Her  majesty  had  no  scruple  of  conscience  about 
spilling  human  blood  in  the  cause  of  religion  ;* 

*  "  In  a  book  entitled  '  The  Executions  for  Trea- 
son,' written  by  Lord  Burleigh,  in  Queen  Elizabeth's 


30 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


the  preservation  of  tlie  princess  was,  therefore, 
little  less  than  a  miracle  of  Divine  Providence, 
and  was  owing,  under  God,  to  the  protection 
of  King  Pliilip,  who,  despairing  of  issue  from 
the  queen,  was  not  without  expectations  from 
the  princess. 

But  the  hand  of  God  was  against  Queen  Mary 
and  her  government,  which  was  hardly  attended 
With  one  prosperous  event ;  for  instead  of  hav- 
ing issue  by  her  marriage,  she  had  only  a  false 
conception,  so  that  there  were  little  or  no  hopes 
afterward  of  a  child.  This  increased  the  sour- 
ness of  her  temper ;  and  her  husband,  being 
much  younger  than  herself,  grew  weary  of  her, 
slighted  her  company,  and  then  left  her  to  look 
to  his  hereditary  dominions,  after  he  had  lived 
with  her  about  fifteen  months.  There  being  a 
war  between  Spain  and  France,  the  queen  was 
obliged  to  take  part  with  her  husband;  this  ex- 
hausted the  treasure  of  the  nation,  and  was  the 
occasion  of  the  loss  of  all  the  English  dominions 
upon  the  Continent.  In  the  beginning  of  this 
year  the  strong  town  of  Calais  was  taken,  after 
it  had  been  in  the  possession  of  the  English  two 
hundred  and  ten  years  :  afterward  the  French 
took  Guines  and  the  rest  of  that  territory,  no- 
thing being  left  but  the  isles  of  Jersey  and 
Guernsey.  The  English,  says  a  learned  writer, 
had  lost  their  hearts  ;  the  government  at  home 
being  so  unacceptable  that  they  were  not  much 


time,  he  says,  'Four  hundred  persons  sufiered  pub- 
licly in  Queen  Mary's  days,  besides  those  who  were 
secretly  murdered  in  prison :  of  these,  twenty  were 
bishops  and  dignitied  clergymen ;  sixty  were  women; 
children,  more  than  forty  ;   some  women  big  with 
child ;  one  bore  a  child  m  the  lire,  and  the  child  was 
burned.'    This  is  probably  the  nearest  approach  we 
can  make  to  the  facts  of  the  case,  and  it  exhibits  a 
Bufficiently  fearful  and  horrifying  spectacle.     Reli- 
gious persecution  had  not  been  unknown  to  our  la- 
thers, but  the  instances  of  capital  punishment  for  her- 
esy were  few,  and  the  interval  between  them  had 
been  great.    They  had  not,  however,  been  sufficiently 
numerous  to  impair  the  humanity  of  the  nation,  much 
less  so  to  pervert  its  sympathies  as  to  induce  any 
complacency  in  these    horrible   exhibitions.      The 
slaughter  of  Gardiner  and  Bonner  was  therefore  re- 
garded  with   indignation    and    abhorrence.      Their 
names  became  hateful,  and  their  memory  has  been 
loaded  with  the  reproach  of  many  generations.     'It 
was  an  unusual  and  an  ungrateful  thing,'  says  Bur- 
net, 'to  the  English  nation,  that  is  apt  to  compas- 
sionate all  in  misery,  to  see  four,  five,  six,  seven,  and 
once  thirteen,  burning  in  one  fire;  and  the  sparing 
neither  sex  nor  age,  nor  blind  nor  lame,  but  making 
havoc  of  all  equally,  and,  above  all,  the  barbarity  of 
Guernsey,  raised  that  horror  in  the  whole  nation,  that 
there  seems,  ever  since  that  time,  such  an  abhorrence 
to  that  religion,  to  be  derived  down  from  father  to 
son,  that  it  is  no  wonder  an  aversion  so  deeply  root- 
ed, and  raised  upon  such  grounds,  does,  upon  every 
new  provocation,  or  jealousy  of  returning  to  it,  break 
out    in    most   violent    and    convulsive    symptoms.' 
While  some  approach  to  truth  can  be  obtained,  in 
calculating  the  numbers  that  were  burned,  it  is  im- 
possible to  form  any  adequate  conception  of  the  mass 
of  misery  which  was  involved  in  the  persecutions  of 
this  period.     A  speedy  death,  though  by  fire,  was 
merciful   and   kind,  compared  with   the  treatment 
which  some  experienced.    New  methods  of  torment 
were  devised  by  a  perverted  ingenuity,  which  might 
inflict  the  pain,  without  bringing  the  relief,  of  death. 


concerned  to  support  it,  for  they  began  to  thmk 
that  Heaven  itself  was  against  it. 

Indeed,  there  were  strange  and  unusual  ac- 
cidents in  the  heavens.*     Great  mischief  was 
done  in  many  places  by  thunder  and  lightning, 
by  deluges,  by  excessive  rains,  and  by  stormy 
winds.    There  was  a  contagious  distemper  like 
the  plague,  that  swept  away  great  numbers  of 
people,  so  that  in  many  places  there  were  not 
priests  to  bury  the  dead,  nor  men  enough  to 
reap  the  harvest.     Many  bishops  died,  which 
made  way  for  the  Protestant  ones  in  the  next 
reign.     The  Parliament  was  dissatisfied  with 
King  Philip's  demand  for  men  and  money  for 
the  recovery  of  Calais  ;  and  the  queen  herself 
grew  melancholy  upon  the  loss  of  that  place, 
and  the  other  misfortunes  of  the  year.     She  had 
been  declining  in  health  ever  since  her  pretend- 
ed miscarriage,  which  was  vastly  increased  by 
the  absence  of  her  husband,  her  despair  of  issue, 
and  the  cross  accidents  that  attended  her  gov- 
ernment.    Her  spirits  were  now  decayed,  and  a 
dropsy  coming  violently  upon  her,  put  an  end  to 
her  unhappy  life  and  reign,  November  17,  1558, 
in  the  forty-third  year  of  her  age  and  sixth  of 
her  reign  ;  Cardinal  Pole,  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, dying  the  same  day.t 

Queen  Mary  was  a  princess  of  severe  princi- 
ples, constant  at  her  prayers,  and  very  little  giv- 
en to  diversions.     She  did  not  mind  any  branch 
of  government  so  much  as  the  Church,  being 
entirely  at  the  disposal  of  her  clergy,  and  for- 
ward to  give  a  sanction  to  all  their  cruelties. 
She  had  deep  resentments  of  her  own  ill-usage 
in  her  father's  and  brother's  reigns,  which  easily 
induced  her  to  take  revenge,  though  she  colour- 
ed it  over  with  a  zeal  against  heresy.     She  was 
perfectly  blind  in  matters  of  religion,  her  con- 
science being  absolutely  directed   by  the  pope 
and  her  confessor,  who  encouraged  her  in  all  the 
cruelties  that  were  exercised  against  the  Prot- 
estants, assuring  her  that  she  was  doing  God 
and  his  Church  good  service.     There  is  but  one 
instance  of  a  pardon  of  any  condemned  for  her- 
esy during  her  whole  reign.     Her  natural  tem- 
per was  melancholy;   and  her  infirmities,  to- 
gether with  the  mistbrtunes  of  her  government, 
made  her  so  peevish,  that  her  death  was  lament- 
ed by  none  but  her  popish  clergy.     Her  reign 
was  in  every  respect  calamitous  to  the  nation, 
and  "ought  to  be  transmitted  down  to  posterity 
in  characters  of  blood." 


-*^" 


CHAPTER  IV. 

FROM  THE  BEGINNING  OF  QUEEN  ELIZABETH'S 
REIGN  TO  THE  SEP.<.RATI0N  OF  THE  PROTESTANT 
NONCONFORMISTS. 

Queen  Elizabeth'sJ  accession  to  the  crown 

*  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref ,  vol.  h.,  p.  366. 

t  During  his  residence  in  Italy,  on  the  demise  of 
Paul  III.,  Cardinal  Pole  had  been  elected  pope,  at 
midnight,  by  the  conclave,  and  sent  for  to  come  and 
be  admitted.  He  desired  that  this,  as  it  was  not  a 
work  of  darkness,  might  be  postponed  to  the  morn- 
ing. Upon  this  message,  the  cardinals,  without  any 
farther  ceremony,  proceeded  to  another  election,  and 
chose  the  Cardinal  de  Monte,  who,  before  he  left  the 


Bigotry  put  on  its  fiercest  and  most  rancorous  form,  |  conclave,  bestowed  a  hat  upon  a  servant  who  lookecl 
and   revelled   in  scenes   of  wo   which  might   have  '  aher  h\s  nwnkey— Granger's  Bwgr.  History,  Svo,  vol 


touched  tiie  hardest  heart."- 
con.,  vol.  i.,  p.  120-122.— C. 


-Dr.  Price's  Hist.  Non-  '  i.,  p.  15^^,  note.— Ed. 

i      t  Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  i.,  p.  251,  175. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


71 


gave  new  life  to  the  Reformation  :  as  soon  as 
it  was  known  beyond  sea  most  of  tlie  exiles  re- 
turned tiome,  and  those  who  had  hid  themselves 
in  the  houses  of  their  friends  began  to  appear ; 
but  the  public  religion  continued  for  a  tune  m 
the  same  posture  the  queen  found  it;  the  popish 
priests  kept  their  livings,  and  went  on  celebra- 
ting mass.  None  of  the  Protestant  clergy  who 
had  been  ejected  in  the  last  reign  were  restored, 
and  orders  were  given  against  all  innovations 
without  public  authority.  Though  the  queen 
had  complied  with  the  changes  in  her  sister's 
reign,  it  was  well  known  she  was  a  favourer  of 
the  Reformation  ;  but  her  majesty  proceeded 
With  great  caution,  for  fear  of  raising  disturb- 
ances in  her  infant  government.  No  prince 
ever  came  to  the  crown  under  greater  disadvan- 
tages. The  pope  had  pronounced  her  illegiti- 
mate, upon  which  the  Queen  of  Scots  put  in 
her  claiiri  to  the  crown.  All  the  bishops  and 
clergy  of  the  present  establishment  were  her 
declared  enemies.  The  nation  was  at  war  with 
France,  and  the  treasury  exhausted;  the  queen, 
therefore,  by  the  advice  of  her  privy  council,  re- 
solved to  make  peace  with  her  neighbours  as 
soon  as  possible,  that  she  might  be  more  at  lei- 
sure to  proceed  in  her  intended  alterations  of  re- 
hgion,  which,  thougjj  very  considerable,  were 
not  so  entire  as  the  best  and  most  learned  Prot- 
estants of  these  times  desired.  The  queen  in- 
herited the  spirit  of  her  father,  and  affected  a 
great  deal  of  magnificence  in  her  devotions,  as 
well  as  in  her  court.  She  was  fond  of  many  of 
the  old  rites  and  ceremonies  in  which  she  had 
been  educated.  She  thought  her  brother  had 
stripped  religion  too  much  of  its  ornaments, 
and  made  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  too  nar- 
row in  some  points.  It  was  therefore  with  diffi- 
culty that  she  was  prevailed  on  to  go  the  length 
of  King  Edward's  reformation.* 

The  only  thing  her  majesty  did  before  the 
meeting  of  the  Parliament  was  to  prevent  pul- 
pit disputes,  for  some  of  the  reformed  that  had 
been  preachers  in  King  Edward's  lime,  began 
to  make  use  of  his  service-book  without  author- 
ity or  license  from  their  superiors  ;  this  alarmed 
the  popish  clergy,  and  gave  occasion  to  a  proc- 
lamation, dated  December  S7,  1558. t  By  which 
all  preaching  of  ministers  or  others  was  pro- 
hibited ;  and  the  people  were  charged  to  hear 
no  other  doctrine  or  preaching  but  the  Epistle 
and  Gospel  for  the  day,  and  the  Ten  Command- 
ments in  English,  without  any  exposition  or 
paraphrase  whatsoever.  The  proclamation  ad- 
mits of  the  litany,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  the 
creed,  in  English ;  but  no  public  prayers  were 
to  be  read  in  the  Church  but  such  as  were  ap- 
pointed by  law,  till  the  meeting  of  the  Parlia- 
ment, which  was  to  be  upon  the  23d  of  Janua- 

174 

WhileiJ  the  exiles  were  preparing  to  return 
home,  conciliatory  letters  passed  between  them ; 
those  of  Geneva  desired  a  mutual  forgiveness, 
and  prayed  their  brethren  of  Arrow,  Basil, 
Frankfort,    Strasburgh,   and  Worms,  to   unite 

*  Burnet's  Hist.  Kef,  vol.  ii.,  376. 

t  This  proclamation  was  directed  against  the  pa- 
pists as  well  as  the  reformed :  "  for  both,"  says  Strype, 
"  took  their  occgsions  to  speak  freely  their  minds  in 
the  pulpits." — Utrype's  Annals,  vol.  i.,  Appendix,  p. 
3.  .  Camden's  Eliz.,  p.  6. 

t  Burnet's  History  of  the  Reform.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  37C- 

■*»  ()  Strypc's  Ann.,  vol.  i.,  p.  103-105. 


378 


with  them  in  preaching  God's  word,  and  in  en- 
deavouring to  obtain  such  a  form  of  worship  as 
they  had  seen  practised  in  the  best  Reibrmed 
Churches.  Tlie  others  replied  that  it  would  not 
be  in  their  power  to  appoint  what  ceremonies 
should  be  observed  ;  but  they  were  determined 
to  submit  in  things  indifferent,  and  lioped  those 
of  Geneva  would  do  so  too;  however,  they 
would  join  with  them  in  petitioning  the  queen 
that  nothing  burdensome  might  be  imposed. 
Both  parties  congratulated  her  majesty's  acces- 
sion, in  poems,  addresses,  and  dedications  of 
books ;  but  they  were  reduced  to  the  utmost 
poverty  and  distress.  They  came  threadbare 
home,  bringing  nothing  with  them  (says  Mr. 
Strype*)  but  much  experience,  as  well  as  learn- 
ing. Those  who  could  comply  with  the  queen's 
establishment  were  quickly  preferred ;  but  the 
rest  were  neglected,  and  though  suffered  to 
preach  in  the  cluirches  for  some  time,  they  were 
afterward  suspended,  and  reduced  to  as  great 
poverty  as  before. 

It   had  been  happy  if  the  sufferings  of  the 
exiles  had  taught  them  a  little   more  charity 
and  mutual  forbearance ;  or  that  they  had  fol- 
lowed the  advice  of  their  learned  friends  and 
patrons  beyond  sea,  who   advised  them  to  go 
through  with  the  Reformation,  and  clear  the 
Church  of  all  the  relics  of  popery  and  supersti- 
tion at  once.     This  was  the  advice  of  Gualier, 
one  of  ttie  chief  divines  of  Zurich,  who,  in  his 
letter  to   Dr.  Masters,  the  queen's   physician, 
January  16,  1558-9,  wishes  "that  the  Reform- 
ers among  us  would  not  hearken  to  the  coun- 
sels of  those  men  who,  when  they  saw  tliat 
popery  could  not  be  honestly  defended  nor  en- 
tirely retained,  would  use  all  artifices  to  have 
the  outward  face  of  religion  to  remain  mixed, 
uncertain,  and  doubtful ;  so  that  while  an  evan- 
gelical reformation  is  pretended,  those  things 
should  be  obtruded  on  the  Church  which  will 
make  the  returning  back  to  popery,  superstition, 
and  idolatry,  very  easy.     We  have  had  the  ex- 
perience of  this  (says  he)  for  some  years  in  Ger- 
many, and  know  what  influence  such  persons 
may  have  :   their  counsels   seem  to  a  carnal 
judgment  to  be  full  of  modesty,  and  well  fitted 
for  carrying  on  a  universal  agreement ;  and  we 
may  well  believe  the  common  enemy  of  our  sal- 
vation will  find  out  proper  instruments,  by  whose 
means  the  seeds  of  popery  may  still   remain 
among  you.     I  apprehend  that  in  the  first  be- 
ginnings, while  men  may  study  to  avoid  the 
giving  some  small  offence,  many  things  may  be 
suffered  under  this  colour,  that  they  will  be  con- 
tinued but  for  a  little  whUe,  and  yet  afterward 
it  will  scarce  be  possible,  by  all  the  endeavours 
that  can  be  used,  to  get  them  removed,  at  least 
not  without  great  strugglings."t     The  letter 
seems  to  be  written   with  a  prophetic  spirit; 
Masters  laid  it  before  the  queen,  who  read  it  all 
over,  though   without  effect.     Letters  of  the 
same  strain  were  written  by  the  learned  Bullin- 
ger,  Peter  Martyr,  and  Weidner,  to  the  Earl  of 
Redford,  who  had  been  some  time  at  Zurich  ; 
and  to  Jewel,  Sandys,  Horn,  Cox,  Grindal,  and 
the  rest  of  the  late  exiles,  pressing  them  vehe- 
mently to  act  with  zeal  and   courage,  and  to 
take  care  in  the   first   beginnings  to  have  all 
things  settled  upon  sure  and  sound  foundations. 


*  Annals,  vol.  i.,  p.  129. 

t  Burnet's  Hist,  liel.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  276. 


72 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


The  exiles,  in  their  answers,  seem  resolved  to 
follow  their  advices,  and  make  a  bold  stand  for 
a  thorough  reformation  ;  and  if  they  had  done 
so,  they  might  have  obtained  it.  Jewel,  in  his 
letter  of  May  23,  1559,  thanks  BuUinger  for 
quickening  their  zeal  and  courage  ;  and  adds, 
•'  they  were  doing  what  they  could,  and  that 
all  things  were  coming  into  a  better  slate."  In 
another,  of  April  10,  "  he  laments  the  want  of 
zeal  and  industry  in  promoting  the  Reformation  ; 
and  that  things  were  managed  in  so  slow  and 
cautious  a  manner,  as  if  the  Word  of  God  was 
not  to  be  received  on  his  own  authority."  In 
another,  of  November  16,  "  he  complains  of  the 
queen's  keeping  a  crucifix  in  her  chapel,  with 
lighted  candles ;  that  there  was  worldly  policy 
in  this,  which  he  did  not  like;  that  all  things 
were  so  loose  and  uncertain  with  them,  that  he 
did  not  know  whether  he  should  not  be  obliged 
to  return  back  to  Zurich.  He  complains  of  the 
popish  vestments,  which  he  calls  the  relics  of 
the  Amorites,  and  wishes  they  were  extirpated 
to  the  deepest  roots."  The  like  complaints 
were  made  by  Cox,  Grindal,  Horn,  Pdkington, 
and  others,  but  they  had  not  the  resolution  to 
persevere  ;  had  they  united  counsels,  and  stood 
by  one  another,  they  might  at  this  juncture  have 
obtained  the  removal  of  those  grievances  which 
afterward  occasioned  the  separation. 

To  return  to  the  Parliament.  The  court  took 
such  measures  about  elections  as  seldom  fail 
of  success  :  the  magistrates  of  the  counties  and 
corporations  were  cliangcd,  and  the  people,  who 
were  weary  of  the  late  persecutions,  were  as- 
sisted, and  encouraged  to  exert  themselves  in 
favour  of  such  representatives  as  might  make 
them  easy  ;  so  that  when  the  houses  met,  the 
majority,  were  on  the  side  of  the  Reformation. 
The  temper  of  the  house  was  first  tried  by  a  bill 
to  restore  to  the  crown  the  first-fruits  and  tenths, 
which  Queen  Mary  had  returned  to  the  Church. 
It  passed  the  Commons  without  much  opposi- 
tion, February  4lh,  but  in  the  House  of  Lords 
all  the  bishops  voted  against  it.*  By  another 
act  they  repealed  some  of  the  penal  laws,  and 
enacted  that  no  person  should  be  punished  for 
exercising  the  religion  used  in  the  last  year  of 
King  Edward.  They  appointed  the  public  ser- 
vice to  be  performed  m  the  vulgar  tongue.  They 
empowered  the  queen  to  nominate  bishops  to 
the  vacant  bishoprics  by  conge  d'eitre,  as  at 
present.  They  suppressed  the  religious  houses 
founded  by  Queen  Mary,  and  annexed  them  to 
the  crown ;  but  the  two  principal  acts  passed 
this  session  were  the  acts  of  supremacy,  and 
of  uniformity  of  common  prayer. 

The  former  is  entitled  an  act  for  restoring  to 
the  crown  the  ancient  jurisdiction  over  the  state 
ecclesiastical  and  spiritual,  and  for  abolishing 
foreign  power.  It  is  the  same  fi)r  substance 
Willi  the  twenty-fifth  of  Henry  VIII.,  already 
inentioned,  but  the  Commons  incorporated  sev- 
eral other  bills  into  it ;  for,  besides  the  title  of 
supreme  governor  in  all  causes  ecclesiastical 
and  temporal,  which  is  restored  to  the  queen, 
the  act  revives  those  laws  of  King  Henry  VIII. 
and  King  Edward  VI.  wliich  had  been  repealed 
in  the  late  reign.  It  forbids  all  appeals  to  Home, 
and  e.voneraies  the  subjects  from  all  exactions 
and  impositions  heretofore  paid  to  that  court ; 

*  Strype,  p.  G7. 


and  as  it  revives  King  Edward's  laws,  it  repeaJs 
a  severe  act  made  in  the  late  reign  for  ptinisii- 
ing  heresy,*  and  three  other  old  statutes  mea- 
tioned  in  the  said  act.  "  Moreover,  all  persoos 
in  any  public  employs,  whether  civil  or  ecclesi- 
astical, are  obliged  to  take  an  oath  in  recogni- 
tion of  the  queen's  right  to  the  crown,  and  of 
her  supremacy  in  all  causes  ecclesiastical  and 
civil,  on  penally  of  forfeiting  all  their  promotions 
in  the  Church,  and  of  being  declared  incapabie 
of  holding  any  public  office."  In  short,  by  this 
single  act  of  the  supremacy,  all  that  had  been 
done  by  Queen  Mary  was  in  a  manner  annulled, 
and  the  external  policy  of  the  Church  restored 
to  the  same  foot  as  it  stood  at  the  death  of  King 
Edward  VI. 

Farther  :  "  The  act  forbids  all  writing,  print- 
ing, teaching,  or  preaching,  and  all  other  deeds 
or  acts  whereby  any  foreign  jurisdiction  over 
these  realms  is  defended,  upon  pain  that  they 
and  their  abettors,  being  thereof  convicted,  shall 
for  the  first  offence  forfeit  their  goods  and  chat- 
tels ;  and  if  they  are  not  worth  twenty  pounds, 
suffer  a  year's  imprisonment  ;  spiritual  per- 
sons shall  lose  their  benefices,  and  all  ecclesi- 
astical preferments  ;  for  the  second  offence  they 
shall  incur  the  penalties  of  a  praemunire ;  and 
the  third  offence  shall  be  deemed  high  trea- 
son." 

There  is  a  remarkable  clause  in  this  act, 
which  gave  rise  to  a  new  court,  called  the  Court 
of  High  Commission.!  The  words  are  these: 
"  The  queen  and  her  successors  shall  have  pow- 
er, by  their  letters  patent  under  the  great  seal, 
to  assign,  name,  and  authorize,  as  often  as  they 
shall  think  meet,  and  for  as  long  time  as  they 
shall  please,  persons,  being  natural-born  sub- 
jects, to  use,  occupy,  and  exercise,  under  her 
and  them,  all  manner  of  jurisdiction,  privileges, 
and  pre-eminences,  touching  any  spiritual  or 
ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  within  the  reahns  of 
England  and  Ireland,  &c.,  to  visit,  reform,  re- 
dress, order,  correct,  and  amend  all  errors,  her- 
esies, schisms,  abuses,  contempts,  offences,  and 
enormities  whatsoever.  Provided  that  they 
have  no  power  to  determine  anything  to  be  her- 
esy but  what  has  been  adjudged  to  be  so  by  the 
authority  of  the  canonical  Scripture  ;  or  by  the 
first  four  general  councils,  or  any  of  them  ;  or 
by  any  other  general  council,  wherein  the  same 
was  declared  heresy  by  the  express  and  plain 
words  of  canonical  Scripture  ;  or  such  as  shall 
hereafter  be  declared  to  be  heresy  by  the  high 
court  of  Parliament,  with  the  assent  of  the  cler- 
gy in  convocation. "t 


*  The  repeal  of  this  act,  it  may  not  be  improper  to 
observe,  operated  in  favour  of  those  only  who  deniai 
the  essential  and  disseminating  tenets  of  popery.  It 
was  a  necessary  step,  when  government  was  about 
to  establish  a  reformation  which  would  subvert  the 
reception  of  those  tenets.  But  it  did  not  proceed 
from  any  just  notions  of  the  rights  of  conscience; 
and,  as  it  appears  in  the  course  of  this  reign,  still  left 
those  who  went  beyond  the  limits  fixed  by  the  new- 
establishment  exposed  to  the  heaviest  penalties.— 
Ed.  t  Strype,  p.  69.    Rapin,  p.  237. 

X  On  this  statute  Mr.  Justice  Blackstone  remarks, 
that  "  a  man  conlinned  still  liable  to  be  burned  for 
what,  perhaps,  he  did  not  understand  to  be  heresy, 
till  the  ecclesiastical  judge  so  interpreted  the  words 
of  the  canonical  Scriptures."  To  this  a  late  writer 
justly  adds :  "  And  even  at  this  day,  whoever,  of  the 
sectaries  not  tolerated,  shall  dare  to  interpret  the 


HISTORY    OF   THE    PURITANS. 


73 


Upon  the  authority  of  this  clause  the  queen 
appointed  a  certain  number  of  commissioners 
for  ecclesiastical  causes,  who  exercised  the 
same  power  that  had  been  lodged  in  the  hands 
of  one  vicegerent  in  the  reign  of  King  Henry 
Vin.  And  how  sadly  they  abused  their  power 
in  this  and  the  two  next  reigns  will  appear  in 
the  sequel  of  this  history.*  They  did  not  trouble 
themselves  much  willi  the  express  words  of 
Scripture,  or  the  first  four  general  councils,  but 
entangled  their  prisotiers  with  oaths  ex  officio, 
and  the  inextricable  mazes  of  the  popish  canon 
law  ;  and  though  all  ecclesiastical  courts  ought 
to  be  subject  to  a  prohibition  from  the  courts 
of  Westminster,  this  privilege  was  seldom  al- 
lowed by  the  commissioners.  The  act  makes 
no  mention  of  an  arbitrary  jurisdiction  of  fining, 
imprisoning,  or  inflicting  corporeal  punishments 
on  the  subjects,  and  therefore  can  be  construed 
to  extend  no  farther  than  to  suspension  or  dep- 
rivation ;  but  notwithstanding  this,  these  com- 
missioners sported  themselves  in  all  the  wanton 
acts  of  tyranny  and  oppression,  till  their  very 
name  became  odious  to  the  whole  nation  ;  in- 
somuch that  their  proceedings  were  condemned 
by  the  united  voice  of  the  people,  and  the  court 
dissolved  by  act  of  Parliament,  with  a  clause 
that  no  such  jurisdiction  should  be  received  for 
the  future  in  any  court  whatsoever. 

Bishop  Burnet  saysj  that  the  supremacy 
granted  by  this  act  is  short  of  the  authority  that 
King  Henry  had  ;  nor  is  it  the  whole  that  the 
queen  claimed,  who  sometimes  stretched  her 
prerogative  beyond  it.  But  since  it  was  the 
basis  of  the  Reformation,  and  the  spring  of  all 
its  future  movements,  it  will  be  proper  to  in- 
quire what  powers  were  thought  to  be  yielded 
the  crown  by  this  act  of  supremacy,  and  some 
others  made  in  support  of  it.  King  Henry  Vlll., 
in  his  letter  to  the  convocation  of  York,  assures 
them  that  "he  claimed  nothing  more  by  the  su- 
premacy than  what  Christian  princes  in  the 
primitive  times  assumed  to  themselves  iu  their 
own  dominions. "t  But  it  is  capable  of  demon- 
stration, that  the  first  Christian  emperors  did 
not  claim  all  that  jurisdiction  over  the  Church 

Holy  Scriptures  for  himself,  may  be  punished  by  ec- 
clesiastical censures,  if  an  ecclesiastical  judge  should 
decree  such  interpretation  to  be  erroneous."— //(gA 
Church  Politics,  p.  6G. — Ed. 

*  In  addition  to  our  author's  remark  may  be  sub- 
joined the  reflections  of  a  modern  writer:  "On  this 
foundation,"  says  he,  "  was  erected,  in  a  subsequent 
part  of  her  reign,  that  court  of  ecclesiastical  commis- 
sion, which,  in  the  sequel,  was  the  source  of  the  most 
arbitrary  proceedings,  and  of  the  most  shameful  tyr- 
anny, oppression,  and  persecution.  The  powers  we 
have  mentioned,  as  granted  to  Elizabeth,  will  appear 
to  many,  in  the  present  enlightened  and  liberal  age, 
to  have  been  unreasonable  and  enormous,  and  con- 
trary to  the  just  ends  of  political  government.  But 
the  conferring  of  such  powers  accorded  with  the  idea 
of  the  times,  which  had  no  conception  of  introducing 
religious  changes  by  the  mere  operation  of  reason 
and  argument,  and  which  had  not  learned  to  ascer- 
tain the  true  nature,  objects,  boundaries,  and  dis- 
tinctions of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authority." — His- 
tory of  Knowledge  in  the  New  Animal  Register  for  1789, 
p.  "e.— Ed. 

t  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  386. 

t  The  primitive  times,  as  they  are  called,  did  not 
commence  till  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century, 
under  Constantine  the  Great,  who  was  the  first 
prince  that  employed  the  powers  of  the  state  in  the 
affairs  of  the  Church. — Ed. 

Vol.  I.— K 


in  spirituals  that  King  Henry  did,  who,  by  the 
act  of  the  thirty-first  of  his  reign,  was  made  ab- 
solute lord  over  the  consciences  of  his  subjects, 
it  being  therein  enacted  that  "  whatsoever  his 
majesty  should  enjoin  in  matters  of  religion 
should  be  obeyed  by  all  his  subjects." 

It  is  very  certain  that  the  kings  and  queens 
of  England  never  pretended  to  the  character  of 
spiritual  persons,  or  to  exercise  any  part  of  the 
ecclesiastical  function  in  their  own  persons  ; 
they  neither  preached  nor  administered  the  sac- 
raments, nor  pronounced  or  inflicted  the  cen- 
sures of  the  Church  ;  nor  did  they  ever  conse- 
crate to  the  episcopal  oflice,  though  the  right  of 
nomination  is  in  them  :  these  things  were  done 
by  spiritual  persons,  or  by  proper  officers  in  the 
spiritual  courts,  deriving  their  powers  from  the 
crown.  When  the  adversaries  of  the  suprema- 
cy objected  the  absurdity  of  a  lay  person  being 
head  of  a  spiritual  body,  the  queen  endeavoured 
to  remove  the  difficulty  by  declaring,  in  her  in- 
junctions to  her  visiters,  "that  she  did  not,  nor 
would  she  ever,  challenge  authority  and  power 
to  minister  Uivine  service  in  the  Church  ;  nor 
would  she  ever  challenge  any  other  authority 
than  her  predecessors  King  Henry  VIII.  and 
Edward  VI.  used." 

But,  abating  this  point,  it  appears  very  proba- 
ble that  all  the  jurisdiction  and  authority  claim- 
ed by  the  pope,  as  head  of  the  Church,  in  the 
times  preceding  the  Reformation,  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  king  by  the  act  of  supremacy,  and 
annexed  to  the  imperial  crown  of  these  realms, 
as  far  as  was  consistent  with  the  laws  of  the 
land  then  in  being ;  though  since  it  has  under- 
gone some  abatements.  The  words  of  the 
learned  Mr.  Hooker*  are  very  express  :  "  If  the 
whole  ecclesiastical  state  should  stand  in  need 
of  being  visited  and  reformed  ;  or  when  any 
part  of  the  Church  is  infested  with  errors, 
schisms,  heresies,  «Stc.,  whatsoever  spiritual 
powers  the  legates  had  from  the  see  of  Rome, 
and  exercised  in  right  of  the  pope  for  remedy- 
ing of  evils,  without  violating  the  laws  of  God 
or  nature ;  as  much  in  every  degree  have  our 
laws  fully  granted  to  the  king  forever,  whether 
he  thinks  fit  to  do  it  by  ecclesiastical  synods,  or 
otherwise  according  to  law." 

The  truth  of  this  remark  will  appear  by  con- 
sidering the  powers  claimed  by  the  crown  in 
this  and  the  following  reigns. 

1.  The  kings  and  queens  of  England  claimed 
authority  in  matters  of  feith,  and  to  be  the  ulti- 
mate judges  of  what  is  agreeable  or  repugnant 
to  the  Word  of  God.  The  act  of  supremacy  says 
expressly,  "  that  the  Idng  has  power  to  redress 
and  amend  all  errors  and  heresies  ;  he  might 
enjoin  what  doctrines  he  would  to  be  preached, 
not  repugnant  to  the  laws  of  the  land  ;  and  if 
any  should  preach  contrary,  he  was  for  the  third 
ofience  to  be  judged  a  heretic,  and  suffer  death : 
his  majesty  claimed  a  right  to  forbid  all  preach- 
ing for  a  time,  as  King  Henry  VIII.,  King  Ed- 
ward VI.,  Queen  Mary,  and  Elizabeth  did;  or 
to  limit  the  clergy's  preaching  to  certain  of  the 
thirty-nine  articles  established  by  law,  as  King 
Charles  I.  did."  All  the  forementioned  kings 
and  queens  published  instructions  or  injunctions 
concerning  matters  of  faith,  without  consent  of 
the  clergy  in  convocation  assembled  ;  and  en- 
furced  them  upon  the  clergy  under  the  penalties 


*  Eccles.  Pol.,  b.  viii.,  ^  8 


74 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


of  a  prcrtnunirc,  which  made  it  a  little  difficult 
to  understand  that  clause  of  the  twentieth  arti- 
cle of  the  Church  which  says  the  Church  has 
authority  in  matters  of  faith. 

2.  With  regard  to  discipline,  the  kings  of 
England  seem  to  have  had  the  keys  at  their  gir- 
dle ;  for,  though  the  old  canon  law  be  in  force, 
as  far  as  is  consistent  with  the  laws  of  the  land 
and  tlie  prerogative  of  the  crown,  yet  the  king 
is  the  supreme  and  ultimate  judge  in  the  spirit- 
ual courts  by  his  delegates,  as  he  is  in  the 
courts  of  common  law  by  his  judges.  His  maj- 
esty might  appoint  a  single  person  of  the  laity 
to  be  his  vicar-general  in  all  causes  ecclesiasti- 
cal to  reform  what  was  amiss,  as  King  Henry 
VIII.  and  Charles  I.~  did,  which  very  much  re- 
sembled the  pope's  legate  in  the  times  before 
the  Reformation.  By  authority  of  Parliament, 
the  crown  was  empowered  to  appoint  thirty-two 
commissioners,  some  of  the  laity  and  some  of 
the  clergy,  to  reform  the  canons  or  ecclesiasti- 
cal laws ;  and  though  the  design  was  not  exe- 
cuted, the  power  was  certainly  in  the  king,  who 
might  have  ratified  the  new  canons,  and  given 
them  the  force  of  a  law,  without  the  consent  of 
the  clergy  in  convocation,  or  of  the  Parliament ; 
and,  therefore,  at  the  coronation  of  King  Charles 
I.,  the  bishop  was  directed  to  pray  "  that  God 
•would  give  the  king  Peter's  key  of  discipline, 
and  Paul's  doctrine." 

3.  As  -to  rights  and  cerentionies,  the  act  of 
uniformity*  says  expressly,  "  that  the  queen's 
majesty,  by  advice  of  her  ecclesiastical  com- 
missioners, or  of  her  metropolitan,  may  ordain 
and  publish  such  ceremonies  or  rites  as  may  be 
most  for  the  advancement  of  God's  glory  and 
the  edifying  of  the  Church."  Accordingly,  her 
majesty  published  her  injunctions,  without  send- 
ing them  into  convocation  or  Parliament,  and 
erected  a  court  of  high  commission  for  ecclesi- 
astical causes,  consisting  of  commissioners  of 
her  own  nomination,  to  see  them  put  in  execu- 
tion. Nay,  so  jealous  was  Queen  Elizabetli  of 
this  branch  of  her  prerogative,  that  she  would 
not  suffer  her  high  court  of  Parliament  to  pass 
any  bill  for  the  amendment  or  alteration  of  the 
ceremonies  of  the  Church,  it  being,  as  she  said, 
an  invasion  of  her  prerogative. 

4.  The  kings  of  England  claimed  the  sole 
power  of  the  nomination  of  bishops  ;  and  the 
deans  and  chapters  were  obliged  to  choose  those 
whom  their  majesties  named,  under  penalty  of 
a  prasmunire ;  and  after  they  were  chosen  and 
consecrated,  they  might  not  act  but  by  cornmis- 
sion  from  the  crown.  They  held  their  very 
bishoprics  for  some  time  duraiile  hmc  placito ; 
and  by  the  statute  of  the  fifth  and  sixth  of  Ed- 
ward VI.,  chap,  i.,  it  was  enacted  "that  arch- 
bishops and  bishops  shall  punish  by  censures  of 
the  Church  all  persons  that  offend,"  &c.,  which 
plainly  implies  that  without  such  a  license  or 
authority  they  might  not  do  it. 

5.  No  convocation  or  synods  of  the  clergy 
can  assemble  hut  by  a  writ  or  precept  from  the 
crown  ;  and  when  assembled,  they  can  do  no 
business  without  the  king's  letters  patent,  ap- 
pointing them  the  particular  subjects  they  are 
to  debate  upon  ;t  and,  after  all,  their  canons 
are  of  no  force  without  the  royal  sanction. 

Upon   the  whole,  it   is   evident,   by  the  ex- 

*  1  Eliz.,  cap.  1. 

+  Stat.  25  Hen.  VIII.,  and  stat.  prajmun. 


press  words  of  several  statutes,*  that  all  juris- 
diction, ecclesiastical  as  well  as  civil,  was  vest- 
ed in  the  king,  and  taken  away  from  tiie  bish- 
ops, except  by  delegation  from  biin.  The  king 
was  chief  in  the  determination  of  all  causes  in 
the  Church  ;  he  had  authority  to  make  laws, 
ceremonies,  and  constitutions,  and  witiiout  him 
no  such  laws,  ceremonies,  or  constitutions  are, 
or  ought  to  be,  of  tbrce.  And,  lastly,  all  ap- 
peals, which  before  had  been  made  to  Rome, 
are  forever,  hereafter,  to  be  made  to  his  majes- 
ty's chancery,  to  be  ended  and  determined,  as 
the  manner  now  is,  by  delegates.! 

I  am  sensible  that  the  constitution  of  the 
Church  has  been  altered  in  some  things  since 
that  time;  but  let  the  reader  judge,  by  what 
has  been  recited  from  acts  of  Parliament,  of  the 
high  powers  that  were  then  intrusted  with  the 
crown,  and  how  far  they  were  agreeable  with 
the  natural  or  religious  rights  of  mankind. 
The  whole  body  of  the  papists  refused  the  oath 
of  supremacy,  as  inconsistent  with  their  allegi- 
ance to  the  pope ;  but  the  Puritans  took  it  un- 
der all  these  disadvantages,  with  the  queen's 
explication  in  her  injunctions;  that  is,  that  no 
more  was  intended  than  "  that  her  majesty,  un- 
der God,  had  the  sovereignty  and  rule  over  all 
persons  born  in  her  realms,  either  ecclesiastical 
or  temporal,  so  as  no  foreign  power  had  or  ought 
to  have  authority  over  them."  They  appre- 
iiended  this  to  be  the  natural  right  of  all  sover- 
eign princes  in  their  dominions,  though  there 
has  been  no  statute  law  lor  it ;  but,  as  they  did 
not  admit  the  government  of  the  Chuich  to  be 
monarchical,  they  were  of  opinion  that  no  sin- 
gle person,  whether  layman  or  ecclesiastic, 
ought  to  assume  the  title  of  supreme  head  of  the 
Church  on  earth,  in  the  sense  of  the  acts  above 
mentioned.  This  appears  from  the  writings  of 
the  famous  Mr.  Cartvvright,  in  his  admonitioa 
to  the  Parliament. 

"The  Christian  sovereign,"  says  he,t  "ought 
not  to  be  called  head,  under  Christ,  of  the  par- 
ticular and  visible  churches  within  his  domin- 
ions :  it  is  a  title  not  fit  for  any  mortal  man  ; 
for  when  the  apostle  says  Christ  is  Kccpah],  the 
head,  it  is  as  much  as  if  he  had  said  Christ, 
and  no  other,  is  head  of  the  Church.  No  civil 
magistrate,  in  councils  or  assemblies  for  Church 
matters,  can  either  be  chief  moderator,  over- 
ruler,  judge,  or  determiner;  nor  has  he  such 
authority  as  that,  without  his  consent,  it  should 
not  be  lawful  for  ecclesiastical  persons  to  make 
any  Church  orders  or  ceremonies.  Church  mat- 
ters ought,  ordinarily,  to  be  handled  by  church 
officers.  The  principal  direction  of  them  is,  by 
God's  ordinance,  committed  to  the  ministers  of 
the  Church  and  to  the  ecclesiastical  governors  : 
as  these  meddle  not  with  the  making  civil  laws, 
so  the  civil  magistrate  ought  not  to  ordain 
ceremonies  or  determine  controversies  in  the 
Church,  so  long  as  they  do  not  intrench  upon 


*  37  Hen.  VIII.,  cap.  xvii.,  1  Eliz.,  cap.  i. 

t  Thus  the  power,  which  had  been  for  ages  exer- 
cised by  the  pope,  wa.s  transferred  to  the  temporal 
monarch.  The  acquisition  of  this  power  was  highly 
flattering  to  the  love  of  authority  in  [irinces,  espe- 
cially as  they  had  been  so  long  under  subjection  to 
the  pope.  To  a  woman  of  Queen  Klizabeth's  spirit 
it  was,  independently  of  every  religious  considera- 
tion, a  powerful  mducement  to  support  the  Reforma- 
tion.—Ed. 

t  Admonition  to  ParUament,  Ub.  ii.,  p.  4,  11. 


JIISTORY    OF   THE    PURITANS. 


75 


his  temporal  authority.  Nevertheless,  our  mean- 
ing is  not  to  seclude  the  magistrate  from  our 
Church  assemblies ;  he  may  call  a  council  of 
his  clergy,  and  appoint  botti  time  and  place; 
he  may  be  there  by  himself  or  his  deputy,  but 
not  as  moderator,  determiner,  or  judge;  he  may 
have  his  voice  in  the  assembly,  but  the  orders 
and  decrees  of  councils  are  not  made  by  his 
authority  ;  for  in  ancient  times  the  canons  of 
the  councils  v/ere  not  called  the  decrees  of  the 
emperors,  but  of  the  bishops.  It  is  the  prince's 
province  to  protect  and  defend  the  councils  of 
his  clergy,  to  keep  the  peace,  to  see  their  decrees 
executed,  and  to  punish  the  contemners  of  them, 
but  to  exercise  no  spiritual  jurisdiction." 

We  shall  meet  with  a  luller  declaration  of 
the  Puritans  upon  this  head  hereafter ;  in  the 
mean  time,  it  may  be  observed,  that  the  just 
boundaries  of  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  pow- 
ers were  not  well  understood  and  stated  in 
this  age. 

The  powers  of  the  civil  magistrates  seem 
chiefly  to  regard  the  civil  welfare  of  his  sub- 
jects :  he  is  to  protect  them  in  their  properties, 
and  in  the  peaceable  enjoyment  of  their  civil 
and  religious  rights  ;  but  there  is  no  passage  in 
the  New  Testament  that  gives  him  a  commis- 
sion to  be  lord  of  the  consciences  of  his  sub- 
jects, or  to  have  dominion  over  their  faith. 
Nor  is  this  agreeable  to  reason,  because  religion 
ought  to  be  the  effect  of  a  free  and  deliberate 
choice.  Why  must  we  believe  as  the  king  be- 
lieves, any  more  than  as  the  clergy  or  pope  1 
If  every  man  could  believe  as  he  would ;  or  if 
all  men's  understandings  were  exactly  of  a 
size  ;  or  if  God  would  accept  of  a  mere  outward 
profession  when  commanded  by  law,  then  it 
would  be  reasonable  there  should  be  but  one 
religion,  and  one  uniform  manner  of  worship  : 
but  to  make  ecclesiastical  laws,  obliging  men's 
practice  under  severe  penalties,  without  or 
against  the  light  of  their  consciences,  looks  like 
an  invasion  of  the  kingly  office  of  Christ,  and 
must  be  subversive  of  all  sincerity  and  virtue. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Church  is  purely  spiritual.  No  man  ought  to 
be  compelled  by  rewards  or  punishments  to  be- 
come a  member  of  any  Christian  society,  or  to 
continue  of  it  any  longer  than  he  apprehends  it 
to  be  his  duty.  All  the  ordinances  of  the  Churc'n 
are  spiritual,  and  so  are  her  weapons  and  cen- 
sures. The  weapons  of  the  Church  are  Scrip- 
ture and  reason,  accompanied  with  prayers  and 
tears.  These  are  her  pillars,  and  the  walls  of 
her  defence.  The  censures  of  the  Church  are 
admonitions,  reproofs,  or  declarations  of  per- 
sons' unfitness  for  her  communion,  commonly 
called  excommunications,  which  are  of  a  spirit- 
ual nature,  and  ought  not  to  affect  men's  lives, 
liberties,  or  estates.  No  man  ought  to  be  cut 
off  from  the  rights  and  privileges  of  a  subject 
merely  because  he  is  disqualified  for  Christian 
communion.  Nor  has  any  church  upon  earth 
authority  from  Christ  to  inflict  corporeal  punish- 
ments upon  those  whom  she  may  justly  expel 
her  society  ;  these  are  the  weapons  of  civil 
magistrates,  who  may  punish  the  breakers  of 
the  laws  of  their  countries  with  corporeal  pains 
and  penalties,  as  guardians  of  the  civil  rights  of 
their  subjects  ;  but  Christ's  kingdom  is  not  of 
this  world. 

If  these  principles  had  obtained  at  the  Refor- 


mation, there  would  have  been  no  room  for  the 

disturbance  of  any  whose  religious  principles 
were  not  inconsistent  with  the  safety  of  the 
government.*  Truth  and  charity  would  have 
prevailed  ;  the  civil  powers  would  have  protect- 
ed the  Church  in  her  spiritual  rights ;  and  the 
Church,  by  instructing  the  people  in  their  duty 
to  their  superiors,  would  have  supported  the 
state.  But  the  Reformers,  as  well  Puritans  a^ 
others,  had  different  notions.  They  were  for 
one  religion,  one  uniform  mode  of  worship,  one 
form  of  discipline  or  Church  government  for 
the  whole  nation,  with  which  all  must  comply 
outwardly,  whatever  were  their  inward  senti- 
ments ;  It  was  therefore  resolved  to  have  an 
act  of  Parliament  to  establish  a  uniformity  of 
public  worship,  without  any  indulgence  to  ten- 
der consciences  ;.. neither  party  having  the  wis- 
dom or  courage  to  oppose  such  a  law,  but  both 
endeavouring  to  be  included  in  it. 

To  make  way  for  this,  the  papists  who  were 
in  possession  of  the  churches  were  first  to  be 
vanquished  ;  the  queen,  therefore,  appointed  a 
public  disputation  in  Westminster  Abbey,  be- 
fore her  privy  council  and  both  houses  of  Par- 
liament, March  3lst,  1559,  between  nine  of  the 
bishops  and  the  like  number  of  Protestant  di- 
vines, upon  these  three  points  : 

1st.  Whether  it  was  nut  against  Scripture  and 
the  custom  of  the  ancient  Church  to  use  a 
tongue  unknown  to  the  people  in  the  common 
prayers  and  sacraments  ]  2dly.  Whether  every 
church  had  not  authority  to  appoint,  change, 
and  take  away  ceremonies  and  ecclesiastical 
rites,  so  the  same  were  done  to  edifying  !  3dly, 
Whether  it  could  be  proved  by  the  Word  of  God 
that  in  the  mass  there  was  a  propitiatory  sacri- 
fice for  the  dead  and  living] 

The  disputation  was  to  be  in  writing ;  but 
the  papists,  finding  the  populace  against  them, 
broke  it  off  alter  the  first  day,  under  pretence 
that  the  Catholic  cause  ought  not  to  be  submit- 
ted to  such  an  arbitration,  though  they  had  not 
these  scruples  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary,  when 
it  was  known  the  issue  of  the  conference  would 
be  in  their  favour.  The  Bishops  of  Winchester 
and  Lincoln  said  the  doctrine  of  the  Catholic 
Church  was  already  established,  and  that  it 
was  too  great  an  encouragement  to  heretics  to 
admit  them  to  discourse  against  the  faith  before 
an  unlearned  multitude.  They  added,  that  the 
queen  had  deserved  to  be  excommunicated ; 
and  talked  of  thundering  out  their  anathemas 
against  the  privy  council,  for  which  they  were 
both  sent  to  the  Tower.  The  reformed  had  a 
great  advantage  by  their  adversaries  quitting 
the  field  in  this  manner,  it  being  concluded  from 

*  It  would  have  been  more  consistent  with  our  au- 
thor's reasoning  if,  instead  of  "  religious  principles," 
he  had  substituted  actions.  If  religious  principles  are 
to  be  the  grounds  of  toleration  or  protection,  accord- 
ing to  their  supposed  consistency  or  inconsistency  with 
the  safety  of  the  civil  government,  there  is  not  only 
room  for  endless  disputes  concerning  this  consistency ; 
but  men  of  the  best  views  and  characters  will  be  lia- 
ble to  suffer  through  the  imputation  of  consequences 
arising  from  their  principles,  which  they  themselves 
disavow  and  abhor.  Besides,  the  pernicious  tenden- 
cy of  some  pruiciples  is  counteracted  by  the  intluenco 
of  others,  and  the  good  dispositions  of  those  who  hold 
them.  Overt  acts  alone  afford  a  clear,  defiiiito  rule, 
by  which  to  judge  of  moral  or  poUtical  character. 
—Ed. 


76 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


hence  that  their  cause  would  not  bear  the  light, 
which  prepared  the  people  for  farther  changes 

The  papists  being  vanquished,  the  next  point 
was  to  unite  the  reformed  among  themselves, 
and  get  such  an  establishment  as  might  make 
them  all  easy  ;  for  though  the  troubles  at  Frank'- 
fort  were  hushed,  and  letters  of  forgiveness  had 
passed  between  the  contending  parties,  and 
though  all  the  Reformers  were  of  one  faith,  yet 
they  were  far  from  agreeing  about  discipline  and 
ceremonies,  each  party  being  for  settling  the 
Church  according  to  their  own  model.  Some 
were  for  the  late  service  and  discipline  of  the 
English  at  Geneva  ;  others  were  for  the  service- 
book  of  King  Edward  VI.,  and  for  withdrawing 
n»  farther  from  the  Church  of  Rome  than  Avas 
necessary  to  recover  purity  of  faith,  and  the  in- 
dependence of  the  Church  upon  a  foreign  power. 
Rites  and  ceremonies  were,  in  their  opinion,  in- 
different; and  those  of  the  Church  of  Rome  pref- 
erable to  others,  because  they  were  venerable 
and  pompous,  and  because  the  people  had  been 
used  to  them  :  these  were  tlie  sentiments  of  the 
queen,  who  therefore  appointed  a  committee  of 
divines  to  review  King  Edward's  liturgy,  and  to 
see  if  in  any  particular  it  was  fit  to  be  changed  ; 
their  names  were  Dr.  Parker,  Grindal,  Cox, 
Pilkington,  May,  Bill,  Whitehead,  and  Sir  Thom- 
as Smith,  doctor  of  the  civil  law.  Their  in- 
structions were  to  strike  out  all  offensive  pas- 
sages against  the  pope,  and  to  make  people  easy 
about  the  belief  of  the  corporeal  presence  of 
Christ  in  the  sacrament ;  but  not  a  word  in  fa- 
vour of  the  stricter  Protestants. 

Her  majesty  was  afraid  of  reforming  too  far  ; 
she  was  desirous  to  retain  images  in  churches, 
crucifixes  and  crosses,  vocal  and  instrumental 
music,  with  all  the  old  popish  garments  ;  it  is 
not,  tiierefore,  to  be  wondered  that,  in  reviewing 
the  liturgy  of  King  Edward,  no  alterations  were 
made  in  favour  of  those  who  now  began  to  be 
'  called  Puritans,  from  their  attempting  a  purer 
'  form  of  worship  and  discipline  than  had  yet  been 
lestablished.     The  queen  was  more  concerned 
for  the  papists,  and,  therefore,  in  the  litany  this 
passage  was  struck  out,  "  From  the  tyranny  of 
the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  all  his  detestable  enor- 
mities, good  Lord,  deliver  us."    The  rubric  that 
declared,  that  by  kneeling  at  the  sacrament  no 
adoration  was  intended  to  any  corporeal  presence 
of  Ciirist,  was  expunged.     The  cominittee  of 
divines  left  it  at  the  people's  liberty  to  receive 
the   sacrament   kneeling  or  standing,  but  the 
queen  and  Parliament  restrained  it  to  kneeling  ; 
so  that  the  enforcing  this  ceremony  was  purely 
an  act  of  the  state.     The  old  festivals,  with  their 
eves,  and  the  popish  habits,  were  continued,  as 
they  were  in  the  second  yearof  KingEdvvard  VI., 
till  tlie  queen  should  please  to  take  them  away  ; 
for  the  words  of  the  statute  are,  "  They  shall 
be  retained  till  other  order  shall  be  therein  taken 
by  authority  of  the  queen's  majesty,  with  the 
advice  of  the  conunissioners  authorized  under 
the  great  seal  of  England,  for  causes  ecclesias- 
tical."   Some  of  the  collects  were  a  little  alter- 
ed ;  and  thus  the  book  was  presented   to  the 
>wo  houses  and  passed  into  a  law,*  being  hardly 
;qual  to  that  which  was  set  out  by  King  Ed- 
vard,  and  confirmed  by  Parliament  in  the  fifth 
jear  of  his  reign.     For  whereas  in  that  liturgy 


*  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  390.      Strype's 
Ann.,  p.  b3. 


all  the  garments  were  laid  aside  except  the  sur- 
plice, the  queen  now  returned  to  King  Edward's 
first  book,  where  copes  and  other  garments  were 
ordered  to  be  used. 

The  title  of  the  act  is,  an  act  for  the  uniform- 
ity of  connnou  prayer  aiul  service  in  the  Church, 
and  administration  of  the  sacraments.  It  was 
brought  into  the  House  of  Commons  April  18, 
and  was  read  a  third  time  .\pril  20.  It  passed 
the  House  of  Lords  April  28,  and  took  place 
Irom  the  24th  of"  June,  L5.59.  Heath,  archbishop 
of  York,*  made  an  elegant  speech  against  it,  in 
which,  among  other  things,  he  observes,  very 
justly,  that  an  act  of  this  consequence  ought  to 
have  had  the  consent  of  the  clergy  in  convoca- 
tion before  it  passed  into  a  law.  "  Not  only  the 
orthodox,  but  even  the  Arian  emperors,"  says- 
he,  "  ordered  that  points  of  faith  should  be  ex- 
amined in  councils  ;  and  Gallio,  by  the  light  of 
nature,  knew  that  a  civil  judge  ought  not  to 
meddle  with  matters  of  religion."  But  he  was 
overruled,  the  act  of  supremacy,  which  passed 
the  house  the  very  next  day,  having  vested  this 
power  in  the  crown. t  This  statute  lying  open 
to  common  view  at  the  beginning  of  the  Com- 
mon Prayer  Book,  it  is  not  worth  while  to  trans- 
cribe it  in  this  place.  I  shall  only  take  notice 
of  one  clause,  by  which  all  ecclesiastical  juris- 
diction was  again  delivered  up  to  the  crown : 
"  The  queen  is  hereby  empowered,  with  the  ad- 
vice of  her  commissioners  or  metropolitan,  to 
ordain  and  publish  such  farther  ceremonies  and 
rites  as  may  be  for  the  advancement  of  God's 
glory  and  edifying  his  Church,  and  the  rev- 
erence of  Christ's  holy  mysteries  and  sacra- 
ments." And  had  it  not  been  for  this  clause  of 
a  reserve  of  power  to  make  what  alterations 
her  majesty  thought  fit,  she  told  Archbishop  Par- 
ker that  she  would  not  have  passed  the  act. 

Upon  this  fatal  rock  of  uniformity  in  things 
merely  indifferent,  in  the  opinion  of  the  impo- 
sers,  was  the  peace  of  the  Church  of  England 
split.  The  pretence  was  decency  and  order ; 
but  it  seems  a  little  odd  that  uniformity  should 
be  necessary  to  the  decent  worship  of  God, 
when  in  most  other  things  there  is  a  greater 
beauty  in  variety.  It  is  not  necessary  to  a  de- 
cent dress  that  men's  clothes  should  be  always 
of  the  same  colour  and  fashion  ;  nor  would 
there  be  any  indecorum  or  disorder  if  in  one 
congregation  the  sacrament  should  be  adminis- 
tered kneeling,  in  another  sitting,  and  in  a  third 
standing;  or  if  in  one  and  the  same  congrega- 
tion the  minister  were  at  liberty  to  read  prayers 
either  in  a  black  gown  or  a  surplice,  supposing 
the  garments  to  be  indifferent,  which  the  ma- 
kers of  this  law  admitted,  though  the  Puritans 
denied.  The  rigorous  pressing  of  this  act  was 
the  occasion  of  all  the  mischiefs  that  befell  the 
Church  for  above  eighty  years.  What  good 
end  could  it  answer  to  press  men's  bodies  into 
the  public  service  without  convincing  their 
minds  1     If  there  must  be  one  established  foria 

*  Mr.  Strype  says  there  is  so  much  learning,  and 
snch  strokes  therein,  that  we  need  not  doubt  but  that 
it  is  his.— Arm.  Ref.,  vol.  i.,  p.  73.  The  speech  itself 
is  in  his  appendix 'to  vol.  i..  No.  6.  This  prelate  was 
always  honourably  esteemed  by  the  queen,  and  some- 
times had  the  honour  of  a  visit  from  her.  He  lived 
discreetly  in  his  own  house,  till  by  very  age  he  de- 
parted this  liier— Annals,  vol.  1.,  p.  143. — Ed. 

t  D'Ew's  Journal,  p.  39. 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


77 


of  worship,  there  should  certainly  have  been  an 
indulgence  for  tender  consciences.  When  there 
was  a  difference  in  the  Church  of  the  Romans 
about  eating  flesh  and  observing  festivals,  the 
apostle  did  not  pinch  them  with  an  act  of  uni- 
formity, but  allowed  a  latiiude,  Rom.,  Xl\^,  5: 
"  Let  not  him  that  eateth  judge  him  that  eateth 
not :  but  let  every  man  be  fully  persuaded  in 
his  own  mind.  Why  dost  thou  judge  thy  broth- 
er !  or,  why  dost  thou  set  at  naught  thy  broth- 
er!  For  we  must  all  stand  before  the  judg- 
ment-seat of  Christ."  Had  our  Reformers  fol- 
lowed this  apostolical  precedent,  tlie  Church 
of  England  would  have  made  a  more  glorious 
figure  in  the  Protestant  world  than  it  did  by 
this  compulsive  act  of  uniformity.* 

*  "  The  Act  of  Uniformity,  like  its  kindred  statutes, 
was  fenced  round  with  penalties.     He  who  ventured 
to  address  his  Maker  in  other  language  than  that  ot 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  was  liable  to  the  loss 
of  goods  and  chattels  for  the  first  offence,  to  twelve 
months'  imprisonment  for  the  second,  and  to  contine- 
ment  during  life  for  the  third.    How  strange  it  is 
that  men  bearing  the  Chrfstian  name  should  be  so 
impious  as  to  prescribe  to  the  Deity  the  only  form  of 
supplication  he  shall  receive  !     1'his  is  one  of  those 
species  of  infatuation,  the  folly  of  which  would  amuse, 
if  its  impiety  did  not  prohibit  the  indulgence  of  levi- 
ty.  The  statute  in  question  affected  both  the  Protest- 
ants and  Catholics,  and  was  peculiarly  oftensive  to 
such  of  the  former  as  had  imbibed  an  attachment  to 
a  simpler  ritual,  and  a  purer  form  of  polity,  than  was 
established  in  England.     It  prohibited  the  slightest 
deviation  from  the  prescribed  order  of  public  worship, 
and  obviously  assumed  a  principle  which  would  go 
far  to  discredit  and  condemn  the  Reformation  itself 
If  Elizabeth,  by  virtue  of  her  oflice  as  queen,  pos- 
sessed the  rigjit  of  determining  the  form  of  public 
worship,  that  right  belonged  equally  to  her  sister 
Maiy,  and  the  fathers  of  the  English  Church  were, 
consequently,  wrong  in  refusing  her  obedience.    But 
if  it  be  alleged  that  the  right  of  the  former  so  to  legis- 
late was  founded  on  the  correctness  of  her  creed,  by 
whom,  it  may  be  asked,  was  this  correctness  to  be 
determined  ?     By  Elizaijeth  herself,  or  by  her  sub- 
jects '.     if  the  fonner,  why  is  not  the  same  admission 
to  be  made  in  favour  of  Mary?   and  if  the  latter, 
where  is  the  justice  of  visiting  with  punishment  such 
as  deemed  her  creed  unscriptural,  and  her  laws  per- 
nicious?   Among  the  innumerable  follies  to  which 
men  have  been  addicted,  none  is  more  egregious  or 
absurd  than  is  exhibited  in  the  end  which  this  statute 
contemplated.    Were  it  attainable,  it  would  be  un- 
worthy of  pursuit,  for  it  is  wholly  apart  from  reli- 
gion;  and,  if  compassed,  it  might  exist  with   the 
greatest  security  where  the  spirit  of  religion  is  not 
found.    To  whatever  extent  it  has  been  accomplish- 
ed by  human  legislation,  it.  has  involved  the  corrup- 
tion of  Christianity,  and  a  inost  unnatural  and  perni- 
cious imprisonment  of  the  human  mind.    What  con- 
ceivable benefit  would  flow  from  the  same  mode  of 
worship  being  enforced  in  eve-y  Christian  assembly 
throughout  England  ?     But  the  folly  of  the  attempt 
to  secure  uniformity  of  religious  worship  is  apparent 
in  its  hopelessness.     It  has  not,  it  will  not,  it  cannot 
succeed.     So  long  as  religious  principle  endures,  or 
the  human  mind  retains  the  power  of  thought  and 
the  faculty  of  research,  all  enactments  of  this  kind 
must  be  futile.    They  constitute  an  'innatural  coer- 
cion of  man's  intellect ;  and  if  they  apfjear  to  succeed 
for  a  season,  their  ultimate  defeat  is  thereby  ren- 
dered more  signal.     Uniformity  in  the  modes  of  reli- 
gion has  usually  been  sought  at  the  expense  of  its 
living  spirit.    They  have  been  mistaken  for  religion 
itself;  and  the  energy  and  zeal  which  ought  to  have 
been   expended   on   the  conversion  of  an   apostate 
world  have,  consequently,  lieen  employed  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  rites  with  which  religion  has  but  little  if 
y  connexion.    There  is  not  an  established  sect  in 


Sad  were  the  consequences  of  these  two  laws 
both  to  the  papists  and  Puritans.  The  papists, 
in  convocation,  made  a  stand  for  the  old  reli- 
gion ;  and,  in  iheir  sixth  session,  agreed  upon 
the  following  articles,  to  be  presented  to  the 
Parliament  lor  disburdening  their  consciences. 

1.  "That  in  the  sacrainent  of  the  altar  the 
natural  body  of  Christ  is  really  present,  by  vir- 
tue of  the  words  of  consecration  pronounced  by 
the  priest. 

2.  "  That  after  the  consecration  there  re- 
mains not  the  substance  of  bread  and  wine,  nor 
any  other  substance  but  God-man. 

3.  "  That  in  the  mass  the  true  body  of  Christ 
is  offered  as  a  propitiatory  sacrifice  for  the  liv- 
ing  and  the  dead. 

4.  "That  the  supreme  power  of  feeding  and 
ruling  the  Church  is  in  St.  Peter  and  his  suc- 
cessors. 

5.  "  That  the  authority  of  determining  mat- 
ters of  faith  and  discipline  belongs  only  to  the 
pastors  of  the  Church,  and  not  to  laymen." 

These  ai  tides  or  resolutions  were  presented 
to  the  lord-keeper  by  their  prolocutor  Dr.  Harps- 
field,  but  his  lordship  gave  them  no  answer; 
nor  did  the  convocation  move  any  farther  in 
matters  of  religion,  it  being  apparent  that  they 
were  against  the  Reformation. 

As  soon  as  the  session  was  ended,  the  oath 
of  supremacy  was  tendered  to  the  bishops,  who 
all  refused  it,  except  Dr.  Kitchen,  bishop  of 
Landaff,  to  the  number  of  fourteen  ;  the  rest  of 
the  sees  being  vacant.  Of  the  deprived  bishops 
three  retired  beyond  sea,  viz.,  Dr.  Pate,  bishop 
of  Worcester,  Scot  of  Chester,  and  Goldwell  of 
St.  Asaph  ;  Heath,  archbishop  of  York,  was 
suffered  to  live  at  his  own  house,  where  the 
queen  went  sometimes  to  visit  him  ;  Tonstai 
and  Thirieby,  bishops  of  Durham  and  Ely,  resi- 
ded at  I.ambetii,  in  the  house  of  Archbishop 
Parker,  with  freedom  and  ease ;  the  rest  wert 
suffered  to  go  at  large  upon  their  parole  ;  only 
"Conner,  bishop  of  London,  White  of  Winchester, 
and  Watson  of  Lincoln,  whose  hands  had  been 
deeply  stained  with  the  blood  of  the  Protestants 
in  the  late  reign,  were  made  close  prisoners ; 
but  they  had  a  sufficient  maintenance  from  the 
queen.  Most  of  the  monks  returned  to  a  secu- 
lar life  ;  but  the  nuns  went  beyond  sea,  as  did 
all  others  who  had  a  mind  to  live  where  they 
might  have  a  free  exercise  of  their  religion. 

Several  of  the  reformed  exiles  were  offered 
bishoprics,  but  refused  them,  on  account  of  the 
habits  and  ceremonies,  &,c.,  as  Mr.  Whitehead, 
Mr.  Bernard  Gilpin,  old  father  Miles  Coverdale, 
Mr.  Knox,  Mr.  Thomas  Sampson,  and  others. 
Many  who  accepted  did  it  with  trembling,  from 
the  necessity  of  the  times,  and  in  hopes  by  their 

Christendom  which  does  not  furnish  confirmation  of 
these  remarks ;  and  we  shall  frequently  have  occa- 
sion to  observe  the  evidence  of  their  truth  which  the 
history  of  our  own  hierarchy  supplies.  'Theartiticial 
religion  of  creeds  and  rituals  withers  and  dies  in  the 
hands  of  the  most  artful  priests,  and  the  most  abso- 
lute and  prosperous  monarchs ;  while  the  artless 
practice  of  piety  and  virtue  lives  with  the  poor 
through  successive  generations.  Penal  statutes  to 
suppress  it  resemble  penal  statutes  to  cleanse  the 
world  of  violets;  fashion  may  lianish  them  from  the 
burgomaster's  garden,  but  the  heavens  will  unite  to 
nonrisQ  them  under  the  shade  of  the  nettle  or  at  the 
foot  of  an  oak.'  " — Rnbinson's  Eccl.  Researches,  p.  186. 
Dr.  Price,  vol.  i.,  p.  140.— C. 


"8 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


interest  with  the  queen  to  obtain  an  amenthnent 
in  the  constitution  of  the  Church  ;  among  these 
were  Gnnilal,  Parkhurst,  Sandys,  Pilkington, 
anil  others. 

The  sees  were  left  vacant  for  some  time,  to 
see  if  any  of  the  old  bishops  would  conform ; 
but  neither  time  nor  anything  else  could  move 
them  ;  at  length,  after  twelve  months,  Dr.  Mat- 
the\v  j'arker  was  consecrated  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  at  Lambeth,  by  some  of  the  bishops 
that  had  been  deprived  in  the  late  reign,  for  not 
one  of  the  present  bishops  would  officiate.  This, 
with  some  other  accidents,  gave  rise  to  the 
story  of  his  being  consecrated  at  the  Nag's 
Head  tavern  in  Cheapside,  a  fable  that  has 
been  sufficiently  confuted  by  our  church  histo- 
rians ;*  the  persons  concerned  in  the  conse- 
cration were  Barlow  and  Scory,  bishops  elect 
of  Chichester  and  Hereford  ;  Miles  Coverdale, 
the  deprived  bishop  of  Exeter,  and  Hodgkins, 
suffragan  of  Bedford  ;  the  two  former  appeared 
in  their  chimere  and  surplice,  but  the  two  latter 
■wore  long  gowns  open  at  the  arms,  with  a  fall- 
ing cape  on  the  shoulders ;  the  ceremony  was 
performed  in  a  plain  manner,  without  gloves  or 
sandals,  ring  or  slippers,  mitre  or  pall,  or  even 
without  any  of  the  Aaronical  garments,  only  by 
imposition  of  hands  and  prayer.  Strange!  that 
the  archbishop  should  be  satisfied  with  this  in 
his  own  case,  and  yet  be  so  zealous  to  impose 
the  popish  garments  upon  his  brethren. 

But  still  it  has  been  doubted  whether  Par- 
ker's consecration  was  perfectly  canonical. 

1st.  Because  the  persons  engaged  in  it  had 
been  legally  deprived  in  the  late  reign,  and  were 
nut  yet  restored.  To  which  it  was  answered, 
that  having  been  once  consecrated,  the  episcopal 
character  remained  in  them,  and  therefore  they 
miglit  convey  it ;  though  Coverdale  and  Hodg- 
kins never  exercised  it  after  this  time. 

2dly.  Because  the  consecration  ought  by  law 
to  have  been  directed  according  to  the  statute 
of  the  twenty-fifth  of  Henry  YUL,  and  not  ac- 
cording to  the  form  of  King  Edward's  Ordinal 
for  ordaining  and  consecrating  bishops,  inas- 
much as  that  book  had  been  set  aside  in  the 
late  reign,  and  was  not  yet  restored  by  Parlia- 
ment. 

These  objections  being  frequently  thrown  in 
the  way  of  the  new  bishops  by  the  papists,  made 
them  uneasy  ;  they  began  to  doubt  of  the  valid- 
ity of  their  consecrations,  or  at  least  of  their  le- 
gal title  to  their  bishoprics.  The  affair  was  at 
length  brought  before  Parliament,  and  to  silence 
all  future  clamours,  Parker's  consecration,  and 
those  of  bis  brethren,  were  confirmed  by  the 
two  houses,  about  seven  years  after  they  had 
filled  their  chairs. 

The  archbishop  was  installed  December  17, 
1559,  soon  after  which  he  consecrated  several 
of  his  brethren,  whom  the  queen  had  appointed 
to  the  vacant  sees,  as  Grindal  to  the  bishopric 
of  London,  Horn  to  Winchester,  and  Pilkington 
to  Durham,  &.c.     Thus  the  Reformation  was 


*  Life  of  Parker,  p.  38,  CO,  CI.  Voltaire,  though 
he  knew,  or,  as  a  liberal  writer  observes,  should  have 
known,  that  this  story  was  refuted  even  by  the  Puri- 
tans themselves,  lias  yet  related  it  as  a  fact.  It  was 
a  calumny,  to  which  the  custom  of  the  new-ordained 
bishops  furnishing  a  grand  dinner  or  entertainment 
gave  rise. —  Wendeborn's  View  of  England,  vol.  ii.,  p. 
300  —Ed. 


restored,  and  the  Church  of  England  settled  on 
its  present  basis.  The  new  bishops  being  poor, 
made  but  a  mean  figure  in  comparison  of  their 
predecessors :  they  were  unacquainted  with 
courts  and  equipages,  and  numerous  attend- 
ants ;  but  as  they  grew  rich,  they  quickly  rose 
in  their  deportfnent,  and  assumed  a  lordly  su- 
periority over  their  brethren. 

The  hierarchy  being  now  at  its  standard,  it  « 
may  not  be  improper  to  set  before  the  reader  in 
one  view  the  principles  upon  which  it  stands  ; 
with  the  different  sentiments  of  the  Puritans, 
by  which  he  will  discover  the  reasons  why  the 
Reformation  proceeded  no  farther  : 

1.  The  court-reformers  apprehended  that  every 
prince  had  authority  to  correct  all  abuses  of 
doctrine  and  worship  within  his  own  territories. 
From  this  principle,  the  Parliament  submitted 
the  consciences  and  religion  of  the  whole  na- 
tion to  the  disposal  of  the  king  ;  and  in  case  of 
a  minority,  to  his  council ;  so  that  tlie  king  was 
sole  reformer,  and  might,  by  commissioners  of 
his  own  appointment,  declare  and  remove,  all 
manner  of  errors,  heresies,  &c.,  and  model  the 
doctrine  and  discipline  of  the  Church  as  he 
pleased,  provided  his  injunctions  did  not  ex- 
pressly contradict  the  statute  law  of  the  land. 

Thus  the  Reformation  took  place  in  sundry 
material  points  in  the  reigns  of  King  Edward 
VL  and  Queen  Elizabeth,  before  it  had  the 
sanction  of  Parliament  or  convocation ;  and 
though  Queen  Mary  disallowed  of  the  suprema- 
cy, she  made  use  of  it  to  restore  the  old  reli- 
gion, before  the  laws  for  abolishing  it  were  re- 
pealed. Hence,  also,  they  indulged  the  foreign 
Protestants  with  the  liberty  of  their  separate 
discipline,  which  they  denied  to  their  own  coun- 
trymen. 

The  Puritans  disowned  all  foreign  authority 
and  jurisdiction  over  the  Church  as  much  as 
their  brethren,  but  could  not  adnjit  of  that  ex- 
tensive power  which  the  crown  claimed  by  the 
supremacy,  apprehending  it  unreasonable  that 
the  religion  of  a  whole  nation  should  be  at  the 
disposal  of  a  single  lay  person  ;  for  let  the  apos- 
tle's rule,  "  that  all  things  be  done  decently  and 
in  order,"  mean  what  it  will,  it  was  not  direct- 
ed to  the  prince  or  civil  magistrate.  However, 
they  took  the  oath,  with  the  queen's  explication 
in  her  injunctions,  as  only  restoring  her  majes- 
ty to  the  ancient  and  natural  rights  of  sovereign 
princes  over  their  subjects. 

2.  It  was  admitted  by  the  court-reformers 
that  the  Church  of  Rome  was  a  true  church, 
though  corrupt  in  some  points  of  doctrine  and 
government ;  that  aM  her  ministrations  were 
valid,  and  that  the  pope  was  a  true  Bishop  of 
Rome,  though  not  of  the  universal  Church.  It 
was  thought  necessary  to  maintain  this,  for  the 
support  of  the  character  of  our  bishops,  who 
could  not  otherwise  derive  their  succession 
from  the  apostles. 

But  the  Puritans  affirmed  the  pope  to  be  an- 
tichrist, the  Church  of  Rome  to  be  no  true 
church,  and  all  her  ministrations  to  be  super- 
stitious and  idolatrous ;  they  renounced  her 
communion,  and  durst  not  risk  the  validity  of 
their  ordinations  upon  an  uninterrupted  line 
of  succession  from  the  apostles  through  their 
hands. 

3.  It  was  agreed  by  all  that  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures were  a  perfect  rule  of  faith  ;  but  the  bish- 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURFTANS. 


79 


ops  and  court-reformers  did  not  allow  them  a 
standard  of  discipline  or  chuicli  government, 
but  affiimed  that  our  Saviour  and  his  apostles 
left  It  to  the  discretion  of  the  civil  magistrate, 
in  those  places  where  Christianity  sliould  ob- 
tain, to  accommodate  the  government  of  the 
Church  to  the  policy  of  the  state. 

But  the  Puritans  apprehended  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures to  be  a  standard  of  church  discipline,  as 
well  as  doctrine  ;  at  least,  that  nothing  should 
be  imposed  as  necessary  but  wliat  vvas  express- 
ly contained  in,  or  derived  from  them  by  neces- 
sary consequence.  And  if  it  should  be  proved 
that  all  things  necessary  to  the  well  govern- 
ment of  the  Church  could  not  be  deduced  from 
Holy  Scripture,  they  maintained  that  the  dis- 
cretionary power  was  not  vested  in  the  civil 
magistrate,  but  in  the  spiritual  officers  of  the 
Church. 

4.  The  court-reformers  maintained  that  the 
practice  of  the  primitive  Church  for  the  first 
four  or  five  centuries  vvas  a  proper  standard  of 
church  government  and  discipline,  and  in  some 
respects  better  than  that  of  the  apostles,  which, 
according  to  them,  was  only  accommodated  to 
the  infant  state  of  the  Church  while  it  was  un- 
der persecution,  whereas  theirs  was  suited  to  the 
grandeur  of  a  national  establishment.  There- 
lore  they  only  pared  otf  the  later  corruptions  of 
the  papacy,  from  the  time  the  pope  usurped  the 
title  of  universal  bishop,  and  left  those  standing 
which  they  could  trace  a  little  higher,  such  as 
archbishops,  metropolitans,  archdeacons,  suf- 
fragans, rural  deans,  &c.,  which  were  not  known 
ill  the  apostolic  age,  or  those  immediately  fol- 
lowing. 

Whereas  the  Puritans  were  for  keeping 
close  to  the  Scriptures  in  the  main  principles 
of  church  government,  and  for  admitting  no 
church  officers  or  ordinances  but  such  as  are 
appointed  therein.  They  apprehended  that  the 
form  of  government  ordained  by  the  apostles 
was  aristocratical,  according  to  the  constitution 
of  the  Jewish  sanhedrim,  and  vvas  designed  as 
a  pattern  for  the  churches  in  after  ages,  not  to 
be  departed  from  in  any  of  its  main  principles  ; 
and,  therefore,  they  paid  no  regard  to  the  cus- 
toms of  the  papacy,  or  the  practices  of  the  ear- 
lier ages  of  Christianity,  any  farther  than  they 
corresponded  with  the  Scriptures. 

ft.  Our  Reformers  maintained  that  things  in- 
different in  their  own  nature,  which  are  neither 
commanded  nor  forbidden  in  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, such  as  rites,  ceremonies,  habits,  &c., 
might  be  settled,  determined,  and  made  neces- 
sary by  the  command  of  the  civil  magistrate ; 
and  that  in  such  cases  it  was  the  indispensable 
duty  of  all  subjects  to  observe  them. 

But  the  Puritans  insisted  that  those  things 
which  Christ  had  left  indifferent  ought  not  to 
be  made  necessary  by  any  human  laws,  but 
that  we  are  to  stand  fast  in  the  liberty  where- 
with Christ  has  made  us  free  ;  and  farther,  that 
such  rites  and  ceremonies  as  had  been  abused 
to  idolatry,  and  manifestly  tended  to  lead  men 
back  to  popery  and  superstition,  were  no  longer 
indifferent,  but  to  be  rejected  as  unlawful. 

6.  Both  parties  agreed  too  well  in  asserting 
the  necessiiy  of  a  uuilormity  of  public  wo  shij), 
and  of  using  the  sword  of  tlie  magistrate  for  the 
support  and  defence  of  their  respective  princi- 
ples, which  they  made  an  ill  use  of  in  their  turns 


whenever  they  could  grasp  the  power  into  their 
hands.  The  standard  of  uniformity,  according 
to  the  bishops,  was  the  queen's  supremacy  and 
the  laws  of  the  land ;  according  to  the  Puritans, 
the  decrees  of  provincial  and  national  synods 
allowed  and  enforced  by  the  civil  magistrate  ; 
but  neither  party  were  for  admitting  that  liberty 
of  conscience  and  freedom  of  profession  which 
is  every  man's  right,  as  far  as  is  consistent 
with  the  peace  of  the  civil  government  he  lives 
under. 

The  principle  upon  which  the  bishops  justi- 
fied their  severities  against  the  Puritans,  in  this 
and  the  following  reigns,  was  the  subjects'  ob- 
ligation to  obey  the  laws  of  their  country  in  all 
things  indifferent,  which  are  neither  command- 
ed nor  forbidden  by  the  laws  of  God.  And  the 
excellent  Archbishop  Tdlotson,  in  one  of  his 
sermons,  represents  the  dissenters  as  a  humor- 
ous and  perverse  set  of  people,  in  not  complying 
with  the  service  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church, 
for  no  other  reason,  says  he,  but  because  their 
superiors  require  them.  But  if  this  were  true, 
it  IS  a  justifiable  reason  for  their  dissent,  sup- 
posing the  magistrate  requires  that  which  is 
not  within  the  bounds  of  his  commission. 
Christ,  say  the  Nonconformists,  is  the  sole  law- 
giver of  his  Church,  and  has  enjoined  all  things 
necessary  to  be  observed  in  it  to  the  end  of 
the  world  ;  therefore,  where  he  has  indulged  a 
liberty  to  his  followers,  it  is  as  much  their  duty 
to  maintain  it  as  to  observe  any  other  of  his 
precepts.  If  the  civil  magistrate  should,  by  a 
stretch  of  the  prerogative,  dispense  with  the 
laws  of  his  country,  or  enjoin  new  ones,  ac- 
cording to  his  arbitrary  will  and  pleasure,  with- 
out consent  of  Parliament,  would  it  deserve 
the  brand  of  humour  or  perverseness  to  refuse 
obedience,  if  it  were  for  no  other  reason,  but  be- 
cause we  will  not  submit  to  an  arbitrary  dis- 
pensing power  1  Besides,  if  the  magistrate  has 
a  power  to  impose  things  indifferent,  and  make 
tiiem  necessary  in  the  service  of  God,  he  may 
dress  up  religion  in  any  sh^pe,  and,  instead  of 
one  ceremony,  may  load  it  with  a  hundred. 

To  return  to  the  history.  The  Reformatioa 
being  thus  settled,  the  queen  gave  out  commis- 
sions for  a  general  visitation,  and  published  a 
body  of  injunctions,  consisting  of  fifty-three 
articles,  commanding  her  loving  subjects  obe- 
diently to  receive,  and  truly  to  observe  and 
keep  th<3m,  according  to  their  offices,  degrees, 
and  .states.  They  are  almost  the  same  with, 
those  of  King  Edward.  I  shall,  therefore,  only- 
give  the  reader  an  abstract  of  such  as  we  may 
have  occasion  to  refer  to  hereafter. 

Article  1 .  "  All  ecclesiastical  persons  shall  see 
that  the  act  of  supremacy  be  duly  observed,  and 
shall  preach  four  times  a  year  against  yielding 
obedience  to  any  foreign  jurisdiction.  2.  They 
shall  not  set  forth  or  extol  the  dignity  of  any 
images,  relics,  of  mirafcles,  but  shall  declare  the 
abuses  of  the  same,  and  that  all  grace  is  from 
God.  3.  Parsons  shall  preach  once  every  month 
upon  works  of  faith,  mercy,  and  charity,  com- 
manded by  God ;  and  shall  inform  the  people 
that  works  of  man's  devising,  such  as  pilgrim- 
ages, setting  up  of  candles,  praying  upon  beads, 
&c.,  are  offensive  to  God.  4.  Parsons  having 
cure  of  souls  shall  preach  in  person  once  a 
quarter  at  least,  or  else  read  one  of  the  homilies 
prescribed  by  the  queen  to  be  read  every  Sua- 


80 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


day  in  the  churches  where  there  is  no  sermon. 
6.  Every  holjtlay,  when  there  is  no  sermon, 
they  shall  recite  from  the  pulpit  the  Paternos- 
ter, Creed,  and  Ten  Commandments.  6.  With- 
in three  months  every  paiisli  shall  provide  a 
Bible,  and  within  twelve  months  Erasmus's 
Paraphrase  upon  the  Gospels  in  English,  and 
set  tliem  up  in  their  several  churches.  7.  The 
clergy  shaU  not  haunt  ale-houses  or  taverns,  or 
spend  their  time  idly  at  dice,  cards,  tables,  or 
any  other  unlawful  game.  8.  None  shall  be 
admitted  to  preach  in  churches  without  license 
from  the  queen  or  her  visiters,  or  from  the 
archbishop  or  bishop  of  the  diocess.  16.  All 
parsons  under  the  degree  of  M.A.  shall  buy 
for  their  own  use  the  New  Testament  in  Latin 
and  English,  with  paraphrases,  within  three 
months  after  this  visitation.  17.  They  shall 
learn  out  of  the  Scriptures  some  comfortable 
sentences  for  the  sick.  18.  There  shall  be  no 
popish  processions ;  nor  shall  any  persons  walk 
about  the  church,  or  depart  out  of  it,  while  the 
priest  is  reading  the  Scriptures.  19.  Never- 
theless, the  perambulation  of  parishes  or  pro- 
cessions with  the  curates  shall  continue,  who 
shall  make  a  suitable  exhortation.  20.  Holy- 
days  shall  be  strictly  observed,  except  in  har- 
vest-time, after  Divine  service.  21.  Curates 
may  not  admit  to  the  holy  communion  persons 
that  live  openly  in  sin  without  repentance,  or 
that  are  at  variance  with  their  neighbours,  till 
they  are  reconciled.  22.  Curates,  &,c.,  shall 
teach  the  people  not  obstinately  to  violate  the 
laudable  ceremonies  of  the  Church.  23.  Also, 
they  shall  take  away,  utterly  extinguish,  and 
•destroy  all  shrines,  coverings  of  shrines;  all 
tables,  candlesticks,  trindals,  and  rolls  of  wax, 
pictures,  paintings,  and  all  other  monuments  of 
feigned  miracles,  pilgrimages,  idolatry,  and  su- 
perstition, so  that  there  remain  no  memory  of 
the  same  in  walls,  glass  windows,  or  else- 
where, within  their  churches  and  houses  ;  pre- 
serving, nevertheless,  or  repairing,  both  the 
■walls  and  glass  windows  ;  and  they  shall  ex- 
hort all  their  parisftioners  to  do  the  like  in  their 
several  houses.  28.  Due  reverence  shall  be 
paid  to  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel.  29.  No 
priest  or  deacon  shall  marry  without  allowajice 
of  the  bishop  of  his  diocess,  and  two  justices  of 
the  peace  ;  nor  without  consent  of  the  parents 
of  the  woman  (if  she  have  any),  or  others  that 
are  nearest  of  kin,  upon  penalty  of  being  inca- 
pable of  holding  any  ecclesiastical  promotion, 
or  ministering  in  the  Word  and  sacraments. 
Nor  shall  bishops  marry  without  allowance  of 
their  metropolitan,  and  such  commissioners  as 
the  queen  shall  appoint.  30.  All  archbishops 
and  bishops,  and  all  that  preach  and  administer 
the  sacraments,  or  that  shall  be  admitted  into 
any  ecclesiastical  vocation,  or  into  either  of  the 
universities,  shall  wear  such  garments  and 
square  caps  as  were  worn  in  the  latter  end  of 
the  reign  of  King  Edward  VI.  33.  No  person 
shall  absent  from  his  parish  church,  and  resort 
to  another,  but  upon  an  extraordinary  occasion. 

34.  No  innholders  or  public-houses  shall  sell 
meat  or  drink  in  the  time  of  Divine  service. 

35.  None  shall  keep  in  their  houses  any  abused 
images,  tables,  pictures,  paintings,  and  monu- 
ments of  feigned  miracles.  36.  No  man  shall 
disturb  the  minister  in  his  sermon,  nor  mock 
or  make  a  jest  of  him.    37.  No  man,  woman, 


or  child  shall  be  otherwise  busied  in  time  of 
Divine  service,  but  shall  give  due  attendance  to 
what  is  read  and  preached.  40.  No  person 
shall  teach  school  but  such  as  are  allowed  by 
the  ordinary.  41.  Schoolmasters  shall  exhort 
their  children  to  love  and  reverence  the  true 
religion  now  allowed  by  authority.  42.  They 
shall  teach  their  scholars  certain  sentences  of 
Scripture  tending  to  godliness.  43.  None  shall 
be  admitted  to  any  spiritual  cure  that  are  ut- 
terly unlearned.  44.  The  parson  or  curate  of 
the  parish  shall  instruct  the  children  of  his 
parish  for  half  an  hour  before  evening  prayer 
on  every  holyday  and  second  Sunday  in  the 
year,  in  the  catechism,  and  shall  teach  them 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  Creed,  and  Ten  Command- 
ments. 45.  All  the  ordinaries  shall  exhibit  to 
the  visiters  a  copy  of  the  book  containing  the 
causes  why  any  have  been  imprisoned,  famish- 
ed, or  put  to  death  for  religion  in  the  late  reign. 
46.  Overseers  in  every  parish  shall  see  that  all 
the  parishioners  duly  resort  to  church,  and  shall 
present  defaulters  to  the  ordinary.  47.  Church- 
wardens shall  deliver  to  the  queen's  visiters  an 
inventory  of  all  their  church  furniture,  as  vest- 
ments, copes,  plate,  books,  and  especially  of 
grayles,  couchers,  legends,  processionals,  man- 
uals, hymnals,  portuesses,  and  such  like,apper- 
taining  to  the  Church.  48.  The  litany  and  pray- 
ers shall  be  read  weekly,  on  Wednesdays  and 
Fridays.  49.  Singing-men  shall  be  continued 
and  maintained  in  collegiate  churches,  and 
there  shall  be  a  modest  and  distinct  song  so 
used  in  all  parts  of  the  common  prayers  in  the 
Church,  that  the  same  may  be  as  plainly  under- 
stood as  if  it  were  read  without  singing  ;  and 
yet,  nevertheless,  for  the  comforting  such  aa 
delight  in  music,  it  may  be  permitted  that,  in 
the  beginning  or  end  of  the  common  prayer, 
there  may  be  sung  a  hymn,  or  such-like  song, 
in  the  best  sort  of  melody  and  music  that  may 
be  conveniently  devised,  having  respect  that 
the  sentences  of  the  hymn  may  be  understood 
and  perceived.  50.  There  shall  be  no  vain  and 
contentious  disputes  in  matters  of  religion  ; 
nor  the  use  of  opprobrious  words,  as  papist,  pa- 
pistical, heretic,  schismatic,  or  sacramentary. 
Offenders  to  be  remitted  to  the  ordinary.  51. 
No  book  or  pamphlet  shall  be  printed  or  made 
pubhc  without  license  from  the  queen,  or  six  of 
her  privy  council,  or  her  ecclesiastical  commis- 
sioners, or  from  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury 
and  York,  the  Bishop  of  London,  the  chancel- 
lors of  both  universities,  the  bishop  being  or- 
dinary, and  the  archdeacon  also  of  the  place, 
where  any  such  book  shall  be  printed,  or  two 
of  them,  whereof  the  ordinary  to  be  always  one : 
the  names  of  the  licensers  to  be  printed  at  the 
end.  Ancient  and  profane  authors  are  except- 
ed. 52.  In  time  of  reading  the  litany,  and  all 
other  collects  and  common  prayer,  all  the  peo- 
ple shall  devoutly  kneel ;  and  when  the  name 
of  Jesus  shall  be  in  any  lesson,  sermon,  or 
otherways  pronounced  in  the  church,  due  rev- 
erence shall  be  made  of  all  persons  with  low- 
ness  of  courtesy,  and  uncovering  the  heads  of 
the  men,  as  has  been  heretofore  accustomed." 

These  injunctions  were  to  be  read  in  the 
churches  once  every  quarter  of  a  year. 

An  appendix  was  added,  containing  one  form 
of  bidding  prayer  ;  and  an  order  relating  to  ta- 
bles in  churches,  which  enjoins  "  that  no  altar 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


81 


be  taken  down  but  by  oversight  of  the  curate 
and  church-wardens,  or  one  of  tluem  at  least, 
wherein  no  riotous  or  disorderly  manner  shall 
oe'used  ;  and  that  the  holy  table  in  every  church 
be  decently  made,  and  set  in  the  place  where 
the  altar  stood,  and  there  to  stand  covered,  sa- 
ving when  the  sacrament  is  to  be  administered  ; 
at  which  time  it  shall  be  so  placed  within  the 
chancel,  as  thereby  the  minister  may  be  more 
conveniently  heard  of  the  communicants,  and 
the  communicants  also  more  conveniently,  and 
in  more  numbers,  communicate  with  the  said 
minister  ;  and  after  the  communion  done,  the 
holy  table  shall  be  placed  where  it  stood  before." 

The  penalties  for  disobeying  these  injunc- 
tions were,  suspension,  deprivations,  sequestra- 
tion of  fruits  and  benefices,  excommunication, 
and  such  other  corrections  as  to  those  who  have 
ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  under  her  majesty 
should  seem  meet. 

The  major  part  of  the  visiters  were  laymen, 
any  two  of  whom  were  empowered  to  examine 
into  the  true  state  of  all  churches  ;  to  suspend 
or  deprive  such  clergymen  as  were  unworthy, 
and  to  put  others  in  their  places  ;*  to  proceed 
against  the  obstinate  by  imprisonment,  church 
censures,  or  any  other  legal  methods.  They 
were  to  reserve  pensions  for  such  as  quitted 
their  benefices  by  resignation  ;  to  examine  into 
the  condition  of  all  that  were  imprisoned  on  the 
account  of  religion,  and  to  discharge  them  ;  and 
to  restore  all  such  to  their  benefices  who  had 
been  unlawfully  deprived  in  the  late  times. 

This  was  the  first  high  commission,  which 
was  issued  about  midsummer,  1559.  It  gave 
otTence  to  many,  that  the  queen  should  give 
lay-visiters  authority  to  proceed  by  ecclesiasti- 
cal censures  ;  but  this  was  no  more  than  is  fre- 
quently done  by  lay-chancellors  in  the  ecclesi- 
astical courts. t  It  was  much  more  unjustifia- 
ble for  the  commissioners  to  go  beyond  the  cen- 
sures of  the  Church,  by  fines,  imprisonments, 
and  inquisitory  oaths,  to  the  ruin  of  some  hun- 
dreds of  families,  without  the  authority  of  that 
statute  which  gave  them  being,  or  any  other. 

Mr.  Strype  assures  us  that  the  visiters  took 
effectual  care  to  have  all  the  instruments  and 
utensils  of  idolatry  and  superstition  demolished 
and  destroyed  out  of  the  churches  where  God's 
pure  service  was  to  be  performed ;  such  as  roods, 
i.  e.,  images  of  Christ  upon  the  cross,  with  Mary 
and  John  standing  by  ;  also  images  of  tutelary 
saints  of  the  churches  that  were  dedicated  to 
them,  popish  books,  altars,  and  the  like.  But 
it  does  not  appear  that  either  the  second  or 
twenty^third  article  of  injunctions  empowered 
them  absolutely  to  remove  all  images  out  of 
churches  ;  the  queen  herself  was  as  yet  unde- 
termined in  that  matter.?  Bishop  Jewel,  in  his 
letter  to  Peter  Martyr,  February  4th,  1560,  says 
there  was  to  be  a  conference  about  the  lawful- 
ness of  images  in  churches  the  day  following,  be- 
tween Parker  and  Cox,  who  were  for  them,  and 
himself  and  Grindal,  who  were  against  them  ; 
and  if  they  prevail,  says  he,  I  will  be  no  longer  a 
bishop.^  However,  it  is  certain  that  the  visit- 
ers commanded  the  prebendaries  and  archdea- 

»  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  400. 
1  This,  Dr.  Warner  observes,  was  justifying  one 
absse  by  another. — Ed. 

J  Hist.  Ref,  vol.  iii.,  p.  290. 
4  Pierce's  Vind.,  p.  38. 
Vol..  I.— L 


con  of  London  to  see  that  the  Cathedral  Church 
of  St.  Paul's  be  purged  and  freed  from  all  and 
singular  images,  idols,  and  altars  ;  and  in  the 
place  of  the  altars,  to  provide  a  decent  table  for 
the  ordinary  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  ; 
and,  accordingly,  the  roods  and  high  altar  were 
taken  away.* 

The  populace  was  on  the  side  of  the  Refor- 
mation,! having  been  provoked  with  the  cruel- 
ties of  the  late  times  :  great  numbers  attended 
the  commissioners,  and  brought  into  Cheapside, 
Paul's  Churchyard,  and  Smithfield,  the  roods 
and  crucifixes  that  were  taken  down,  and  in 
some  places  the  vestments  of  the  priests,  copes, 
surplices,  alter-cloths,  books,  banners,  sepul- 
chres, and  burned  them  to  ashes,  as  it  were,  to 
make  atonement  for  the  blood  of  the  martyrs 
which  had  been  shed  there.  Nay,  they  went 
farther,  and  in  their  furious  zeal  broke  the  paint- 
ed glass  windows,  rased  out  some  ancient  in- 
scriptions, and  spoiled  those  monuments  of  the 
dead  that  had  any  ensigns  of  popery  upon  them. 
"  The  divines  of  this  time,"  says  Mr.  Strype, 
"  could  have  been  content  to  have  been  without 
all  relics  and  ceremonies  of  the  Romish  Church, 
that  there  might  not  be  the  least  compliance 
with  popish  devotions."  And  it  had  not  been 
the  worse  for  the  Church  of  England  if  their 
successors  had  been  of  the  same  mind. 

But  the  queen  disliked  these  proceedings  :t 
she  had  a  crucifix,  with  the  blessed  Virgin  and 
St.  John,  still  in  her  chapel ;  and  when  Sandys, 
bishop  of  Worcester,  spoke  to  her  against  it, 
she  threatened  to  deprive  him.  The  crucifix 
was  after  some  time  removed,  but  replaced  in 
1570.  To  put  some  stop  to  these  proceedings, 
her  majesty  issued  out  a  proclamation,  dated 
September  19th,  in  the  second  year  of  her  reign, 
prohibiting  "  the  defacing  or  breaking  any  par- 
cel of  any  monument,  tomb,  or  grave,  or  other 
inscription,  in  memory  of  any  person  deceased, 
or  breaking  any  images  of  kings,  princes,  or  no- 
bles, &c.,  set  up  only  in  memory  of  them  to 
posterity,  and  not  for  any  religious  honour  ;  or 
the  defacing  or  breaking  any  images  in  glass 
windows  in  any  churches,  without  consent  of 
the  ordinary."  It  was  with  great  difficulty,  and 
not  without  a  sort  of  protestation  from  the  bish- 
ops, that  her  majesty  consented  to  have  so 
many  monuments  of  idolatry  as  are  mentioned 

*  Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  i.,  p.  175. 

t  The  following  anecdotes  mark  the  strong  dispo- 
sition of  the  people' towards  a  reformation,  and  are 
pleasing  specimens  of  the  skill  and  ingenuity  with 
which  Queen  Elizabeth  knew  how  to  suit  herself  to 
their  wishes.  On  her  releasing  the  prisoners,  con- 
fined in  the  former  reign  on  account  of  reUgion,  one 
Rainsford  told  the  queen  that  he  had  a  petition  to 
present  to  her,  in  behalf  of  other  prisoners,  called 
Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and  John.  She  readily  re- 
plied that  she  must  first  consult  the  prisoners  them- 
selves, and  learn  of  them  whether  they  desired  that 
liberty  which  he  had  asked  for  them.  At  the  time 
of  her  coronation,  from  one  of  the  principal  arches 
through  which  she  was  conducted,  a  boy  personating 
Truth  was  let  down,  and  presented  her  with  a  Bible. 
She  received  it  on  her  knees,  kissed  it,  and  placing 
it  in  her  bosom,  said,  "  she  preferred  that  above  all 
other  presents  that  were  on  that  day  made  her." — 
History  of  Knotvledge  in  the  New  Annual  Register  for 
1789,  p.  4 ;  and  Burnet's  History  of  the  Reformation, 
abridged,  8vo,  p.  344. — Ed. 

t  Hist.  Ref ,  vol.  iii.,  p.  291.  Life  of  Parker,  p.  46, 
310.     Strype's  Annals,  vol.  i.,  p.  175, 176. 


83 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


in  her  twenty-third  injunction  removed  out  of 
churches  ;  but  she  would  not  part  with  her  altar, 
or  her  crucifix,  nor  with  lighted  candles,  out  of 
her  own  chapel.  The  gentlemen  and  singing 
children  appeared  there  in  their  surplices,  and 
the  priests  in  their  copes  :  the  altar  was  fur- 
nished with  rich  plate,  and  two  gilt  candlesticks, 
with  lighted  candles,  and  a  massy  crucifix  of 
silver  in  the  midst :  the  service  was  sung,  not 
only  with  the  sound  of  organs,  but  with  the  ar- 
tificial music  of  coronets,  sackbuts,  &c.,  on  sol- 
emn festivals.  The  ceremonies  observed  by  the 
knights  of  the  garter  in  their  adoration  towards 
the  altar,  which  had  been  abolished  by  King  Ed- 
vv'ard,  and  revived  by  Queen  Mary,  were  retain- 
ed. In  short,  the  service  performed  in  the 
queen's  chapel,  and  in  sundry  cathedrals,  was 
so  splendid  and  showy,  that  foreigners  could 
not  distinguish  it  from  the  Roman,  except  that 
it  was  performed  in  the  English  tongue.  By 
this  method,  most  of  the  popish  laity  were  de- 
ceived into  conformity,  and  came  regularly  to 
Church  for  nine  or  ten  years,  till  the  pope,  being 
out  of  all  hopes  of  an  accommodation,  forbid 
them,  by  excommunicating  the  queen,  and  lay- 
ing the  whole  kingdom  under  an  interdict. 

When  the  visiters  had  gone  through  the  king- 
dom, and  made  their  report  of  the  obedience 
given  her  majesty's  laws  and  injunctions,  it  ap- 
peared that  not  above  two  hundred  and  forty- 
three  clergymen  had  quitted  their  livings,  viz., 
fourteen  bishops,  and  three  bishops  elect ;  one 
abbot,  four  priors,  one  abbess,  twelve  deans, 
fourteen  archdeacons,  sixty  canons  or  preben- 
daries, one  hundred  beneficed  clergy,  fifteen 
heads  of  colleges  in  Oxford  and  Cambridge  ;  to 
which  may  be  added  about  twenty  doctors  in 
several  faculties.  In  one  of  the  volumes  in  the 
Cotton  library,  the  number  is  one  hundred  and 
ninety-two  ;  D'Ew's  Journal  mentions  but  one 
hundred  and  seventy-seven  ;  Bishop  Burnet  one 
hundred  and  ninety.-nine ;  but  Camden  and  Car- 
dinal Allen  reckon  as  above.  Most  of  the  infe- 
rior beneficed  clergy  kept  their  places,  as  they 
had  done  through  all  the  changes  of  the  three 
last  reigns,*  and,  without   all  question,  if  the 

*  "  The  number  of  clergy  who  lost  their  preferments 
by  refusing  this  oatli  was  much  smaller  than  might 
have  been  expected.  Strype  gives  the  following  hst, 
ibid.,  106. 

Bishops H 

Deans 13 

Archdeacons 14 

Heads  of  colleges 15 

Prebendaries 50 

Rectors  of  churches        .        .        .        .80 
Abbots,  Priors,  and  Abbesses,         .        .    6 

In  all,  392 

Burnet  makes  the  number  of  deans  12,  and  of  arch- 
deacons the  same.  In  the  other  items  of  this  list  he 
agrees  with  Strype. — Burnetts  Reform.,  vol.  ii.,  620. 
Collier  makes  the  whole  number  to  be  about  250. — 
JUcclcs.  Hist.,  vol.  ii.,  431.  The  compliance  of  the 
Catholic  clergy  on  this  occasion  shows  the  futility  of 
tests,  however  cautiously  worded,  as  a  means  of  se- 
curing uniformity  of  doctrine.  They  may  drive  the 
conscientious  from  the  service  of  the  sanctuary,  but 
will  never  eject  the  formahst  and  hypocrite.  Ifow 
much  more  noble  and  Christian-like  was  the  conduct 
of  the  Nonconformists  under  Charles  the  Second, 
two  thousand  of  whom  resigned  their  livings  rather 
than  burden  tneir  conscience  by  an  unprincipled  sub- 
scription I  It  was  remarlied  with  equal  truth  and 
wisdom  by  Bishop  Shipley,  in  the  debate  on  the  Dis- 


queen  had  died,  and  the  old  religion  had  beea 
restored,  they  would  have  turned  again  ;  but  tho 
bishops  and  some  of  the  dignified  clergy  having 
sworn  to  the  supremacy  under  King  Henry,  and 
renounced  it  again  under  Queen  Mary,  they 
thought  it  might  reflect  a  dishonour  upon  theii 
character  to  change  again,  and  therefore  they 
resolved  to  hold  together,  and  by  their  weight 
endeavour  to  distress  the  Reformation.  Upon 
so  great  an  alteration  of  religion  the  number  of 
recusants  out  of  nine  thousand  four  hundred 
parochial  benefices  was  inconsiderable ;  and  yet 
it  was  impossible  to  find  Protestants  of  a  toler- 
able capacity  to  supply  the  vacancies,  because 
many  of  the  stricter  sort,  who  had  been  exiles 
for  religion,  could  not  come  up  to  the  terms  of 
conformity  and  the  queen's  injunctions.* 

It  may  seem  strange  that,  amid  all  this  con- 
cern for  the  new  form  of  worship,  no  notice 
should  be  taken  of  the  doctrinal  articles  which. 
King  Edward  had  published  for  avoiding  diversi- 
ties of  opinions,  though  her  majesty  might  have 
enjoined  them,  by  virtue  of  her  supremacy  un- 
der the  great  seal,  as  well  as  her  brother ;  but 
the  bishops  durst  not  venture  them  into  convo- 
cation, because  the  majority  were  for  the  old 
religion,  and  the  queen  was  not  very  fond  of  her 
brother's  doctrines.  To  supply  this  defect  for 
the  present,  the  bishops  drew  up  a  declaration 
of  their  faith, t  which  all  churchmen  were  obliged 
to  read  publicly  at  their  entrance  upon  their 
cures. 

These  were  the  terms  of  ministerial  conform- 
ity at  this  time  :  the  oath  of  supremacy,  com- 
pliance with  the  act  of  uniformity,  and  this  deo 
laration  of  faith.  There  was  no  dispute  among 
the  Reformers  about  the  first  and  last  of  these 
qualifications,  but  they  differed  upon  the  second ; 
many  of  the  learned  exiles  and  others  refusing 
to  accept  of  livings  in  the  Church  according  to 
the  act  of  uniformity  and  the  queen's  injunc- 
tions. If  the  popish  habits  and  ceremonies  had 
been  left  indifferent,  or  other  decent  ones  ap- 
pointed in  their  room,  the  seeds  of  division  had 
been  prevented  ;  but  as  the  case  stood,  it  was 
next  to  a  miracle  that  the  Reformation  had  not 
fallen  back  into  the  hands  of  the  papists  ;  and 
if  some  of  the  Puritans  had  not  complied  fur  the 
present,  in  hopes  of  the  removal  of  these  grieir- 
ances  in  more  settled  times,  this  would  have 
been  the  sad  consequence,  for  it  was  impossi- 
ble, with  all  the  assistance  they  could  get  from 
both  universities,  to  fill  up  the  parochial  vacan- 
cies with  men  of  learning  and  character.  Many 
churches  were  disfurnished  for  a  considerable 
time,  and  not  a  few  mechanics,  altogether  as 
unlearned  as  the  most  remarkable  of  those  that 
were  ejected,  were  preferred  to  dignities  and 
livings,  who,  being  disregarded  by  the  people, 
brought  great  discredit  on  the  Reformation, 
while  others  of  the  first  rank  for  learning,  piety, 
and  usefulness  in  their  functions,  were  laid  by 
in  silence.     There  was  little  or  no  preaching 

senters'  Relief  Bill,  in  1779,  '  I  am  not  afraid  of  those 
tender  and  scrupulous  consciences  who  are  over  cau- 
tious of  professing  and  beheving  too  much ;  if  they 
are  sincerely  in  the  wrong,  I  forgive  their  errors,  and 
respect  their  integrity.  The  men  1  am  afraid  of  are 
the  men  whobebeve  everything,  who  subscribe  every- 
thing, and  who  vote  for  everything.'  "—Pari.  History 
— C.  *  Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  i.,  p.  72,  73. 

t  See  this  declaration,  Appendix  No.  I. 


I 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


all  over  the  country  ;  the  Bishop  of  Bangor 
writes  that  "  he  had  but  two  preachers  in  all  his 
diocess."*  It  was  enough  if  the  parson  could 
read  the  service,  and  sometimes  a  homily.  The 
bishops  were  sensible  of  the  calamity  ;  but  in- 
stead of  opening  the  door  a  little  wider,  to  let  in 
some  of  the  more  conscientious  and  zealous 
Reformers,  they  admitted  the  meanest  and  most 
illiterate  who  would  come  up  to  the  terms  of  the 
laws,  and  published  a  second  book  of  homilies 
for  their  farther  assistance. 

It  is  hard  to  say,  at  this  distance  of  time,  how 
far  the  bishops  were  to  blame  for  their  servile 
and  abject  compliance  with  the  queen  ;  yet  one 
is  ready  to  think  that  those  who  had  drunk  so 
deep  of  the  cup  of  persecution,  and  had  seen 
the  dreadful  effects  of  it  in  the  fiery  trial  of  their 
brethren  the  martyrs,  should  have  insisted  as 
one  man  upon  a  latitude  for  their  conscientious 
brethren   in   points   of  indifference ;    whereas 
their  zeal  ran  in  a  quite  different  channel ;  for 
when  the  spiritual  sword  was  put  into  their 
hands,  they  were  too  forward  in  brandishing  it 
over  the  heads  of  others,  and  even  to  outrun  the 
laws,  by  suspending,  depriving,  fining,  and  im- 
prisoning men  of  true  learning  and  piety,  popu- 
lar preachers  declared  enemies  of  popery  and 
superstition,  and  of  the  same  faith  with  them- 
selves, who  were  fearful  of  a  sinful  compliance 
with  things  that  had  been  abused  to  idolatry. 

All  the  exiles  were  now  come  home,  except  a 
few  of  the  Puritan  stamp  that  stayed  at  Geneva 
to  finish  their  translation  of  the  Bible,  begun  in 
•he  late  reign.    The  persons  concerned  in  it  were 
■vliles  Coverdale,  Christ.  Goodman,  John  Knox, 
nt.  Gibbs,  Thomas  Sampson,  William  Cole,  of 
-pus  Christi  College,  Oxon,  and  William  Whit- 
ham  :  they  compared  Tyndal's  old  English 
.e  first  with  the  Hebrew,  and  then  with  the 
I  modern  translations ;  they  divided  the  chap- 
■\^rs  into  verses,  which  the  former  translators 
uctd  not  done  ;  they  added  some  figures,  maps, 
aud  tables,  and  published  the  whole  in  1560,  at 
Geneva,  in  quarto,  printed  by  Rowland  Harle, 
with  a  dedication  to  the  queen,  and  an  epistle  to 
the  reader,  dated  April  10th,  which  are  left  out 
in  the  later  editions,  because  they  touched  some- 
what severely  upon  certain  ceremonies  retained 
in  the  Church  of  England,  which  they  excited 
her  majesty  to  remove,  as  having  a  popish  as- 
pect ;  and  because  the  translators  had  published 
marginal  notes,  some  of  which  were  thought  to 
affect  the  queen's  prerogative,  and  to  allow  the 
subject  to  resist  wicked  and  tyrannical  kings ; 
therefore,  when  the  proprietors  petitioned  the 
secretary  of  state  for  reprinting  it  in  England 
for  public  use,  in  the  year  1565,  it  was  refused, 
and  the  impression  stopped,  till  after  the  death 
of  the  archbishop,  in  the  year  1576.  t     The  au- 
thor of  the  Troubles  at  Frankfort,  published  in 
the  year  .1575,  complains  that  "  if  the  Geneva 
Bible  be  such  as  no  enemy  of  God  can  justly 
find  fault  with,  then  may  men  marvel  that  such 
a  work,  being  so  profitable,  should  find  so  small 
favour  as  not  to  be  printed  again."J     The  ex- 
ceptionable notes  were  on  Exodus,  xv.,  19,  where 
disobedience  to  kings  is  allowed  ;  2  Chron.,  xix., 
16,  where  Asa  is  censured  for  stopping  short  at 
the  deposing  of  his  mother,  and  not  executing 
her;  Rev.,  ix.,  3,  where  the  locusts  that  come 

*  MS.,  p.  886.  t  Life  of  Parker,  p.  200. 

t  Hickman  against  Heylin,  p.  179. 


83 

out  of  the  smoke  are  said  to  be  heretics,  false 
teachers,  worldly,  subtle  prelates,  with  monks 
friars,  cardinals,  patriarchs,  archbishops,  bish- 
ops, doctors,  bachelors,  and  masters.  But  not- 
withstanding these  and  some  other  exceptiona- 
ble passages  in  the  notes,  the  Geneva  Bible  was 
reprinted  in  the  years  1576  and  1579,  and  was 
in  such  repute  that  some,  who  had  been  curious 
to  search  into  the  number  of  its  editions,  say 
that  by  the  queen's  own  printers  it  was  printed 
above  thirty  times.  However,  for  a  present  sup- 
ply, Tyndal  and  Coverdale's  translation,  printed 
in  the  reign  of  King  Henry  VIII.,  was  revised  and 
published  for  the  use  of  the  Church  of  England 
till  the  bishops  should  pubhsh  a  more  correct 
one,  which  they  had  now  undertaken. 

Together  with  the  exiles,  the  Dutch  and  Ger- 
man Protestants,  who,  in  the  reign  of  King  Ed- 
ward VI.,  had  the  church  in  Austin  Friars  as- 
signed them  for  a  place  of  worship,  returned  to 
England  with  John  a  Lasco,  a  Polonian,  their 
superintendent.     They  petitioned  the  queen  to 
restore  them  to  their  church  and  privileges, 
which  her  majesty  declined  for  some  time,  be- 
cause she  would  not  admit  of  a  stranger  to  be 
superintendent  of  a  church  within  her  oishop's 
diocess.     To  take  off  this  objection,  Alasco  re- 
signed, and  the  people  chose  Grindal,  bishop  of 
London,   their  superintendent;   and   then    the 
queen  confirmed  their  charter,  which  they  still 
enjoy,  though   they  never  chose   another  su- 
perintendent after  him.     The  French  Protest- 
ants  were   also  restored  to    their   church  in 
Threadneedle-street,  which  they  yet  enjoy. 

The   Reformation  took  place   this  year   in 
Scotland,  by  the  preaching  of  Mr.  John  Knox, 
a  bold  and  courageous  Scotch  divine,  who  shun- 
ned no  danger,  nor  feared  the  face  of  any  man 
in  the  cause  of  religion.    He  had  been  a  preach- 
er in  England  in  King  Edward's  time,  then  an 
exile  at  Frankfort,  and  at  last  one  of  the  minis- 
ters of  the  English   congregation  at   Geneva, 
from  whence  he  arrived  at  Edinburgh,  May  2d, 
1559,  being  forty-five  years  of  age,  and  settled 
at  Perth,  but  was  a  sort  of  evangelist  over  the 
whole  kingdom.     He  maintained  this  position, 
that  if  kings  and  princes  refused  to  reform  reli- 
gion, inferior  magistrates  and  the  people,  being 
directed  and  instructed  in  the  truth  by  their 
preachers,  may  lawfully   reform   within   their 
own  bounds  themselves  ;  and  if  all,  or  the  far 
greater  part,  be  enlightened  by  the  truth,  they 
may  make  a  public  reformation.      Upon  this 
principle  the  Scots  Reformers  humbly  petition- 
ed the  queen-dowager,  regent  for  her  daughter 
[Mary],  now  in  France,  for  liberty  to  assemble 
publicly  or  privately  for  prayer,  for  reading  and 
explaining  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  administer- 
ing the  sacraments  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's 
Supper  in  the  vulgar  tongue  ;  and  the  latter  in 
both  kinds,   according  to  Christ's  institution. 
This  reasonable  petition  not  being  admitted 
certain  noblemen  and  barons  formed  an  associ- 
ation, resolving  to  venture  their  lives  and  for- 
tunes in  this  cause  ;  and  they  encouraged  as 
many  of  the  curates  of  the  parishes  within  their 
districts  as  were  willing  to  read  the  prayers 
and  lessons  in  English,  but  not  to  expound  tip 
Scriptures  till  God  should  dispose  the  queen  to 
grant  them  liberty.     This  being  executed  at 
Perth  and  the  neighbouring  parts  without  dis- 
turbance, the  association  spread,  and  was  sign- 


84 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


ed  by  great  numbers,  even  in  the  capital  city  of 
Edinburgh.  Upon  this  they  presented  another 
petition,  representing  to  the  regent  the  unsea- 
sonableness  of  her  rigour  against  ilie  Protest- 
ants, considering  their  numbers  ;  but  slie  was 
deaf  to  all  moderate  councils.  At  the  meeting 
of  the  Parliament  the  congregation,  or  heads  of 
the  association,  presented  the  regent  with  sun- 
dry articles  relating  to  liberty  of  conscience,  to 
lay  before  the  house,  which  she  suppressed,  and 
would  not  suffer  to  be  debated  ;  whereupon 
they  drew  up  the-  following  protestation,  and 
desired  it  might  be  recorded  ;  "  That  since  they 
could  not  procure  a  reformation,  agreeable  to 
the  Word  of  God,  from  the  government,  that  it 
might  be  lawful  for  them  to  follow  the  dictates 
of  their  consciences.  That  none  that  joined 
with  them  in  the  profession  of  the  true  faith 
should  be  liable  to  any  civil  penalties,  or  incur 
any  damages  for  so  doing.  They  protest  that 
if  any  tumults  arise  on  the  score  of  religion,  the 
imputation  ought  not  to  lie  upon  them  who  now 
humbly  entreat  for  a  regular  remedy  ;  and  that 
in  all  other  things  they  will  be  most  loyal  sub- 
jects." The  regent  acquainted  the  court  of 
France  with  the  situation  of  affairs,  and  receiv- 
ed an  order  to  suffer  no  other  religion  but  the 
Roman  Catholic  to  be  professed,  with  a  promise 
of  large  supplies  offerees  to  support  her.  Upon 
this  she  summoned  the  magistrates  of  Perth, 
and  the  Reformed  ministers,  to  appear  before 
her  at  Stirling,  with  a  design  to  have  them  ban- 
ished by  a  solemn  decree.  The  ministers  ap- 
peared accordingly,  being  attended  by  vast 
crowds  of  people  armed  and  prepared  to  defend 
them,  agreeably  to  the  custom  of  Scotland, 
which  allowed  criminals  to  come  to  their  trials 
attended  with  their  relations  and  friends.  The 
regent,  astonished  at  the  sight,  prayed  John 
Areskin  to  persuade  the  multitude  to  retire,  and 
gave  her  parole  that  nothing  should  be  decreed 
against  the  ministers  ;  but  they  were  no  sooner 
gone  quietly  home  than  she  condemned  them 
for  non-appearance. 

This  news  being  brought  to  Perth,  the  burgh- 
ers, encouraged  by  great  numbers  of  the  nobil- 
ity and  neighbouring  gentry,  formed  an  army  of 
seven  thousand  men,  under  the  command  of  the 
Earl  of  Glencairne,  for  the  defence  of  their  min- 
isters against  the  regent,  who  was  marching 
with  an  army  of  French  and  Scots  to  drive 
them  out  of  their  country  ;  but  being  informed 
of  the  preparation  of  the  burghers,  she  consented 
to  a  treaty,  by  which  it  was  agreed  that  she 
should  he  received  with  honour  into  the  city, 
and  be  suffered  to  lodge  in  it  some  days,  provi- 
ded she  would  promise  to  make  no  alteration  in 
religion,  but  refer  all  to  the  Parliament ;  the 
Scots  forces  on  both  sides  to  be  dismissed  ;  but 
the  reformed  had  no  sooner  disbanded  their 
army,  and  opened  their  gates  to  the  regent,  than 
she  broke  all  the  articles,  set  up  the  mass,  and 
left  a  garrison  of  French  in  the  town,  resolving 
to  make  it  a  place  of  arms.  Upon  this  notori- 
ous breach  of  treaty,  as  well  as  the  regent's 
declaration  that  promises  were  not  to  be  kept 
with  heretics,  the  congregations  of  Fife,  Perth, 
Dundee,  Angus,  Mearns,  and  Montrose  raised 
a  little  army,  and  signed  an  engagement  to  as- 
sist each  other  in  maintaining  the  Reformation 
with  their  lives  and  fortunes.  Mr.  Knox  en- 
couraged them  by  his  sermons  ;  and  the  popu- 


lace being  warmed,  pulled  down  altars  and  im- 
ages, plundered  the  monasteries,  and  dismantled 
the  churches  of  their  superstitious  ornaments. 
The  regent  marched  against  them  at  the  head 
of  two  thousand  Frencli,  and  two  thousand 
Scots  in  French  pay  ;  but  being  afraid  to  ven- 
ture a  battle,  she  retreated  to  Dunbar,  and  the 
confederates  made  themselves  masters  of  Perth, 
Scone,  Stirling,  and  Lilhgow.  At  length  a  truce 
was  concluded,  by  which  the  ministers  of  the 
congregation  had  liberty  to  preach  in  the  pulpits 
of  Edinburgh  for  the  present ;  but  the  regent, 
having  soon  after  received  large  recruits  from 
France,  repossessed  herself  of  Leith,  and  order- 
ed it  to  be  fortified  and  stored  with  all  necessa- 
ry provisions ;  the  confederates  desired  her  to 
demolish  the  works,  alleging  it  to  be  a  viola- 
tion of  the  truce  ;  but  she  commanded  them 
upon  their  allegiance  to  be  quiet  and  lay  down 
their  arms ;  and  marching  directly  to  Edinburgh, 
she  obliged  them  to  desert  the  city  and  retire 
to  Stirling,  whither  the  French  troops  followed 
them,  and  dispersed  them  into  the  mountains. 
In  this  low  condition  they  published  a  procla- 
mation, discharging  the  regent  other  authority, 
and  threatening  to  treat  as  enemies  all  that 
obeyed  her  orders  ;  but  not  being  able  to  stand 
their  ground,  they  threw  themselves  into  the 
arms  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  who,  being  sensible 
of  the  danger  of  the  Protestant  religion,  and  of 
her  own  crown,  if  Scotland  should  become  en- 
tirely popish,  under  the  government  of  a  queen 
of  France,  who  claimed  the  crown  of  England, 
entered  into  an  alliance  to  support  the  confed- 
erate Protestants  in  their  religion  and  civil  lib- 
erties, and  signed  the  treaty  at  Berwick,  Feb- 
ruary 27,  1560. 

Among  other  articles  of  this  treaty,  it  was 
stipulated  that  the  queen  should  send  forces  into 
Scotland,  to  continue  there  till  Scotland  was  re- 
stored to  its  liberties  and  privileges,  and  the 
French  driven  out  of  the  kingdom.  According- 
ly, her  majesty  sent  an  army  of  seven  thousand 
foot  and  twelve  hundred  horse,  which  joined 
the  confederate  army  of  like  force.*  This  army 
was  afterward  re-enforced  by  a  large  detachment 
from  the  northern  marches,  under  the  command 
of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  ;  after  which  they  took 
the  city  of  Leith,  and  obliged  the  queen-regent 
to  shut  herself  up  in  the  castle  of  Edinburgh, 
where  she  died  June  10th.  The  French  offered 
to  restore  Calais,  if  the  queen  would  recall  her 
forces  from  Scotland ;  but  she  refused.  At 
length,  the  troubles  of  France  requiring  all  their 
forces  at  home,  plenipotentiaries  were  sent  into 
Scotland  to  treat  with  Elizabeth  about  with- 
drawing the  French  forces  out  of  that  kingdom, 
and  restoring  the  Scots  to  their  parliamentary 
government.  The  treaty  was  concluded  the  be- 
ginning of  August,  whereby  a  general  amnesty 
was  granted  ;  the  English  and  French  forces 
were  to  withdraw  in  two  months,  and  a  parlia 
ment  to  be  called  with  all  convenient  speed,  to 
settle  the  affairs  of  religion  and  the  kingdom  ; 
but  Francis  and  Mary  refused  to  ratify  it. 

Before  the  Parliament  met  Francis  died,  and 
left  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  a  young  widow.  The 
late  treaty  not  being  ratified,  the  Parliament  had 
no  direct  authority  from  the  crown,  but  assem- 
bled by  virtue  of  the  late  treaty,  and  received 

*  Rapin,  vol.  viii.,  p.  271. 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


85 


the  following  petitions  from  the  barons  and  gen- 
tlemen concerning  religion  : 

1.  "  That  the  doctrines  of  the  Roman  Church 
should  be  suppressed  by  act  of  Parliament,  in 
those  exceptionable  points  therein  mentioned. 

2.  "That  the  discipline  of  the  ancient  Church 
be  revived. 

3.  "  That  the  pope's  usurped  authority  be  dis- 
charged." 

All  which  was  voted,  and  the  ministers  were 
desired  to  draw  up  a  confession  of  faith,  which 
they  expressed  in  twenty-five  articles,  agreeable 
to  the  sentiments  of  Calvin  and  the  foreign  Re- 
formers. The  confession,  being  read  in  Parlia- 
ment, was  carried  but  with  three  dissenting  voi- 
ces, the  popish  prelates  offering  nothing  in  de- 
fence of  their  religion. 

By  another  act  the  pope's  authority  was  abol- 
ished, and  reading  mass  was  made  punishable, 
for  the  first  offence,  with  loss  of  goods ;  for  the 
second,  banishment ;  and  for  the  third,  death. 
This  was  carrying  matters  too  far;  for  to  judge 
men  to  death  for  matters  of  mere  conscience 
that  do  not  affect  the  government,  is  not  to  be 
justified.  "To  affirm  that  we  are  in  the  right 
and  others  in  the  wrong,"  says  Mr.  Collyer,* 
"  is  foreign  to  the  point ;  for  every  one  that  suf- 
fers for  religion  thinks  himself  in  the  right,  and 
therefore  ought  not  to  be  destroyed  for  his  sin- 
cerity, for  the  prejudices  of  education,  or  the 
want  of  a  better  understanding,  unless  his  opin- 
ions have  mutiny  and  treason  in  them,  and  shake 
the  foundations  of  civil  society." 

Upon  the  breaking  up  of  the  Parliament  a 
commission  was  directed  to  Mr.  Knox,  WiUock, 
Spotiswood,  and  some  other  divines,  to  draw  up 
a  scheme  of  discipline  for  the  Church,  which 
they  did  pretty  much  upon  the  Geneva  plan, 
only  admitting  superintendents  in  the  room  of 
bishops,  and  rejecting  imposition  of  hands  in 
the  ordination  of  ministers,  because  that  mira- 
cles were  ceased,  which  they  apprehended  to  ac- 
company that  ceremony.  Their  words  are 
these  :t  "  Other  ceremonies  than  the  public  ap- 
probation of  the  people,  and  declaration  of  the 
chief  minister,  that  the  person  there  presented 
is  appointed  to  serve  the  Church,  we  cannot  ap- 
prove ;  for  albeit  the  apostles  used  imposition  of 
hands,  yet,  seeing  the  miracle  is  ceased,  the  using 
of  the  ceremony  we  judge  not  necessary."  They 
also  appointed  ten  or  twelve  superintendents  to 
plant  and  erect  kirks,  and  to  appoint  ministers 
in  such  counties  as  should  be  committed  to  their 
care,  where  there  were  none  already.  But  then 
they  add,  these  men  must  not  live  like  idle  bish- 
ops, but  must  preach  themselves  twice  or  thrice 
a  week,  and  visit  their  districts  every  three  or 
four  months,  to  inspect  the  lives  and  behaviour 
of  the  parochial  ministers,  to  redress  grievan- 
ces, or  bring  them  before  an  assembly  of  the 
kirk.  The  superintendents  were  to  be  chosen 
by  the  ministers  and  elders  of  the  several  prov- 
inces, and  to  be  deprived  by  them  for  misbeha- 
viour. The  assemblies  of  the  kirk  were  divided 
into  classical,  provincial,  and  national,  in  which 
last  the  dernier  resort  of  all  kirk-jurisdiction  was 
lodged. 

When  this  plan  of  discipline  was  laid  before 
the  estates,  it  was  referred  to  farther  consider- 
ation, and  had  not  a  parliamentary  sanction,  as 

*  Collyer's  Eccl.  Hist.,  p.  468. 
t  First  Book  of  Discipline,  p.  31. 


the  Reformers  expected.  But  after  the  recess 
of  the  Parliament,  several  noblemen,  barons, 
and  chief  gentlemen  of  the  nation  met  together, 
at  the  mstance  of  Mr.  Knox,  and  signed  it,  re- 
solvmg  to  abide  by  the  new  discipline  till  it 
should  be  confirmed  or  altered  by  Parliament. 
From  this  time  the  old  hierarchical  government 
was  disused,  and  the  kirk  was  governed  by  gen- 
eral, provincial,  and  classical  assemblies,  with 
superintendents,  though  there  was  no  law  for  it 
till  some  years  after. 

To  return  to  England.  The  popish  bishops 
behaved  rudely  towards  the  queen  and  her  new 
bishops  :  they  admonished  her  majesty  by  letter 
to  return  to  the  religion  of  her  ancestors,  and 
threatened  her  with  the  censures  of  the  Church 
in  case  she  refused.  This  not  prevailing,  Pope 
Pius  IV.  himself  exhorted  her  by  letter,  dated 
May  5,  1570,  to  reject  evil  counsellors,  and  obey 
his  fatherly  admonitions,  assuring  her  that,  if 
she  would  return  to  the  bosom  of  the  Church, 
he  would  receive  her  with  the  like  affectionate 
love  as  the  father  in  the  Gospel  received  his 
son.  Parpalio,  the  nuncio  that  was  sent  with 
this  letter,  offered,  in  the  pope's  name,  to  con- 
firm the  English  liturgy,  to  allow  of  the  sacra- 
ment in  both  kinds,  and  to  disannul  the  sen- 
tence against  her  mother's  marriage ;  but  the 
queen  would  not  part  with  her  supremacy.* 
Another  nuncio,  the  Abbot  Martmegues,  was 
sent  this  summer  with  other  proposals,  but  was 
stopped  in  Flanders,  and  forbid  to  set  foot  in 
the  realm.  The  emperor,  and  other  Roman 
Catholic  princes,  interceded  with  the  queen  to 
grant  her  subjects  of  their  religion  churches  to 
officiate  in  after  their  own  manner,  and  to  keep 
up  a  separate  communion  ;  but  her  majesty  was 
too  politic  to  trust  them,  upon  which  they  en- 
tered upon  more  desperate  measures,  as  will  be 
seen  hereafter. f 

Archbishop  Parker  visited  his  diocess  this 
summer,  and  found  it  in  a  deplorable  condition, 
the  major  part  of  the  beneficed  clergy  being 
either  mechanics  or  mass-priests  in  disguise ; 
many  churches  were  shut  up,  and  in  those  that 
were  open,  not  a  sermon  was  to  be  heard  in 
some  counties  within  the  compass  of  twenty 
miles ;  the  people  perished  for  lack  of  knowl- 
edge, while  men  who  were  capable  of  instruct- 
ing them  were  kept  out  of  the  Church,  or,  at 
least,  denied  all  preferment  in  it.  But  the 
queen  was  not  so  much  concerned  for  this  as 
for  maintaining  her  supremacy ;  his  grace, 
therefore,  by  lier  order,  drew  up  a  form  of  sub- 
scription to  be  made  by  all  that  held  any  ec- 
clesiastical preferment,!  wherein  they  acknowl- 
edge and  confess  "  that  the  restoring  the  su- 
premacy to  the  crown,  and  the  abolishing  all 
foreign  power,  as  well  as  the  administration  of 
the  sacraments  according  to  the  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer  and  the  queen's  injunctions,  is 
agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God  and  the  practice 
of  the  primitive  Church."  Which  most  that 
favoured  the  Reformation,  as  well  as  great 
numbers  of  time-serving  priests,  complied  with; 
but  some  refused,  and  were  deprived. 


*  Foxes  and  Firebrands,  part  iii.,  p.  15,  18. 

"  Elizabeth,"  as  Dr.  Warner  expresses  it,  "  was 
not  to  be  won  with  either  threats  or  entreaties  to 
part  with  her  supremacy,  of  which  she  was  as  fond 
as  the  king  her  father." — Ed. 

t  Stiype's  Ann.,  p.  408.  *  X  Life  of  Parker,  p.  77. 


86 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


The  next  thing  the  archbishop  undertook 
v/as  settling  the  calendar,  and  the  order  of  les- 
sons to  be  read  throughout  the  year,  which  his 
grace,  as  one  of  the  ecclesiastical  commission- 
ers, procured  letters  under  the  great  seal  to  re- 
form.* Before  this  time  it  was  left  to  the  dis- 
cretion of  the  minister  to  change  the  chapters 
to  be  read  in  course  for  some  others  that  were 
more  for  edification  ;  and  even  after  this  new 
regulation  the  bishops  recommended  it ;  for  in 
the  preface  to  the  second  book  of  homilies,  pub- 
lished in  the  year  1564,  there  is  a  serious  ad- 
monition to  all  ministers  ecclesiastical  to  be 
diligent  and  faithful  in  their  high  functions,  in 
which,  among  others,  is  this  remarkable  instruc- 
tion to  the  curates  or  ministers.!  "  If  one  or 
other  chapter  of  the  Old  Testament  falls  in  or- 
der to  be  read  on  Sundays  or  holydays,  it  shall 
be  well  done  to  spend  your  time  to  consider 
well  of  some  other  chapter  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment of  more  edification,  for  which  it  may  be 
changed.  By  this  your  prudence  and  diligence 
in  your  office  will  appear,  so  that  your  people 
may  have  cause  to  glorify  God  for  you,  and  be 
the  readier  to  embrace  your  labours."  If  this 
indulgence  had  been  continued,  one  consider- 
able difficulty  to  the  Puritans  had  been  remo- 
ved, viz.,  their  obligation  to  read  the  Apocrypha 
lessons ;  and  surely  there  could  be  no  great 
danger  in  this,  when  the  minister  was  confined 
within  the  canon  of  Scripture. 

But  this  liberty  was  not  long  permitted, 
though,  the  admonition  being  never  legally  re- 
versed, Archbishop  Abbot  was  of  opinion  that 
it  was  in  force  in  his  time,  and  ought  to  have 
been  allowed  the  clergy  throughout  the  course 
of  this  reign,  t  His  words  are  these,  in  his  book 
entitled  "  Hill's  Reasons  Unmasked,"  p.  317  : 
"  It  is  not  only  permitted  to  the  minister,  but 
recommended  to  him,  if  wisely  and  quietly  he 
do  read  canonical  Scripture  where  the  Apocry- 
pha, upon  good  judgment,  seemeth  not  so  fit ; 
or  any  chapter  of  the  canonical  may  be  con- 
ceived not  to  have  in  it  so  much  edification  be- 
fore the  simple  as  some  other  parts  of  the  same 
canonical  Scriptures  may  be  thought  to  have." 
But  the  governing  bishops  were  of  another 
mind :  they  would  trust  nothing  to  the  discretion 
of  the  minister,  nor  vary  a  tittle  from  the  act  of 
uniformity. 

Hitherto  there  were  few  or  no  peculiar  les- 
sons for  holydays  and  particular  Sundays,  but 
the  chapters  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments 
were  read  in  course,  without  any  interruption 
or  variation  ;  so  it  is  in  the  Common  Prayer 
Book  of  1549,  fol.ij  In  the  second  edition  of 
that  book,  under  King  Edward  VI.,  there  were 
proper  lessons  for  some  few  holydays,  but  none 
for  Sundays ;  but  now  there  was  a  table  of 
proper  lessons  for  the  whole  year,  thus  entitled, 
"  Proper  lessons  to  be  read  for  the  first  lesson, 
both  at  morning  and  evening  prayer,  on  the 
Sundays  throughout  the  year ;  and  for  some 
also  the  second  lessons."  It  begins  with  the 
Sundays  of  Advent,  and  appoints  Isa.,  i.,  for  mat- 
ins, and  Isa.,  ii.,  for  even-song.  There  is  anoth- 
er table  for  proper  lessons  on  holydays,  begin- 
ning with  St.  Andrew  ;  and  a  third  table  for 
proper  psalms  on  certain  days,  as  Christmas, 
Easter,  Ascension  Whitsunday,  &c.     At   the 

*  M.S.  penes  me,  p.  88.       f  Life  of  Parker,  p.  84. 
t  Strype's  Ann.,  p.  fl7.       6  Life  of  Parker,  p.  83. 


end  of  tliis  Common  Prayer  Book,  printed  by 
Jug  and  Cawood,  1560,  were  certain  prayers  lor 
private  and  family  use,  which  in  the  later  edi- 
tions are  either  shortened  or  left  out.  Mr.  Strype 
cannot  account  for  this  conduct,  but  says  it  was 
great  pity  that  the  people  were  disfurnished  of 
those  assistances  they  so  much  wanted ;  but 
the  design  seems  to  have  been  to  confine  all  de- 
votion to  the  Church,  and  to  give  no  liberty  to 
clergy  or  laity,  even  in  their  closets  or  families, 
to  vary  from  the  public  forms.  An  admonition 
was  pul)lished  at  the  same  time,  and  set  up  in 
all  churches,  forbidding  all  parsons  under  the 
degree  of  master  of  arts  to  preach  or  expound 
the  Scriptures,  or  to  innovate  or  alter  anything, 
or  use  any  other  rite  but  only  what  is  set  forth 
by  authority  ;  these  were  only  to  read  the  hom- 
ilies.* And  whereas,  by  reason  of  the  scarcity 
of  jninisters,  the  bishops  had  admitted  into  the 
ministry  sundry  artificers  and  others,  not  brought 
up  to  learning,  and  some  that  were  of  base  oc- 
cupation, it  was  now  desired  that  no  more 
tradesmen  should  be  ordained  till  the  convoca- 
tion met  and  took  some  better  order  in  this 
affiiir. 

But  it  was  impossible  to  comply  with  this  ad- 
monition ;   for  so  many  churches  in  country 
towns  and  villages  were  vacant,  that  in  some 
places  there  w^as  no  preaching,  noi  so  much  as 
reading  a  homily,  for  many  months  together. 
In  sundry  parishes  it  was  hard  to  find  persons 
to  baptize,  or  bury  the  dead  ;  the  bishops,  there- 
fore, were  obliged  to  admit  of  pluralists,  non- 
residents, civilians,  and  to  ordain  such  as  offer- 
ed themselves,  how  meanly  soever  they  were 
qualified,  while  others,  who  had  some  scruples 
about  conformity,  stood  by  unprovided  for  ;  the 
learned  and  industrious  Mr.  John  Fox,  the  mar 
tyrologist,  was  of  this  number,  for  in  a  letter 
to   his   friend   Dr.  Humphreys,  lately  chosen 
President  of  Magdalen  College,  Oxon,  he  writes 
thus :  "  I  still  wear  the  same  clotheg,  and  re 
main  in  the  same  sordid  condition  that  Englanc 
received  me  in  when  I  first  came  home  out  of 
Germany,  nor  do  I  change  my  degree  or  ordei 
which  is  that  of  the  Mendicants  ;  or,  if  you  will 
of  the  friars-preachers."     Thus  pleasantly  did 
this  grave  and  learned  divine  reproach  the  in- 
gratitude of  the  times.  The  Puritans  complaineu 
of  these  hardships  to  the  queen,  but  there  was 
no  remedy. 

The  two  universities  could  give  little  or  no 
assistance  to  the  Reformers  ;  for  the  professors 
and  tutors,  being  of  the  popish  religion,  had  train- 
ed up  the  youth  in  their  own  principles  for  the 
last  six  or  seven  years.  Some  of  the  heads  of 
colleges  were  displaced  this  summer,  and  Prot- 
estants put  in  their  room ;  but  it  was  a  long 
time  before  they  could  supply  the  necessities  of 
the  Church.  There  were  only  three  Protestant 
preachers  in  the  University  of  Oxford  in  the 
year  1563,  and  they  were  all  Puritans,  viz..  Dr. 
Humphreys,  Mr.  Kingsmill,  and  Mr.  Sampson  ; 
and  though  by  the  next  year  the  clergy  were  so 
modelled  that  the  bishops  procured  a  convoca- 
tion that  favoured  the  Reformation,  yet  they 
were  such  poor  scholars  that  many  of  them  could 
hardly  write  their  names. 

Indeed,  the  Reformation  went  heavily  on. 
The  queen  could  scarcely  be  persuaded  to  part 
with  images,  nor  consent  to  the  marriage  of  the 

SnCxfeofParkeiTpToa 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


87 


clergy  ;  for  she  commanded  that  no  head  or 
member  of  any  collegiate  or  cathedral  church 
should  bring  a  wife  or  any  other  woman  within 
the  precincts  of  it,  to  abide  in  the  same,  on  pain 
of  forfeiture  of  all  ecclesiastical  promotions  :* 
and  her  majesty  would  have  absolutely  forbid 
the  marriage  of  all  her  clergy,  if  Secretary  Ce- 
cil had  not  briskly  interposed.  She  repented 
that  she  had  made  any  married  men  bishops, 
and  told  the  archbishop,  in  anger,  that  she  in- 
tended to  publish  other  injunctions,  which  his 
grace  understood  to  be  in  favour  of  popery ; 
upon  which  the  archbishop  wrote  to  the  secre- 
tary that  he  was  sorry  the  queen's  mind  was  so 
turned,  but  in  such  a  case  he  should  tliinlc  it  his 
duty  to  obey  God  rather  than  man.  Upon  the 
"Whole,  the  queen  was  so  far  from  improvmg  her 
brother's  reformation,  that  she  often  repented 
she  had  gone  so  far.t 

Her  majesty's  second  Parliament  met  the 
12th  of  January,  1562,  in  which  a  remarkable 
act  was  passed,  for  assurance  of  the  queen's 
royal  power  over  all  states  and  subjects  within 
her  dominions.  It  was  a  confirmation  of  the 
act  of  supremacy.  "  All  persons  that  by  wri- 
ting, printing,  preaching,  or  teaching,  maintain- 
ed the  pope's  authority  within  this  realm,  incur- 
red a  praemunire  for  the  first  offence,  and  the  sec- 
ond was  high  treason.  The  oath  of  supremacy 
"was  to  be  taken  by  all  in  holy  orders,  by  all 
graduates  in  the  universities,  lawyers,  school- 
masters, and  all  other  officers  of  any  court 
whatsoever;  and  by  all  knights,  citizens,  and 
burgesses,  in  Parliament. "J  But  the  archbish- 
op, by  the  queen's  order,  wrote  to  the  bishops 
not  to  tender  the  oath  but  in  case  of  necessity, 
and  never  to  press  it  a  second  time  without  his 
special  direction  ;  so  that  none  of  the  popish 
bishops  or  divines  were  burdened  with  it  except 
Bonner  and  one  or  two  more. 

The  convocation  was  opened  at  St.  Paul's  the 
day  after  the  meeting  of  the  Parliament.  Mr. 
Day,  provost  of  Eton,  preached  the  sermon, 
and  -Alexander  Nowel,  dean  of  St.  Paul's,  was 
chosen  prolocutor.  Her  majesty  having  direct- 
ed letters  of  license  to  review  the  doctrine  and 
discipline  of  the  Church,  they  began  witii  the 
doctrine,  and  reduced  the  forty- two  articles  of 
King  Edward  VI.  to  the  number  of  thirty-nine, 
as  at  present,  the  following  articles  being  omit- 
ted :  Article  39.  The  resurrection  of  the  dead 
is  not  passed  already.  Art.  40.  The  souls  of 
men  deceased  do  neither  perish  with  their  bod- 
ies nor  sleep  idly.  Art.  41.  Of  the  Millenarians. 
Art.  42.  All  men  not  to  be  saved  at  last.  Some 
of  the  other  articles  underwent  a  new  division, 
two  being  joined  into  one,  and  in  other  parts 
one  is  divided  into  two ;  but  there  is  no  remark- 
able variation  in  the  doctrine.^ 

»  Life  of  Parker,  p.  107,  109. 

t  Of  this  Dr.  Warner  gives  the  following  instances : 
"When  the  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  in  a  sermon  at  court, 
spoke  with  some  dislike  of  the  sign  of  the  cross,  her 
majesty  called  albud  to  liim  from  her  closet,  com- 
manding him  to  desist  from  that  ungodly  digression, 
and  to  return  to  his  text.  Y\.t  another  time,  when  one 
of  her  chaplains  preached  a  sermon  on  Good  Friday 
in  defence  of  the  real  presence,  which,  without  guess- 
ing at  her  sentiments,  he  would  scarce  have  ventured 
on,  she  openly  gave  him  thanks  for  his  pains  and  pi- 
ety.— Ecclesiastical  History,  vol.  ii.,  p.  427. — Ed. 

X  Life  of  Pi   'ier,  p.  126. 

6  The  eigl       article  of  Edward  VI.  had  a  clause 


It  has   been  warmly  disputed  whether  the 
first   clause   of   the  twentieth    article,    "  The 
Church  has  power  to  decree  rites  and  ceremo- 
nies, and  authority  in  controversies  of  faith," 
was  a  part  of  the  article  which  passed  the  syn- 
od, and  was  afterward  confirmed  by  Parliament 
in  the  year  1571.     It  is  certain  that  it  is  not 
among  King  Edward's  articles  ;   nor  is  it  in 
that  original  manuscript  of  the  articles  sub- 
scribed  by  both  houses  of  convocation  with 
their  own  hands,  still  preserved  in  Bene't  Col- 
lege library  among  the  rest  of  Archbishop  Par- 
ker's papers.     The  records  of  this  convocation 
were  burned  in  the  fire  of  London,  so  that  there 
is  no  appealing  to  them ;  but  Archbishop  Laud 
says  that  he  sent  to  the  public  records  in  his 
office,  and  the  notary  returned  him  the  twenti- 
eth article  with  the  clause  ;  and  that  afterward 
he  found  the  book  of  articles  subscribed  by  the 
lower  house  of  convocation  in  1571,  with  the 
clause.     Heylin  says  that  he  consulted  the  rec- 
ords of  convocation,  and   that  the  contested 
clause  was  in  the  book  ;  and  yet  Fuller,  a  much 
fairer  writer,  who  had  the  liberty  of  perusing 
the  same  records,  declares  that  he  could  not 
decide   the   controversy.*      The   fact  is  this : 
the  statute  of  1571  expressly  confirms  English 
articles  comprised  in  an  imprinted  book,  enti- 
tled "  Articles,  whereupon  it  was  agreed  by  the 
archbishops  and  bishops  of  both  provinces,  and 
the  whole  clergy  in  the  convocation  holden  at 
London  in  the  year  1562,  according  to  the  com- 
putation of  the  Church  of  England ;   for  the 
avoiding  diversity  of  opinions,  and  for  the  es- 
tablishing of  consent   touching  true  religion : 
put  forth  by  the  queen's  authority."    Now  there 
were  only  two  editions  of  the  articles  in  Eng- 
lish before  this  time,  both  which  have  the  same 
numerical  title  witli  that   transcribed   in  the 
statute,  and  both,  says  my  author,  want  the 
clause  of  the  Church's  power.     But  Mr.  Strype, 
in  his  life  of  Archbishop  Parker,  says  that  the 
clause  is  to  be  found  in  two  printed  copies  of 
1563,  which  I  believe  very  few  have  seen.f 
However,  till  the  original  MS.  above  mentioned 
can  be  set  aside,  which  is  carefully  marked  as 

imputing  to  the  Anabaptists  as  the  Pelagians,  the 
opinion  that  original  sin  consisted  in  following  of 
Adam :  in  this  revisal  of  the  articles  the  part  of  the 
clause  charging  the  Anabaptists  with  that  opinion 
was  left  out.  That  article  concerning  baptism  stated 
also  the  grounds  of  administering  that  rite  to  infants 
in  this  manner :  "  The  custom  of  the  Church  for 
baptizing  young  children  is  both  to  be  commended, 
and  by  all  means  to  be  retained  in  the  Church."  It 
seems,  by  this,  that  the  first  Reformers  did  not  found 
the  practice  of  infant  baptism  upon  Scripture ;  but 
took  it  only  as  a  commendable  custom  that  had  been 
used  in  the  Christian  Church,  and,  therefore,  ought 
to  be  retained. — Crosby^s  History  of  the  English  Bap- 
tists, vol.  i.,  p.  51. — Ed. 

*  Church  History,  b.  ix.,  p.  74. 

t  The  celebrated  Mr.  Anthony  Collins  discussed 
the  question  concerning  the  genuineness  of  this 
clause,  in  several  publications ;  and  professed  to  de- 
monstrate that  it  was  not  a  part  of  the  articles  agreed 
on  by  the  convocations  of  1562  and  1571.  His  first 
pamphlet  was  entitled.  Priestcraft  in  Perfection.  Its 
appearance  gave  a  general  alarm  to  the  clergy ;  and 
a  variety  of  pamphlets,  sermons,  and  larger  works, 
in  reply  to  it,  issued  forth  from  the  press.  The  two 
principal  of  which  Mr.  Colhns  answered  in  1724,  in 
"  An  Historical  and  Critical  Essay  on  the  Thirty- 
nine  Articles  of  the  Church  of  England." — See  Brit- 
ish Biography,  vol.  ix.,  p.  275,  278,  &c. — Ed. 


88 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


to  the  number  of  pages,  and  the  number  of  lines 
and  articles  in  each  page,  it  seems  more  proba- 
ble that  the  clause  was  some  way  or  other  sur- 
reptitiously inserted  by  those  who  were  friends 
of  the  Church's  power,  than  struck  out  by  the 
Puritans,  as  Laud  and  his  followers  have  pub- 
lished to  the  world ;  for  it  is  hard  to  suppose 
that  a  foul  copy,  as  this  is  pretended  to  be, 
should  be  so  carefully  marked  and  subscribed 
by  every  member  of  the  synod  with  their  own 
hands,  and  yet  not  be  perfect ;  but  it  is  not  im- 
probable that  the  notary  or  registrar,  who  tran- 
scribed the  articles  into  the  convocation-book, 
with  the  names  of  them  that  subscribed,  might, 
by  direction  of  his  superiors,  privately  insert  it ; 
and  so  it  might  appear  in  the  records  of  1571, 
though  it  was  not  in  the  original  draught. 
The  controversy  is  of  no  great  moment  to 
the  present  clergy,  because  it  is  certain  the 
clause  was  a  part  of  the  article  confirmed  by 
Parliament  at  the  restoration  of  King  Charles 
II.,  1662 ;  though  how  far  it  was  consistent 
with  the  act  of  supremacy,  which  lodged  the 
ultimate  power  of  determining  matters  of  faith 
and  discipline  in  the  crown,  I  must  leave  with 
the  reader.  The  synod  itself  seemed  to  be  ap- 
prehensive of  the  danger  of  a  praemunire,  and, 
therefore,  after  their  names  these  words  were 
cautiously  added  :  "  Ista  subscriptio  facta  est 
ab  omnibus  sub  hac  protestatione,  quod  nihil 
statuunt  in  praejudicium  cujusquam  senatus 
consulti,  sed  tantum  supplicem  libellum  peti- 
tiones  suas  continentem  humiliter  offerunt :  i.  e  , 
"  This  subscription  is  made  by  all,  with  this  pro- 
testation, that  they  determine  nothing  in  preju- 
dice of  any  act  of  Parliament,  but  only  offer  this 
little  book  to  the  queen  or  Parliament,  contain- 
ing their  requests  and  petitions." 

The  articles  were  concluded,  and  the  sub- 
scription finished,  in  the  chapter-house  of  St. 
Paul's,  January  31,  1562,  in  the  ninth  session 
of  convocation.*  All  the  bishops  subscribed 
except  Gloucester  and  Rochester,  who,  I  believe, 
were  absent.  Of  the  lower  house  there  were 
upward  of  a  hundred  hands ;  but,  whatever  their 
learning  was,  many  of  them  wrote  so  ill  that  it 
was  hard  to  read  their  names.  Among  the 
subscribers  are  several  of  the  learned  exiles, 
who  were  dissatisfied  with  the  constitution  ;  as 
the  Reverend  Mr.  Beseley,  Watts,  Cole,  Mul- 
lyns,  Sampson,  Pullan,  Spencer,  Wisdom,  Now- 
el,  Heton,  Beaumont,  Pedder,  Lever,  Pownal, 
Wilson,  Croley,  and  others.  But  the  articles 
did  not  pass  into  a  law,  and  become  a  part  of 
the  establishment,  till  nine  years  after,  though 
some  of  the  more  rigid  bishops  of  the  ecclesias- 
tical commission  insisted  upon  subscription  from 
this  time. 

The  next  considerable  affair  that  came  under 
debate  was  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the 
Church  ;  and  here,  first.  Bishop  Sandys  brought 
in  a  paper  of  advice  to  move  her  majesty, 

"  That  private  baptism,  and  baptism  by  wom- 
en, may  be  taken  out  of  the  Common  Prayer 
Book,  That  the  cross  in  baptism  may  be  dis- 
allowed, as  needless  and  superstitious.  That 
commissioners  may  be  appointed  to  reform  the 
ecclesiastical  laws." 

Another  paper  was  presented  to  the  house 
with  the  following  requests,  signed  by  thirty- 
tiiree  names. 

*  Strype's  Annals,  p.  329. 


"  That  the  psalms  may  be  sung  distinctiy 
by  the  whole  congregation,  and  that  organs 
may  be  laid  aside.  That  none  may  baptize  but 
ministers,  and  that  they  may  leave  off  the  siga 
of  the  cross.  That  at  the  ministration  of  the 
communion  the  posture  of  kneeling  may  be  left 
indifferent.  That  the  use  of  copes  and  surplices 
may  be  taken  away  ;  so  that  all  ministers  in. 
their  ministry  use  a  grave,  comely,  and  sad  gar- 
ment, as  they  commonly  do  in  preaching.  That 
ministers  be  not  compelled  to  wear  such  gowns 
and  caps  as  the  enemies  of  Christ's  Gospel  have 
chosen  to  be  the  special  array  of  their  priest- 
hood. That  the  words  in  the  thirty-third  arti- 
cle, concerning  the  punishment  of  those  who  do 
not  in  all  things  conform  to  the  public  order 
about  ceremonies,  may  be  mitigated.  That  ali 
the  saints'  days,  festivals,  and  holydays,  bear- 
ing the  name  of  a  creature,  may  be  abrogated ; 
or  at  least  a  commemoration  only  of  them  re- 
served by  sermons,  homilies,  or  common  prayer, 
for  the  better  instructing  the  people  in  history; 
and  that  after  service  men  may  go  to  work." 

I  have  subjoined  the  names  of  the  subscribers 
to  this  paper,  that  the  reader  may  take  notice 
what  considerable  persons  they  were  for  learn- 
ing and  ability,  as  well  as  numbers,  that  desired 
a  farther  reformation  in  the  Church.* 

This  paper  not  being  approved,  another  w^as 
brought  into  the  lower  house  February  13,  coa- 
taining  the  following  articles  to  be  approved  or 
rejected.! 

"  That  all  Sundays  in  the  year,  and  principal 
feasts  of  Christ,  be  kept  holydays,  and  that  all 
other  holydays  be  abrogated.  That  in  all  parish 
churches  the  minister,  in  the  common  prayer, 
turn  his  face  towards  the  people,  and  there  read 
distinctly  the  service  appointed,  that  the  people 
may  hear  and  be  edified.  That  in  baptism  thd 
cross  may  be  omitted,  as  tending  to  supersti- 
tion.    Forasmuch  as  divers  communicants  are 


*  Alexander  Newel,  dean  of  St.  Paul's  and  prolo- 
cutor. 

Sampson,  dean  of  Christ  Church,  Oxon. 
Lawrence  Nowel,  dean  of  Litchfield. 
Ellis,  dean  of  Hereford. 
Day,  provost  of  Eton. 
Dodds,  dean  of  Exon. 
MuUms,  archdeacon  of  London. 
Pullan,  archdeacon  of  Colchester. 
Lever,  archdeacon  of  Coventry. 
Bemont,  archdeacon  of  Huntingdon. 
Spencer,  archdeacon  of  Chichester. 
Croley,  archdeacon  of  Hereford. 
Heton,  archdeacon  of  Gloucester. 
Rogers,  archdeacon  of  St.  Asaph. 
Kemp,  archdeacon  of  St.  Alban's. 
Prat,  archdeaconof  St.  David's. 
Longland,  archdeacon  of  Bucks. 
Watts,  archdeacon  of  Middlesex. 


Calfhil, 

Walker, 

Saul, 

Wiburne, 

Savage, 

W.  Bonner, 

Avys, 

Wilson, 

Nevynson, 

Tremayne, 

Renyger, 

Roberts, 

Reeve, 

Hills, 


>§ 


Ph 


t  Strype's  Annals,  p.  337. 


('Church  of  Oxon. 

Clergy  of  Suffolk. 

Dean  and  chapter  of  Gloucester. 

Church  of  Rochester. 

Clergy  of  Gloucester. 

Church  of  Somerset. 

Church  of  Wigorn. 
'^  Church  of  Wigorn,  Worcester. 

Clergy  of  Canterbury. 

Clergy  of  Exeter. 

Dean  and  chapter  of  Winton. 

Clergy  of  Norwich. 

Dean  and  chapter  of  Westminster. 
^  Clergy  of  Oxon. 


HISTORY  OF   THE  PURITANS. 


89 


not  able  to  kneel  for  age  and  sickness  at  the 
sacrament,  and  others  kneel  and  knock  super- 
stitiously,  that  therefore  the  order  of  kneehng 
may  be  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  ordinary. 
That  it  be  sufficient  for  the  minister,  in  time  of 
saying  Divine  service  and  ministering  of  the 
sacraments  (once),  to  wear  a  surplice  ;  and  that 
no  minister  say  service  or  minister  the  sacra- 
ments but  in  a  comely  garment  or  habit.  That 
the  use  of  organs  be  removed." 

These  propositions  were  the  subject  of  warm 
debates  ;  some  approving  and  others  rejecting 
them.  In  conclusion,  the  house  being  divided, 
it  appeared,  upon  the  scrutiny,  that  the  majority 
of  those  present  were  for  approving  them,  forty- 
three  against  thirty-five  ;  but  when  the  proxies 
were  counted,  the  scale  was  turned  ;  those  who 
were  for  the  propositions  being  fifty-eight,  and 
those  against  them  fifty-nine  ;  so  that  by  the 
majority  of  one  single  voice,  and  that  not  a  per- 
son present  to  hear  the  debates  but  a  proxy,*  it 

*  "  The  authenticity  ofthe  first  part  of  the  twentieth 
article,  which  affirms  that  'the  Church  hath  power  to 
decree  rites  or  ceremonies,  and  authority  in  controver- 
sies of  faith,'  has  been  impugned  on  grounds  which,  to 
say  the  least,  are  entitled  to  respect.  The  charge  of 
interpolation  was  first  advanced  by  Burton,  during 
the  reign  of  Charles  the  First.  In  a  letter  to  the  tem- 
poral lords  of  the  privy  council,  he  says,  '  The  prel- 
ates, to  justify  their  proceedings,  have  forged  a  new 
article  of  religion,  brought  from  Rome  (which  gives 
them  full  power  to  alter  the  doctrine  and  discipline 
of  our  Church  at  a  blow),  and  have  foisted  it  into  the 
twentieth  article  of  our  Church.  And  this  is  in  the  last 
edition  of  the  Articles,  1628,  in  affront  of  his  majes- 
ty's declaration  before  them.  The  clause  forged  is 
this:  The  Church  (that  is,  the  bishops,  as  they  ex- 
pound it)  hath  power  to  decree,  &c.  Tliis  clause  is 
a  forgery,  fit  to  be  examined  and  deeply  censured  in 
the  Star  Chamber.  For  it  is  not  to  be  found  in  the 
Latin  or  English  Articles  of  Edward  the  Sixth,  or 
of  Queen  Elizabeth,  ratified  by  Parliament.  And  if 
to  forge  a  will  or  writing  be  censurable  in  the  Star 
Chamber,  which  is  but  a  wrong  to  a  private  man,  how 
much  more  the  forgery  of  an  article  of  religion,  to 
wrong  the  whole  Church,  and  overturn  rehgion,  which 
concerns  all  our  souls  V  Laud  denied  the  charge,  al- 
leging that  the  Puritans  had  been  guilty  of  publishing 
mutilated  editions  of  the  Articles,  in  which  the  con- 
tested clause  was  omitted.  '  I  do  openly  here,'  he 
said  in  his  speech  in  the  Star  Chamber,  'charge  upon 
that  pure  sect  this  foul  corruption  of  falsifying  the 
Articles  of  the  Church  of  England.  Let  them  take 
it  off' as  they  can.'  Tliis  controversy  was  revived,  in 
the  beginning  of  the  last  century,  by  Mr.  Anthony 
Collins,  in  a  pubhcation  entitled  Priestcraft  in  Per- 
fection. He  attacked  the  authenticity  of  the  con- 
tested clause  with  much  ingenuity  and  force  of  evi- 
dence. Several  answers  appeared,  the  principal  of 
which  were,  A  Vindication  of  the  Church  of  England 
from  the  Assertions  of  Priestcraft  in  Perfcctinn,  &c., 
pubhshed  in  1710;  and.  An  Essay  on  the  Thirty-nine 
Articles,  by  Dr.  Bennet,  in  1715.  Collins  replied  to 
these,  as  well  as  to  Collier  and  others,  in  An  Histori- 
cal and  Critical  Essay  on  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  of 
the  Church  of  England,  published  in  1724  :  wherein 
he  undertakes  to  demonstrate  that  the  clause.  The 
Church  has  power,  &c.,  is  not  a  part  of  the  Articles, 
as  they  were  established  by  act  of  Parliament  in  the 
thirteenth  of  Ehzabeth,  or  agreed  on  by  the  convo- 
cations of  15C2  and  1571.  It  is  not  easy  to  form  a 
decided  opinion  on  the  question.  Fuller,  with  his 
usual  honesty,  acknowledges  the  difficulty,  and  ab- 
stains from  giving  judgment.  '  Whether,'  he  says, 
'the  bishops  were  faulty  in  their  addition,  or  their 
opposites  in  their  subtraction,  I  leave  to  more  cunnino' 
state  arithmeticians  to  decide.'  Neal  inclines  to  the 
view  of  Collins,  but  speaks  with  hesitation ;  while 

Vol.  I.— M 


was  determined  to  make  no  alteration  in  the 
ceremonies,  nor  any  abatement  of  the  present 
establishment.* 

I  mention  these  names,  not  to  detract  from 
the  merit  of  those  who  appeared  for  the  present 
establishment,  for  many  of  them  would  have 
voted  for  the  alterations,  had  they  not  been 
awed  by  their  superiors,  or  afraid  of  a  praemu- 
nire ;  whereas,  if  the  contrary  vote  had  prevail- 
ed, it  was  only  to  address  the  queen  or  Parlia- 
ment to  alter  the  service-book  in  those  particu- 
lars ;  but  I  mention  them  to  show  that  the 
voice  of  half  the  clergy  in  convocation,  and  of 
no  less  numbers  out  of  it,  were  for  amendments, 
or,  at  least,  a  latitude  in  the  observation  of  the 
rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church.  Indeed, 
it  was  very  unkind  that,  when  such  consider- 
able abatements  had  been  made  in  favour  of 
the  Roman  Catholics,  nothing  should  be  in- 
dulged to  those  of  the  same  faith,  and  who  had 
suffered  in  the  same  cause  with  themselves, 
especially  when  the  controversy  was  about 
points  which  one  party  apprehended  to  be  sin- 
ful, and  the  other  acknowledged  to  be  indiffer- 
ent. Sundry  other  papers  and  petitions  were 
drawn  up  by  the  lower  house  of  convocation  in 
favour  of  a  farther  reformation,  but  nothing 
passed  into  a  law. 

Strype  and  Collier  maintain  the  opposite. — Fuller^s 
Ch.  Hist.,  vol.  ix.,  73.  Neat's  Puritans,  vol.  i.,  147. 
Strype's  Parker,  vol.  ii.,  54.  Collier's  Eccl.  Hist.,\ol. 
U.,  486."— C. 

*  The  names  of  the  forty-three  that  approved  the 
above  articles  were. 

Dean  Nowel,  prolocutor,  St.  Paul's. 

Mr.  Archdeacon  Lever,  Coventry. 

Dean  Pedder,  Wigorniensis. 

Mr.  Archdeacon  Watts,  Middlesex. 

Dean  Nowel,  of  Litchfield. 

Mr.  Archdeacon  Spencer,  Cicestrensis. 

Mr.  Besely,  proct.  cler.,  Cant. 

Mr.  Nevynson,  proct.  cler..  Cant. 

Mr.  Bower,  proct.  cler.,  Somers. 

Mr.  Ebden,  proct.  cler.,  Wint. 

Mr.  Archdeacon  Longland,  Bucks. 

Mr.  Lancaster,  thesaurar.,  Sarum. 

Mr.  Archdeacan  Weston,  Lewensis. 

Mr.  Archdeacon  Wisdom,  Eliensis. 

Mr.  Saul,  proct.  dec.  cap.,  Glouc. 

Mr.  Walker,  proct.,  Suffolk. 

Mr.  Becon. 

Mr.  Proctor,  proct.  cler.,  Sussex. 

Mr.  Cocerel,  proct.  cler.,  Surrey. 

Mr.  Archdeacon  Tod,  Bedf 

Mr.  Archdeacon  Croley,  Hereford. 

Mr.  Soreby,  proct.  cler.,  Cicest. 

Mr.  Bradbndge,  cancellar.,  Cicest. 

Mr.  Hills,  proct.  cler.,  Oxon. 

Mr.  Savage,  proct.  cler.,  Glouc. 

Mr.  Archdeacon  Pullan,  Colchest. 

Mr.  Wilson,  proct.,  Wigom. 

Mr.  Burton. 

Mr.  Archdeacon  Bemont,  Huntingd 

Mr.  Wiburne,  proct.  eccl.,  Roff. 

Mr.  Day,  prov.,  Eton. 

Mr.  Reeve,  proc.  dec.  cap.,  Westm. 

Mr.  Roberts,  proct.  cler.,  Norw.    . 

Mr.  Calfhil,  proct.  cler..  Loud,  and  Oxon. 

Mr.  Godwin,  proct.  cler.,  Line. 

Mr.  Archdeacon  Prat,  St.  David's. 

]\Ir.  Tremayn,  proct.  cler.,  Exon. 

Mr.  Archdeacon  Heton,  Glouc. 

Mr.  Archdeacon  Kemp,  St.  Alban's. 

Mr.  Avj's,  proct.  eccl,  Wigom. 

Mr.  Renyger,  proct.  dec.  cap.,  Wint. 

Mr.  Dean  Elis,  Hereford. 

Mr.  Dean  Sampson,  Oxon. 


90 


HISTORY    OF   THE    PURITANSi 


The  Church  having  carried  their  point* 
against  the  Puritans  in  convocation,  we  arc 
now  to  see  what  use  they  made  of  their  victory. 
The  plague  being  in  London  and  several  parts 
of  the  country  this  summer,  put  a  little  stop  to 
their  zeal  for  uniformity  at  present ;  some  were 
indulged,  but  none  preferred  that  scrupled  the 
habits.  In  proof  of  this,  we  may  produce  the 
examples  of  two  of  the  worthiest  and  most 
learned  divines  of  the  age  :  one  was  Father 
Miles  Coverdale,  formerly  bishop  of  Exeter, 
who,  with  Tyndal  and  Rogers,  first  trans- 
lated the  Bible  into  English  after  WicklifTe. 
This  prelate  was  born  in  Yorkshire,  bred  at 
Cambridge,  and  proceeded  doctor  in  divinity  in 
the  University  of  Tubing.  Returning  to  Eng- 
land in  the  reign  of  King  Edward,  he  was  made 
Bishop  of  Exeter,  1551. t  Upon  the  accession 
of  Queen  Mary  he  was  imprisoned,  and  narrow- 
ly escaped  the  fire  ;  but  by  the  intercession  of 
the  King  of  Denmark  was  sent  over  into  that 
country,  and  coming  back  at  her  death,  assisted 
at  the  consecration  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  first 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  ;  yet,  because  he 
^ould  not  comply  with  the  ceremonies  and  hab- 
its, he  was  neglected,  and  had  no  preferment. 
This,  reverend  man,  says  Mr.  Strype.t  being 
now  old  and  poor,  Grindal,  bishop  of  London, 
gave  him  the  small  living  of  St.  Magnus,  at  the 
Bridge  Foot,  where  he  preached  quietly  about 
two  3  ears  ;  but  not  coming  up  to  the  conformity 
required,  he  was  persecuted  thence,  and  obliged 
to  relinquish  his  parish  a  little  before  his  death, 
V7hich  happened  May  20,  1567,  at  the  age  of 
<;ighty-one.^  He  was  a  celebrated  preacher, 
admired  and  followed  by  all  the  Puritans ;  but 
the  Act  of  Uniformity  brought  down  his  rever- 
end hairs  with  sorrow  to  the  grave.  He  was 
buried  in  St.  Bartholomew's,  behind  the  Ex- 
change, and  was  attended  to  his  grave  with 
vast  crowds  of  people. 

The  other  was  that  venerable  man,  Mr.  John 
Fox,  the  martyrologist,  a  grave,  learned,  and 
painful  divine,  and  exile  for  religion,  who  em- 
ployed his  time  abroad  in  writing  the  acts  and 
monuments  of  that  Church  which  would  hardly 
receive  him  into  her  bosom,  and  in  collecting 
materials  relati»ng  to  the  martyrdom  of  those 

*  "  I  conceive,"  says  one  of  the  most  accurate  and 
impartial  of  historians,  "  the  Church  of  England  par- 
ty, that  is,  the  party  adverse  to  any  species  of  ecclesias- 
tical change,  to  have  been  the  least  numerous  of  the 
three  (Catholic,  Church  of  England,  Puritan)  during 
this  reign;  still  excepting,  as  J  have  said,  the  neu- 
trals, who  commonly  make  a  numerical  majority, 
and  are  counted  along  with  the  dominant  religion. 
The  Puritans,  or,  at  least,  those  who  rather  favoured 
them,  had  a  majority  among  the  Protestant  gentry  in 
the  queen's  days.  It  is  agreed  on  all  hands,  and  is 
quite  manifest,  that  they  predominated  in  the  House 
of  Commons.  But  that  house  was  composed,  as  it 
has  ever  been,  of  the  principal  landed  proprietors, 
and  as  much  represented  the  general  wish  of  the 
community,  when  it  demanded  a  farther  reform  in 
religious  matters,  as  on  any  other  subjects.  One 
would  imagine,  by  the  manner  in  which  some  ex- 
press themselves,  that  the  discontented  were  a  small 
taction,  who,  by  some  unaccountable  means,  in  de- 
spite of  the  government  and  the  nation,  formed  a 
majority  of  all  parliaments  under  Elizabeth  and  her 
two  successors." — Hallam's  Const, Hist. ,i.,257.  Such 
is  the  representation  of  Bishop  Maddox  in  his  ani- 
madversions on  Neal,  p.  37,  &c. — C. 

t  Fuller's  Worthies,  b.  iii.,  p.  198. 

i  Ann.,  p.  405.  ^  Life  of  Parker,  p.  149. 


that  suffered  for  religion  in  the  reigns  of  King 
Henry  VIH.  and  Queen  Mary  ;  all  which  he 
published,  first  in  Latin  for  the  benefit  of  for- 
eigners, and  then  in  English  for  the  service  of 
his  own  country,  in  the  year  1561.  No  book 
ever  gave  such  a  mortal  wound  to  popery  as 
this ;  it  was  dedicated  to  the  queen,  and  was  in 
such  high  reputation,  that  it  was  ordered  to  be 
set  up  in  the  churches,  where  it  raised  in  the 
people  an  invincible  horror  and  detestation  of 
that  religion  which  had  shed  so  much  innocent 
blood.  Queen  Elizabeth  had  a  particular  es- 
teem for  Mr.  Fox,  but  this  excellent  and  labo- 
rious divine,  though  reduced  to  very  great  pov- 
erty and  want,  had  no  preferment  in  the  Church 
because  he  scrupled  the  habits,  till  at  length, 
by  the  intercession  of  some  great  friend,  he  ob- 
tained a  prebend  in  the.Church  of  Sarum,  which 
he  made  a  shift  to  hold  till  his  death,  though 
not  without  some  disturbance  from  the  bishops.* 

The  parochial  clergy,  both  in  city  and  coun- 
try, had  an  aversion  to  the  habits ;  they  wore 
them  sometimes  in  obedience  to  the  law,  but 
more  frequently  administered  without  them  ;  for 
which  some  were  cited  into  the  spiritual  courts, 
and  admonished,  the  bishops  not  having  yet  as- 
sumed the  courage  of  proceeding  to  suspension 
and  deprivation.  At  length  the  matter  was  laid 
before  Jhe  queen,  as  appears  by  a  paper  found 
among  Secretary  Cecil's  MSS.,  dated  February 
24,  1564,  which  acquaints  her  majesty,  that 
"some  perform  Divine  service  and  prayers  in  the 
chancel,  others  in  the  body  of  the  Church ;  some 
in  a  seat  made  in  the  church  ;  some  in  a  pulpit 
with  their  faces  to  the  people  ;  some  keep  pre- 
cisely to  the  order  of  the  book,  some  intermix 
psalms  in  metre  ;  some  say  with  a  surplice,  and 
others  without  one. 

"  The  table  stands  in  the  body  of  the  church 
in  some  places,  in  others  it  stands  in  the  chan- 
cel ;  in  some  places  the  table  stands  altarwise, 
distant  from  the  wall  a  yard  ;  in  others  in  the 
middle  of  the  chancel,  north  and  south ;  in  some 
places  the  table  is  joined,  in  others  it  stands  upon 
tressels ;  in  some  the  table  has  a  carpet,  in  others 
none. 

"  Some  administer  the  communion  with  sur- 
plice and  cap ;  some  with  surplice  alone  ;t  others 
with  none  ;  some  with  chalice,  others  with  a 
communion-cup,  others  with  a  common  cup; 
some  with  unleavened  bread,  and  some  with 
leavened. 

"  Some  receive  kneeling,  others  standing,  oth- 
ers sitting ;  some  baptize  in  a  font,  some  in  a 
basin  ;  some  sign  with  the  sign  of  the  cross, 
others  sign  not ;  some  minister  in  a  surplice, 
others  without :  some  with  a  square  cap,  some 
with  a  round  cap,  some  with  a  button-cap,  some 
with  a  hat ;  some  in  scholars'  clothes,  some  in 
others." 

Her  majesty  was  highly  displeased  with  this 
report,  and  especially  that  her  laws  were  so  lit- 
tle regarded  ;  she  therefore  directed  a  letter  te 
the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury  and  York,  dated 
January  26th,  "  to  confer  with  the  bishops  of  the 
ecclesiastical  commission,  and  to  inquire  what 


*  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  i.,  p.  130.  Bishop  War- 
burton  says  that  he  was  also  installed  in  the  third 
prebend  of  Durham,  October  14, 1572,  but  held  it  not 
long ;  Bellamy  succeeding  to  the  same  stall  Octo- 
ber 31,  ISTi.— Supplement  to  Warburtoyi's  Works,  p. 
456. — Ed.  t  Life  of  Parker,  p.  149. 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


91 


diversities  there  were  among  the  clergy  in  doc- 
trine, rites,  and  ceremonies,  and  to  take  effectual 
lEethods  that  an  exact  order  and  uniformity  be 
maintained  in  all  external  rites  and  ceremonies, 
as  by  law  and  good  usages  are  provided  for  ;  and 
that  none  hereafter  be  admitted  to  any  ecclesi- 
astical preferment  but  who  is  well  disposed  to 
common  order,  and  shall  formally  promise  to 
comply  with  it."*  To  give  countenance  to  this 
severity,  it  was  reported  that  some  of  the  warm- 
er Puritans  had  turned  the  habits  into  ridicule, 
and  given  unhandsome  language  to  those  that 
wore  them,  which,  according  to  Mr.  Strype, 
was  the  occasion  of  their  being  pressed  after- 
ward with  so  much  rigour ;  but  whatever  gave 
occasion  to  tlie  persecutiou  that  followed,  or 
whoever  was  at  the  head  of  it,  supposing  the  in- 
sinuation to  be  just,  it  was  very  hard  that  so 
great  a  number  of  useful  ministers,  who  neither 
censured  their  brethren,  nor  abused  their  indul- 
gence by  an  unmannerly  behaviour,  should  be 
turned  out  of  their  benefices  for  the  indiscretion 
of  a  few.  The  bishops,  in  their  letters  to  the 
foreign  divines,  had  promised  not  to  urge  their 
brethren  in  these  things,  and,  when  opportunity 
served,  to  seek  reformation  of  them  ;  but  now 
they  took  themselves  to  be  released  from  their 
promises,  and  set  at  liberty  by  tbe  queen's  ex- 
press command  to  the  contrary  ;  their  meaning 
being,  that  they  would  not  do  it  with  their  own 
accord,  without  direction  from  above. 

The  Puritans  and  their  friends,  foreseeing  the 
storm,  did  what  they  could  to  avert  it.  Pilking- 
ton,  bishop  of  Durham,  wrote  to  the  Earl  of  Lei- 
cester, October  25th,  to  use  his  interest  with 
the  queen  in  their  behalf  He  said  "  that  com- 
pulsion should  not  be  used  in  things  of  liberty. 
He  prayed  the  earl  to  consider  how  all  reformed 
countries  had  cast  away  popish  apparel,  with 
the  pope,  and  yet  vVe  contend  to  keep  it  as  a  holy 
relict  That  many  ministers  would  rather  leave 
their  livings  than  comply ;  and  the  realm  had  a 
great  scarcity  of  teachers,  many  places  being 
destitute  of  any.  That  it  would  give  incurable 
offence  to  foreign  Protestants ;  and  since  we 
have  forsaken  popery  as  wicked,  I  do  not  see," 
says  the  bishop,  "  how  their  apparel  can  become 
saints  and  pi^ofessors  of  the  Gospel."  Whitting- 
ham,  dean  of  Durham,  wrote  to  the  same  pur- 
pose. He  dreaded  the  consequence  of  imposing 
that  as  necessary  which  at  best  was  only  indif- 
ferent, and,  in  the  opinion  of  many  wise  and 
learned  men,  superstitious.  "  If  the  apparel 
which  the  clergy  wear  at  present,"  says  he, 
"  seems  not  so  modest  and  grave  as  their  vo- 
cation requires,  or  does  not  sufficiently  distin- 
guish them  from  men  of  other  callings,  they  re- 
fuse not  to  wear  that  which  shall  be  thought, 
by  godly  magistrates,  most  decent  for  these 
uses,  provided  they  may  keep  themselves  ever 
pure  from  the  defiled  robe  of  antichrist.  Many 
papists,"  says  he,  "enjoy  their  livings  ai^d  lib- 
erty who  have  not  sworn  obedience,  nor  do  any 
part  of  their  duty  to  their  miserable  flock. t 
Alas  !  my  lord,  that  such  compulsion  should  be 
used  towards  us,  and  such  great  lenity  towards 
the  papists.  Oh  !  noble  earl,  be  our  patron  and 
stay  in  this  behalf,  that  we  may  not  lose  that 
liberty  that  hitherto,  by  the  queen's  benignity, 

*  Life  of  Parker,  p.  154. 

t  Life  of  Parker,  p.  -1 55,  and  Appendix,  p.  40. 

t  Life  of  Parker,  p.  157,  and  Appendix,  p.  43. 


we  have  enjoyed."  Other  letters  were  written 
to  the  same  purpose,  and  all  made  what  friends 
they  could  among  the  courtiers. 

The  nobility  v^'ere  divided,  and  the  queen  her- 
self seemed  to  be  at  a  stand,  but  the  archbishop 
spirited  her  forward  ;  and  having  received  her 
majesty's  letter,  authorizing  him  to  proceed,  he 
entered  upon  the  unpleasing  work  with  vigour 
and  resolution.  The  Bishops  Jewel  and  Horn 
preached  at  Paul's  Cross  to  reconcile  the  people 
to  the  habits.  Jewel  said  he  did  not  come  to 
defend  them,  but  to  show  that  they  were  indif- 
ferent, and  might  be  complied  with.  Horn  went 
a  little  farther,  and  wished  those  cut  off  from 
the  Church  that  troubled  it  about  white  or  black 
garments,  round  or  square  caps.  The  Puritans 
were  not  allowed  to  preach  against  the  habits, 
but  they  expostulated  with  the  bishops,  and  told 
them  that,  in  their  opinions,  those  ought  rather 
to  be  cut  off  which  stopped  the  course  of  the 
Gospel,  and  that  grieved  and  offended  their  weak 
brethren,  by  urging  the  remnants  of  antichrist 
more  than  God's  commandments,  and  by  pun- 
ishing the  refusers  of  them  more  extremely  than 
the  breakers  of  God's  laws. 

The  archbishop,  with  the  Bishops  of  London, 
Ely,  Winchester,  and  Lincoln,  framed  sundry 
articles  to  enforce  the  habits,  which  were  after- 
ward published  under  the  title  of  Advertisements. 
But  when  his  grace  brought  them  to  court,  the 
queen  refused  to  give  them  her  sanction.  The 
archbishop,  chafed  at  the  disappointment,  said 
that  the  court  had  put  him  upon  framing  the 
Advertisements,  and  if  they  would  not  go  on, 
they  had  better  never  have  done  anything  ;  nay, 
if  the  council  would  not  lend  their  helping  hand 
against  the  Nonconformists,  as  they  had  done 
heretofore  in  Hooper's  days,  they  should  only 
be  laughed  at  for  all  they  had  done.*  But  still 
the  queen  was  so  cold,  that,  when  the  Bishop  of 
Ijondon  came  to  court,  she  spoke  not  a  word  to 
him  about  the  redressing  the  neglect  of  con- 
formity in  the  city  of  London,  where  it  was  most 
disregarded.  Upon  which  the  archbishop  ap- 
plied to  the  secretary,  desiring  another  letter 
from  the  queen  to  back  their  endeavours  for 
conformity,  adding,  in  some  heat,  "If  you  rem- 
edy it  not  by  letter,  I  will  no  more  strive  against 
the  stream,  fume  or  chide  who  will." 

But  the  wearing  of  popish  garments  being  one 
of  the  grand  principles  of  nonconformity,  it  will 
be  proper  to  set  before  the  reader  the  senti- 
ments of  some  learned  performers  upon  this 
controversy,  which  employed  the  pens  of  some 
of  the  most  judicious  divuies  of  the  age. 

We  have  related  the  unfriendly  behaviour 
of  the  Bishops  Cranmer  and  Ridley  towards 
Hooper,  and  that  those  very  prelates  who  once 
threatened  his  life  for  refusing  the  habits,  if  we 
may  credit  Mr.  Fox's  Latin  edition  of  the  Book 
of  Martyrs,  lived  to  see  their  mistakes  and  re- 
pent;! for  when  Brooks,  bishop  of  Gloucester, 
came  to  Oxford  to  degrade  Bishop  Ridley,  he 
refused  to  put  on  the  surplice,  and  while  they 
were  putting  it  on  him  whether  he  would  or  no, 
he  vehemently  inveighed  against  the  apparel, 
calling  it  "  foolish,  abominable,  and  too  fond  for 
a  vice  in  a  play." 

Bishop  Latimer  also  derided  the  garments  ; 

*  Life  of  Parker,  p.  159. 

f  Fox's  Book  of  Martyrs,  vol.  iii.,  p.  500.    Strype's 
Ann.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  555. 


92 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


and  Avhen  they  pulled  off  his  surplice  at  his  deg- 
radation, "  Now,"  says  he,  "  I  can  make  no 
more  holy  water." 

In  the  articles  against  Bishop  Farrar,  in  King 
Edward's  reign,  it  was  objected,  article  forty- 
nine,  that  he  had  vowed  never  to  wear  the  cap, 
but  that  he  came  into  his  cathedral  with  a  long 
gown  and  hat,  whicii  he  did  not  deny,  alleging 
he  did  it  to  avoid  superstition,  and  without  any 
offence  to  the  people. 

When  the  popish  vestments  were  put  upon 
Dr.  Taylor,  the  martyr,  in  order  to  his  degrada- 
tion, he  wallced  about  vvith  his  hands  by  his 
sides,  saying,  "  How  say  you,  my  lord,  am  I  not 
a  goodly  fool  I  If  I  were  in  Cheapside,  would 
not  the  boys  laugh  at  these  foolish  toys  and 
apish  trumpery  1"  And  when  the  surplice  was 
pulled  off,  "  Now,"  says  he,  "  I  am  rid  of  a  fool's 
coat." 

When  they  were  pulling  the  same  off  from 
Archbishop  Cranmer,  he  meekly  replied,  "  All 
this  needed  not :  I  myself  had  done  with  this 
gear  long  ago." 

Dr.  Heylin  testifies  that  John  Rogers,  the  pro- 
tomartyr,  peremptorily  refused  to  wear  the  hab- 
its unless  the  popish  priests  were  enjoined  to 
wear  upon  their  sleeves,  by  way  of  distinction, 
a  chalice  with  a  host.  The  same  he  asserts  con- 
cerning Philpot,  a  very  eminent  martyr ;  and 
concerning  one  Tyms,  a  deacon,  who  was  like- 
wise martyred  in  Queen  Mary's  reign. 

The  holy  martyr  John  Bradford,  as  well  as 
Mr.  Sampson  and  some  others,  excepted  against 
the  habits  at  their  entrance  into  holy  orders,  and 
were  ordained  without  them. 

Bucer  and  Peter  Martyr,  professors  of  our  two 
famous  universities,  were  both  against  the  hab- 
its, and  refused  to  wear  them.  Bucer  being 
asked  why  he  did  not  wear  the  square  cap,  an- 
swered. Because  his  head  was  not  square.*  And 
Martyr,  in  one  of  his  letters  after  his  return 
home,  says,  "  When  T  was  at  Oxford  I  would 
never  use  those  white  garments  in  the  choir, 
though  I  was  a  canon  in  the  Church ;  and  I  am 
satisfied  in  my  own  reasons  for  what  I  did."t  In 
the  same  letter,  Bucer  says  he  would  be  content 
to  suffer  some  great  pain  in  his  body  upon  condi- 
tion that  these  things  were  utterly  taken  away.t 
And,  in  such  case  as  we  are  now  [1550],  he 
willeth  that  in  no  case  they  should  be  received. 
He  adds,  in  his  letter  from  Cambridge  to  a  friend 
beyond  sea,  dated  12th  January,  1550,  that  no 
foreigner  was  consulted  about  the  purity  of  cer- 
emonies, "  De  puritate  rituum  scito  hie  neminem 
extraneum  de  his  rebus  rogari."  And  though 
both  he  and  Peter  Martyr  thought  they  might 
be  borne  with  for  a  season,  yet,  in  our  case,  he 
would  not  have  them  suffered  to  remain. 

These  were  the  sentiments  of  our  first  Re- 
formers in  the  reign  of  King  Edward  VI.  and 
Queen  Mary. 

Upon  restoring  the  Protestant  religion,  un- 
der Queen  Elizabeth,  the  same  sentiments  con- 
cerning the  habits  prevailed  among  all  the  Re- 
formers at  first,  though  they  disagreed  upon  the 
grand  question  whether  they  should  desert  their 
ministry  rather  than  comply. 

Mr.  Strype,  in  his  Life  of  Archbishop  Parker, 
a  most  cruel  persecutor  of  the  Puritans,  says 

*  Life  of  Parker,  Appendix,  p.  41. 

t  Hist.  Ref.,  p.  65. 

t  Ann.  Ref.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  554,  555. 


that  he  was  not  fond  of  the  cap,  the  surplice, 
and  the  wafer-bread,  and  such  like  injunctions, 
and  would  have  been  pleased  with  a  toleration  ; 
that  he  gloried  in  having  been  consecrated  with- 
out the  Aaronical  garments ;  but  that  his  con- 
cern for  his  prince's  honour  made  him  resolute 
that  her  royal  will  might  take  place. 

Dr.  Horn,  bishop  of  Winchester,  in  his  letter 
to  Gaulter,  says  "that  the  act  of  Parliament 
which  enjoined  the  vestments  was  made  before 
they  were  in  office,  so  that  they  had  no  hand  in 
making  it  ;*  but  they  had  obeyed  the  law,  think- 
ing the  matter  to  be  of  indifferent  nature  ;  and 
they  had  reason  to  apprehend  that,  if  they  had 
deserted  their  stations  on  that  account,  their  en- 
emies might  have  come  into  their  places  ;t  but 
he  hoped  to  procure  an  alteration  of  the  act 
in  the  next  Parliament,  though  he  believed 
it  would  meet  with  great  opposition  from  the 
papists."  Yet  this  very  bishop,  a  little  after, 
wished  them  cut  off  from  the  Church  that  troub- 
led it  about  white  or  black  garments. 

Bishop  Jewel  calls  the  vestments  "  the  habits 
of  the  stage,  the  relics  of  the  Amorites,  and 
wishes  they  may  be  extirpated  to  the  roots,  that 
all  the  remnants  of  former  errors,  with  all  the 
rubbish,  and  even  the  dust  that  yet  remained, 
might  be  taken  away."  But,  he  adds,  the  queen 
is  fixed ;  and  so  was  his  lordship  soon  after, 
when  he  refused  the  learned  Dr.  Humphreys  a 
benefice  within  his  diocess  on  this  account,  and 
called  the  Nonconformists  men  of  squeamish, 
stomachs. t 

Bishop  Pilkington  complains  "  that  the  dis- 
putes which  began  about  the  vestments  were 
now  carried  farther,  even  to  the  whole  consti- 
tution ;  that  pious  persons  lamented  this,  athe- 
ists laughed,  and  the  papists  blew  the  coals  ; 
and  that  the  blame  of  all  was  cast  upon  the 
bishops.  He  urged  .that  it  might  be  considered 
that  all  Reformed  Churches  had  cast  away  po- 
pish apparel  with  the  pope  ;  that  many  ministers 
would  rather  leave  their  livings  than  wear  them ; 
and  he  was  well  satisfied  that  it  was  not  an  ap- 
parel becoming  those  that  profess  godliness.  I 
confess,"  says  he, "  we  suffer  many  things  against 
our  hearts,  groaning  under  them ;  but  we  can- 
not take  them  away,  though  we  were  ever  so 
much  set  upon  it.  We  were  under  authority, 
and  can  innovate  nothing  without  the  queen ; 
nor  can  we  alter  the  laws  ;  the  only  thing  left 
to  our  choice  is,  whether  we  will  bear  these 
things  or  break  the  peace  of  the  Church. "ij 

Bishop  Grindal  was  a  considerable  time  in 
suspense  whether  he  should  accept  a  bishopric 
with  the  popish  vestments.  He  consulted  Pe- 
ter Martyr  on  this  head,  and  says  that  all  the 
bishops  that  had  been  beyond  the  sea  had  dealt 
with  the  queen  to  let  the  habits  fail ;  but  she 
was  inflexible.  This  made  them  submit  to  the 
laws,  and  wait  for  a  fit  opportunity  to  reverse 
them.  Upon  this  principle  he  conformed,  and 
was  consecrated  ;  and  in  one  of  his  letters  he 
calls  God  to  witness  that  it  did  not  lie  at  their 
(the  bishops')  door  that  the  habits  were  not 
quite  taken  away. 

Dr.  Sandys,  bishop  of  Worcester,  and  Park- 
hurst  of  Norwich,  inveigh  severely  against  the 
habits,  and  they,  with  the  rest  of  the  bishops, 

*  Pierce's  Vindication,  p.  44. 
t  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  289,  294.    Life  of  Parker, 
p.  154.    t  MS.,  p.  873.      ^"Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  316, 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


93 


threaten  to  declaim  against  them  "  till  they  are 
sent  to  hell,  from  whence  they  came."*  San- 
dys, in  one  of  his  letters  to  Parker,  says,  "  I 
hope  we  shall  not  be  forced  to  use  the  vest- 
ments, but  that  the  meaning  of  the  law  is,  that 
others,  in  the  mean  time,  shall  not  take  them 
away,  but  that  they  shall  remain  for  the  queen." 

Dr.  Guest,  bishop  of  Rochester,  wrote  against 
the  ceremonies  to  Secretary  Cecil,  and  gave  it 
as  his  opinion  "  that,  having  been  evil  used,  and 
once  taken  away,  they  ought  not  to  be  used 
again,  because  the  Galatians  were  commanded 
to  stand  fast  in  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  had 
made  them  free,  and  because  we  are  to  abstain 
from  all  appearance  of  evil.  The  Gospel  teaches 
us  to  put  away  needless  ceremonies,  and  to  wor- 
ship God  in  spirit  and  truth  ;  whereas  these  cer- 
emonies were  no  better  than  the  devices  of  men, 
and  had  been  abused  to  idolatry.  He  declares 
openly  against  the  cross,  against  images  in 
churches,  and  against  a  variety  of  garments  in 
the  service  of  God .  If  a  surplice  be  thought  prop- 
er for  one,"  says  his  lordship,  "  it  should  serve 
for  all  Divine  offices.  The  bishop  is  for  the  peo- 
ple's receiving  the  sacrament  into  their  hands, 
according  to  the  example  of  Christ  and  the 
primitive  Church,  and  not  for  putting  it  into  the 
people's  mouths  ;  and  as  for  the  posture,  that  it 
should  be  rather  standing  than  kneeling  ;  but 
that  this  should  be  left  to  every  one's  choice. "t 

Not  one  of  the  first  set  of  bishops  after  the  Ref- 
ormation approved  of  the  habits,  or  argued  for  their 
continuance  from  Scripture,  antiqxiity,  or  decency, 
but  submitted  to  them  out  of  necessity,  and  to 
keep  the  Church  in  the  queen's  favour. i  How 
much  are  the  times  altered  !  our  first  Reformers 
never  ascribed  any  holiness  or  virtue  to  the 
vestments,  but  wished  and  prayed  for  their  re- 
moval ;i^  whereas  several  modern  conformists 
have  made  them  essential  to  their  ministrations, 
and  have  represented  religion  as  naked  and  de- 
fective without  them. 

But  the  question  that  divided  the  Reformers 
was  the  lawfulness  of  wearing  habits  that  had 
been  consecrated  to  idolatrous  and  superstitious 
uses,  and  were  the  very  marks  and  badges  of 
that  religion  they  had  renounced.  Upon  this 
they  consulted  the  foreign  divines,  who  all 
agreed  in  the  reasonableness  of  abolishing  the 
habits,  but  were  divided  in  their  sentiments 
about  the  lawfulness  of  wearing  them  in  the 
mean  time :  some  were  afraid  of  the  return  of 
Lutheranism  or  popery,  if  the  ministers  should 
desert  their  stations  in  the  Church  ;  and  others 


*  Bishop  Burnet  quotes  this  as  concerning  the  cor- 
ruptions of  the  spiritual  courts,  vol.  iu.,  T. 

t  MS.,  p.  891.  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  i.,  p.  38.  Ap- 
pendix, No.  14.  X  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  i.,  p.  177. 

6  Bishop  Warburton  asks  here,  "  Who  ascribes  any 
holiness  or  virtue  to  them  now,  I  pray  ?"  In  reply,  it 
is  sufficient  to  observe  that  Mr.  Neal  refers  to  the 
time  when  he  wrote,  about  thirty-six  years  before  the 
bishop's  strictures  appear  to  have  been  penned,  and 
not  many  years  after  Dr.  Nichols,  in  his  defence  of 
the  Church  of  England,  had  called  ministers'  ordina- 
ry habit  profane ;  and  when  Dr.  Grey  (System  of  Ec- 
clesiastical Law,  p.  55)  had  carried  the  notion  of  de- 
cency, in  this  respect,  very  high,  representing  "  the 
Church,  as  by  a  prescript  form  of  decent  and  comely 
apparel,  providing  to  have  its  ministers  known  to  the 
people,  and  thereby  to  receive  the  honour  and  esti- 
mation due  to  the  special  messengers  and  ministers 
of  Almighty  God."  This  representation  approximates 
very  much  to  the  idea  of  holiness  and  virtue.— Ed. 


apprehended  that  if  they  did  not  reject  them  at 
first,  they  should  never  obtain  their  removal  af 
terward. 

Dr.  Humphreys  and  Sampson,  two  heads  of 
the  Nonconformists,  wrote  to  Zurich  the  follow- 
ing reasons  against  the  lawfulness  of  -wearing 
the  habits  :  "  That  they  did  not  think  the  prescri- 
bing habits  to  the  clergy  merely  a  civil  thing ; 
nor  that  the  habits  now  prescribed  were  decent ; 
for  how  can  that  habit  be  decent  that  serves 
only  to  dress  up  the  theatrical  pomp  of  popery'? 
The  papists  glory  in  ihis,  that  these  habits  were 
brought  in  by  them,  for  which  they  vouch  Otho's 
Constitutions  and  the  Roman  Pontifical.  They 
add,  that  in  King  Edward's  time  the  surplice 
was  not  universally  used  nor  pressed,  whereas 
the  copes  then  taken  away  are  now  to  be  resto- 
red. This  is  not  to  extirpate  popery,  but  to  plant 
it  again,  and  instead  of  going  forward  in  Refor- 
mation, to  go  backward.  We  do  not  place  re- 
ligion in  habits,"  say  they,  "but  we  oppose  them 
that  do  [the  papists].  Besides,  it  gives  some 
authority  to  servitude,  to  depart  from  our  liber- 
ty. We  hate  contention,  nor  do  we  desert  our 
churches,  and  leave  them  exposed  to  wolves, 
but  we  are  driven  from  them.  We  leave  our 
brethren  to  stand  and  fall  to  their  own  master, 
and  desire  the  same  favourable  forbearance  from 
them.  All  that  is  pretended  is,  that  the  habits 
are  not  unlawful ;  not  that  they  are  good  and 
expedient ;  but  forasmuch  as  the  habits  of  the 
clergy  are  visible  marks  of  their  profession,  they 
ought  not  to  be  taken  from  their  enemies.  The 
ancient  fathers  had  their  habits,  but  not  peculiar 
to  bishops,  nor  distinct  from  the  laity.  The  in- 
stances of  St.  John  and  Cyprian  are  singular. 
In  Tertullian's  time  the  pailium  was  the  com- 
mon habit  of  old  Christians.  Chrysostom  speaks 
of  white  garments,  but  with  no  approbation  :  he 
rather  finds  fault  with  them ;  nor  do  we  condemn 
things  indifferent  as  unlawful ;  but  we  wish 
there  might  be  a  free  synod  to  settle  this  mat- 
ter, in  which  things  may  not  be  carried  accord- 
ing to  the  minds  of  one  or  two  persons.  The 
doctrine  of  our  Church  is  now  pure,  and  why 
should  there  be  any  defect  in  our  worship  1  why 
should  we  borrow  anything  from  popery  1  why 
should  we  not  agree  in  rites,  as  well  as  in  doc- 
trine, with  the  other  Reformed  Churches?  we 
have  a  good  opinion  of  our  bishops,  and  bear 
with  their  state  and  pomp ;  we  once  bore  the 
same  cross  with  them,  and  preached  the  same 
Christ  with  them;  why,  then,  are  we  now  turned 
out  of  our  benefices,  and  some  put  in  prison, 
only  for  habits,  and  publicly  defamed?* 

"  But  the  dispute  is  not  only  about  a  cap  and 
surplice ;  there  are  other  grievances  which 
ought  to  be  redressed  or  dispensed  with  ;  as,  1. 
Music  and  organs  in  Divine  worship.  2.  The 
sponsors  in  baptism,  answering  in  the  child's 
name.  3.  The  cross  in  baptism.  4.  Kneeling 
at  the  sacrament,  and  the  use  of  unleavened 
bread.  5.  There  is  also  a  want  of  discipline  in 
the  Church.  6.  The  marriage  of  the  clergy  is 
not  legitimated,  but  their  children  are  looked 
upon  by  some  as  bastards.  7.  Marriage  is  not 
to  be  performed  without  a  ring.  8.  Women  are 
not  to  be  churched  without  the  veil.  9.  The 
court  of  faculties,  pluralities,  licenses  for  non- 
residence,  for  eating  flesh  in  Lent,  &c.,  are  in- 
sufferable grievances.     10.  Ministers  have  not 

*  Hist.  Ref ,  vol.  iii.,  p.  311. 


94 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


a  free  liberty  to  preach  without  subscribing  to 
the  use  and  approbation  of"  ail  the  ceremonies.* 
And,  lastly,  the  article  which  explained  the  man- 
ner of  Christ's  presence  in  the  sacrament  is  ta- 
ken away." 

The  bishops  alleged,  in  vindication  of  their 
compliance  with  these  things,  the  necessity  of 
the  time,  the  queen's  peremptoriness,  the  in- 
different nature  of  the  things  required,  and  their 
fears  of  the  loss  of  the  whole  Reformation  if 
they  should  desert  their  stations  in  the  Church; 
promising  not  to  urge  them  upon  their  brethren 
who  were  dissatisfied,  but  to  endeavour  their 
removal  in  a  proper  season. 

The  learned  foreigners  gave  their  opinions 
upon  this  nice  question  with  caution  and  reserve. 
Peter  Martyr,  in  his  letter  to  Grindalt,  writes 
thus  :  "  As  to  the  habits  to  be  used  in  holy 
things,  since  they  carry  an  appearance  of  the 
mass,  and  are  merely  remainders  of  popery,  it 
is,"  says  he,  "  the  opinion  of  the  learned  BuUin- 
ger,  the  chief  minister  of  Zurich,  that  they  are 
to  be  refrained  from,  lest  by  your  example  a  thing 
that  is  scandalous  should  be  confirmed ;  but,"  he 
adds,  "  though  I  have  been  always  against  the 
use  of  such  ornaments,  yet  I  see  the  present 
danger,  lest  you  should  be  put  from  the  office  of 
preaching.  There  may  also  be  some  hopes,  that 
as  images  and  altars  are  taken  away,  so  also 
those  appearances  of  the  mass  may  be  removed, 
if  you  and  others,  who  have  taken  upon  you  epis- 
copacy, labour  in  it.  I  am  therefore  more  back- 
ward to  advise  you  rather  to  refuse  the  bishop- 
ric than  to  submit  to  the  use  of  those  vestures ; 
and  yet,  because  I  am  sensible  scandals  of  this 
kind  are  to  be  avoided,  I  am  more  willing  to 
vield  to  Bullinger's  opinion  aforesaid."  But,  af- 
ter all,  he  advises  him  to  do  nothing  against  his 
conscience. 

Bullinger  and  Gualter,  ministers  of  Zurich,  in 
their  letters  to  Horn  and  Grindal,  "  lament  the 
unhappy  breach  in  the  Church  of  England,  and 
approve  of  the  zeal  of  those  divines  who  wish 
to  have  the  house  of  God  purged  from  all  the 
dregs  of  popery.  They  are  not  pleased  with 
them  who  first  made  the  laws  about  habits,  nor 
with  those  who  zealously  maintain  them.  They 
declare  that  they  acted  unwisely,  if  they  were  of 
the  reformed  side  ;  but  if  they  were  disguised 
enemies,  that  they  had  been  laying  snares  with  ill 
designs.  They  are  therefore  absolutely  against 
the  imposition  of  these,  and  other  grievances  ; 
but  they  think  many  things  of  this  sort  should 
be  submitted  to,  rather  than  men  should  forsake 
the  ministry  at  this  juncture,  lest  the  whole  Ref- 
ormation should  be  lost ;  but  that  they  should 
press  the  queen  and  the  nobility  to  go  on  and 
complete  the  Reformation,  so  gloriously  be- 
gun."t 

These  divines  wrote  also  to  the  Earl  of  Bed- 
ford, and  acquainted  him  "  that  they  were  sorry 
to  hear  that  not  only  the  vestments,  but  many 
other  things  were  retained  in  the  Church,  which 
savoured  plainly  of  popery.  They  complain  of 
the  bishops  printing  their  letter,  and  that  their 
private  opinion  about  the  lawfulness  of  wearing 
the  habits  for  the  present  should  be  made  use 
of  to  cast  reproaches  on  persons,  for  whom  they 
should  rather  have  compassion  in  their  suffer- 

*  Hist.  Ref.,  in  Records,  p.  335. 
t  Strype's  Life  of  Grindal,  p.  29,  30.    Ann.,  vol.  i., 
p.  173.       t  Hist.  Ref,  vol.  iii.,  p.  508,    MS.,  p.  889. 


ings,  than  study  to  aggravate  them.  They  pray' 
his  lordship  to  intercede  with  the  queen  and  no- 
bility for  their  brethren  that  were  then  under 
sufferings,  who  deserved  a  very  great  regard, 
forasmucli  as  it  had  appeared  what  true  zeal 
they  had  for  religion,  since  the  only  thing  they 
desired  was,  that  the  Church  should  be  purged 
from  all  the  dregs  of  popery.  This  cause,  say 
they,  in  general  is  such,  that  those  who  promote 
it  are  worthy  of  the  highest  dignity.  They  do, 
therefore,  earnestly  pray  his  lordship  at  this 
time  to  exert  himself  and  employ  all  the  inter- 
est he  has  in  the  queen  and  nobility,  that  the 
Church  of  England,  so  happily  reformed  to  the 
admiration  of  the  whole  world,  may  not  be  de- 
filed with  the  remnants  of  popery.  To  retain 
these  things  will  look  like  giddiness,"  say  these 
divines ;  "  it  will  offend  the  weak,  and  give  great 
scandal  to  their  neighbours  in  France  and  Scot- 
land, who  are  yet  under  the  cross ;  and  the 
very  papists  will  justify  their  tyrannical  impo- 
sitions by  such  proceedings."* 

The  divines  of  Geneva  were  more  perempto- 
ry in  their  advices  ;  for  in  their  letter  of  Octo- 
ber 24th,  1564,  signed  by  Theodore  Beza,  and 
seventeen  of  his  brethren,  they  say,  "  If  the 
case  were  theirs,  they  would  not  receive  the 
ministry  upon  these  conditions  if  it  were  prof- 
fered, much  less  would  they  sue  for  it.  As  for 
those  who  have  hitherto  complied,  if  they  are 
obliged  not  only  to  wink  at  manifest  abuses,  but 
to  approve  of  those  things  which  ought  to  he 
redressed,  what  thing  else  can  we  advise  them 
to,  but  that  they  should  retire  to  a  private  life1 
As  for  the  popish  habits,  those  men  that  are  au- 
thors of  their  being  imposed,  do  deserve  most 
evil  of  the  Church,  and  shall  verily  answer  it  at 
the  dreadful  bar  of  Christ's  judgment."  Then 
they  argue  very  strongly  against  the  habits ; 
and  having  advised  the  ministers  not  to  lay 
down  their  ministry  presently,  for  fear  of  the 
return  of  popery,  they  conclude  thus  :  "  Never- 
theless, if  ministers  are  commanded  not  only  to 
tolerate  these  things,  but  by  their  subscriptions 
to  allow  them  as  lawful,  what  else  can  we  advise 
them  to,  but  that,  having  witnessed  their  inno- 
cence, and  tried  all  other  means  in  the  fear  of  the 
Lord,  they  should  give  over  their  functions  to 
open  wrong  1"  They  then  declare  their  opin- 
ions against  the  cross  in  baptism  ;  the  validity 
of  baptism  by  midwives  ;  the  power  of  the  keys 
being  in  the  hands  of  lay-chancellors  and  bish- 
ops' courts  ;  and  conclude  with  an  exhortation 
and  prayer  for  unity,  and  a  more  perfect  refor- 
mation in  the  English  Church. 

Though  the  Reformation  in  Scotland  was  not 
fully  established,  yet  the  superintendent  minis- 
ters and  commissioners  of  charges  within  that 
realm  directed  a  letter  the  very  first  opportunity 
to  their  brethren  the  bishops,  and  pastors  of 
England,  who  have  renounced  the  Roman  anti- 
christ, and  do  profess  with  them  the  Lord  Je- 
sus Christ  in  sincerity.  It  was  dated  from  Ed- 
inburgh, December  28th,  1566,  and  signed  by 
John  Spotswood,  and  nine  of  his  brethren, 
preachers  of  Christ  Jesus.  The  letter  does  not 
enter  into  the  debate  whether  the  habits  are 
simply  indifferent  or  not,  but  pleads  in  a  most 
earnest  and  pathetic  manner  for  toleration  and 
forbearance,  and  that  the  deprived  ministers 
may  be  restored.     "  If  surplice,  corner-cap,  and 


♦  Hist.  Ref,  vol.  ii.,  p.  313. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


95 


tippet,"  say  they,  "  have  been  badges  of  idola- 
try, what  have  the  preachers  of  Christian  hber- 
ty,  and  the  open  rebukers  of  all  superstition,  to 
do  with  the  dregs  of  the  Roman  beast  I  Our 
brethren,  that  of  conscience  refuse  that  unprofit- 
able apparel,  do  neither  damn  yours,  nor  molest 
you  that  use  such  vain  trifles.  If  ye  shall  do 
the  like  by  them,  we  doubt  not  but  you  will 
therein  please  God,  and  comfort  the  hearts  of 
many."  But  the  whole  letter  breathes  such  an 
excellent  spirit,  that  I  cannot  forbear  recom- 
mending it  to  the  reader's  perusal  in  the  Ap- 
pendix. 

It  is  evident,  upon  the  whole,  that  it  was  the 
unanimous  opinion  of  the  foreign  divines  that 
the  habits  ought  to  be  laid  aside  by  authority, 
and  that,  in  the  mean  time,  they  should  not  be 
urged  upon  those  that  scrupled  them  ;  but  they 
were  not  so  well  agreed  in  the  lawfulness  of 
wearing  them  till  they  were  taken  away ;  though 
their  fears  of  the  return  of  popery,  if  the  minis- 
ters should  desert  their  stations  ;  their  compas- 
sion to  the  souls  of  the  people,  who  were  per- 
ishing for  lack  of  knowledge  ;  and  their  hopes 
that  the  queen  would  quickly  be  prevailed  with 
to  remove  them,  made  most  of  them  apprehend 
they  might  be  dispensed  with  for  the  present. 

The  English  laity  were  more  averse  to  the 
habits  than  the  clergy ;  as  their  hatred  of  po- 
pery increased,  so  did  their  aversion  to  the  gar- 
ments. There  was  a  strong  party  in  the  very 
court  against  them,  among  whom  was  the  great 
Earl  of  Leicester,  Sir  Francis  Knollys,  vice- 
chamberlain  ;  Burleigh,  lord- treasurer  ;  Sir 
Francis  Walsingham,  secretary  of  state ;  the 
Earls  of  Bedford,  Warwick,  and  others.  But 
the  Protestant  populace  throughout  the  nation 
were  so  inflamed  that  nothing  but  an  awful  sub- 
jection to  authority  could  have  kept  them  with- 
in bounds.  Great  numbers  refused  to  frequent 
those  places  of  worship  where  service  was  min- 
istered in  that  dress ;  they  would  not  salute 
such  ministers  in  the  streets,  nor  keep  them 
company  ;  nay,  if  we  may  believe  Dr.  Whitgift, 
in  his  defence  against  Cartwright,  "  they  spit 
in  their  faces,  reviled  them  as  they  went  along, 
and  showed  such-like  rude  behaviour,"*  be- 
cause they  took  them  for  papists  in  disguise, 
for  time-servers,  and  half-faced  Protestants  that 
would  be  content  with  the  return  of  that  reli- 
gion whose  badge  they  wore.f  There  was,  in- 
deed, a  warm  spirit  in  the  people  against  every- 
thing which  came  from  that  pretended  church, 
whose  garments  had  been  so  lately  dyed  with 
the  blood  of  their  friends  and  relations.  Upon 
the  whole,  I  leave  the  reader  to  determine  how 
far  the  wisdom  and  moderation  of  the  queen 
can  be  vindicated  in  imposing  these  habits  on 
the  clergy  ;  or  the  bishops  be  excused  for  im- 
prisoning, suspending,  and  depriving  some  of 
the  most  useful  preachers  in  the  kingdom,  on 
account  of  things  which,  in  their  own  opinion, 
were  but  barely  tolerable,  but  in  the  judgment 
of  their  brethren  were  absolutely  sinful.  J 


*  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  i.,  p.  178,  460,  602.  Mem. 
Cranmer,  p.  363.    Life  of  Parker,  p.  77. 

t  The  grounds  on  which  such  a  suspicion  might 
rest  may  be  seen  in  Mr.  Neal's  Review,  m  the  quar- 
to edition  of  his  History,  vol.  i.,  p.  88],  882. 

"  t  Strype  attributes  the  rigorous  measures  hence- 
forth adopted  to  the  disturbances  and  insolent  beha- 
viour of  some  of  the  Puritans.  Bishop  Maddox,  in 
his  animadversions  on  Neal,  lays  great  stress  on  tliis 


We  have  already  mentioned  the  queen's  let- 
ter of  January  25th ;  in  obedience  to  which, 
Archbishop  Parker  wrote  to  his  brethren  of  the 
ecclesiastical  commission,  and  in  particular  to 
Grindal,  bishop  of  London  (there  being  in  that 
city  the  greatest  number  of  clergy,  and  of  the 
best  learning,  that  refused  the  apparel),  to  con- 
sult proper  methods  to  reduce  them  to  an  exact 
uniformity.*  After  some  debate,  the  commis- 
sioners agreed  upon  certain  advertisements  (as 
they  were  called),  partly  for  due  order  in  preach- 
ing and  administering  the  sacraments,  and  part- 
ly for  the  apparel  of  persons  ecclesiastical.! 


allegation,  and  thus  endeavours  to  vindicate  the  bish- 
ops from  a  charge  of  falsehood  and  tyranny.  A  pre- 
text for  persecution  has  never  been  wanting,  when 
the  governors  of  the  Church  or  the  State  have  deter- 
mined on  it.  Wyatt's  insurrection  was  thus  employ- 
ed in  Mary's  time ;  and  the  insolence  and  disloyalty  of 
the  Puritans  were  reiterated  at  subsequent  periods, 
in  vindication  of  the  coercive  measures  which  were 
adopted.  The  indiscretions  and  violence  of  the  Pu- 
ritans towards  the  Protestant  Church  are  not  to  be 
compared  with  those  of  the  Reformers  towards  the 
Church  of  Rome  ;  yet  it  is  customary,  with  a  certain 
class  of  writers,  to  magnify  the  former  and  to  gloss 
over  and  extenuate  the  latter.  The  one  class  of  of- 
fences is  represented  as  justifying  the  severest  meas- 
ures of  a  vindictive  hierarchy ;  the  other,  as  the  in- 
evitable attendants  on  the  earliest  movements  of  re- 
ligious zeal.  Such  a  procedure  betrays  more  of  par- 
ty-spirit than  of  the  calm  decision  of  an  impartial 
judgment.  The  same  principle  holds  in  both  cases, 
and  must  be  fairly  apphed.  Both  the  Reformers  and 
the  Puritans  frequently  mistook  an  intemperate  and 
contentious  spirit  for  that  of  the  Gospel.  The  vio- 
lence  and  fierceness  of  human  passion  were  permit- 
ted, in  some  cases,  to  mingle  with  and  debase  their 
religious  zeal.  To  deny  this  fact  is  to  contradict  the 
page  of  histoiy.  To  reg:ret  the  Reformation  on  this 
account  is  to  display  an  ignorance  of  human  nature, 
and  an  utter  disregard  of  the  welfare  of  the  Church. 
That  instances  of  such  misconduct  did  occur  among 
the  Puritans,  may  be  freely  admitted ;  but  that  they 
were  .so  numerous  as  to  call  for  or  to  justify  the 
measures  which  their  enemies  adopted,  neither  Stiype 
nor  Maddox  has  succeeded  in  proving.  The  fact  is, 
that  Elizabeth's  bishops  yielded  somewhat  to  the 
corrupting  influences  of  then-  station,  and  were, 
therefore,  indisposed  to  fulfil  their  early  promises. 
When  writing  to  BuUinger,  they  had  pleaded  that 
the  obnoxious  ceremonies  were  enjoined  by  Parlia^ 
ment  before  their  entrance  into  it.  '  But  that,  after 
it  was  passed,  they,  being  chosen  to  be  bishops,  must 
either  content  themselves  to  take  their  places  a? 
things  were,  or  else  leave  them  to  papists  or  Luther 
ans.  But,  in  the  mean  space,  they  promised  not  to 
urge  their  brethren  in  those  things,  and,  when  oppor 
tunity  should  serve,  to  seek  reformation  of  them.'-  - 
Parker,  i.,  307.  How  far  they  fulfilled  this  promise, 
let  the  records  of  history  tell.  Some  of  them  were 
honestly  concerned  to  do  so,  but  Parker  was  too  in- 
tolerant to  permit  it." — Dr.  Price's  Hist,  of  Noncon- 
formity, vol.  i.,  p.  168.— C.     *  Life  of  Parker,  p.  161 

t  The  articles  for  preaching  declare,  "  that  all 
licenses  granted  before  March  1st,  1564,  shall  be  void 
and  of  none  effect ;  and  that  all  that  shall  be  thought 
meet  for  the  ofhce  of  preaching  shall  be  admitted 
again,  paying  no  more  than  fourpence  for  the  writing, 
parchment,  and  wax ;  and  that  those  who  were  not 
approved  as  preachers,  might  read  the  homihes. 

"  In  the  ministration  of  the  communion  in  ca- 
thedrals and  collegiate  churches,  the  principal  min- 
isters shall  wear  a  cope  with  gospeller  and  epistoler 
agreeably ;  but  at  all  other  prayers  to  be  said  at  the 
communion-table,  they  shall  wear  no  copes,  but  sur- 
plices only ;  deans  and  prebendaries  shall  wear  a  sur- 
plice with  a  silk  hood  in  the  choir,  and  when  they 
preach,  a  hood! 


9G 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS. 


By  the  first  of  these  articles,  all  preachers 
thro'ighout  the  nation  were  disqualified  at  once, 
and  by  the  last,  they  subscribed,  and  promised 
not  to  preach  or  expound  the  Scriptures  with- 
out a  license  from  the  bishop,  which  was  not  to 
be  obtained  without  a  promise  under  the  hand 
of  an  absolute  conformity  to  the  ceremonies. 
Here  the  commissioners  surely  broke  through 
the  act  of  submission,  by  which  they  were  obli- 
ged never  to  make  or  execute  any  canons  or 
constitutions  without  the  royal  assent.  But 
the  bishops  presumed  upon  their  interest  with 
her  majesty  ;  they  knew  her  mind,  though  she 
refused,  for  pohtical  reasons,  to  ratify  their  ad- 
vertisements, telling  them  that  the  oath  of  ca- 
nonical obedience  was  sufficient  to  bind  the  in- 
ferior clergy  to  their  duty,  without  the  interpo- 
sition of  the  crown. 

Parker  therefore  went  on,  and  having  cited 
the  Puritan  clergy  to  Lambeth,  he  admonished 
some,  and  threatened  others;*  butGrindal  with- 
drew, being  naturally  averse  to  methods  of  se- 
verity, and  afraid  of  a  praemunire.  His  grace 
took  a  great  deal  of  pains  to  gain  him  over,  and 
by  his  arguments,  says  Strype,  brought  him  to  a 
good  resolution.  He  also  applied  to  the  council 
for  the  queen's  and  their  assistance  ;  and  to  the 
secretary  of  state,  beseeching  him  to  spirit  up 
the  Bishop  of  London  to  his  duty,  which  was 
done  accordingly.  What  pains  will  some  men 
take  to  draw  their  brethren  into  a  snare,  and 
force  them  to  be  partners  in  oppression  and  cru- 
elty ! 

Among  those  that  the  archbishop  cited  before 
him  were  the  Reverend  Mr.  Thomas  Sampson, 
dean  of  Christ  Church,  and  Dr.  Lawrence  Hum- 
phreys (regius  professor  of  divinity),  president 


"  Every  minister  saying  the  public  prayers,  or  ad- 
ministering the  sacraments,  &c.,  shall  wear  a  sur- 
plice with  sleeves  ;  and  the  parish  shall  provide  a  de- 
cent table  standing  on  a  frame  for  the  communion- 
table ;  and  the  Ten  Commandments  shall  be  set  on 
the  east  wall,  over  the  said  table. 

"All  dignitaries  in  cathedral  churches,  doctors, 
bachelors  of  divinity  and  law,  having  ecclesiastical 
livings,  shall  wear  in  their  common  apparel  a  broad 
side-gown  with  sleeves,  straight  at  the  hands,  with- 
out any  cuffs  or  falling  capes,  and  tippets  of  sarse- 
net, and  a  square  cap,  but  no  hats,  except  in  their 
journeying.  The  inferior  clergy  are  to  wear  long 
gowns  and  caps  of  the  same  fashion,  except  in  case 
of  poverty,  when  they  may  wear  short  gowns." 

To  these  advertisements  certain  protestations  were 
annexed,  to  be  made,  promised,  and  subscribed  by 
such  as  shall  hereafter  be  admitted  to  any  office  or 
cure  in  the  Church.  "And  here  every  clergyman 
subscribed,  and  promised  not  to  preach  or  expound 
the  Scriptures  without  special  license  of  the  bishop 
under  his  seal,  but  only  to  read  the  homilies  ;  and 
likewise  to  observe,  keep,  and  maintain  such  order 
.and  uniformity  in  all  external  polity,  rites,  and  cere- 
monies of  the  Church,  as  by  laws,  good  usages,  and 
orders  are  already  well  provided  and  established." 

These  advertisements  were  enjoined  the  clergy  by 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the  Bishops  of  Lon- 
don and  Rochester  (commissioners  in  causes  eccle- 
siastical), and  by  the  Bishops  of  Winchester,  Ely, 
and  some  others.  The  preface  says,  "  that  they  do 
not  prescribe  these  rules  as  equivalent  with  the  Word 
of  God,  or  as  of  necessity  to  bind  the  consciences  of 
the  queen's  subjects,  in  their  own  nature  considered  ; 
or  as  adding  any  efficacy  or  holiness  to  public  prayer, 
or  to  the  sacraments ;  but  as  temporal  orders  merely 
ecclesiastical,  without  any  vain  superstition,  and  as 
lules  of  decency,  distinction,  and  order  for  the  time." 

*  Life  of  Parker,  p.  161,  216. 


of  Magdalen  College,  Oxon,  men  of  high  renown 
throughout  the  nation  for  learning,  piety,  and 
zeal  for  the  Reformation,  and  exiles  for  religion 
in  Queen  Mary's  reign.  Upon  their  appearance, 
the  archbishop  urged  them  with  the  opinions  of 
Bucer  and  Peter  Martyr  ;  but  the  authority  of 
tbese  divines  not  being  sufficient  to  remove 
their  scruples,  they  were  ordered  not  to  depart 
the  city  without  leave.  After  long  attendance, 
and  many  checks  from  some  of  the  council  for 
their  refractoriness,  they  framed  a  supplicatory 
letter  in  a  very  elegant  but  submissive  style, 
and  sent  it  to  the  archbishop,  and  the  rest  of  the 
ecclesiastical  commissioners,  March  20th,  "  in 
which  they  protest  before  God,  what  a  bitter 
grief  it  was  to  them  that  there  should  be  such 
dissensions  about  a  cap  and  surplice  among 
persons  of  the  same  faith.  They  allege  the  au- 
thorities of  St.  Austin,  Socrates,  and  Theodo- 
ret,  to  show  that  in  their  times  there  was  a  va- 
riety of  rites  and  observances,,  which  break  not 
unity  and  concord.  They  beseech  the  bishops, 
therefore,  if  there  was  any  fellowship  in  Christ, 
that  they  would  follow  the  direction  of  St.  Paul 
about  things  in  their  own  nature  indifferent, 
'  that  every  one  should  be  persuaded  in  his  own 
mind.'  Conscience  (say  they)  is  a  tender  thing, 
and  all  men  cannot  look  upon  the  same  things  as 
indifferent ;  if,  therefore,  these  habits  seem  so 
to  you,  you  are  not  to  be  condemned  by  us  ;  on 
the  other  hand,  if  they  do  not  appear  so  to  us, 
v/e  ought  not  to  be  vexed  by  you.  They  then 
appeal  to  antiquity,  to  the  practice  of  other  Re- 
formed Churches,  and  to  the  consciences  of  the 
bishops  themselves,  and  conclude  thus :  '  Where- 
fore we  most  humbly  pray  that  a  thing  which 
is  the  care  and  pleasure  of  papists,  and  which 
you  [the  bishops]  have  no  great  value  for  your- 
selves, and  which  we  refuse,  not  from  any  con- 
tempt of  authority,  but  from  an  aversion  to  the 
common  enemy,  may  not  be  our  snare  nor  our 
crime.'  "* 

*  In  one  of  their  examinations  the  archbishop  put 
nine  questions  to  them,  to  which  they  gave  the  fol- 
lowing answers : 

Quest.  1.  "Is  the  surpUce  a  thing  evil  and  wicked, 
or  is  it  indifferent  ? 

Ansvv.  "  Though  the  surplice  in  substance  be  in- 
different, yet  in  the  present  circumstance  it  is  not, 
being  of  the  same  nature  with  the  vestis  peregrina,  or 
the  apparel  of  idolatry,  for  which  God  by  the  prophet 
threatens  to  visit. 

Quest.  2.  "  If  it  be  not  indifferent,  for  what  cause  ? 

Answ.  "  Because  things  that  have  been  consecrated 
to  idolatry  are  not  indifferent. 

Quest.  3.  "  Whether  the  ordinary  [or  bishop]  de- 
testing papistry,  may  enjoin  the  surplice  to  be  worn, 
and  enforce  his  injunction  ? 

Answ.  "  It  may  be  said  to  such  a  one,  in  Tertul- 
lian's  words,  '  Si  tu  diaboli  pompain  oderis,  quicquid 
ex  ea  attigeris,  id  scias  esse  idolatriam.'  That  is, 
'  If  thou  hatest  the  pomp  and  pageantry  of  the  devil, 
whatsoever  of  it  thou  meddlest  with  is  idolatry.' 
Which  if  he  believes,  he  will  not  enforce  the  in- 
junction. 

Quest.  4.  "Whether  the  cope  be  a  thing  indiffer- 
ent, being  prescribed  by  law  for  decency  and  rever- 
ence, and  not  in  respect  of  superstition  or  holiness  ? 

Answ.  "  Decepcy  is  not  promoted  by  a  cope,  which 
was  devised  to  deface  the  sacrament.  St.  Jerome 
says  that  the  gold  ordained  by  God,  for  reverence 
and  decency  of  the  Jewish  temple,  is  not  to  be  ad- 
mitted to  beautify  the  Church  of  Christ ;  and  if  so, 
much  less  copes  brought  in  by  papists,  and  contin- 
ued in  their  service  as  proper  ornaments  of  their 
religion. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


9T 


The  ecclesiastical  commissioners  were  very 
much  divided  in  their  opinions  how  to  proceed 
with  these  men.  Some  were  for  answering 
the  reasons  given  below,  and  for  enforcing  the 
habits,  with  a  protestation  that  they  wished  them 
taken  away.  Others  were  for  connivance,  and 
others  for  a  compromise  ;  accordingly,  a  pacific 
proposition  was  drawn  up,  which  Humphreys 
and  Sampson  were  willing  to  subscribe  with 
the  reserve  of  the  apostle,  "All  things  are  law- 
ful, but  all  things  edify  not."  But  the  arch- 
bishop, who  was  at  the  head  of  the  commission, 
would  abate  nothing,  for  on  the  29th  of  April, 
1561,  he  told  them  peremptorily,  in  open  court, 
that  they  should  conform  to  the  habits  ;  that  is, 
to  wear  the  square  cap,  and  no  hats,  in  their 
long  gowns ;  to  wear  the  surplice  with  non- 
regents'  hoods  in  the  choirs,  according  to  an- 
cient custom  ;  and  to  communicate  kneeling  in 

Quest.  5.  "Wliether  anything  that  is  indiiferent: 
may  be  enjoined  as  godly  to  the  use  of  common  prayer 
and  sacraments  ? 

Answ.  "  If  it  be  merely  indifferent,  as  time,  place, 
and  such  necessary  circumstances  of  Divine  worship, 
for  the  which  there  may  be  brought  a  ground  out  of 
Scripture,  we  think  it  may. 

Quest.  6.  "Whether  the  civil  magistrate  may  con- 
stitute by  law  an  abstinence  from  meats  on  certain 
•days? 

Answ.  "  Because  of  abstinence  a  manifest  com- 
modity ariseth  to  the  commonwealth  in  policy,  if  it 
be  sufficiently  guarded  against  superstition,  he  may 
appoint  it,  due  regard  being  had  to 'persons  and  times. 
'  Quest.  7.  "  Whether  a  law  may  be  made  for  the 
difference  of  ministers'  apparel  from  laymen  ? 

Answ.  "  Whether  such  prescription  to  a  minister 
of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  be  lawful  may  be  doubted, 
because  no  such  thing  is  decreed  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment ;  nor  did  the  primitive  Church  appoint  any  such 
thing,  but  would  rather  that  ministers  should  be  dis- 
tinguished from  the  laity  doctrma,  noii  vestc,  by  their 
doctrine,  not  by  their  garments. 

Quest.  8.  "  Whether  ministers  going  in  such  ap- 
parel as  the  papists  used  ought  to  be  condemned  of 
any  preacher  for  so  doing  ? 

Answ.  "  We  judge  no  man  ;  to  his  own  master  he 
stands  or  falls. 

Quest.  9.  "  Whether  such  preachers  ought  to  be 
reformed,  or  restrained,  or  no? 

Answ.  "  Irenaeus  will  not  have  brethren  restrained 
from  brotherly  communion  for  diversity  in  cere- 
monies, provided  there  be  unity  of  faith  and  charity ; 
and  it  is  to  be  wished  that  there  may  be  the  like  char- 
itable permission  among  us." 

To  these  answers  our  divines  subjoined  some 
other  arguments  against  wearing  and  enforcing  the 
liabits;  as,  (1.)  Apparel  ought  to  be  worn  as  meat 
Dught  to  be  eaten  ;  but,  according  to  St.  Paul,  meat 
©fiered  to  idols  ought  not  to  be  eaten  ;  therefore,  po- 
pish apparel  ought  not  to  be  worn.  (2.)  We  ought 
mot  to  give  offence  in  matters  of  mere  indifference ; 
therefore,  the  bishops  who  are  of  this  opinion  ought 
not  to  enforce  the  habits.  (3.)  Popish  garments 
have  many  superstitious  mystical  significations,  for 
wliich  purpose  they  were  consecrated  by  the  papists ; 
•wo  ought,  therefore,  to  consecrate  them  also,  or  lay 
them  wholly  aside.  (4.)  Our  ministrations  are  sup- 
posed by  some  not  to  be  vahd,  or  acceptable  to  God, 
■unless  performed  in  popish  apparel ;  and  this  being  a 
prevaihng  opinion,  we  apprehend  it  highly  necessary 
to  disabuse  the  people.  (5.)  Things  indifferent  ought 
not  to  be  made  necessary,  because  then  they.change 
their  nature,  and  ^ve  lose  our  Christian  liberty. 
(6.)  If  we  are  bound  to  wear  popish  apparel  when 
commanded,  we  may  be  obliged  to  have  shaven 
crowns,  and  to  make  use  of  oil,  spittle,  cream,  and 
all  the  rest  of  the  papistical  additions  to  the  ordi- 
nances of  Christ. — Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  i.,  p.  459. 

Vol.  I— N 


water-bread,  or  else  they  should  part  with  their 
preferment.  To  which  our  divines  replied  that 
their  consciences  could  not  comply  with  these 
injunctions,  be  the  event  what  it  might.*  Upon 
this  they  were  both  put  under  confinement; 
but  the  storm  fell  chiefly  upon  Sampson,  who 
was  detained  in  prison  a  considerable  time,  as 
a  terror  to  others,  and,  by  special  order  from 
the  queen,  was  deprived  of  his  deanery;  nor 
could  he  ever  obtain,  after  this,  any  higher  pre- 
ferment in  the  Church  than  the  government  of 
a  poor  hospital. t 

'  Hum.phrey's  place  was  not  at  the  queen's  dis- 
posal ;  however,  he  durst  not  return  to  Oxford, 
even  after  he  had  obtained  his  release  out  of 
prison,  but  retired  to  one  Mrs.  Warcup's,  in 
Berkshire,  a  most  devout  woman,  who  had  run 
all  hazards  for  harbouring  the  persecuted  Prot- 
estants in  the  late  times  :  from  hence  he  wrote 
a  most  excellent  letter  to  the  queen,  in  which 
he  "  beseeches  her  majesty's  favour  about  the 
habits,  forasmuch  as  she  well  knew  that  the 
controversy  was  about  things  in  their  own  na- 
ture indifferent,  and  in  which  liberty  of  con- 
science ought  not  to  be  restrained.  He  protests 
his  own  and  his  brethren's  loyalty,  and  then  ex- 
postulates with  her  majesty  why  her  mercy 
should  be  shut  against  them,  when  it  was  open 
to  all  others.  Did  she  say  she  would  not  yield 
to  subjects  1  Yet  she  might  spare  miserable 
men.  Would  she  not  rescind  a  public  act  ]  Yet 
she  might  relax  and  suspend.  Would  she  not 
take  away  a  law  1  Yet  she  might  grant  a  tol- 
eration. Was  it  not  fit  to  indulge  some  men's 
affections^  Yet  it  was  most  fit  and  equal  not 
to  force  the  minds  of  men.  He  therefore  ear- 
nestly beseeched  her  to  consider  the  majesty  of 
the  glorious  Gospel,  the  equity  of  the  cause,  the 
fewness  of  the  labourers,  the  greatness  of  the 
harvest,  the  multitude  of  the  tares,  and  the  heavi- 
ness of  the  punishment."  Humphreys  made  so 
many  friends  at  court,  that  at  length  he  obtain- 
ed a  toleration,  but  had  no  preferment  in  the 
Church  till  ten  or  twelve  years  after,  when  he 
was  persuaded  to  wear  the  habits. t  For  al- 
though the  Bishop  of  Winchester  presented  him 
to  a  small  living  within  the  diocess  of  Salisbury, 
Jewel  refused  to  admit  him,  and  said  he  was 
determined  to  abide  by  his  resolution  till  he  had 
good  assurance  of  his  conformity.  The  Oxford 
historianij  says  Dr.  Humphreys  was  a  moderate, 
conscientious  Nonconformist,  a  great  and  gen- 
eral scholar,  an  able  hnguist,  a  deep  divine; 
and  that  for  his  excellence  of  style,  exactness 
of  method,  and  substance  of  matter  in  his  wri- 
tings, he  went  beyond  most  of  our  theologists.il 

*  Life  of  Parker,  p.  185. 

t  Mr.  Neal  appears  not  to  have  known  that  Mr. 
Sampson  was  also  appointed  a  prebendary  in  St. 
Paul's  Cathedral,  and  was  permitted  by  the  queen  to 
be  a  theological  lecturer  in  Whittingdon  College, 
m  London.  And  in  justice  to  Archbishop  Parker  it 
should  be  added,  that  some  favour,  though  it  does 
not  appear  what,  was,  on  his  application,  granted  to 
Mr.  Sampson  by  the  chapter  of  Christ  Church, 
and  he  also  strongly  sohcited  the  secretary  "that, 
as  the  queen's  pleasure  had  been  executed  upon  him 
for  example  to  the  terror  of  others,  it  might  yet  be 
mollified  to  the  commendation  of  her  clemency."— 
British  Biography,  vol.  iii.,  p.  20,  note,  and  p.  22. 
Warner's  Ecclesiastical  History,  vol.  ii.  p.  433. — Ed. 

X  MS.  p.  873.  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  ii.,  p.  451. 
Life  of  Parker,  p.  185.  ^  Athen.  Ox.,  p.  242. 

II  "  That  Dr.  Humphreys's  want  of  preferment,  till 


98 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


As  Sampson  was  thus  deprived,  so  were  oth- 
ers who  would  not  enter  into  bonds  to  wear  the 
square  cap.*  Of  this  number  was  George  With- 
ers, a  man  of  good  learning,  preacher  of  Bury 
St.  Edmonds,  in  Suffolk  ;  but  at  the  pressing  in- 
stances of  the  people,  he  sent  a  letter  to  the 
archbishop  to  let  him  know  he  would  rather 
strain  his  conscience  a  little  than  discourage 
the  godly,  or  let  the  wicked  have  their  mind. 
He  afterward  preached  at  Cambridge,  and  press- 
ed the  university  to  destroy  the  superstitious 
paintings  in  the  glass  windows,  which  occa- 
sioned some  disorder  ;  upon  which,  not  long  af- 
ter, he  travelled  to  Geneva,  Zurich,  and  other 
places,  and  after  some  years  returned  and  be- 
came parish  minister  of  Danbury,  in  Essex,  sub- 
mitting to  the  rites  for  peace'  sake,  though  he 
did  not  approve  of  them,  which  was  the  case  of 
many  others. 

While  the  case  of  the  Oxford  divines  was  un- 
der consideration,  his  grace  was  consulted  how 
to  reduce  the  London  Puritans:  he  was  afraid 
to  press  them  with  the  advertisements,  because 
the  queen  could  not  be  prevailed  with  to  put  the 
seal  to  them ;  he  therefore  sent  them  again  to 
the  secretary,  with  a  letter  to  the  queen,  pray- 
ing "  that  if  not  all,  yet  at  least  those  articles 
that  related  to  the  apparel  might  be  returned 
with  some  authority."!"  But  the  queen  was 
firm  to  her  former  resolution :  she  v/ould  give 
no  authority  to  the  advertisements  ;  but,  to  sup- 
port her  commissioners,  issued  a  proclamation, 
peremptorily  requiring  uniformity  in  the  habits, 
upon  pain  of  prohibition  from  preaching  and 
deprivation. 

Hereupon  the  archbishop  consulted  with  men 
learned  in  the  civil  law  what  method  to  proceed 
in  ;  and  then  concluded,  with  the  consent  of  the 
rest  of  the  commissioners,  to  summons  the  whole 
body  of  pastors  and  curates  within  the  city  of 
London  to  appear  at  Lambeth,  and  to  examine 
every  one  of  them  upon  this  question.  Whether 
they  would  promise  conformity  to  the  apparel 
established  by  law,  and  testify  the  same  by  sub- 
scription of  their  hands  1  Those  who  demurred 
were  immediately  to  be  suspended,  and,  after 
three  months,  deprived  of  their  livings.  To  pre- 
pare the  way  for  this  general  citation,  it  was 
thought  proper  first  to  summon  the  Reverend 
Mr.  John  Fox,  the  martyrologist,  that  the  repu- 
tation of  his  great  piety  might  give  the  greater 
countenance  to  the  proceedings  of  the  commis- 
sioners ;  but  when  they  callecl  upon  him  to  sub- 

1576,  was  owing  to  his  Puritanical  principles,  is  evi- 
dent," says  Mr.  Neal  in  his  Review,  "  from  the  tes- 
timony of  Lord  Burleigh  and  Mr.  Strype,  whose 
words  are  these :  '  In  the  latter  end  of  the  year  1576,  he 
(Lord  Burleigh)  did  Humphreys  the  honour  to  write 
to  him,  hinting  that  his  nonconformity  seemed  to  be 
the  chief  impediment  of  his  preferment,  the  queen,  and 
some  other  honourable  persons  at  court,  considering 
him  as  forgetful  of  his  duty  in  disobeying  her  injunc- 
tions. This  impediment  being  surmounted,  to  what- 
ever considerations  or  influence  it  was  owing,  he  was 
made  Dean  of  Gloucester,  and  afterward  Dean  of 
Winchester.  This  last  dignity  and  his  professorship, 
notwithstanding  his  non-subscribing.  Fuller  says,  he 
held  as  long  as  he  lived.  But  then  it  appears,  by 
Strype,  that  the  lord-treasurer  was  his  particular 
friend,  and  had  prevailed  with  him  to  wear  the  hab- 
its.' " — Maddox''s  Vindication,  p.  324,  325 ;  and  NeaVs 
Review,  p.  89d. — En. 

*  Life  of  Parker,  p.  187,  192,  199. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  212,  214. 


scribe,  he  took  his  Greek  Testament  out  of  his 
pocket,  and  said,  "  To  this  I  will  subscribe.' 
And  when  they  offered  him  the  canons  he  re- 
fused, saying,  "  I  have  nothing  in  the  Church 
but  a  prebend  in  Salisbury,  and  much  good  may 
it  do  you  if  you  take  it  from  me."*  But  the 
commissioners  had  not  courage  enough  to  de- 
prive a  divine  of  so  much  merit,  who  held  up 
the  ashes  of  Smithfield  before  their  eyes.f 

The  26th  of  March  being  the  day  appointed 
for  the  appearance  of  the  London  clergy,  the 
archbishop  desired  the  secretary  of  state,  with 
some  of  the  nobility  and  queen's  council,  to 
countenance  the  proceedings  of  the  commis- 
sioners with  their  presence,  but  they  refused  to 
be  concerned  in  such  disagreeable  work.  When 
the  ministers  appeared  in  court,  Mr.  Thomas 
Cole,  a  clergyman,  being  placed  by  the  side  of 
the  commissioners  in  priestly  apparel,  the  bish- 
op's chancellor,  from  the  bench,  addressed  them 
in  these  words:  "My  masters,  and  ye  minis- 
ters of  London,  the  councd's  pleasure  is  that 
strictly  ye  keep  the  unity  of  apparel,  like  this 
man  who  stands  here  canonically  habited  with  a 
square  cap,  a  scholar's  gown  priestlike,  a  tip- 
pet, and,  in  the  church,  a  linen  surplice.  Ye 
that  will  subscribe,  write  Volo ;  those  that  will 
not  subscribe,  write  Nolo;  be  brief,  make  no 
words."  Wlien  some  of  the  clergy  offered  to 
speak,  he  interrupted  them,  and  cried,  "Peace, 
peace.  Apparitor,  call  over  the  churches,  and 
ye  masters  answer  presently,  sub  pcena  contemp- 
tus."t  Great  was  the  anguish  and  distress  of 
those  ministers,  who  cried  out  for  compassion 
to  themselves  and  families,  saying,  "  We  shall 
be  killed  in  our  souls  for  this  pollution  of  ours." 
After  much  persuasion  and  many  threatenings, 
sixty-one  out  of  a  hundred  were  prevailed  with, 
to   subscribe,   and  thirty-seven   absolutely  re- 


*  "  Fuller,  vol.  ix.,  70.  Heylin's  Reform.,  164.  The 
remark  of  the  latter  writer  on  Fox's  reply  is  charac- 
teristic. '  This  refractory  answer,'  he  says,  '  for  it 
was  no  better,  might  well  have  moved  the  bishop  to 
proceed  against  him,  as  he  did  against  some  others 
who  had  stood  on  the  same  refusal ;  but  kissing  goes 
by  kindness,  as  the  saying  is,  and  so  much  kindness 
was  shown  to  him,  that  he  both  kept  his  resolution 
and  his  place  together  ;  which,  whether  it  might  not 
do  more  hurt  to  the  Church  than  that  preferment  in 
the  Church  did  advantage  him,  I  think  no  wise  man 
will  make  a  question  ;  for,  commonly,  the  exemption 
or  indemnity  of  some  few  particulars  confirms  the 
obstinacy  of  the  rest,  in  hope  of  being  privileged  with 
the  like  indemnity.'  " — C. 

f  "  When  Dr.  Humphreys  was  chosen  President  of 
Magdalen  College,  in  1561,  Fox  virrote  him  a  congrat- 
ulatory letter,  couched  in  a  facetious  style.  '  Why 
do  I  trifle  thus,'  said  this  estimable  man,  '  and  begin 
to  congratulate  you  your  preferment,  who  should 
much  rather  expostulate  the  case  with  you?  For 
come,  sir,  tell  me,  why  have  you  thus  left  us  and  our 
flock  and  order,  and  gone  away?  Fugitive,  runaway 
as  you  are,  be  you  not  ashamed?  You  ought  to  have 
taken  example  of  greater  constancy  by  me,  who  still 
wear  the  same  clothes,  and  remain  in  the  same  sor- 
did condition  as  England  received  me  in  when  I  first 
came  home  out  of  Germany.  Nor  do  I  change  my 
degree  nor  order,  which  is  that  of  the  mendicant,  or, 
if  you  will,  of  the  friars  preachers.  And  in  this  order 
you  yourself  were,  and  was  like  enough  to  continue 
an  honest  companion  with  us.  But  now  you  have 
forsaken  this  our  order  and  classts,  and  mounted  I 
know  not  whither  ;  fortunate  success,  as  the  proverb 
is,  waiting  on  you.'  " — Strype''s  Parker,  vol.  i.,  p.  223, 
224.— C. 

t  Life  of  Grindal,  p.  98.    Strype's  Annals,  p.  463. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


99 


fused  ;  of  which  last  number,  as  the  archbishop 
acknowledged,  were  the  best,  and  some  preach- 
ers.* These  were  immediately  suspended,  and 
put  from  all  manner  of  ministry,  with  significa- 
tion that  if  they  did  not  conform  within  three 
months  they  were  to  be  deprived.  The  arch- 
bishop imagined  that  their  behaviour  would 
have  been  rough  and  clamorous,  but,  contrary 
to  his  expectations,  it  was  reasonable,  quiet, 
and  modest. 

The  ministers  gave  in  a  paper  of  reasons  [see 
belowj  for  refusing  the  apparel. t 

*  Life  of  Parker,  p.  215^ 

t  "  Reasons,  grounded  upon  the  Scriptures,  where- 
by we  are  persuaded  not  to  admit  the  use  of  the  out- 
ward apparel  and  ministering  garments  of  the  pope's 
church. 

"  1st.  Our  Saviour  saith, '  Take  heed  that  you  con- 
temn not  one  of  these  little  ones ;  for  he  that  of- 
fendeth  one  of  these  httle  ones  that  believeth  in  me, 
It  were  good  for  him  that  a  millstone  were  hanged 
about  his  neck,  and  that  he  were  drowned  in  the 
depth  of  the  sea.'  To  offend  the  little  ones  in  Christ, 
IS  to  speak  or  do  anything  whereby  the  simple  Chris- 
tians may  take  occasion  either  to  like  that  wliich  is  evil, 
or  to  mislike  that  which  is  good.  Now  for  us  to  admit 
the  use  of  these  things  may  occasion  this  mischief; 
therefore,  in  consenting  to  them,  we  should  offend 
many  of  these  little  ones. 

"  Farther,  St.  Paul  saith,  '  If  any  man  that  is  in- 
firm shall  see  thee  that  hast  knowledge  sitting  at 
meat  at  the  idol's  table,  will  not  his  conscience  be 
stirred  up  to  eat  that  which  is  offered  to  idols  ?  and 
so  the  weak  brother,  for  whom  Christ  died,  shall 
perish  in  thy  knowledge ;  and  in  sinning  after  this 
sort  against  the  brethren,  and  wounding  their  weak 
consciences,  ye  do  sin  against  Christ.' — 1  Cor.,  viii., 
10-12.  This  place  proveth,  that  whatsoever  is  done 
by  him  that  has  knowledge,  or  seems  to  have  it,  in 
such  sort  that  he  may  seem  to  allow  that  as  good 
which  in  itself  cannot  be  other  than  evil,  is  an  occa- 
sion for  the  weak  to  allow  and  approve  of  the  thing 
that  is  evil,  and  to  mislike  that  that  is  good,  though 
the  doing  of  it  be  indififerent  of  itself  to  him  that  has 
knowledge.  To  sit  at  the  idol's  table,  or  to  eat 
things  offered  to  idols,  is  in  him  that  has  knowledge 
a  thing  indifferent,  for  he  knows  that  the  idol  is 
nothing,  and  that  every  creature  of  God  is  good,  and 
to  be  received  with  thanksgiving,  without  asking 
any  questions  for  conscience'  sake.  But  to  do  this 
in  presence  of  him  that  thinks  that  none  can  do  so 
but  he  must  be  partaker  of  idolatry,  is  to  encour- 
age him  to  like  idolatry,  and  to  mislike  the  true 
service  of  God ;  for  none  can  like  both.  Now  the 
case  of  eating  and  drinking,  and  of  wearing  apparel, 
is  in  this  point  the  same ;  for  though  to  wear  the 
outward  and  ministering  garments  of  the  pope's 
church  is  in  itself  indifferent,  yet  to  wear  them  in 
presence  of  the  infirm  and  weak  brethren,  who  do 
not  understand  the  indifference  of  them,  may  occa- 
sion them  to  like  the  pomp  of  the  pope's  ministra- 
tion, which  of  itself  is  evil,  and  to  misliiie  the  simple 
ministration  of  Christ,  which  in  itself  is  good. 

"  2dly.  We  may  not  use  anything  that  is  repug- 
nant to  Christian  liberty,  nor  maintain  an  opinion  of 
hohness  where  none  is ;  nor  consent  to  idolatry,  nor 
deny  the  truth,  nor  discourage  the  godly,  and  en- 
courage the  wicked ;  nor  destroy  the  Church  of  God, 
vvhich  we  are  bound  to  edify  ;  nor  show  disobedience 
where  God  commanded  us  to  obey ;  all  which  we 
should  do,  if  we  should  consent  to  wear  the  outward 
and  ministering  garments  of  the  pope's  church,  as 
appear  by  the  following  passages  of  Scripture ;  by 
St.  Paul's  exhortation,  Gal.,  v.,  1,  'Stand  fast  in  the 
liberty  wherewith  Christ  has  made  you  free  :'  by  the 
example  of  Christ,  Matth  ,  xv.,  2,  3,  who  would  not 
have  his  disciples  maintain  an  opinion  of  holiness 
which  the  Pharisees  had  in  washing  hands  :  by  the 
doctrine  of  St.  Paul,  2  Cor.,  vi.,  15,  where  he  teach- 
eth  that  there  '  can  be  no  agreement  between  Christ 


To  their  declaration,  and  everything  else  that 
was  offered,  from  the  danger  of  the  Reforma- 

and  Belial :'  by  the  example  of  Daniel,  chap,  vi., 
who,  making  his  prayer  to  God  contrary  to  the  com- 
mandment of  the  king,  set  open  his  window  towards 
Jerusalem,  lest  he  might  seem  to  deny  his  profes- 
sion, or  consent  to  the  wicked  :  by  the  example  of  St. 
Paul,  who  rebuked  Peter  sharply  because  he  did,  by 
his  dissimulation,  discourage  the  godly  that  from 
among  the  heathen  were  converted  to  Christ,  and 
encourage  the  superstitious  Jews  ;  and  again,  by  his« 
doctrine,  2  Cor.,  xiu.,  where  he  teacheth  that  min- 
isters have  power  to  edify,  but  not  to  destroy.  It  is 
farther  evident  from  the  examples  of  the  patriarchs 
and  prophets,  who,  in  worshipping  God,  would  not 
use  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  idolatrous  ;  and, 
to  conclude,  from  the  doctrine  and  example  of  Peter 
and  John,  Acts,  iv.,  who,  refusing  to  obey  the  com- 
mandment of  the  rulers,  in  ceasing  to  preach  Christ, 
said, '  Whether  it  be  right  in  the  sight  of  God  to  obey 
you  rather  than  God,  be  you  yourselves  judges.' 

"  3dly.  For  a  farther  proof  we  may  bring  the  testi- 
mony and  practice  of  the  ancient  fathers  : 

"  Tertullian,  in  his  book  De  Corona  Militis,  com- 
pares those  men  to  dumb  idols  who  wear  anything 
like  the  decking  of  the  idols.  Again,  he  saith,  '  Si 
in  idoho  recumbere  alienum  est  a  fide,  quid  in  idoli 
habitu  videri  ?'  '  If  it  be  a  matter  of  infidetity  to  sit  at 
the  idol's  feast,  what  is  it  to  be  seen  in  the  habit  or 
apparel  of  the  idol  ?' 

"  St.  Austin,  in  his  eighty-sixth  epistle  to  Casula- 
nus,  warneth  him  not  to  fast  on  the  same  day,  lest 
thereby  he  might  seem  to  consent  with  the  wicked 
Manichees. 

"  The  fourth  CouncU  of  Toletane  [Toledo],  canon 
fifth,  to  avoid  consent  with  heretics,  decreed  that  in 
baptism  the  body  of  the  baptized  should  be  but  once 
dipped. 

"  The  great  clerk  Origen,  as  Epiphanius  writeth, 
tom.  i.,  b.  ii.,  haeres.  64,  because  he  deUvered  palm 
to  those  that  offered  to  the  image  of  Serapis,  although 
he  openly  said, '  Venite  accipite  non  frondes  simula- 
chri  sed  frondes  Christi,'  '  Come  and  receive  the 
boughs,  not  of  the  image,  but  of  Christ :'  yet  was 
he  for  this,  and  such  like  doings,  excommunicated 
and  cast  out  of  the  Church,  by  those  martjrrs  and 
confessors  that  were  at  Athens. 

"  In  the  Tripartite  History,  b.  vi.,  chap,  xxx.,  it  is 
said  that  the  Christian  soldiers  who,  by  the  subtlety 
of  Julian,  were  brought  to  offer  incense  to  the  idol, 
when  they  perceived  their  fault,  ran  forth  into  the 
streets,  professing  the  religion  of  Christ,  testifying 
themselves  to  be  Christians,  and  confessing  that  their 
hands  had  offended  unadvisedly,  but  that  now  they 
were  ready  to  give  their  whole  bodies  to  the  most 
cruel  torments  and  pains  for  Christ. 

"  Farther,  to  prove  that  wearing  the  ministering 
garments  of  the  pope's  church  is  to  confirm  the  opin- 
ion of  the  necessity  and  holiness  of  the  same,  and  to 
show  consent  to  idolatry,  let  it  be  remembered  that 
the  first  devisers  of  them  have  taught  that  of  neces- 
sity they  must  be  had  ;  and  have  made  laws  to  pun- 
ish and  deprive  those  that  had  them  not,  as  appears 
in  the  pontifical  De  Clerico  faciendo,  that  is,  of  the 
ordering  of  a  clerk,  where  the  surphce  is  termed  the 
habit  or  garment  of  the  holy  religion.  And  Duran- 
dus,  in  his  third  book,  entitled  Rationale  Divinor, 
calls  it  the  linen  garment,  which  those  men  that  are 
occupied  in  any  manner  at  the  service  of  the  altar  and 
holy  things  must  wear  over  their  common  apparel. 

"  Lindwood,  also,  in  his  constitutions  for  the  prov- 
ince of  England,  De  Habitu  Clericali,  affirms  the  ne- 
cessity of  this  habit ;  so  does  Ottobonus  and  others, 
appointing  grievous  punishments  for  those  that  re- 
fuse to  wear  them ;  yea,  and  the  pontifical  teaches 
that  when  a  clerk  has,  by  murder  or  otherwise,  de- 
served to  die,  he  must  be  degraded,  by  plucking  vio- 
lently from  him  those  garments,  with  these  words, 
'  Authoriiate  Dei  Omnipotentis,  Patris,  Filii,  et  Spir- 
itus  Sancti,'  &c.  '  By  the  authority  of  Almighty 
God,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  and  by  our  au- 


100 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


tion,  and  the  ruin  of  so  many  poor  families,  the 
commissioners  replied  it  was  not  their  business 
to  argue  and  debate,  but  to  execute  the  queen's 
injunctions.  Archbishop  Parker  seemed  pleased 
with  the  resolution  of  his  chancellor,  and  said 
"  that  he  did  not  doubt,  when  the  ministers  had 
felt  the  smart  of  poverty  and  want,  they  would 
comply,  for  the  wood,"  says  he,"  is  yet  green."* 
He  declared,  farther,  that  he  was  fully  bent  to 
go  through  with  the  work  he  had  begun  ;  and 
the  rather,  because  the  queen  would  have  him 
try  with  his  own  authority  what  he  could  do 
for  order.  This  raised  his  ambition,  and  put 
him  upon  soliciting  the  secretary  of  state  by 
letter  for  his  countenance  ;  in  one  of  which  he 
tells  him  that  "if  he  was  not  better  backed 
there  would  be  fewer  Winchesters,  as  is  de- 
sired," referring  to  Stephen  Gardiner,  the  bloody 
persecuting  Bishop  of  Winchester  in  Queen 
Mary's  reign  ;  "  but  for  my  part,"  says  he,  "  so 
that  my  prince  may  win  honour,  I  will  be  very 
gladly  the  rock  of  offence  ;  since  '  the  Lord  is 
my  helper,  I  will  not  fear  what  iiian  can  do  to 
me ;'  nor  will  I  be  amused  or  daunted  ;  fremat 
mundus,  mat  ca:liim."i  These  were  the  weap- 
ons, and  this  the  language,  of  one  whom  Mr. 
Strype  calls  the  mild  and  gentle  archbishop  ! 

thority,  we  take  from  thee  the  habit  of  the  clergy, 
and  we  make  the  naked  and  bare  of  the  ornaments 
of  religion ;  and  we  do  depose,  degrade,  spoil,  and 
strip  thee  of  thy  clergy  order,  benefice,  and  privi- 
lege ;  and  as  one  that  is  unworthy  of  the  profession 
of  a  clerk,  we  bring  thee  back  again  into  the  servi- 
tude and  shame  of  the  secular  habit.' 

"'These  things  being  thus  weighed,  with  the  warn- 
ing that  St.  Paul  giveth,  1  Thess.,  chap,  v.,  where 
he  commands  us  to  abstain  from  all  appearance  of 
evil,  we  cannot  but  think  that  in  using  of  these  things 
we  should  beat  back  those  that  are  coming  from  su- 
perstition, and  confirm  those  that  are  grown  in  su- 
perstition, and,  consequently,  overthrow  that  which 
we  have  been  labouring  to  build,  and  incur  the  dan- 
ger of  that  horrible  curse  that  our  Saviour  has  pro- 
nounced, '  Wo  to  the  world  because  of  offences.' 

"  Knowing,  therefore,  how  horrible  a  thing  it  is  to 
fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God,  by  doing  that 
which  our  consciences  (grounded  upon  the  truth  of 
God's  Word,  and  the  example  and  doctrine  of  an- 
cient fathers)  do  tell  us  were  evil  done,  and  to  the 
great  discrediting  of  the  truth  whereof  we  profess  to 
be  teachers,  we  have  thought  good  to  yield  our- 
selves into  the  hands  of  men,  to  suffer  whatsoever 
God  hath  appointed  us  to  suffer,  for  the  preferring  of 
the  commandments  of  God  and  a  clear  conscience, 
before  the  commandments  of  men ;  in  complying 
with  which  we  cannot  escape  the  condemnation  of 
our  consciences ;  keeping  always  in  memory  that 
horrible  saying  of  John  in  his  First  Epistle,  '  If  our 
conscience  condemn  us,  God  is  greater  than  our  con- 
science ;'  and  not  forgetting  the  saying  of  the  Psalm- 
ist, '  It  is  good  to  trust  in  the  Lord,  and  not  to  trust 
in  man,'  Psal.  cxviii.  '  It  is  good  to  trust  in  the 
Lord,  and  not  to  trust  in  princes.'  And  again,  Psal. 
cxlvi.,  '  Trust  not  in  princes,  nor  in  the  children  of 
men,  in  whom  there  is  no  health,  whose  spirit  shall 
depart  out  of  them,  and  they  shall  return  to  the  earth 
from  whence  they  came,  and  in  that  day  all  their  de- 
vices shall  come  to  naught.' 

"Not  despising  men,  therefore,  but  trusting  in  God 
only,  we  seek  to  serve  him  with  a  clear  conscience 
so  long  as  we  shall  live  here,  assuring  ourselves  that 
those  things  that  we  shall  sutler  for  doing  so  shall 
be  a  testimony  to  the  world  that  great  reward  is  laid 
up  for  us  in  heaven,  where  we  doubt  not  but  to  rest 
forever,  with  them  that  have  before  our  days  suffered 
for  the  like." — MS.  penes  me,  p.  57,  &c. 
*  Life  of  Parker,  p.  215. 
t  Life  of  Parker,  p.  219,  220,  &c. 


The  Nonconformists  had  juster  thoughts  of 
him  ;  hp  was  at  the  head  of  all  their  sufferings, 
and  pushed  them  forward  with  unrelenting  vig- 
our. The  queen  might  have  been  softened  ;  the 
secretary  of  state  and  courtiers  declared  they 
could  not  keep  pace  with  him ;  Grindal  relented, 
and  the  Bishop  of  Durham  declared  he  would 
rather  lay  down  his  bishopric  than  suffer  suck 
proceedings  in  his  diocess.  But  Parker  was 
above  these  reproaches,  and  instead  of  relaxing, 
framed  such  injunctions  for  the  London  clergy 
as  had  never  been  heard  of  in  a  Protestant  king- 
dom or  a  free  government.  The  commissioners 
obliged  every  clergyman  that  had  cure  of  souls 
to  swear  obedience,  1.  To  all  the  queen's  in- 
junctions and  letters  patent ;  2".  To  all  letters 
from  the  lords  of  the  privy  council  ;  3.  To  the 
articles  and  injunctions  of  their  metropolitan  ;* 
4.  To  the  articles  and  mandates  of  their  bishop, 
archdeacon,  chancellors,  somners,  receivers, 
&c.,  and  in  a  word,  to  be  subject  to  the  control 
of  all  their  superiors  with  patience. t  To  gird 
these  injunctions  close  upon  the  Puritans,  there 
was  appointed  in  every  parish  four  or  eight  cen- 
sors, spies,  or  jurats,  to  take  cognizance  of  all 
offences  given  or  taken.  These  were  under 
oath  enjoined  to  take  particular  notice  of  the 
conformity  of  the  clergy  and  of  the  parishioners, 
and  to  give  in  their  presentments  when  requi- 
red ;  so  that  it  was  impossible  for  an  honest  Pu- 
ritan to  escape  the  high  commission. 

By  these  methods  of  severity,  religion  and 
virtue  were  discountenanced  for  the  sake  of 
their  pretended  ornaments  ;  the  consciences  of 
good  men  were  entangled,  and  the  Reformation 
exposed  to  the  utmost  hazard. t  Many  church- 
es were  shut  up  in  the  city  of  London  for  want 
of  ministers,  to  the  grief  of  all  good  men  and 
the  inexpressible  pleasure  of  the  papists,  who 
rejoiced  to  see  the  Reformers  weakening  their 
own  hands,  by  silencing  such  numbers  of  the 
most  useful  and  popular  preachers,  while  the 
country  was  in  distress  for  want  of  them.  Bish- 
op Sandys,  in  one  of  his  sermons  before  the 
queen  some  years  after,  tells  her  majesty  "  that 
many  of  her  people,  especially  in  the  northern 
parts,  perished  for  want  of  saving  food.  Many 
there  are,"  says  he,  "that  hear  not  a  sermon  ia 
seven  years  I  might  safely  say  in  seventeen  : 
their  blood  will  be  required  at  somebody's 
hands. "ij 

But,  to  make  thorough  work  with  the  refusers 
of  the  habits,  the  archbishop  called  in  all  licen- 
ses, according  to  the  advertisements,  and  ap- 
pointed all  preachers  throughout  his  whole  prov- 
ince to  take  out  new  ones ;  this  was  to  reach 
those  who  were  neither  incumbents  nor  curates 
in  parishes,  but  lecturers  or  occasional  preach- 
ers. All  parsons  and  curates  were  forbid  to 
suffer  any  to  preach  in  their  churches  upon  any 
former  licenses  given  by  the  archbishop ;  and 
such  as  took  out  new  licenses  bound  themselves 
for  the  future  not  to  disturb  the  public  estab- 
lishment, or  vary  from  it.     And  because  some, 

*  Strype's  Ann.,  p.  463. 

t  Dr.  Warner  calls  this  an  oath  of  a  most  extraor- 
dinary nature  under  a  free  government,  and  adds, 
"with  this  unrelenting  rigour  did  the  archbishop 
carry  on  the  severity  against  the  Puritans,  and  al- 
most he  alone." — Ecclesiastical  History,  vol.  ii.,  p. 
435.— Ed.  t  Life  of  Parker,  p.  224. 

^  Life  of  Parker,  p.  198. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


when  they  had  been  discharged  from  their  min- 
istry in  one  diocess  for  nonconformity,  got  a 
settlement  in  another,  it  was   now  appointed 
that  such  curates  as  came  out  of  other  diocess- 
es  should  not  be  allowed  to  preach  without  let- 
ters testimonial  from  the  ordinary  where  they 
last  served.     But  those  Puritans  who  could  not 
with  a  good  conscience  take  out  new  licenses 
kept  their  old  ones,  and  made  the  best  use  of 
them  they  could.*      "They  travelled  up  and 
down   the  countries,  from  church  to  church, 
preaching  where  they  could  get  leave,  as  if 
they  were  apostles,"  says  Bishop  Jewel ;  and  so 
they  were  with  regard  to  their  poverty,  for  sil- 
ver and  gold  they  had  none ;   but  his  lordship 
adds,  "  And  they  take  money  for  their  labours." 
An  unpardonable  crime  !  that  honest  men  of  a 
liberal  education,  that  had  parted  with  their  liv- 
ings in  the  Church  for  a  good  conscience,  should 
endeavour,  after  a  very  poor  manner,  to  live  by 
the  Gospel. 

There  was  still  one  door  of  entrance  in  the 
ministry  left  open  to  the  Puritans,  which  the 
archbishop  used  all  his  interest  to  shut,  but  could 
not  prevail.    It  was  a  privilege  granted  the  Uni- 
versity of  Cambridge,  by  Pope  Alexander  VI., 
to  license  twelve  ministers  yearly  to  preach  any- 
where throughout  England  without  obtaining  li- 
censes from  any  of  the  bishops.    The  bull  says 
that  "  the  chancellor  of  the  university  (who  was 
then  Fisher,  bishop  of  Rochester)  and  his  suc- 
cessors, shall  license  twelve  preachers  yearly, 
under  the  common  seal  of  the  university,  who 
shall  have  liberty  to  preach,  &c.,  durante  vita 
naturalir     The  archbishop  sent  to  Secretary 
Cecil,  their  chancellor,  praying  him  to  set  aside 
this  practice  :  1.  Because  the  present  licenses 
varied  from  the  original  bull,  being  given  out  by 
the  vice-chancellor,  whereas  they  ought  to  be  in 
the  name  of  the  chancellor  only.    2.  Because  it 
was  unreasonable  to  give  licenses  durante  vita 
naturali,  i.  e.,  for  life  ;  whereas  they  ought  to  be 
only  quam  diu  nobis  placuerint,  and  dutn  lauda- 
biliier  gcsserint,  i.  e.,  during  our  pleasure,  or 
as  long  as   they  behave  well.t     3.   But  that 
which  troubled  the  archbishop  most  was  the 
clause  which  infringed  his  own  and  his  breth- 
ren's jurisdiction,  that  they  might  preach  with- 
out a  license  from  any  of  the  bishops.     And  yet 
this  clause  is  in  the  letters  patent  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  granted  to  the  university  for  this  pur- 
pose ;    the  words  are,  "  Licentia  ordinariorum 
locorum  super  hoc  minime  requisita."     This 
was  thought  insufferable ;  the  vice-chancellor, 
therefore,  was  sent  for  to  town  to  defend  the 
privilege  of  the  university,  which  he  did  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  chancellor  ;  but  the  archbish- 
op was  so  angry  that  he  declared  he  would  not 
admit  any  of  tlieir  licenses  without  the  chancel- 
lor's name  ;  nor  could  he  imagine  that  the  vice- 
chancellor,  by  his   pretended   experience   and 
skill  in  the  civil  law,  could  inform  his  honour  of 
anything  that  he  was  not  capable  of  answering. 
But  here  his  grace  met  with  a  disappointment, 
for -the  university  retained  their  privilege,  and 
made  use  of  it  to  the  relief  of  the  Puritans  t 


101 

In  the  queen's  progress  this  year  [15651  her 
majesty  visited  the  University  of  Cambridge, 
and  continued  there  fiVe  days,  being  entertained 
by  the  scholars  with  speeches  and  disputations 
On  the  3d  day  of  her  being  there  [August  7thl 
a  philosophy  act  was  kept  by  Thomas  Byng  of 
Peter-house,  on  these  two  questions  :  1.  Wlieth- 
er  monarchy  be  not  the  best  form  of  government^ 
2.  Whether  frequent  alterations  of  the  laws  are 
dangerous  ?     The  opponents  were  Mr  Thomaa 
Cartwright,fellowofTrinityCollege;  Mr  Chad- 
derton,  of  Queen's  ;  Mr.  Preston  and  Mr.  Clark 
of  King's  College  ;  who  performed  their  parts  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  queen  and  the  whole  au- 
dience ;  but  it  seems  Preston  pleased  her  maj- 
esty best,  and  was  made  her  scholar,  with  the 
settlement  of  a  salary.     The  divinity  questions 
were,  1.  Whether  the  authority  of  the  Scripture 
is  greater  than  that  of  the  Church  ?    2.  Wheth- 
er the  civil  magistrate  has  authority  in  ecclesi- 
astical affairs  1    These  were  the  tests  of  the 
times.     At  the  close  of  the  disputation  the 
queen  made  a  short  and  elegant  oration  in  Lat- 
in, encouraging   the  scholars  to  pursue  their 
studies,  with  a  promise  of  her  countenance  and 
protection. 

But  this  learned  body  was  soon  after  thrown 
into  confusion  by  the  controversy  of  the  habits, 
especially  of  the  surplice.    Dr.  Longworth,  mas- 
ter of  St.  John's,  being  absent  from  his  college, 
the  students  of  that  house  came  to  chapel  on  a 
festival  day  without  their  hoods  and  surplices,* 
to  the  number  of  three  hundred,  and  continued 
to  do  so  for  some  time,  the  master  at  his  return 
making  no  complaint,  nor  attempting  to  recover 
them  to  uniformity.      In  Trinity  College  allt 
except  three  declared  against  the  surplice,  and 
many  in  other  colleges  were  ready  to  follow 
their  example.     The  news  of  this  being  sent  to 
court,  it   was  easy  to   foresee   an   impending 
storm :  several  members  of  the  university  wrote 
to  the  secretary,  humbly  beseeching  his  inter- 
cession with  the  queen,  that  they  might  not  be 
forced  to  revive  a  popish  ceremony,  which  they 
had  laid  aside ;  assuring  him,  before  God,  that 
nothing  bCit  reason,  and  the  quiet  enjoyment  of 
their  consciences,  had  induced  them  to  do  as 
they  had  done.     But  Cecil  sent  them  an  angry 
answer,  admonishing  them  to  return  quietly  to 


♦  Life  of  Grindal,  p.  99.    Pierce,  p.  52. 

t  Life  of  Parker,  p.  193. 
_   X  Bishop  Maddox  inveighs  against  them  for  avail- 
ing themselves  of  a  bull  granted  by  the  pope,  whom 
they  affirm  to  be  antichrist,  and  when  they  loaded  the 
queen  and  bishops  with  heavy  accusations  as  en- 


couragers  of  popery.     The  bishop's  reflections  are 
also  pointed  against  our  historian  for  mentioning 
this  conduct  without  a  censure.     To  which  Mr.  Neal 
replies  that  this  grant  from  Pope  Alexander  VI.,  the 
advantage  of  which  the  Puritans  enjoyed,  had  been 
confirmed  to  the  university  by  letters  patent  from 
Queen  Elizabeth  herself;  a  copy  of  which  may  be 
seen  in  the  Appendi.x  to  Strype's  Life  of  Archbishop 
Parker,  p:  69.     Mr.  Ncal  also  properly  asks,  "  Would 
the  Protestants  in  France  have  shut  up  their  church- 
es if  the  antichristian  powers  would  have  given  them 
a  license  to  preach?    Nay,  would   they  not  have 
preached  without  any  license  at  all  if  they  had  not 
been  dragooned  out  of  the  country  ?"    He  asserts 
for  himself,  "  If  he  were  a  missionaiy,  and  could 
spread  the  Christian  faith  by  virtue  of  a  license  from 
the  pope,  or  the  grand  seignor,  or  the  Emperor  of 
China,  in  their  dominions,  he  would  not  scruple  to 
accept  it,  but  be  thankful  to  the  Divjne  Providence 
that  had  opened  such  a  door." — Appendix  to  the  Re- 
view.— Ed. 

*  However,  they  had  worn  them  heioxe.— Bishop 
Maddox. 

i  By  the  instigation  of  T.  Cartwright.— /6,,/7-om 
Strype. 


102 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


the  habits,  as  they  had  used  them  before.  He 
also  wrote  to  the  vice-chancellor,  requiring  him 
to  call  together  the  heads  of  the  colleges,  and 
let  them  know  that,  as  they  tendered  the  honour 
of  God,  the  preservation  of  Christian  unity,  the 
reputation  of  the  university,  the  favour  of  the 
queen,  and  his  own  good-vvill  to  them,  they 
should  continue  tlie  use  of  the  habits. 

The  heads  of  the  colleges  being  sensible  of 
the  risk  the  university  would  run  of  being  dis- 
furnished  of  students  if  the  habits  were  pressed, 
applied  again  to  the'ir  Chancellor  Cecil  to  inter-' 
cede  with  the  queen  for  a  dispensation  :  one  of 
their  letters  was  signed  by  the  master  of  Trini- 
ty College,  Dr.  Beaumont,  who  had  been  an  ex- 
ile ;  John  Whitgift,  afterward  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  ;  Roger  Kelk,  master  of  Magdalen 
College  ;  Richard  Longworth,  master  of  St. 
John's  ;  Matthew  Huiton,  master  of  Pembroke 
Hall,  afterward  Archbishop  of  York,  and  many 
others.  In  their  letter  they  acquaint  his  honour 
"  that  a  great  many  persons  in  the  university, 
of  piety  and  learning,  were  fully  persuaded  of 
the  unlawfulness  of  the  habits  ;  and,  therefore, 
if  conformity  were  urged,  they  would  be  forced 
to  desert  their  stations,  and  thus  the  university 
would  be  stripped  of  its  ornaments  ;  they  there- 
fore give  it  as  their  humble  opinion  that  indul- 
gence in  this  matter  would  be  attended  with  no 
inconveniences ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  they 
■were  afraid  religion  and  learning  would  suffer 
very  much  by  rigour  and  imposition."*  This 
letter  was  resented  at  court,  and  especially  by 
the  ecclesiastical  commission  ;  Longworth,  mas- 
tor  of  St.  John's,  was  sent  for  before  the  com- 
missioners, and  obliged  to  sign  a  recantation, 
and  read  it  publicly  in  the  Church  ;  the  rest 
made  their  peace  by  letters  of  submission  :  all 
the  heads  of  colleges  were  commanded  to  assist 
the  vice-chancellor  in  bringing  the  scholars  to  a 
uniformity  in  the  habits,  which,  nevertheless, 
they  could  not  accomplish  for  many  years.  Whit- 
gift, seeing  which  way  the  tide  of  preferment 
ran,  drew  his  pen  in  defence  of  the  hierarchy  in 
all  its  branches,  and  became  a  most  potent  ad- 
vocate for  the  habits.  But  the  University  of 
Cambridge  was  still  a  sanctuary  for  the  Puri- 
tans. 

To  return  to  the  Puritan  clergy :  April  2d, 
Mr.  Crowley,  the  suspended  minister  of  Cripple- 
gate,  seeing  a  corpse  coming  to  be  buried  at  his 
church,  attended  with  clerks  in  their  surplices 
singing  before  it,  threatened  to  shut  the  church 
doors  against  them  ;  but  the  singing-men  resist- 
ed, resolving  to  go  through  with  their  work,  till 
the  alderman's  deputy  threatened  to  lay  them 
by  the  heels  for  breaking  the  peace  ;  upon  which 
they  shrunk  away,  but  complained  to  the  arch- 
bishop, who,  sending  for  Crowley,  deprived  him 
of  his  living,  and  confined  him  to  his  house,  for 
saying  he  would  not  suffer  the  wolf  to  come  to 
his  flock.  He  also  bound  the  deputy  in  £100  to 
be  ready  when  he  shall  be  called  for.t  This 
Mr.  Crowley  was  a  learned  man,  and  had  been 
an  exile  in  Queen  Mary's  days,  at  Frankfort ; 
he  was  very  diligent  in  disputing  against  certain 
priests  in  the  Tower,  and  took  a  great  deal  of 
pains  to  bring  them  over  to  their  allegiance  to 
the  queen,  upon  the  principle  of  the  unlawful- 
ness  of  deposing  princes  upon   any  pretence 

*  Life  of  Parker,  p.  194.    App.,  p.  69. 
t  Life  of  Parker,  p.  218,  219. 


whatsoever.     He  wrote  divers  learned  books, 
and  died  a  Nonconformist,  in  the  year  1588,  and 
was  buried  in  the  Church  of  Cripplegate.  Among 
the  deprived  ministers,  some  betook  themselves 
to  the  study  of  physic,  and  others  to  secular  em- 
ployments; some  went  into  Scotland,  or  beyond 
sea  ;  others  got  to  be  chaplains  in  gentlemen's 
families ;  but  many  who  had  large  families  were 
reduced  to  beggary.     Many  churches  were  now 
shut  up,  and  the  people  ready  to  mutiny  for  want 
of  ministers.     Six  hundred  persons  came  to  a 
church  in  London  to  receive  the  communion  on 
Palm  Sunday,  but  the  doors  were  shut,  there 
being  none  to  officiate.    The  cries  of  the  people 
reached  the  court ;  the  secretary  wrote  to  the 
archbishop  to  supply  the  churches,  and  release 
the  prisoners  ;  but  his  grace  was  inexorable,  and 
had  rather  the  people  should  have  no  sermons 
or  sacraments  than  have  them  without  the  sur- 
plice and  cap.     He  acquainted  the  secretary  in 
a  letter,  "  that  when  the  queen  put  him  upon 
what  he  had  done,  he  told  her  that  these  precise 
folks  would  offer  their  goods  and  bodies  to  pris- 
on rather  than  relent ;  and  her  highness  then 
willed  him  to  imprison  them.*     He  confessed 
that  there  were  many  parishes  unserved ;  that 
he  underwent  many  hard  speeches,  and  much 
resistance  from  the  people,  but  nothing  more 
than  was  to  be  expected.     That  he  had  sent  his 
chaplains  into  the  city  to  serve  in  some  of  the 
grekt  parishes,  but  they  could  not  administer 
the  sacrament,  because  the  officers  of  the  parish 
had  provided  neither  surplice  nor  wafer-bread. 
That  on  Palm  Sunday,  one  of  his  chaplains 
desinging  to  administer  the  sacrament  to  some 
that  desired  it,  the  table  was  made  ready,  but 
while  he  was  reading  the  chapter  of  the  passion, 
one  of  the  parishioners   drew  from  the  table 
both  the  cup  and  the  wafer-bread,  because  the 
bread  was   not  common  ;    and  so  the  people 
were   disappointed,  and  his  chaplain  derided. 
That  divers  church-wardens  would  provide  nei- 
ther surplice  nor  wafer-bread.     He  acquainted 
the  secretary,  farther,  that  he  had  talked  with 
several  of  the  new  preachers,  who  were  movers 
of  sedition  and  disorder,  that  he  had  command- 
ed them  silence,  and  had  put  some  into  prison. 
That  on  Maunday-Thursday  he  had  many  of  the 
Bishop  of  London's  parishioners,  church-war- 
dens, and  others,  before  him ;  but  that  he  was 
fully  tired,  for  some  ministers  would  not  obey 
their  suspensions,  but  preached  in  defiance  of 
them.   Some  church-wardens  vv^ould  not  provide 
the  cliurch  furniture,  and  others  opposed  and 
disturbed  those  that  were  sent  to  officiate  in 
the  prescribed  apparel.     He  then  calls  upon  the 
secretary  to  spirit  up  [Grindal],  bishop  of  Lon- 
don, to  his  duty  ;  and  assures  him  that  he  had 
spoken  to  him  to  no  purpose  ;    that  he  was 
younger,  and  nearer  the  city,  and  had  vacant 
priests  in  his  church,  who  might  supply  the 
places  of  the  deprived  ministers  ;  he  therefore 
bewailed  that  he  should  be  put  upon  the  over- 
sight of  the  parishes  of  London,  which  was  an- 
other man's  charge  ;  and  that  the  burden  should 
be  laid  on   his   neck  when   other  men   drew 
back."*     The  truth  is,  Grindal  was  weary  of 
the  unpleasant  work,  and  having  a  real  concern 
to  promote  the  preaching  of  the  Word  of  God, 
he  could  not  act  against  the  ministers  other- 
wise than  as   he  was  pushed  forward  ;    and 


»  Life  of  Parker,  p.  228. 


+  Ibid.,  p.  229 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


103 


when  the  eyes  of  his  superiors  were  turned 
another  way,  he  would  relax  again.  When  the 
secretary  and  archbishop  sent  to  him  to  provide 
for  his  charge  and  fill  up  the  vacant  pulpits,  he 
told  them  it  was  impossible,  there  being  no 
preachers;  all  he  could  do  was  to  supply  the 
churches  by  turns,  which  was  far  from  stop- 
ping the  murmurs  of  the  people. 

This  was  the  sad  condition  of  the  city  of  Lon- 
don, the  very  bread  of  life  being  taken  from 
the  people,  for  the  sake  of  a  few  trifling  cere- 
monies ;*  and  if  it  was  thus  in  the  city,  how 
much  worse  must  it  be  in  those  distant  coun- 
ties where  her  majesty's  injunctions  were  ri- 
gidly executed  1  And  yet,  with  all  this  rigour, 
it  was  not  in  the  power  of  the  queeij.  and  her 
bishops  to  reconcile  the  clergy  and  common 
people  to  the  habits.  The  queen  herself  was  in 
earnest,  and  her  archbishop  went  into  the  most 
servile  measures  to  fulfil  the  commands  of  his 
royal  mistress  ;  the  high-commission  was  furi- 
ous, but  the  council  were  backward  to  counte- 
nance their  proceedings. 

All  applications  to  the  queen  and  her  com- 
missioners being  ineffectual,  the  suspended  min- 
isters thought  it  their  duty  to  lay  their  case  be- 
fore the  world ;  accordingly,  they  published  a 
small  treatise  in  this  year  [1566],  in  vindication 
of  their  conduct,  entitled  "A  Declaration  of  the 
Doings  of  those  Ministers  of  God's  Word  and 
Sacraments  in  the  City  of  London  which  have 
refused  to  wear  the  upper  Apparel  and  minis- 
tering Garments  of  the  Pope's  Church."  In 
this  book  they  show  "  that  neither  the  prophets 
in  the  Old  Testament,  nor  the  apostles  in  the 
New,  were  distinguished  by  their  garments ; 
that  the  linen  garment  was  peculiar  to  the 
priesthood  of  Aaron,  and  had  a  signification  of 
something  to  be  fulfilled  in  Christ  and  his 
Church.  That  a  distinction  of  garments  in  the 
Christian  Church  did  not  generally  obtain  till 
long  after  the  rising  of  antichrist ;  for  the  whole 
clergy  of  Ravenna,  writing  to  the  Emperor  Car- 
olus  Calvus,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  876,  say, 
We  are  distinguished  from  the  laity  not  by  our 
clothes,  but  by  our  doctrines ;  not  by  our  habits, 
but  our  conversation.  That  the  surplice,  or 
white  linen  garment,  came  from  the  Egyptians 

*  "  The  fact  that  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  first 
Reformers,  and  those  confessedly  among  the  most 
learned,  zealous,  and  devout  of  their  day,  were  at- 
tached to  the  peculiarities  of  the  Puritans,  should 
shame  the  intemperate  and  ignorant  partisans  who 
refer  to  them  in  anger  and  contempt.  In  libelling 
the  Puritans,  they  asperse  the  men  who  exerted 
themselves  most  dOigently  in  laying  the  foundation 
of  their  church,  and  were  ever  foremost  to  endure 
the  loss  of  liberty  and  life  on  behalf  of  a  common 
Protestantism.  'The  most  eminent  churchmen  of 
the  day  were  favourable  to  the  alterations  proposed 
by  the  Puritans,  and  were  only  prevented  from  seek- 
ing their  introduction  into  the  offices  of  the  Church 
by  the  opposition  and  threats  of  the  queen.  Had  it 
not  been  for  her  influence,  Puritanism  would  have 
■triumphed  in  the  Church,  and  a  purer  reformation 
than  was  consonant  with  her  views  have  been,  in 
consequence,  effected.  '  This  arbitrary  monarch  had 
a  leaning  towards  Rome  in  almost  everything  but 
the  doctrine  of  papal  supremacy.  To  the  real  pres- 
ence she  was  understood  to  have  no  objection ;  the 
celibacy  of  the  clergy  she  decidedly  approved ;  the 
gorgeous  rites  of  the  ancient  form  of  worship  she  ad- 
mired, and  in  her  own  chapel  retained.'  " — Dr.  Price's 
Hist.  Nonconformity,  vol.  i.,  p.  163  ;  also  London  Quar- 
terly, June,  1827,  p.  31.— C. 


into  the  Jewish  Church  ;  and  that  Pope  Sylves- 
ter, about  the  year  320,  was  the  first  that  ap- 
pointed the  sacrament  to  be  administered  in  a 
white  linen  garment ;  giving  this  reason  for  it, 
because  the  body  of  Christ  was  buried  in  a 
white  linen  cloth.  They  represent  how  all  these 
garments  had  been  abused  to  idolatry,  sorcery 
and  all  kinds  of  conjurations  ;  for,  say  they,  the 
popish  priests  can  perform  none  of  their  pre- 
tended consecrations  of  holy  water,  transub- 
stantiation  of  the  body  of  Christ,  conjurations 
of  the  devfl  out  of  places  or  persons  possessed, 
without  a  surplice,  or  an  albe,  or  some  hallowed 
stole.  They  argue  against  the  habits  as  an  of- 
fence to  weak  Christians,  an  encouragement  to 
ignorant  and  obstinate  papists,  and  as  an  affec- 
tion to  return  to  their  communion.  That  at 
best  they  were  but  human  appointments,  and 
came  within  the  apostle's  reproof.  Col,  ii.,  20, 
22  :  '  Why  as  though  living  in  the  world  are  ye 
subject  to  ordinances,  after  the  commandments 
and  doctrines  of  men  1  which  all  are  to  perish 
with  the  using.  Touch  not,  taste  not,  handle 
not.'  That,  supposing  the  garments  were  indif- 
ferent (which  they  did  not  grant),  yet  they  ought 
not  to  be  imposed,  because  it  was  an  infringe- 
ment of  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  had  made 
them  free.  Lastly,  they  call  in  the  suflrages 
of  foreign  divines,  who  all  condemned  the  hab- 
its, though  they  were  not  willing  to  hazard  the 
Reformation  in  its  infancy  for  them.  Even 
Bishop  Ridley,  who  contended  so  zealously  for 
the  habits,  when  Dr.  Brooks,  at  his  degradation, 
would  have  persuaded  him  to  put  on  the  sur- 
plice with  the  rest  of  the  massing  garments,  ab- 
solutely refused,  saying,  '  If  you  put  the  surplice 
upon  me,  it  shall  be  against  my  will.'  And 
when  they  forced  it  upon  him,  he  inveighed 
against  the  apparel,  as  foolish  and  abominable." 

At  the  end  of  the  book  is  a  prayer,  in  which 
are  these  words :  "Are  not  the  relics  of  Romish 
idolatry  stoutly  retained  !  Are  we  not  bereav- 
ed of  some  of  our  pastors,  who  by  word  and 
example  sought  to  free  thy  flock  from  these  of- 
fences ]  Ah,  good  Lord  !  these  are  now  by  pow- 
er put  down  from  pastoral  care  ;  they  are  forbid 
to  feed  us  ;  their  voice  we  cannot  hear.  This 
is  our  great  discomfort ;  this  is  the  joy  and  tri- 
umph of  antichrist ;  and,  which  is  more  heavy, 
the  increase  of  this  misery  is  of  some  threaten- 
ed, of  the  wicked  hoped  for,  and  of  us  feared, 
as  thy  judgments  against  us  for  our  sins."  At 
the  conclusion  is  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  Creed, 
after  this  manner  :  "  In  thy  name,  O  Christ  our 
Captain,  we  ask  these  things,  and  pray  unto 
thee,  0  Heavenly  Father,  saying.  Our  Father," 
&c.  After  this,  "  O  Lord,  increase  our  faith, 
whereof  we  make  confession,  I  believe  in  God 
the_  Father  Almighty,"  &c.  And  in  the  end  is 
this  sentence  :  "  Arise,  O  Lord,  and  let  thine 
enemies  be  confounded."* 

Other  pamphlets  of  the  same  kind  were  pub- 
lished in  defence  of  the  suspended  ministers, 
which  the  bishops  appointed  their  chaplains  to 
answer.  Mr.  Strype  is  of  opinion  that  the  arch- 
bishop himself  published  an  answer  to  their  dec- 
laration ;  but  whoever  be  the  author,  he  is  a  man 
of  a  bad  spirit  and  abusive  language  :t  the  min- 
isters printed  a  reply,  entitled  "  An  Answer  for 
the  time  to  the  examination  put  in  print  with  tha 


*  Stiype's  Annals,  p.  555.    Pierce,  p.  61. 
t  Pierce's  Vindication,  p.  62. 


104 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


author's  name,  pretending  to  maintain  the  ap- 
parel prescribed,  against  the  declaration  of  the 
ministers  of  London  ;"  it  answers  the  adversary- 
paragraph  by  paragraph,  with  good  temper  and 
judgment.  But  the  bishops  printed  some  new 
testimonies  of  foreign  divines,  without  their 
consent,  with  a  collection  of  tracts  of  obedience 
to  the  magistrate,  and  Melancthon's  exposition 
of  Rom.,  xiii.,  1.,  "  Let  every  soul  be  subject  to 
the  higher  powers :"  from  whence  they  conclude 
that,  because  things  are  barely  tolerable,  though 
offensive,  dangerous,  and,  in  their  own  opinions, 
tc  be  removed  out  of  the  Church  as  soon  as  an 
opportunity  shall  offer,  yet,  in  the  mean  time, 
they  may  be  imposed  under  the  penalties  of  .sus- 
pension, deprivation,  and  imprisonment,  from  a 
mistaken  interpretation  of  the  apostle's  words, 
"  Let  every  soul  be  subject  to  the  higher  pow- 
ers." 

The  Puritans  replied  to  all  these  attempts  of 
their  adversaries  ;  their  tracts  were  eagerly 
sought  after,  and  had  a  wide  spread  among  the 
people  ;  upon  which  the  commissioners  had  re- 
course to  their  last  remedy,  which  was  the  far- 
ther restraint  of  the  press.  They  complained 
to  the  council  that,  notwithstanding  the  queen's 
injunctions,  the  differences  in  the  Church  were 
kept  open  by  the  printing  and  publishing  sedi- 
tious libels  ;  and  hereupon  procured  the  follow- 
ing decree  of  the  Star  Chamber,  viz  : 

1.  "  That  no  person  shall  print  or  publish  any 
book  against  the  queen's  injunctions,  ordinan- 
ces, or  letters  patent,  set  forth  or  to  be  set 
forth,  or  against  the  meaning  of  them.* 

2.  "  That  such  offenders  should  forfeit  all 
their  books  and  copies,  and  suffer  three  months' 
imprisonment,  and  never  practise  the  art  of 
printing  any  more. 

3.  "  That  no  person  shall  sell,  bind,  or  stitch 
such  books,  upon  pain  of  twenty  shillings  for 
every  book. 

4.  "  That  all  forfeited  books  should  be  brought 
to  Stationers'  Hall,  and  half  the  money  forfeited 
to  be  reserved  for  the  queen,  the  rest  for  the  in- 
former, and  the  books  to  be  destroyed  or  made 
waste-paper. 

b.  "  That  the  wardens  of  the  company  may, 
from  time  to  time,  search  all  suspected  places, 
and  open  all  packs,  dry  fats,  &c.,  wherein  paper 
or  foreign  books  may  be  contained  ;  and  enter 
all  warehouses  where  they  have  reasonable  sus- 
picion, and  seize  all  books  and  pamphlets  against 
the  queen's  ordinances,  and  bring  the  offender 
before  the  ecclesiastical  commissioners. 

6.  "  All  stationers,  booksellers,  and  merchants 
trading  in  books  shall  enter  into  recognisances 
of  reasonable  sums  of  money  to  observe  the 
premises,  or  pay  the  forfeitures." 

This  was  signed  by  eight  of  the  privy  council, 
and  by  the  Bishops  of  Canterbury  and  London, 
with  five  more  of  the  ecclesiastical  commission, 
and  published  June  29th,  1566,  in  the  eighth 
year  of  the  queen's  reign. t 

*  Life  of  Parker,  p.  221.  t  Ibid.,  p.  222. 

It  is  a  just  remark  of  a  modem  writer  here,  that, 
without  entering  into  the  controversy  between  the 
bishops  and  the  Puritans,  we  may  at  least  venture  to 
affirm  that  the  former  did  no  credit  to  their  cause  by 
this  arbitrary  restraint  of  the  press.  This  is  an  expe- 
dient utterly  incompatible  with  the  very  notion  of  a 
free  state,  and,  therefore,  ever  to  be  detested  by  the 
friends  of  liberty.  And  it  is  an  expedient  which  can 
never  be  of  any  service  to  the  cause  of  truth,  what- 


The  Puritans  being  thus  foreclosed,  and  shut 
out  of  the  Church  by  sequestrations,  impris- 
onments, the  taking  away  of  their  licenses  to 
preach,  and  the  restraint  of  the  press,  most  of 
them  were  at  a  loss  how  to  behave,  being  un- 
willing to  separate  from  the  Church  where  the 
Word  and  sacraments  were  truly  administered, 
though  defiled  with  some  popish  superstitions ; 
of  the  number  were  Dr.  Humphreys,  Sampson, 
Fox  the  martyrologist.  Lever,  Whittinghain, 
Johnson,  and  others,  who  continued  preaching 
up  and  down,  as  they  had  opportunity  and  could 
be  dispensed  with  for  the  habits,  though  they 
were  excluded  all  parochial  preferment. 

But  there  were  great  numbers  of  the  common 
people  who  abhorred  the  habits  as  much  as  the 
ministers,  and  would  not  frequent  the  churches 
where  they  were  used,  thinking  it  as  unlaw- 
ful to  countenance  such  superstitions  with  their 
presence  as  if  they  themselves  were  to  put  oa 
the  garments.  These  were  distressed  where  to 
hear  ;  some  stayed  without  the  church  till  ser- 
vice was  over,  and  the  minister  was  entering 
upon  his  prayer  before  sermon  ;  others  flocked 
after  Father  Coverdale,  who  preached  without 
the  habits ;  but,  being  turned  out  of  his  church  at 
St.  Magnus,  London  Bridge,  they  were  obliged 
to  send  to  his  house  on  Saturdays  to  know 
where  they  might  hear  him  the  next  day:  the 
government  took  umbrage  at  this,  insomucli 
that  the  good  old  man  was  obliged  to  tell  his 
friends  that  he  durst  not  inform  them  any  more 
of  his  preaching,  for  fear  of  offending  his  superi- 
ors. At  length,  after  having  waited  about  eight 
weeks  to  see  if  the  queen  would  have  compas- 
sion on  them,  several  of  the  deprived  ministers 
had  a  solemn  consultation  with  their  friends,  in 
which,  after  prayer,  and  a  serious  debate  about 
the  lawfulness  and  necessity  of  separating  from 
the  established  Church,  they  came  to  this 
agreement :  that,  since  they  could  not  have  the 
Word  of  God  preached,  nor  the  sacraments  ad- 
ministered without  idolatrous  gear  (as  they 
called  it),  and  since  there  had  been  a  separate 
congregation  in  London,  and  another  at  Gene- 
va, in  Queen  Mary's  time,  which  used  a  book 
and  order  of  preaching,  administration  of  sacra- 
ments, and  discipline,  that  the  great  Mr.  Calvin 
had  approved  of,  and  which  was  free  from  the 
superstitions  of  the  English  service;  that,  there- 
fore, it  was  their  duty,  in  their  present  circum- 
stances, to  break  off  from  the  public  churches, 
and  to  assemble,  as  they  had  opportunity,  in 
private  houses,  or  elsewhere,  to  worship  God  in 
a  manner  that  might  not  offend  against  the  light 
of  their  consciences.*  Had  the  use  of  habits 
and  a  few  ceremonies  been  left  discretionary, 
both  ministers  and  people  had  been  easy ;  but 
it  was  the  compelling  these  things  by  law,  as 
they  told  the  archbishop,  that  made  them  sep- 
arate. 

It  was  debated  among  them  whether  they 
should  use  as  much  of  the  common  prayer  and 
service  of  the  Church  as  was  not  offensive,  or 
resolve  at  once,  since  they  were  cut  off  from 
the  Church  of  England,  to  set  up  the  purest 
and  best  form  of  worship  most  consonant  to 
the  Holy  Scriptures  and  to  the  practice  of  the 
foreign  Reformers  ;  the  latter  of  these  was  con- 
ever  it  may  to  error,  superstition,  and  tyranny.— 
British  Biography,  vol.  hi.,  p.  25. —  C. 

*  Life  of  Parker,  p.  241. 


HISTORY    OF   THE   PURITANS. 


105 


eluded  upon,  and,  accordingly,  they  laid  aside 
the  English  liturgy,  and  made  use  of  the  Gene- 
va service-book. 

Here  was  the  era  or  date  of  the  separation, 
a  most  unhappy  event,  says  Mr.  Strype,  where- 
by "  people  of  the  same  country,  of  the  same 
religion,  and  of  the  same  judgment  in  doctrine, 
parted  communions ;  one  part  being  obliged  to 
go  aside  into  secret  houses  and  chambers,  to 
serve  God  by  themselves,  which  begat  strange- 
ness between  neighbours.  Christians,  and  Prot- 
estants." And  not  only  strangeness,  but  un- 
speakable mischiefs  to  the  nation  in  this  and  the 
following  reigns.  The  breach  might  easily  have 
been  made  up  at  first,  but  it  widened  by  de- 
grees ;  the  passions  of  the  contending  parties 
increased,  till  the  fire,  which  for  some  years 
was  burning  under  ground,  broke  out  into  a 
civil  war,  and,  with  unspeakable  fury,  destroyed 
the  constitution  both  of  Church  and  State. 

I  leave  the  reader  to  judge  at  whose  door 
the  beginnings  of  these  sorrows  are  to  be  laid, 
each  party  casting  the  blame  on  the  other.  The 
Conformists  charged  the  deprived  ministers 
with  disobedience  to  the  queen,  and  obstinacy, 
preciseness,  and  with  breaking  the  peace  of  the 
Church  for  matters  of  no  consequence  to  salva- 
tion. The  ministers,  on  the  other  hand,  thought 
it  cruel  usage  to  be  turned  out  of  the  Church 
for  things  which  their  adversaries  acknowledged 
to  be  of  mere  indifference  ;  whereas  they  took 
it  upon  their  consciences,  and  were  ready  to 
aver,  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  that  they 
deemed  them  unlawful.  They  complied  as  far 
as  they  could  with  the  establishment  while  they 
were  within  it,  by  using  as  much  of  the  liturgy 
as  was  not  offensive,  and  by  taking  the  oath  of 
supremacy  ;  they  were  as  dutiful  subjects  to 
the  queen  as  the  bishops,  and  declared  them- 
selves ready  to  obey  their  sovereign  in  all  things 
lawful ;  and  when  they  could  not  obey,  patient- 
ly to  suffer  her  displeasure.  After  all  this,  to 
impute  the  behaviour  of  the  Nonconformists  to 
obstinacy  and  peevishness  was  very  unchari- 
table.* What  could  move  them  to  part  with 
their  livings,  or  support  them  under  the  loss, 
but  the  testimony  of  a  good  conscience  1  when 
they  could  not  but  be  sensible  their  noncon- 
formity would  be  followed  with  poverty  and 
disgrace,  with  the  loss  of  their  characters  and 
usefulness  in  the  Church  ;  and  with  numberless 
unforeseen  calamities  to  themselves  and  fam- 
ilies, unless  it  should  please  God,  in  his  all-wise 

*  "  Schism,  in  fact,  is  a  thing  bad  in  itself,  bad  in 
its  very  nature;  separation  may  be  good  or  bad,  ac- 
cording to  circumstances.  A  schismatic  is  an  epi- 
thet of  criminality ;  it  indicates  the  personal  charac- 
ter of  the  individual,  and  it  describes  that  character 
as  bad.  A  separatist  is  merely  a  name  of  circum- 
stance :  in  itself  it  is  neither  bad  nor  good ;  it  indi- 
cates nothing  as  to  the  personal  character  of  the  in- 
dividual, it  merely  describes  his  position  in  relation 
to  others.  Schism  can  exist,  as  we  have  seen,  where 
there  is  no  separation,  and  separation  itself  is  not 
necessarily  schism ;  not  necessarily  so,  for  while 
it  may  be  occasioned  by  crime,  it  may  be  occa- 
sioned by  virtue  ;  it  may  result,  in  those  who  depart 
from  intolerance  attempted,  or  intolerance  sustained, 
from  the  pride  of  faction,  or  the  predominance  of 
principle ;  attachment  to  party  or  attachment  to 
truth.  A  schismatic,  in  short,  7nust  be  a  sinner,  on 
whichever  side  he  stands;  a  separatist  ??ia^be'more 
sinned  against  than  sinning.'  "—Dissent  not  Schism. 
By  the  Rev.  Thomas  Binney. — C. 

Vol.  I.— O 


providence,  to  soften  the  queen's  heart  in  their 
favour. 

In  Scotland  all  things  were  in  confusion. 
The  young  queen,  Mary,  after  the  death  of  her 
husband,  Francis  II.,  returned  into  her  own 
country,  August  21st,  15G1,  npon  ill  terms 
with  Queen  Elizabeth,  who  could  not  brook  her 
assuming  the  arms  of  England,  and  putting  in 
her  claim  to  the  crown,  on  the  pretence  of  "her 
bastardy,  which  most  of  the  popish  powers 
maintained,  because  she  was  born  during  the 
life  of  Queen  Katharine,  whose  marriage  had 
been  declared  valid  by  the  pope.  Elizabeth  of- 
fered her  a  safe  conduct  if  she  would  ratify  the 
treaty  of  Edinburgh,  but  she  chose  rather  to 
run  all  risks  than  submit.  Mary  was  a  bigoted 
papist,  and  her  juvenile  amours  and  follies  soon 
entangled  her  government  and  lost  her  crown. 
As  soon  as  she  arrived  in  Scotland,  she  had  the 
mortification  to  see  the  whole  nation  turned 
Protestant,  and  the  Reformation  established  by 
laws  so  secure  and  strict,  that  only  herself  was 
allowed  the  liberty  of  mass  in  her  own  chapel, 
and  that  without  pomp  or  ostentation.  The 
Protestants  of  Scotland,  by  the  preaching  ol 
Mr.  Knox  and  others,  having  imbibed  the  strong- 
est aversion  to  popery,  were  for  removing  at 
the  greatest  distance  from  its  superstitions. 
The  General  Assembly  petitioned  her  majesty 
to  ratify  the  acts  of  Parliament  for  abolishing 
the  mass,  and  for  obliging  all  her  subjects  to 
frequent  the  reformed  worship.  But  she  replied 
that  she  saw  no  impiety  in  the  mass,  and  was 
determined  not  to  quit  the  religion  in  which  she 
was  educated,  being  satisfied  it  was  founded  on 
the  Word  of  God.  To  which  the  General  As- 
sembly answered  a  little  coarsely,  that  Turkism 
stood  upon  as  good'  ground  as  popery ;  and 
then  required  her,  in  the  name  of  the  eternal 
God,  to  inform  herself  better,  by  frequenting 
sermons  and  conferring  with  learned  men  ;  but 
her  majesty  gave  no  heed  to  their  counsels. 

In  the  year  1564,  the  queen  married  Henry 
Stuart,  Lord  Darnley,  who  was  joined  with  her 
in  the  government.  By  him  she  was  brought 
to  bed  of  a  son,  June  the  15th,  1566,  afterward 
James  I.,  king  of  England  ;  and  while  she  was 
with  child  of  him  she  received  a  fright  by  her 
husband's  coming  into  her  chamber  with  his 
servants  and  putting  to  death  her  tavourite,  Da- 
vid Rizzio,  an  Italian  musician,  who  was  sitting 
with  her  at  table.  Tliis  was  thought  to  have 
such  an  influence  upon  the  prince  that  was  born 
of  her,  that  he  never  loved  the  sight  of  a  sword. 
Soon  after  this  the  king  himself  was  found 
murdered  in  a  garden,  the  house  in  which  the 
murder  was  committed  being  blown  up  with 
gunpowder  to  prevent  the  discovery.  Upon  the 
king's  death  the  Earl  of  Bothwell  became  the 
queen's  favourite,  and,  as  soon  as  he  had  ob- 
tained a  divorce  from  his  legal  wife,  she  took 
him  into  her  marriage-bed,  to  her  very  great 
infamy,  and  the  regret  of  the  whole  Scots  na- 
tion, who  took  up  arms  to  revenge  the  late 
king's  murder,  and  dissolve  the  present  inces- 
tuous marriage.  When  the  two  armies  were 
ready  to  engage,  Bothwell  fled  to  Dunbar,  and 
the  queen,  being  apprehensive  her  soldiers  would 
not  fight  in  such  an  infamous  cause,  surrender- 
ed herself  to  the  confederates,  who  shut  her  up 
in  the  castle  of  Loch  Levin,  and  obliged  her  to 
resign  the  crown  to  her  young  son,  under  the 


106 


HISTORY   OF    TPIE    PURITANS. 


regency  of  the  Earl  of  Murray.  From  hence 
she  made  her  escape  into  England  in  the  year 
1568,  where  she  was  detained  prisoner  by  Queen 
Elizabeth  almost  eighteen  years,  and  then  put  to 
death.  Bothweli  turned  pirate,  and  being  taken 
by  the  Danes,  was  shut  up  for  ten  years  in  a 
noisome  prison  in  Denmark,  till  he  lost  his 
senses  and  died  mad.* 

The  Earl  of  Murray  being  regent  of  Scotland, 
convened  a  parliament  and  assembly  at  Edin- 
burgh, in  which  the  pope's  authority  was  again 
discharged,  and  the  act  of  Parliament  of  the 
year  1560,  for  renouncing  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
court  of  Rome,  was  confirmed,  and  all  acts  pass- 
ed in  former  reigns  for  the  support  of  popish 
idolatry  were  annulled.  The  new  confession  of 
faith  was  ratified,  and  the  Protestant  ministers, 
and  those  of  their  communion,  declared  to  be 
the  true  and  only  kirk  within  that  realm.  The 
examination  and  admission  of  ministers  is  de- 
clared to  be  only  in  the  power  and  disposition 
of  the  Church,  with  a  saving  clause  for  lay-pa- 
trons. By  another  act,  the  kings  at  their  coro- 
nation, for  the  future,  are  to  take  an  oath  to 
maintain  the  reformed  religion  then  professed  ; 
and  by  another,  none  but  such  as  profess  the  re- 
formed religion  are  capable  of  being  judges  or 
proctors,  or  of  practising  in  any  of  the  courts  of 
justice,  except  those  who  held  offices  heredita- 
ry, or  for  life. 

The  General  Assembly  declared  their  approba- 
tion of  the  discipline  of  the  Reformed  Churches 
of  Geneva  and  Switzerland ;  and  for  a  parity 
among  ministers,  in  opposition  to  the  claim  of 
the  bishops,  as  a  superior  order.  All  Church 
affairs  were  managed  by  provincial,  classical, 
and  national  assemblies  ;  but  these  acts  of  the 
General  Assembly  not  being  confirmed  by  Parlia- 
ment, episcopal  government  was  not  legally  abol- 
ished, but  tacitly  suspended  till  the  king  came  of 
age.  However,  the  General  Assembly  showed 
their  power  of  the  keys  at  this  time,  by  deposing 
the  Bishop  of  Orkney  for  marrying  the  queen  to 
Bothweli,  who  was  supposed  to  have  murdered 
the  late  king,  and  by  making  the  Countess  of 
Argyle  do  penance  for  assisting  at  the  ceremony. 


CHAPTER  V. 

FROM  THE  SEPARATION  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  NON- 
CONFORMISTS TO  THE  DEATH  OF  ARCHBISHOP 
PARKER. 

Though  all  tne  Puritans  of  these  times  would 
have  remained  within  the  Church,  might  they 
have  been  indulged  in  the  habits  and  a  few  cer- 
emonies, yet  they  were  far  from  being  satisfied 
■with  the  hierarchy.  They  had  other  objections 
besides  those  for  which  they  were  deprived, 
which  they  laboured  incessantly  throughout  the 
whole  course  of  this  reign  to  remove.  I  will 
set  them  before  the  reader  in  one  view,  that  he 
may  form  a  complete  judgment  of  the  whole 
controversy. 

First.  They  complained  of  the  bishops  affect- 
ing to  be  thought  a  superior  order  to  presby- 
ters, and  claiming  the  sole  right  of  ordination, 
and  the  use  of  the  keys,  or  the  sole  exercise  of 
ecclesiastical  discipline.    They  disliked  the  tem- 


*  Rapin,  p.  357. 


poral  dignities  and  baronies  annexed  to  their  of- 
fice, and  their  engaging  in  secular  employments 
and  trusts,  as  tending  to  exalt  them  too  much 
above  their  brethren,  and  not  so  agreeable  to 
their  characters  as  ministers  of  Christ,  nor  con- 
sistent with  the  due  discharge  of  their  spiritual 
function. 

Secondly.  They  excepted  to  the  titles  and  of- 
fices of  archdeacons,  deans,  chapters,  and  oth- 
er officials  belonging  to  cathedrals,  as  having  no 
foundation  in  Scripture  or  primitive  antiquity, 
but  intrenching  upon  the  privileges  of  the  pres- 
byters of  the  several  diocesses. 

Thirdly.  They  complained  of  the  exorbitant 
power  and  jurisdiction  of  the  bishops  and  their 
chancellors  in  their  spiritual  courts,  as  derived 
from  the  canon  law  of  the  pope,  and  not  from 
the  Word  of  God  or  the  statute  law  of  the  land. 
They  complained  of  their  fining,  imprisoning,  de- 
priving, and  putting  men  to  excessive  charges 
for  small  offences  ;  and  that  the  highest  cen- 
sures, such  as  excom-munication  and  absolution, 
were  in  the  hands  of  laymen,  and  not  in  the 
spiritual  officers  of  the  Church. 

Fourthly.  They  lamented  the  want  of  a  god- 
ly discipline,  and  were  uneasy  at  the  promiscu- 
ous and  general  access  of  all  persons  to  the 
Lord's  table.  The  Church  being  described  in 
her  articles  as  a  congregation  of  faithful  persons, 
they  thought  it  necessary  that  a  power  should 
be  lodged  somewhere,  to  inquire  into  the  quali- 
fications of  such  as  desired  to  be  of  her  com- 
munion. 

Fifthly.  Though  they  did  not  dispute  the  law- 
fulness of  set  forms  of  prayer,  provided  a  due 
liberty  was  allowed  for  prayers  of  their  own 
composure  before  and  after  sermon,  yet  they 
disliked  some  things  in  the  public  liturgy  estab- 
lished by  law  ;  as  the  frequent  repetition  of  the 
Lord's  Prayer ;  the  interruption  of  the  prayers 
by  the  frequent  responses  of  the  people,  which 
in  some  places  seem  to  be  little  better  than  vain 
repetitions,  and  are  practised  in  no  other  Prot- 
estant Church  in  the  world.  They  excepted  to 
some  passages  in  the  offices  of  marriage  and 
burial,  &c.,  which  they  very  unwillingly  complied 
with  ;  as,  in  the  office  of  marriage,  "  With  my 
body  I  thee  worship ;"  and  in  the  office  of  bu- 
rial, "  In  sure  and  certain  hope  of  the  resurrec- 
tion to  eternal  life,"  to  be  pronounced  over  the 
worst  of  men,  unless  in  a  very  few  excepted  ca- 
ses. 

Sixthly.  They  disliked  the  reading  of  the  apoc- 
ryphal books  in  the  Church,  while  some  parts  of 
canonical  Scripture  were  omitted ;  and  though 
they  did  not  disapprove  the  homilies,  they  thought 
that  no  man  ought  to  be  ordained  a  minister 
in  the  Church  who  was  incapable  of  preaching 
and  expounding  the  Scriptures.  One  of  their 
great  complaints,  therefore,  throughout  the 
course  of  this  reign  was,  that  there  were  so 
many  dumb  ministers,  pluraiists,  and  nonresi- 
dents ;  and  that  presentations  to  benefices  were 
in  the  hands  of  the  queen,  bishops,  or  lay-pa- 
trons, when  they  ought  to  arise  from  the  election 
of  the  people. 

Seventhly.  They  diapproved  of  the  observa- 
tion of  sundry  of  the  Church  festivals  or  holy- 
days,  as  having  no  foundation  in  Scripture  or 
primitive  antiquity.  We  have  no  example,  say 
they,  in  the  Old  or  New  Testament,  of  any  days 
appointed  in  commemoration  of  saints  ;  to  ob- 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


107 


serve  the  fast  in  Lent  of  Friday  and  Saturday, 
&c..  is  unlawful  and  superstitious,  as  also  buy- 
ing and  selling  on  the  Lord's  Day. 

Eighthly.  They  disallowed  of  the  Cathedral 
mode  of  worship  ;  of  singing  their  prayers,  and 
of  the  antiphone,  or  chanting  the  psalms  by 
turns,  which  the  ecclesiastical  commissioners 
in  King  Edward  VI. 's  time  advised  the  laying 
aside.  Nor  did  they  approve  of  musical  instru- 
ments, as  trumpets,  organs,  &c.,  which  were 
not  in  use  in  the  Church  for  above  twelve  hun- 
dred years  after  Christ. 

Ninthly.  They  scrupled  conformity  to  cer- 
tain rites  and  ceremonies  which  were  enjoined 
by  the  rubric,  or  the  queen's  injunctions  ;  as, 

1.  To  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  baptism,  which 
is  no  part  of  the  institution  as  recorded  in  Scrip- 
ture ;  and  though  it  was  usual  for  Christians,  in 
the  earlier  ages,  to  cross  themselves,  or  make  a 
cross  in  the  air  upon  some  occasions,  yet  there 
is  no  express  mention  of  its  being  used  in  bap- 
tism till  about  the  fifth  century.  Besides,  it  hav- 
ing been  abused  to  superstition  by  the  Church 
of  Rome,  and  been  had  in  such  reverence  by 
some  Protestants,  that  baptism  itself  has  been 
thought  imperfect  without  it,  they  apprehend  it 
ought  to  be  laid  aside.  They  also  disallowed 
of  baptism  by  mid  wives,  or  other  women,  in 
cases  of  sickness  ;  and  of  the  manner  of  church- 
ing women,  which  looked  to  them  too  much  like 
the  Jewish  purification. 

2.  They  excepted  to  the  use  of  godfathers 
and  godmothers,  to  the  exclusion  of  parents 
from  being  sureties  for  the  education  of  their 
own  children.  If  parents  were  dead,  or  in  a  dis- 
tant country,  they  were  as  much  for  sponsors  to 
undertake  for  the  education  of  the  child  as 
their  adversaries ;  but  when  the  education  of 
children  is  by  the  laws  of  God  and  nature  in- 
trusted to  parents,  who  are  bound  to  form  them 
to  virtue  and  piety,  they  apprehended  it  very 
unjustifiable  to  release  them  totally  from  that 
promise,  and  deliver  up  the  child  to  a  stranger, 
as  was  then  the  constant  practice,  and  is  smce 
enjoined  by  the  twenty-ninth  canon,  which  says, 
"  No  parent  shall  be  urged  to  be  present,  nor  be 
admitted  to  answer  as  godfather  to  his  own 
child."  In  giving  names  to  children,  it  was 
their  opinion  that  heathenish  names  should  be 
avoided,  as  not  so  fit  for  Christians  ;  and  also 
the  names  of  God  and  Christ,  and  angels,  and 
the  peculiar  offices  of  the  Mediator.  They  also 
disliked  the  godfathers  answering  in  the  name 
of  the  child,  and  not  in  their  own. 

3.  They  disapproved  the  custom  of  confirming 
children  as  soon  as  they  could  repeat  the  Lord's 
Prayer  and  their  Catechism,  by  which  they 
had  a  right  to  come  to  the  sacrament,  without 
any  other  qualification  ;  this  might  be  done  by 
children  of  five  or  six  years  old.  They  were 
also  dissatisfied  with  that  part  of  the  office 
where  the  bishop,  laying  his  hand  upon  the  chil- 
dren, prays  that  God  would  by  this  sign  certify 
them  of  his  favour  and  goodness,  which  seems 
to  impute  a  sacramental  efficacy  to  the  imposi- 
tion of  his  hands. 

4.  They  excepted  against  the  injunction  of 
kneeling  at  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
which  they  apprehended  not  so  agreeable  to  the 
example  of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  who  gave  it 
to  his  disciples  rather  in  a  posture  of  feasting 
than  of  adoration.     Besides,  it  has  no  founda- 


tion in  antiquity  for  many  hundred  years  after 
Christ;  and  having  since  been  grossly  abused 
by  the  papists  to  idolatry,  in  their  worshipping 
the  host,  it  ought,  say  they,  to  be  laid  aside ; 
and  if  it  should  be  allowed  that  the  posture 
was  indiffijrent,  yet  it  ought  not  to  be  imposed 
and  made  a  necessary  term  as  communion ; 
nor  did  they  approve  of  either  of  the  sacraments 
being  administered  in  private  ;  no,  not  in  cases 
of  danger. 

5.  To  bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus,  grounded 
upon  a  false  interpretation  of  that  passage  of 
Scripture,  "  At  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee 
shall  bow  ;"  as  if  greater  external  reverence 
was  required  to  that  name  than  to  the  person 
of  our  blessed  Saviour,  under  the  titles  of  Lord, 
Saviour,  Christ,  Immanuel,  &c.,  and  yet  upon 
this  mistake  was  founded  the  injunction  of  the 
queen  and  the  eighteenth  canon,  which  says, 
"  When,  in  time  of  Divine  service,  the  name  of 
Jesus  shall  be  mentioned,  due  and  lowly  rever- 
ence shall  be  done  by  all  persons  present."  But 
the  Puritans  maintained  that  all  the  names  of 
God  and  Christ  were  to  be  had  in  equal  rever- 
ence, and  therefore  it  was  beside  all  reason  to 
bow  the  knee,  or  uncover  the  head,  only  at  the 
name  of  Jesus. 

6.  To  the  ring  in  marriage.  This  they  some- 
times complied  with,  but  wished  it  altered.  It 
is  derived  from  the  papists,  who  make  marriage 
a  sacrament,  and  the  ring  a  sort  of  sacred  sign 
or  symbol.  The  words  in  the  liturgy  are,  "  Then 
shall  they  again  loose  their  hands,  and  the  man 
shall  give  unto  the  woman  a  ring,  laying  the 
same  upon  the  book ;  and  the  priest,  taking  the 
ring,  shall  deliver  it  to  the  man,  to  put  it  on  the 
fourth  finger  of  the  woman's  left  hand  ;  and  the 
man  holding  the  ring  there,  and  taught  by  the 
priest,  shall  say,  '  With  this  ring  I  thee  wed, 
with  my  body  I  thee  worship,  and  with  all  my 
worldly  goods  I  thee  endow,'  in  the  name  of 
the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost."  They  also  disallowed  the  forbidding 
of  marriage  at  certain  times  of  the  year,  and 
then  licensing  it  for  money,  say  they,  is  more 
intolerable.  Nor  is  it  lawful  to  grant  licenses 
that  some  may  marry  without  the  knowledge  of 
the  congregation,  who  ought  to  be  acquainted 
with  it,  lest  there  should  be  any  secret  lets  or 
hinderances. 

7.  To  the  wearing  of  the  surplice,  and  other 
ceremonies  to  be  used  in  Divine  service ;  con- 
cerning which  the  Church  says,  in  the  preface 
to  her  Liturgy,  that  though  they  were  devised 
by  men,  yet  they  are  reserved  for  decency,  or- 
der, and  edification.  And,  again,  they  are  apt 
to  stir  up  the  dull  mind  of  man  to  the  remem- 
brance of  his  duty  to  God  by  some  notable  and 
special  signification,  whereby  he  might  be  edifi- 
ed. But  the  Puritans  saw  no  decency  in  the 
vestments ;  nay,  they  thought  them  a  disgrace 
to  the  Reformation,  and,  in  the  present  circum- 
stances, absolutely  unlawful,  because  they  had 
been  defiled  with  superstition  and  idolatry,  and 
because  many  pretended  Protestants  placed  a 
kind  of  holiness  in  them.  Besides,  the  wearing 
them  gave  countenance  to  popery,  and  looked 
as  if  we  were  fund  of  being  thought  a  branch  of 
that  communion  which  we  had  so  justly  renoun- 
ced. But,  suppose  them  to  be  indifferent,  they 
gave  great  offence  to  weak  minds,  and  there- 
fore ought  not  to  be  imposed,  whea  there  was 


108 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


no  foundation  for  the  use  of  them  in  Scripture 
or  primitive  antiquity. 

These  things,  say  they,  every  one  should  en- 
deavour to  reform  in  his  place  :  ministers  by  the 
Word,  magistrates  by  their  authority,  according 
to  the  Word  of  God,  and  the  people  by  prayer. 

There  was  no  difference  in  points  of  doctrine 
between  the  Puritans  and  Conformists  :*  so  that 
if  we  add  but  one  article  more,  we  have  the 
chief  head  of  controversy  between  the  Church 
of  England  and  the  Protestant  Dissenters  at 
that  day ;  and  this  is  the  natural  right  that  ev- 
ery man  has  to  judge  for  himself,  and  make  pro- 
fession of  that  religion  he  apprehends  most 
agreeable  to  truth,  as  far  as  it  does  not  affect 
the  peace  and  safety  of  the  government  he  lives 
under,  without  being  determined  by  the  preju- 
dices of  education,  the  laws  of  the  civil  magis- 
trate, or  the  decrees  of  councils,  churches,  or 
synods. t  This  principle  would  effectually  put 
an  end  to  all  impositions ;  and  unless  it  be  al- 
lowed, I  am  afraid  our  separation  from  the 
Church  of  Rome  can  hardly  be  justified.  "  The 
Bible,"  says  Mr.  Chillingworth,  "and  that  only, 
is  the  religion  of  Protestants ;  and  every  one, 
by  making  use  of  the  helps  and  assistances  that 
God  has  put  into  his  hands,  must  learn  and  un- 
derstand it  for  himself  as  well  as  he  can." 

It  will  appear  hereafter  what  sort  of  discipline 
the  Puritans  would  have  introduced  ;  but  these 
"were  the  objections  that  hindered  their  compli- 
ance with  the  present  establishment,  and  for 
which  they  were  content  to  suffer  the  loss  of  all 
things.  Those  who  remained  within  the  Church 
became  itinerant  preachers,  lecturers,  or  chap- 
lains.    The  chief  leaders  of  the  separation,  ac- 

*  This  was,  undoubtedly,  true  with  respect  to  the 
majority  ;  but  this  history  has  furnished  different  in- 
stances of  objections  in  point  of  doctrine.  The  es- 
tablished sentiments  concerning  the  Trinity  and  the 
person  of  Christ,  though  they  did  not  form  the 
grounds  of  that  separation  of  which  our  author 
writes,  were  yet  called  in  question,  and,  as  we  have 
seen  in  the  note,  p.  61,  were  by  no  means  universally 
received.  But  it  would  not  have  been  surprising  if, 
in  that  early  period  of  the  Reformation,  there  had  been 
a  perfect  acquiescence  in  every  doctrinal  principle 
that  did  not  appear  to  have  been  peculiar  to  the  sys- 
tem of  popery  ;  for  the  progress  of  the  mind  and  of 
inquiry  is  necessarily  gradual.  The  gross  corruptions 
of  popery  were  at  first  sufficient  to  occupy  and  fill 
the  thoughts  of  the  generality.  A  kind  of  sacred  awe 
spread  itself  over  questions  connected  with  the  char- 
acter and  nature  of  God  and  his  Christ,  which  would 
deter  many  from  a  close  and  free  e.xamination  of 
them.  And  ceremonies  and  habits,  being  more  ob- 
vious to  the  senses,  continually  coming  into  use  and 
practice,  and  being  enforced  with  severity,  the  ques- 
tions relative  to  them  more  easily  engaged  attention, 
were  more  level  to  the  decision  of  common  under- 
standings, and  became  immediately  interesting.  In 
this  state  of  things  there  was  little  room  and  less  in- 
clination to  push  inquiries  on  matters  of  speculation. 
•  Ed. 
t  Bishop  Warburton  is  displeased  with  Mr.  Neal 
lor  speaking  of  the  natural  right  every  man  has  to 
judge  for  himself  as  one  of  the  heads  of  controversy 
between  the  Puritans  and  Conformists,  when,  his 
lordship  adds,  "his  whole  history  shows  that  this 
was  a  truth  unknown  to  either  party."  It  is  true 
that  neither  party  had  clear,  full,  and  extensive  views 
on  this  point,  nor  were  disposed  to  grant  the  conse- 
quences arising  from  it.  But  each  in  a  degree  ad- 
mitted it,  and  acted  upon  it.  And  the  Puritans,  it  ap- 
pears, by  p.  109  of  this  edition,  rested  their  vindica- 
tion, in  part,  upon  this  principle. — Ed. 


cording  to  Mr.  Fuller,  were  the  Reverend  Mr. 
Colman,  Mr.  Button,  Mr.  Halingham,  Mr.  Ben- 
son, Mr.  White,  Mr.  Rowland,  and  Mr.  Hawk- 
ins, all  beneficed  within  the  diocess  of  London. 
These  had  their  followers  of  the  laity,  who  for- 
sook their  parish  churches,  and  assembled  with 
the  deprived  ministers  in  woods  and  private 
houses,  to  worship  God  without  the  habits  and 
ceremonies  of  the  Church. 

The  queen,  being  informed  of  their  proceed- 
ings, sent  to  her  commissioners  to  take  effect- 
ual measures  to  keep  the  laity  to  their  parish 
churches,  and  to  let  them  know  that,  if  they  fre- 
quented any  separate  conventicles,  or  broke 
through  the  ecclesiastical  laws,  they  should  for 
the  first  offence  be  deprived  of  their  freedom  of 
the  city  of  London,  and,  after  that,  abide  what 
farther  punishment  she  should  direct.  This  was 
a  vast  stretch  of  the  prerogative,*  there  being 
no  law,  as  yet,  to  disfranchise  any  man  for  not 
coming  to  church. 

But,  notwithstanding  this  threatening  mes- 
sage, they  went  on  with  their  assemblies,  and 
on  the  19th  of  June,  1567,  agreed  to  have  a  ser- 
mon and  a  communion  at  Plumbers'  Hall,  which 
they  hired  for  that  day,  under  pretence  of  a  wed- 
ding ;  but  here  the  sheriffs  of  London  detected 
and  broke  them  up,  when  they  were  assembled 
to  the  number  of  about  one  hundred  ;  most  of 
them  were  taken  into  custody,  and  some  sent  to 
the  Compter,  and  next  day  seven  or  eight  of  the 
chief  were  brought  before  the  Bishop  of  London, 
Dean  Goodman,  Mr.  Archdeacon  Watts,  and  Sir 
Roger  Martin,  lord-mayor  of  London. t  The 
bishop  charged  them  with  absenting  from  their 
parish  churches,  and  with  setting  up  separate 
assemblies  for  prayer  and  preaching,  and  minis- 
tering the  sacrament.  He  told  them  that  by 
these  proceedings  they  condemned  the  Church 
of  England,  which  was  well  reformed  according 
to  the  Word  of  God,  and  those  martyrs  who  had 
shed  their  blood  for  it.  To  which  one  of  them 
replied,  in  the  name  of  the  rest,  that  they  con- 
demned them  not,  but  only  stood  for  the  truth 
of  God's  Word.  Then  the  bishop  asked  the 
ancientest  of  them,  Mr.  John  Smith,  what  he 
could  answer  ;  who  replied  "  that  they  thanked 
God  for  the  Reformation ;  that  as  long  as  they 
could  hear  the  Word  of  God  preached  without 
idolatrous  gear  about  it,  they  never  assemWed 
in  private  houses  ;  but  when  it  came  to  this 
point,  that  all  their  preachers  were  displaced 
who  would  not  subscribe  to  the  apparel,  so  that 
they  could  hear  none  of  them  in  the  church,  for 
the  space  of  seven  or  eight  weeks,  except  Fa- 
ther Coverdale,  they  began  to  consult  what  to 
do  ;  and  remembering  there  had  been  a  congre- 
gation of  Protestants  in  the  city  of  London  in 
Queen  Mary's  days,  and  another  of  English  ex- 
iles at  Geneva,  that  used  a  book  framed  by  them 
there,  they  resolved  to  meet  privately  together 
and  use  the  said  book."  And,  finally,  Mr.  Smith 
offered,  in  the  name  of  the  rest,  to  yield  and  do 
penance  at  St.  Paul's  Cross,  if  the  bishop,  and 
the  commissioners  with  him,  could  reprove  that 
book,  or  anything  else  that  they  held,  by  the 
Word  of  God. 

The  bishop  told  him  they  could  not  reprove 
the  book,  but  that  was  no  sufficient  answer  for 


*  Which,  adds  Dr.  Warner,  "  plainly  showed  Eliz- 
abeth to  be  the  true  daughter  of  Henry." 

t  Life  of  Grindal,  p.  242.    Life  of  Parker,  p.  342. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


109 


his  not  going  to  church  *  To  which  Mr.  Smith 
replied,  that  "he  would  as  soon  go  to  mass  as 
to  some  churches,  and  particularly  to  his  own 
parish  church,  for  the  minister  that  officiated 
there  was  a  very  papist."  Others  said  the 
same  of  other  parish  priests.  The  bishop  asked 
if  they  accused  any  of  them  by  name  ;  upon 
which  one  of  them  presently  named  Mr.  Bedel, 
who  was  there  present,  but  the  bishop  would 
not  inquire  into  the  accusation. 

The  Dean  of  Westminster,  who  was  one  of 
the  ecclesiastical  commission,  charged  them 
with  derogating  from  the  queen's  authority  of 
appointing  indifferent  things  in  God's  worship. 
To  which  one  of  them  answered,  that  "  it  lay 
not  in  the  authority  of  a  prince,  nor  the  liberty 
of  a  Christian  man,  to  use  and  defend  that 
which  appertained  to  papistry,  idolatry,  and  the 
pope's  canon  law."  Another  said  that  "these 
things  were  preferred  before  the  Word  of  God 
and  the  ordinances  of  Christ."  The  bishop 
asked  them  what  was  preferred  :  one  of  them 
answered  boldly,  "  that  which  was  upon  the  bish- 
op's head,  and  upon  his  back ;  their  copes  and 
surplices,  and  canon  laws."  Another  said  "  that 
be  thought  both  prince  and  people  ought  to  obey 
the  Word  of  God."  To  Which  the  bishop  yield- 
ed, except  in  things  that  were  indifferent,  which 
God  had  neither  commanded  nor  forbidden ;  in 
these  he  asserted  that  princes  had  authority  to  or- 
der and  command.  Whereupon  several  of  them 
cried  out,  '•  Prove  that ;  where  find  you  thatT' 
But  the  bishop  would  not  enter  into  the  debate, 
alleging  the  judgment  of  the  learned  Bullinger  ; 
to  which  Mr.  Smith  replied,  that  perhaps  they 
could  show  Bullinger  against  Bullinger  in  the 
affair  of  the  habits. 

The  bishop  asked  them  whether  they  would 
be  determined  by  the  Church  of  Geneva.  Mr. 
Smith  replied,  "  that  they  reverenced  the  learn- 
ed in  Geneva,  and  in  other  places,  but  did  not 
build  their  faith  and  religion  upon  them."  The 
bishop  produced  the  following  passage  out  of 
one  of  Beza's letters  against  them:  "that  against 
the  bishops  and  princes'  will  they  should  exer- 
cise their  office,  they  [the  ministers  of  Geneva] 
did  much  the  more  tremble  at  it."  "Mark," 
says  the  bishop,  "  how  the  learned  Beza  trem- 
bles at  your  case."  Whereupon  one  of  them 
said  they  knew  the  letter  well  enough,  and  that 
it  made  nothing  against  them,  but  rather  against 
the  prince  and  the  bishops.  ]3eza  and  his  learn- 
ed brethren  trembled  at  their  case  in  proceeding 
to  such  extremities  with  men  as  to  drive  them, 
against  their  wills,  to  that  which  they  did  not 
care  to  mention.  Their  words  are  these  :  "  We 
hope  that  her  royal  majesty,  and  so  many  men 
of  dignity  and  goodness,  will  endeavour  that 
care  may  rather  be  taken  of  so  many  pious  and 
learned  brethren,  that  so  great  an  evil  should 
happen,  to  wit,  that  the  pastors  should  be  forced, 
against  their  consciences,  to  do  that  which  is 
evil,  and  so  to  involve  themselves  in  other 
men's  sins,  or  to  give  over  ;  for  we  more  dread 
that  third  thing,  viz.,  to  exercise  their  ministry 
contrary  to  the  will  of  her  majesty  and  the  bish- 
ops, for  causes  which,  though  we  hold  our  peace, 
may  well  enough  be  understood."!  How  the 
bishop  could  think  this  was  levelled  against  the 
Nonconformists  is  hard  to  understand. 

To  go  on  with  the  examination.     One  of  the 

♦  Pierce,  p.  42.        f  Life  of  Grindal,  Records,  No.  16. 


prisoners  said,  that  "  before  they  compelled  the 
ceremonies,  so  that  none  might  officiate  with- 
out them,  all  was  quiet."  Another  (viz.,  Mr. 
Hawkins)  produced  a  passage  out  of  Melancthon, 
that  "when  the  opinion  of  holiness  or  necessi- 
ty is  put  unto  things  indifferent,  they  darken  the 
light  of  the  Gospel."  The  bishop  replied  "that 
the  ceremonies  and  habits  were  not  commanded 
of  necessity."  To  which  Hawkins  rejoined  that 
they  had  made  them  matters  of  necessity,  as 
many  a  poor  man  had  felt  to  his  cost,  who  had 
been  discharged  of  his  living  for  nonconformity. 
When  the  bishop  had  occasionally  observed  that 
he  had  formerly  said  mass,  but  was  sorry  for  it, 
one  of  them  answered,  he  went  still  in  the  habit 
of  a  mass-priest.  To  which  he  replied,  that  he 
had  rather  minister  without  a  cope  and  surplice, 
but  for  order's  sake  and  obedience  to  the  queen. 
When  some  of  the  commissioners  urged  them 
with  the  Reformation  of  King  Edward,  one  said 
that  "they  never  went  so  far  in  his  time  as  to 
make  a  law  that  none  should  preach  or  minister 
without  the  garments."  Sundry  other  expres- 
sions of  warmth  passed  on  both  sides  ;  at  length 
one  of  them  delivered  to  Justice  Harris  their  book 
of  order  [the  Geneva  book],  and  challenged  any 
of  the  commissioners  to  disprove  it  by  the  Word 
of  God,  and  they  would  give  over.  The  bishop 
said  they  reproved  it  not,  but  they  liked  not 
their  separate  assemblies  to  trouble  the  common 
quiet  of  the  realm  against  the  queen's  will.  But 
the  others  insisted  on  their  superior  regards  to 
the  Word  of  God.  In  conclusion,  the  prisoners, 
not  yielding  to  the  bishop,  were  sent  to  Bride- 
well, where  they,  with  their  brethren  and  sun- 
dry women,  were  kept  in  durance  above  a  year : 
at  length,  their  patience  and  constancy  having 
been  sufficiently  tried,  an  order  was  sent  from 
the  lords  of  the  council  to  release  them,*  with 
an  admonition  to  behave  themselves  better  for 
the  future.!  Accordingly,  twenty-four  men  and 
seven  women  were  discharged.  J  Whether  these 
severities  were  justifiable  by  the  laws  of  God  or 
the  land,  I  leave  with  the  reader. 

There  was  a  spirit  of  uncommon  zeal  in  these 
people  to  suffer  all  extremities  for  the  cause  in 
which  they  were  engaged.  In  one  of  their  let- 
ters, directed  to  all  the  brethren  that  believed 
in  Christ,  the  writer,  who  was  but  a  layman, 
says,  "  The  reason  why  we  will  not  hear  our 
parish  ministers  is,  because  they  will  not  stand 
forth  and  defend  the  Gospel  against  the  leavings 
of  popery,  for  fear  of  loss  of  goods,  or  punish- 
ment of  body,  or  danger  of  imprisonment,  or 
else  for  fear  of  men  more  than  God."  He  then 
calls  up  their  courage  :  "  Awake,  O  ye  cold  and 
lukewarm  preachers,  out  of  sleep  ;  gird  up  your- 
selves with  the  truth  ;  come  forth  and  put  your 
necks  [to  the  yoke],  and  think  with  Peter  that 
persecution  is  no  strange  thing ;  for  which  of 
the  prophets  were  not  persecuted  as  well  as 
Christ  and  his  apostles  ;  not  for  evil  doing,  but 

*  This  was  done  at  the  motion  and  counsel  of 
Bishop  Grindal.— Ed.  t  Grindal's  Life,  p.  135. 

X  The  names  of  the  men  were  John  Smith,  John 
Roper,  Robert  Tod,  Robert  Hawkins,  James  Ireland, 
William  Nickson,  Walter  Hynkesman,  Thomas  Row- 
land, George  Waddy,  William  Turner,  John  Nashe, 
James  Adderton,  William  Wight,  Thomas  Lydiord, 
Richard  Langton,  Alexander  Lacy,  John  Leonard, 
Roger  Hawksworth,  Robert  Sparrow,  Richard  King, 
Christopher  Colman,  John  Benson,  John  Bolton,  Rob- 
ert Gates. 


110 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


for  preaching  God's  Word,  and  for  rebuking  the 
world  of  sin,  and  for  their  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  ] 
This  is  the  ordinance  of  God,  and  this  is  the 
highway  to  heaven,  by  corporeal  death  to  eternal 
life,  as  Christ  saith,  John,  v.  :  Let  us  never  fear 
death,  that  is  killed  [conquered]  by  Christ,  but 
believe  in  him  and  live  forever.  'There  is  no 
condemnation  to  them  that  are  in  Christ.'  '  O 
death!  where  is  thy  sting  1  thanks  be  to  God 
that  has  given  us  the  victory.'  Let  us  not,  then, 
dissemble,  as  some  do,  to  save  their  pigs,  but 
be  valiant  for  the  truth.  I  doubt  not  but  all 
they  who  believe  the  truth,  and  will  obey  it,  will 
consider  the  cause  ;*  and  the  Lord,  for  his 
Christ's  sake,  make  Ephraim  and  Manasses  to 
agree,  that  we  may  all  with  one  heart  and  mind 
unfeignedly  seek  God's  glory,  and  the  edification 
of  his  people,  that  we  may  live  in  all  godly  peace, 
unity,  and  concord !  This  grant,  0  Lord,  for 
Christ  Jesus'  sake,  to  whom,  with  thee  and  the 
Holy  Ghost,  be  all  praise,  glory,  and  honour, 
forever  and  ever." 

Another,  in  a  letter  to  Bishop  Grindal,  occa- 
sioned by  his  lordship's  discourse  to  the  prison- 
er at  his  examination  before  him,  December  19, 
begins  thus  :  "  Pleaseth  your  wisdom,  my  duty 
remembered,  &c.,  being  grieved  at  certain  words 
spoken  by  you,  and  at  your  extreme  dealing 
with  us  of  late,  I  am  bold  to  utter  my  grief 
in  this  manner.  You  said,  if  discipline  did  not 
tend  to  peace  and  unity,  it  were  better  refused  ; 
whereas  our  Saviour  Christ  commandeth  dis- 
cipline as  one  part  of  the  Gospel,  most  necessa- 
ry for  the  Church's  peace  and  order  ;  the  apos- 
tles practised  it,  and  Mr.  Calvin  and  other  learn- 
ed men  caU  it  the  sinews  of  the  Church  that 
keep  the  members  together ;  and  Beza  says, 
where  discipline  is  wanting,  there  will  be  a  li- 
centious life  and  a  school  of  wickedness.  Sec- 
ondly, you  seemed  to  be  offended  with  a  late 
exercise  of  prayer  and  fasting,  saying  that  you 
had  not  heard  of  any  exercise  of  this  kind  with- 
out public  authority ;  to  which  the  example  of 
the  Ninevites  plainly  answers,  who  proclaimed 
a  fast  before  they  acquainted  the  king  with  it ; 
nor  did  the  king  blame  his  subjects  for  going 
before  him  in  well-doing,  but  approved  it  by  do- 
ing the  like.  Thirdly,  you  said  you  would  nev- 
er ask  God  mercy  for  using  the  apparel,!  and 
should  appear  before  him  with  a  better  con- 
science than  we ;  whereas  you  said  in  a  sermon, 
as  many  can  witness,  that  you  was  sorry,  for 
that  you  knew  you  should  offend  many  godly 
consciences  by  wearing  this  apparel ;  requiring 
your  auditory  to  have  patience  for  a  time,  for 
that  you  did  but  use  them  for  a  time,  to  the  end 
you  might  the  sooner  abolish  them  ;  and  now 
you  displace,  banish,  persecute,  and  imprison 
such  as  will  not  wear  nor  consent  thereunto, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  say  you  fear  not  to  ap- 
pear before  God  for  so  doing.  But  if  the  Co- 
rinthians, for  eating  meat  to  the  offence  of  their 
brethren,  are  said  to  sin  against  Clirist,  how 
much  more  do  you,  who  not  only  retain  the 
remnants  of  antichrist,  but  compel  others  to  do 
the  same  1  Better  were  it  for  you  to  leave  your 
lordly  dignity,  not  given  you  by  Christ,  and  to 
suffer  affliction  for  the  truth  of  the  Gospel,  than, 
by  enjoying  thereof,  to  become  a  persecutor  of 
your  brethren.  Consider,  I  pray  ynu,  if  through- 
out the  whole  Scriptures  you  can  find  one  that 


*  MS.,  p.  42. 


t  MS.,  p.  22. 


was  first  a  persecutor,  and  after  was  persecuted 
for  the  truth,  that  ever  fell  to  persecuting  again 
and  repented.  I  desire  you,  in  the  bowels  of 
Christ,  to  consider  your  own  case,  who,  by  your 
own  confession,  was  once  a  persecutor,  and 
have  since  been  persecuted,  whether  displacing, 
banishing,  and  imprisoning  God's  children  more 
straitly  than  felons,  heretics,  or  traitors,  be  per- 
secuting again  or  no^  They  that  make  the 
best  of  it  say  you  buffet  your  brethren,  which, 
if  the  master  of  the  house  find  you  so  doing,  you 
know  your  reward.  I  desire  you,  therefore,  in 
the  bowels  of  Christ,  not  to  restrain  us  of  the 
liberty  of  our  consciences,  but  be  a  means  to 
enlarge  our  liberty  in  the  truth  and  sincerity  of 
the  Gospel ;  and  use  your  interest  that  all  the 
remnants  of  antichrist  may  be  abolished,  with 
every  plant  that  our  heavenly  Father  has  not 
planted.  Signed,  Yours  in  the  Lord  to  com- 
mand, William  White,  who  joineth  with  you  in 
every  speck  of  truth,  but  utterly  detesteth  whole 
antichrist,  head,  body,  and  tail,  never  to  join 
with  you,  or  any,  in  the  least  joint  thereof;  nor 
in  any  ordinance  of  man,  contrary  to  the  Word 
of  God,  by  his  grace  unto  the  Church." 

But  neither  the  arguments  nor  sufferings  of 
the  Puritans,  nor  their  great  and  undissembled 
piety,  had  an  influence  upon  the  commissioners, 
who  had  their  spies  in  all  suspected  places  to 
prevent  their  religious  assemblies ;  and  gave  out 
strict  orders  that  no  clergyman  should  be  per- 
mitted to  preach  in  any  of  the  pulpits  of  London 
without  a  license  from  the  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury or  the  Bishop  of  London. 

The  persecution  of  the  Protestants  in  France 
and  the  Low  Countries  was  hot  and  terrible 
about  this  time.  The  King  of  France  broke 
through  all  his  edicts  for  the  free  exercise  of 
the  reformed  religion  ;  he  banished  their  minis- 
ters, and  much  blood  was  spilt  in  their  religious 
wars.  In  the  Netherlands,  the  Duke  d'Alva 
breathed  out  nothing  but  blood  and  slaughter, 
putting  multitudes  to  death  for  religion.  This 
occasioned  great  numbers  to  fly  into  England, 
which  multiplied  the  Dutch  churches  in  Nor- 
wich, Colchester,  Sandwich,  Canterbury,  Maid- 
stone, Southampton,  London,  Southwark,  and 
elsewhere.  The  queen,  for  their  encouragement, 
allowed  them  the  liberty  of  their  own  mode  of 
worship,  and  as  they  brought  their  manufactures 
over  with  them,  they  proved  very  beneficial  to 
the  trade  and  commerce  of  the  nation. 

Even  in  England  the  hearts  of  all  good  men 
were  ready  to  fail,  for  fear  of  the  return  of  po- 
pish idolatry  ;  the  queen  being  suddenly  seized 
with  a  severe  fit  of  sickness  this  summer  [1568], 
which  brought  her  to  the  very  point  of  death, 
and  the  presumptive  heir,  Mary,  late  Queen  of 
Scots,  being  a  bigoted  papist.  The  queen,  to- 
gether with  her  bodily  distemper,  was  under 
great  terror  of  mind  for  her  sins,  and  for  not 
discharging  the  duty  of  her  high  station  as  she 
ought :  she  said  she  had  forgotten  her  God  !  to 
whom  she  had  made  many  vows,  and  been  un- 
thankful to  him.  Prayers  were  composed,  and 
publicly  read  in  all  churches  for  her  msjesty's 
recovery,  in  which  they  petitioned  that  God 
would  heal  her  soul,  and  cure  her  mind  as  well 
as  her  body.  The  papists  were  never  more  san- 
guine in  their  expectations,  nor  the  Reformation 
in  greater  danger,  than  now  ;  and  yet  Bride- 
well and  other  prisons  were  full  of  Puritans,  as 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


Ill 


appears  by  a  manuscript  letter  of  Mr.  Thomas 
Lever,  now  before  me,  dated  December  5,  1568, 
in  which  he  endeavours  to  comfort  the  prison- 
ers, and  declares  that,  though  the  popish  gar- 
ments and  ceremonies  were  not  unclean  in 
themselves,*  yet  he  was  determined  for  himself, 
by  God's  grace,  never  to  wear  the  square  cap 
and  surplice,  because  they  tended  neither  to  de- 
cency nor  edification,  but  to  offence,  dissension, 
and  division  in  the  Church  of  Christ ;  nor  would 
he  kneel  at  the  communion,  because  it  was  a 
symbolizing  with  popery,  and  looked  too  much 
like  the  adoration  of  the  host.  But  at  length  it 
pleased  Almigiity  God  to  dissipate  for  the  pres- 
ent the  clouds  that  hung  over  the  Reformation, 
by  the  queen's  recovery. 

This  yeart  was  published  the  Bible  in  folio, 
called  the  Bishops'  Bible,  with  a  preface  by 
Archbishop  Parker.  It  was  only  Cranmer's 
translation  revised  and  corrected  by  several 
bishops  and  learned  men,  whose  names  may  be 
seen  in  the  Records  of  Bishop  Burnet's  History 
of  the  Reformation.  The  design  was  to  set 
aside  the  Geneva  translation,  which  had  given 
offence.  In  the  beginning,  before  the  Book  of 
Genesis,  is  a  map  of  the  land  of  Canaan  ;  before 
the  New  Testament  is  inserted  a  map  of  the 
places  mentioned  in  the  four  evangelists,  and 
the  journeys  of  Christ  and  his  apostles.  There 
are  various  cuts  dispersed  through  the  book, 
and  several  genealogical  and  chronological  ta- 
bles with  the  arms  of  divers  noblemen,  partic- 
ularly those  of  Cranmer  and  Parker.  There  are 
also  some  references  and  marginal  notes  for 
the  explication  of  difficult  passages. t  This  was 
the  Bible  that  was  read  in  the  churches  till  the 
last  translation  of  King  James  I.  took  place. 

But  there  was  another  storm  gathering  abroad, 
which  threatened  the  Reformation  all  over  Eu- 
rope, most  of  the  popish  princes  having  enter- 
ed into  a  league  to  extirpate  it  out  of  the  world  : 
the  principal  confederates  were,  the  pope,  the 
emperor,  the  Kings  of  Spain,  France,  and  Por- 
tugal, with  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  and  some  lesser 
princes  :  their  agreement  was,  to  endeavour,  by 
force  of  arms,  to  depose  all  Protestant  kings  or 
potentates,  and  to  place  Catholics  in  their  room  ; 
and  to  displace,  banish,  and  condemn  to  death 
all  well-wishers  and  assistants  of  the  clergy  of 
Luther  and  Calvin,  while  the  pope  was  to  thun- 
der out  his  anathemas  against  the  Queen  of 
England,  to  interdict  the  kingdom,  and  to  ab- 
solve her  subjects  from  their  allegiance.  In 
prosecution  of  this  league,  war  was  already  be- 
gun in  France,  Holland,  and  in  several  parts  of 
Germany,  with  unheard-of  cruelties  against  the 
reformed.  Under  these  difficulties,  the  Protest- 
ant princes  of  Germany  entered  into  a  league 
for  their  common  defence,  and  invited  the 
Queen  of  England  to  accede  to  it.  Her  majesty 
sent  Sir  Henry  Killigrew  over  to  the  elector 
palatine  with  a  handsome  excuse,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  ordered  her  ambassador  in  France 
to  offer  her  mediation  between  that  king  and 
his  Protestant  subjects  ;  but  the  confederacy 
was  not  to  be  broken  by  treaties ;  upon  which 
her  majesty,  by  way  of  self-defence,  and  to 
ward  off  the  storm  from  her  own  kingdom,  as- 
sisted the  confederate  Protestants  of  France 
and  Holland  with  men  and  money.     This  was 

*  MS.,  p.  18.  t  Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  i.,  p.  623. 

t  Strype's  Ann.,  p.  216. 


the  second  time  the  queen  had  supported  them 
in  their  religious  wars  against  their  natural 
kings.  The  foreign  popish  princes  reproached 
her  for  it,  and  her  majesty's  ministers  had 
much  ado  to  reconcile  it  to  the  court  doctrines 
of  passive  obedience  and  non-resistance. 

At  home  the  papists  were  in  motion,  having 
vast  expectations,  from  certain  prophecies,  that 
the  queen  should  not  reign  above  twelve  years: 
their  numbers  were  formidable  ;  and  such  was 
their  latitude,  that  it  was  not  easy  to  bring  them 
within  the  verge  of  the  laws.  In  Lancashire 
the  Common  Prayer  Book  was  laid  aside,  church- 
es were  shut  up,  and  the  mass  celebrated  open- 
ly. The  queen  sent  down  commissioners  of  in- 
quiry, but  all  they  could  do  was  to  bind  some 
of  the  principal  gentlemen  to  their  good  behav- 
iour in  recognisances  of  one  hundred  marks.* 
Two  of  the  colleges  of  Oxford,  viz..  New  Col- 
lege and  Corpus  Christi,  were  so  overrun  with 
papists  that  the  Bishop  of  Winchester,  their  vis- 
iter, was  forced  to  break  open  the  gates  of  the 
college,  and  send  for  the  ecclesiastical  commis- 
sion to  reduce  them  to  order.t  Great  numbers 
of  papists  harboured  in  the  inns  of  court,  and  ia 
several  other  places  of  public  resort,  expecting, 
with  impatience,  the  death  of  the  queen,  and  the 
succession  of  the  presumptive  heir,  Mary,  late 
queen  of  Scotland. 

Towards  the  latter  end  of  the  year,  the  Earls 
of  Northumberland  and  Westmoreland,  with 
their  friends,  to  the  number  of  four  thousand, 
broke  out  into  open  rebellion  ;  their  pretence 
was,  to  restore  the  popish  religion,  and  deliver 
the  Queen  of  Scots.  In  the  city  of  Durham  they 
tore  the  Bible  and  Common  Prayer  Book  to  pie- 
ces, and  restored  the  mass  in  all  places  wherev- 
er they  came  ;  but  hearing  of  the  advance  of 
the  queen's  army,  under  the  Earl  of  Suffolk, 
they  fled  northward,  and  mouldered  away,  with- 
out standing  a  battle  ;  the  Earl  of  Northumber- 
land was  taken  in  Scotland,  and  executed  at 
York,  with  many  of  his  confederates ;  but  the 
Earl  of  Westmoreland  escaped  into  Flanders, 
and  died  in  poverty.  No  sooner  was  this  rebel- 
lion over,  but  the  Lord  Dacres  excited  another 
on  the"  borders  of  Scotland  ;  but  after  a  small 
skirmish  with  the  Governor  of  Berwick,  he  was 
defeated,  and  fled,  and  the  rabble  were  pardon- 
ed. There  was  a  general  commotion  among 
the  papists  in  all  parts  of  the  kingdom,  who 
would  have  united  their  forces  if  the  northern 
rebels  had  maintained  their  ground. 

To  give  new  life  to  the  Catholic  cause,  the 
pope  published  a  bull,  excommunicating  the 
queen,  and  absolving  her  subjects  from  their  al- 
legiance. In  this  bull  he  calls  her  majesty  a 
usurper,  and  a  vassal  of  iniquity ;  and  having 
given  some  instances  of  her  aversion  to  the 
Catholic  religion,  he  declares  "her  a  heretic, 
and  an  encourager  of  heretics,  and  anathemati- 
zes all  that  adhere  to  her.  He  deprives  her  of 
her  royal  crown  and  dignity,  and  absolves  all 
her  subjects  from  all  obligations  of  fidelity  and 
obedience. t  He  involves  all  those  in  the  same 
sentence  of  excommunication  who  presume  to 
obey  her  orders,  commands,  or  laws  for  the  fu- 
ture, and  excites  all  foreign  potentates  to  take 
up  arms  against  her."  This  alarmed  the  ad- 
ministration, and  put  them  upon  their  guard ; 


*  Strype's  Ann.,  p.  541. 
t  Collyer,  p.  523. 


t  Grindal's  Life,  p.  133. 


112 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


but  it  quickly  appeared  that  the  pope's  thunder- 
bolts had  lost  their  terror,  for  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic princes  not  being  forward  to  encourage  the 
Court  of  Rome's  pretended  power  of  excommu- 
nicating princes,  continued  their  correspondence 
with  the  queen  ;  and  her  own  Roman  Catholic 
subjects  remained  pretty  quiet,  though  from 
this  time  they  separated  openly  from  the  Church. 
But  the  queen  took  hold  of  the  opportunity  to 
require  all  justices  of  peace,  and  other  otficers 
in  commission,  throughout  all  the  counties  in 
England,  to  subscribe  their  names  to  an  instru- 
ment, professing  their  conformity  and  obedience 
to  the  act  of  uniformity  in  religion,  and  for  due 
resorting  to  their  parish  churches  to  hear  com- 
mon prayer.  This  affected  Puritans  as  well  as 
papists.  The  gentlemen  of  the  Inns  of  Court 
were  also  cited  before  the  ecclesiastical  com- 
mission, and  examined  about  their  resorting  to 
church  and  receiving  the  sacrament,  of  which 
most  of  them  were  very  negligent.  This  raised 
a  clamour,  as  if  the  queen  intended  to  ransack 
into  men's  consciences  ;  in  answer  to  which  she 
published  a  declaration  that  she  had  no  such 
intention ;  "  that  she  did  not  inquire  into  the 
sentiments  of  people's  mind,  but  only  required 
an  external  conformity  to  the  laws ;  and  that 
all  that  came  to  the  Church  and  observed  her 
injunctions,  should  be  deemed  good  subjects." 
So  that  if  men  would  be  hypocrites,  her  majes- 
ty would  leave  them  to  God  ;  but  if  they  would 
not  conform,  they  must  suffer  the  law. 

When  the  next  Parliament  met,  they  passed 
a  law  making  it  high  treason  to  declare  the 
queen  to  be  a  heretic,  schismatic,  tyrant,  infidel, 
or  usurper ;  to  publish  or  put  in  use  the  pope's 
bulls  ;  to  be  reconcded  to  the  Church  of  Rome, 
or  to  receive  absolution  by  them  :*  the  conceal- 
ing or  not  discovering  offenders  against  this 
act  is  misprision  of  treason.  A  protestation 
was  likewise  drawn  up,  to  be  taken  by  all  repu- 
ted papists,  in  these  words  :  "  I  do  profess  and 
confess  before  God  that  Queen  Elizabeth,  my 
sovereign  lady,  now  reigning  in  England,  is 
rightfully,  and  ought  to  be  and  continue,  queen, 
and  lawfully  beareth  the  imperial  crown  of  these 
realms,  notwithstanding  any  act  or  sentence 
that  any  pope  or  bishop  has  done  or  given,  or 
can  do  or  give,  and  that  if  any  pope  or  other 
say  or  judge  to  the  contrary,  whether  he  say  it 
as  pope,  or  howsoever,  he  erreth  and  affirmeth, 
holdeth  and  teacheth,  error."  And  that  the  Pu- 
ritans might  not  escape  without  some  note  of 
disloyalty,  another  protestation  was  drawn  up 
for  them  -,1  in  which  they  profess  before  God 
that  "  they  believe  in  their  consciences  that 
Queen  Elizabeth  is  and  ought  to  be  the  lawful 
queen  of  England,  notwithstanding  any  act  or 
sentence  that  any  church,  synod,  consistory,  or 
ecclesiastical  assembly  hath  done  or  given,  or 
can  give  ;  and  that  if  any  say  or  judge  the  con- 
trary, in  what  respect  soever  he  saith  it,  he  er- 
reth and  affirmeth,  holdeth  and  teacheth,  error 
and  falsehood." 

There  was  no  manner  of  occasion  for  this 
last  protestation  ;  for  in  the  midst  of  these  com- 
motions the  Puritans  continued  the  queen's 
faithful  and  dutiful  subjects,  and  served  her 
majesty  as  chaplains  m  her  armies  and  navy, 
though  they  were  not  admitted  into  the  church- 
es.    One  would  have  thought  the  formidable 


*  Eliz.,  cap.  i. 


t  Life  of  Parker,  p.  224. 


conspiracies  of  the  Roman  Catholics  should 
have  alienated  the  queen's  heart  from  them, 
and  prevailed  with  her  majesty  to  yield  some- 
thing for  the  sake  of  a  firmer  union  among  her^ 
Protestant  subjects ;  but  instead  of  this,  the 
edge  of  the  laws  that  were  made  against  popish 
recusants  was  turned  against  Protestant  Non- 
conformists, which,  instead  of  bringing  them 
into  the  Church,  like  all  other  methods  of  sever- 
ity, drove  them  farther  from  it. 

This  year  [1570]  died  Mr.  Andrew  Kingsmill, 
born  in  Hampshire,  and  educated  in  All-Souls 
College,  Oxon,  of  which  he  was  elected  fellovy 
in  1558.  He  had  such  a  strong  memory,  that 
he  could  readily  rehearse  in  the  Greek  language 
all  St.  Paul's  Epistles  to  the  Romans  and  Gala- 
tians,  and  other  portions  of  Scripture,  memoriter. 
He  was  a  most  pious  and  religious  person,  un 
dervaluing  all  worldly  profit  in  comparison  of 
the  assurance  of  his  salvation.  In  the  year 
1563,  there  were  only  three  preachers  in  the 
university,  of  whom  Kingsmill  was  one  ;  but  af- 
ter some  time,  when  conformity  was  pressed,  and 
Sampson  deprived  of  his  deanery,  he  withdrew 
from  the  kingdom,  resolving  to  live  in  one  of 
the  best  reformed  churches  for  doctrine  and  dis- 
cipline, the  better  to  prepare  himself  for  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Church  ;*  accordingly,  he  lived  three 
years  at  Geneva ;  from  thence  he  removed  to 
Lausanne,  where  he  died  this  year,  in  the  prime 
of  his  days,  leaving  behind  him  an  excellent 
pattern  of  piety,  devotion,  and  all  manner  of 
virtue. 

The  rigorous  execution  of  the  penal  laws 
made  business  for  the  civilians  :  many  were  ci- 
ted into  the  spiritual  courts,  and  after  long  at- 
tendance, and  great  charges,  were  suspended 
or  deprived ;  the  pursuivant,  or  messenger  of 
the  court,  was  paid  by  the  mile  ;  the  fees  were 
exorbitant,  which  the  prisoner  must  satisfy  be- 
fore he  is  discharged  ;  the  method  of  proceed- 
ing was  dUatory  and  vexatious,  though  they 
seldom  called  any  witnesses  to  support  the 
charge,  but  usually  tendered  the  defendant  an 
oath,  to  answer  the  interrogatories  of  the  court ; 
and  if  he  refused  the  oath,  they  examined  him 
without  it,  and  convicted  him  upon  his  own 
confession  ;  if  the  prisoner  was  dismissed,  he 
was  almost  ruined  with  the  costs,  and  bound  in 
a  recognisance  to  appear  again  whensoever  the 
court  should  require  him.  We  shall  meet  with 
many  sad  examples  of  such  proceedings  in  the 
latter  part  of  this  reign.  The  honest  Puritans 
made  conscience  of  not  denying  anything  they 
were  charged  with  if  it  was  true,  though  they 
might  certainly  have  put  the  accusers  on  proof 
of  the  charge :  nay,  most  of  them  thought  them- 
selves bound  to  confess  the  truth,  and  bear  a 
public  testimony  to  it  before  the  civil  magis- 
trate, though  it  was  made  use  of  to  their  disad- 
vantage. + 


*  Wood's  Athen.  Ox.,  vol,  i.,  p.  125,  126. 

t  I  have  an  example  of  this  now  before  me.  The 
Reverend  Mr.  Axton,  minister  of  Morton  Corbet  in 
Leicestershire,  was  cited  into  the  bishop's  court  three 
several  times  this  year,  and  examined  upon  the  rea- 
sons of  his  refusmg  the  apparel,  the  cross  in  baptism, 
and  kneehng  at  the  sacrament,  which  he  debated 
with  the  bishop  and  his  officers  with  a  decent  free- 
dom and  courage.  At  the  close  of  the  debate  the 
bishop  said, 

Bish.  Now,  Mr.  Axton,  I  would  know  of  you  what 
you  think  of  the  calhng  of  the  bishops  of  England  ? 


HISTORY    OF   THE    PURITANS. 


113 


The  controversy  with  tne  Church,  which  had 
hitherto  been  chiefly  confined  to  the  habits,  to 

Axton.  I  may  fall  into  danger  by  answering  this 
D  ."estion.  , 

Bish.  I  may  compel  you  to  answer  upon  your  oath. 

Axt.  But  1  may  choose  whether  I  will  answer  upon 
oath  or  not.  I  am  not  bound  to  bnng  myself  into 
danger;  but  because  1  am  persuaded  it  will  redound 
to  God's  glory,  1  will  speak,  be  the  consequence  what 
it  will ;  and  1  trust  in  the  Holy  Spirit  that  I  shall  be 
wiihng  to  die  in  defence  of  the  truth. 

Bish.  Well,  what  do  you  think  of  my  calling? 

Axt.  You  are  not  lawfully  called  to  be  a  bishop, 
according  to  the  Word  of  God. 

Bish.  i  thought  so  ;  but  why  ? 

Axt.  For  three  causes:  1.  Because  you  were  not 
ordained  by  the  consent  of  the  eldership. 

Bish.  But  I  had  the  hands  of  three  or  four  bishops. 

Axt.  But  that  is  not  the  eldership  St.  Paul  speaks 
of,  Tim.,  iv.,  14.  ■,.■,,  „r 

Bish.  By  what  eldership  were  you  ordamed  ?  Was 
it  by  a  bisliop  ? 

Axt.  I  had,  indeed,  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of 
one  of  the  bishops  of  England,  but  that  was  the 
least  part  of  my  calhng. 

Bish.  What  calling  had  you  more  ? 

Axt.  I  having  exercised  and  expounded  the  Word 
several  tunes  in  an  ordinary  assembly  of  ten  minis- 
ters ;  they  joined  in  prayer,  and,  being  required  to 
speak  their  consciences  in  the  presence  of  God,  de- 
clared, upon  the  trial  they  had  of  me,  that  they  were 
persuaded  I  might  become  a  profitable  labourer  in 
the  house  of  God  ;  after  which  I  received  the  laymg 
on  of  the  hands  of  the  bishop. 

Bish.  But  you  had  not  the  laying  on  of  the  hands 
of  those  preachers. 

Axt.  No;  I  had  the  substance,  but  I  wanted  the 
accident,  wherein  I  beseech  the  Lord  to  be  merciful 
to  me ;  for  the  laying  on  of  hands,  as  it  is  the  Word, 
so  it  is  agreeable  with  the  mighty  action  of  ordaining 
the  ministers  of  God. 

Bish.  Well,  then,  your  ordination  is  imperfect  as 
well  as  mine.     What  is  your  second  reason  ? 

Axt.  Because  you  are  not  ordained  bishop  over 
any  one  flock ;  nay,  you  are  not  a  pastor  over  any 
one  congregation,  contrary  to  1  Pet.,  v.,  2,  "  Feed  the 
flock ;"  and  to  Acts,  xiv.,  23,  from  whence  it  is  man- 
ifest that  there  should  be  bishops  and  elders  through 
■*very  congregation. 

Bish.  What  is  a  congregation? 

Axt.  Not  a  whole  diocess,  but  such  a  number  of 
people  as  ordinarily  assemble  in  one  place  to  hear 
the  Word  of  God. 

Bish.  What  if  you  had  a  parish  six  or  seven  miles 
long,  where  many  could  not  come  to  hear  once  in  a 
quarter  of  a  year  I 

Axt.  I  would  not  be  pastor  over  such  a  flock. 

Bish.  What  is  your  third  reason  ? 

Axt.  Because  you  are  not  chosen  by  the  people  ; 
Acts,  xiv.,  23  :  "  And  they  ordained  elders  by  elec- 
tion in  every  church,"  ^cipoTovfiaavrcs,  "  by  the  lifting 
tip  of  hands." 

B.'s  Chanc.  How  come  you  to  be  parson  of  Mor- 
ton Corbet  ? 

Axt.  I  am  no  parson. 

Chanc.  Are  you,  then,  vicar? 

Axt.  No ;  I  am  no  vicar.  I  abhor  those  names 
as  antichristian ;  I  am  pastor  of  the  congregation 
there. 

Chanc.  Are  you  neither  parson  nor  vicar  ?  How 
hold  you  your  living? 

Axt.  I  receive  these  temporal  things  of  the  people, 
because  1,  being  theur  pastor,  do  minister  to  them 
spiritual  things. 

Chanc.  If  you  are  neither  parson  nor  vicar,  you 
must  reap  no  profit. 

Axt.  Do  you  mean  good  faith  in  that  you  say? 

Chanc.  Yea,  if  you  will  be  neither  parson  nor  vicar, 
there  is  good  cause  why  another  should. 

Bish.  You  must  understand  that  all  livings  in  the 
'Church  are  given  to  ministers  as  parsons  and  vicars. 
Vol.  I.— P 


the  cross  in  baptism,  and  kneeling  at  the  Lord's 
Supper,  began  now  to  open  into  several  more 


and  not  as  pastors  and  ministers.  How  were  you 
chosen  pastor  ? 

Axt.  By  the  free  election  of  the  people  and  leave 
of  the  patron  :  after  I  had  preached  about  six  weeks 
by  way  of  probation,  I  was  chosen  by  one  consent  of 
them  all,  a  sermon  being  preached  by  one  of  my 
brethren,  setting  forth  the  mutual  duties  of  pastor 
and  people. 

Bish.  May  the  bishops  of  England  ordain  minis- 
ters ? 

Axt.  You  ought  not  to  do  it  in  the  matter  ye  do ; 
that  is,  without  the  consent  of  the  eldership,  without 
sufficient  proof  of  their  qualifications,  and  without 
ordaining  them  to  a  particular  congregation. 

Bish.  Well,  Mr.  Axton,  you  must  yield  somewhat 
to  me,  and  I  will  yield  somewhat  to  you  ;  I  will  not 
trouble  you  for  the  cross  in  baptism  ;  and  if  you  will 
wear  the  surplice  but  sometimes,  it  shall  suffice. 

Axt.  1  can't  consent  to  wear  the  surplice :  it  is 
against  my  conscience ;  I  trust,  by  the  help  of  God,  I 
shall  never  put  on  that  sleeve,  which  is  a  mark  of  the 
beast. 

Bish.  Will  you  leave  your  flock  for  the  surplice  ? 

Axt.  Nay,  will  you  persecute  me  from  my  flock 
for  a  surplice  '!  I  love  my  flock  in  Jesus  Christ,  and 
had  rather  have  my  right  arm  cut  off"  than  be  remo- 
ved from  them. 

Bish.  Well,  1  will  not  deprive  you  this  time. 

Axt.  I  beseech  you  consider  what  you  do  in  re- 
moving me  from  my  flock,  seeing  I  am  not  come  in 
at  the  window,  or  by  simony,  but  according  to  the 
institution  of  Jesus  Christ. 

On  the  22d  of  November  following  Mr.  Axton  ap- 
peared again,  and  was  examined  touching  organs, 
music  in  churches,  and  obedience  to  the  queen's 
laws,  &c. 

Bish.  You,  in  refusing  the  surplice,  are  disloyal  to 
the  queen,  and  show  a  contempt,  of  her  laws. 

Axt.  You  do  me  great  injury  in  charging  me  with 
disloyalty ;  and  especially  when  you  call  me  and  my 
brethren  traitors,  and  say  that  we  are  more  trouble- 
some subjects  than  the  papists. 

Bish.  1  say  still  the  papists  are  afraid  to  stir,  but 
you  are  presumptuous,  and  disquiet  the  state  more 
than  they. 

Axt.  If  I,  or  any  that  fear  God,  speak  the  truth, 
doth  this  disquiet  the  state  ?  The  papists  have  for 
twelve  years  been  plotting  treason  against  the  queen 
and  the  Gospel,  and  yet  this  doth  not  grieve  you. 
But  I  protest  in  the  presence  of  God,  and  of  you  all, 
that  1  am  a  true  and  faithful  subject  to  her  majesty; 
also  I  do  pray  daily  both  publicly  and  privately  for 
her  majesty's  safety,  and  for  her  long  and  prosperous 
reign,  and  for  the  overthrow  of  all  her  enemies,  and 
especially  the  papists.  1  do  profess  myself  an  enemy 
to  her  enemies,  and  a  friend  to  her  friends ;  therefore, 
if  you  have  any  conscience,  cease  to  charge  me  with 
disloyalty  to  my  prince. 

Bish.  Inasmuch  as  you  refuse  to  wear  the  sur- 
phce,  which  she  has  commanded,  you  do,  in  effect, 
deny  her  to  be  supreme  governess  in  all  causes,  ec- 
clesiastical and  temporal. 

Axt.  I  admit  her  majesty's  supremacy  so  far  as,  if 
there  be  any  error  m  the  governors  of  the  Church, 
she  has  power  to  reform  it ;  but  I  do  not  admit  her 
to  be  an  ecclesiastical  elder,  or  church  governor. 

Bish.  Yes  ;  but  she  is,  and  hath  lull  power  and  au- 
thority all  manner  of  ways ;  indeed,  she  doth  not  ad- 
minister the  sacraments  and  preach,  but  leaveth 
those  things  to  us.  But  if  she  were  a  man,  as  she  is 
a  woman,  why  might  she  not  preach  the  Word  of  God 
as  well  as  we  ? 

Axt.  May  she,  if  she  were  a  man,  preach  the  Word 
of  God  ?  Then  she  may  also  administ*  the  sacra- 
ments. 

Bish.  This  does  not  follow,  for  you  know  Paul 
preached,  and  yet  did  not  baptize. 

Axt.  Paul  confesses  that  he  did  baptize,  though  he 
was  sent  especially  to  preach. 


114 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


considerable  branches,  by  the  lectures  of  the 
Reverend  Mr.  Thomas  Cartwright,  B.D.,  fellow 
of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  and  Lady  Mar- 
garet's professor,  a  courageous  man,  a  popular 
preacher,  a  profound  scholar,  and  master  of  an 
elegant  Latin  style  ;  he  was  in  high  esteem  in 
the  university,  his  lectures  being  frequented  by 
A'ast  crowds  of  scholars  ;  and  when  he  preach- 
ed at  St.  Mary's,  they  were  forced  to  take  down 
the  windows.  Beza  says  of  him,  that  he  thought 
there  was  not  a  more  learned  man  under  the 
sun.  This  divine,  in  his  lectures,  disputed 
against  certain  blemishes  of  the  English  hierar- 
chy, and  particularly  against  these  six,  which 
he  subscribed  with  his  own  hand.* 

"  The  names  and  functions  of  archbishops  and 
archdeacons  ought  to  be  abolished,  as  having  no 
foundation  in  Scripture.  The  offices  of  the  law- 
ful ministers  of  the  Church,  viz.,  bishops  and 
deacons,  ought  to  be  reduced  to  the  apostolical 
institution  ;  the  bishops  to  preach  the  Word  of 
God  and  pray,  and  deacons  to  take  care  of  the 
poor.  The  government  of  the  Church  ought 
not  to  be  intrusted  with  bishops'  chancellors,  or 
the  officials  of  archdeacons ;  but  every  church 
should  be  governed  by  its  own  minister  and 
presbyters.  Ministers  ought  not  to  be  at  large, 
but  every  one  should  have  the  charge  of  a  cer- 
tain flock.  Nobody  should  ask,  or  stand  as  a 
candidate,  for  the  ministry.  Bishops  should  not 
be  created  by  civil  authority,  but  ought  to  be 
fairly  chosen  by  the  Church." 

These  propositions  are  said  to  be  untrue,  dan- 
gerous, and  tending  to  the  ruin  of  learning  and 
religion  ;  they  were,  therefore,  sent  to  Secreta- 
ry Cecil,  chancellor  of  the  university,  who  ad- 
vised the  vice-chancellor  to  silence  the  author, 
or  oblige  him  to  recant.  Cartwright  challenged 
Dr.  Whitgift,  who  preached  against  him,  to  a 
public  disputation,  which  he  refused  unless  he 
had  the  queen's  license  ;  and  Whitgift  offered  a 

Bish.  Did  not  Moses  teach  the  people  1  and  yet  he 
was  their  civil  governor. 

Axt.  Moses's  calling  was  extraordinary.  Remem- 
ber the  King  of  Judah,  how  he  would  have  sacrificed 
in  the  temple  of  God.  Take  heed  how  you  confound 
those  offices  which  God  has  distinguished. 

Bish.  You  see  how  he  runneth. 

Bickley.  You  speak  very  confidently  and  rashly. 

Bish.  This  is  his  arrogant  spirit.— MS.,  p.  55,  56. 

Thus  the  dispute  broke  off,  and  the  good  man,  not- 
withstanding all  his  supplications,  was  deprived  of 
his  living,  and  driven  to  seek  his  bread  in  another 
country,  though  the  bishop  owned  he  was  a  divine 
cf  good  learning,  a  ready  memory,  and  well  qualified 
for  the  pulpit. 

One  sees  here  the  difficulties  the  Puritans  labour- 
ed under  in  their  ordinations  ;  they  apprehended  the 
election  of  the  people,  and  the  examination  of  presby- 
ters, with  the  imposition  of  their  hands,  necessary  to 
the  call  of  a  minister ;  but  this,  if  it  were  done  in  Eng- 
land without  a  bishop,  would  hardly  entitle  them  to 
preach  in  the  Church,  or  give  them  a  legal  title  to 
the  profits  of  their  livings ;  therefore,  after  they  had 
passed  the  former  trials,  they  applied  to  the  bishop 
for  the  imposition  of  his  hands  ;  but  others,  being  dis- 
satisfied with  the  ordination  of  a  single  person  not 
lightly  called,  as  they  thought,  to  the  office  of  a  bish- 
op, went  beyond  sea,  and  were  ordained  by  the  pres- 
byteries of  foreign  churches  ;  for  though  the  English 
Puritans  had  their  synods  and  presbyteries,  yet  it  is 
remarkable  that  they  never  ordained  a  single  person 
to  the  ministry. 

*  Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  i.,  p.  628,  629.  Life  of  Par- 
ker, p.  312. 


private  debate  by  writing,  which  the  other  de 
clined,  as  answering  no  valuable  purpose. 

Other  dangerous  and  seditious  propositions, 
as  they  were  called,  were  collected  out  of  Cart- 
wright's  lectures,  and  sent  to  court  by  Dr.  Whit- 
gift, to  incense  the  queen  and  chancellor  against 
him ;  as, 

1.  "In  reforming  the  Church,  it  is  necessary 
to  reduce  all  things  to  the  apostolical  institution. 

2.  "  No  man  ought  to  be  admitted  into  tha 
ministry  but  who  is  capable  of  preaching. 

3.  "  None  but  such  a  minister  of  the  Word 
ought  to  pray  publicly  in  the  Church,  or  admin- 
ister the  sacraments. 

4.  "  Popish  ordinations  are  not  valid. 

5.  "  Only  canonical  Scripture  ought  to  be 
read  publicly  in  the  Church. 

6.  "  The  public  liturgy  should  be  so  framed 
that  there  be  no  private  praying  or  reading  ia 
the  Church,  but  that  all  the  people  attend  to  tho 
prayers  of  the  minister. 

7.  "  The  care  of  burying  the  dead  does  not 
belong  more  to  the  ministerial  office  than  to  tho 
rest  of  the  Church. 

8.  "  Equal  reverence  is  due  to  all  canonical 
Scripture,  and  to  all  the  names  of  God  ;  there 
is,  therefore,  no  reason  why  the  people  should 
stand  at  the  reading  of  the  Gospel,  or  bow  at 
the  name  of  Jesus. 

9.  "  It  is  as  lawful  to  sit  at  the  Lord's  table 
as  to  kneel  or  stand. 

10.  "  The  Lord's  Supper  ought  not  to  be  ad- 
ministered in  private  ;  nor  should  baptism  be 
administered  by  women  or  lay-persons. 

11.  "  The  sign  of  the  cross  in  baptism  is  su- 
perstitious. 

12.  "  It  is  reasonable  and  proper  that  the  pa- 
rent should  offer  his  own  child  to  baptism,  ma- 
king a  confession  of  that  faith  he  intends  to  ed- 
ucate it  in,  without  being  obliged  to  answer  ia 
the  child's  name,  I  will,  I  will  not,  I  believe, 
&c. ;  nor  ought  it  to  be  allowed  that  women,  or 
persons  under  age,  should  be  sponsors. 

13.  "In  giving  names  to  children,  it  is  conve- 
nient to  avoid  paganism,  as  well  as  the  names 
and  offices  of  Christ,  angels,  &c. 

14.  "  It  is  papistical  to  forbid  marriages  at 
certain  times  of  the  year  ;  and  to  give  licenses 
in  those  times  is  intolerable. 

15.  "  Private  marriages,  that  is,  such  as  are^ 
not  published  before  the  congregation,  are  high- 
ly inconvenient. 

16.  "  The  observation  of  Lent,  and  fasting  on. 
Fridays  and  Saturdays,  is  superstitious. 

1 7.  "  The  observation  of  festivals  is  unlawful. 

18.  "  Trading,  or  keeping  markets  on  the 
Lord's  Day,  is  unlawful. 

19.  "In  ordaining  of  the  ministers,  the  pro- 
nouncing those  words,  '  Receive  thou  the  Holy 
Ghost,'  is  both  ridiculous  and  wicked. 

20.  "  Kings  and  bishops  should  not  be  anoint- 
ed." 

These  were  Cartwright's  dangerous  doctrines, 
•which  he  touched  occasionally  in  his  lectures, 
but  with  no  design  to  create  discord,  as  appears 
by  a  testimonial  sent  to  the  secretary  cf  state 
in  his  favour,  signed  by  fifteen  cons  .iderable 
names  in  the  university,  in  which  they  declare 
that  they  had  heard  his  lectures,  and  that  "  he 
never  touched  upon  the  controversy  of  the  hab- 
its ;  and,  though  he  had  advanced  some  propo- 
sitions with  regard  to  the  ministry,  according 


HISTORY    OF  THE   PURITANS. 


110 


to  which  he  wished  things  might  be  regulated, 
he  did  it  with  all  imaginable  caution  and  mod- 
esty."* Other  letters  were  written  in  his  fa- 
vour, signed  by  twenty  names  or  upward,  of 
whom  some  were  afterward  bishops,  but  it  was 
resolved  to  make  him  an  example.  Cartwright 
himself  sent  an  elegant  Latin  letter  to  the  sec- 
retary, in  which  he  declares  that  he  wais'ed  all 
occasions  of  speaking  concerning  the  habits,  but 
owns  he  had  taught  that  our  ministry  declined 
from  the  ministry  of  the  apostolical  Church  in 
some  points,  according  to  which  he  wished  it 
might  be  modelled ;  however,  that  he  did  this 
withall  imaginable  caution,  as  ahnost  the  whole 
university  would  witness,  ifthey  might  be  allow- 
ed. He  prayed  the  secretary  to  hear  and  judge 
the  cause  himself,  which  was  so  far  from  novelty, 
that  it  was  as  venerable  for  its  antiquity  as  the 
apostolic  age  ;  but,  though  the  secretary  was 
convinced!  that  his  behaviour  was  free  from  ar- 
rogancy,  or  an  intention  to  cause  trouble,  and 
that  only  as  a  public  reader  in  the  university  he 
had  given  notes  of  the  difference  between  the 
ministry  in  the  times  of  the  apostles  and  the 
present  ministry  of  the  Church  of  England,  yet 
he  left  him  to  the  mercy  of  his  enemies,  who 
poured  upon  him  all  the  infamy  and  disgrace 
their  power  would  admit.  They  first  denied 
him  his  degree  of  doctor  in  divinity,  then  forbade 
his  reading  public  lectures,  and  at  last  deprived 
him  of  his  fellowship,  and  expelled  him  the  uni- 
versity. A  short  and  compendious  way  of  con- 
futing an  adversary ! 

Mr.  Cartwright  being  now  out  of  all  employ- 
ment, travelled  beyond  sea,  and  settled  a  corre- 
spondence with  the  most  celebrated  divines  in 
the  Protestant  universities  of  Europe.  While 
he  was  abroad  he  was  chosen  minister  to  the 
English  merchants  at  Antwerp,  and  afterward 
at  Middleburgh,  where  he  continued  two  years 
with  little  or  no  profit  to  himself;  and  then  re- 
turning to  England,  being  earnestly  solicited 
thereunto  by  letters  from  Mr.  Deering,  Fulk, 
Wiburne,  Pox,  and  Lever,  we  shall  hear  more 
of  the  sufferings  of  this  eminent  divine  for  his 
nonconformity.? 

This  year  [1570]  Grind al,  bishop  of  London, 
being  translated  to  York,  Sandys,  bishop  of 
Worcester,  was  removed  to  London ;  in  his  pri- 
mary visitation,  January  10,  he  charged  his  cler- 
gy, I.  To  keep  strictly  to  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer.  2.  Not  to  preach  without  a  license. 
3.  To  wear  the  apparel,  that  is,  the  square  cap 
and  scholar's  gown,  and  in  Divine  service,  the 
surplice.  4.  Not  to  admit  any  of  other  parishes 
to  their  communion.  He  also  ordered  all  clerks" 
tolerations  to  be  called  in ;  by  which  it  appears 
that  some  few  of  the  Nonconformists  had  been 
tolerated,  or  dispensed  with  hitherto,  but  now 
this  was  at  an  end.^  However,  the  Puritans 
encouraged  one  another,  by  conversation  and  let- 
ters, to  steadfastness  in  opposition  to  the  cor- 
ruptions of  the  Church,  and  not  to  fear  the  re- 
sentments of  their  adversaries. 

There  was  a  spirit  in  the  Parliament,  which 
was  convened  Aprd  2,  1571,  to  attempt  some- 
thing in  favour  of  the  Puritans,  upon  whom  the 
bishops  bore  harder  every  day  than  other.     Mr. 

*  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  u.,  p.  2. 
i  Pierce's  Vindication,  p.  77. 
i  Clarke's  Life  of  Cartwright,  p.  18. 
^  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  ii.,  p.  29. 


Strickland,  an  ancient  gentleman,  offered  a  bill 
for  a  farther  reformation  in  the  Church,  April  6, 
and  introduced  it  with  a  speech,  proving  that 
the  Common  Prayer  Book,  with  some  supersti- 
tious remains  of  popery  in  the  Church,  might 
easily  be  altered  without  any  danger  to  religion. 
He  enforced  it  with  a  second  speech,  April  13, 
upon  which  the  treasurer  of  the  queen's  house- 
hold stood  up,  and  said,  "  All  matters  of  cere- 
monies were  to  be  referred  to  the  queen,  and  for 
them  to  meddle  with  the  royal  prerogative  was 
not  convenient."  Her  majesty  was  so  displeas- 
ed with  Mr.  Strickland's  motion,  that  she  sent 
for  him  before  the  council,  and  forbade  him  the 
Parliament  House,  which  alarmed  the  members, 
and  occasioned  so  many  warm  speeches,  that 
she  thought  fit  to  restore  him  on  the  20th  of 
April.  This  was  a  bold  stroke  at  the  freedom 
of  parliaments,  and  carrying  the  prerogative  to 
its  utmost  length.  But  Mr.  Strickland  moved, 
farther,  that  a  confession  of  faith  should  be  pub- 
lished and  confirmed  by  Parhament,  as  it  was  in 
other  Protestant  countries  ;  and  that  a  commit- 
tee might  be  appointed  to  confer  with  the  bish- 
ops on  his  head.  The  committee  drew  up  cer- 
tain articles,  according  to  those  whicn  passed 
the  convocation  of  1562,  but  left  out  others. 
The  archbishop  asked  them  why  they  left  out 
the  article  for  homilies,  and  for  the  consecrating 
of  bishops,  and  some  others  relating  to  the  hie- 
rarchy. Mr.  Peter  Wentworth  replied,  because 
they  had  not  yet  examined  how  far  they  were 
agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God,  having  confined , 
themselves  chiefly  to  doctrines.  The  archbish- 
op replied.  Surely  you  will  refer  yourselves  whol- 
ly to  us  the  bishops  in  these  things  !  To  which 
Mr.  Wentworth  replied,  warmly,  "No,  by  the 
faith  I  bear  to  God,  we  will  pass  nothing  before 
we  understand  what  it  is,  for  that  were  but  to 
make  you  popes.  Make  you  popes  who  list,  for 
we  wdl  make  you  none."  So  the  articles  rela- 
ting to  discipline  were  waived,  and  an  act  was 
passed  confirming  all  the  doctrinal  articles 
agreed  upon  in  the  synod  of  1562. 

The  act  is  entitled,  "  For  reformation  of  dis- 
orders in  the  ministers  of  the  Church,"*  "  and 
enjoins  all  that  have  any  ecclesiastical  livings  to 
declare  their  assent  before  the  bishop  of  the  dio- 
cess  to  all  the  articles  of  religion,  which  only 
concern  the  confession  of  the  true  faith,  and  the 
doctrine  of  the  sacraments,  comprised  in  the 
book  imprinted  and  entitled  'Articles,  where- 
upon it  was  agreed  by  the  archbishops  and  bish- 
ops, &c.,  and  the  whole  clergy,  in  the  convoca- 
tion of  1562,  for  avoiding  diversity  of  opinions, 
and  for  the  estabhshing  of  consent  touching  true 
religion,'  and  to  subscribe  them  ;  which  was  to 
be  testified  by  the  bishop  of  the  diocess,  under 
his  seal ;  which  testimonial  he  was  to  read  pub- 
licly with  the  said  articles,  as  the  confession  of 
his  faith,  in  his  church  on  Sunday,  in  the  time 
of  Divine  service,  or  else  to  be  deprived.  If  any 
clergyman  maintained  any  doctrine  repugnant 
to  the  said  articles,  the  bishop  might  deprive 
him.  None  were  to  be  admitted  to  any  benefice 
with  cure  except  he  was  a  deacon  of  the  age 
of  twenty-three  years,  and  would  subscribe  and 
declare  his  unfeigned  assent  to  the  articles  above 
mentioned.  Nor  might  any  administer  the  sac- 
raments under  twenty-four  years  of  age." 

It  appears  from  the  words  of  this  statute,  that 

, — — . — — — -. , , 

*  13  Eliz.,  cap.  xii. 


116 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


those  articles  of  the  Church  which  relate  to  its 
discipline  were  not  designed  to  be  the  terms  of 
ministerial  conformity ;  and  if  the  queen  and 
the  bishops  had  governed  themselves  according- 
ly, the  separation  had  been  stifled  in  its  infancy, 
for  there  was  hardly  a  Puritan  in  England  that 
refused  subscription  to  the  doctrinal  articles  ;  if 
all  the  thirty-nine  articles  had  been  established, 
there  had  been  no  need  of  the  following  clause, 
"  Which  only  concern  the  confession  of  the  true 
Christian  faith,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  saora- 
menis."  And  yet,  notwithstanding  this  act, 
many  that  held  benefices  and  ecclesiastical  pre- 
ferments, and  that  offered  to  conform  to  the 
statute,  were  deprived  in  the  following  part  of 
this  reign  ;  wluch  was  owing  to  the  bishops'  ser- 
vile compliance  with  the  prerogative,  and  press- 
ing subscription  to  more  than  the  law  required.* 

It  deserves  farther  to  be  taken  notice  of,  that 
by  a  clause  in  this  act,  the  Parliament  admits 
of  ordination  by  presbyters  without  a  bishop  ; 
which  was  afterward  disallowed  by  the  bishops 
in  this  reign,  as  well  as  at  the  restoration  of 
King  Charles  II.,  when  the  Church  was  depri- 
ved of  great  numbers  of  learned  and  useful 
preachers,  who  scrupled  the  matter  of  reordina- 
tion,  as  they  would  at  this  time,  if  it  had  been 
insisted  on.  Many  of  the  present  clergy  had 
been  exiles  for  religion,  and  had  been  ordained 
abroad,  according  to  the  custom  of  foreign 
churches,  but  would  not  be  ordained,  any  more 
than  those  of  the  popish  communion ;  therefore, 
to  put  an  end  to  all  disputes,  the  statute  in- 
cludes both ;  the  words  are  these :  "  That  every 
person  under  the  degree  of  a  bishop  that  doth 
or  shall  pretend  to  be  a  priest  or  minister  of 
God's  Word  and  sacraments,  by  reason  of  any 
form  of  institution,  consecration,  or  ordering, 
than  the  form  set  forth  in  Parliament  in  the 
time  of  the  late  King  Edward  VI.,  or  now  used 
in  the  reign  of  our  most  sovereign  lady  Queen 
Elizabeth,  shall,  before  Christmas  next,  declare 
his  assent,  and  subscribe  the  articles  aforesaid." 
The  meaning  of  which  clause,  says  Mr.  Strype, 
is  undoubtedly  to  comprehend  papists,  and  like- 
wise such  as  received  their  orders  in  some  of 
the  foreign  Reformed  Churches,  when  they  were 
in  exile  under  Queen  Mary.f 

It  is  probable  that  the  controverted  clause  of 
the  twentieth  article,  "  The  Church  has  power 
to  decree  rites  and  ceremonies,  and  authority 
in  controversies  of  faith,"  was  not  among  the 
articles  of  1562,  as  has  been  shown  under  that 
year ;  though  it  might  be  (according  to  Laud 
and  Heylin)  inserted  in  the  convocation-book 
of  1571  ;  but  what  has  this  to  do  with  the  act  of 
Parliament,  which  refers  to  a  book  printed  nine 
years  before  1  Besides,  it  is  absurd  to  charge 
the  Puritans  with  striking  out  the  clause  as 
Archbishop  Laud  has  done,  they  having  no 
share  in  the  government  of  the  Church  at  this 
time,  nor  interest  to  obtain  the  least  abatement 
m  their  favour  ;  nor  does  it  appear  that  they 
disapproved  the  clause  under  proper  regulations  : 
one  might  rather  suppose  that  the  queen  should 
take  umbrage  at  it  as  an  invasion  of  her  prerog- 
ative, and  that,  therefore,  some  zealous  church- 
man, finding  the  articles  defective  upon  the  head 
of  the  Church's  authority,  might  insert  it  pri- 
vately, to  avoid  the  danger  of  a  praemunire. 

But,  after  all,  subscription  to  the  doctrinal 


*  Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  72.        t  Ibid.,  p.  71. 


articles  of  the  Church  only  has  been  reckoned 
a  very  great  grievance  by  many  pious  and  learn- 
ed divines,  both  in  Church  and  out  of  it ;  for  it 
is  next  to  impossible  to  frame  thirty-six  propo- 
sitions in  any  human  words,  to  which  ten  thou- 
sand clergymen  can  give  their  hearty  assent  and 
consent.  Some  that  agree  to  the  doctrine  itself 
may  dissent  from  the  words  and  phrases  by 
which  it  is  expressed  ;  and  others  that  agree  to 
the  capital  doctrines  of  Christianity,  may  have 
some  doubts  about  the  deeper  and  more  abstruse 
points  of  speculation.  It  would  be  hard  to  de- 
prive a  man  of  his  living,  and  shut  him  out  from 
all  usefulness  in  the  Church,  because  he  doubts 
of  the  local  descent  of  Christ  into  hell ;  or  wheth- 
er the  best  actions  of  men  before  their  con- 
version have  the  nature  of  sins  ;*  or  that  every- 
thing in  the  three  creeds,  comtnonly  called  the. 
Apostles',  the  Nicene,  and  the  Athanasian,  may 
be  proved  by  most  certain  warrants  of  Holy 
Scripture,  and  are  therefore  to  be  believed  and 
received. t  Wise  and  good  men  may  have  dif- 
ferent sentiments  upon  the  doctrine  of  the  de- 
crees, which  are  a  depth  which  no  man  can 
fathom.  These,  and  some  other  things,  have 
galled  the  consciences  of  the  clergy,  and  driven 
them  to  evasions  destructive  to  morality  and 
the  peace  of  their  own  minds.  Some  have  sub- 
scribed them  as  articles  of  peace,  contrary  to 
the  very  title,  which  says  they  "  are  for  avoid- 
ing the  diversity  of  opinions."  Others  have 
tortured  the  words  to  a  meaning  contrary  to 
the  known  sense  of  the  compilers.  Some  sub- 
scribe them  with  a  secret  reserve,  as  far  as  they 
are  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God  ;  and  so  they 
may  subscribe  the  Council  of  Trent,  or  even 
Mohammed's  Alcoran.  Others  subscribe  them, 
not  as  doctrines  which  they  believe,  but  as  doc- 
trines that  they  will  not  openly  contradict  and 
oppose  ;  and  others,  I  am  informed,  put  no  sense 
upon  the  articles  at  all,  but  only  subscribed 
them  as  a  test  of  their  obedience  to  their  supe- 
riors, who  require  this  of  them  as  the  legal  way 
to  preferment  in  the  Church.  How  hard  must 
it  be  for  men  of  learning  and  probity  to  submit 
to  these  shifts  !  when  no  kinds  of  subscriptions 
can  be  a  barrier  against  ignorant  or  dishonest 
minds.  Of  what  advantage  is  uniformity  of 
profession  without  an  agreement  in  principles  1 
If  the  fundamental  articles  of  our  faith  were 
drawn  up  in  the  language  of  Holy  Scripture  ;  or 
if  those  who  were  appointed  to  examine  into  the 
learning  and  other  qualifications  of  ministers 
were  to  be  judges  of  their  orthodox  confessions 
of  faith,  it  would  answer  a  better  purpose  than 
subscription  to  human  creeds  and  articles. 
Though  the  Commons  were  forbid  to  concern 
themselves  with  the  discipline  of  the  Church, 
they  ventured  to  present  an  address  to  the 
queen,t  complaining  "  that,  for  lack  of  true  dis- 
cipline in  the  Church,  great  numbers  are  ad- 
mitted ministers  that  are  infamous  in  their  lives 
and  conversations  ;  and  among  those  that  are 
of  ability,  their  gifts  in  many  places  are  use 
less,  by  reason  of  pluralities  and  non-residency, 
whereby  infinite  numbers  of  your  majesty's  sub- 
jects are  like  to  perish  foK-lack  of  knowledge. 
By  means  of  this,  together  with  the  common 
blaspheming  of  the  Lord's  name,  the  most  wick- 
ed licentiousness  of  life,  the  abuse  of  excommu- 
nication, the  commutation  of  penance,  the  great 


*  Art.  13. 


t  Art.  8. 


%  MS.,  p.  92. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


117 


numbers  of  atheists,  schismatics  daily  springing 
up,  and  the  increase  of  papists,  the  Protestant 
religion  is  in  imminent  danger  ;  wherefore,  in 
regard  first  and  principally  to  the  glory  of  God, 
and  next  in  discharge  of  our  bounden  duty  to 
your  majesty,  besides  being  moved  with  pity 
towards  so  many  thousands  of  your  majesty's 
subjects,  daily  in  danger  of  being  lost  for  want 
of  the  food  of  the  Word,  and  true  discipline, 
we,  the  commons  in  this  present  Parliament 
assembled,  are  humbly  bold  to  open  the  griefs, 
and  to  seek  the  salving  of  the  sores  of  our  coun- 
try, and  to  beseech  your  majesty,  seeing  the 
same  is  of  so  great  importance,  if  the  Parlia- 
ment at  this  time  may  not  be  so  long  continued 
as  that,  by  good  and  godly  laws,  provision  may 
be  made  for  supply  and  reformation  of  these 
great  and  grievous  wants  and  abuses,  that  yet,  by 
such  other  means  as  to  your  majesty's  wisdom 
shall  seem  meet,  a  perfect  redress  of  the  same 
may  be  had ;  by  which  the  number  of  your 
majesty's  faithful  subjects  will  be  increased, 
popery  will  be  destroyed,  the  glory  of  God  will 
be  promoted,  and  your  majesty's  renown  will 
be  recommended  to  all  posterity."  But  the 
queen  broke  up  the  Parliament  without  taking 
any  notice  of  the  supplication. 

The  convocation  which  sat  with  this  Parlia- 
ment assembled  April  3d,  1571,  when  the  Rev- 
erend Mr.  Gilbert  Alcock  presented  a  supplica- 
tion to  them  in  behalf  of  the  deprived  ministers, 
praying  their  interest  with  the  queen  for  a  re- 
dress of  their  grievances  :*  "  If  a  godly  minis- 
ter," says  he,  "  omit  but  the  least  ceremony  for 
conscience'  sake,  he  is  immediately  indicted, 
deprived,  cast  into  prison,  and  his  goods  wasted 
and  destroyed  ;  he  is  kept  from  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren, and  at  last  excommunicated.  We  there- 
fore beseech  your  fatherhoods  to  pity  our  case, 
and  take  from  us  these  stumbling-blocks."  But 
the  convocation  were  of  another  spirit,  and,  in- 
stead of  removing  their  burdens,  increased  them 
by  framing  certain  new  canons  of  discipline 
against  the  Puritans ;  as,  that  the  bishops 
should  call  in  all  their  licenses  for  preaching, 
and  give  out  new  ones  to  those  who  were  best 
qualified  ;t  and  among  the  qualifications,  they 
insist,  not  only  upon  subscription  to  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Church  enjoined  by  Parliament, 
but  upon  subscription  to  the  Common  Prayer 
Book  and  ordinal  for  the  consecration  of  arch- 
bishops, bishops,  priests,  and  deacons,  as  con- 
taining nothing  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God. 
And  they  declare  that  all  such  preachers  as  do 
not  subscribe,  or  that  disturb  people's  minds 
with  contrary  doctrine,  shall  be  excommuni- 
cated. But  as  these  canons  never  had  the 
sanction  of  the  broad  seal,  surely  the  enforcing 
them  upon  the  Puritans  was  a  stretch  of  power 
hardly  to  be  justified.  Bishop  Grindal  confess- 
ed they  had  not  the  force  of  a  law,  and  might 
possibly  involve  them  in  a  praemunire  ;  and  yet 
the  bishops  urged  them  upon  the  clergy  of  their 
several  diocesses.  They  cancelled  all  the  licen- 
ses of  preachers,  and  insisted  peremptorily  on 
the  subscription  above  mentioned. 

The  complaints  of  the  ministers,  under  these 
hardships,  reached  the  ears  of  the  Elector  Pal- 
atine of  the  Rhine,  who  was  pleased  to  order 
the  learned  Zanchy,  professor  of  divinity  in  the 
University  of  Heidelberg,  to  write  to  the  Queen 


MS.,  p.  92. 


t  Sparrow,  p.  223. 


of  England  in  their  behalf,  beseeching  her  maj- 
esty not  to  insist  upon  subscriptions,  or  upon 
wearing  the  habits,  which  gave  such  offence  to 
great  numbers  of  the  clergy,  and  was  like  to 
make  a  schism  in  the  Church.*  The  letter  was 
enclosed  to  Bishop  Grindal,  who,  when  he  had 
read  it,  would  not  so  much  as  deliver  it  to  the 
queen,  for  fear  of  disobliging  her  majesty,  whose 
resolution  was  to  put  an  end  to  all  distinctions 
in  the  Church,  by  pressing  the  Act  of  Uniform- 
ity. Instead,  therefore,  of  relaxing  to  the  Puri- 
tans, orders  were  sent  to  all  church-wardens 
"not  to  suffer  any  to  read,  pray,  preach,  or 
minister  the  sacraments,  in  any  churches,  chap- 
els, or  private  places,  without  a  new  license 
from  the  queen,  or  the  archbishop,  or  bishop  of 
the  diocess,  to  be  dated  since  May,  1571."  The 
more  resolved  Puritans  were  therefore  reduced 
to  the  necessity  of  assembling  in  private,  or  of 
laying  down  their  ministry. 

Though  all  the  bishops  were  obliged  to  go 
into  these  measures  of  the  court,  yet  some 
were  so  sensible  of  the  want  of  discipline  and 
of  preaching  the  Word,  that  they  permitted 
their  clergy  to  enter  into  associations  for  the 
promoting  of  both.  The  ministers  of  the  town 
of  Northampton,  with  the  consent  and  approba- 
tion of  Dr.  Scambler,  their  bishop,  the  mayor  of 
the  town,  and  the  justices  of  the  county, 
agreed  upon  the  following  regulations  for  wor- 
ship and  discipline  :t 

"  That  singing  and  playing  of  organs  in  the 
choir  shall  be  put  down,  and  common  prayer 
read  in  the  body  of  the  church,  with  a  psalm 
before  and  after  sermon.      That  every  Tues- 
day and  Thursday  there  shall  be  a  lecture  from 
nine  to  ten  in  the  morning,  in  the  chief  church 
of  the  town,  beginning  with  the  confession  in 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  ending  with 
prayer  and  a  confession  of  faith.    Every  Sunday 
and  holyday  shall  be  a  sermon  after  morning 
prayer,  with  a  psalm  before  and  after.     Service 
shall  be  ended  in  every  parish  church  by  nine 
in  the  morning  every  Sunday  and  holydays,  to 
the  end  that  people  may  resort  to  the  sermon 
in  the  chief  church,  except  they  have  a  sermon 
in  their  own.     None  shall  walk  abroad,  or  sit 
idly  in  the  streets,  in  time  of  Divine  service. 
The  youth  shall  every  Sunday  evening  be  ex- 
amined  in   a  portion   of  Calvin's  Catechism, 
which  the  reader  shall  expound  for  an  hour. 
There  shall  be  a  general   communion  once  a 
quarter  in  every  parish,  with  a  sermon.    A  fort- 
night before  each  communion,  the  minister,  with 
the   church-wardens,  shall  go  from  house  to 
house,  to  take  the  names  of  the  communicants 
and  examine  into  their  lives  ;    and  the  party 
that  is  not  in  charity  with  his  neighbour  shall 
be  put  from  the  communion.     After  the  com- 
munion, the  minister  shall  visit  every  house,  to 
understand  who  have  not  received  the  commu- 
nion, and  why.     Every  communion-day  each 
parish  shall  have  two  communions,  one  begin- 
ning at  five  in  the  morning,  with  a  sermon  of  an 
hour,  and  ending  at  eight,  for  servants ;  the 
other,  from  nine  to  twelve,  for  masters   and 
dames.     The  manner  of  the  communion  shall 
be  according  to  the  order  of  the  queen's  book, 
saving  that  the  people,  being  in  their  confes- 
sion upon  their  knees,  shall  rise  up  from  their 
pews,   and  so   pass   to   the   communion-table, 

*  Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  97.  t  Ibid. 


118 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


where  they  shall  receive  the  sacrament  in  com- 
panies, and  then  return  to  their  pews,  the  min- 
ister reading  in  the  pulpit.  The  communion- 
table shall  stand  in  the  body  of  the  church,  ac- 
cording to  the  book,  at  the  upper  end  of  the 
middle  aisle,  having  three  ministers,  one  in  the 
middle  to  deliver  the  bread,  the  other  two  at 
each  end  for  the  cup,  the  ministers  often  calling 
upon  the  people  to  remember  the  poor.  The 
communion  to  end  with  a  psalm.  Excessive 
ringing  of  bells  on  the  Lord's  Day  is  prohibited  ; 
and  carrying  of  the  hell  before  corpses  in  the 
streets,  and  bidding  prayers  for  the  dead,  which 
was  used  till  within  these  two  years,  is  re- 
strained." 

Here  was  a  sort  of  association,  or  voluntary 
discipline,  introduced,  independent  of  the  queen's 
injunctions  or  canons  of  the  Church  ;  this  was 
what  the  Puritans  were  contending  for,  and 
would  gladly  have  acquiesced  in,  if  it  might 
have  been  established  by  a  law. 

Besides  these  attempts  for  discipline,  the  cler- 
gy, with  leave  of  their  bishop,  encouraged  reli- 
gious exercises  among  themselves,  for  the  in- 
terpretation of  some  texts  of  Scripture,  one 
speaking  to  it  orderly  after  another ;  these  were 
called  prophesyings  from  the  apostolical  direc- 
tion, 1  Cor.,  xiv.,  31,  "  Ye  may  all  prophesy  one 
by  one,  that  all  may  learn,  and  all  be  comfort- 
ed." They  also  conferred  among  themselves 
touching  sound  doctrine  and  good  life  and  man- 
ners. 

The  regulations  or  orders  for  these  exercises 
in  Northampton  were  these  : 

"  That  every  minister,  at  his  first  allowance 
to  be  of  this  exercise,  shall  by  subscription  de- 
clare his  consent  in  Christ's  true  religion  with 
his  brethren,  and  submit  to  the  discipline  and 
order  of  the  same.  The  names  of  all  the  mem- 
bers shall  be  written  in  a  table,  three  of  whom 
shall  be  concerned  at  each  exercise  :  the  first, 
beginning  and  ending  with  prayer,  shall  explain 
his  text,  and  confute  foolish  interpretations,  and 
then  make  a  practical  reflection,  but  not  dilate 
to  a  commonplace.  Those  that  speak  after 
may  add  anything  they  think  the  other  has 
omitted  tending  to  explain  the  text ;  but  may 
not  repeat  what  has  been  said,  nor  oppose  their 
predecessor,  unless  he  has  spoken  contrary  to 
the  Scriptures.  The  exercise  to  continue  from 
nine  to  eleven  ;  the  first  speaker  to  end  in  three 
quarters  of  an  hour,  the  second  and  third  not  to 
exceed  each  one  quarter  of  an  hour  ;  one  of  the 
moderators  always  to  conclude.  After  the  ex- 
ercise is  over,  and  the  auditors  dismissed,  the 
president  shall  call  the  learned  brethren  to  him 
to  give  him  their  judgment  of  the  performances, 
when  it  shall  be  lawful  for  any  of  the  brethren 
to  oppose  their  objections  against  them  in  wri- 
ting, which  shall  be  answered  before  the  next 
exercise.  If  any  break  orders,  the  president 
shall  command  him,  in  the  name  of  the  eternal 
God,  to  be  silent ;  and  after  the  exercise,  he 
shall  be  reprimanded.  When  the  exercise  is 
finished,  the  next  speaker  shall  be  appointed, 
and  his  text  given  him." 

The  confession  of  faith  which  the  members 
of  these  prophesyings  signed  at  their  admission 
was  to  the  following  purpose  : 

"  That  they  believed  the  Word  of  God,  con- 
tained in  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  to  be  a 
perfect  rule  of  faith  and  manners  ;  that  it  ought 


to  be  read  and  known  by  all  people  ;  and  that  the 
authority  of  it  exceeds  all  authority,  not  of  the 
pope  only,  but  of  the  Church  also,  and  of  coun- 
cils, fathers,  men,  and  angels. 

"  They  condemn,  as  a  tyrannous  yoke,  what- 
soever men  have  set  up  of  their  own  invention 
to  make  articles  of  faith,  and  the  binding  men's 
consciences  by  their  laws  and  institutes ;  in 
sum,  all  those  manners  and  fashions  of  serving 
God  which  men  have  brought  in  without  the  au- 
thority of  the  Word  for  the  warrant  thereof, 
tiiough  recommended  by  custom,  by  unwritten 
traditions,  or  any  other  names  whatsoever ;  of 
which  sort  are  the  pope's  supremacy,  purgatory, 
transubstantiation,  man's  merits,  free-will,  justi- 
fication by  works,  praying  in  an  unknown  tongue, 
and  distinction  of  meats,  apparel,  and  days,  and, 
briefly,  all  the  ceremonies  and  whole  order  of  pa- 
pistry, which  they  call  the  hierarchy,  which  are 
a  devilish  confusion,  established,  as  it  were,  in 
spite  of  God,  and  to  the  reproach  of  religion. 

"  And  we  content  ourselves,"  say  they,  "  with 
the  simplicity  of  this  pure  Word  of  God,  and 
doctrine  thereof,  a  summary  of  which  is  in  the 
Apostles'  Creed  ;  resolving  to  try  and  examine, 
and  also  to  judge  all  other  doctrines  whatsoev- 
er by  this  pure  Word,  as  by  a  certain  rule  and 
perfect  touchstone.  And  to  this  Word  of  God 
we  humbly  submit  ourselves  and  all  our  doings, 
willing  and  ready  to  be  judged,  reformed,  or  far- 
ther instructed  thereby,  in  all  points  of  religion." 

Mr.  Strype  calls  this  a  well-minded  and  reli- 
giously-disposed combination  of  both  bishop, 
magistrates,  and  people.  It  was  designed  to 
stir  up  an  emulation  in  the  clergy  to  study  the 
Scriptures,  that  they  may  be  more  capable  of 
instructing  the  people  in  Christian  knowledge  ;  > 
and  though  men  of  loose  principles  censured  it, 
yet  the  ecclesiastical  commissioners,  who  had 
a  special  letter  from  the  queen  to  inquire  into 
novelties,  and  were  acquainted  with  the  scheme 
above  mentioned,  gave  them,  as  yet,  neither 
check  nor  disturbance ;  but  when  her  majesty 
was  informed  that  they  were  nurseries  of  Puri- 
tanism, and  tended  to  promote  alterations  in  the 
government  of  the  Church,  she  quickly  sup- 
pressed them,  as  will  be  seen  in  its  proper  place. 

This  year  [1571]  put  a  period  to  the  life  of 
the  eminent  John  Jewel,  bishop  of  Salisbury, 
author  of  the  famous  Apology  for  the  Church  of 
England.  He  was  born  in  Devonshire,  1522, 
and  educated  in  Christ  Church  College,  Oxon, 
where  he  proceeded  M.A.  1544.  In  King  Ed- 
ward's reign  he  was  a  zealous  promoter  of  the 
Reformation  ;  but,  not  having  the  courage  of  a 
martyr,  he  yielded  to  some  things  against  his 
conscience  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary,  for 
which  he  asked  pardon  of  God  and  the  Church 
among  the  exiles  in  Germany,  where  he  contin- 
ued a  confessor  of  the  Gospel  till  Queen  Eliza- 
beth's accession,  when  he  returned  home,  and 
was  preferred  to  the  Bishopric  of  Salisbury  in 
1559.  He  was  one  of  the  most  learned  men 
among  the  Reformers,  a  Calvinist  in  doctrine, 
but  for  absolute  obedience  to  his  sovereign  in 
all  things  of  an  indifferent  nature,  which  led 
him  not  only  to  comply  with  all  the  queen's  in- 
junctions about  the  habits  when  he  did  not  ap- 
prove them,  but  to  bear  hard  upon  the  conscien- 
ces of  his  brethren  who  were  not  satisfied  to 
comply.  He  published  several  treatises  in  his 
lifetime,  and  others  were  printed  after  his  death ; 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


119 


but  that  which  gained  him  greatest  reputation 
■was  his  Apology,  which  was  translated  into  the 
foreign  languages,  and  ordered  to  be  chained 
in  all  the  churches  in  England.*  He  was  a 
truly  pious  man,  and  died  in  a  comfortable  frame 
of  mind.  Some  of  his  last  words  were,  "  I  have 
not  so  lived  that  I  am  ashamed  to  die  ;  neither 
am  I  afraid  to  die,  for  we  have  a  gracious  Lord. 
There  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteous- 
ness. Christ  is  my  righteousness.  Lord,  let 
thy  servant  depart  in  peace  ;"  which  he  did  at 
Monkton  Farley,  September  23,  1571,  in  the  fif- 
tieth year  of  his  age,  and  lies  buried  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  choir  of  the  Cathedral  of  Salisbury. 

In  the  same  year  died  the  Rev.  Mr.  David 
"Whitehead,  a  great  scholar,  and  a  most  excel- 
lent professor  of  divinity.  He  was  educated  at 
Oxford,  and  was  chaplain  to  Queen  Anne  Bul- 
len,  and  one  of  the  four  divines  nominated  by 
Archbishop  Cranmer  to  bishoprics  in  Ireland. 
In  the  beginning  of  Queen  Mary's  reign  he  went 
into  voluntary  exile,  and  resided  at  Frankfort, 
■where  he  answered  the  objections  of  Dr.  Horn 
concerning  Church  discipline  and  worship.  Upon 
his  return  into  England  he  was  chosen  one  of 
the  disputants  against  the  popish  bishops,  and 
showed  himself  so  profound  a  divine,  that  the 
queen,  out  of  her  high  esteem  for  him,  offered 
him  the  archbishopric  of  Canterbury ;  but  he 
refused  it  from  Puritanical  principles,  and  would 
accept  of  no  preferment  in  the  Church  as  it  then 
stood  :  he  excused  himself  to  the  queen  by  say- 
ing he  could  live  plentifully  on  the  Gospel  with- 
out any  preferment ;  and,  accordingly,  did  so  : 
he  went  up  and  down  like  an  apostle,  preaching 
the  Word  where  it  was  wanted  ;  and  spent  his 
life  in  celibacy,  which  gained  him  the  higher  es- 
teem with  the  queen,  who  had  no  great  affec- 
tion for  married  priests.  He  died  this  year,  in 
a  good  old  age,t  but  in  what  church  or  chapel 
he  was  buried  I  know  not. 

Our  archbishop  was  very  busy  this  summer, 
■with  the  Bishops  of  Winchester  and  Ely,  in  har- 
assing the  Puritans  ;  for  which  purpose  he  sum- 
moned before  him  the  principal  clergy  of  both 
provinces  who  were  disaffected  to  the  uniform- 
ity established  by  law,  and  acquainted  them 
that,  if  they  intended  to  continue  their  ministry, 
they  must  take  out  new  licenses,  and  subscribe 
the  articles,  framed  according  to  a  new  act  of 
Parliament,  for  reforming  certain  disorders  in 
ministers  ;  otherwise  they  might  resign  quietly 
or  be  deprived.  He  took  in  the  bishops  above 
mentioned  to  countenance  his  proceedings,  but 
Grindal  declared  he  would  not  be  concerned  if  his 
grace  proceeded  to  suspension  and  deprivation  : 
upon  which  Parker  wrote  back  that  "  he  thought 
it  high  time  to  set  about  it ;  and,  however  the 
■world  may  judge,  he  would  serve  God  and  his 


*  This  book  was  originally  written  in  Latin,  but, 
for  the  use  of  the  generality  of  the  people,  it  was 
translated  into  English,  with  remarkable  accuracy, 
by  Anne,  Lady  Bacon,  the  second  of  the  four  learned 
daughters  of  Sir  Anthony  Coke.  Such  was  the  es- 
teem in  which  it  was  held,  that  there  was  a  design 
of  Its  being  joined  to  the  thirty-nine  articles,  and  of 
causing  it  to  be  deposited  not  only  in  all  cathedrals 
and  collegiate  churches,  but  also  in  private  houses.  It 
promoted  the  Reformation  from  popery  more  than  any 
other  publication  of  that  period. —  The  New  Annual 
Register  for  1789,  History  of  Knowledge,  p.  19.— Ed. 

■f  Ath.  Ox.,  vol.  i..  p.  135, 13Q  Pierce's  Vindic,  p. 
45,46 


prince,  and  put  her  laws  in  execution  ;  that 
Grindal  was  too  timorous,  there  being  no  dan- 
ger of  a  prajmunire  ;  that  the  queen  was  content 
the  late  book  of  articles  (though  it  had  not  the 
broad  seal)  should  be  prosecuted ;  and  in  case 
it  should  hereafter  be  repealed,  there  was  no 
fear  of  a  pragmunire,  but  only  of  a  fine  at  her 
pleasure,  which  he  was  persuaded  her  majesty, 
out  of  love  to  the  Church,  would  not  levy:  but 
Grindal  being  now  at  York,  wisely  declined  the 
affair."* 

In  the  month  of  June  the  archbishop  cited 
the  chief  Puritans  about  London  to  Lambeth, t 
viz.,  Messrs.  Goodman,  Lever,  Sampson,  Walk- 
er, Wyburn,  Goff,  Percival,  Deering,  Field, 
Browne,  Johnson,  and  others.  These  divines, 
being  willing  to  live  peaceably,  offered  to  sub- 
scribe the  articles  of  religion  as  far  as  concern- 
ed the  doctrine  and  sacraments  only,  and  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer  as  far  as  it  tended  to 
edification,  it  being  acknowledged  on  all  hands 
that  there  were  some  imperfections  in  it ;  but 
they  prayed,  with  respect  to  the  apparel,  that 
neither  party  might  condemn  the  other,  but  that 
those  that  wore  them,  and  those  that  did  not, 
might  live  in  unity  and  concord.  How  reason- 
able soever  this  was,  the  archbishop  told  them 
peremptorily  that  they  must  come  up  to  the 
queen's  injunctions  or  be  deprived. t  Goodman 
was  also  required  to  renounce  a  book  that  he 
had  written  many  years  ago,  when  he  was  an 
exile,  against  the  government  of  women,  which 
he  refused,  and  was  therefore  suspended.  Mr. 
Strype  says  that  he  was  at  length  brought  to  a 
revocation  of  it,  and  signed  a  protestation  be- 
fore the  commissioners  at  Lambeth,  April  23, 
1571,  concerning  his  dutiful  obedience  to  the 
queen's  majesty's  person  and  her  lawful  govern- 
ment.iji  Lever  quietly  resigned  his  prebend  in 
the  Church  of  Durham.  Browne  being  domes- 
tic chaplain  to  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  his  patron 
undertook  to  screen  him  ;  but  the  archbishop 
sent  him  word  that  no  -place  within  her  majes- 
ty's dominions  was  exempt  from  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  commissioners,  and,  therefore,  if  his 
grace  did  not  forthwith  send  up  his  chaplain, 
they  should  be  forced  to  use  other  methods. 
This  was  that  Robert  Browne  who  afterward 
gave  name  to  that  denomination  of  dissenters 
called  Brownists  ;  but  his  family  and  relations 
covered  him  for  the  present.  Johnson  was  do- 
mestic chaplain  to  the  Lord-keeper  Bacon,  at 
Gorambury,  where  he  used  to  preach  and  ad- 
minister the  sacrament  in  his  family :  he  had 
also  some  place  at  St.  Alban's,  and  was  fellow 
of  King's  College,  Cambridge.  He  appeared  be- 
fore the  commissioners  in  July,  but,  refusing  to 
subscribe  to  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  as 
agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God,  he  was  suspend- 
ed, though  he  assured  them  he  used  the  book, 
and  thought,  for  charity's  sake,  it  might  be  suf- 
fered till  God  should  grant  a  time  of  more  per- 
fect reformation  ;  that  he  would  wear  the  ap- 
parel, though  he  judged  it  neither  expedient  nor 
for  edification  ;  and  that  he  was  willing  to  sub- 
scribe all  the  doctrinal  ai-ticles  of  the  Church, 
according  to  the  late  act  of  Parliament ;  but  the 
commissioners  insisting  peremptorily  upon  an 
absolute  subscription,  as  above,  he  was  sus- 
pended, and  resigned  his  prebend  in  the  Church 

*  Life  of  Grindal,  p.  160.  t  MS.,  p.  117. 

X  Life  of  Parker,  p.  326, 327.    ^  An.  Ref ,  vol.  ii.,  p.  95. 


120 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


of  Norwich  ;  but.  about  two  years  after  he  fell 
into  farther  troubles,  Avhich  cost  him  his  life. 

The  learned  Beza  [in  1572]  wrote  to  the  bish- 
ops not  to  be  the  instruments  of  such  severities ; 
and  being  informed  that  a  Parliament  was  short- 
ly to  be  called,  in  which  a  consultation  was  to 
be  had  concerning  the  establishing  of  religion, 
he  excited  the  lord-treasurer  to  endeavour  some 
reformation  of  discipline  :  "  For  I  will  not  dis- 
semble," says  he,  "  that  not  a  few  complain  of 
divers  things  wanting  in  the  Church  ;  and  when 
I  say  not  a  few,  I  do  not  mean  that  worst  sort 
whom  nothing  pleases  but  what  is  perfect  and 
absolute  in  all  respects  ;  but  I  understand  godly 
men,  learned  men,  and  some  that  are  best  af- 
fected to  God's  Church,  and  lovers  of  their  na- 
tion. I  look  upon  the  reformation  of  discipline 
as  of  great  importance  to  the  peace  and  welfare 
of  the  nation,  and  the  strengthening  of  the  Ref- 
ormation ;  and  therefore  there  is  nothing  the 
queen's  majesty  and  her  council  should  sooner 
think  of  than  this,  however  great  and  difficult 
the  work  might  be,  especially  since  the  English 
nation  affords  so  many  divines  of  prudence, 
learning,  and  judgment  in  these  affairs ;  if  they, 
together  with  the  bishops,  to  whom,  indeed,  espe- 
cially, but  not  alone,  this  care  belongs,  would  de- 
liberate hereupon,  I  doubt  not  but  such  things 
would  follow  whence  other  nations  would  take 
example." 

Thus  did  this  learned  divine  intercede  for  the 
recovery  of  discipline  and  the  ease  of  tender 
and  scrupulous  consciences.  But  this  was  more 
than  our  archbishop  thanked  him  for,  says  Mr. 
Strype,  after  he  had  taken  so  much  pains  in 
pressing  the  Act  of  Uniformity.* 

The  Parliament  met  May  8,  1572 ;  the  lord- 
keeper  opened  it  with  a  speech,  in  which  he 
recommended  to  the  houses,  in  the  queen's 
name,  "  to  see  that  the  laws  relating  to  the 
discipline  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church  were 
put  in  due  execution  ;  and  that,  if  any  farther 
laws  were  wanting,  they  should  consider'Of  them ; 
and  so,  says  his  lordship,  gladius  gladium  juva- 
bit,  the  civil  sword  will  support  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal, as  beforetime  has  been  used."t  But  the 
Parliament,  seeing  the  ill  use  the  queen  and 
bishops  made  of  their  spiritual  power,  instead 
of  framing  new  laws  to  enforce  the  ceremonies, 
ordered  two  bills  to  be  brought  in  to  regulate 
them ;  in  one  of  which  the  hardships  that  the 
Puritans  complained  of  were  redressed. t  The 
bills  passed  smoothly  through  the  Commons, 
and  were  referred  to  a  select  committee  of  both 
houses,  which  alarmed  the  bishops,  and  gave  the 
queen  such  offence,  that  two  days  after  she 
sent  to  acquaint  the  Commons,  by  their  speaker, 
that  it  was  her  pleasure  that  no  bills  concerning 
religion  should  henceforth  be  received,  unless 
the  same  should  be  first  considered  and  appro- 
ved by  the  bishops  or  clergy  in  convocation ; 
and  farther,  her  majesty  commanded  them  to 
deliver  up  the  two  bills  last  read  in  the  house, 
touching  rights  and  ceremonies.!^     This  was  a 

*  Life  of  Parker,  p.  344. 

■f  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  ii.,  p.  125.  D'Ew's  Journal, 
p.  207.  t  Life  of  Parker,  p.  394. 

^  In  the  face  of  this  full  and  positive  evidence  of 
the  temper  and  measures  of  the  queen.  Bishop  Mad- 
dox  talks  of  the  great  favour  and  indulgence  shown 
to  the  Puritans  in  the  year  1572 ;  and  refers  us  to 
Strype,  in  his  hfe  of  Whitgift,  saying  "that  they 
were  as  gently  treated  as  might  be  ;  no  kind  of  broth- 


high  strain  of  the  prerogative,  and  a  blow  at  the 
very  root  of  the  freedom  of  Parliament.  Bat 
the  Commons  sent  her  majesty  the  bills,  with  a 
servile  request  that  she  would  not  conceive  an 
ill  opinion  of  the  house  if  she  should  not  approve 
them.*  Her  majesty  sent  them  word,  within  a 
day  or  two,  that  she  utterly  disliked  the  bills, 
and  never  returned  them.  This  awakened  a 
brave  spirit  of  liberty  among  some  of  the  mem- 
bers ;  many  free  speeches  were  made  upon  this 
occasion,  and  among  others,  Peter  Wentwortb, 
Esq.,  stood  up  and  said,t  "  that  it  grieved  him 
to  see  how  many  ways  the  liberty  of  free  speech 
in  Parliament  had  been  infringed.  Two  things," 
says  he,  "  do  great  hurt  among  us :  one  is  a  ru- 
mour that  ran  about  the  house  when  the  bill 
about  the  rights  of  the  Church  was  depending : 
'  Take  heed  what  you  do  ;  the  queen  liketh  not 
such  a  matter  ;  she  will  be  offended  with  them 
that  prosecute  it.'  The  other  is,  that  some  time 
a  message  was  brought  to  the  house,  either  com- 
manding or  inhibiting  our  proceedings."  He 
added,  "  that  it  was  dangerous  always  to  fol- 
low a  prince's  mind,  because  the  prince  might 
favour  a  cause  prejudicial  to  the  honour  of  Goi 
and  the  good  of  the  state.  Her  majesty  has  for- 
bid us  to  deal  in  any  matter  of  religion,  unless 
we  first  receive  it  from  the  bishops.  This  was 
a  doleful  message  ;  there  is,  then,  little  hope  of 
reformation.  I  have  heard  from  old  Parliament  ^ 
men,  that  the  banishment  of  the  pope,  and  the 
reforming  true  religion,  had  its  beginning  frovn 
this  house,  but  not  from  the  bishops  :  few  laws 
for  religion  had  their  foundation  from  them; 
and  I  do  surely  think  (before  God  I  speak  it) 
that  the  bishops  were  the  cause  of  that  doleful 
message."  But  for  this  speech,  and  another  of 
like  nature,  Wentworth  was  sent  to  the  Tower 


erly  persuasion  omitted  towards  them  ;  and  most  of 
them  as  yet  kept  their  livings,  though  one  or  two 
were  displaced."  In  this  connexion  he  quotes,  also, 
a  letter  of  Fox,  the  martyrologist,  to  her  majesty, 
"  exalting  her  in  his  praises  for  her  regard  and  gra- 
cious answer  to  a  petition  of  certain  divines  concern- 
ing the  habits." — Vindication,  p.  173.  This  letter, 
Mr.  Neal  observes,  was  written  in  1564,  several  years 
before  that  part  of  her  reign  wherein  she  thought  fit 
to  inflict  severe  punishments  upon  the  Dissenters. 
Besides,  whatever  weight  is  due  to  Mr.  Fox's  praises, 
or  to  Mr.  Strype's  representation,  though  the  Puri- 
tans had  some  intervals  of  ease,  some  tokens  of  royal 
indulgence  and  favour,  her  reign,  and  their  situation, 
under  it,  are  not  surely  to  be  characterized  by  a  few 
intervals  of  ease,  and  by  partial  indulgences  ;  but  by 
the  spirit  of  the  laws  framed  against  them,  and  by  the 
great  leading  measures  and  the  general  tenour  of  her 
government.  The  first  Christians  are  generally  under- 
stood to  have  suffered  ten  severe  persecutions  under 
the  Roman  emperors  :  "but  it  is  not  to  be  supposed 
that  persecution  was  always  violent  and  uninterrupt- 
ed ;  there  might  be  some  abatements  of  those  troubles, 
and  some  seasons  of  rest  and  peace.  In  the  reigns 
of  Adrian  and  Titus  Antoninus,  there  were  some 
edicts,  or  rescripts,  which  were  favourable  to  them, 
though  during  those  very  reigns  many  Christians  still 
suffered  in  almost  every  part  of  the  empire." — Lard- 
ner's  Works,  vol.  viii.,  p.  341,  342,  8vo.  So  as  to  the 
period  before  us,  the  question  is,  Did  the  Puritans 
enjoy  liberty  and  security  under  the  reign  of  Queen 
Elizabeth  ;  or  was  their  situation  the  reverse  of  en- 
joying these  blessings  ?  If  it  were  the  latter  (and 
the  particulars  of  this  long  detail  will  show  what  was 
the  case),  then  the  leading  features  of  her  govern- 
ment were  intolerance  and  persecution. — Ed. 

*  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  ii.,  p.  127,  128. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  12. 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


121 


In  the  mean  time,  the  late  act  of  the  thirteenth 
of  EUzabeth  for  subscribing  the  articles  was 
put  in  execution  all  over  England,  together  with 
the  queen's  injunctions ;  and  according  to  Mr. 
Strype's  computation,  one  hundred  clergymen 
were  deprived  this  year  for  refusing  to  sub- 
scribe.* The  University  of  Cambridge  was  a 
nest  of  Puritans  ;  many  of  the  graduates  were 
disaffected  to  the  discipline  of  the  Church,  as 
particularly  Mr.  Browning,  Mr.  Brown,  of  Trin- 
ity College,  Mr.  Millain,  of  Christ's,  Mr.  Charke, 
of  Peterhouse,  Mr.  Deering,  of  Christ's  College, 
and  several  in  St.  John's  College,  who,  being 
men  of  learning,  had  a  great  number  of  follow- 
ers ;  but  Dr.  Whitgift,  the  vice-chancellor,  watch- 
ed them  narrowly,  and  kept  them  under.  The 
Reverend  Mr.  Charke,  in  one  of  his  sermons  at 
St.  Mary's,  had  said  that  "  there  ought  to  be  a 
parity  among  the  ministers  in  the  Church  ;  and 
that  the  hierarchical  orders  of  archbishops,  pa- 
triarchs, metropolitans,  &-c.,  were  introduced 
into  the  Church  by  Satan."  For  which  he  was 
summoned  before  the  vice-chancellor  and  heads 
of  colleges,  and  refusing  to  recant,  was  expell- 
ed the  university.  Charke  wrote  a  handsome 
Latin  apology  to  Lord  Burleigh,  their  present 
chancellor,  in  which  he  confesses  that  it  was 
his  opinion  that  the  Church  of  England  might 
be  brought  nearer  to  the  apostolic  character  or 
likeness  ;  but  that  this  must  not  be  said  either 
in  the  pulpit  or  desk,  under  the  severest  penal- 
ties. The  chancellor,  knowing  him  to  be  a  good 
scholar,  and  in  consideration  that  he  had  been 
hardly  dealt  with,  interceded  for  him,  but  to  no 
purpose.  Mr.  Browning,  Mr.  Deering,  and  oth- 
ers, met  with  the  like  usage.  Mr.  Deering  was 
a  man  of  good  learning,  and  made  a  chief  figure 
in  the  university ;  he  was  also  reader  at  St. 
Paul's,  London,  and  a  most  popular  preacher  ; 
but  being  an  enemy  to  the  superior  order  of 
bishops,  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  commis- 
sioners, and  was  silenced. 

The  Puritans  finding  it  in  vain  to  hope  for  a 
reformation  from  the  queen  or  bishops,  resolved 
for  the  future  to  apply  to  Parliament,  and  stand 
by  the  Constitution  ;  for  this  purpose  they  made 
interest  among  the  members,  and  compiled  a 
treitise,  setting  forth  their  chief  grievances  in 
one  view  ;  it  was  drawn  up  by  the  Reverend 
Mr.  Field,  minister  of  Aldermary,  London,  as- 
sisted by  Mr.  Wilcox,  and  was  revised  by  sev- 
eral of  the  brethren.  It  was  entitled.  An  Ad- 
monition to  the  Parliament ;  with  Beza's  letter 
to  tie  Earl  of  Leicester,  and  Gualter's  to  Bish- 
op farkhurst  for  reformation  of  church  disci- 
pline, annexed.  It  contains  the  platform  of  a 
chureh  ;  the  manner  of  electing  ministers  ;  their 
seveial  duties,  and  their  equality  in  government. 
It  then  exposes  the  corruptions  of  the  hierarchy, 
and  tie  proceedings  of  the  bishops,  with  some 
severty  of  language.  When  Mr.  Pearson,  the 
archb^hop's  chaplain,  taxed  the  authors  with 
this  i\  prison,  Mr.  Field  replied,  "  This  con- 
cerns me  ;  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testanent  use  such  vehemency  ;  we  have  used 
gentle  words  too  long,  which  have  done  no 
good ;  the  wound  grows  desperate,  and  wants 
a  corraive ;  it  is  no  time  to  blanch  or  sew  pil- 
lars unler  men's  elbows,  but  God  knoweth  we 
meant  b  touch  no  man's  person,  but  their  pla- 
ces and  abuses."     The  admonition  concludes 

*  StrVpe's  Annals,  p.  187. 
Vol.  1— Q 


with  a  petition  to  the  houses  that  a  discipline 
more  consonant  to  the  Word  of  God,  and  agree- 
ing with  the  foreign  Reformed  churches,  may  be 
established  by  law.  The  authors  themselves, 
viz.,  the  Reverend  Mr.  Field  and  Wilcox,  pre- 
sented it  to  the  house,  for  which  they  were  sent 
for  into  custody,  and  by  the  influence  of  the  bish- 
ops committed  to  Newgate,  October  2,  1572.* 
Upon  this,  the  book  already  printed  was  suflered 
to  go  abroad,  and  had  three  or  four  editions 
within  the  compass  of  two  years,  notwithstand- 
ing all  the  endeavours  of  the  bishops  to  find  out 
the  press. t 

The  imprisonment  of  the  two  ministers  oc- 
casioned the  drawing  up  a  Second  Admonition, 
by  Mr.  Cartwright,t  lately  returned  from  be- 
yond sea,  with  an  humble  petition  to  the  two 
houses  for  relief  against  the  subscription  requi- 
red by  the  ecclesiastical  commissioners,  which 
they  represent  had  no  foundation  in  law,  but 
was  an  act  of  sovereignty  in  the  crown,  and 
was  against  the   peace  of  their  consciences,, 
many  having  lost  their  places  and  livings  for 
not   complying ;   they  therefore  beseech  their 
honours  to  take  a  view  of  the  causes  of  their 
non-subscribing,  that  it  might  appear  they  were 
not  disobedient  to  the  Church  of  God,  or  to 
their  sovereign  ;  and  they  most  humbly  entreat 
for  the  removal  and  abolishing  of  such  corrup- 
tions and  abuses  in  the  Church  as  withheld 
their  compliance.     "The  matters,"  say  they, 
"  contained  in  the  Admonition,  how  true  soever 
they  be,  have  found  small  favour  ;  the  persons 
that  are  thought  to  have  made  it  are  laid  up  m 
no  worse  prison  than  Newgate  ;  the  men  that 
set  upon  them  are  no  worse  than  bishops  ;  the 
name  that  goeth  of  them  is  no  better  than  reb- 
els ;  and  great  words  there  are  that  their  dan- 
ger will  yet  prove  greater.     Well,  whatsoever 
is  said  or  done  against  them,  that  is  not  the 
matter;  but  the  equity  of  the  cause,  that  is  the 
matter  ;  and  yet  this  we  will  say,  that  the  state 
showeth  not  itself  upright  if  it  suffers  them  to 
be  molested  for  that  which  was  spoken  only  by 
way  of  admonition  to  the  Parliament,  which 
was  to  consider  of  it  and  receive  or  reject  it, 
without  farther  matter  to  the  authors,  except 
it  contained  some  wilful  maintenance  of  treason 
or  rebellion,  which  it  cannot  be  proved  todo."iJ 
Two  other  pamphlets  were  published  on  this 
occasion,  one  entitled  "  An  Exhortation  to  the 
Bishops  to  deal  brotherly  with  their  Brethren." 
The  other,  "An  Exhortation  to  the  Bishops 
and  Clergy  to  answer  a  httle  Book  that  was 
published  last  Parliament ;  and  an  Exhortation 
to  other  Brethren  to  judge  of  it  by  God's  Word, 
till  they  saw  it  answered." 

The  prisoners  themselves  drew  up  an  elegant 
Latin  apology  to  the  lord-treasurer,  Burleigh, 
in  which  they  confess  their  writmg  the  Admo- 
nition, but  that  they  attempted  not  to  correct 
or  change  anything  in  the  hierarchy  of  them- 
selves, but  referred  all  to  the  Parliament,  hoping 
by  this  means  that  all  differences  might  be  com- 
posed in  a  legal  way,  and  the  corruptions  which 


*  MS.,  p.  119,  135.        t  Life  of  Parker,  p.  347. 

t  He  was  at  the  head  (observes  Mr.  Neal  in  his 
Review)  of  a  new  generation  of  Puritans,  of  warmer 
spn-its,  who  opened  the  controversy  with  the  Church 
into  other  branches,  and  struck  at  some  of  the  main 
principles  of  the  hierarchy. — Ed. 

i)  Pierce's  Vindication,  p.  85. 


122 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


the  most  learned  foreign  divines  con  plained  of 
might  be  removed,  to  the  preventing  a  ny  schism 
or  separation  in  the  Church.*  Plowvwer,  the 
treasurer  had  not  courage  to  intermed  lie  with 
an  affair  which  might  embroil  him  wjth  the 
queen,  or,  at  least,  with  her  ecclesiastical  com- 
missioners, though  it  was  well  enough  known 
he  had  a  good  will  to  the  cause.  But  the  com- 
missioners, not  content  with  the  severity  of  the 
law,  sported  themselves  in  an  arbitrary  man- 
ner with  the  miseries  of  their  fellow-creatures  ; 
detained  them  in  prison  beyond  the  time  limited 
by  the  statute,  as  appears  by  their  humble  sup- 
plication to  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  representing 
"  that  they  had  been  condemned,  according  to 
the  Act  of  Uniformity,  to  a  year's  imprisonment, 
which  they  had  now  suffered  patiently  in  the 
common  jail  of  Newgate,  besides  four  months' 
close  imprisonment  before  their  conviction, 
which  they  apprehended  to  be  contrary  to  law  ; 
that  by  this  means  they  and  their  poor  wives 
and  children  were  utterly  impoverished ;  their 
health  very  much  impaired  by  the  unwholesome 
savour  of  the  place  and  the  cold  weather  ;  and 
that  they  were  likely  to  suffer  yet  greater  ex- 
tremities :  they  therefore  humbly  beseech  his 
lordship,  for  the  tender  mercies  of  God,  and  in 
consideration  of  their  poor  wives  and  children, 
to  be  a  means  to  the  most  honourable  privy 
council,  that  they  may  be  enlarged  ;  or,  if  that 
could  not  be  obtained,  that  they  might  be  con- 
lined  in  a  more  wholesome  prison."  They  pre- 
ferred another  petition  of  the  same  nature  to 
the  lords  of  the  council ;  and  a  third  was  sent 
in  the  names  of  their  wives  and  children.  They 
also  wrote  a  confession  of  their  faith,  dated 
from  Newgate,  December  4,  1572,  with  a  pref- 
ace, in  which  they  complain  of  the  reproaches 
and  calumnies  of  their  adversaries:  because 
(say  they)  we  would  have  bishops  unlorded,  ac- 
cording to  God's  Word,  therefore  it  is  said  we 
seek  the  overthrow  of  civil  magistrates  ;  be- 
cause we  say  all  bishops  and  ministers  are 
equal,  and,  therefore,  may  not  exercise  their 
sovereignty  over  one  another,  therefore  they 
say,  when  they  have  brought  this  in  among  the 
bishops,  we  shall  be  for  levelling  the  nobility  of 
the  land.  Because  we  find  fault  with  the  regi- 
men of  the  Church  as  drawn  from  the  pope, 
therefore  they  say  we  design  the  ruin  of  the 
state.  Because  we  say  the  ministry  must  not 
be  a  bare  reading  ministry,  but  that  every  min- 
ister must  be  learned,  able  to  preach,  to  refute 
gainsayers,  to  comfort,  to  rebuke,  and  to  do  all 
the  duties  of  a  shepherd,  a  watchman,  and  a 
steward,  therefore  they  bear  the  world  in  hand 
that  we  condemn  the  reading  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  in  churches.  Because  we  are  afraid 
of  joining  with  the  Church  in  all  her  rites 
and  ceremonies,  therefore  we  are  branded 
with  the  odious  names  of  Donatists,  Anabap- 
tists, .iErians,  Arians,  Hinckfeldians,  Puritans," 
«&c.t 

The  confession  itself  is  orthodox,  according 
to  the  doctrinal  articles  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, and  must  give  a  general  satisfaction  to 
them  who  read  it ;  it  is  written  by  the  authors 
of  the  first  admonition  to  the  Parliament,  to 
testify  their  persuasion  in  the  faith,  against,  the 
uncharitable  surmises  of  Dr.  Whitgift,  uttered 
in  his  answer  to  their  Admonition,  in  defence 

*  Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  186.         f  MS.,  p.  120. 


both  of  them&vlves  and  their  fautors,  and  is 
subscribed  Joha.'xnes  Fieldus.f 

*  I  have  the  whois  before  me,  but  shall  only  tran- 
scribe a  few  passages  relating  to  the  present  contro- 
versy. 

"  We  hold  and  believe  that  we  ought  to  keep  invi- 
olabiy  that  kind  of  government  that  is  left  us  in  the 
Gospel.  That  the  office  of  a  pastor  is  to  preach  the 
Word  and  administer  the  sacraments,  and,  therefore, 
that  bare  readers,  or  single  sayers,  are  no  more  fit  for 
pastors  than  women  or  children  that  can  read  well ; 
yet  we  deny  not  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  in  all 
congregations,  but  this  is  not  a  part  of  the  minister's 
office. 

"  We  think  it  unlawful  to  withdraw  from  the 
Church  where  the  Word  is  truly  preached,  the  sac- 
rament sincerely  ministered,  and  true  ecclesiastical 
discipline  exercised.  We  are  not  for  an  unspotted 
Church  on  earth,  and,  therefore,  though  the  Church 
of  England  has  many  faults,  we  would  not  willingly 
withdraw  from  it ;  and  yet  we  believe  that  God's  chil- 
dren, when  they  are  threatened  with  persecution, 
and  the  church  doors  are  shut  against  them,  may 
draw  themselves  into  private  assemblies,  sejiarating 
from  cursed  idolatry  and  pestilent  popery,  though 
the  laws  of  princes  are  against  it ;  and  whosoever 
refuseth  to  be  subject  to  these  congregations  sep- 
arating themselves,  resisteth  the  ordinances  of  God. 

"  We  affirm  that  the  Church  of  God  is  a  company 
or  congregation  of  the  faithful,  called  and  gathered 
out  of  the  world  by  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  uni- 
ted in  the  true  faith,  and  resolving  to  form  their  lives, 
government,  order,  and  ceremonies  according  to  the 
Word  of  God. 

"  We  hold  that  there  ought  to  be  joined  to  the 
pastors  of  the  Church,  elders  and  deacons,  for  the 
bridling  of  vices  and  providing  for  the  poor ;  that  no 
pastor  ought  to  usurp  dominion  over  another,  nor  any 
church  exercise  lordship  or  rule  over  another. 

"  We  believe  that  the  pastor  should  be  chosen  by 
the  congregation,  and  being  chosen,  should  be  con- 
firmed in  his  vocation  by  the  elders,  with  public 
prayer  and  imposition  of  hands. 

"  Concerning  ceremonies,  we  hold  that  they  ought 
to  be  few,  and  such  as  have  no  show  of  evil,  but 
manifestly  tend  to  decency  and  good  order.    We  re- 
ject, therefore,  all  the  popish  ceremonies  and  apparel. 
We  hold  that  churches  may  differ  in  order  and  care- 
monies,  and  yet  keep  the  unity  of  the  faith;  and, 
therefore,  we  condemn  not  other  Churches  that  have 
ceremonies  different  from  ours.     Concerning  public 
worship,  we  hold  that  there  ought  to  be  places  ap- 
pointed for  this  purpose,  and  that  there  may  be  a  pre- 
script form  of  prayer  and  service  in  the  known  tongue, 
because  all  have  not  the  gift  of  prayer,  but  we  \''ould 
not  have  it  patched  out  of  the  pope's  portuises;  but 
be  the  form  of  prayer  never  so  good,  we  affirm  that 
ministers    may   not    think    themselves    discliarged 
when  they  have  said  it  over,  for  they  are  not  sent  to 
say  service,  but  to  preach  deliverance  through  Christ : 
preaching,  therefore,  mu     not  be  thrust  out  of  doors 
for  reading.    Neither  oug     the  minister  so  to  le  tied 
to  a  prescript  form  that  at  all  times  he  rrust  be 
bound  of  necessity  to  use  it ;  for  who  can  craw  a 
form  of  prayer  necessary  for  all  times,  and  fit  for  all 
congregations  ?    We  deny  not  but  it  is  wdl  that 
there  be  various  manners  of  prayers,  but  we  must 
take  heed  that  they  be  not  long  and  tedious ;  where- 
fore preaching,  as  it  is  the  chief  part  of  a  mnister's 
office,  so  all  other  things  must  give  place  to  t. 

"  Concerning  singing  of  psalms,  we  allov  of  the 
people's  joining  with  one  voice  in  a  plain  fune,  but 
not  of  tossing  the  psalms  from  one  side  to  tie  other, 
with  the  intermingling  of  organs. 

"Touching  holydavs,  we  say  that  religim  is  tied 
to  no  time,  nor  is  one  day  more  holy  than  another; 
but  because  time  must  be  had  to  hear  the  Word. of 
God,  and  to  administer  the  holy  sacrameits,  there- 
fore we  keep  the  Lord's  Day  as  we  are  conmanded, 
but  without  all  Jewish  superstition.  We-hink  that 
those  feast-days  of  Christ,  as  of  his  birti,  circum- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS, 


123 


The  authors  of  this  confession  lay  in  prison 
a  considerable  time,  for  though  the  inhabitants 
of  Aldermary,  London,  presented  two  suppli- 
cations for  the  enlargement  of  their  valuable 
pastor,  and  learned  and  faithful  preacher,  as 
they  called  Mr.  Field,  and  though  some  great 
friends  interceded  for  them,  they  could  not  ob- 
tain their  release.  The  archbishop  sent  his 
chaplain  to  conifer  with  them  in  prison  after 
they  had  been  there  three  months,  for  which 
they  were  thankful.  The  conference  began 
with  a  suitable  prayer,  which  Mr.  Field  made, 
and  was  carried  on  with  such  decency  as  moved 
the  chaplain's  compassion  ;  but  nothing  would 
prevail  with  the  inexorable  commissioners  to 
release  them  till  they  had  suffered  the  extremity 
of  the  law,  and  paid  their  fees,  though  the  keep- 
er gave  it  under  his  hand  that  they  were  so 
poor  as  not  to  have  money  to  pay  for  their 
lodgings  or  victuals. 

To  return  to  the  Admonition,  which  consisted 
of  twenty-three  chapters,  under  the  following 
titles : 

Chap.  I.  Whether  Christ  forbiddeth  rule  or  su- 
periority to  ministers. 
II.  Of  the   authority  of  the   Church    in 
things  indifferent. 

III.  Of  the  election  of  ministers. 

IV.  Of  ministers  havingno  pastoral  charge ; 

and  of  ceremonies  used  in  ordering 
ministers. 
V.  Of  the  residence  of  the  pastors. 
VI.  Of  ministers  that  cannot  preach,  and 

of  licenses  to  preach. 
VII.  Of  the  apparel  of  ministers. 
VIII.  Of  archbishops,  metropolitans,  bish- 
ops, archdeacons,  &c. 
IX.  Of  the  communion-book. 
X.  Ofholydays. 

XI.  What  kind  of  preaching  is  most  effect- 
ual. 
XII.  Of  preaching  before   the   administra- 
tion of  the  sacraments. 

XIII.  Of  reading  the  Scriptures. 

XIV.  Of  ministering  and  preaching  by  dea- 

cons. 
XV.  Of  matters  touching  the  communion. 
XVI.  Of  matters  touching  baptism. 

cision,  passover,  resurrection,  and  ascension,  &c., 
may  by  Christian  liberty  be  kept,  because  they  are 
only  devoted  to  Christ,  to  whom  all  days  and  times 
belong.  But  days  dedicated  to  saints,  with  fasts  on 
their  eves,  we  utterly  dislike,  though  we  approve  of 
the  reverend  memory  of  the  saints,  as  e.^camples  to 
be  propounded  to  the  people  in  sermons  ;  and  of  pub- 
lic and  private  fasts,  as  the  circumstances  of  nations 
or  private  persons  require." 

The  confession  concludes  with  an  article  concern- 
ing the  office  of  the  civil  magistrate :  "  We  hold 
that  Christians  may  bear  offices ;  that  magistrates 
may  put  offenders  to  death  lawfully  ;  that  they  may 
wage  war,  and  require  a  lawful  oath  of  the  subject; 
that  subjects  are  bound  to  obey  all  their  just  and 
lawful  commands;  to  pray  for  them,  to  give  them  all 
honour ;  to  call  them  by  their  lawful  titles ;  and  to 
be  ready  with  their  bodies  and  goods,  lives,  and  all 
that  they  have,  to  serve  them  with  bodily  service  ; 
yea,  all  these  things  we  must  do,  though  they  be 
infidels,  and  obtain  their  dominion  either  by  inherit- 
ance, by  election,  by  conquest,  or  otherwise.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  is  the  magistrates'  duty  to  provide  for 
the  public  peace  and  quiet  of  their  subjects  ;  and  to 
set  forth  Christ's  pure  religion,  by  advancing  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel,  and  rooting  out  all  super- 
stition and  idolatry."— iWiS.,  p.  131. 


XVII.  Of  seniors,  or  government  by  elders. 
XVIII.  Of  certain   matters    concerning    dis 
cipline  of  the  Church. 
XIX.  Of  deacons  and  widows. 
XX.  Of  the  authority  of  the  civil  magistratff 

in  ecclesiastical  matters. 
XXI.  Of  subscribing  the  communion-book. 
XXII.  Of  cathedral  churches. 
XXIII.  Of  civil  officers  in  ecclesiastical  per 
sons. 
These  were  the   chief  heads  of  complaint ; 
which  the  Puritans  having  laid  before  the  world, 
the  bishops  thought  themselves  obliged  to  an- 
swer.    Dr.  John   Whitgift,   master   of  Trinity 
College  and  vice-chancellor  of  Cambridge,  was 
appointed  to  this  work,  which  he  performed  with 
great  labour  and  study,  and  dedicated  it  to  the 
Church  of  England.      His  method  was  unex- 
ceptionable, the  whole  text  of  the  Admonition 
being  set  down  in  paragraphs,  and  under  each 
paragraph  the  doctor's  answer.*     Before  it  was 
printed,  it  was  revised  and  corrected  by  Arch- 
bishop Parker,  Dr.  Cooper,  bishop  of  Lincoln, 
and  Pern,  bishop  of  Ely ;  so  that  in  this  book, 
says  Mr.  Strype,  may  be  seen  all  the  arguments 
for  and  against  the  hierarchy,  drawn  to  the  best 
advantage. 

Dr.  Whitgift's  book  was  answered  by  Mr. 
Cartwright,  whose  performance  was  called  a 
master-piece  in  its  kind,  and  had  the  approbation 
of  great  numbers  in  the  University  of  Cam- 
bridge, as  well  as  foreign  divines.  Whitgift  re- 
plied again  to  Cartwright,  and  had  the  thanks  of 
the  bishops  and  the  queen,  who,  as  a  reward  for 
his  excellent  and  learned  pains,  made  him  Dean 
of  Lincoln  ;  while  Cartwright,  to  avoid  the  rig- 
our of  the  commissioners,  was  forced  to  abscond 
in  friends'  houses,  and  at  length  retire  into  ban- 
ishment. 

But  it  was  impossible  for  these  divines  to  set- 
tle the  controversy,  because  they  were  not  agreed 
upon  one  and  the  same  standard  or  rule  of  judg- 
ment. Mr.  Cartwright  maintained  that  "  the 
Holy  Scriptures  were  not  only  a  standard  of 
doctrine,  but  of  discipline  and  government ;  and 
that  the  Church  of  Christ,  in  all  ages,  was  to 
be  regulated  by  them."  He  was,  therefore,  for 
consulting  his  Bible  only,  and  for  reducing  all 
things  as  near  as  possible  to  the  apostolical 
standard.  Dr.  Whitgift  went  upon  a  different 
principle,  and  maintained  "  that,  though  the 
Holy  Scriptures  were  a  perfect  rule  of  fait^, 
they  were  not  designed  as  a  standard  of  church 
discipline  or  government ;  but  that  this  was 
changeable,  and  might  be  accommodated  to  the 
civil  government  we  live  under  ;  that  the  apos- 
tolical government  was  adapted  to  the  Church 
in  its  infancy,  and  under  persecution,  but  was 
to  be  eidarged  and  altered  as  the  Church  grew 
to  maturity,  and  had  the  civil  magistrate  on  its 
side."  The  doctor,  therefore,  instead  of  redu- 
cing the  external  policy  of  the  Church  to  Scrip- 
ture, takes  into  his  standard  the  first  four  cen- 
turies after  Christ ;  and  those  customs  that  he 
can  trace  up  thither,  he  thinks  proper  to  be  re- 
tained, because  the  Church  was  then  in  its  mature 
state,  and  not  yet  under  the  power  of  antichrist. 
The  reader  will  judge  of  these  principles  for 
himself  One  is  ready  to  think  that  the  nearer 
we  can  come  to  the  apostolical  practice  the  bet- 
ter, and  the  less  our  religion  is  encumbered  with 

»  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.li 


124 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


rites  and  ceremonies  ol  later  invention,  tlie  more 
it  must  resemble  the  simplicity  that  is  in  Christ. 
If  our  blessed  Saviour  had  designed  that  his 
worship  should  be  set  off  with  pomp  and  gran- 
deur, and  a  multitude  of  ceremonies,  he  would 
have  told  us  so,  and,  it  may  be,  have  settled 
them,  as  was  done  for  the  Church  of  the  Jews  ; 
but  nothing  of  this  appearing,  his  followers 
should  be  cautious  of  inserting  human  com- 
mcindments  or  traditions  into  the  religion  of 
Christ,  lest  they  cast  a  reflection  upon  his  kingly 
office. 

The  dispute  between  Whitgift  and  Cartwright 
was  managed  with  some  sharpness ;  the  latter 
thought  he  had  reason  to  complain  of  the  hard- 
ships himself  and  his  brethren  suffered  ;  and 
Whitgift  having  the  government  on  his  side, 
thought  he  stood  upon  higher  ground,  and  might 
assume  a  superior  air.  When  Cartwright  and 
his  friends  pleaded  for  indulgence  because  they 
were  brethren,  the  doctor  replies,  "  What  signi- 
fies their  being  brethren  1  Anabaptists,  Arians, 
and  other  heretics,  would  be  accounted  brethren ; 
their  haughty  spirits  will  not  suffer  them  to  see 
their  error  ;  they  deserve  as  great  punishment 
as  papists,  because  both  conspire  against  the 
Church.  If  they  are  shut  up  in  Newgate,  it  is 
a  meet  reward  for  their  disorderly  doings  ;  for 
ignorance  may  not  excuse  libels  against  a  pri- 
vate man,  much  less  when  they  slander  the  whole 
Church."  How  would  the  doctor  have  liked 
this  language  in  the  mouth  of  a  papist  sixteen 
years  before  1  But  this  has  been  the  method 
of  warm  and  zealous  disputants ;  the  knots 
they  cannot  untie  with  their  fingers,  they  would 
fain  ciit  asunder  with  the  sword. 

Thus  Dr.  Whitgift  routed  his  adversary ;  he 
had  already  deprived  him  of  his  professor's  chair, 
and  of  his  degree  of  D.D.;  and  being  now  Vice- 
chancellor  of  Cambridge,  he  got  him  expelled 
from  the  University  upon  the  following  pretence : 
Mr.  Cartwright,  being  senior  fellow  of  his  col- 
lege, was  only  in  deacon's  orders  ;  the  doctor 
being  informed  of  this,  and  that  the  statute  re- 
quiring such  to  take  upon  them  the  order  of 
priesthood  might  be  interpreted  to  priests'  or- 
ders, concluded  he  was  perjured  ;*  upon  which 
he  summoned  the  heads  of  the  colleges  together, 
and  declared  that  Mr.  Cartwright  had  broken 
his  oath,  and,  without  any  farther  admonition, 
pushed  his  interest  among  the  masters,  to  rid 
the  college  of  a  man  whose  popularity  was  too 
great  for  his  ambition,  insomuch  that  he  declared 
he  would  not  establish  order  in  the  University 
while  a   person   of  his   principles  was  among 
them.     After  this,  he  wrote  to  the  archbishop, 
September  21,  1572,  and  begged  his  grace  to 
watch  at  court,  that  Cartwright  might  get  no 
advantage  against  him,  for  (says  he)  he  is  flatly 
perjured,  and  it  is  God's  just  judgment  that  he 
should  be  so  punished,  for  not  being  a  full  min- 
ister.    A  very  mean  and  pitiful  triumph  ! 

The  queen,  also,  and  her  commissioners, 
brandished  their  swords  against  Cartwright  and 
his  followers.  Her  majesty,  by  proclamation, 
called  in  the  Admonition,  commanding  all  her 
subjects  who  had  any  in  their  possession  to 
bring  them  to  the  bishop  of  the  diocess,  and 
not  to  sell  them,  upon  pain  of  imprisonment ; 
upon  which  Mr.  Stroud,  the  publisher,  brought 
in  thirty-four,  and  his  wife  burned  the  rest  that 

*  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  46. 


were  unsold.  This  Mr.  Stroud  was  the  suspend- 
ed minister  of  Cranbrook,  an  excellent  preacher, 
and  universally  beloved ;  but  being  reduced  ta 
poverty,  he  was  forced  to  condescend  to  the 
low  offices  of  correcting  the  press,  and  of  pub- 
lishing books  for  a  livelihood.*  When  he  ap- 
peared before  the  Bishop  of  London  upon  this 
occasion,  his  lordship  reproached  him  for  laying 
down  the  ministry,  though  Parker  had  actually 
deprived  him,  and  forbid  him  to  preach  six  years 
before. 

The  bishops  were  no  less  careful  to  crush  the- 
favourers  of  the  Admonition;    for  when  Mr. 
Wake,  of  Christ  Church,  had  declared  in  favour 
of  it,  in  a  sermon  at  St.  Paul's  Cross,  the  Bishop 
of  London  sent  for  him  next  morning  into  custo- 
dy; but  he  made  his  escape.     Mr.  Crick,  chap- 
lain to  the  Bishop  of  Norwich,  having  also  com- 
mended the  book  in  a  sermon  at  the  same  place,, 
the  archbishop  sent  a  special  messenger  to  ap- 
prehend him  ;  and  though  he  escaped  for  the 
present,  he  afterward  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
commissioners,  and  was  deprived.!     The  like 
misfortune  befell  Dr.  Aldrich,  an  eminent  divine 
and  dignitary  of  the  Church,  with  many  others  ; 
notwithstanding  which,  Dr.  Sandys,  bishop  of 
London,  in  his  letter  to  the  treasurer,  calls  for 
farther  help  :  "  The  city,"  says  he,  "  will  never 
be  quiet  till  these  authors  of  sedition,  who  are 
now  esteemed  as  gods,  as  Field,  Wilcox,  Cart- 
wright, and  others,  be  far  removed  from  the 
city ;  the  people  resort  to  them,  as  in  popery  they 
were  wont  to  run  on  pilgrimages ;  if  these  idols, 
who  are  honoured  as  saints,  were  removed  from 
hence,  their  honour  would  fall  into  the  dust,  and 
they  would  be  taken  for  blocks,  as  they  are.     A 
sharp  letter  from  her  majesty  would  cut  the 
courage  of  these  men.     Good  my  lords,  for  the 
love  you  bear  to  the  Church  of  Christ,  resist  the 
tumultuous   enterprises  of  these  new-fangled 
fellows."     These  were  the  weapons  with  which 
the  doctor's  answer  to  the  Admonition  were  en- 
forced ;  so  that  we  may  fairly  conclude,  with 
Fuller  the  historian,  "  that  if  Cartwright  had  the 
better  of  his  adversary  in  learning,  Whitgift  had 
more  power  to  back  his  arguments  ;  and  by  this 
he  not  only  kept  the  field,  but  gained  the  victory." 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  certain  vast  numbers 
of  the  clergy,  both  in  London  and  the  two  uni- 
versities, had  a  high  opinion  of  Cartwright's 
writings  ;  he  had  many  admirers,  and,  if  we  may 
believe  his  adversaries,  wanted  not  for  presents 
and  gratuities  :  many  hands  were  procured  in 
approbation  and  commendation  of  his  reply  to 
Whitgift,  and  some  said  they  would  defend  it 
to  death. t     In  short,  though  Whitgift's  writings 
might  be  of  use  to  confirm  those  who  had  already 
conformed,  they  made  no  converts  among  the 
Puritans,  hut  rather  confirmed  them  in  their 
former  sentiments. 

To  pursue  this  controversy  to  the  end  :  m 
the  year  1573,  Dr.  Whitgift  published  his  de- 
fence against  Cartwright's  reply,^  in  which  he 
states  the  difference  between  them  thus  :  "  The 
question  is  not  whether  many  things  mentioned 
in  your  platform  of  discipline  were  fitly  used  in 
the  apostles'  time,  or  may  now  be  well  used  in 
sui.dry  Reformed  Churches;  this  is  not  denied; 

*  MS.,  p.  195. 

+  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  53.     Life  of  Parker,  p.  428. ' 

t  Life  of  Parker,  p.  427. 

<i  Whitgift's  Life,  p.  56. 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


125 


but  whether,  when  there  is  a  settled  order  in 
doctrine  and  government  estabhshed  by  law,  it 
may  stand  with  godly  and  Christian  wisdom  to 
attempt  so  great  alteration  as  this  platform  must 
needs  bring  in,  with  disobedience  to  the  prince 
and  laws,  and  unquietness  of  the  Church,  and 
offence  of  many  consciences."  If  this  were 
the  whole  question,  surely  it  might  stand  with 
the  wisdom  of  the  Legislature  in  settled  times 
to  make  some  concessions  in  favour  of  pious 
and  devout  men  ;  nor  can  it  be  inconsistent 
with  godly  and  Christian  wisdom  for  subjects  to 
attempt  it  by  lawful  and  peaceable  methods. 

Two  years  after  [1575]  Mr.  Cartwright  pub- 
lished a  second  reply  to  Whitgift's  defence  ;  it 
consisted  of  two  parts  ;  the  first  was  entitled 
"  The  Second  Reply  of  T.  C.  against  Dr.  Whit- 
gift's Second  Answer  touching  the  Church  Dis- 
cipline ;"  with  these  two  sentences  of  Scripture 
in  the  title-page :  "  For  Zion's  sake  I  will  not 
hold  my  tongue ;  for  Jerusalem's  sake  I  will  not 
rest,  till  the  righteousness  thereof  break  forth 
as  the  light,"  &c. ;  "  Ye  are  the  Lord's  remem- 
brancers :  keep  not  silence,"  Isa.,  Ixii.,  6,  7.    It 
is  dedicated  to  the  Church  of  England,  and  all 
that  love  the  truth  in  it.     In  his  preface  he  an- 
swers divers  personal  matters  between  the  doc- 
tor and  himself:  he  remembers  him  of  his  ille- 
gal depriving  him  of  his  fellowship,  and  pro- 
nouncing him  perjured.   He  says  he  never  open- 
ed his  lips  for  the  divinity  chair,  as  he  had  falsely 
charged  him  ;  that  he  had  never  desired  the  de- 
gree of  a  doctor,  but  by  the  advice  of  more  than 
a  dozen  learned  ministers,  who,  considering  his 
office  of  divinity  reader,  thought  he  ought  to  as- 
sume the  title.    He  added,  that  he  never  refused 
a  private  conference  with  him  [Whitgift],  but 
that  he  offered  it,  and  the  other  refused  it,  saying 
he  was  incorrigible ;  indeed,  he  did  refuse  pri- 
vate conference  by  writing,  having  had  expe- 
rience of  his  adversary's  unfaithfulness,  and  be- 
cause he  thought  that  the  doctrine  he  had  taught 
openly  should   be  defended   openly.     Whitgift 
charged  him  that,  after  he  was  expelled  the  col- 
lege, he  went  up  and  down  doing  no  good,  but 
living  at  other  men's  tables.*    How  ungenerous 
was  this,  after  the  doctor  had  taken  away  his 
adversary's  bread,  and  stopped  his  mouth  that 
he  might  not  preach,  to  reproach  him  with  doing 
no  good,  and  being  beholden  to  his  friends  for  a 
dinner !    Cartwright  owned  that  he  was  poor ; 
that  he  had  no  wife  nor  house  of  his  own ;  and 
that  it  was  with  small  delight  that  he  lived  upon 
his  friends,  but  that  he  still  did  what  little  good 
he  could  in  instructing  their  children.    Whitgift 
charged  his  adversary  farther  with  want  of  learn- 
ing, though  he  had  filled  the  divinity  chair  with 
vast  reputation,  and  had  been  styled  by  Beza  Sol, 
the  very  sun  of  England ;  he  taxed  him  with  ma- 
king extracts  of  other  men's  notes,  and  that  he 
had  scarce  read  one  of  the  ancient  authors  he 
had  quoted.     To  which  Cartwright  modestly 
replied,  that  as  to  great  reading,  he  would  let  it 
pass  ;  for  if  Whitgift  had  read  all  the  fathers, 
and  he  scarce  one,  it  would  easily  appear  to  the 
learned  world  by  their  writings  ;  but  that  it 
was  sufficiently  known  that  he  had  hunted  him 
with  more  hounds  than  one. 

The  strength  of  his  reply  lies  in  reducing  the 
policy  of  the  Church  as  near  as  possible  to  the 
standard  of  Scripture,  for  when  Dr.  Whitgift  al- 

»  Whitgift's  Life,  p.  64. 


leged  some  of  the  fathers  of  the  fourth  and 
fifth  century  on  his  side,  Cartwright  replied, 
"  that  fi)rasmuch  as  the  father's  have  erred,  and 
that  corruptions  crept  early  into  the  Church, 
therefore  they  ought  to  have  no  farther  credit 
than  their  authority  is  warranted  by  the  Word 
of  God  and  good  reason.;  to  press  their  bare 
authority  without  relation  to  this,  is  to  bring  an 
intolerable  tyranny  into  the  Church  of  God." 

The  second  part  of  Cartwright's  reply  was 
not  published  till  two  years  forward,  when  he 
was  fled  out  of  the  kingdom;*  it  is  entitled 
"  The  Rest  of  the  Second  Reply  of  Thomas  Cart- 
wright against  Master  Doctor  Whitgift's  Answer 
touching  the  ChurchDiscipline,  imprinted  1577," 
in  which  he  shows  that  church  government  by 
an  eldership  is  by  Divine  appointment,  and  of 
perpetual  obligation.  He  then  considers  the  de- 
fects of  the  Church  of  England,  and  treats  of 
the  power  of  the  civil  magistrate  in  ecclesias- 
tical matters,  of  ecclesiastical  persons  bearing 
civil  offices,  and  of  the  habits.  He  apologizes 
for  going  through  with  the  controversy  at  such 
a  distance  of  time,  but  he  thought  it  of  impor- 
tance, and  that  it  need  not  be  ashamed  of  the 
light.  Speaking  of  his  own  poverty,  disgrace, 
and  banishment  for  appearing  in  this  cause,  he 
says,  "  It  were  an  intolerable  delicacy  if  he  could 
not  give  up  a  little  ease  and  commodity  for  that 
whereunto  his  life  was  due  if  it  had  been  asked  ; 
or  that  he  would  grudge  to  dwell  in  another  cor- 
ner of  the  world  for  that  cause  for  which  he 
ought  to  be  ready  altogether  to  depart  out  of 
it."  But  he  was  sensible  he  strove  against  the 
stream,  and  that  his  work  might  be  thought  un- 
seasonable, his  adversary  being  now  advanced 
so  much  above  him  ;  for  this  year  Whitgift  was 
made  a  bishop,  when  poor  Cartwright  was  little 
better  than  a  wandering  beggar.t 

Thus  ended  the  controversy  between  these 
two  champions  :  so  that  Fuller,  Heylin,  and 
Collyer  must  be  mistaken  when  they  say  Whit- 
gift kept  the  field  and  carried  off  a  complete 
victory,  when  Cartwright  had  certainly  the  last 
word.  But,  whoever  had  the  better  of  the  ar- 
gument, Whitgift  got  the  most  by  it,  and,  when 
he  was  advanced  to  the  pinnacle  of  churCh  pre- 
ferment, acted  an  ungenerous  part  towards  his 
adversary,  for  many  years  prosecuting  him  with 
continual  vexations  and  imprisonments,  and 
pointing  all  his  church- artillery  against  him,  not 
suffering  him  so  much  as  to  defend  the  common 
cause  of  Christianity  against  the  papists,  when 
he  was  called  to  it ;  however,  at  length,  being 
wearied  out  with  the  importunities  of  gre^t  men, 
or  growing  more  temperate  in  his  old  age,  he 
suffered  him  to  govern  a  smaU  hospital  in  War- 
wick, given  him  by  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  where 
this  great  and  good  man's  hairs  came  down 
with  sorrow  to  the  grave.  I 

*  Strype's  Ann.  t  Ibid. 

t  "  Sir  George  Paule,  ihc  panegyrist  rather  than 
the  biographer  of  Whitgift,  has  attempted  to  discredit 
Cartwright  by  hnpugning  his  motives.  In  the  year 
1564,  on  the  occasion  of  Elizabeth's  visit  to  the  uni- 
versity, Cartwright,  as  one  of  the  most  learned  of  that 
body,  was  chosen,  with  others,  to  dispute  before  her. 
Paule  represents  him  as  mortified  by  the  neglect  with 
which  the  queen  treated  him,  and  as  proceeding  im- 
mediately to  Geneva,  '  that  he  might  the  better  feed 
his  humour.'  '  Mr.  Cartwright,'  he  says,  '  immedi- 
ately after  her  majesty's  neglect  of  him,  began  to 
wade  into  diverse  opuiions,  as  that  of  the  discipline, 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS. 


To  return  :  Notwithstanding  all  this  opposi- 
f  on  from  the  queen  and  her  commissioners,  the 
1-aritans  gained  ground  ;  and,  though  the  press 
was  restrained,  they  galled  their  adversaries 
with  pamphlets,  which  were  privately  dispersed 
both  in  city  and  country.  Parker  employed  all 
his  emissaries  to  discover  their  printing  press- 
es, but  to  no  purpose  ;  whereupon  he  complain- 
ed to  the  treasurer  in  these  words  :  "  I  under- 
stand throughout  all  the  realm,"  says  he,  "  how 
the  matter  is  taken;  the  Puritans  are  justified, 
and  we  judged  to  be  extreme  persecutors  ;  I 
have  observed  this  for  seven  years  ;  if  the  sin- 
cerity of  the  Gospel  should  end  in  such  judg- 
ments, I  fear  the  council  will  be  overthrown. 
The  Puritans  slander  us  with  books  and  libels, 
lying  they  care  not  how  deep,  and  yet  the  more 
they  write  the  more  they  are  applauded  and 
comforted."*  The  scholars  of  Cambridge  were 
generally  with  the  Puritans,  but  the  masters 
and  heads  of  colleges  were  against  them ;  so 
that  many  who  ventured  to  preach  for  the  dis- 
cipline were  deprived  of  their  fellowships  and 
expelled  the  university,  or  obliged  to  a  public 
retraction. 

There  being  no  farther  prospect  of  a  public 
reformation  by  the  Legislature,  some  of  the 
leading  Puritans  agreed  to  attempt  it  in  a  more 

and  to  kick  against  her  ecclesiastical  government.' — 
Life  of  Whitgft,  10.  Heyun,  Hist,  of  Reformation, 
164,  and  Colher,  Ecclesiastical  Hist.,  ii.,  492,  have 
retailed  this  slander,  in  which  unworthy  conduct 
they  have  been  followed  by  several  modern  writers. 
Fuller  mentions  the  charge  with  evident  marks  of 
distrust.  'We  find  one  great  scholar,'  he  remarks, 
'much  discontented,  if  my  author  may  be  believed, 
namely,  Mr.  Thomas  Carlwright.  He  and  Thomas 
Preston  were  appointed  two  of  the  four  disputants  in 
ths'  Philosophy  Act  before  the  queen.  Cartwright 
had  dealt  most  with  the  muses,  Preston  with  the 
graces,  adorning  his  learning  with  comely  carriage, 
graceful  gesture,  and  pleasing  pronunciation.  _  Cart- 
wright  disputed  like  a  great,  Preston  like  a  genteel, 
scholar,  being  a  handsome  man ;  and  the  queen,  upon 
parity  of  deserts,  always  preferred  properness  of  per- 
son in  conferring  her  favours.'  And  he  adds,  '  Mr. 
Cartwright's  followers  credit  not  the  relation.  Ad- 
ding, moreover,  that  the  queen  did  highly  commend, 
though  not  reward  him.' — Hist,  of  the  University  of 
Camhridge,  139.  Cartwright's  general  character  is 
suflScient  to  discredit  this  account.  But  its  inaccu- 
racy is  rendered  more  apparent  by  the  fact  that  his 
visit  to  Geneva,  which  Paule  represents  as  the  con- 
sequence of  his  disgust  at  the  queen's  neglect,  and  as 
the  source  of  those  opinions  for  which  he  was  depri- 
ved of  his  professorship,  did  not  take  place  till  after 
his  expulsion  from  the  university.  Strype  exoner- 
ates Cartwright,  alleging  that,  '  by  the  relation  of  the 
queen's  reception  at  Cambridge  (now  in  the  hands  of 
a  learned  member  of  that  university),  there  appears 
no  clear  ground  for  any  such  discontent.  For  the 
queen  is  said  there  to  have  approved  them  all ;  only 
that  Preston  pleased  her  most,  and  was  made  her 
scholar,  with  the  settlement  of  a  yearly  honorary  sal- 
ary on  him.' — Annals,  i.,  ii.,  107.  His  elevation  to 
the  divinity  chair,  in  15G9,  is  ample  evidence  of  the 
estimation  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  university, 
and  would  have  sufficed  to  calm  his  spirit  had  it  been 
perturbed  by  such  emotions  as  his  enemies  were  for- 
ward in  attributing  to  him.  It  was  due  to  the  mem- 
ory of  this  eminent  man  to  vindicate  him  from  so 
foul  an  aspersion.  But  what  must  we  think  of  those 
modem  libellers  who,  passing  over  the  admission  of 
Strype,  and  the  mistrust  of  Fuller,  retail  the  venom 
of  Paiile,  Heylin,  and  Collier?" — Clarke's  Lives  of 
Thirty-two  Divines,  p.  17.  Dr.  Price's  Hist.  Noncon., 
vol.  i.,  p.  215.— C.  *  Life  of  Parker,  p.  389. 


private  way ;  for  this  purpose  they  erected  a 
presbytery  in  Wandsworth,  a  village  five  miles 
from  the  city,  conveniently  situated  for  the  Lon- 
don brethren,  as  standing  on  the  banks  of  the 
River  Thames.  The  heads  of  the  association 
were  Mr.  Field,  lecturer  of  Wandsworth,  Mr. 
Smith  of  Mitcham,  Mr.  Crane  of  Roehampton, 
Messrs.  Wilcox,  Standen,  Jackson,  Bonham, 
Saintloc,  and  Edmonds,  to  whom  afterward 
were  joined  Messrs.  Travers,  Chake,  Barber, 
Gardiner,  Crook,  Egerton,  and  a  number  of  very 
considerable  laymen.  On  the  20th  of  Novem- 
ber eleven  elders  were  chosen,  and  their  offices 
described  in  a  register  entitled  "  The  Orders  of 
Wandsworth."  This  was  the  first  Presbyterian 
Church  in  England.  All  imaginable  care  was 
taken  to  keep  their  proceedings  secret,  but  the 
bishop's  eye  was  upon  them,  who  gave  immedi- 
ate intelligence  to  the  high  commission,  upon 
which  the  queen  issued  out  a  proclamation  for 
putting  the  Act  of  Uniformity  in  execution  ;  but, 
though  the  commissioners  knew  of  the  presby- 
tery, they  could  not  discover  the  members  of  it, 
nor  prevent  others  being  erected  in  neighbour- 
ing counties. 

While  the  queen  and  bishops  were  defending 
the  outworks  of  the  Church  against  the  Puri- 
tans, and  bracing  up  the  building  with  articles, 
canons,  injunctions,  and  penal  laws,  enforced 
by  the  sword  of  the  civil  magistrate,  the  papists 
were  sapping  the  very  foundation  ;  for  upon 
publishing  the  pope's  bull  of  excommunication 
against  the  queen,  great  numbers  deserted  the 
public  worship,  and  resorted  to  private  conven- 
ticles to  hear  mass,  while  others  who  kept  their 
stations  in  the  Church  were  secretly  undermi- 
ning it.  "There  were  at  this  time,"  says  a 
learned  writer,*  "  certain  ministers  of  the 
Church  that  were  papists,  who  subscribed  and 
observed  the  orders  of  the  Church,  wore  a  side- 
gown,  a  square  cap,  a  cope,  and  surplice.  They 
would  run  into  corners,  and  say  to  the  people, 
Believe  not  this  new  doctrine ;  it  is  naught,  it 
will  not  long  endure  ;  although  I  use  order 
among  them  outwardly,  my  heart  is  not  with 
them,  but  with  the  mother-church  of  Rome 
No,  no,  we  do  not  preach,  nor  yet  teach  openly  ; 
though  we  read  their  new-devised  homilies  for 
a  colour  to  satisfy  the  time  for  a  season."  In 
Yorkshire  they  went  openly  to  mass,  and  were 
so  numerous  that  the  Protestants  stood  in  awe 
of  them.  In  London  there  was  a  great  resort 
to  the  Portugal  ambassador's  chapel ;  and  when 
the  sheriff,  by  order  of  the  Bishop  of  London, 
sent  his  officers  to  take  some  of  them  into  cus- 
tody, the  queen  was  displeased,  and  ordered 
them  immediately  to  be  released. 

Sad  was  the  state  of  religion,  says  Mr.  Strype, 
at  this  time :  "  the  substantials  being  lost  in 
contending  for  externals  ;  the  churchmen  heap- 
ed up  many  benefices  upon  themselves,  and  re- 
sided upon  none,  neglecting  their  cures. +  Many 
of  them  alienated  their  lands,  made  unreasona- 
ble leases  and  waste  of  woods,  and  granted  re- 
versions and  advowsons  to  their  wives  and 
children.  Among  the  laity  there  was  little  de- 
votion ;  the  Lord's  Day  greatly  profaned,  and 
little  observed ;  the  common  prayers  not  fre- 
quented ;  some  lived  without  any  service  of 
God  at  all ;  many  were  mere  heathens  and 
atheists  ;  the  queen's  own  court  a  harbour  for 

*  Strype's  Ann.,  p.  98.      t  Life  of  Parker,  p.  395. 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


127 


epicures  and  atheists,  and  a  kind  of  lawless 
place,  because  it  stood  in  no  parish ;  which 
things  make  good  men  fear  some  sad  judgments 
impending  over  the  nation."  The  governors  of 
the  Church  expressed  no  concern  for  suppress- 
ing of  vice  and  encouraging  virtue  ;  there  were 
no  citations  into  the  Commons  for  immoralities ; 
but  the  bishops  were  every  day  shutting  the 
Uiouths  of  the  most  pious,  useful,  and  industri- 
ous preachers  in  the  nation,  at  a  time  when  the 
queen  was  sick  of  the  smallpox  and  troubled 
with  fainting  fits,  and  the  whole  Reformation 
depended  upon  the  single  thread  of  her  life. 

This  precarious  state  of  religion  was  the 
more  terrible  because  of  the  Parisian  massacre, 
which  happened  this  very  summer  [1572],  on 
the  24th  of  August,  being  Bartholomew  Day, 
when  great  numbers  of  Protestants  having  been 
invited  to  Paris,  on  pretence  of  doing  honour  to 
the  King  of  Navarre's  marriage  to  the  king's  sis- 
ter, ten  thousand  were  massacred  in  one  night, 
and  twenty  thousand  more  in  other  parts  of  the 
kingdom,  within  the  compass  of  a  few  weeks, 
by  his  majesty's  commission  ;  no  distinction 
being  made  between  lords,  gentlemen,  justices, 
lawyers,  scholars,  physicians,  and  the  meanest 
of  the  people  ;*  they  spared  neither  women, 
maids,  children  in  the  cradle,  nor  infants  in 
their  mother's  womb.  Many  wko  escaped  fled 
to  Geneva  and  Switzerland,  and  great  numbers 
into  England,  to  save  their  lives.  The  Protest- 
ant princes  of  Germany  were  awakened  with 
this  butchery  ;  and  the  queen  put  the  coasts 
into  a  posture  of  defence,  but  made  no  conces- 
sions for  uniting  her  Protestant  subjects  among 
themselves. t 

This  year  died  the  reverend  and  learned  Mr. 
John  Knox,  the  apostle  and  chief  Reformer  of 
the  Kirk  of  Scotland.  Tliis  divine  came  into 
England  in  the  reign  of  King  Edward  VI ,  and 
was  appointed  one  of  the  itinerant  preachers 
for  the  year  1552 ;  he  was  afterward  offered  a 
parochial  living  in  London,  but  refused  it ;  upon 
King  Edward's  death  he  retired  beyond  sea, 
and  became  preacher  to  the  English  exiles  at 
Frankfort,  till  he  was  artfully  spirited  away  by 
the  contrivance  of  Mr.  Cox,  now  bishop  of  Ely, 
for  not  reading  the  English  service.  He  after- 
ward preached  to  the  English  at  Geneva  ;  and 
upon  the  breaking  up  of  that  congregation  in 
the  year  1559,  he  returned  to  Scotland,  and  was 
a  great  instrument  m  the  hand  of  Providence 
for  the  reformation  of  that  kirk.  He  was  a  son 
of  thunder,  and  feared  not  the  face  of  any  man 
in  the  cause  of  religion,  which  betrayed  him 
sometimes  into  too  coarse  treatment  of  his  su- 
periors.t  However,  he  had  the  respect  of  all 
the  Protestant  nobility  and  gentry  of  his  coun- 
try ;  and  after  a  life  of  great  service  and  labour, 
he  died  comfortably  in  the  midst  of  his  friends, 
in  the  sixty-seventh  year  of  his  age,ij  being 
greatly  supported  in  his  last  hours  from  the  sev- 


*  Strype's  Ann.,  p.  ICO. 

+  Edinburgh  Review,  No.  87. 

j  It  has  been  justly  observed,  "  that  though  the 
praise  of  sincerity  and  piety  cannot  be  denied  him,  it 
is  to  be  regretted  that  those  virtues  were  accompani- 
ed with  a  narrow  and  bigoted  turn  of  mind.  In  the 
time  of  John  Kno-X,  the  having  suffered  persecution 
did  not  hinder  men  from  e.xercising  persecution  when 
it  was  in  their  power."— T/ie  New  Annual  Register 
for  n89.     History  of  Knowledge,  p'.  31. 

^  Life  of  Parker,  p.  366. 


enteenth  chapter  of  St.  John,  and  1  Cor.,  xv., 
both  which  he  ordered  to  be  frequently  read  to 
him:  his  body  was  attended  to  the  grave  with 
great  solemnity  and  honour. 

The  queen  being  incensed  against  the  Puri- 
tans for  their  late  applications  to  Parliament, 
reprimanded  the  bishops  for  not  suppressing 
them,  resolving  to  bend  all  the  powers  of  the 
crown  that  way.  Accordingly,  commissioners 
were  appointed  under  the  great  seal,*  in  every 
shire,  to  put  in  execution  the  penal  laws  by 
way  of  oyer  and  terminer,  and  the  queen  pub- 
lished a  proclamation  in  the  month  of  October, 
declaring  her  royal  pleasure  that  all  offenders 
against  the  Act  of  Uniformity  should  be  severely 
punished.  Letters  were  also  sent  from  the 
lords  of  the  council  to  the  bishops,  dated  No- 
vember 7th,  1573,  to  enforce  her  majesty's  proc- 
lamation,t  in  which,  after  having  reproached 
them  with  holding  their  courts  only  to  get  mon- 
ey, or  for  such  like  purposes,  they  now  require 
them  in  her  majesty's  name,  either  by  them- 
selves, which  is  most  fit,  or  by  their  archdea- 
cons, personally  to  visit  and  see  that  the  habits, 
with  all  the  queen's  injunctions,  be  exactly  and 
uniformly  observed  in  every  church  of  their  di- 
ocess,  and  to  punish  all  refusers  according  to 
the  ecclesiastical  laws.  The  lord-treasurer, 
also,  made  a  long  speech  before  the  commis- 
sioners in  the  Star  Chamber,^  in  which,  by  the 
queen's  order,  "  he  charged  the  bishops  with 
neglect,  in  not  enforcing  her  majesty's  procla- 
mation :  he  said  the  queen  could  not  satisfy  her 
conscience  without  crushing  the  Puritans  ;  for 
she  thought  none  of  her  subjects  worthy  of^  her 
protection  that  favoured  innovations,  or  that  di- 
rectly or  indirectly  countenanced  the  alteration 
of  anything  established  in  the  Church  ;  that  by 
too  much  lenity  some  might  be  apt  to  think  the 
exceptions  of  these  novelists  against  the  cere- 
monies were  reasonable  and  well  founded,  or 
but  trifling  matters  of  disputation  ;  but  the 
queen  was  resolved  that  her  orders  and  injunc- 
tions should  not  be  contemned  ;  that  the  public 
rule  should  be  inviolably  observed  ;  and  that 
there  should  be  an  absolute  obedience,  because 
the  safety  of  her  government  depended  upon  it." 
The  treasurer,  therefore,  as  some  other  mem- 
ber, proposed  in  council  that  all  ministers 
throughout  the  kingdom  should  be  bound  in  a 
bond  of  £200  to  conform  in  all  things  to  the  Act 
of  Uniformity,  and  in  case  of  default,  their  names 
to  be  returned  into  the  exchequer  by  the  bishop, 
and  the  bond  to  be  sued.ij  If  this  project  had 
taken  place,  it  would  have  ruined  half  the  cler- 
gy of  the  kingdom. 
Another  occasion  of  these  extraordinary  pro- 


*  Life  of  Parker,  p.  447,  479.  Strype's  Annals,  vol. 
n.,  260.  t  Life  of  Parker,  App.,  vol.  ii.,  454. 

t  Life  of  Parker,  p.  456,  458. 

The  letter  from  the  lords  of  the  council,  and  the 
speech  of  the  lord-treasurer,  are  alleged  by  Bishop 
Maddox  as  convincing  proofs  of  the  mild  conduct  of 
the  bishops.  How  far  his  conclusion  is  justly  drawn ; 
whether  it  prove  anything  more  than  that  the  zeal 
and  activity  of  the  bishops  did  not  keep  pace  with 
the  wishes  of  the  court,  the  reader  will  judge  from 
the  facts  Mr.  Neal's  History  has  exhibited.  But, 
however  this  evidence  may  exculpate  the  bishops,  it 
certainly  impeaches  the  lenity  of  the  queen  and  is  a 
direct  proof  of  the  severity,  the  unyielding  severity, 
of  her  government. — Ed. 

()  Strype's  Ann.,  p.  260 ;  vol.  ii.,  p.  288  Life  of 
Gnndal,  p.  185. 


128 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


ceedings  of  the  court  is  said  to  arise  from  the 
accidental  madness  of  one  Peter  Birchet,  of  the 
Middle  Temple,  who  had  the  name  of  a  Puritan, 
but  was  disordered  in   his  senses ;    this  man 
came  out  of  the  Temple  in  his  gown,  October 
14,  1573,  about  eleven  in  the  morning,  and  see- 
ing Mr.  Fitzgerald,  lieutenant  of  the  pensioners, 
Sir  William  Winter,  and  Mr.  Hawkins,  officers 
of  the  queen's  navy,  riding  through  the  Strand, 
with  their  servants  on  foot,  came  up  to  them, 
and   suddenly  struck  Hawkins  with  a  dagger 
through  the  right  arm  into  the  body,  about  the 
arm  hole,  and  immediately  ran  into  the  Bell  Tnn, 
where  he  was  taken,  and,  upon  examination, 
being  asked  whether  he  knew  Mr.  Hawkins,  he 
answered  he  took  him  for  Mr.  Hatton,  captain 
of  the  guards,  and  one  of  the  privy  chamber, 
whom  he  was  moved  to  kill  by  the  Spirit  of 
God,  by  which  he  should  do  God  and  his  coun- 
try acceptable  service,  because  he  was  an  ene- 
my of  God's  Word,  and  a  maintainer  of  papistry. 
In  which  opinion  he  persevered,  without  any 
signs  of  repentance,  till,  for  fear  of  being  burned 
for  heresy,  he  recanted  before  Dr.  Sandys,  bish- 
op of  London,  and  the  rest  of  the  commission- 
ers.     The  queen  asked  her  two  chief-justices 
and   attorney-general  what   corporeal  punish- 
ment the  villain  might  undergo  for  his  offence  ; 
it  was  proposed  to  put  him  to  death  as  a  felon, 
because  a  premeditated  attempt  with  an  inten- 
tion of  killing  had  been  so  punished  by  King 
Edward  11.,  though  the  party  wounded  did  not 
die  ;  but  the  judges  did  not  apprehend  this  to 
be  law.     It  was  then  moved  that  the  queen,  by 
virtue  of  her  prerogative,  should  put  him  to  death 
by  martial  law ;  and,  accordingly,  a  warrant  was 
made  out  under  the  great  seal  for  his  execution, 
though  the  fact  was  committed  in  time  of  peace. 
This  made  some  of  the  council  hesitate,  appre- 
hending it  might  prove  a  very  bad  precedent. 
At  length  the  poor  creature  put  an  end  to  the 
dispute  himself,  for  on  the  10th  of  November, 
in  the  afternoon,  he  killed  his  keeper  Longworth 
with  one  blow,  striking  him  with  a  billet  on  the 
hinder  part  of  the  head,  as  he  was  looking  upon 
a  book  in  the  prison  window  of  the  Tower  ;  for 
this  crime  he  was  next  day  indicted  and  arraign- 
ed at  the  King's  Bench,  where  he  confessed  the 
fact,  saying  that  Longworth,  in  his  imagination, 
was  Hatton :  there  he  received  judgment  for 
murder,  and  the  next  day,  November  12,  had 
his  right  hand  first  cut  off  at  the  place  in  the 
Strand  where  he  struck  Hawkins,  and  was  then 
immediately  hanged  on  a  gibbet  erected  purpose- 
ly between  eight  and  nine  of  the  clock  in  the 
morning,  and  continued  hanging  there  for  three 
days.     The  poor  man  talked  very  wildly,  and 
was  by  fits  downright  mad,  so  that  if  he  had 
been  shut  up  in  Bedlam  after  his  first  attempt, 
as  he  ought  to  have  been,  all  farther  mischief 
had  been  prevented.*     However,  it  was  very 
unreasonable  to  lay  this  to  the  charge  of  the 
Puritans,  and  to  take  occasion  from  hence  to 
spread   a  general  persecution  over  the  whole 
kingdom  ;  but  the  queen  was  for  laying  hold  of 
all  opportunities  to  suppress  a  number  of  con- 
scientious men  whom,  she  would  often  say,  she 
hated  more  than  the  papists. t 

The  commissioners,  being  thus  pushed  for- 
ward from  above,  sent  letters  to  the  bishops, 
exhorting  them  to  command  their  archdeacons, 

*  MS.,  p.  870.         t  Life  of  Parker,  p.  454. 


and  other  ecclesiastical  officers,  to  give  it  in 
charge  to  their  clergy  and  questmen  to  present 
the  names  and  surnames  of  all  Nonconformists 
in  their  several  parishes,  before  the  first  week 
in  Lent.*  A  letter  of  this  sort  was  sent,  among 
others,  by  the  old  Bishop  of  Norwich  to  his 
chancellor,  dated  from  Ludham,  January  30, 
1573.  This  was  very  unacceptable  work  to  a 
man  who  was  dropping  into  his  grave  ;t  but  he 
gave  orders  as  he  was  commanded  ;  and  many 
ministers  of  his  diocess  being  returned  uncon- 
formable, were  suspended  from  reading  com- 
mon prayer  and  administering  the  sacraments, 
but  allowed  still  to  catechise  youth  ;t  several 
of  whom  offered  to  preach  to  some  congrega- 
tions as  the  bishops  should  appoint,  of  which 
his  lordship  wrote  to  the  archbishop,  but  his 
grace  refused  to  set  them  on  work,  and  continue 
their  parts  in  the  public  exercises  or  prophesy- 
ings,  for  which  the  bishop  was  severely  repri- 
manded, and  threatened  by  the  commissioners 
with  the  queen's  high  displeasure  ;  whereupon 
he  allowed  his  chancellor  to  silence  them  total- 
ly, though  it  was  against  his  judgment ;  for,  in 
his  letter  to  a  gentleman  on  this  occasion,  he 
writes  :  " — I  was  obliged  to  restrain  them,  un- 
less I  would  willingly  procure  my  own  danger. 
Therefore,  let  not  this  matter  seem  strange  to 
you,  for  the  matter  was  of  importance,  and 
touched  me  so  near,  that  I  could  do  no  less  if  I 
would  avoid  extreme  danger."^  But,  after  all, 
his  lordship  being  suspected  of  remissness,  Par- 
ker directed  a  special  commission  to  commis- 
saries of  his  own  appointing,  to  visit  his  diocess 
parochially  ;  which  they  did,  and  reported  that 
some  ministers  were  absent,  and  so  could  not 
be  examined ;  other  churches  had  no  surplices, 
but  the  ministers  said  they  would  wear  them 
when  provided  ;  but  that  there  were  about  three 
hundred  Nonconformists  whom  they  had  sus- 
pended, one  of  whom,  as  the  good  old  bishop 
wrote,  was  godly  and  learned,  and  had  done 
much  good. II 

The  heads  of  the  Puritans,  being  debarred 
the  liberty  of  preaching  and  printing,  challenged 
their  adversaries  to  a  public  disputation  ;  this 
had  been  allowed  the  Protestants  m  Queen  Ma- 
ry's reign,  and  the  papists  at  the  accession  of 
Queen  Elizabeth  ;  but  the  queen  and  council 
would  not  now  admit  that  what  was  establish- 
ed by  law  should  be  exposed  to  question,  and 
referred  to  the  hazard  of  a  dispute.  Instead, 
therefore,  of  a  conference,  they  took  a  shorter 
way,  by  summoning  the  disputants  before  the 
ecclesiastical  commission,  to  answer  to  sundry 
articles  exhibited  against  them,  and,  among  oth- 
ers, to  this.  Whether  the  Common  Prayer  Book 
is  every  part  of  it  grounded  upon  Holy  Scrip- 
ture! an  honour  hardly  to  be  allowed  to  any 
human  composure ;  and  for  not  answering  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  commissioners,  Mr.  Wyburn, 
Johnson,  Brown,  Field,  Wilcox,  Sparrow,  and 
King  were  deprived,  and  the  last  four  commit- 
ted to  Newgate, IT  from  whence  two  of  them  had 
been  but  lately  released.    They  were  told,  far- 


*  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  ii.,  p.  261. 

t  Life  of  Parker,  p.  159,  246,  251,  252,  449. 


X  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  ii.,  p.  261, 262.  Life  of  Par- 
ker, p.  336. 

i)  Life  of  Parker,  p.  246,  259,  449,  451,  452,  479. 
Strype's  Annals,  vol.  ii.,  p.  109,  261-263,  343. 

II  Life  of  Parker,  p.  336.  f  Ibid.,  p.  413. 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


129 


tier,  that  if  they  did  not  comply  in  a  short  time, 
they  should  be  banished,  though  there  was  no 
law  for  inflicting  such  punishment. 

Mr.  Cartvvright  was  summoned  among  the 
rest,  but  wisely  got  out  of  the  way,  upon  which 
the  commissioners  issued  out  the  following  or- 
der :  "  To  all  mayors,  bailiffs,  sheriffs,  consta- 
bles, headboroughs,  and  all  others  the  queen's 
officers,  to  be  aiding  and  assisting  to  the  bearer 
[their  messenger]  with  the  best  means  they  can 
devise,  to  apprehend  one  Thomas  Cartwright, 
student  in  divinity,  wheresoever  he  be  within 
tlie  realm,  and  to  bring  him  up  to  London  with 
a  sufficient  guard,  to  appear  before  us,  her  maj- 
esty's commissioners  in  causes  ecclesiastical, 
for  his  misdemeanors  in  matters  of  religion:* 
December  15th,  1573.  Signed  by  John  Rivers, 
mayor  ;  Edwin,  bishop  of  London  ;  Alex.  Now- 
ell,  dean  of  St.  Paul's  ;  Gabriel  Goodman,  dean 
of  Westminster ;  together  with  the  attorney- 
general,  recorder,  master  of  the  rolls,  and  mas- 
ter of  the  requests."  But  Mr.  Cartwright  lay 
concealed  among  his  friends  till  an  opportunity 
offered  of  leaving  the  kingdom. 

The  Reverend  Mr.  Deering,  reader  of  St. 
Paul's,  was  also  suspended  for  some  trifling 
words  spoken  against  the  hierarchy  in  conver- 
sation ;  and  in  order  to  his  restoration,  was  obli- 
ged to  subscribe  four  articles,  viz.,  to  the  su- 
premacy ;  to  the  thirty-nine  articles ;  to  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer  ;  and  that  the  Word 
and  sacraments  are  rightly  administered  in  the 
Church  of  England  ;  which  he  did,  with  some 
few  exceptions.  The  commissioners  then  ex- 
amined him  upon  fifteen  or  twenty  articles  more, 
of  which  these  were  some  : 

"  Whether  we  be  tied  by  God's  Word  to  the 
order  and  use  of  the  apostles,  and  of  the  primi- 
tive Church,  in  all  things  1  Whether  nothing 
may  be  in  the  Church  concerning  ceremonies  or 
regimen  but  only  that  which  Christ  himself  has 
commanded  in  his  word  1  Whether  every  par- 
ticular parish  church,  of  necessity  and  by  order 
of  God's  Word,  ought  to  have  their  pastors,  el- 
<lers,  and  deacons  chosen  by  the  people,  and  they 
only  to  have  the  whole  government  of  the  Church 
in  ecclesiastical  matters  ?  Whether  there  should 
be  an  equality  among  the  ministers  of  this  realm, 
as  well  concerning  government  and  discipline 
as  the  ministration  of  the  Word  and  sacraments  ^. 
Whether  the  patrimony  of  the  Church,  as  glebe- 
lands  and  tithes,  &c.,  ought  to  be  taken  from 
them  ?  Whether  the  present  ministers  of  the 
Church  of  England  are  true  ministers,  and  their 
administrations  effectual  ]  Whether  it  be  more 
agreeable  to  God's  Word,  and  more  for  the  profit 
of  the  Church,  to  use  a  form  of  common  prayer ; 
or  that  every  minister  pray  publicly,  as  his  own 
spirit  shall  direct  him  l  Whether  the  children 
of  papists  ought  to  be  rebaptized  1  Whether  an 
ecclesiastical  person  may  have  more  livings 
than  one  I  Whether  a  minister  of  Christ  may 
exercise  a  civil  function  V't 

The  rest  of  the  articles,  making  in  all  above 
twenty,  were  about  the  obligation  of  the  judi- 
cial law  of  Moses,  and  the  power  of  the  civil 
magistrate  in  matters  of  religion.  To  all  which 
Mr.  Deering  gave  wise  and  modest  answers, 
yielding  as  much  as  his  principles  and  the  na- 
ture of  things  would  admit ;  but  being  called. 


*  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  ii.,  p.  282. 
t  Pierce's  Vindication,  p.  80,  81. 
Vol.  I.— R 


as  it  were,  before  an  inquisition,  as  he  thought 
himself  not  bound  to  be  his  own  accuser,  so  he 
prayed  their  honours  that  what  he  had  said 
might  not  be  interpreted  to  his'  prejudice  ;  yet 
the  commissioners  ungenerously  took  advantage 
of  his  answers,  and  deprived  him  of  his  lecture 

Mr.  Deering  appealed  from  the  commission- 
ers to  the  council,  who  were  pleased  tc  restore 
him,  which  galled  the  archbishop,  as  appears  by 
his  letter  to  one  of  the  commissioners,  dated 
July  6th,  1573,  in  which  are  these  words :  "We 
have  sent  you  certain  articles  taken  out  of 
Cartwright's  book,  by  the  council  propounded 
to  Mr.  Deering,  with  his  answers  to  the  same ; 
and  also  a  copy  of  the  council's  letter  to  Mr. 
Deering,  to  restore  him  to  his  former  reading 
and  preaching,  notwithstanding  our  advices 
never  required  thereunto.  These  proceedings 
puff  them  up  with  pride,  make  the  people  hate 
us,  and  magnify  them  with  great  triumphing, 
that  her  majesty  and  her  privy  council  have 
good  liking  of  this  new  building ;  but  we  are 
persuaded  that  her  majesty  has'no  liking  there- 
of, howsoever  the  matter  be  favoured  by  others." 

Mr.  Deering  was  a  learned,  pious,  and  peace- 
able Nonconformist ;  his  printed  sermons  are 
polite  and  nervous.     In  his  letter  to  the  Lord- 
treasurer  Burleigh,  on  this  occasion,  he  offered 
to  show,  before  any  body  of  learned  men,  the 
difference  between  the  bishops  of  the  primitive 
Church  and  those  of  the  present  Church  of 
England,  in  the  following  particulars  :  Bishops 
and  ministers  then  were  in  one  degree  ;  now 
they  are  divers.     There  were  then  many  bish- 
ops in  one  town ;  now  there  is  but  one  in  a 
whole  country.    No  bishop's  authority  was  more 
than  in  one  city,  but  now  it  is  in  many  shires. 
Bishops  then  used  no  bodily  punishments  ;  now 
they  imprison,  fine,  &c.     The  primitive  bishops 
could  not  excommunicate  or  absolve  merely  by 
their  own  authority;  now  they  may.     Then, 
without  consent  of  presbyters,  they  could  make 
no  ministers  ;  now  they  do.    They  could  confirm 
no  children  in  other  parishes ;  they  do  now  in 
many  shires.    Theyhadthen  but  one  living;  now 
they  have  divers.     They  had  neither  officials, 
commissaries,  nor  chancellors.     They  dealt  in 
no  civil  government  by  any  established  author- 
ity.*    They  had  no  right  to  alienate  any  par- 
sonage, or  let  it  in  lease.     Then  they  had  a 
church  where  they  served  the  cure,  as  those 
we  call  parish  priests,  though  they  were  metro- 
politans or  archbishops ;  so  that  Ambrose,  St. 
Austin,  and  others,  who  lived  as  late  as  the 
fourth  or  fifth  century,  and  were  called  bishops, 
had  very  little  agreement  with  ours.     But  for 
this  our  archbishop  never  left  him  till  he  was 
silenced  again  and  deprived. 

On  the  29th  of  January,  1573,  the  Reverend 
Mr.  Arthur  Wake,  parson  of  Great- Willing, 
value  £100  a  year;  Eusebius  Paget,  parson  of 
Owld,  £100  a  year ;  Thurston  Mosely,  parson 
of  Hardingston,  £40  a  year;  George  Gilderd, 
parson  of  Collingtrowge,  and  William  Dawson, 
parson  of  Weston-Favel,  one  hundred  marks 
(all  in  the  diocess  of  Peterborough,  of  which  Dr. 
Scambler  was  Bi.shop,  and  James  Ellis,  LL.D., 
chancellor),  were  first  suspended  for  three 
weeks,  and  then  deprived  of  their  livings.  They 
were  all  preachers  ;  four  of  them  were  licensed 
by  the  university  as  learned  and  religious  di- 

*  Collyer's  Church  History,  p.  543. 


130 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS. 


vines,  and  three  of  them  had  been  moderators 
in  the  exercises.  The  reasons  of  their  depri- 
vation were  not  for  errors  in  doctrine  or  de- 
pravity ol  life,  but  for  not  subscribing  two  forms 
of  the  commissioners'  devising,  one  called /or- 
ma  promissionis,  the  other  forma  oljurationis. 
In  the  forma  promissionis  they  swear  and  sub- 
scribe "  to  use  the  service  and  Common  Prayer 
Book,  and  the  public  form  of  administration  of 
sacraments,  and  no  other  ;  that  they  will  serve 
in  their  cures  according  to  the  rites,  orders, 
forms,  and  ceremonies  prescribed ;  and  that 
they  will  not  hereafter  preach  or  speak  any- 
thing tending  to  the  derogation  of  the  said  book, 
or  any  part  thereof,  remaining  authorized  by 
the  laws  and  statutes  of  this  realm."  In  the 
forma  objuratio7iis  they  subscribe  and  protest 
upon  oath  "  that  the  book  of  consecration  of 
archbishops  and  bishops,  and  of  the  ordering  of 
deacons,  set  forth  in  the  time  of  King  Edward 
VI.,  and  confirmed  by  authority  of  Parliament, 
doth  contain  in  it  all  things  necessary  for  such 
consecration  an4  ordering,  having  in  it  nothing 
that  is  either  superstitious  or  ungodly,  accord- 
ing to  their  judgment ;  and,  therefore,  that  they 
which  be  consecrated  and  ordered  according  to 
the  same  book  be  duly,  orderly,  and  lawfully 
ordained  and  consecrated,  and  that  they  do  ac- 
knowledge their  duty  and  obedience  to  their  or- 
dinary and  diocesan  as  to  a  lawful  magistrate 
under  the  queen's  majesty,  so  set  forth  as  the 
laws  and  statutes  do  require  ;  which  obedience 
they  do  promise,  according  as  the  laws  shall 
bind  them  to  perform.  In  testimony  whereof 
they  do  hereunto  subscribe  their  names."* 

The  ministers  offered  to  use  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  and  no  other,  and  not  to 
preach  against  the  same  before  the  meeting  of 
the  next  Parliament ;  but  apprehending  the 
oath  and  subscription  to  be  contrary  to  the  laws 
of  God  and  the  realm,  they  appealed  to  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who  denied  their 
appeal.!  Hereupon  they  presented  a  supplica- 
tion to  the  queen,  and  another  to  the  Parlia- 
ment, but  could  not  be  heard,  though  their  case 
was  most  compassionate,  for  they  had  wives 
and  large  families  of  children,  which  were  now 
reduced  to  poverty  and  want,  so  that  (as  they 
say  in  their  supplication),  if  God  in  his  provi- 
dence does  not  help,  they  must  beg. 

In  the  room  of  the  deprived  ministers,  cer- 
tain outlandish  men  succeeded  who  could  hardly 
read  so  as  to  be  understood  ;  the  people  were 
left  untaught ;  instead  of  having  two  sermons 
every  Lord's  Day,  there  was  now  but  one  in  a 
quarter  of  a  year,  and  for  the  most  part  not  that. 
The  parishioners  signed  petitions  to  the  bishop 
for  their  former  preachers,  but  to  no  purpose ; 
they  must  swear  and  subscribe,  or  be  buried  in 
silence. 

On  the  20th  of  September,  1573,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Robert  Johnson,  already  mentioned,  some  time 
domestic  chaplain  to  the  Lord-keeper  Bacon,  now 
parson  of  St.  Clement's,  near  Temple  Bar,  was 
tried  at  Westminster  Hall  for  Nonconformity  ;t 
it  was  alleged  against  him  that  he  married  with- 
out the  ring,  and  that  he  had  baptized  without 
the  cross.  Mr.  Piercei^  says  he  was  also  ac- 
cused of  a  misdemeanor,  because,  when  once  he 
was  administering  the  sacrament,  the  wine  fall- 


*  MS.,  p.  198. 
t  MS.,  p.  199. 


t  MS.,  p.  202. 
^  Vindif.at.,  p.  83. 


ing  short,  he  sent  for  more,  but  did  not  conse- 
crate it  afresh,  accounting  the  former  consecra- 
tion sutRcient  for  what  was  to  be  applied  to  the 
same  use ;  but  nothing  of  this  kind  appears  in 
his  two  indictments  which  are  now  before  me, 
with  the  names  of  all  the  witnesses  ;  but  for  the 
other  offences,  viz.,  for  omitting  these  words  in 
the  office  of  baptism,  •'  I  receive  this  child  into 
the  congregation  of  Christ's  flock,  and  do  sign 
him  with  the  sign  of  the  cross,  in  token,"  &c., 
and  for  omitting  these  words  in  the  marrying  of 
Leonard  Morris  and  Agnes  Miles,  "  With  this 
ring  I  thee  wed,  with  my  body  I  thee  worship, 
and  with  all  my  worldly  goods  I  thee  endow,  in 
the  name  of  the  Father,"  &.c.,  and  for  refusing 
to  subscribe,  he  was  shut  up  in  close  prison  for 
seven  weeks,  till  he  died  in  great  poverty  and 
want. 

The  forms  of  subscription  varied  in  the  sev- 
eral diocesses,  though  the  usual  subscription, 
and  protestation  for  such  clergymen  as  were 
cited  before  the  commissioners  for  Nonconform- 
ity* was  this  :  "  I  promise  unfeignedly  by  these 
presents,  and  subscribe  with  my  hand,  that  I 
will  teach  the  Word  of  God  soberly,  sincerely, 
and  truly,  according  to  the  doctrine  established 
by  law,  without  moving  unnecessary  conten- 
tions ;  and  that  I  will  never  suffer  any  person  to 
use  my  license  of  preaching,  by  rasing  out  the 
name  or  abusing  the  seal ;  and  that  I  will  de- 
liver up  my  license,  being  so  required  by  that 
authority  from  whence  I  had  it. 

"  I  acknowledge  the  book  of  articles  agreed 
on  in  the  synod  of  1563,  and  confirmed  by  the 
queen,  to  be  sound  and  agreeable  to  the  Word 
of  God.  That  the  queen's  majesty  is  supreme 
governor  of  the  Church  of  England  next  under 
Christ,  as  well  in  ecclesiastical  as  in  civil  caus- 
es. That  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  there 
is  nothing  evil,  or  repugnant  to  the  Word  of 
God,  and  that  it  may  be  well  used  in  this  our 
Christian  Church  of  England.  That  as  the  pub- 
lic preaching  of  the  Word  in  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land is  sound  and  sincere,  so  the  public  order  of 
administration  of  sacraments  is  consonant  to 
the  Word  of  God.  And  whereas  I  have  in  pub- 
lic prayer  and  administration  of  sacraments 
neglected  and  omitted  the  order  by  public  au- 
thority set  down,  following  my  own  fancy  in  al- 
tering, adding,  or  omitting  of  the  same,  not  using 
such  rites  as  by  law  and  order  are  appointed,  I 
acknowledge  my  fault  therein,  and  am  sorry  for 
it,  and  humbly  pray  pardon  for  that  disorder. 
And  here  I  do  submit  myself  to  the  order  and 
rites  set  down ;  and  I  do  promise  that  I  will 
from  henceforth,  in  public  prayer  and  adminis- 
tration of  the  sacraments,  use  and  observe  the 
same.  The  which  I  do  presently  and  willingly 
testify  with  the  subscription  of  mine  own  hand." 

But  this  not  reaching  the  laity,  many  of  whom 
deserted  their  own  parish  churches  and  went 
to  hear  the  Nonconformists,  the  commissioners 
framed  the  following  subscription  for  such  of 
them  as  should  be  presented  as  defaulters  : 

"  I  acknowledge  the  queen's  majesty  to  be 
chief  governor  of  the  Church  of  England  under 
Christ.  That  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
there  is  nothing  repugnant  to  the  Word  of  God. 
That  as  the  public  preaching  in  this  Church  of 
England  is  sound,  so  the  public  administration 
of  the  sacraments  is  cojisonant  to  the  Word  of 

*  MS.,  p.'m 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


131 


God.  And  whereas  I  have  absented  myself 
from  my  parish  church,  and  have  refused  to  join 
with  the  congregation  in  public  prayer,  and  in 
receiving  the  sacrament,  according  to  the  pub- 
lic order  set  down,  and  my  duty  in  that  behalf, 
I  am  right  sorry  for  it,  and  pray  that  this  my 
fault  may  be  pardoned  ;  and  do  promise  that 
from  henceforth  I  will  frequent  my  parish 
church,  and  join  with  the  congregation  there, 
as  well  in  prayer  as  in  the  administration  of  the 
sacraments,  according  to  such  order  as  by  pub- 
lic authority  is  set  down  and  established  ;  and 
to  witness  this  my  promise,  I  do  hereunto  will- 
ingly subscribe  my  name."* 

The  officers  of  the  spiritual  courts  planted  their 
spies  in  all  suspected  parishes  to  make  obser- 
vation of  those  who  came  not  to  church,  and 
caused  them  to  be  summoned  into  the  commons, 
where  they  were  punished  at  pleasure.  The 
keepers  were  charged  to  take  notice  of  such  as 
came  to  visit  the  prisoners  or  bring  them  relief; 
and,  upon  notice  given,  spies  were  set  upon 
them  to  bring  them  into  trouble.  Complaints 
have  been  made  of  their  rude  language  to  the 
bishops  and  the  rest  of  the  commissioners  ;  and 
it  is  possible  that  their  lordly  behaviour  and  ar- 
bitrary proceedings  might  sometimes  make  their 
passions  overflow.  "  Oppression  will  make  a 
wise  man  mad."  But  I  have  the  examinations 
of  several  before  me,  in  which  nothing  of  this 
kind  appears.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  certain 
the  conduct  of  the  commissioners  was  high  and 
imperious  ;  their  under  officers  were  ravenous, 
and  greedy  of  gain  ;  the  fees  of  the  court  were 
exorbitant,!  so  that  if  an  honest  Puritan  fell 
into  their  hands,  he  was  sure  to  be  half  ruined 
before  he  got  out,  though  he  was  cleared  of  the 
accusation.! 

*  MS.,  p.  201.  t  MS.,  p.  176. 

J  The  commissioners  treated  those  that  came  be- 
fore them  neither  like  men  nor  Christians,  as  will  ap- 
pear, among  many  others,  by  the  following  examina- 
tion of  Mr.  White,  a  substantial  citizen  of  London, 
January  18,  1573,  who  had  been  fined,  and  tossed 
from  one  prison  lo  another,  contrary  to  law  and  jus- 
tice, only  for  not  frequenting  his  parish  church.  His 
examiners  were,  the  lord-chief-justice,  the  master  of 
the  roils,  the  master  of  the  requests,  Mr.  Gerard,  the 
dean  of  Westminster,  the  sheriff  of  London,  and  the 
clerk  of  the  peace.  After  sundry  others  had  been  de- 
spatched, Mr.  White  was  brought  before  them,  whom 
his  lordship  accosted  after  this  manner : 

L.  C.J.  Who  is  this? 

White.  White,  an't  please  your  honour. 

L.  C.  J.  White,  as  black  as  the  devil. 

White.  Not  so,  my  lord ;  one  of  God's  children. 

L.  C.  J.  Why  will  you  not  come  to  your  parish 
church  ? 

White.  My  lord,  I  did  use  to  frequent  my  parish 
church  before  my  troubles,  and  procured  several  godly 
men  to  preach  there,  as  well  as  in  other  places  of 
preaching  and  prayer;  and  since  my  troubles  1  have 
not  frequented  any  private  assemblies,  but,  as  I  have 
had  leave  and  liberty,  have  gone  to  my  parish  church ; 
and  therefore  those  that  presented  me,  have  done  it 
out  of  malice;  for  if  any  of  these  things  can  be  pro- 
ved agamst  me  simply,  or  that  i  hold  all  things  in  com- 
mon, your  lordship  may  dismiss  me  from  hence  to  the 
gallows. 

Mr.  Ger.  You  have  not  usually  frequented  your 
own  parish  church. 

White.  I  allow  I  have  more  used  other  places, 
ivhere  1  was  better  edilied. 

Mr.  Ger.  Then  your  presentment  is  in  part  true? 

White.  Not,  an't  please  you,  for  I  am  presented  for 
■  ot  coining  at  all  to  my  parish  church. 


Notwithstanding  the  dangers  already  men- 
tioned, "  people  resorted  to  the  suffering  Puri- 

Mr.  Ger.  Will  you,  then,  come  to  prayers  when 
there  is  no  sermon  ? 

White.  I  v/ould  avoid  those  things  that  are  an  of- 
fence to  me  and  others,  and  disturb  the  peace  of  the 
Church ;  however,  I  crave  the  hberty  of  a  subject, 
and  if  I  do  not  publicly  frequent  both  preaching,  pray- 
er, and  the  sacraments,  deal  with  me  accordingly. 

Dean  of  West.  What  fault  find  you  in  the  common 
prayer  ? 

White.  Let  them  answer  to  whom  it  appertains; 
for  being  in  prison  almost  a  year  about  these  matters, 
I  was,  upon  a  statute  relating  to  that  book,  indicted, 
and  before  I  came  to  hberty  almost  outlawed,  as  your 
worship,  Mr.  Gerard,  knows. 

Mast.  Req.  What  Scripture  have  you  to  ground 
your  conscience  against  these  garments  ? 

White.  The  whole  Scriptures  are  for  destroying 
idolatry,  and  everything  that  belongs  to  it. 

Mast.  Req.  These  things  never  served  to  idolatry. 

White.  Shough !  they  are  the  same  which  hereto- 
fore were  used  to  that  purpose. 

Mast.  Req.  Where  is  the  place  where  these  are  for- 
bidden ? 

White.  In  Deuteronomy,  and  other  places,  the  Is- 
raelites are  commanded,  not  only  to  destroy  the  altars, 
groves,  and  images,  with  all  thereto  belnnfjing,  but 
also  to  abolish  the  very  names ;  and  God  by  Isaiah 
commandeth  not  to  pollute  ourselves  with  the  gar- 
ments of  the  image,  but  to  cast  it  away  as  a  menstru- 
ous  clout. 

Mast.  Rolls.  These  are  no  part  of  idolatry,  but  are 
commanded  by  the  prince  for  civil  order ;  and  if  you 
will  not  be  ordered,  you  show  yourself  disobedient  to 
the  laws. 

White.  I  would  not  willingly  disobey  any  law,  only 
I  would  avoid  those  things  that  are  not  warranted  by 
the  Word  of  God. 

Mast.  Req.  These  things  are  commanded  by  act  of 
Parliament,  and  in  disobeying  the  laws  of  your  coun- 
try you  disobey  God. 

White.  I  do  it  not  of  contempt,  but  of  conscience ; 
in  all  other  things  I  am  an  obedient  subject. 

L.  C.  J.  Thou  art  a  contemptuous  fellow,  and  wilt 
obey  no  laws. 

Wlrite.  Not  so,  my  lord  :  I  do  and  will  obey  laws ; 
and  therefore  refusing  but  a  ceremony  out  of  con- 
science, and  not  refusing  the  penalty  for  the  same,  I 
rest  still  a  true  subject. 

L.  C.  J.  The  queen's  majesty  was  overseen  not  to 
make  you  of  her  council,  to  make  laws  and  orders  for 
religion. 

White.  Not  so,  my  lord ;  I  am  to  obey  laws  war- 
ranted by  God's  Word. 

L.  C.  J.  Do  the  queen's  laws  command  anything 
against  God's  Word? 

White.  I  do  not  so  say,  my  lord. 

L.  C.  J.  Yes,  marry  do  you,  and  there  I  will  hold 
you. 

White.  Only  God  and  his  laws  are  absolutely  per- 
fect ;  all  men  and  their  laws  may  err. 

L.  C.  J.  This  is  one  of  Shaw's  darlings ;  I  tell  thee 
what,  I  will  not  say  anything  of  affection,  for  I  know 
thee  not,  saving  by  this  occasion ;  thou  art  the  wick- 
edest and  most  contemptuous  person  that  has  come 
before  me  since  I  sat  in  this  commission. 

"WTiite.  Not  so,  my  lord;  my  conscience  witnesseth 
otherwise. 

Mast.  Req.  What  if  the  queen  should  command  to 
wear  a  gray  frieze  gown,  would  you  come  to  church 
then  ? 

White.  That  were  more  tolerable  than  that  God's 
ministers  should  wear  the  habit  of  his  enemies. 

L.  C.  J.  How  if  she  should  command  to  wear  a 
fool's  coat  and  a  cock's  comb  ? 

White.  That  were  very  unseemly,  my  lord,  for 
God's  ministers. 

Dean  of  West.  You  will  not,  then,  be  obedient  to 
the  queen's  commands? 
White.  I  would  only  avoid  those  things  that  have 


132 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


tans  in  prison,  as  in  popery  tliey  were  wont  to 
run  on  pilgrimage  (they  are  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 

no  warrant  in  the  Word  of  God,  that  are  neither  de- 
cent nor  edifjdng,  but  flatly  the  contrary,  and  are  con- 
demned by  the  foreign  Reformed  Churches. 
L.  C.  J.  You  would  have  no  laws. 
White.  If  there  were  no  laws,  I  would  live  a  Chris- 
tian a.id  do  no  wrong ;  if  1  received  any,  so  it  were. 
L.  C.  J.,  Thou  art  a  rebel. 
White.  Not  so,  my  lord:  a  true  .subject. 
L.  C.  J.  Yea,  I  swear  by  God,  thou  art  a  very  reb- 
el ;  for  thou  wouldst  draw  thy  sword,  and  lift  up  thy 
hand  against  thy  prince,  if  time  served. 

White.  My  lord,  I  thank  God  my  heart  standeth 
right  towards  God  and  my  prince ;  and  God  will  not 
condemn,  though  your  honour  hath  so  judged. 
L.  C.  J.  Take  him  away. 

White.  I  would  speak  a  word  which  I  am  sure  will 
offend,  and  yet  I  must  speak  it ;  I  heard  the  name  of 
God  taken  in  vain ;  if  I  had  done  it,  it  had  been  a 
greater  offence  than  that  which  I  stand  here  for. 

Mr.  Ger.  White,  White,  you  don't  behave  yourself 
well. 

White.  I  pray  your  worship  show  me  wherein,  and 
I  will  beg  pardon  and  amend  it. 
L.  C.  J.  I  may  swear  in  a  matter  of  charity. 
White.  There  is  no  such  occasion  ;  but  because  it 
is  bruited  that  at  my  last  being  before  you  I  denied 
the  supremacy  of  my  prince,  I  desire  your  honours 
and  worships,  with  all  that  be  present,  to  bear  wit- 
ness that  I  acknowledge  her  majesty  the  chief  gov- 
ernor, next  under  Christ,  over  all  persons  and  causes 
within  her  dominions,  and  to  this  I  will  subscribe.  I 
acknowledge  the  book  of  articles,  and  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  as  far  as  tliey  agree  with  the  Word 
of  God.  I  acknowledge  the  substance  of  the  doctrine 
and  sacraments  of  the  Church  to  be  sound  and  sin- 
cere ;  and  so  I  do  of  rites  and  orders,  as  far  as  they 
agree  with  the  Word  of  God. 

Dean  of  West.  You  will  not,  then,  allow  that  all 
things  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  are  taken  out 
of  the  Word  of  God  r 

White.  Though  they  should  be  so,  yet,  being  done 
by  man,  I  cannot  give  them  the  same  warrant  as  to 
the  writings  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
L.  C.  J.  Take  him  away. 

White.  I  would  to  the  Lord  Jesus  that  my  two 
years'  impri.sonment  might  be  a  means  of  having  these 
matters  fairly  decided  by  the  Word  of  God,  and  the 
judgment  of  other  Reformed  Churches. 

L.  C.  J.  You  shall  be  committed,  I  warrant  you. 
White.  Pray,  my  lord,  let  me  have  justice ;  I  am 
unjustly  conunitted;  I  desire  a  copy  of  my  present- 
ment. 

L.  C.  J.  You  shall  have  your  head  from  your  shoul- 
ders ;  have  him  to  the  Gatehouse. 

White.  I  pray  you  to  commit  me  to  some  prison  in 
London,  that  I  may  be  near  my  house. 
L.  C.  J.  No,  sir,  you  shall  go  thither. 
White.  I  have  paid  fines  and  fees  in  other  prisons ; 
send  me  not  where  I  shall  pay  them  over  again. 
L.  C.  J.  Yes,  marry  shall  you :  this  is  your  glory. 
White.  I  desire  no  such  glory. 
L.  C.  J.  It  will  cost  you  twenty  pounds,  I  warrant 
you,  before  you  come  out. 
White.  God's  will  be  done. 

These  severities  against  zealous  Protestants  of  pi- 
ous and  sober  lives  raised  the  compassion  of  the 
common  people,  and  brought  them  over  to  their  inter- 
ests. "  It  was  a  great  grief  to  the  archbishop,"  says 
Mr.  Strype,  "  and  to  other  good  bishops,  to  see  per- 
sons going  off  from  the  first  establishment  of  the 
Protestant  religion  among  us,  making  as  if  the  ser- 
vice-book was  unlawful,  and  the  ecclesiastical  state 
anti-Christian  ;  and  labouring  to  set  up  another  gov- 
ernment and  discipline — "  But  who  drove  them  to 
these  extremities  ?  Why  were  not  a  few  amendments 
in  the  hturgy  yielded  to  at  first,  whereby  conscien- 
tious men  might  have  been  made  easy;  or  liberty 
given  them  to  worship  God  in  their  own  way  ? 


don's  words).  Some  aldermen  and  several 
wealthy  citizens  gave  them  great  and  stout 
countenances,  and  persuaded  others  to  do  the 
like." 

Separate  communions  were  established,  where 
the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  ad- 
ministered privately,  after  the  manner  of  the 
foreign  Reformed  Churches  ;  and  those  who 
joined  with  them,  according  to  Archbishop  Par- 
ker, signed  the  following  protestation  : 

"  Being  thoroughly  persuaded  in  my  con- 
science, by  the  working  and  by  the  Word  of  the 
Almighty,  that  these  relics  of  antichrist  arc 
abominable  before  the  Lord  our  God  ;  and,  also, 
for  that  by  the  power,  mercy,  strength,  and 
goodness  of  the  Lord  our  God  only,  I  am  esca- 
ped from  the  filthiness  and  pollution  of  these  de- 
testable traditions,  through  the  knowledge  of 
our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ ;  and,  last  of 
all,  inasmuch  as  by  the  working  also  of  the  J.,ord 
Jesus  his  Holy  Spirit,  I  have  joined  in  prayer 
and  hearing  God's  Word  with  those  that  have 
not  yielded  to  this  idolatrous  trash,  notwith- 
standing the  danger  for  not  coming  to  my  par- 
ish church,  &c.  Therefore  I  come  not  back 
again  to  the  preaching  of  them  that  have  re- 
ceived the  marks  of  the  Romish  beast. 

"  Because  of  God's  commandment  to  go  for- 
ward to  perfection. — Heb.,  vi.,  1  ;  2  Cor.,  vii.,  1 ; 
Psalm  Ixxxiv.,  1  ;  Ephes.,  iv.,  15.  Also  to  avoid 
them. — Rom.,  xvi.,  17;  Ephes.,  v.,  11 ;  1  Thess., 
v.,  22. 

"  Because  they  are  an  abomination  before  the 
Lord  our  God. — Deut.,  xxvii.,  25,  26,  and  xiii., 
17  ;  Ezek.,  xiv.,  fi. 

"  I  will  not  beautify  with  my  presence  those 
filthy  rags,  which  bring  the  heavenly  Word  of 
the  Eternal  our  Lorfl  God  into  bondage,  subjec- 
tion, and  slavery. 

"  Because  I  v/ould  not  communicate  with 
other  men's  sins. — John,  ii.,  9-11  ;  1  Cor.,  vi., 
17.  Touch  no  unclean  thing,  &c. —  Sirach, 
xiii.,  1. 

"  They  give  offence  both  to  preacher  and 
hearers. — Rom.,  xvi.,  17;  Luke,  xvii.,  1. 

"  They  glad  and  strengthen  the  papists  in 
their  errors,  and  grieve  the  godly. — Ezek.,  xiii., 
21,  22.     [Note  this  21st  verse.] 

"  They  do  persecute  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ 
in  his  members. — Acts,  ix.,  4,  5;  2  Cor.,  i.,  5. 
Also  they  reject  and  despise  our  Lord  and  Sav- 
iour Jesus  Christ. — Luke,  x.,  16.  Moreover, 
those  labourers  who,  at  the  prayer  of  the  faith- 
ful, the  Lord  hath  sent  forth  into  his  harvest, 
they  refuse,  and  also  reject. — Matt.,  ix.,  38. 

"  These  popish  garments  are  now  become 
very  idols  indeed,  because  they  are  exalted 
above  the  Word  of  the  Almighty. 

"  I  come  not  to  them  because  they  should  be 
ashamed,  and  so  leave  their  idolatrous  gar- 
ments, &c. — 2  Thess.,  iii.,  14.  If  any  man  obey 
not  our  sayings,  note  him. 

"  Moreover,  I  have  now  joined  myself  to  the 
Church  of  Christ,  wherein  I  have  yielded  my- 
self subject  to  the  disciphne  of  God's  Word,  as 
I  promised  at  my  baptism,  which,  if  I  should 
now  again  forsake,  and  join  myself  with  their 
traditions,  I  should  forsake  the  union  wherein  I 
am  knit  to  the  body  of  Christ,  and  join  myself 
to  the  discipline  of  antichrist ;  for  in  the  Church 
of  the  traditionaries  there  is  no  other  discipline 
tiian  that  which  has  been  maintained  by  the  aa 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


]33 


fi- Christian  Pope  of  Rome,  whereby  the  Church 
of  God  has  always  been  afflicted,  and  is  until 
this  day,  for  the  which  cause  I  refuse  them. 

"  God  give  us  grace  still  to  strive  in  suflering 
under  the  cross,  that  the  blessed  Word  of  our  God 
may  only  rule  and  have  the  highest  place,  to 
cast  down  strongholds,  to  destroy  or  overthrow 
policy  or  imaginations,  and  every  high  thing 
that  is  exalted  against  the  knowledge  of  God, 
and  to  bring  into  captivity  or  subjection  every 
thought  to  the  obedience  of  Christ. — 2  Cor.,  x., 
4,  5.  That  the  Name  and  Word  of  the  Eternal 
our  Lord  God  may  be  exalted,  and  magnified 
above  all  things. — Psalm  viii.,  2.     Finis."* 

To  this  protestation  the  congregation  did 
severally  swear,  and  then  resolved  the  com- 
munion for  the  ratification  of  their  assent,  if 
we  may  believe  the  relation  of  Archbishop  Par- 
ker, who  wrote  this  last  paragraph  with  his 
own  hand  ;  though  his  grace  had  not  always  the 
best  information,  nor  was  sufficiently  careful  to 
distinguish  between  subscribing  and  swearing. 

Sundry  Nonconformists,  who  were  willing  to 
be  at  ease,  and  avoid  the  hazard  of  persecution, 
took  shelter  in  the  French  and  Dutch  churches, 
and  joined  themselves  to  their  communion  : 
there  were  not  many  of  this  sort,  because  they 
understood  not  their  language.  But  the  queen 
and  council  had  their  eye  upon  them,  and  rb- 
solved  to  drive  them  from  this  shelter  ;  for  this 
purpose  a  letter  was  written  from  the  council- 
board  to  the  ministers  and  elders  of  the  Dutch 
Church  in  London,  bearing  date  April,  1573,  in 
which  they  say  "  that  they  were  not  ignorant, 
that  from  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  reli- 
gion various  churches  had  various  and  divers 
rites  and  ceremonies ;  that  in  their  service  and 
devotions  some  stood,  some  kneeled,  and  others 
lay  prostrate,  and  yet  the  piety  and  religion  was 
the  same,  if  they  directed  their  prayers  to  the 
true  God,  without  impiety  and  superstition. 
They  added,  farther,  that  they  contemned  not 
their  rites  ;  nay,  that  they  approved  their  cere- 
monies as  fit  and  convenient  for  them,  and  that 
state  whence  they  sprang.  They  expected, 
therefore,  that  their  congregation  should  not 
despise  the  customs  of  the  English  Church,  nor 
do  anything  that  might  create  a  suspicion  of 
disturbing  its  peace ;  and,  in  particular,  that 
they  should  not  receive  into  their  communion 
any  of  this  realm  that  offered  to  join  with  them, 
and  leave  the  customs  and  practice  of  their  na- 
tive country,  lest  the  queen  should  be  moved  to 
banish  them  out  of  the  kingdom."+ 

Endeavours  had  been  used  to  bring  these 
churches  under  the  jurisdiction  or  superintend- 
ence of  the  bishop  of  the  diocess  for  the  time 
being ;  but  they  pleaded  their  charter,  and  that 
Grindal,  while  Bishop  of  London,  was  their  su- 
perintendent only  by  their  own  consent ;  how- 
ever, a  quarrel  happening  some  time  after  in 
the  Dutch  Church  at  Norwich,  the  queen's  com- 
missioners interposed  ;  and  because  the  elders 
refused  to  own  their  jurisdiction,  they  banished 
all  their  three  ministers  ;  which  struck  such  a 
terror  into  those  of  London,  that  when  they  re- 
ceived the  council's  letter  they  were  perfectly 
submissive,  and  after  returning  thanks  for  their 
own  liberties,  they  promised  to  expel  all  such 
out  of  their  church,  and  for  the  future  not  to 
receive  any  English  who  from  such  principles 


*  Life  of  Parker,  p.  435. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  364. 


should  separate  themselves  from  the  customs 
of  their  own  country.* 

Gualter,  Bullinger,  and  other  foreign  divines, 
again  this  year  addressed  the  bishops  their  cor- 
respondents for  moderation,  but  nothing  could 
be  obtained;  only  Parkhurst,  bishop  of  Norwich, 
lamented  the  case,  and  wished  to  God  that  all 
the  English  people  would  follow  the  Church  of 
Zurich,  as  the  most  absolute  pattern.  "  The 
papists,"  says  he,  "  lift  up  their  crests,  while 
Protestants  walk  about  the  streets  dejected  and 
sorrowful ;  for  at  this  time  there  are  not  a  few 
preachers  that  ha  ve  laid  do  wn  their  cures  of  souls, 
and  left  them  to  fools  and  idiots,  and  that  for 
this  reason,  because  they  would  not  use  the 
linen  garment  called  a  surplice.  New  and  se- 
vere edicts  are  lately  published  here  against 
such  as  refuse  to  observe  our  ceremonies  :  pray 
God  give  a  good  issue,  and  have  mercy  upon  all 
the  churches  of  Christ." 

The  prophesyings  of  the  clergy,  begun  in  the 
year  1571,  had  by  this  time  [1574]  spread  into 
the  diocesses  of  York,  Chester,  Durham,  and 
Ely  ;  the  Bishop  of  London  set  them  up  in  sev- 
eral parts  of  his  diocess,  as  did  most  of  the 
other  bishops.  The  clergy  were  divided  into 
classes,  or  associations,  under  a  moderator  ap- 
pointed by  the  bishop ;  their  meetings  were 
once  a  fortnight ;  the  people  were  present  at 
the  sermon ;  and  after  they  were  dismissed, 
the  members  of  the  association,  whose  names 
were  subscribed  in  a  book,  censured  the  per- 
formance. These  exercises  were  of  great  ser- 
vice to  expose  the  errors  of  popery,  and  spread 
the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  among  the 
people. 

But  the  queen  was  told  by  the  archbishop 
that  they  were  no  better  than  seminaries  of 
Puritanism  ;t  that  the  more  averse  the  people 
were  to  popery,  the  more  they  were  in  danger 
of  nonconformity ;  that  these  exercises  tended 
to  popularity,  and  made  the  people  so  inquisitive 
that  they  would  not  submit  to  the  orders  of  their 
superiors,  as  they  ought.  It  was  said  farther, 
that  some  of  the  ministers  disused  the  habits, 
and  discoursed  on  church  discipline  ;  and  that 
others  were  too  forward  to  show  their  abilities, 
to  the  discouragement  of  honest  men  of  lower 
capacities ;  and  that  all  this  was  notorious  in 
the  diocess  of  Norwich.  Hereupon  the  queen 
gave  the  archbishop  private  orders  to  put  them 
down  everywhere,  and  to  begin  with  Norwich  ; 
his  grace,  accordingly,  wrote  to  Matchet,  one 
of  the  chaplains  in  that  diocess,  requiring  him 
to  repair  to  his  ordinary,  and  show  him  how  the 
queen  had  Avilled  him  to  suppress  those  vain 
prophesyings  ;  and  that  thereupon  he  should  re- 
quire the  said  ordinary,  in  her  majesty's  name, 
immediately  to  discharge  them  from  any  farther 
such  doings. 

This  was  very  unacceptable  news  to  the  good 
old  bishop,  who,  taking  hold  of  the  word  vain, 
wrote  to  the  archbishop,  desiriVig  to  be  resolved 
whether  he  meant  thereby  the  abuse,  or  some 
vain  speeches  used  in  some  of  these  conferen- 
ces ;  or,  in  general,  the  whole  order  of  those  ex- 
ercises ;  of  which  he  freely  declared  his  own 
approbation,  saying  "thac  they  had,  and  still 
did  bring,  singular  benefit  to  the  Church  of 
God,  as  well  in  the  clergy  as  in  the  laity,  and 

*  Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  284. 
t  Life  of  Parker,  p.  461. 


134 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


were  right  necessary  exercises  to  be  continued, 
so  the  same  were  not  abused,  as,  indeed,  they 
had  not  been,  unless  in  one  or  two  places  at 
the  most ;  wiiereof  after  he  had  knowledge  he 
wrote  an  earnest  letter  to  his  chancellor,  that 
such  persons  as  were  over-busy  speakers  should 
be  put  to  silence,  unless  they  would  subscribe 
to  the  articles  of  conformity  in  religion,  or  else 
promise  not  to  intermeddle  with  any  matter  es- 
tablished and  commanded  by  ■  her  majesty  ; 
which  was  performed  accordingly,  since  which 
time  he  had  not  heard  but  all  things  had  suc- 
ceeded quietly  without  offence  to  any." 

The  archbishop  was  vexed  at  this  letter,  and 
wrote  back  to  his  chaplain  "  that  it  was  one  of 
his  old  griefs,  that  this  bishop  had  shown  his 
letter  to  his  friends,  who  had  eluded  its  true 
meaning,  by  standing  upon  the  word  vai7i.  It 
is  pity,  says  he,  that  we  should  show  any  vani- 
ty in  our  obedience."  In  the  mean  time,  the 
Bishop  of  Norwich  applied  to  the  privy  council, 
who  knew  nothing  of  this  affair  ;  but  were  sur- 
prised at  the  archbishop's  order,  and  gave  his 
lordship  instruction  to  uphold  the  prophesyings. 
Their  letter  was  as  follows  : 

"  Salutem  in  Christo.  Whereas,  we  under- 
stand that  there  are  certain  good  exercises  of 
prophesyings  and  expounding  of  Scriptures  in 
Norfolk,  as,  namely,  at  Holt-town  and  other  pla- 
ces, whereby  both  speakers  and  hearers  do  profit 
much  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Word  of  God. 
And  whereas,  some  not  well  minded  towards 
true  religion,  and  the  knowledge  of  God,  speak 
evil  and  slanderously  of  these  exercises,  as  com- 
monly they  used  to  do  against  the  sincere  preach- 
ing of  God's  holy  Word  ;  these  are  to  require 
your  lordship,  that  so  long  as  the  truth  is  godly 
and  reverently  uttered  in  their,  prophesyings, 
and  that  no  seditious,  heretical,  or  schismatical 
doctrine,  tending  to  the  disturbance  of  the  peace 
of  the  Church,  can  be  proved  to  be  taught  or 
maintained  in  the  same  ;  that  so  good  a  help 
and  means  to  further  true  religion  may  not  be 
hindered  and  stayed,  but  may  proceed  and  go 
forward  to  God's  glory,  and  the  edifying  of  the 
people.  Thus,  not  doubting  of  your  forward- 
ness herein,  your  office  and  calling  dutifully  re- 
quiring the  same  at  your  hands,  we  bid  your 
lordship  right  heartily  farewell.* 

"  Your  lordship's  loving  friends, 

"  T.  Smith,  Edwin,  bp.  London, 

"  Wa.  Mildmay,  Fran.  Knollys. 
"  From  London,  this  6lh  of  May,  1574." 

The  archbishop  was  surprised  to  see  his  or- 
ders countermanded  by  the  privy  council ;  but 
his  grace  took  no  notice  of  it  to  them,  only  ac- 
quainting the  queen  with  it;  by  whose  direc- 
tion he  wrote  again  to  the  bishop,  that  whereas 
he  understood  he  had  received  letters  from  the 
council  to  continue  the  prophesyings,  contrary 
to  the  queen's  express  command,  he  desired  to 
know  what  warrant  they  had  given  him  for  their 
proceedings  ;  upon  this  the  Bishop  of  Norwich 
wrote  back  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  who  was 
one  of  those  who  had  signed  the  letter,  for  ad- 
vice ;  but  his  lordship  and  the  council  were 
afraid  to  meddle  any  farther. 

Parker,  being  thus  supported  by  the  queen, 
wrote  again  to  Norwich,  commanding  the  bishop 
peremptorily  to  obey  the  queen's  orders,  upon 

*  Life  of  Parker,  p.  460,  461. 


pain  of  her  majesty's  high  displeasure  ;  and  atl 
vised  him  not  to  be  led  by  fantastical  Iblk,  noi 
take  such  young  men  into  his  counsels,  who, 
when  they  had  brought  him  into  danger,  could 
not  bring  him  out  of  it.  Of  my  care  I  have  for 
you  and  the  diocess  (says  the  archbishop)  I  write 
thus  much.* 

Upon  this  the  good  old  bishop  submitted,  and 
wrote  to  his  chancellor  from  Ludham,  June  the 
7th,  "  Whereas,  by  the  receipt  of  my  Loid  of 
Canterbury's  letter,  I  am  commanded  by  him, 
in  the  queen  her  majesty's  name,  that  the  proph- 
esyings throughout  my  diocess  should  be  sup- 
pressed, these  are  therefore  to  will  you  that,  as 
conveniently  as  you  may,  you  give  notice  to 
every  of  my  commissaries  that  they  in  their 
several  circuits  may  suppress  the  same.  And 
so  I  leave  you  to  God."  Thus  were  these  reli- 
gious exercises  suppressed  in  one  diocess,  which 
was  but  the  prologue  to  their  downfall  over  the 
whole  kingdom. 

But  his  lordship  did  not  long  survive  this  dis- 
tinguishing mark  of  the  archbishop's  displeas- 
ure, for  towards  the  latter  end  of  the  year  he 
departed  this  life,  to  the  great  loss  of  his  dio- 
cess, and  of  the  whole  Church  of  England. 

John  Parkhurst,  bishop  of  Norwich,  was  born 
at  Guildford,  in  Surrey,  1511,  and  educated  in 
Merton  College,  Oxon.  He  had  been  domestic 
chaplain  to  Queen  Katharine  Parr,  tutor  to  Bish- 
op Jewel,  and  rector  of  the  rich  parsonage  of 
Clive ;  all  which  he  forsook  in  the  reign  of  Queen 
Mary,  and  was  an  exile  at  Zurich,  in  Switzer- 
land, where  he  was  so  delighted  with  the  order 
and  discipline  of  that  church,  that  he  would 
often  wish  the  Church  of  England  were  model- 
led according  to  it.  He  was  an  open  favourer 
of  the  Puritans,  and  never  entered  willingly  into 
any  methods  of  severity  against  them.  "I  find," 
says  he,  in  one  of  his  letters  to  Archbishop  Par- 
ker, "  that  rough  and  severe  methods  do  the 
least  good,  and  that  the  contrary  has  won  over 
divers ;  and  therefore  I  choose  to  go  in  this  way, 
rather  than  with  others  to  overrule  by  rigour 
and  extremity."+  He  would  willingly  have  al- 
lowed a  liberty  of  officiating  in  the  Church  to 
such  as  could  not  conform  to  the  ceremonies, 
but  by  command  from  above  he  was  forced  some- 
times to  obey  his  superiors,  contrary  to  his  judg- 
ment. The  bishop  was  a  zealous  Protestant, 
and  a  great  enemy  to  popery;  a  learned  divine, 
a  faithful  pastor,  a  diligent  and  constant  preach- 
er, and  an  example  to  his  flock  in  righteousness, 
in  faith,  in  love,  in  peace,  in  word,  and  in  purity. 
He  was  exceeding  hospitable,  and  kept  a  table 
for  the  poor;  and  was  universally  beloved,  hon- 
oured, and  esteemed  by  his  whole  diocess.  This 
character  is  given  him,  says  Mr.  Strype,  by  one 
that  knew  him  well,  Thomas  Becon,  a  native  of 
Norfolk,  and  of  known  eminence  in  those  days. 
He  was  made  Bishop  of  Norwich,  1560,  and  died 
of  the  stone  this  year  [1574],  in  the  sixty-third 
year  of  his  age. 

Sundry  well-disposed  people  in  the  parishes 
of  Balsham  in  Cambridgeshire,  and  of  Strethall 
in  Essex,  met  together  on  holydays,  and  at  other 
times,  after  they  had  done  work,  to  read  the 
Scriptures,  and  to  confirm  one  another  in  the 
Christian  faith  and  practice  ;  but  as  soon  as  the 
commissioners  were  informed  of  these  assem- 

*  Life  of  Parker,  p.  402.  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  it., 
p.  323.  t  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  ii.,  p.  343. 


HISTORY   OF  THE  PURITANS. 


135 


blies,  the  parsons  of  the  parishes  were  sent  for, 
and  ordered  to  suppress  them  ;  though  the  hon- 
est people  declared  themselves  conformable  to 
the  orders  of  the  Church,  and  that  they  met  to- 
gether after  dinner,  or  after  supper,  upon  holy- 
days  only,  for  their  own  and  their  families'  in- 
struction, for  the  reformation  of  vice,  and  for  a 
farther  acquaintance  with  the  Word  of  God. 
The  occasion  of  their  assemblies  we  have  in 
their  own  words  :  "  For  that  heretofore,"  say 
ihey,  "  we  have  at  divers  times  spent  and  con- 
sumed our  holydays  vainly,  in  drinking  at  the 
alehouse,  and  playing  at  cards,  tables,  dice,  and 
other  vain  pastimes,  not  meet  for  us  and  such 
of  our  calling  and  degree,  for  the  which  we  have 
been  often  blamed  of  our  parson  :  we  thought 
it  better  to  bestow  the  time  in  soberly  and  godly 
reading  the  Scriptures,  only  for  the  purposes 
aforesaid,  and  no  other.  We  do  not  favour  or 
maintain  any  of  the  opinions  of  the  Anabaptists, 
Puritans,  papists,  or  libertines,  but  would  be 
glad  to  learn  our  duty  towards  God,  our  prince, 
and  magistrates,  towards  our  neighbours  and 
our  families,  in  such  sort  as  becomes  good,  and 
faithful,  and  obedient  subjects ;  and  it  is  our 
greatest  and  only  desire  to  live,  follow,  and  per- 
form the  same  accordingly,  as  God  shall  give  us 
grace."  But  our  archbishop  had  rather  these 
poor  people  should  be  drinking  and  gaming  at 
an  alehouse  than  engaged  in  a  religious  assem- 
bly not  appointed  by  public  authority.* 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Sampson,  late  dean  of  Christ 
Church,  Oxon,  was  this  year  struck  with  the 
dead  palsy  on  one  .side,  which  made  him  resign 
his  lecture  in  the  church  at  Whittington  Col- 
lege, which  he  had  held  to  this  time,  and  for 
■which  he  had  £10  a  year  :  it  was  in  the  gift  of 
the  cloth-workers'  company,  to  whom  he  rec- 
ommended Mr.  Deering  for  Ris  successor ;  but 
Deering  being  .silenced  for  nonconformity,  the 
archbishop  utterly  refused  him,  which  Sampson 
complained  of  in  a  letter  to  the  treasurer,  say- 
ing, "  that  though  my  Lord  of  Canterbury  liked 
not  to  take  pains  in  the  congregation  himself, 
yet  should  he  not  forbid  others  who  were  both 
able  and  willing ;  that  he  could  find  no  fault 
■with  Mr.  Deering's  doctrine  or  manner  of  life  ; 
and  that  this  was  no  great  promotion."!  He 
therefore  humbly  desired,  that  if  the  cloth- work- 
ers chose  him,  that  his  lordship  would  use  his 
interest  with  the  archbishop  not  to  refuse  him  ; 
but  his  grace  was  inflexible,  and  so  the  business 
miscarried. 

This  Mr.  Sampson  was  a  most  exact  man  in 
his  principles  and  morals  ;  and,  having  suffered 
the  loss  of  all  things  for  a  good  conscience,  he 
took  the  liberty  to  write  freely  to  his  superiors 
upon  proper  occasions  ;  and,  among  others,  to 
Grindal,  archbishop  of  York,  who  had  been  his 
companion  in  exile,  though  now  advanced  to 
the  dignity  of  a  lord- archbishop.  Sampson,  in 
one  of  his  letters,  put  him  in  mind  of  his  former 
low  condition,  and  cautioned  him  against  being 
too  much  exalted  with  his  high  title.  Grindal 
told  him  he  did  not  value  the  title  of  a  lord,  but 
that  his  great  care  was  to  discharge  his  func- 
tion faithfully  until  the  great  day  of  the  Lord. 
Sampson  replied,  "  that  if  he,  whom  worldly 
policy  had  made  a  lord,  kept  the  humility  of  an 
humble  brother  and  minister  of  the  Gospel,  he 
was  a  phcenix ;  but  his  port,  his  train  of  waiting- 


I-ife  of  Parker,  p.  473. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  478. 


men  in  the  streets,  his  gentlemen-ushers  going 
before  him  with  bare  heads,  and  his  family  full 
of  idle  serving-men,  looked  very  lordly."  He 
adds,  "  that  his  own  and  his  brethren's  revenues 
should  not  be  laid  out  in  maintaining  a  parcel 
of  lazy,  idle  servants,  but  rather  upon  these, 
who  were  labourers  in  the  harvest  of  the  Lord 
Jesus.  That  whereas  the  archbishop  had  called 
them  Puritans,  it  was  a  name  unjustly  imposed 
on  brethren  with  whose  doctrine  and  life  none 
could  find  fault ;  if  by  Puritans  such  were  meant 
as,  following  Novatus,  dissembled  themselves 
to  be  teachers,  and  wished  the  ceremonies 
might  be  observed,  while  they  hated  the  cus- 
toms of  the  ancient  Church,  then  might  a  num- 
ber of  churchmen  be  called  Puritans  ;  and  he 
prayed  God  to  purge  them  and  make  them  more 
pure."  And  whereas  the  archbishop  in  his 
letter  had  pitied  his  complaints  of  poverty  and 
lameness,  he  said  "  he  complained  of  nothing  ; 
if  he  should  complain  of  the  former,  it  would  be 
before  he  had  need  ;  but  when  he  had  need  he 
would  complain  to  those  to  whom  he  might 
complain.  Concerning  his  lameness,  he  was 
so  far  from  complaining  of  that,  that  he  humbly 
thanked  God  for  it ;  and  these  chains  he  would 
choose  to  carry  before  the  clogs  and  cares  of  a 
bishopric."*  Such  was  the  plain  dealing  of  this 
confessor  to  one  of  the  highest  dignitaries  in 
the  Church. 

Parker's  zeal  against  the  Puritans  betrayed 
him  sometimes  into  great  inconveniences  ;  like 
a  true  inquisitor,  he  listened  to  every  idle  story 
of  his  scouts,  and  sent  it  presently  to  the  queen 
or  council ;  and  the  older  he  grew  the  more  did 
his  jealousies  prevail.  In  the  month  of  June,  one 
of  his  servants  acquainted  him  that  there  was  a 
design  of  the  Puritans  against  the  life  of  the  lord- 
treasurer  and  his  own  ;  and  that  the  chief  con- 
spirator was  one  Undertree,  encouraged  by  the 
great  Earl  of  Leicester  :  the  old  archbishop  was 
almost  frighted  out  of  his  wits  at  the  news,  as 
appears  by  the  foUovsring  passage  in  his  letter 
to  the  treasurer  :  "  This  horrible  conspiracy," 
says  he,  "  has  so  astonished  me,  that  my  will 
and  memory  are  quite  gone ;  I  would  I  were 
dead  before  I  see  with  my  corporeal  eyes  that 
which  is  now  brought  to  a  full  ripeness."  He 
then  prays  that  the  detector  of  this  conspiracy 
may  be  protected  and  honourably  considered, 
and  the  conspirators  punished  with  the  utmost 
severity,  otherwise  the  end  would  be  worse  than 
the  beginning.  And,  that  he  might  not  seem  to 
express  all  his  concern  for  his  own  safety,  he 
tells  the  treasurer  that  it  was  for  his  sake  and 
the  queen's  that  he  was  so  jealous,  "for  he 
feared  that  when  rogues  attempted  to  destroy 
those  that  were  so  near  her  majesty's  person, 
they  would  at  last  make  the  same  attempt  upon 
her  too  ;  and  that  even  some  that  lay  in  her  bo- 
som [Leicester],  when  opportunity  served,  would 
sting  her."  The  archbishop  sent  out  his  scouts 
to  apprehend  the  conspirators  that  his  steward 
had  named,  who  pretended  a  secret  correspond- 
ence with  Undertree  ;  and  among  others  who 
were  taken  into  custody  were  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Bonham,  Brown,  and  Stonden,  divines  of  great 
name  among  the  Puritans  :  Stonden  had  been 
one  of  the  preachers  to  the  queen's  army,  when 
the  Earl  of  Warwick  was  sent  against  the 
northern  rebels.     Many  persons  of  honour  were 


*  Life  of  Parker,  p.  469. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  466. 


136 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


also  accused,  as  the  Earls  of  Bedford,  Leicester, 
and  others.  But  when  Undertrce  came  to  be 
examined  before  the  council,  the  whole  appear- 
ed to  be  a  sham  between  Undertree  and  llie 
archbishop's  steward,  to  disgrace  the  Puritans, 
and  punish  them  as  enemies  to  the  State  as  well 
as  the  Church.  So  early  was  the  vile  practice 
of  fathering  sham  plots  upon  the  Puritans  be- 
gun, which  was  repeated  so  often  in  the  ne.xt 
age  !  Undertree  had  forged  letters  in  the  names 
of  Bonham,  Stonden,  and  others ;  as  appeared 
to  a  demonstration  when  they  were  produced 
before  the  council,  for  they  were  all  written 
with  one  hand.  When  he  was  examined  about 
his  accomplices  he  would  accuse  nobody,  but 
took  the  whole  upon  himself:  so  that  their  hon- 
ours wrote  immediately  to  the  archbishop  to 
discharge  his  prisoners.*  But,  which  is  a  lit- 
tle unaccountable,  neither  Undertree  nor  the 
archbishop's  steward  received  any  punishment. 

His  grace's  reputation  suffered  by  this  plot; 
all  impartial  men  cried  out  against  him  for 
shutting  up  men  of  character  and  reputation  in 
prison  upon  such  idle  reports.  The  Puritans 
and  their  friends  reflected  upon  his  honour  and 
honesty  ;  and  in  particular  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don and  Dr.  Chatterton,  master  of  Queen's  Col- 
lege, Cambridge,  whom  in  his  wrath  he  called 
a  chatterer,  and  in  his  letter  to  Grindal,  arch- 
bishop of  York,  said  "  that  he  cared  not  three 
chips  for  aught  that  could  be  proved  as  to  his 
allegiance,  he  doing  it  so  secretly,  faithfully, 
and  prudently,  as  he  did,  and  would  do  the 
same  again  if  he  knew  no  more  than  he  did  at 
that  time."  The  Earl  of  Leicester  could  not 
but  resent  his  ill-usage  of  him,  which  he  had  an 
opportunity  to  repay  had  he  been  so  minded, 
the  archbishop  having  executed  an  act  of  justice 
[as  he  called  it]  upon  a  person  in  the  late  plot 
after  he  had  received  a  letter  from  court  forbid- 
ding him  to  do  it,  which  was  not  very  consist- 
ent with  his  allegiance.  But  the  archbishop 
braved  outhis  conduct  against  everybody,  after 
his  own  brethren  the  bishops,  and  all  the  world, 
had  abandoned  him.  He  told  the  lord-treasurer 
"  that  he  cared  not  for  Leicester,  though  he 
was  informed  he  took  council  with  the  Pre- 
cisians to  undo  him ;  that  though  he  had  vi'rit- 
ten  to  the  earl,  and  to  another  Puritan  courtier, 
it  was  not  in  way  of  submission,  as  some  of 
the  crew  reported  and  took  it.t  That  the  earl 
had  peaceably  written  again  to  him,  dissembling 
his  malice  like  a  right  courtier ;  but  he,  not- 
withstanding, knew  what  was  purposed  against 
him,  and  for  religion's  sake  he  took  it."  This 
was  the  spirit  and  language  of  our  archbishop ! 

One  of  the  last  public  acts  in  which  his  grace 
was  employed  was  visiting  the  diocess  of  Win- 
chester, and,  in  particular,  the  Isle  of  Wight,  in 
1575 ;  and  here  he  made  use  of  such  methods 
of  severity,  says  Mr.  Strype,  as  made  him  talk- 
ed against  all  over  the  country.  This  island 
was  a  place  of  resort  for  foreign  Protestants 
and  seafaring  men  of  all  countries,  which  occa- 
sioned the  habits  and  ceremonies  not  to  be  so 
strictly  observed  as  in  other  places,  their  trade 
and  commerce  requiring  a  latitude  :  when  the 
archbishop  came  thither  with  his  retinue,  he 
gave  himself  no  trouble  about  the  welfare  of 
the  island,  but  turned  out  all  those  ministers 
who  refused   the  habits,  and   shut    up    their 

*  Life  of  Parker,  p.  466.  -f  Ibid.,  p.  477. 


I  churches.  This  was  so  great  a  concern  to  the 
inhabitants  that  they  sent  up  their  complaints 
to  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  wlio  made  such  a  re- 
port to  the  queen  of  the  archbishop's  proceed- 
ings that  her  majesty  immediately  gave  order 
that  things  should  return  to  their  former  chan- 
nel ;*  and  when  his  grace  came  to  court  after 
his  visitation,  her  majesty  received  him  coldly, 
and  declared  her  displeasure  against  his  unsea- 
sonable severities.  The  Bishop  of  Winchesier 
also  complained  that  the  clergy  of  his  diocess 
had  been  sifted  in  an  unmerciful  manner ;  all 
which,  instead  of  softening  this  prelate,  drew 
from  him  the  following  angry  letter  to  the  lord- 
treasurer,  wherein  he  complains  "  of  the  strong 
interest  the  Puritans  had  at  court,  and  of  the 
inconstancy  of  some  of  the  bishops  ;  that  sev- 
eral of  that  order  lay  by  and  did  little,  while 
others  endeavoured  to  undermine  him.  That 
the  queen  was  almost  the  only  person  that 
stood  firm  to  the  Church  ;  but  if  the  Precisians 
had  the  advantage,  her  majesty  would  be  un- 
done. That  he  was  not  so  much  concerned  for 
the  cap,  tippet,  surplice,  wafer-bread,  and  such 
like  ceremonies,  as  for  the  authority  of  the 
laws  that  enjoined  them.  The  queen,  indeed, 
had  told  him  that  he  had  the  supreme  govern- 
ment ecclesiastical,  but,  upon  experiment,  he 
found  it  very  much  hampered  and  embarrassed. 
Before  God,"  says  he,  "  I  fear  that  her  high- 
ness's  authority  is  not  regarded  ;  and  if  public 
laws  are  once  disregarded,  the  government  must 
sink  at  once."t 

There  was  but  one  corner  of  the  British  do- 
minions that  our  archbishop's  arm  could  not 
reach,  viz.,  the  isles  of  Guernsey  and  Jersey; 
these  had  been  a  receptacle  for  the  French  ref- 
ugees from  the  Parisian  massacre,  and,  lying 
upon  the  coasts  of  France,  the  inhabitants  were 
chiefly  of  that  nation,  and  were  allowed  the 
use  of  the  Geneva  or  French  discipline  by  the 
lords  of  the  council.  An  order  of  the  states  of 
France  had  been  formerly  obtained  to  separate 
them  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop  of  Con- 
stance in  Normandy,  but  no  foi-m  of  discipline 
having  been  settled  by  law  since  the  Reforma- 
tion, Mr.  Cartwright  and  Mr.  Snape  were  in- 
vited to  assist  the  ministers  in  framing  a  proper 
discipline  for  their  churches  ;  this  fell  out  hap- 
pily for  Cartwright,  who,  being  forced  to  aban- 
don his  native  country,  made  this  the  place  of 
his  retreat.  The  two  divines  being  arrived,  one 
was  made  titular  pastor  of  .Mount  Orgueil,  in 
the  isle  of  Jersey  ;  and  the  other  of  Castle  Cor- 
net, in  Guernsey.  The  representatives  of  the 
several  churches  being  assembled  at  St.  Pe- 
ter's Port,  in  Guernsey,  they  communicated  to 
them  a  draught  of  discipline,  which  was  deba- 
ted and  accommodated  to  the  use  of  those 
islands,  and  finally  settled  the  year  following, 
as  appears  by  the  title  of  it,  which  is  this : 
"  The  ecclesiastical  discipline  observed  and 
practised  by  the  churches  of  .Jersey  and  Guern- 
sey, after  the  reformation  of  the  same,  by  the 
ministers,  elders,  and  deacons  of  the  isles  of 
Guernsey  and  Jersey,  Sark  and  Alderney,  con- 
firmed by  the  authority,  and  in  the  presence,  of 
the  governors  of  the  same  isles,  in  a  synod 
holden  in  Guernsey,  June  28,  157G  ;  and  after- 
ward received  by  the  said  ministers  and  elders. 


LifeofParker,  p.  421. 
1      .  Appendix,  No.  99, 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


137 


and  confirmed  by  the  said  governors  in  a  synod 
holden  in  Jersey  the  11th,  12th,  13th,  Mth,  15th, 
and  17th  days  of  October,  1577."  The  book 
consists  of  twenty  chapters,  and  each  chapter 
of  several  articles,  which  were  constantly  ob- 
served in  these  islands  till  the  latter  end  of  the 
reign  of  King  James  I.,  when  the  liturgy  of  the 
Church  of  England  supplanted  it.* 

Though  the  papists  were  the  queen's  most 
dangerous  enemies,  her  majesty  had  a  pecuHar 
tenderness  for  them  ;t  she  frequently  released 
them  out  of  prison,  and  connived  at  their  reli- 
gious assemblies,  of  which  there  were  above  five 
hundred  in  England  at  this  time  ;  many  of  the 
queen's  subjects  resorted  to  the  Portugal  am- 
bassador's house  in  Charter  House  yard,  where 
mass  was  publicly  celebrated  ;  and  because  the 
sheriffs  and  recorder  of  London  disturbed  them, 
they  were  committed  to  the  Fleet  by  the  queen's 
express  command.  At  the  same  time,  they 
were  practising  against  the  queen's  life  ;  and 
that  their  religion  might  not  die  with  the  pres- 
ent age,  seminaries  were  erected  and  endowed, 
in  several  parts  of  Europe,  for  the  education  of 
English  youth,  and  for  providing  a  succession 
of  missionaries  to  be  sent  into  England  for  the 
propagation  of  their  faith.  The  first  of  these 
was  erected  when  the  kingdom  was  excommu- 
nicated ;  after  which  many  others  were  found- 
ed, to  the  unspeakable  prejudice  of  the  Protest- 
ant religion.  To  set  them  before  the  reader  in 
one  view  :  colleges  were  erected  at  the  follow- 
ing places : 

The  1st  at  Douay,  1569,  by  Philip,  king  of 
Spain. 

2d  at  Rome,  1579,  by  Pope  Gregory  XIII. 

3d  at  Valladolid,  1589,  by  the  King  of 
Spain. 

4th  at  Seville,  1593,  by  the  same. 

5th  at  St.  Omer's,  1596,  by  the  same. 

6th  at  Madrid,  1606,  by  Joseph  Creswel, 
Jesuit. 
,     7th  at  Louvain,  1606,  by  Philip  III.  of 
Spain. 

8th  at  Liege,  1616,  by  the  archbishop  of 
that  country. 

9th  at  Ghent,  1624,  by  Philip  IV. 
The  popish  nobility  and  gentry  sent  over  their 
children  to  these  colleges  for  education  ;$  and 
it  is  incredible  what  a  mass  of  money  was  col- 
lected in  England  for  their  maintenance,  by 
their  provincials,  sub-provincials,  assistants, 
agents,  coadjutors,  familiars,  &c.,  out  of  the 
estates  of  such  Catholics  as  were  possessed  of 
abbey-lands  -.  the  pope  dispensing  with  their 
holding  them  on  these  considerations.  The 
oath  taken  by  every  student  at  his  admission 
was  this : 

"  Having  resolved  to  offer  myself  wholly  up 
to  Divine  service,  as  much  as  I  may,  to  fulfil  the 
end  for  which  this  our  college  was  founded,  I 
promise  and  swear,  in  the  presence  of  Almighty 
God,  that  I  am  prepared  from  mine  heart,  with 
the  assistance  of  Divine  grace,  in  due  time  to 
receive  holy  orders,  and  to  return  into  England, 
to  convert  the  souls  of  my  countrymen  and  kin- 
dred, when  and  as  often  as  it  shall  seem  good 
to  the  superior  of  this  college." 

*  Heyiin's  Aerius  Redivivus,  p.  276. 
t  Strype's  Annals,  p.  329,  410,  622.    Life  of  Par- 
ker, p.  352-354.     Appendix,  p.  47. 
%  Fuller,  b.  i.x.,  p.  92. 
Vol.  I.— S 


The  number  of  students  educated  in  these 
colleges  may  be  collected  from  hence  ;  that 
whereas,  according  to  Saunders,  an  eminent  po- 
pish writer,*  there  were  but  thirty  old  priests 
remaining  in  England  this  year  [1575J,  the  two 
colleges  of  Douay  and  Rome  alone,  in  a  very 
few  years,  sent  over  three  hundred  ;  and  it  is 
not  to  be  doubted  but  there  was  a  like  proportion 
from  the  rest. 

About  this  time  began  to  appear  the  family 
of  love,  which  derived  its  pedigree  from  one 
Henry  Nicholas,  a  Dutchman.!  By  their  con- 
fession of  faith  published  this  year,  it  appears 
that  they  were  high  enthusiasts  ;  that  they  al- 
legorized the  doctrines  of  revelation,  and,  under 
a  pretence  of  attaining  to  spiritual  perfection, 
adopted  some  odd  and  whimsical  opinions,  while 
they  grew  too  lax  in  their  morals,  being  in  their 
principles  something  akin  to  the  Quietists  of 
the  Church  of  Rome,  and  the  Quakers  among 
ourselves.  They  had  their  private  assemblies 
for  devotion,  for  which  they  tasted  of  the  sever- 
ities of  the  government. 

But  the  weight  of  the  penal  laws  fell  heaviest 
upon  some  of  the  German  Anabaptists,  who  re- 
fused to  join  with  the  Dutch  or  English  church- 
es. There  were  two  sorts  of  Anabaptists  that 
sprung  up  with  the  Reformation  in  Germany ; 
one  was  of  those  who  differed  only  about  the 
subject  and  mode  of  baptism,  whether  it  should 
be  administered  to  infants,  or  in  any  other 
manner  than  by  dipping  the  whole  body  under 
water.  But  others  who  bore  that  name  were 
mere  enthusiasts,  men  of  fierce  and  barbarous 
tempers,  who  broke  out  into  a  general  revolt, 
and  raised  the  war  called  the  Rustic  war.  They 
had  an  unintelligible  way  of  talking  of  religion, 
which  they  usually  turned  into  allegory;  and 
these  being  joined  in  the  common  name  of  An- 
abaptists, brought  the  others  under  an  ill  charac- 
ter. Twenty-seven  of  them  were  apprehended 
in  a  private  house  without  Aldersgate-bars,  on 
Easter  Day,  1575,  where  they  were  assembled 
for  worship  :  of  these,  four  recanted  the  follow- 
ing errors  :  (1.)  That  Christ  took  not  flesh  of  the 
substance  of  the  Virgin.  (2.)  That  infants 
born  of  faithful  parents  ought  to  be  rebaptized. 
(3.)  That  no  Christian  man  ought  to  be  a  ma- 
gistrate. (4.)  That  it  is  not  lawful  for  a  Chris- 
tian man  to  take  an  oath.  But  others  refusing 
to  abjure,  eleven  of  them,  all  Dutchmen,  were 
condemned  in  the  consistory  of  St.  Paul's  to  be 
burned,  nine  of  whom  were  banished,  and  two 
suffered  the  extremity  of  the  fire  in  Smithfield, 
July  22,  1575,  viz.,  John  Wielmacker  and  Hen- 
drick  Ter  Woort.     Thus  the  writ  de  hczretico 

*   De  Schismat.  Aug.,  p.  3G5. 

t  This  is  an  error :  the  founder  of  tlie  Familists 
was  David  George,  of  Delft.  He  tied  from  Holland, 
and  settletl  at  Basil,  and  took  the  name  of  John  of 
Bridges ;  he  affirmed  that  he  was  the  true  David, 
sent  IVom  God,  who  should  restore  the  kingdom  again 
to  Israel.  He  was  the  author  of  several  works;  his 
chief  production  is  entitled  "  Tkc  Wonder  Book." 
His  history  was  written  liy  his  son-in-law,  Nicholas 
Blesdyke,  and  was  published  at  Daventry,  1633.  His 
doctrines  are  set  down  in  30  articles.  He  died  Au- 
gust 16,  1550.  He  had  promised  his  disciples  .that 
he  should  not  die.  or,  if  he  did,  he  should  rise  again. 

Henry  Nicholas,  or,  as  he  is  often  called.  Henry 
of  Anisterdatn,  then  maintained  the  same  doctrines. 

For  very  curious  particulars  respecting  this  delu 
sion  the  reader  is  referred  to  Ephraim.  Pagiifs  Here 
siography,  1046. — C. 


138 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


comburendo,  which  had  hung  up  only  in  tcrrorcm 
for  seventeen  years,  was  taken  down,  and  put 
in  execution  upon  these  unhappy  men.  The 
Du-tch  congregation  interceded  earnestly  for 
their  lives ;  as  did  Mr.  Fox,  the  niartyrologist, 
in  an  elegant  Latin  letter  to  the  queen,*  but  she 
was  immovable ;  so  distant  was  her  majesty 
from  the  tender  spirit  of  her  brother,  King  Ed- 
ward, t 

*  "To  roast  the  living  bodies  of  unhappy  men," 
he  says,  "who  err  rather  through  blindness  of  judg- 
ment than  perverseness  of  will,  in  lire  and  flames, 
raging  with  pitch  and  brimstone,  is  a  hard-hearted 
thing,  and  more  agreeable  to  the  practice  of  the  Ro- 
manists than  the  custom  of  the  Gospellers.  I  do 
not  speak  these  things  because  I  am  pleased  with 
their  wickedness,  or  favour  thus  the  errors  of  any 
men ;  but,  seeing  I  myself  am  a  man,  I  must  favour 
the  life  of  man ;  not  that  he  should  err,  but  that  he 
might  repent.  Wherefore,  if  I  may  be  so  bold,  I  hum- 
bly beg  of  your  royal  highness,  for  the  sake  of  Christ, 
who  was  consecrated  to  suffer  for  the  lives  of  many, 
this  favour  at  my  request,  which  even  the  Divine 
clemency  would  engage  you  to,  that  if  it  may  be 
(and  what  cannot  your  authority  do  in  such  cases?), 
these  unhappy  men  may  be  spared.  There  are  ex- 
communications and  imprisonments ;  there  are  bonds ; 
there  is  perpetual  banishment;  burning  of  the  hand, 
whipping,  or  even  slavery.  This  one  thing  I  most 
earnestly  beg,  that  the  piles  and  flames  of  Smith- 
field,  so  long  ago  extinguished  by  your  happy  gov- 
ernment, may  not  be  revived.  But,  if  I  may  not  ob- 
tain this,  I  pray  with  the  greatest  earnestness,  that 
out  of  your  great  pity,  you  would  grant  us  a  month 
or  two,  in  which  we  may  try  whether  the  Lord  will 
grant  that  they  may  turn  from  their  dangerous  er- 
rors, lest,  with  the  destruction  of  their  bodies,  their 
souls  be  in  danger  of  eternal  ruin." 

"  All  his  topics,"  says  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  re- 
ferring to  this  letter,  "are  not,  indeed,  consistent 
with  the  true  principles  of  religious  liberty.  But 
*hey  were  more  likely  to  soften  the  antipathy  of  his 
contemporaries,  and  to  win  the  assent  of  his  sover- 
eign, than  bolder  propositions  ;  they  form  a  wide  step 
towards  liberty  of  conscience.  Had  the  excellent 
writer  possessed  the  power  of  showing  mercy,  and 
once  tasted  the  sweetness  of  exercising  it  towards 
deluded  fanatics,  he  must  doubtless  have  been  at- 
tracted to  the  practice  of  unbounded  toleration." — 
Hist,  of  Eng.,  iii.,  170.  Dr.  Price's  Hist,  of  Noncon- 
formity, vol.  i.,  p.  295. — C. 

t  The  remarks  of  that  valuable  historian,  Gerard 
Brandt,  on  these  cruel  proceedings,  arc  so  just  and 
liberal  that  they  deser\'e  to  be  laid  before  the  reader. 
"  This  severity,"  says  he,  "  which  was  not  the  first 
that  had  been  practised  in  England  since  the  Ref- 
ormation, appeared  to  many  Protestants,  who  were 
still  under  the  cross  in  Flanders  and  Brabant,  both 
strange  and  incredible.  They  lamented  that  those 
who  not  long  before  had  been  persecuted  themselves 
were  now  harassing  others  for  the  sake  of  their  reli- 
gion, and  offering  violence,  with  lire  and  sword,  to  the 
consciences  of  other  men,  though  they  had  before 
taught,  and  that  with  great  truth,  'that  it  did  not  be- 
long to  any  mortal  man  to  lord  it  over  the  conscien- 
'  ces  of  others.  That  faith  was  the  gift  of  God,  and 
not  to  be  implanted  in  the  minds  of  men  by  any  ex- 
ternal force,  but  by  the  Word  of  God,  and  illumina- 
tion of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  that  heresy  was  not  a  carnal, 
but  spiritual  crime,  and  to  be  punished  by  God  alone ; 
that  error  and  falsehood  were  not  to  be  overcome 
with  violence,  but  truth ;  that  the  obligation  which 
the  children  of  God  he  under  is  not  to  put  others  to 
death  for  the  faith,  but  to  die  themselves  in  bearing 
witness  to  the  truth.  Lastly,  that  the  shedding  of 
blood  for  the  sake  of  religion  is  a  mark  of  antichrist, 
who  thereby  sets  himself  in  the  judgment-seat  of 
God,  assuming  to  himself  the  dominion  over  con- 
science, which  belongs  to  none  but  God  onlv.'  "  See 
Brandt's  History  of  the  Reformation  in  "the  Low 


.  A  little  before  the  burning  of  these  heretics, 
Matthew  Parker,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  de- 
parted this  life:  he  was  born  at  Norwich,  1504, 
and  educated  in  Bene't  College,  Cambridge.  la 
the  reign  of  King  Edward  VL*  he  married,  and 
was,  therefore,  obliged  to  live  privately  under 
Queen  Mary.  Upon  Queen  Elizabeth's  accession, 
he  was  advanced  to  the  archbishopric  of  Can- 
terbury ;  and  how  he  managed  in  that  high  sta- 
tion may  be  collected  from  the  foregoing  history. 
He  wrote  a  book  entitled  Antiquitatcs  Britan- 
nicK,  which  shows  him  to  have  had  some  skill 
in  ecclesiastical  antiquity  ;  but  he  was  a  severe 
churchman,  of  a  rough  and  uncourtly  temper, 
and  of  high  and  arbitrary  principles,  both  iu 
church  and  state ;  a  slave  to  the  prerogative 
and  the  supremacy,  and  a  bitter  enemy  to  the 
Puritans,  whom  he  persecuted  to  the  length  of 
his  power,  and  beyond  the  limits  of  the  law. 
His  religion  consisted  in  a  servile  obedience  to 
the  queen's  injunctions,  and  in  regulating  the 
public  service  of  the  church  ;  but  his  grace  had 
too  little  regard  for  public  virtue,!  his  entertain- 
ments and  feastings  being  chiefly  on  the  Lord's 
day :  nor  do  we  read,  among  his  episcopal  qual- 
ities, of  his  diligent  preaching  or  pious  example,  t 

Countries,  quoted  in  Mr.  Lindsey's  Second  Address 
to  the  Youth  of  the  Two  Universities,  p.  230,  &c., 
or  La  Roche's  Abridgment  of  Brandt,  p.  168. — Ed. 

*  In  this  reign  he  was  initiated  into  the  exercise 
of  power  and  measures  of  persecution;  for  in  the 
year  1551  he  was  put  into  a  commission,  with  thirty 
other  persons,  for  correcting  and  punishing  Anabap 
tists. — British  Biograjjhy,  vol.  ill.,  p.  4. — Ed. 

t  Life  of  Parker,  p.  524. 

t  "  As  primate  of  the  Church  of  England,  he  com- 
mitted a  capital  error  in  not  availing  himi.elf  of  the 
influence  of  his  station  to  heal  the  divisions  v>'hich 
early  ensued!  It  v>fas  in  his  power  greatly  to  have 
diminished,  if  not  entirely  to  have  prevented  them. 
But  the  rigidity  of  Parker's  temper  aggravated  the 
wound  he  should  have  healed,  and  thus  entailed  on 
his  successors  the  necessity  of  measures  whose  cru- 
elty has  stamped  them  with  indelible  infamy.  Mis- 
trusting the  stability  of  his  church,  he  was  perpetu- 
ally alarmed  for  its  safety,  and  unscrupulously  em- 
ployed in  its  support  every  means  which  force  or 
fraud  could  supply.  The  least  deviation  from  the 
ordinary  routine  of  religious  services  awakened  his 
suspicions  and  fears.  The  simplest  and  most  fervent 
piety  failed  to  secure  his  complacency,  unless  it  were 
clothed  in  the  habiliments  which  authority  had  sanc- 
tioned, and  expressed  itself  in  language  borrowed 
from  the  offices  of  his  church.  That  men  were  ad- 
vancing in  conformity  to  God,  and  in  benevolence 
towards  their  species,  failed  to  interest  his  mind,  if 
the  slightest  taint  of  Puritanism  were  suspected,  or 
the  least  irregularity  in  religious  services  were  known. 

"  Placed  in  a  station  of  commanding  influence,  he 
prostituted  his  power  to  the  support  of  the  queen's 
prerogative  and  the  maintenance  of  ecclesiastical 
uniformity.  To  this  he  sacrificed  the  higher  purposes 
of  his  vocation,  and  set  an  example  of  servility  in 
the  state,  and  of  despotism  in  the  Church,  which 
Whitgift,  Bancroft,  and  Laud  fatally  imitated.  He 
had  refused  submission  to  the  pope,  yet  he  claimed 
it  from  others,  and  enforced  the  demand  with  a  hard- 
heartedness  which  penury  and  weeping  iimocence 
could  not  move.  Nor  can  it  be  justly  pleaded  in 
his  defence  that  his  course  was  shaped  by  the  com- 
mands of  the  queen  and  her  council.  In  a  few  in- 
stances this  might  have  been  the  case,  but  in  gen- 
eral it  was  otherwise.  He  was  Elizabeth's  princi- 
pal adviser  in  ecclesiastical  afi'airs.  She  relied  on 
his  churchmanship,  and  found  him  ever  ready  to  ex- 
ecute her  severest  edicts.  He  rarely,  if  ever,  rnani- 
fested  sorrow  when  employed  as  the  minister  of  her 
wrath;  though  his  joy  knew  no  bounds  when  he 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


139 


Fuller  calls  him  a  Parker  indeed,  careful  to  keep 
the  fences  and  shut  the  gates  of  discipline  against 
all  such  night- stealers  as  would  invade  the  same ; 
and,  indeed,  this  was  his  chief  excellence.  He 
was  a  considerable  benefactor  to  Bene't  Col- 
lege, the  place  of  his  education,  where  he  or- 
dered his  MS.  papers  to  be  deposited,  which 
have  been  of  considerable  service  to  the  writers 
of  the  English  Reformation.*  He  died  of  the 
stone  on  the  17th  of  May,  1575,  in  the  seventy- 
second  year  of  his  age,  and  was  interred  in 
Lambeth  Chapel  the  6th  of  June  following, 
where  his  body  rested  till  the  end  of  the  civil 
wars  ;  when  Colonel  Scot,  having  purchased 
that  palace  for  a  mansion-house,  took  down  the 
monument,  and  buried  the  bones,  says  Mr. 
Strype.t  in  a  stinking  dunghill,  where  they  re- 
mained till  some  years  after  the  Restoration, 
when  they  were  decently  reposed  near  the  place 
where  the  monument  had  stood,  which  was  now 
again  erected  to  his  memory.J 


CHAPTER  VI. 

FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  AKCHBISHOP  PARKER  TO  THE 
DEATH  OF  ARCHBISHOP  GRINDAL. 

Dr.  Edmund  Grindal,  archbishop  of  York, 
succeeded  Parker  in  the  see  of  Canterbury,  and 
was  confirmed  February  15,  1575-6.  He  was  a 
divine  of  moderate  principles,  and  moved  no 
faster  in  courses  of  severity  against  the  Puritans 
than  his  superiors  obliged  him,  being  a  friend  to 
their  preachings  and  prophesyings.  Sandys  was 
translated  from  London  to  York,  and  Aylmer 
was  advanced  to  the  see  of  London.  This  last 
was  one  of  the  exiles,  and  had  been  a  favourer 
of  Puritanism ;  for  in  his  book  against  Knox, 
entitled  "  An  Harbour  of  Faithful  Subjects,"  he 

was  sanctioned  by  her  authority  to  execute  the  per- 
secuting code  which  he  had  mainly  contributed  to 
form.  '  On  the  review  of  his  whole  behaviour,'  says 
Mr.  Hallam,  'he  must  be  reckoned,  and  always  has 
been  reckoned,  the  most  severe  disciplinarian  of  Eliz- 
abeth's first  hierarchy,  though  more  violent  men 
came  afterward.'  Yet  it  is  due  to  the  memory  of 
Parker  to  observe,  that  the  errors  of  his  administra- 
tion, serious  and  criminal  as  they  were,  sprung  natu- 
rally out  of  the  system  he  represented.  The  Re- 
formed Church  of  England  was  unsound  at  heart. 
It  had  its  origin  in  force ;  it  was  shaped  and  moulded 
by  human  laws,  and  could  only  be  maintained  by  the 
exercise  of  an  authority  unsanctioned  by  the  Word 
of  God.  It  was  based  on  principles  subversive  of 
human  rights,  and  could  not  fail  its  supporters  in 
measures  which  reason  condemns,  and  which  revela- 
tion represents  as  destructive  of  those  graces  with 
which  God  seeks  to  embeUish  the  human  soul.  His 
name  will  be  handed  down  to  the  latest  posterity  as 
a  persecutor  of  the  saints  of  God." — Dr.  Price's  Hist. 
Noiicor,/.,  vol.  i.,  p.  291-3.— C. 

*  It  should  be  added,  that  literature  was  indebted 
to  him  for  editions  of  our  best  ancient  historians  : 
Matthew  of  Westminster,  Matthew  Paris,  Thomas 
Walsingham,  and  Asser's  Life  of  King  Alfred.  It 
should  also,  says  Mr.  Granger,  be  remembered,  to 
his  honour,  that  he  was  the  first  founder  of  the  So- 
ciety of  Antiquaries  in  England. — Ed. 

t  Life  of  Parker,  p.  499. 

j  As  a  balance  to  this,  the  bodies  of  nineteen  or 
twenty  Puritan  divines  were  dug  up  in  Westminster 
Abbey,  and  thrown  into  a  pit  in  the  yard  :  Dr.  Trap, 
Mr.  -Marshall,  Mr.  Strong,  &c.  See,  in  Strype, 
what  a  pompous  funeral  Parker  had  ordered  for  him- 
self.—Ed. 


declaims  against  the  wealth  and  splendour  of 
the  bishops,  and  spdaks  with  vehemence  against 
their  lordly  dignities  and  civil  authority.  In 
the  convocation  of  1562,  when  the  question 
about  the  habits  was  debated,  he  withdrew,  and 
would  not  be  concerned  in  the  affair  ;  but,  upon 
his  advancement  to  the  episcopal  order,  he  be- 
came a  new  convert,  and  a  cruel  persecutor  of 
the  Puritans.  He  was  a  little  man,  of  a  quick 
spirit,  and  of  no  extraordinary  character. 

The  Parliament  being  now  sitting,  a  bill  was 
brought  into  the  House  of  Lords  to  mulct  such 
as  did  not  come  to  church  and  receive  the 
sacrament,  with  the  payment  of  certain  sums 
of  money,  but  it  was  thought  proper  to  drop  it 
for  the  present. 

The  convocation  was  busy  in  framing  articles 
touching  the  admitting  able  and  fit  persons  to 
the  ministry,  and  establishing  good  order  in  the 
Church.*  Thirteen  of  them  were  published 
with  the  queen's  license,  thouglj  they  had  not 
the  broad  seal ;  but  the  other  two,  for  marrying 
at  aU  times  of  the  year,  and  for  private  baptism 
by  a  lawful  minister,  in  cases  of  necessity,  her 
majesty  would  not  countenance.  One  of  the 
articles  makes  void  all  licenses  for  preaching, 
dated  before  the  8th  of  February,  1575,  but  pro- 
vides that  such  as  should  be  thought  meet  for  that 
office  should  be  readmitted  without  difficulty  or 
charge.  This  had  been  practised  once  and 
again  in  Parker's  time,  ahd  was  now  renewed, 
that  by  disqualifying  the  whole  body  of  the 
clergy,  they  might  clear  the  Church  of  all  the 
Nonconformists  at  once  ;  and  if  all  the  bishops 
had  been  equally  severe  in  renewing  their  li- 
censes, the  Church  would  have  been  destitute 
of  all  preaching:,  for  the  body  of  the  conforming 
clergy  were  so  ignorant  and  illiterate  that  many 
who  had  cure  of  souls  were  incapable  of  preach- 
ing, or  even  of  reading  to  the  edification  of  the 
hearers  ;  being  obliged  by  law  only  to  read  the 
service  ^nd  administer  the  sacrament  in  person 
once  in  half  a  year,  on  forfeiture  of  five  pounds 
to  the  poor. 

The  Nonconformist  ministers,  under  the 
character  of  curates  or  lecturers,  supplied  the 
defects  of  these  idle  drones  for  a  small  recom- 
pense from  the  incumbent  and  the  voluntary 
contribution  of  the  parish,  and  by  their  warm 
and  affi3Ctionate  preaching  gained  the  hearts  ot 
the  people ;  they  resided  upon  their  curacies, 
and  went  from  house  to  house  visiting  their 
parishioners  and  instructing  their  children ; 
they  also  inspected  their  lives  and  manners, 
and,  according  to  the  apostolical  direction,  re- 
proved, rebuked,  and  exhorted  them  with  all 
long-suffering  and  doctrine,  as  long  as  they 
could  keep  their  licenses.  Thus  most  of  the 
Puritan  ministers  remained  as  yet  within  the 
Church,  and  their  followers  attended  upon  the 
Word  and  sacraments  in  such  places  where 
there  were  sober  and  orthodox  preachers. 

But  still  they  continued  their  associations 
and  private  assemblies  for  recovering  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  Church  to  a  more  primitive  stand- 
ard ;  this  was  a  grievance  to  the  queen  and 
court  bishops,  who  were  determined  against  all 
innovations  of  this  kind.  Strange,  that  men 
should  confess  in  their  public  service  every 
first  day  of  Lent,  "  that  there  was  a  godly  dis- 
ciphne  in  the  primitive  Church  ;  that  this  dis- 


*  Strype's  Life  of  Grindal,  p.  194. 


140 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


cipline  is  not  exercised  at  present  in  the  Church 
of  England,  but  that  it  is  much  to  be  wished 
that  it  were  restored,"  and  yet  never  attempt 
to  restore  it,  but  set  themselves  with  violence 
and  oppression  to  crush  all  endeavours  that 
way  !  For  the  reader  will  observe  that  this 
was  one  chief  occasion  of  the  sufferings  of  the 
Puritans  in  the  following  part  of  this  reign. 

Some  of  the  ministers  of  Northampton  and 
Warwickshire,  in  one  of  their  associated  meet- 
ings, agreed  upon  certain  rules  of  discipline  in 
their  several  parishes,  but,  as  soon  as  they  be- 
gan to  practice  them,  the  court  took  the  alarm, 
and  sent  letters  to  the  new  archbishop  to  sup- 
press them.*  His  grace  accordingly  sent  to 
the  bishops  of  these  diocesses  to  see  things 
reduced  to  their  former  channel,  and,  if  need 
were,  to  send  for  assistance  from  himself  or 
the  ecclesiastical  commissioners  ;  accordingly, 
Mr.  Paget  and  Mr.  Oxenbridge,  the  two  heads 
of  the  association,  were  taken  into  custody  and 
sent  up  to  London. 

Some  time  after  there  was  another  assembly 
at  Mr.  Knewstub's  church,  at  Cockfield  in  Suf- 
folk, where  sixty  clergymen  of  Norfolk,  Suffolk, 
and  Cambridgeshire  met  together  to  confer  of 
the  Common  Prayer  Book,  and  come  to  some 
agreement  as  to  what  might  be  tolerated  and 
what  was  necessary  to  be  refused.  They  con- 
sulted also  about  apparel,  holydays,  fastings, 
injunctions,  &c.t  From  thence  they  adjourned 
to  Cambridge,  at  the  time  of  the  next  com- 
mencement, and  from  thence  to  London,  where 
they  hoped  to  be  concealed  by  the  general  re- 
sort of  the  people  to  Parliament  ;  in  these  as- 
semblies they  came  to  the  following  conclu- 
sions, which  were  drawn  up  in  an  elegant  Latin 
style  by  Mr.  Cartwright  and  Travers,  and  given 
to  the  ministers  for  their  direction  in  their  sev- 
eral parishes. 

Concerning  Ministers. 

"  Let  no  man,  though  he  be  a  university 
man,  offer  himself  to  the  ministry  ;  nor  let  any 
man  take  upon  him  an  uncertain  and  vague 
ministry,  though  it  be  offered  unto  him. 

"  But  such  as  are  called  by  some  church,  let 
him  impart  it  to  the  classis  or  conference  of 
which  they  are  members,  or  to  some  greater 
church  assemblies ;  and  if  the  called  be  ap- 
proved, let  them  be  commended  by  letters  to 
the  bishop,  that  they  may  be  ordained  ministers 
by  him. 

"  Those  ceremonies  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  which,  being  taken  from  popery,  are  in 
controversy,  ought  to  be  omitted,  if  it  may  be 
done  without  danger  of  being  put  from  the  min- 
istry ;  but  if  there  be  imminent  danger  of  being 
deprived,  then  let  the  matter  be  communicated 
to  the  classis  in  which  that  church  is,  to  be  de- 
termined by  them. 

"  If  subscription  to  the  articles  and  Book  of 
Conunon  Prayer  shall  be  again  urged,  it  is 
thought  that  the  book  of  articles  may  be  sub- 
scribed, according  to  the  stat.  13  Eliz.,  that  is, 
'  to  sucli  only  as  contain  the  sum  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith  and  the  doctrine  of  the  sacraments.' 
But  neither  the  Common  Prayer  Book  nor  the 
rest  of  the  articles  may  be  allowed  ;  no,  though 
a  man  should  be  deprived  of  his  ministry  for  re- 
fusing it. 


*  Life  of  Grindal,  p.  215.         +  Fuller,  b.  ix.,  p.  135. 


Concerning  Church-wardens. 

"  It  seems  that  church- wardens  and  collectors 
for  the  poor  may  be  thus  turned  into  elders  and 
deacons. 

"  Let  the  Church  have  warning  of  the  time 
of  election,  and  of  the  ordinance  of  the  realm,  fif- 
teen days  beforehand  ;  but  especially  of  Christ's 
ordinance,  touching  appointing  of  watchmen  and 
overseers  in  his  Church,  who  are  to  take  care 
that  no  offence  or  scandal  arise  in  the  Church ; 
and  if  any  such  happen,  that  it  be  duly  abol- 
ished. 

Of  Collectors  for  the  Poor,  or  Deacons. 

"  Touching  deacons  of  both  sorts,  viz.,  men 
and  women,  the  Church  shall  be  admonished 
what  is  required  by  the  apostle  ;  and  that  they 
are  not  to  choose  men  of  custom  or  course,  or 
for  their  riches,  but  for  their  faith,  zeal,  and  in- 
tegi-ity  ;  and  that  the  Church  is  to  pray,  in  the 
mean  time,  to  be  so  directed  that  they  may 
choose  them  that  are  meet. 

"  Let  the  names  of  those  that  are  thus  chosen 
be  published  by  the  next  Lord's  Day,  and  after 
that,  their  duties  to  the  Church  and  the  Church's 
duty  towards  them  ;  then  let  them  be  received 
into  their  office  with  the  general  prayers  of  the 
whole  Church. 

Of  Classes. 

"  The  brethren  are  to  be  requested  to  ordam 
a  distribution  of  all  the  churches,  according  to 
the  rules  set  down  in  the  synodical  discipline, 
touching  classical,  provincial,  comitial,  and  as- 
semblies for  the  whole  kingdom. 

"  The  classes  are  to  be  required  to  keep  acts 
of  memorable  matters,  and  to  deliver  them  to 
the  comitial  assembly,  and  from  thence  to  the 
provincial  assembly. 

"  They  are  to  deal  earnestly  with  patrons,  to 
present  fit  men  whensoever  any  Church  falls 
void  in  their  classis. 

"  The  comitial  assemblies  are  to  be  admon- 
ished to  make  collections  for  the  relief  of  the 
poor,  and  of  scholars,  but  especially  for  the  re- 
lief of  such  ministers  as  are  deprived  for  not 
subscribing  the  articles  tendered  by  the  bishops ; 
also  for  the  relief  of  Scots  ministers,  and  others ; 
and  for  other  profitable  and  necessary  uses. 

"  Provincial  synods  must  continually  foresee 
in  due  time  to  appoint  the  keeping  of  their  next 
provincial  synods ;  and  for  the  sending  of  chosen 
persons  with  certain  instructions  to  the  national 
synod,  to  be  holden  whensoever  the  Parliament 
for  the  kingdom  shall  be  called,  at  some  certain 
time  every  year." 

The  design  of  these  conclusions  was  to  intro- 
duce a  reformation  into  the  Church  without  a 
separation.  The  chief  debate  in  their  assem- 
blies was,  how  far  this  or  the  other  conclusion 
might  consist  with  the  peace  of  the  Church, 
and  be  moulded  into  a  consistency  with  episco- 
pacy. They  ordained  no  ministers  ;  and,  though 
they  maintained  the  choice  of  the  people  to  be 
the  essential  call  to  the  pastoral  charge,  yet 
most  of  them  admitted  of  ordination  and  induc- 
tion by  the  bishop  only,  as  the  officer  appointed 
by  law,  that  the  minister  might  bo  enabled  to 
demand  his  legal  dues  from  the  parish. 

In  the  room  of  that  pacific  prelate,  Parkhurst, 
bishop  of  Norwich,  the  queen  non^inated  Dr. 
Freke,  a  divine  of  a  quite  different  spirit,  vvho, 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


141 


in  his  primary  visitation  made,  sad  havoc  among 
the  Puritan  ministers.  Among  others  that  were 
suspended  in  that  diocess  were  Mr.  John  More, 
Mr.  Richard  Crick,  Mr.  George  Leeds,  Mr.  Thom- 
as Roberts,  and  Mr.  Richard  Dowe,  all  minis- 
ters in  or  near  the  city  of  Norwich ;  they  ad- 
dressed the  queen  and  council  for  relief,  but 
were  told  that  her  majesty  was  fully  bent  to  re- 
move all  those  that  would  not  be  persuaded  to 
conform  to  established  orders.  The  Reverend 
Mr.  Gawton,  minister  of  Goring  in  the  same 
diocess,  being  charged  with  not  wearing  the 
surplice,  nor  observing  the  order  of  the  queen's 
book,  he  confessed  the  former,  but  said  that  in 
other  things  he  was  conformable,  though  he  did 
not  keep  exactly  to  the  rubric*  When  the 
bishop  charged  him  with  holding  divers  errors, 
he  answered,  "  We  are  here  not  above  half  a 
dozen  unconformable  ministers  in  this  city  [Nor- 
wich] ;  and  if  you  will  confer  with  us  by  learn- 
ing, we  will  yield  up  our  very  lives  if  we  are 
not  able  to  prove  the  doctrines  we  hold  to  be 
consonant  to  the  Word  of  God."  After  his  sus- 
pension he  sent  his  lordship  a  bold  letter,  in 
which  he  maintained  that  Christ  was  the  only 
lawgiver  in  his  Church.  "  If  any  king  or  prince 
in  the  world  ordain  or  allow  other  officers  than 
Christ  has  allowed,  we  will,"  says  he,  "  rather 
lay  down  our  necks  on  the  block  than  consent 
thereunto  ;  wherefore  do  not  object  to  us  so 
often  the  name  of  our  prince,  for  you  use  it  as 
a  cloak  to  cover  your  cursed  enterprises.  Have 
you  not  thrust  out  those  who  preached  the  lively 
Word  faithfully  and  sincerely  !  Have  you  not 
plucked  out  those  preachers  where  God  set 
them  in  1  And  do  you  think  that  this  plea  will 
excuse  you  before  the  high  Judge,  '  I  did  but 
execute  the  law!'  " 

Mr.  Harvey,  another  minister  of  the  same 
city,  was  cited  before  the  bishop.  May  13th,  for 
preaching  against  the  hierarchy  of  bishops  and 
their  ecclesiastical  officers  ;  and  at  a  court  held 
at  St.  George's  Church  he  was  suspended  from 
his  ministry,  with  Mr.  Vincent  Goodwin  and 
John  Mapes. 

Mr.  Rockrey,  B.D.  of  Queen's  College,  Cam- 
bridge, a  person  of  great  learning  and  merit, 
was  expelled  the  university  for  nonconformity 
to  the  habits. t  Lord  Burleigh,  the  chancellor, 
got  him  restored  and  dispensed  with  for  a  year, 
at  the  end  of  which  the  master  of  his  college 
admonished  him  three  times  to  conform  him- 
self to  the  custom  of  the  university  in  the  hab- 
its, which  he  refusing,  was  finally  discharged, 
as  an  example  to  keep  others  to  their  duty. 

About  the  same  time,  Mr.  Richard  Greenham, 
minister  of  Drayton,  was  suspended,!  a  man  of 
a  most-  excellent  spirit,  who,  though  he  would 
not  subscribe  or  conform  to  the  habits,  avoided 
speaking  of  them,  that  he  might  not  give  offence  ; 
and  whoever  reads  his  letter  to  Cox,  bishop  of 
Ely,  will  wonder  what  sort  of  men  they  must 
be  who  could  bear  hard  on  so  peaceable  a  di- 
vine. 

Some  time  before  the  death  of  Archbishop 
Parker,  Mr.  Stroud,  the  suspended  minister  of 
Cranbrook,  returned  to  his  parish  church  ;  but 
being  represented  to  the  present  archbishop  as 
a  disturber  of  the  peace,  he  was  forbid  to  con- 
tinue his  accustomed  exercises  in  the  Church, 


*  MS.,  p.  253.    Strype's  Annals,  p.  448. 

+  MS.,  p.  285.        t  Pierce's  Vindication,  p.  97. 


and  commanded  to  leave  the  country ;  but  the 
good  man  was  so  universally  beloved  that  the 
whole  county  of  Kent  almost  signed  petitions 
to  the  archbishop  for  his  continuance  among 
them. 

"  We  know,  most  reverend  father,"  say  they, 
"  that  Mr.  Stroud  has  been  several  times  beaten 
and  whipped  with  the  untrue  reports  of  slander- 
ous tongues,  and  accused  of  crimes  whereof  he 
has  most  clearly  acquitted  himself  to  the  satis- 
faction of  others.  Every  one  of  us,  for  the 
most  part,  most  gracious  lord,  hath  heard  him 
preach  Christ  truly,  and  rebuke  sin  boldly,  and 
hath  seen  him  hitherto  apply  to  his  calling  faith- 
fully, and  live  among  us  peaceably  ;  so  that  not 
only  by  his  diligent  doctrine  our  youth  has  been 
informed,  and  ourselves  confirmed  in  true  reli- 
gion and  learning,  but  also  by  his  honest  con- 
versation and  example  we  are  daily  allured  to 
a  Christian  life,  and  the  exercises  of  charity  ; 
and  no  one  of  us,  reverend  father,  hath  hitherto 
heard  from  his  own  mouth,  or  by  credible  rela- 
tion from  others,  that  he  has  publicly  in  his 
sermons,  or  privately  in  conversation,  taught 
unsound  doctrine,  or  opposed  the  discipline, 
about  which  great  controversy,  alas  !  is  now 
maintained  ;  yea,  he  has  given  faithful  promise 
to  forbear  the  handling  any  questions  concern- 
ing the  policy  of  the  Church,  and  we  think  in 
our  consciences  he  has  hitherto  performed  it.  In 
consideration  whereof,  and  that  our  country 
may  not  be  deprived  of  so  diligent  a  labourer  in 
the  Lord's  harvest ;  nor  that  the  enemies  of 
God's  truth,  the  papists,  may  find  matter  of  joy 
and  comfort ;  nor  thd  man  himself,  in  receiving 
a  kind  of  condemnation  without  examination, 
be  thus  wounded  at  the  heart  and  discouraged : 
we  most  humbly  beseech  your  grace,  for  the 
poor  man's  sake,  for  your  own  sake,  and  the 
Lord's  sake,  either  to  take  judicial  knowledge 
of  his  cause,  to  the  end  he  may  be  confronted 
with  his  adversaries ;  or  else,  of  your  great 
wisdom  and  goodness,  to  restore  him  to  his  lib- 
erty, of  preaching  the  Gospel  among  us.  And 
we,  as  in  duty  bound,  shall  ever  pray,  &c." 

This  petition  was  signed  by  nineteen  or  twen- 
ty hands ;  another  was  signed  by  twenty-four 
ministers  ;  and  a  third  by  George  Ely,  vicar  of 
Tenderden,  and  twenty-one  parishioners ;  Thom- 
as Bathurst,  Sen.,  minister  of  Staplehurst,  and 
nine  parishioners  ;  William  Walter,  of  Fritten- 
den,  and  fourteen  of  his  parishioners  ;  Antony 
Francis,  minister  of  Lamberhurst,  and  four  pa- 
rishioners ;  Alexander  Love,  minister  of  Rolen- 
den,  and  eighteen  parishioners;  Christopher 
Vinebrook,  minister  of  Helcorne,  and  nine  pa- 
rishioners ;  William  Vicar,  of  Tysherst,  and  ten 
parishioners  ;  Matthew  Wolton,  curate  of  Ben- 
eden,  and  eleven  parishioners  ;  William  Cocks, 
minister  of  Marden,  and  thirteen  parishioners  ; 
William  Hopkinson,  minister  of  Saleherst,  and 
eight  parishioners.* 

Such  a  reputation  had  this  good  man  among 
all  who  had  any  taste  for  true  piety  and  zeal 
for  the  Protestant  religion!  He  was  a  peacea- 
ble divine,  and  by  the  threatening  of  Aylmer, 
bishop  of  London,  had  been  prevailed  with  to 
subscribe  with  some  reserve,  for  the  support  of 
a  starvmg  family  ;  and  yet  he  was  continually 
molested  and  vexed  in  the  spiritual  courts. 

Two  eminent  divines  of  Puritan  principles 

"  *  MS.,  p.  196.  ^ 


142 


HISTORY   OF  THE  PURITANS. 


died  this  year  :  one  was  James  Pilkington,  B.D., 
and  Bishop  of  Durham  ;  he  was  descended  from 
a  considerable  family  near  Bolton  in  Lanca- 
shire, and  was  educated  in  St.  John's  College, 
Cambridge,  of  which  he  was  master.  In  the 
reign  of  Queen  Mary  he  was  an  exile,  and  con- 
fessor for  the  Gospel ;  upon  the  accession  of 
Queen  Elizabeth  he  was  nominated  to  the  See 
of  Durham,  being  esteemed  a  learned  man  and 
a  profound  divine  ;  but  could  hardly  be  prevail- 
ed with  to  accept  it  on  account  of  the  habits,  to 
"Which  he  expressed  a  very  great  dislike ;  he 
was  always  a  very  great  friend  and  favourer  of 
the  Nonconformists,  as  appears  by  his  letters, 
and  a  truly  pious  and  Christian  bishop.*  He 
died  in  peace  at  his  house.  Bishop's  Auckland, 
January  23,  1575-6,  in  the  sixty-fifth  year  of 
his  age  ;  Dr.  Humphreys,  and  Mr.  Fox  the 
martyrologist,  adorning  his  tomb  with  their  fu- 
neral verses. 

The  other  was  Mr.  Edward  Deering,  a  Non- 
conformist divine,  of  whom  mention  has  been 
made  already ;  he  was  born  of  an  ancient  and 
worthy  family  in  Kent,  and  bred  fellow  of 
Christ's  College,  Cambridge  ;  a  pious  and  pain- 
ful preacher,  says  Fuller, t  but  disaffected  to 
bishops  and  ceremonies  ;  he  was  a  learned  man 
and  a  fine  orator,  but  in  one  of  his  sermons  be- 
fore the  queen  he  took  the  liberty  to  say,  that 
when  her  majesty  was  under  persecution  her 
motto  was  Tanquam  ovis ;  but  now  it  might  be, 
Tanquam  indomila  juvenca,  as  an  untamed  heif- 
cr.J  For  which  he  was  forbid  preaching  at 
court  for  the  future,  and  lost  all  his  preferments 
in  the  Church. ij 

Archbishop  Grindal  had  endeavoured  to  regu- 
late the  prophesyings,  and  cover  them  from  the 
objections  of  the  court,  by  enjoining  the  minis- 
ters to  observe  decency  and  order,  by  for- 
bidding them  to  meddle  with  politics  and  church 
government,  and  by  prohibiting  all  Noncon- 
formist ministers  and  laymen  from  being  speak- 
ers. The  other  bishops,  also,  in  their  several 
diocesses,  published  [in  1577]  the  following 
regulations : 

That  the  exercises  should  be  only  in  such 
churches  as  the  bishop,  under  his  hand  and  seal, 
should  appoint. 

That  the  archdeacon,  or  some  other  grave 
divine  appointed  and  allowed  by  the  bishop, 
should  be  moderator. 

That  a  list  of  the  names  of  those  that  are 
thought  fit  to  be  speakers  in  course  be  made 
and  allowed  of  by  the  bishop  ;  and  the  bishop  to 
appoint  such  part  of  Scripture  they  shall  treat  of. 

That  those  ministers  that  are  judged  not  fit 
to  speak  pubUcly  be  assigned  some  other  task 
by  the  moderator,  for  the  increase  of  their  learn- 
ing- 

*  Ath.  Ox.,  i.,  590.  t  Fuller,  b.  ix.,  p.  109. 

t  Life  of  Parker,  p.  380. 

<)  Strype,  in  his  Life  of  Parker,  says  that  Deering 
was  disliked  of  the  bishops,  because  he  would  tell 
them  of  their  swearing  and  covetousness,  yet,  he 
adds,  that  he  was  given  to  tell  lies.  This  looks  like 
slander. 

Dr.  Sampson,  who  knew  him  well,  gives  him  an 
exalted  character  as  a  man  and  a  Christian,  and 
Granger,  in  his  Biographical  History,  vol.  i.,  p.  215, 
observes,  "  The  happy  death  of  this  truly  religious 
man  was  suitable  to  the  purity  and  integrity  of  his 
life." — See  Brook's  Lives  of  the  Parilans,  vol.  i.,  p. 
193-211.     Strype's  Parker,  p.  381-420.— C. 


Ante  omnia,  that  no  lay-person  be  admitted  to 
speak  publicly  in  the  exercises. 

That  if  any  man  glance  at  affairs  of  state, 
the  moderator  shall  immediately  silence  him, 
and  give  notice  to  the  bishop. 

If  any  man  inveighs  against  the  laws  con- 
cerning rites  and  ceremonies,  and  discipline  es- 
tablished, he  shall  immediately  be  silenced,  and 
not  be  admitted  to  speak  any  more  till  he  has 
given  satisfaction  to  the  auditory,  and  obtained 
a  new  admission  and  approbation  of  the  bishop. 
And 

No  suspended  or  deprived  ministers  shall  be 
suffered  to  be  speakers,  except  they  shall  first 
conform  to  the  public  order  and  discipline  of 
the  Church,  by  subscription  and  daily  practice. 

But  the  queen  was  resolved  to  suppress  them ; 
and  having  sent  for  the  archbishop,  told  him  she 
was  informed  that  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of 
the  Church  were  not  duly  observed  in  these 
prophesyings ;  that  persons  not  lawfully  called 
to  be  ministers  exercised  in  them  ;  that  the  as- 
semblies themselves  were  illegal,  not  being  al- 
lowed by  public  authority  ;  that  the  laity  neg- 
lected their  secular  affairs  by  repairing  to  these 
meetings,  which  filled  their  heads  with  notions, 
and  might  occasion  disputes  and  seditions  in 
the  state ;  that  it  was  good  for  the  Church  to 
have  but  few  preachers,  three  or  four  in  a  county 
being  sufficient.*  She  farther  declared  her  dis- 
like of  the  number  of  these  exercises,  and  there- 
fore commanded~him  peremptorily  to  put  them 
down.  Letters  of  this  tenour  were  sent  to  all 
the  bishops  in  England,  t 


*  MS.,  p.  203. 

t  The  copy  of  her  majesty's  letter  to  the  Bishop 
of  London,  with  his  lordship's  order  thereupon,  being 
before  me,  1  shall  impart  it  to  the  reader. 

"  Salutem  in  Christo. 
"  Having  received  from  the  queen's  majesty  letters 
of  strait  commandment  touching  the  reformation  of 
certain  disorders  and  innovations  within  my  diocese, 
the  tenour  whereof  I  have  inserted,  as  followeth : 
'"ELIZABETH. 

"  '  Right  Reverend  Father  in  God, 
'■ '  We  greet  you  well.     We  hear,  to  our  great 
grief,  that  in  sundry  parts  of  our  realm  there  are  no 
small  number  of  persons  presuming  to  be  preachers 
and  teachers  in  the  Church,  though  neither  lawfully 
thereunto  called,  nor  yet  meet  for  the  same ;  who, 
contrary  to  our  laws  established  for  the  public  Di- 
vine service  of  Almighty  God,  and  the  administration 
of  his  holy  sacraments  within  this  Church  of  Eng- 
land, do  daily  devise,  imagine,  propound,  and  put 
in  execution,  sundry  new  rites  and  forms  in  the 
Church,  as  well  by  the  inordinate  preaching,  reading, 
and  ministering  the  sacraments,  as  by  unlawfully  pro- 
curing of  assemblies,  and  great  numbers  of  our  peo- 
ple, out  of  their  ordinary  parishes,  and  from  places 
far  distant;  and  that  also  of  some  of  our  subjects  of 
good  .callings  (though  therein  not  well  advised[),  to  be 
hearers  of  their  disputations  and  new-devised  opin- 
ions upon  points  of  divinity,  far  unmeet  for  vulgar 
people;  which  manner  of  ministrations  they  in  some 
places  term  prophesyings,  and  in  some  other  places 
exerci-ses  ;  by  means  of  which  assemblies,  great  num- 
bers of  our  people,  especially  of  the  vulgar  sort  (meet 
to  be  otherwise  occupied  with  some  honest  labour  for 
their  living),  are  brought  to  idleness,  seduced,  and  in 
manners  schismatically  divided  among  themselves 
into  variety  of  dangerous  opinions,  not  only  in  towns 
and  parishes,  but  even  some  families  are  manifestly 
thereby  encouraged  to  the  violation  of  our  laws,  and 
to  the  breach  of  common  orders,  and  not  smally  to 
the  offence  of  all  our  quiet  subjects,  that  desire  to 
live  and  serve  God  according  to  the  uniform  order? 


f 


HISTORY    OF   THE    PURITANS. 


143 


Most  of  the  bishops  complied  readily  with  the 
queen's  letter,  and  put  down  the  prophesyings  ; 
but  some  did  it  with  reluctance,  and  purely  in 
obedience  to  the  royal  command,  as  appears  by 
the  following  letter  of  the  Bishop  of  Litchfield 
and  Coventry  to  his  archdeacon  : 

"  Salutem  in  Chrislo. 
"Whereas  the  queen  has  been  informed  of 
some  matters  handled  and  abused  in  the  exer- 
cise at  Coventry,  and  thereupon  hath  written  to 
me  a  strait  charge  to  inhibit  the  said  exercise  ; 
these  are  therefore  to  will  and  require  you,  and, 
nevertheless,  in  her  majesty's -name  to  charge 
you,  to  forbear  and  stay  yourselves  from  that 


estabhshed  in  the  Church,  whereby  these  [exercises] 
cannot  but  be  dangerous  to  be  sutiered.     Wherefore, 
considering  it  should  be  the  duty  of  bishops,  being 
the  principal  ordinary  officers  in  the  Church  of  God 
(as  you  are  one),  to  see  these  disorders  against  the 
honour  of  God  and  the  quietness  of  the  Church  re- 
formed, and  that  by  the  increase  of  these,  through 
sufferance,  great  danger  may  arise,  even  to  the  de- 
crease of  Christian  faith,  whereof  we  are  by  God  ap- 
pointed the  defender ;  besides  the  other  inconvenien- 
ces, to  the  disturbance  of  our  peaceable  government. 
" '  We,  therefore,  according  to  the  authority  which 
we  have,  do  charge  and  command  you,  as  bishop  ot  that 
diocess,  with  all  manner  of  diligence  to  take  order 
throughout  your  diocess,  as  well  in  all  places  exempt 
or  otherwise,  that  no  manner  of  public  or  Divme  ser- 
vice, nor  other  form  of  ministration  of  the  holy  sacra- 
ments, or  any  other  rites  and  ceremonies,  be  in  any  sort 
used  intheChurch,  but  directly  according  to  the  order 
established  by  our  laws  :  neither  that  any  manner  of 
person  be  suffered  in  your  diocess  to  teach,  preach, 
read,  or  exercise,  any  function  in   the  Church  but 
such  as  shall  be  lawfully  approved  and  licensed,  as 
persons  able  by  their  knowledge,  and  conformable  to 
the  ministrations  in  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  this 
Church  of  England.     And  where  there  shall  not  be 
sufficient  able  persons  for  learning  in  any  cure  to 
preach  and  instruct  their  cures  as  are  requisite,  then 
shall  you  limit  the  curates  to  read  the  public  homi- 
lies, according  to  the  injunctions  heretofore  by  us 
given  for  like  cause. 

"  '  And  furthermore,  considering  the  great  abuses 
that  have  been  in  sundry  places  of  our  realm,  by  rea- 
son of  the  aforesaid  assemblies  called  exercises ;  and 
for  that  these  are  not,  nor  have  been  appointed  or 
warranted  by  us  or  our  laws,  we  will  and  straightly 
charge  you  that  you  do  cause  the  same  forthwith  to 
cease,  and  not  to  be  used  ;  but  if  any  shall  attempt 
to  continue  or  renew  the  same,  we  will  you  not  only 
to  commit  them  to  prison,  as  maintainers  of  disor- 
ders, but  also  to  advertise  us  or  our  council  of  the 
names  and  qualities  of  them,  and  of  their  maintain- 
ers and  abettors  ;  that  thereupon,  for  better  example, 
their  punishment  may  be  made  more  sharp,  for  their 
reformation.     And  in  these  things  we  charge  you  to 
be  so  careful  and  vigilant,  as  by  your  negligence  (if 
we  shall  hear  of  any  person  attempting  to  otiend  in 
the  premises  without  your  correction  or  information 
to  us),  we  be  not  forced  to  make  some  example  in 
reforming  of  you  according  to  your  deserts.     Given 
under  our  signet,  at  our  manor  of  Greenwich,  the  7th 
of  May,  1577,  and  in  the  nineteenth  year  of  our  reign." 
—MS.,  p.  283. 

"  Therefore  I  will  and  straightly  charge  you,  in 
her  majesty's  name,  that,  immediately  upon  the  re- 
ceipt hereof,  you  do  diligently  and  carefully  put  in 
execution,  in  every  point,  all  such  things  as  therein 
be  contained,  throughout  and  in  every  place  within 
your  whole  archdeaconry ;  so  that  at  my  visitation, 
which,  God  willing,  shall  be  shortly,  sufficieut  ac- 
count may  be  given  of  that  your  doing  and  diligence 
in  that  behalf  accordingly.  Fail  you  not  so  to  do,  as 
you  will  answer  the  contrary,  at  your  peril. 
"  Your  loving  brother, 

"  John  London." 


exercise  till  it  shall  please  God  we  may  either 
by  earnest  prayer  or  humble  petition  obtain  the 
full  use  thereof,  with  her  good  pleasure  and  full 
authority  ;  and,  in  the  mean  time,  so  to  use  the 
heavenly  and  most  comfortable  gift  of  preach- 
ing, that  you  may  seek  and  set  forth  Jesus 
Christ  and  his  kingdom  without  contempt  and 
controhnent  of  the  state  and  laws,  under  which 
we  ought  to  live  in  unity  and  peace ;  which  I 
beseech  God  grant  unto  you  and  me,  and  all 
that  look  for  the  coming  of  our  Saviour  Christ, 
to  whose  direction  I  commit  you,  this  18th  of 
June,  1577.* 

"  Your  loving  friend  and  brother  in  Christ, 

"  Thomas  Gov,  and  Litchp. 
"  To  my  very  loving   friend    and    brother  ia 
Christ,  Thomas  Lever,  archdeacon  of  Gov., 
or,  in  his  absence,  to  the  censors  of  the  ex- 
ercise there." 

But  our  archbishop  could  not  go  this  length ; 
he  who  had  complied  with  all  the  queen's  in- 
junctions, and  with  the  severities  of  the  eccle- 
siastical commissioners  against  the  Puritans 
hitherto,  is  now  distressed  in  conscience,  and 
constrained  to  disobey  the  commands  of  his 
royal  mistress  in  an  affair  of  much  less  conse- 
quence than  others  he  had  formerly  complied 
with.  Instead,  therefore,  of  giving  directions 
to  his  archdeacons  to  execute  the  queen's  com- 
mands, he  writes  a  long  and  earnest  letter  to 
her  majesty,  dated  December  10, 1576,  to  inform 
her  of  the  necessity  and  usefulness  of  preach- 
ing, and  of  the  subserviency  of  the  exercises  to 
this  purpose  : 

"  With  regard  to  preaching,  nothing  is  more 
evident  from  Scripture,"  says  his  grace,  "  than 
that  it  WHS  a  great  blessing  to  have  the  Gospel 
preached,  and  to  have  plenty  of  labourers  sent 
into  the  Lord's  harvest.     That  this  was  the  or- 
dinary means   of  salvation,  and  that   hereby 
men  were  taught  their  duty  to  God  and  their 
civil  governors.    That,  though  reading  the  hom- 
ilies was  good,  yet  it  was  not  comparable  to 
preaching,  which  might  be  suited  to  the  diver- 
sity of  times,  places,  and  hearers,  and  be  de- 
livered with  more  efficacy  and  affection.    That 
homilies  were  devised  only  to  supply  the  want 
of  preachers,  and  were,  by  the  statute  of  King 
Edward  VI.,  to  give  place  to  sermons  whenso- 
ever they  might  be  had.     He  hoped,  therefore, 
her  majesty  would  not  discountenance  an  ordi- 
nance so  useful,  and  of  Divine  appointment. 

"  For  the  second  point,  concerning  the  exer- 
cises, he  apprehended  them   profitable  to  the 
Church  ;  and  it  was  not  his  judgment  only,  but 
that  of  most  of  the  bishops,  as  London,  Winton, 
Bath  and  Wells,  Litchfield,  Gloucester,  Lincoln, 
Chichester,  Exon,  and   St,  David's,  who   had 
signified  to  him  by  letter,  that  by  means  of  these 
exercises  the  clergy  were  now  better  versed  in 
the  Scripture  than  heretofore ;  that  they  had 
made  them  studious  and  diligent  -.  and  that  no- 
thing had  beat  down  popery  like  them.     He  af- 
firms that  they  are  legal,  forasmuch  as,  by  the 
canons  and  constitutions  of  the  Church  now  in 
force,   every  bishop   has   authority  to   appoint 
such  exercises,  for  inferior  ministers  to  increase 
their  knowledge  in  the  Scriptures,  as  to  him 
shall  seem  most   expedient. "t      Towards  the 
close  of  this  letter  his  grace  declares  himself 


*  MS.,  p.  234. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  245. 


144 


HISTORY    OF   THE    PURITANS. 


-willing  to  resign  his  province,  if  it  should  be  her 
majesty's  pleasure,  and  then  makes  these  two 
requests  :  "(1.)  That  your  majesty  would  refer 
ecclesiastical  matters  to  the  bishops  and  divines 
of  the  realm,  according  to  the  practice  of  the 
first  Christian  emperors.  And  (2.)  That  when 
your  majesty  deals  in  matters  of  faith  and  reli- 
gion, you  would  not  pronounce  so  peremptorily 
as  you  may  do  in  civil  matters  ;  but  remember 
that  in  God's  cause,  his  will,  and  not  the  will 
of  any  earthly  creature,  is  to  take  place.  It  is 
the  antichristian  voice  of  the  pope,  '  Sic  volo 
sic  jubeo,  stet  pro  ratione  voluntas.'  "  He  then 
puts  her  in  mind  that,  though  she  was  a  great 
and  mighty  princess,  she  was  nevertheless  a 
mortal  creature,  and  accountable  to  God  ;  and 
concludes  with  a  declaration,  that  whereas  be- 
fore there  were  not  three  able  preachers,  now 
there  were  thirty  fit  to  preach  at  Paul's  Cross, 
forty  or  fifty  besides  able  to  instruct  their  own 
cures.  That  therefore  he  could  not,  without 
offence  of  the  majesty  of  God,  send  out  injunc- 
tions for  suppressing  the  exercises. 

The  queen  was  so  inflamed  with  this  letter, 
that  she  determined  to  make  an  example  of  the 
honest  archbishop,  as  a  terror  to  the  whole 
bench :  she  would  not  suffer  her  commands  to 
be  disputed  by  the  primate  of  all  England,  but 
by  an  order  from  the  Star  Chamber  confined  him 
immediately  to  his  house,  and  sequestered  him 
from  his  archiepiscopal  function  for  six  months. 
This  was  a  high  display  of  the  supremacy,  when 
the  head  of  the  Church,  being  a  woman,  with- 
out consulting  the  bishops  or  any  of  the  clergy 
in  convocation  assembled,  shall  pronounce  so 
peremptorily  in  a  matter  purely  respecting  reli- 
gion ;  and  for  noncompliance  tie  up  the  hands 
of  her  archbishop,  who  is  the  first  mover  under 
the  prince  in  all  ecclesiastical  affairs. 

Before  the  expiration  of  the  six  months,  which 
was  in  December,  Grindal  was  advised  to  make 
his  submission,  which  he  did  so  far  as  to  ac- 
knowledge the  queen's  mildness  and  gentleness 
in  his  restraint,  and  to  promise  obedience  for 
the  future  ;  but  he  could  not  be  persuaded  to 
retract  his  opinion,  and  confess  his  sorrow  for 
what  was  past ;  there  was,  therefore,  some  talk 
of  depriving  him,  which  being  thought  too  se- 
vere, his  sequestration  was  still  continued  till 
about  a  year  before  his  death ;  however,  his 
grace  never  recovered  the  queen's  favour.  Thus 
ended  the  prophesyings,  or  religious  exercises 
of  the  clergy,  a  useful  institution  for  promoting 
Christian  knowledge  and  piety,  at  a  time  when 
both  were  at  a  very  low  ebb  in  the  nation.  The 
queen  put  them  down  for  no  other  reason  but 
chiefly  because  they  enlightened  the  people's 
minds  in  the  Scriptures,  and  encouraged  their 
inquiries  after  truth  ;  "her  majesty  being  always 
of  opinion  that  knowledge  and  learning  in  the 
laity  would  only  endanger  their  peaceable  sub- 
mission to  her  absolute  will  and  pleasure. 

This  year  put  an  end  to  the  life  of  that  emi- 
nent divine,  Mr.  Thomas  Lever,  a  great  favour- 
ite of  Queen  Elizabeth  till  he  refused  the  habits. 
He  was  Master  of  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge, 
in  the  reign  of  King  Edward  VI.,  and  was  reck- 
oned one  of  the  most  eloquent  preachers  in  those 
times.  He  had  a  true  zeal  for  the  Protestant 
religion,  and  v/as  an  exile  for  it  all  the  reign  of 
Queen  Mary.  Upon  Queen  Elizabeth's  accession 
he  might  have  had  the  highest  preferment  in  the 


Church,  but  could  not  accept  it  upon  the  terms 
of  subscription  and  wearing  the  habits  ;  he  was 
therefore  suspended  by  the  ecclesiastical  com- 
missioners ;  till  his  great  name  and  singular 
merit,  reflecting  an  odium  upon  those  who  had 
deprived  the  Church  of  his  labours,  and  exposed 
him  a  second  time  to  poverty  and  want  after  his 
exile,  he  was  at  length  dispensed  with,  and 
made  Archdeacon  of  Coe,  and  master  of  Sher- 
burne Hospital,  near  Durham,  where  he  spent 
the  remainder  of  his  days  in  great  reputation 
and  usefulness.  He  was  a  resolute  Nonconform- 
ist, and  wrote  letters  to  encourage  the  deprived 
ministers  to  stand  by  their  principles,  and  wait 
patiently  for  a  farther  reformation.  He  was 
buried  in  the  chapel  of  his  own  hospital,  hav- 
ing this  plain  inscription  on  a  flat  marble  stone 
over  his  grave  :  '•  Thomas  Lever,  preacher  to 
King  Edward  VI."  Had  he  lived  a  little  longer 
he  had  been  persecuted  by  the  new  bishop,  as 
his  brother  Whittingham  was ;  but  God  took 
him  away  from  the  evil  to  come.  He  died  in 
July,  1577,  and  was  succeeded  in  the  hospital 
by  his  brother  Ralph  Lever.* 

Mr.  Cartwright,  upon  his  return  from  the  Isle 
of  Guernsey,  was  chosen  preacher  to  one  of  the 
English  factories  at  Antwerp :  these  factories 
submitted  to  the  discipline  of  the  Dutch  Church- 
es among  whom  they  lived,  and  their  ministers 
became  members  of  their  consistories.  While 
Cartwright  was  here,  many  of  the  English,  who 
were  not  satisfied  with  the  terms  of  conformity, 
or  the  English  manner  of  giving  orders,  went 
over  thither,  and  were  ordained  by  the  presby- 
ters of  those  churches  ;  nay,  some  who  had  re- 
ceived deacons'  orders  in  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land chose  to  be  made  full  ministers  by  the  for- 
eign consistories  ;  among  these  were  Mr.  Cart- 
vn-ight,  Tenner,  Ashton,  and  Travers.t  Trav- 
ers  was  bachelor  of  divinity  in  the  University 
of  Cambridge  before  he  left  England,  and  was 
ordained  at  Antwerp,  May  14,  1578.  The  copy 
of  his  testimonials!  is  to  this  effect  : 

"  Forasmuch  as  it  is  just  and  reasonable  that 
such  as  are  received  into  the  number  of  the 
ministers  of  God's  Word  should  have  a  testimo- 
nial of  their  vocation,  we  declare  that,  having 
called  together  a  synod  of  twelve  ministers  of 
God's  Word,  and  almost  the  same  number  of 
elders,  at  Antwerp,  on  May  8th,  1578,  our  very 
learned,  pious,  and  excellent  brother,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Gualter  Travers  was,  by  the  unanimous  votes 
and  ardent  desires  of  all  present,  received  and 
instituted  into  the  ministry  of  God's  Holy  Word, 
and  confirmed  according  to  our  accustomed 
manner,  with  prayer  and  imposition  of  hands  ; 
and  the  next  day  after  the  Sabbath  having 
preached  before  a  full  congregation  of  English, 
at  the  request  of  the  ministers,  he  was  acknowl- 


*  Fuller  says  that  "  whatever  preferments  in  the 
Church  he  pleased  courted  his  acceptance." — Wor 
thies,  part  ii.,  p.  284.  Strype  denominates  him  "a 
man  of  distinguished  eminence  for  piety,  learninj?, 
and  preaching  the  Gospel." — Sirype's  Parker,  p.  211. 
He  was  the  intimate  friend  of  Bernard  Gilpin.  His 
spirit  as  a  genuine  Reformer  rested  upon  his  poster- 
ity, and  I  find  Henry  Lever,  his  grandson,  and  Rob- 
ert Lever,  his  great-grandson,  were  among  the  ejected 
ministers  in  1662.  His  writings  are  very  valuable, 
but  exceedingly  scarce.  They  are  chiefly  sermons, 
and  a  commentary  on  the  Lord's  Prayer. — C. 

t  Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  524. 

t  FuUer,  b.  ix.,  p.  214. 


Sn.iyiiveJ hr  Giniher  ftvn-   ,m.    L'lwmal.  f'Mite^ it  ? 


K  £.  y  -i^    J  D  >J  M    0  V/  £  'M ,  D.D  . 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


i45 


edged  and  received  most  affectionately  by  the 
whole  Church.  That  Almighty  God  would  pros- 
per the  ministry  of  this  our  reverend  brother 
among  the  English,  and  attend  it  with  great  suc- 
cess, is  our  most  earnest  prayer,  through  Jesus 
Christ.  Amen. 
"Given  at  Antwerp,  May  14,  1578,  and  signed 
"Joannes  Taffinus,  V.D.M., 

"  LoGELERIDS  ViLERIUS,  V.D.M., 

"Joannes  Hocheleus,  V.D.M." 

Pilkington,  late  bishop  of  Durham,  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Dr.  Barnes,  bishop  of  Carlisle,  a  prel- 
ate of  severer  principles  than  his  predecessor  ; 
"Who,  having  in  vain  attempted  to  reduce  the 
clergy  of  his  diocess  to  an  absolute  conformity, 
complained  to  his  metropolitan  of  the  lax  gov- 
ernment of  his  predecessor,  and  of  the  numbers 
of  Nonconformists  whom  he  could  not  reduce  to 
the  established  orders  of  the  Church.    Upon  this, 
Sandys,  the  new  archbishop  of  York,  resolved  to 
visit  his  whole  province,  and  to  begin  with  Dur- 
ham, where  Dean  Whittingham  was  the  principal 
man  under  the  bishop ;  he  was  a  divine  of  great 
learning,  and  of  long  standing  in  the  Church,  but 
jiot  ordained  according  to  the  form  of  the  Eng- 
lish service-book.     The  accusation  against  him 
"was  branched  out  into  thirty-five  articles  and 
forty-nine  interrogatories,  the  chief  whereof  was 
his  Geneva  ordination.*    .The  dean,  instead  of 
answering  the  charge,  stood  by  the  rights  of  the 
Church  of  Durham,  and  denied  the  archbishop's 
power  of  visitation,  upon  which  his  grace  was 
pleased  to  excommunicate  him ;  but  Whitting- 
ham appealed   to   the  queen,  who  directed  a 
commission  to  the  archbishop,  to  the  lord-presi- 
dent of  the  council  in  the  north,  and  to  the 
Dean  of  York,  to  hear  and  determine  the  valid- 
ity of  his  ordination,  and  to  inquire  into  the 
other  misdemeanors  contained  in  the  articles. 
The  president  of  the  north  was  a  favourer  of  the 
Puritans,  and  Dr.  Hutton,  dean  of  York,  was  of 
Whittingham's  principles,  and   boldly  averred 
"  that  the  dean  was  ordained  in  a  better  sort 
than  even  the  archbishop  himself;"  so  that  the 
commission  came  to  nothing.    But  Sandys,  vex- 
ed at  the  disappointment,  and  at  the  calling  in 
question  his  right  of  visitation,  obtained  another 
commission  directed  to  himself,  the  Bishop  of 
Durham,  the  lord-president,  the  chancellor  of 
the  diocess,  and  some  others  whom  he  could 
depend  upon,  to  visit  the  Church  of  Durham. 
The  chief  design  was  to  deprive  Whittingham 
as  a  layman ;  when  the  dean  appeared  before 
the  commissioners,  he  produced  a  certificate  un- 
der the  hands  of  eight  persons,  for  the  manner 
of  his  ordination,  in  these  words  :  "  It  pleased 
God,  by  the  suffrages  of  the  whole  congregation 
[at  Geneva],  orderly  to  choose  Mr.  W.  Whit- 
tingham unto  the  office  of  preaching  the  Word 
of  God  and  ministering  the  sacraments  ;  and 
he  was  admitted  minister,  and  so  published, 
■with  such  other  ceremonies  as  here  are  used 
and  accustomed."t     It  was  objected,  that  here 
■was  no  mention  of  a  bishop  or  superintendent, 
nor  of  any  external  solemnities,  nor  so  much  as 
of  imposition  of  hands.    The  dean  replied,  there 
■was  mention  in  general  of  the  ceremonies  of 
that  church,  and  he  was  able  to  prove  his  vo- 
cation to  be  the  same  that  all  the  ministers  of 
Cfeneva  had  ;   upon  which  the  lord-president 


rose  up  and  said  that  he  could  not,  in  con- 
science, agree  to  deprive  him  for  that  cause 
only  ;  for  (says  he)  it  will  be  ill  taken  by  all  the 
godly  and  learned,  both  at  home  and  abroad, 
tiiat  we  should  allow  of  the  •popish  massing  priests 
in  our  ministry,  and  disallow  of  ministers  made  in 
a  Reformed  Church ;  whereupon  the  commission 
was  ad^oarned  sine  die.  These  proceedings  of  the 
archbishop  against  the  dean  were  invidious,  and 
lost  him  his  esteem  both  in  city  and  country. 
The  calling  his  ordination  in  question  was  ex- 
pressly contrary  to  the  statute  13  Eliz.,  by  which, 
says  Mr.  Strype,  the  ordination  of  foreign  Re- 
formed Churches  was  declared  valid  ;  and  those 
that  had  no  other  orders  were  made  of  like  ca- 
pacity with  others,  to  enjoy  any  place  of  minis- 
try within  England. 

But  the   death  of  Mr.  Whittingham,  which 
happened  about  six  months  after,  put  an  end  to 
this  and  all  his  other  troubles.    He  was  born  in 
the  city  of  Chester,  1524,  and  educated  in  Bra- 
zennose    College,    Oxon ;    he    was    afterward 
translated  to  Christ  Church,  when  it  was  found- 
ed by  King  Henry  VIII.,  being  reckoned  one  of 
the   best   scholars   in  the  university  ;    in   the 
year  1550  he  travelled  into  France,  Germany, 
and  Italy,  and  returned  about  the  latter  end  of 
King  Edward  VI.     In  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary 
he  was  with  the  exiles  at  Frankfort,  and  upon 
the  division  there,  went  with  part  of  the  congre- 
gation to  Geneva,  and  became  their  minister. 
He  had  a  great  share  in  translating  the  Geneva 
Bible,  and.  the  Psalms  in  metre,  as  appears  by 
the  first  letter  of  his  name  [W]  over  many  of 
them.     Upon  his  return  home  he  was  preferred 
to  the  deanery  of  Durham,  1563,  by  the  interest 
of  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  where  he  spent  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life.     He  did  good  service,  says 
the  Oxford  historian,*  against  the  popish  rebels 
in  the  north,  and  in  repelling  the  Archbishop  of 
York  from  visiting  the  Church  of  Durham  ;  but 
he  was  at  best  but  a  lukewarm  Conformist,  an 
enemy  to  the  habits,  and  a  promoter  of  the  Ge- 
neva doctrine  and  discipline.      However,   he 
was  a  truly  pious  and  religious  man,  an  excel- 
lent preacher,  and  an  ornament  to  religion.    He 
died  while  the  cause  of  his  deprivation,  for  not 
being  ordained  according  to  the  rites  of  the 
English  Church,  was  depending,  June  10,  1579, 
in  the  sixty-fifth  year  of  his  age.t 

We  have  mentioned  the  Bishop  of  Norwich's 
severity  in  his  primary  visitation  ;  his  lordship 
went  on  still  in  the  same  method,  not  without 
some  marks  of  unfair  designs  ;t  for  the  incum- 
bent of  Sprowton  being  suspected  to  be  of  the 
Family  of  Love,  his  lordship  deprived  him,  and 
immediately  begged  the  living  for  his  son-in- 
law,  Mr.  Maplesdon,  who  was  already  archdea- 
con of  Suffolk.^  He  showed  no  mercy  '.o  his 
suspended  clergy,  though  they  offered  to  sub- 
scribe as  far  as  the  laws  of  the  realm  required. 
At  length  they  petitioned  their  metropolitan, 
Grindal,  who,  though  in  disgrace,  licensed  them 
to  preach  throughout  the  whole  diocess  of  Nor- 
wich, durante  bene  placito,  provided  tdey  did  not 
preach  against  the  established  orders   of  the 


♦  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  ii.,  p.  481.      t  Ibid.,  p.  523.    I 
Vol.  I.— T. 


*  Ath.  Ox.,  vol.  i.,  p.  154. 

t  Some  of  his  versions  are  still  used  in  the  Church. 
Those  which  are  from  his  pen  have  W.  W.  annexed. 
The  119th  Psalm  is  one  of  them.  —  Wood's  .A^Aerace, 
vol.  i.,  p.  62,  36, 153.— C. 

t  Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  284.        (j  MS.,  p.  28G. 


146 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


Church,  nor  move  contentions  about  ceremonies; 
but  still  they  were  deprived  of  their  livings. 

The  Reverend  Mr.  Lawrence,  an  admired 
preacher,  and  incumbent  of  a  parish  in  Suffolk, 
was  suspended  by  the  same  bishop  for  not  com- 
plying with  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the 
Church.*  Mr.  Calthorp,  a  gentleman  of  quality 
in  the  county,  applied  to  the  lord-treasurer  in 
his  behalf ;  and  the  treasurer  wrote  to  the  bish- 
op requesting  him  to  take  off  his  sequestration  ; 
but  his  lordship  replied,  that  what  he  had  done 
was  by  virtue  of  the  queen's  letter  to  him,  re- 
quiring him  to  allow  of  no  ministers  but  such 
as  were  perfectly  conformable.  Mr.  Calthorp 
replied,  and  urged  the  great  want  the  Church 
had  of  such  good  men  as  Mr.  Lawrence,  for 
whose  fitness  for  this  work  he  would  undertake 
the  chief  gentlemen  of  credit  in  the  county 
should  certify ;  but  his  sequestration  was  still 
continued.  The  like  severities  were  used  in 
most  other  diocesses. 

The  Bishop  of  London!  came  not  behind  the 
chief  of  his  brethren  the  bishops,  in  his  perse- 
cuting zeal  against  the  Puritans  ;  he  gave  out 
orders  for  apparitors  and  other  officers  to  go 
from  church  to  church,  in  time  of  Divine  ser- 
vice, to  observe  the  conformity  of  the  minister, 
and  to  make  report  to  her  majesty's  commis- 
sioners. As  this  prelate  had  no  compassion  in 
his  nature,  he  had  little  or  no  regard  to  the 
laws  of  his  country,  or  the  cries  of  the  people 
after  the  Word  of  God.t 

Great  was  the  scarcity  of  preachers  about 
England  at  this  time  ;  in  the  large  and  populous 
town  of  Northampton  there  was  not  one,  nor 
had  been  for  a  considerable  time,  though  the 
people  applied  to  the  bishop  of  the  diocess  by 
most  humble  supplication  for  the  bread  of  life. 
In  the  county  of  Cornwall  there  were  one  hun- 
dred and  forty  clergymen,  not  one  of  which  was 
capable  of  preaching  a  sermon,  and  most  of 
them  were  pluralists  and  non-residents.  Even 
the  city  of  London  was  in  a  lamentable  case,  as 
appears  by  their  petition  to  the  Parliament  which 
met  this  winter,  in  which  are  these  words: 
"  May  it  please  you,  therefore,  for  the  tender 
mercies  of  God,  to  understand  the  woful  estate 
of  many  thousands  of  souls  dwelling  in  deep 
darkness,  and  in  the  shadow  of  death,  in  this 
famous  and  populous  city  of  London  ;  a  place, 
in  respect  to  others,  accounted  as  the  morning 
star,  or,  rather,  as  the  sun  in  its  brightness,  be- 
cause of  the  Gospel,  supposed  to  shine  gloriously 
and  abundantly  in  the  same ;  but  being  near 
kicked  into,  will  be  found  sorely  eclipsed  and 
darkened  through  the  dim  cloud  of  unlearned 

*  Strype's  Ann.,  p.  285. 

t  This  Bishop  Warburton  censures  as  "  an  untair 
charg.^i  which  runs  through  the  History.  The  ex- 
acting conformity  of  the  ministry  of  any  church  by 
the  go\ernors  of  that  church  is  no  persecution." 
This  is  .^  strange  sentiment  to  come  from  the  pen  of 
a  Proteb'ant  prelate.  There  was  no  persecution, 
then,  in  ti  e  reign  of  Queen  Mary.  It  was  no  perse- 
cution whi  n  the  Jewish  sanhedrim  agreed  "  that,  if 
any  man  dii  confess  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ,  he 
should  be  pi  t  out  of  the  synagogue."  It  was  no  per- 
secution whtn  the  ParUament  imposed  the  Scots 
Covenant. — hn. 

I  He  declari'd  that  he  would  surely  and  severely 
punish  those  wio  would  not  comply  with  the  Act  of 
'Uniformity,  or  "  I  will  he,"  said  he,  "  in  the  dust  for 
it."— Slrype.— Ed. 


ministers,  whereof  there  be  no  small  number. 
There  arc  in  this  city  a  great  number  of  churches, 
but  the  one  half  of  them  at  the  least  are  utter- 
ly unfurnished  of  preaching  ministers,  and  are 
pestered  with  candlesticks  not  of  gold,  but  of 
clay,  unworthy  to  have  the  Lord's  ligiit  set  ia 
them,  with  watchmen  that  have  no  eyes,  and 
clouds  tbat  have  no  water  ;  in  the  other  half, 
partly  by  means  of  non-residents,  wiiich  are 
very  many,  partly  through  the  poverty  of  many 
meanly  qualified,  there  is  scarcely  the  tenth  maa 
tbat  makes  conscience  to  wait  upon  his  charge, 
whereby  the  Lord's  Sabbath  is  ofttimes  wholly 
neglected,  and  for  the  most  part  miserably 
mangled  ;  ignorance  increaseth,  and  wickedness 
comes  upon  us  like  an  armed  man.  As  sheep, 
therefore,  going  astray,  we  humbly,  on  our  knees, 
beseech  this  honourable  assembly,  in  the  bowels 
and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  become  humble 
suiters  to  her  majesty,  that  we  may  have  guides; 
as  hungry  men  bound  to  abide  by  our  empty 
rackstaves,  we  do  beg  of  you  to  be  means  that 
the  bread  of  life  may  be  brought  home  to  us«; 
that  the  sower  may  come  into  the  fallow  ground ; 
that  the  pipes  of  water  may  be  brought  into  our 
assemblies  ;  that  there  may  be  food  and  refresh- 
ing for  us,  our  poor  wives,  and  forlorn  children  : 
so  shall  the  Lord  have  his  due  honour ;  you 
shall  discharge  good  duty  to  her  majesty  ;  many 
languishing  souls  shall  be  comforted  ;  atheism 
and  heresy  banished  ;  her  majesty  have  more 
faithful  subjects,  and  you  more  hearty  prayers 
for  your  prosperity  in  this  life,  and  full  happiness 
in  the  life  to  come,  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
alone  Saviour.     Amen."* 

In  the  supplication  of  the  people  of  Cornwall, 
it  is  said,t  "  We  are  above  the  number  of  four- 
score and  ten  thousand  souls,  which,  for  the 
want  of  the  Word  of  God,  are  in  extreme  mis- 
ery and  ready  to  perish,  and  this  neither  for 
want  of  maintenance  nor  place ;  for  besides 
the  impropriations  in  our  shire,  we  allow  yearly 
above  £9200,  and  have  one  hundred  and  sixty 
churches,  the  greatest  part  of  which  are  sup- 
plied by  men  who  are  guilty  of  the  grossest 
sins ;  some  fornicators,  some  adulterers,  some 
felons,  bearing  the  marks  in  their  hands  for 
the  said  offence ;  some  drunkards,  gamesters 
on  the  Sabbath-day,  &c.  We  have  many  non- 
residents who  preach  but  once  a  quarter,  so 
that,  between  meal  and  meal,  the  silly  sheep 
may  starve.  We  have  some  ministers  who 
labour  painfully  and  faithfully  in  the  Lord's  hus- 
bandry ;  but  these  men  are  not  suffered  to  at- 
tend their  callings,  because  the  mouths  of  pa- 
pists, infidels,  and  filthy  livers  are  open  against 
them,  and  the  ears  of  those  who  are  called  lords 
over  them,  are  sooner  open  to  their  accusations, 
though  it  be  but  for  ceremonies,  than  to  the 
others'  answers  Nor  is  it  safe  for  us  to  go  and 
hear  them ;  for,  though  our  own  fountains  are 
dried  up,  yet,  if  we  seek  for  the  waters  of  life 
elsewhere,  we  are  cited  into  the  spiritual  courts, 
reviled,  and  threatened  with  excommunication. 
Therefore,  from  far  we  come,  beseeching  this 
honourable  house  to  dispossess  these  dumb 
dogs  and  ravenous  wolves,  and  appoint  us  faith- 
ful ministers,  who  may  peaceably  preach  the 
Word  of  God,  and  not  be  disquieted  by  every 
apparitor,  registrar,  official,  commissioner,  chan- 
cellor, &c.,  upon  every  light  occasion — ■" 


*  MS.,  p.  302. 


t  MS.,  p.  300. 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS 


147 


The  ground  of  this  scarcity  was  no  other  than 
the  severity  of  the  high-commission,  and  the 
narrow  terms  of  conformity.     Most  of  the  old 
incumbents,  says  Dr.  Keltridge,*  are  disguised 
papists,  fitter  to  sport  with  the  timbrel  and  pipe 
than  to  take  into  their  hands  the  book  of  the 
Lord  ;  and  yet  there  was  a  rising  generation  of 
valuable  preachers  ready  for  the  ministry,  if 
they  might  have  been  encouraged  ;  for  in  a  sup- 
plication of  some  of  the  students  at  Cambridge 
to  the  Parliament  about  this  time,  they  acknowl- 
edge that  there  were  plenty  of  able  and  well- 
furnished  men  among  them,  but  that  they  could 
not  get  into  places  upon  equal  conditions ;  but 
unlearned  men,  nay,  the  scum  of  the  people, 
were   preferred  before  them,  so  that,  in  this 
great  want  of  labourers,  we  (say  they)  stand 
idle  in  the  market-place  all  the  day,  being  urged 
with  subscriptions  before  the  bishops  to  approve 
the  Romish  hierarchy,  and  all  the  effects  of  that 
government  to  be  agreeable  to  the  Word  of 
God,  which  with  no  safety  of  conscience  we 
can  accord  unto.     They  then  offer  a  conference 
or  disputation,  as  the  queen  and  Parliament 
shall  agree,  to  put  an  amicable  end  to  these  dif- 
ferences, that  the  Church  may  recover  some 
discipline,  that  simony  and  perjury  may  be  ban- 
ished, and  that  all  that  are  willing  to  promote 
the  salvation  of  souls  may  be  employed ;  but 
the  queen  and  bishops  were  against  it. 

All  the  public  conversation  at  this  time  ran 
upon  the  queen's  marriage  with  the  Duke  of 
Anjou,  a  French  papist,  which  was  thought  to 
be  as  good  as  concluded  ;  the  Protestant  part 
of  the  nation  were  displeased  with  it,  and  some 
warm  divines  expressed  their  dark  apprehen- 
sions in  the  pulpit.     The  Puritans  in  general 
made  a  loud  protest  against  the  match,  as  dread- 
ing the  consequences  of  a  Protestant  body  being 
under  a  popish  head.     Mr.  John  Stubbs,  a  stu- 
dent of  Lincoln's  Inn,  whose  sister  Mr.  Cart- 
wright  had  married,  a  gentleman  of  excellent 
parts,  published  a  treatise  this  summer,  entitled 
"The  Gaping  Gulf,  wherein   England  will  be 
swallowed    up  with   the   French    Marriage ;" 
wherewith  the  queen  was  so  incensed  that  she 
immediately  issued  out  a  proclamation  to  sup- 
press the  book,  and  to  apprehend  the  author  and 
printer.     At  the  same  time,  the  lords  of  the 
council  wrote  circular  letters  to  the  clergy  to 
remove  all  surmises  about  the  danger  of  the 
Reformation   in  case  the  match  should  take 
place,  assuring  them  the  queen  would  suffer  no 
alterations  in  religion   by  any  treaty  with  the 
duke,  and  forbidding  them  in  their  sermons  or 
discourses  to  meddle  with  such  high  matters. 
Mr.  Stubbs,  the  author,  Singleton,  the  printer, 
and  Page,  the  disperser,  of  the  above-mentioned 
book,  were  apprehended,  and  sentenced  to  have 
their  right  hands  cut  off,  by  virtue  of  a  law  made 
in  Queen  Mary's  reign  against  the  authors  and 
dispersers  of  seditious  writings :  the  printer  was 
pardoned  but  Mr.  Stubbs  and  Page  were  brought 
to  a  scaffold  erected  in   the   market-place  at 
"Westminster,  where,  with  a  terrible  formality, 
their  right  hands  were  cut  off,  by  driving  a  cleav- 
er through  the  wrist  with  a  mallet  ;t  but  I  re- 


-  *  Life  of  Aylmer,  p.  32. 

t"This,"  says  Bishop  Warburton,  "was  infinite- 
ly more  cruel  than  all  the  years  under  Charles  I., 
whether  we  consider  the  punishment,  the  crime,  or 
the  man." — Ed. 


member  (says  Camden,  being  present)  that,  as 
soon  as  Stubbs's  right  hand  was  cut  off,  he 
pulled  off  his  hat  with  his  left,  and  said  with  a 
loud  voice,  God  save  the  queen,  to  the  amaze- 
ment of  the  spectators,  who  stood  silent,  either 
out  of  horror  of  the  punishment,  or  pity  to  the 
man,  or  hatred  to  the  match.  Mr.  Stubbs  pro- 
ved afterward  a  faithful  subject  to  her  majes- 
ty, and  a  valiant  commander  in  the  wars  of  Ire- 
land. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  next  session  of  Par- 
liament, which  was  January  10,  1580,  the  Com- 
mons voted  "  that  as  many  of  their  members  as 
conveniently  could,  should,  on  the  Sunday  fort- 
night, assemble  and  meet  together  in  the  Temple 
Church,  there  to*  have  preaching,  and  to  join  to- 
gether in  prayer,  with  humiliation  and  fasting, 
for  the  assistance  of  God's  Spirit  in  all  their 
consultations  during  this  Parliament ;  and  for 
the  preservation  of  the  queen's  majesty,  and  her 
realms."*    The  house  was  so  cautious  as  not 
to  name  their  preachers,  for  fear  they  might  be 
thought  Puritanical,  but  referred  it  to  such  of 
her  majesty's  privy  council  as  were  members 
of  the  house.     There  was  nothing  in  this  vote 
contrary  to  law  or  unbecoming  the  wisdom  of 
Parliament ;  but  the  queen  was  no  sooner  ac- 
quainted with  it,  than  she  sent  word  by  Sir  Chris- 
topher Hatton,  her  vice-chamberlain,  that  "  she 
did  much  admire  at  so  great   a  rashness   in 
that  house  as  to  put  in  execution  such  an  inno- 
vation, without  her  privity  and  pleasure  first 
made  known  to  them."     Upon  which  it  was 
moved  by  the  courtiers  that  "  the  house  should 
acknowledge  their  offence  and  contempt,  and 
humbly  crave  forgiveness,  with  a  full  purpose 
to  forbear  committing  the  like  for  the  future  ;" 
which  was  voted  accordingly.    A  mean  and  ab- 
ject spirit  in  the  representative  body  of  the  na- 
tion ! 

Her  majesty  having  forbid  her  Parliament  to 
appomt  times  for  fasting  and  prayer,  took  hold 
of  the  opportunity,  and  gave  the  like  injunctions 
to  her  clergy  ;  some  of  whom,  after  the  putting 
down  of  the  prophesyings,  had  ventured  to  agree 
upon  days  of  private  fasting  and  prayer  for  the 
queen  and  Church,  and  for  exhorting  the  people 
to  repentance  and  reformation  of  life,  at  such 
times  and   places  where  they  could  obtain  a 
pulpit.     All  the  Puritans,  and  the  more  devout 
part  of  the  conforming  clergy,  fell  in  with  these 
appointments  :  sometimes  there  was  one  at  Lei- 
cester ;  sometimes  at  Coventry  and  at  Stamford, 
and  in  other  places,  where  six  or  seven  neigh- 
bouring ministers  joined  together  in  these  exer- 
cises ;  but  as  soon  as  the  queen  was  acquainted 
with  them,  she  sent  a  warm  message  to  the 
archbishop  to  suppress  them,  as  being  set  up  by 
private  persons,  without  authority,  fn  defiance 
of  the  laws,  and  of  her  prerogative.! 

Mr.  Prowd,  the  Puritan  minister  of  Burton 
upon  Dunmore,  complains,  in  a  melancholy  let- 
ter to  Lord  Burleigh,  of  the  sad  state  of  religion, 
by  suppressing  the  exercises ;  and  by  forbidding 
the  meeting  of  a  few  ministers  and  Christians, 
to  pray  for  the  preservation  of  the  Protestant 
religion,  in  this  dangerous  crisis  of  the  queen's 
marrying  with  a  papist.  He  doubted  whether 
his  lordship  dealt  so  plainly  with  her  majesty 
as  his  knowledge  of  these  things  required,  and 


*  Heylin,  p.  287. 

t  HeyUn's  Aerius  Redivivus,  p.  286. 


148 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


begs  him  to  interpose.  But  the  queen  was  de- 
termined against  all  prayers  except  what  her- 
self should  appoint. 

We  have  already  taken  notice  of  the  petitions 
and  supplications  to  Parliament  from  London, 
Cornwall,  and  some  other  places,  for  redress  of 
grievances  ;  but  the  house  was  so  intimidated 
by  the  queen's  spirited  behaviour,  that  they  durst 
not  interpose,  any  farther  than,  in  conjunction 
with  some  of  the  bishops,  to  petition  her  majesty, 
as  head  of  the  Church,  to  redress  them.  The 
queen  promised  to  take  order  about  it,  with  all 
convenient  speed  ;  putting  them  in  mind,  at  the 
same  time,  that  all  motions  for  reformation  in 
religion  ought  to  arise  from  none  but  herself. 

But  her  majesty's  sentiments  dilfered  from 
the  Parliament's ;  her  greatest  grief  was  the  in- 
crease of  Puritans  and  Nonconformists,  and 
therefore,  instead  of  easing  them,  she  girt  the 
laws  closer  about  them,  in  order  to  bring  them 
to  an  exact  conformity.  Information  being  giv- 
en that  some  who  had  livings  in  the  Church, 
and  preached  weekly,  did  not  administer  the  sac- 
rament to  their  parishioners  in  their  own  persons, 
her  majesty  commanded  her  bishops,  in  their  vis- 
itations, to  inquire  after  such  half-conformists 
as  disjoined  one  part  of  their  function  from  the 
other,  and  to  compel  them  by  ecclesiastical  cen- 
sures to  perform  the  whole  at  least  twice  a  year. 
The  Puritan  ministers  being  dissatisfied  with 
the  promiscuous  access  of  all  persons  to  the 
communion,  and  with  several  passages  in  the 
otlice  for  the  Lord's  Supper,  some  of  them  used 
to  provide  a  qualified  clergyman  to  administer 
thi!  ordinance  in  their  room  ;  but  this  was  now 
made  a  handle  for  their  ejectment :  inquisition 
was  made,  and  those  who,  after  admonition, 
would  not  conform  to  the  queen's  pleasure,  were 
&ent  for  before  the  commissioners,  and  deprived. 

Though  the  springs  of  discipline  moved  but 
slowly  in  the  diocess  of  Canterbury,  because  the 
metropolitan,  who  is  the  first  mover  in  ecclesi- 
astical causes  under  the  queen,  was  suspended 
and  in  disgrace,  yet  the  sufferings  of  the  Puri- 
tans were  not  lessened  ;  the  other  bishops,  who 
were  in  the  high  commission,  doubled  their  dil- 
igence ;  the  Kev.  Mr.  Nash  was  in  the  Mar- 
shalsea,  Mr.  Drewet  in  Newgate,  and  several 
others  were  shut  up  in  the  prisons  in  and  about 
London.  Those  that  were  at  liberty  had  nothing 
to  do,  for  they  might  not  preach  in  public  with- 
out full  conformity  ;  nor  assemble  in  private  to 
mourn  over  their  own  and  the  nation's  sins,  with- 
out the  danger  of  a  prison. 

This  exasperated  their  spirits,  and  put  them 
upon  writing  satirical  pamphlets*  against  their 
adversaries  ;  in  some  of  which  there  are  severe 
expressions  against  the  unpreaching  clergy,  call- 
ing them  (in  the  language  of  Scripture)  dumb 
dogs,  because  they  took  no  pains  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  their  parishioners  ;  the  authors  glanced 
at  the  severity  of  the  laws,  at  the  pride  and  am- 
bition of  the  bishops,  at  the  illegal  proceedings 
of  the  high  commission,  and  at  the  unjustifiable 
rigours  of  the  queen's  government ;  which  her 

*  Bishop  Warburton  censures  Mr.  Neal  for  not 
speaking  in  much  severer  terms  of  these  pamphlets. 
But  he  should  have  adverted  to  our  author's  grave 
censure  of  them  in  chap,  viii.,  and  have  recollected 
that  "  the  writers  on  the  Church-side  came  not  be- 
hind their  adversaries  in  buffoonery  and  ridicule." 
These  were  the  wreapons  of  the  age. — Ed. 


majesty  being  informed  of,  procured  a  statute 
this  very  Parliament*  [1580],  by  which  it  is  en- 
acted, that  "if  any  person  or  persons,  forty  days 
after  the  end  of  this  season,  shall  devise,  or 
write,  or  print,  or  set  forth,  any  manner  of  book, 
rhyme,  ballad,  letter,  or  writing,  containing  any 
false,  seditious,  or  slanderous  matter  to  the  def- 
amation of  the  queen's  majesty,  or  to  the  en- 
couraging, stirring,  or  moving  of  any  insurrec- 
tion or  rebellion  within  this  realm,  or  any  of  the 
dominions  to  the  same  belonging  ;  or  if  any  per- 
son or  persons  shall  procure  such  books,  rhymes, 
or  ballads  to  be  written,  printed,  or  published 
(the  said  offence  not  being  within  the  compass 
of  treason,  by  virtue  of  any  former  statute),  that 
then  the  said  offenders,  upon  sufficient  proof 
by  two  witnesses,  shall  suffer  death  and  loss  of 
goods,  as  in  case  of  felony."  This  statute  was 
to  continue  in  force  only  during  the  life  of  the 
present  queen  ;  but  within  that  compass  of  time, 
sundry  of  the  Puritans  were  put  to  death  by  vir- 
tue of  it. 

In  the  same  session  of  Parliament,  another 
severe  law  was  made,  which,  like  a  two-edged 
sword,  cut  down  both  papists  and  Puritans ;  it 
was  entitled  An  Act  to  retain  the  Queen's  Sub- 
jects in  their  due  Obedience:!  "  by  which  it  is 
made  treason  for  any  priest  or  Jesuit  to  seduce 
any  of  the  queen's  subjects  from  the  established 
to  the  Romish  religion.  If  any  shall  reconcile 
themselves  to  that  religion,  they  shall  be  guilty 
of  treason ;  and  to  harbour  such  above  twenty 
days,  is  misprision  of  treason.  If  any  one  shall 
say  mass,  he  shall  forfeit  two  hundred  marks, 
and  suffer  a  year's  imprisonment ;  and  they  that 
are  present  at  hearing  mass  shall  forfeit  one  hun- 
dred marks,  and  a  year's  imprisonment."  But 
that  the  act  might  be  more  extensive,  and  com- 
prehend Protestant  Nonconformists  as  well  as 
papists,  it  is  farther  enacted  "  that  all  persons 
that  do  not  come  to  church  or  chapel,  or  other 
place  where  common  prayer  is  said,  according 
to  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  shall  forfeit  twenty 
pounds  per  month  to  the  queen,  being  thereof 
lawfully  convicted,  and  suffer  imprisonment  till 
paid.  Those  that  are  absent  for  twelve  months 
shall,  upon  certificate  made  thereof  into  the 
King's  Bench,  besides  their  former  fine,  be  bound 
with  two  sufficient  sureties,  in  a  bond  of  two 
hundred  pounds,  for  their  good  behaviour.  Ev- 
ery schoolmaster  that  does  not  come  to  common 
prayer  shall  forfeit  ten  pounds  a  month,  be  dis- 
abled from  teaching  school,  and  suffer  a  year's 
imprisonment."  This  was  making  merchandise 
of  the  souls  of  men,  says  a  reverend  author  ■,t 
for  it  is  a  sad  case  to  sell  men  a  license  to  do 
that  which  the  receivers  of  their  money  conceive 
to  be  unlawful.  Besides,  the  fine  was  unmerci- 
ful ;  by  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  it  was  twelve  pence 
a  Sunday  for  not  coming  to  church,  but  now  £20 
a  month  ;  so  that  the  meaner  people  had  nothing 
to  expect  but  to  rot  in  jails,  which  made  the  of- 
ficers unwilling  to  apprehend  them.  Thus  the 
queen  and  her  parliament  tacked  the  Puritans  to 
the  papists,  and  subjected  them  to  the  same  pe- 
nal laws,  as  if  they  had  been  equal  enemies  to 
her  person  and  government,  and  to  the  Protest- 
ant religion.  A  precedent  followed  by  several 
parliaments  in  the  succeeding  reigns. 

The  convocation  did  nothing  but  present  an 


*  23  Eliz.,  cap.  u. 
t  Fuller,  b.  ix.,  p.  131. 


t  23  Ehz.,  cap.  i. 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


149 


humble  petition  to  the  queen  to  take  off  the  arch- 
bishop's sequestration,  which  her  majesty  was 
not  pleased  to  grant. 

This  summer,  Aylmer,  bishop  of  London,  held 
a  visitation  of  his  clergy,  at  the  convocation 
house  of  St.  Paul's,  and  obliged  them  to  sub- 
scribe the  following  articles  ;  1.  Exactly  to 
keep  to  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  and  sac- 
raments. 2.  To  wear  the  surplice  in  all  their 
ministrations.  3.  Not  add  or  diminish  anything 
in  reading  Divine  service.  He  then  made  the 
following  inquiries:  1.  Whether  all  that  had 
cure  of  souls  administered  the  sacraments  in 
person  1  2.  Whether  they  observed  the  cere- 
monies to  be  used  in  baptism  and  marriage  ] 
3.  Whether  the  youth  were  catechised  1  4. 
Whether  their  ministers  read  the  homilies  1 
5.  Whether  any  of  them  called  others  that  did 
not  preach  by  ill  names,  as  dumb  dogs  1  Those 
who  did  not  subscribe,  and  answer  the  interrog- 
atories to  his  lordship's  satisfaction,  were  im- 
mediately suspended  and  silenced. 

But  these  violent  measures,  instead  of  recon- 
ciling the  Puritans  to  the  Chui-ch,  drove  them 
farther  from  it.  Men  who  act  upon  principles* 
will  not  easily  be  beaten  from  them  with  the 
artillery  of  canons,  injunctions,  subscriptions, 
fines,  imprisonments,  &,c.,  much  less  will  they 
esteem  a  church  that  fights  with  such  weapons. 
Multitudes  were  by  these  methods  carried  off 
to  a  total  separation,  and  so  far  prejudiced  as 
not  to  allow  the  Church  of  England  to  be  a  true 
church,  nor  her  ministers  true  ministers  ;  they 
renounced  all  communion  with  her,  not  only  in 
the  prayers  and  ceremonies,  but  in  hearing  the 
Word  and  the  sacraments.  These  were  the  peo- 
ple called  Brownists,t  from  one  Robert  Brown,  a 
preacher  in  the  diocess  of  Norwich,  descended 
of  an  ancient  and  honourable  family  in  Rutland- 
shire, and  nearly  related  to  the  Lord-treasurer 
Cecil ;  he  was  educated  in  Corpus  Christi  Col- 
lege, Cambridge,  and  preached  sometimes  in 
Bene't  Church,  where  the  vehemence  of  his  de- 
livery gained  him  reputation  with  the  people. 
He  was  first  a  schoolmaster,  then  a  lecturer  at 
Islington  ;  but  being  a  fiery,  hotheaded  young 
man,  he  went  about  the  countries  inveighing 
against  the  discipline  and  ceremonies  of  the 
Church,  and  exhorting  the  people  by  no  means 
to  comply  with  them.  He  was  first  taken  no- 
tice of  by  the  Bishop  of  Norwich,  who  com- 
mitted him  to  the  custody  of  the  sheriff  of  the 
county  in  the  year  1580,  but,  upon  acknowledg- 
ment of  his  offence,  he  was  released.  In  the 
year  1582,  he  published  a  book  called  "  The  Life 
and  Manners  of  true  Christians  ;  to  which  is 
prefixed  a  Treatise  of  Reformation  without  tar- 
rying for  any  ;  and  of  the  Wickedness  of  those 
Preachers  who  will  not  reform  themselves  and 

*  To  do  so  is  highly  virtuous  and  praiseworthy. 
It  is  the  support  of  integrity,  and  constitutes  excel- 
lence of  character :  yet,  in  this  instance,  Bishop  War- 
burton  could  allow  himself  to  degrade  and  make  a 
jest  of  it.  "  It  is  just  the  same,"  says  he,  "  with  men 
who  act  upon  passion  and  prejudice,  for  the  poet  says 
truly, 

"  '  Obstinacy's  ne'er  so  stiff" 

As  when  'tis  in  a  wrong  beUef ' " — Ed. 

t  With  them  commenced  the  third  period  of  Pu- 
ritanism. The  increasing  severity  of  the  bishops  in- 
flamed, instead  of  subduing,  the  spirits  of  the  Non- 
conformists, and  drove  them  to  a  greater  distance 
from  the  establishment. — Ed. 


their  Charge,  because  they  will  tarry  till  the 
Magistrate  command  and  compel  them."  For 
this  he  was  sent  for  again  into  custody,  and 
upon  examination  confessed  himself  the  author, 
but  denied  that  he  was  acquainted  with  the 
publication,  of  the  book  ;  vi^hereupon  he  was 
dismissed  a  second  time,  at  the  intercession  of 
the  lord-treasurer,  and  sent  home  to  his  father, 
with  whom  he  continued  four  years  ;  after 
which  he  travelled  up  and  down  the  countries 
in  company  with  his  assistant,  Richard  Harri- 
son, preaching  against  bishops,  ceremonies,  ec- 
clesiastical courts,  ordaining  of  ministers,  &c., 
for  which,  as  he  afterward  boasted,  he  had  been 
committed  to  thirty-two  prisons,  in  some  of 
which  he  could  not  see  his  hand  at  noonday. 
At  length  he  gathered  a  separate  congregation 
of  his  own  prmciples  ;  but  the  queen  and  her 
bishops  watching  them  narrowly,  they  were 
quickly  forced  to  leave  the  kingdom.  Several 
of  his  friends  embarked  with  their  effects  for 
Holland  ;  and  having  obtained  leave  of  the  ma- 
gistrate to  worship  God  in  their  own  way,  set- 
tled at  Middleburgh,  in  Zealand.  Here  Mr. 
Brown  formed  a  church  according  to  his  own 
model ;  but  when  this  handful  of  people  were 
delivered  from  the  bishops  their  oppressors, 
they  crumbled  into  parties  among  themselves, 
insomuch  that  Brown,  being  weary  of  his  office, , 
returned  to  England  in  the  year  1589,  and  hav- 
ing renounced  his  principles  of  separation,  be- 
came rector  of  a  church  in  Northamptonshire  : 
here  he  lived  an  idle  and  dissolute  life,  accord- 
ing to  Fuller,*  far  from  that  Sabbatarian  strict- 
ness that  his  followers  aspired  after.  He  had  a 
wife,  with  whom  he  did  not  live  for  many  years, 
and  a  church  in  which  he  never  preached ;  at 
length,  being  poor  and  proud,  and  very  passion- 
ate, he  struck  the  constable  of  his  parish  for  de- 
manding a  rate  of  him ;  and  being  beloved  by 
nobody,  the  officer  summoned  him  before  Sir 
Roland  St.  John,  a  neighbouring  justice  of 
peace,  who  committed  him  to  Northampton  jail ; 
the  decrepit  old  man,  not  being  able  to  walk, 
was  carried  thither  upon  a  feather-bed  in  a  cart, 
where  he  fell  sick  and  died,  in  the  year  1630, 
and  in  the  eighty-first  year  of  his  age. 

The  revolt  of  Mr.  Brown  broke  up  his  con- 
gregation at  Middleburgh,  but  was  far  from  de- 
stroying the  seeds  of  separation  that  he  had 
sown  in  several  parts  of  England  ;  his  followers 
increased,  and  made  a  considerable  figure  to- 
wards the  latter  end  of  this  reign  ;  and  because 
some  of  his  principles  were  adopted  and  im- 
proved by  a  considerable  body  of  Puritans  in 
the  next  age,  I  shall  here  give  an  account  of 
them. 

Tlie  Brown ists  did  not  differ  from  the  Church 
of  England  in  any  articles  of  faith,  but  were 
very  rigid  and  narrow  in  points  of  discipline. 
They  denied  the  Church  of  England  to  be  a 
true  church,  and  her  ministers  to  be  rightly  or- 
dained. They  maintained  the  discipline  of  the 
Church  of  England  to  be  popish  and  antichris- 
tian,  and  all  her  ordinances  and  sacraments  in- 
valid. Hence  they  forbade  their  people  to  join 
with  them  in  prayer,  in  hearing,  or  in  any  part 
of  public  worship ;  nay,  they  not  only  renoun- 
ced communion  with  the  Church  of  England, 
but  with  all  other  Reformed  churches,  except 
such  as  should  be  of  their  own  model. 


B.  X.,  p.  263. 


150 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


They  apprehended,  according  to  Scripture, 
that  every  church  ought  to  be  confined  within 
the  hniits  of  a  single  congregation,  and  that 
the  govt  rninent  should  be  denrocratical.  "Wlien 
a  church  was  to  be  gathered,  such  as  desired 
to  be  members  made  a  confession  of  their  faith 
in  presence  of  each  other,  and  signed  a  cove- 
nant obliging  themselves  to  walk  together  in  the 
order  of  the  Gospel,  according  to  certain  rules 
and  agreements  therein  contained. 

The  whole  power  of  admitting  and  excluding 
members,  with  the  deciding  of  all  controversies, 
was  in  the  brotherhood.  Their  church  officers, 
for  preachmg  the  Word  and  taking  care  of  the 
poor,  were  chosen  from  among  themselves,  and 
separated  to  their  several  offices  by  fasting  and 
prayer  and  imposition  of  the  hands  of  some  of 
the  brethren.  They  did  not  allow  the  priest- 
hood to  be  a  distinct  order,  or  to  give  a  man  an 
indelible  character ;  but,  as  the  vote  of  the 
brotherhood  made  him  an  officer,  and  gave  him 
authority  to  preach  and  administer  the  sacra- 
ments among  them,  so  the  same  power  could 
discharge  him  from  office,  and  reduce  him  to 
the  state  of  a  private  member. 

When  the  number  of  communicants  was 
larger  than  could  meet  in  one  place,  the  church 
divided,  and  chose  new  officers  from  among 
themselves  as  before,  living  together  as  sister 
churches,  and  giving  each  other  the  right  hand 
of  fellowship,  or  the  privilege  of  communion 
with  either.  One  church  might  not  exercise 
jurisdiction  and  authority  over  another,  but 
each  might  give  the  other  counsel,  advice,  or 
admonition,  if  they  walked  disorderly,  or  aban- 
doned the  capital  truths  of  religion  ;  and  if  the 
offending  church  did  not  receive  the  admonition, 
the  others  were  to  withdraw,  and  publicly  dis- 
own them  as  a  Church  of  Christ.  The  powers 
of  their  church  officers  were  confined  within 
the  narrow  limits  of  their  own  society ;  the 
pastor  of  one  church  might  not  administer  the 
sacrament  of  baptism  or  the  Lord's  Supper  to 
any  but  those  of  his  own  communion  and  their 
immediate  children.  They  declared  against  all 
prescribed  forms  of  prayer.  Any  lay-brother 
had  the  liberty  of  prophesying,  or  giving  a  word 
of  exhortation,  in  their  church  assemblies  ;  and 
it  was  usual,  after  sermon,  for  some  of  the 
members  to  ask  questions,  and  confer  with  each 
other  upon  the  doctrines  that  had  been  deliver- 
ed ;  but  as  for  church  censures,  they  were  for 
an  entire  separation  of  the  ecclesiastical  and 
civil  sword.  In  short,  every  church  or  society 
of  Christians  meeting  in  one  place  was,  accord- 
ing to  the  Brownists,  a  body  corporate,  having 
full  power  within  itself  to  admit  and  exclude 
members,  to  choose  and  ordain  officers,  and, 
when  the  good  of  the  society  required  it,  to 
depose  them,  without  being  accountable  to 
classes,  convocations,  synods,  councils,  or  any 
jurisdiction  whatsoever. 

Some  of  their  reasons  for  withdrawing  from 
the  Church  are  not  easily  answered  ;  they  al- 
leged that  the  laws  of  the  realm  and  the 
queen's  injunctions  had  made  several  unwar- 
rantable additions  to  the  institutions  of  Christ. 
That  there  were  several  gross  errors  in  the 
Church  service.  That  these  additions  and  er- 
•  ors  were  imposed  and  made  necessary  to  com- 
munion. That  if  persecution  for  conscience' 
sake  was  the  mark  of  a  false  church,  they  could 


not  believe  the  Church  of  England  to  be  a  true 
one.  They  apprehend,  farther,  that  the  consti- 
tution of  tlie  hierarchy  was  too  bad  to  be  mended, 
that  the  very  pillars  of  it  were  rotten,  and  that 
the  structure  must  be  begun  anew.  Since, 
therefore,  all  Christians  are  obliged  to  preserve 
the  ordinances  of  Christ  pure  and  undefiled, 
they  resolved  to  lay  a  new  foundation,  and  keep 
as  near  as  they  could  to  the  primitive  pattern, 
though  it  were  with  the  hazard  of  all  that  was 
dear  to  them  in  the  world. 

This  scheme  of  the  Brownists  seems  to  be 
formed  upon  the  practice  of  the  apostolical 
churches  before  the  gifts  of  inspiration  and 
prophecy  were  ceased,  and  is  therefore  hardly 
practicable  in  these  latter  ages,  wherein  the  in- 
firmities and  passions  of  private  persons  too 
often  take  the  place  of  their  gifts  and  graces. 
Accordingly,  they  were  involved  in  frequent 
quarrels  and  divisions ;  but  their  chief  crime 
was  their  uncharitableness,  in  unchurching  the 
whole  Christian  world,  and  breaking  of  all  man- 
ner of  communion  in  hearing  the  Word,  in  pub- 
lic prayer,  and  in  the  administration  of  the  sac- 
raments, not  only  with  the  Church  of  England, 
but  with  all  foreign  Reformed  churches,  which, 
though  less  pure,  ought  certainly  to  be  owned 
as  churches  of  Christ. 

The  heads  of  the  Brownists  were,  Mr.  Brown 
himself,  and  his  companion  Mr.  Harrison,  to- 
gether with  Mr.  Tyler,  Copping,  Thacker,  and 
others,  who  were  now  in  prison  for  spread- 
ing his  books  ;  the  last  two  being  afterward 
put  to  death  for  it.  The  Bishop  of  Norwich 
used  them  cruelly,  and  was  highly  displeased 
with  those  that  showed  them  any  countenance. 
When  the  prisoner  above  mentioned,  with  Mr. 
Handson  and  some  others,  complained  to  the 
justices,  at  their  quarter-sessions,  of  their  long 
and  illegal  imprisonment,  their  worships  were 
pleased  to  move  the  bishops  in  their  favour, 
with  which  his  lordship  was  so  dissatisfied  that 
he  drew  up  twelve  articles  of  impeachment 
against  the  justices  themselves,  and  caused 
them  to  be  summoned  before  the  queen  and 
council  to  answer  for  their  misdemeanors.* 
In  the  articles  they  are  charged  with  counte- 
nancing Copping,  Tyler,  and  other  disorderly 
clergymen.  They  are  accused  of  contempt  of 
his  lordship's  jurisdiction,  in  refusing  to  admit 
divers  ministers  whom  he  had  ordained,  be- 
cause they  were  ignorant,  and  could  only  read ; 
and  for  removing  one  Wood  from  his  living  on 
the  same  account.  Sir  Robert  Jermin  and  Sir 
John  Higham,  knights,  and  Robert  Ashfield  and 
Thomas  Badley,  esquires,  gentlemen  of  Suffolk 
and  Norfolk,  and  of  the  number  of  the  aforesaid 
justices,  gave  in  their  answer  to  the  bishop's 
articles  in  the  name  of  the  rest,  in  which,  after 
asserting  their  own  conformity  to  the  rites  and 
ceremonies  of  the  Church,  they  very  justly  tax 
his  lordship  with  cruelty  in  keeping  men  so 
many  years  in  prison  without  bringing  them  to 
trial,  according  to  law ;  and  are  ashamed  that 
a  bishop  of  the  Church  of  England  should  be  a 
patron  of  ignorance  and  an  enemy  to  the  preach- 
ing the  Word  of  God.  Upon  this  the  justices 
were  dismissed.  But  though  the  lord-treasurer, 
Lord  North,  Sir  Robert  Jermin,  and  others, 
wrote  to  the  bishop  that  Mr.  Handson,  who 

*  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  iii.,  p.  20. 


HISTORY    OF    THE   PURITANS. 


151 


■was  a  learned  and  useful  preacher,  might  have 
a  license  granted  him,  the  angry  prelate  de- 
clared peremptorily  that  he  never  should  have 
one,  unless  he  would  acknowledge  his  fault,  and 
enter  into  bonds  for  his  good  behaviour  for  the 
future. 

While  the  bishops  were  driving  the  Puritans 
out  of  the  pulpits,  the  nobility  and  gentry  receiv- 
ed them  into  their  houses  as  chaplains  and  tu- 
tors to  their  children,  not  merely  out  of  com- 
passion, but  from  a  sense  of  their  real  worth 
and  usefulness ;  for  they  were  men  of  undis- 
sembled  piety  and  devotion  ;  mighty  in  the  Scrip- 
tures ;  zealous  for  the  Protestant  religion  ;  of 
exemplary  lives  ;  far  remote  from  the  liberties 
and  fashionable  vices  of  the  times  ;  and  inde- 
fatigably  diligent  in  instructing  those  committed 
to  their  care.  Here  they  were  covered  from 
their  oppressors  ;  they  preached  in  the  family, 
and  catechised  the  children ;  which,  without 
all  question,  had  a  considerablejnfluence  upon 
the  next  generation. 

The  papists  were  now  very  active  all  over  the 
country :  swarms  of  Jesuits  came  over  from  the 
seminaries  abroad,  in  defiance  of  the  law,*  and 
spread  their  books  of  devotion  and  controversy 
among  the  common  people  ;  they  had  their  pri- 
vate conventicles  almost  in  every  market-town 
in  England ;  in  the  northern  counties  they  were 
more  numerous  than  the  Protestants.   This  put 
the  government  upon  inquiring  after  the  priests  ; 
many  of  whom  were  apprehended,  and  three 
■were  executed,  viz.,  Edmund  Champion,  a  learn- 
ed and  subtle  Jesuit,  educated  in  Cambridge, 
where  he  continued  till  the  year  1569,  when  he 
travelled  to  Rome  and  entered  himself  into  the 
society  of  Jesus,  1573.     Some  years  after  he 
came  into  England,  and  travelled  the  countries 
to  propagate  the  Catholic  faith.     Being  appre- 
hended, he  was  put  on  the  rack  to  discover  the 
gentlemen  who  harboured  him,  and  afterward 
was  hanged,  drawn,  and  quartered,  when  he  was 
but  forty-one  years  of  age.     The  other  two  that 
suffered   with  him  were   Ralph    Sherwin   and 
Alexander  Bryant.     These  were  executed  for 
an  example,  but  the  rest  were  spared,  because 
the  queen's  match  with  the  Duke  of  Anjou  was 
still  depending.     However,  the  Protestants  in 
the  Netherlands  being  in  distress,  the  queen  as- 
sisted them  with  men  and  money,  for  which 
they  delivered  into  her  majesty's  hands  the  most 
important  fortresses  of  their  country,  which  she 
garrisoned  with  English.     She  also  sent  relief 
to  the  French  Protestants  who  were  at  war  with 
Iheir  natural  prince,  and  ordered  a  collection 
a]]  over  England  for  the  relief  of  the  city  of 
€reneva,  besieged  by  the  Duke  of  Savoy  :  meas- 
ures which  were   hardly  consistent  with  her 
own  principles  of  government ;  but,  as  Rapin 
observes,!  Queen  Elizabeth's  zeal  for  the  Prot- 


*  Bishop  Warburton  asks  here,  "  Were  the  Jes- 
nits  more  faulty  in  acting  in  defiance  of  the  laws  than 
the  Puritans?"  and  replies.  "I  think  not.  They  had 
both  the  same  plea,  conscience,  and  both  the  same 
provocation,  persecution."  This  is  candid  and  perti- 
nent, as  far  as  it  applies  to  the  reUgious  principles  of 
tfflch:  but  certainly  the  spirit  and  views  of  these 
pssrties  were  very  different ;  the  former  was  engaged, 
CEce  and  again,  in  plots  against  the  life  and  govern- 
ment of  the  queen  ;  the  loyalty  of  the  other  was,  not- 
withstanding all  their  sulierings,  unimpeached. — Ed. 

t  Vol.  vLii.,  p.  475, 


estant  religion  was  always  subordinate  to  hei 
private  interest. 

About  this  time  [1582]  the  queen  granted  a 
commission  of  concealments  to  some  of  her 
hungry  courtiers,  by  which  they  were  empow- 
ered to  inquire  into  the  titles  of  Church  lands 
and  livings  ;  all  forfeitures,  concealments,  or 
lands  for  which  the  parish  could  not  produce  ? 
legal  title,  were  given  to  them  :  the  articles  ol 
inquiry  seemed  to  be  levelled  against  the  Puri 
tans,  but,  through  their  sides,  they  must  have 
made  sad  havoc  with  the  patrimony  of  the 
Church.*  They  were  such  as  these :  What  right 
have  you  to  your  parsonage  1  How  came  you 
into  it !  Who  ordained  you  !  and  at  what  age 
were  you  ordained!  Have  you  a  license'? 
Were  you  married  under  the  hands  of  two  jus- 
tices of  the  peace  ]  Do  you  read  the  whole  ser- 
vice !  Do  you  use  all  the  rites,  ceremonies,  and 
ornaments  appointed  by  the  queen's  injunctions  ? 
Have  you  publicly  read  the  articles,  and  sub- 
scribed them?  The  church- wardens  of  every 
parish  had  also  twenty-four  interrogatories  ad- 
ministered to  them  upon  oath  concerning  their 
parson  and  their  church  lands  ;  all  with  a  de- 
sign to  sequester  them  into  the  hands  of  the 
queen's  gentlemen-pensioners.  This  awakened 
the  bishops,  who  fell  upon  their  knees  before  the 
queen,  and  entreated  her  majesty,  if  she  had 
any  regard  for  the  Church,  to  supersede  the 
commission  ;  which  she  did,  though,  it  is  well 
enough  known,  the  queen  had  no  scruple  of 
conscience  about  plundering  the  Church  of  its 
revenues. 

To  return  to  the  Puritans.     The  Rev.  Robert 
Wright,  domestic   chaplain  to   the  late   Lord 
Rich,  of  Rochford,  in  Essex,  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Bishop  of  London  last  yeart  [1581] ;  he 
was  a  learned  man,  and  had  lived  fourteen  years 
in  the  University  of  Cambridge  ;  but  being  dis- 
satisfied with  episcopal  ordination,  went  over  to 
Antvverp,  and  was  ordained  by  the  laying  on  of 
the  hands  of  the  presbytery  of  that  place.   Upon 
his  return  home,  Lord  Rich  took  him  into  his 
family  at  Rochford,  in  the  hundreds  of  Essex, 
where  he  preached  constantly  in  his  lordship's 
chapel,  and  nowhere   else,  because  he  could 
obtain  no  license  from  the  bishop.     He  was  an 
admired  preacher,  and  universally  beloved  by 
the  clergy  of  the  county  for  his  great  serious- 
ness and  piety.     While  his  lordship  was  alive 
he  protected  him  from  danger,  but  his  noble  pa- 
tron was  no  sooner  dead  than  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don laid  hands  on  him,  and  confined  him  in  the 
Gatehouse,  for  saying  that  to  keep  the  queen's 
birthday  as  a  holyday  was  to  make  her  an  idol. 
When  the  good  man  had  been  shut  up  from  his 
family  and  friends  several  months,  he  petitioned 
the  bishop  to  be  brought  to  his  trial,  or  admitted 
to  bail.     But  all  the  answer  his  lordship  returned 
was,  that  "  he  deserved  to  lie  in  prison  seven 
years."   This  usage,  together  with  Mr.  Wright's 
open  and  undisguised  honesty  and  piety,  moved 
the  compassion  of  his  keeper,  insomuch  that,  his 
poor  wife  being  in  childbed  and  distress,  he 
gave  him  leave,  with  the  private  allowance  of 
the  secretary  of  state,  to  make  her  a  visit  at 
Rochford  upon  his  parole  ;  but  it  happened  that 
Dr.  Ford,  the  civilian,  meeting  him  upon  the 
road,  acquainted  the  bishop  with  his  escape, 

*  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  in.,  p.  114. 
t  Id.  ibid.,  p  123. 


152 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


who  thereupon  fell  into  a  violent  passion,  and 
sending  immediately  for  the  keeper,  demanded 
to  see  his  prisoner.  The  keeper  pleaded  the 
great  compassion  of  the  case  ;  but  the  bishop 
threatened  to  complain  of  him  to  the  queen,  and 
have  him  turned  out.  Mr.  Wright  being  in- 
formed of  the  keeper's  danger,  returned  imme- 
diately to  his  prison,  and  wrote  to  the  lord- 
treasurer  on  his  behalf  "  Oh  !  my  lord,"  says 
he,  "  I  most  humbly  crave  your  lordship's  fa- 
vour, that  I  may  be  delivered  from  such  unpiti- 
ful  minds  ;  and  especially  that  your  lordship  will 
stand  a  good  lord  to  my  keeper,  that  he  may  not 
be  discouraged  from  favouring  those  that  pro- 
fess true  religion."  Upon  this  the  keeper  was 
pardoned. 

But  the  bishop  resolved  to  take  full  satisfac- 
tion of  the  prisoner :  accordingly,  he  sent  for 
him  before  the  commissioners,  and  examined 
him  upon  articles  concerning  the  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer  ;  concerning  rites  and  ceremonies  ; 
concerning  prayer  for  the  queen  and  the  Church ; 
and  concerning  the  established  form  of  ordain- 
ing ministers.     He  was  charged  with  preaching 
Without  a  license,  and  with  being  no  better  than 
a  mere  layman.     To  which  he  made  the  follow- 
ing answers :  "  That  he  thought  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  in  the  main,  good  and  godly, 
but  could  not  answer  for  every  particular.    That 
as  to  rites  and  ceremonies,  he  thought  his  re- 
sorting to  churches  where  they  were  used  was 
a  sufficient  proof  that  he  allowed  them.     That 
he  prayed  for  the  queen,  and  for  all  ministers 
of  God's  Word,  and,  consequently,  for  archbish- 
ops and  bishops,  &c.     That  he  was  but  a  pri- 
vate chaplain,  and  knew  no  law  that  required 
a  license  for  such  a  place."     But  he  could  not 
yield  himself  to  be   a  mere  layman,  having 
preached  seven  years  in  the  university  with  li- 
cense ;  and  since  that  time  having  been  regu- 
larly ordained,  by  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of 
the  presbyters  at  Antwerp.     The  bishop  having 
charged  him  with  saying  that  the  election  of 
ministers  ought  to  be  by  their  flocks,  he  owned 
it,  and  supposed  it  not  to  be  an  error ;  and  ad- 
ded, farther,  that  in  his  opinion  every  minister 
was  a  bishop,  though  not  a  lord-bishop ;  and 
that  his  lordship  of  London  must  be  of  the  same 
opinion,  because,  when  he  rebuked  Mr.  White 
for  striking  one  of  his  parishioners,  he  alleged 
that  text  that  a  "bishop  must  be  no  striker:" 
which  had  been  impertinent,  if  Mr.  White,  be- 
ing only  a  minister,  had  not  been  a  bishop. 
When   his   lordship  charged  him  with  saying 
there  were  no  lawful  ministers  in  the  Church 
of  England,  he  replied,*  "  I  will  be  content  to 
be  condemned,  if  I  bring  not  two  hundred  wit- 
nesses for  my  discharge  of  this  accusation.     I 
do  as  certainly  believe  that  there  are  lawful 
ministers  in  England  as  that  there  is  a  sun  in 
the  sky.     In  Essex,  I  can  bring  twenty  godly 
ministers,  all  preachers,  who  will  testify  that 
they  love  me,  and  have  cause  to  think  that  I 
love  and   reverence  them.     I  preached    seven 
years  in  the  University  of  Cambridge  with  ap- 
probation, and  have  a  testimonial  to  produce 
under  the  hands  and  seals  of  the  master  and 
fellows  of  Christ  College,  being  all  ministers  at 
that  time,  of  my  good  behaviour."     However, 
all  he  could  say  was  to  no  purpose :  the  bishop 
would  not  allow  his  orders,  and  therefore  pro- 

*  Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  iii.    Appendix,  No.  23,  24. 


nounced  him  a  layman,  and  incapable  of  holding 
any  living  in  the  Church. 

The  Lord  Rich,  and  divers  honourable  knights 
and  gentlemen  in  Essex,  had   petitioned   the 
Bishop  of  London  for  a  license,  that  Mr.  Wright 
might  preach  publicly  in  any  i)!ace  within  his 
diocess  ;  but  his  lordship  always  refused  it,  be- 
cause he  was  no  minister,  that  is,  had  only  beea 
ordained  among  the  foreign  churches.     But  this 
was  certainly  contrary  to  law ;  for  the  statute 
13  Eliz.,  cap.  xii.,  admits  the  ministration  of 
those  who  had  only  been  ordained  according  to 
the  manner  of  the  Scots,  or  other  foreign  church- 
es ;  there  were  some  scores,  if  not  hundreds  of 
them,  now  in  the  Church  ;  and  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury  at  this  very  time  commanded  Dr. 
Aubrey,  his  vicar-general,  to  license  Mr.  John 
Morrison,  a  Scots  divine,  who  had  had  no  other 
ordination  than  what  he  received  from  a  Scots 
presbytery,  to  preach  over  his  whole  province. 
The  words  of  the  license  are  as  follows  :  "  Sirwe 
you,  the  aforesaid  John  Morrison,  about  five 
years  past,  in  the  town  of  Garret,  in  the  county 
of  Lothian,  of  the  kingdom  of  Scotland,  were 
admitted  and  ordained  to  sacred  orders  and  the 
holy  ministry,  by  the  imposition  of  hands,  ac- 
cording to  the  laudable  form  and  rite  of  the  Re- 
formed Church  of  Scotland  ;  and  since  the  con- 
gregation of  that  county  of  Lothian  is  conform- 
able to  the  orthodox  faith,  and  sincere  religioa 
now  received  in  this  realm  of  England,  and  es- 
tablished by  public  authority  :  we,  therefore,  as 
much  as  lies  in  us,  and  as  by  right  we  may,  ap- 
proving and  ratifying  the  form  of  your  ordina- 
tion and  preferment  done  in  such  manner  afore- 
said, grant  unto  you  a  license  and  faculty,  with, 
the  consent  and  express  command  of  the  most 
reverend  father  in  Christ,  the  Lord  Edmund,  by 
the  Divine  Providence  Archbishop  of  Canterbu- 
ry, to  us  signified,  that  in  such  orders  by  you 
taken,  you  may  and  have  power  in  any  conve- 
nient places  in  and  throughout  the  whole  prov- 
ince of  Canterbury,  to  celebrate  Divine  offices, 
to  minister  the  sacraments,  &c.,  as  much  as  ia 
us  lies  ;  and  we  may  dc  jure,  and  as  far  as  the 
laws  of  the  kingdom  do  allow."     This  license 
was  dated  April  6,  1582,  and  is  as  full  a  testi- 
monial to  the  validity  of  presbyterial  ordination 
as  can  be  desired.     But  the  other  notion  was 
growing  into  fashion  ;  all  orders  of  men  are  for 
assuming  some  peculiar  characters  and  powers 
to  themselves  ;  the  bishop  will  be  a  distinct  and 
superior  order  to  presbyters  ;  and  no  man  must 
be  a  minister  of  Christ  but  on  whom  they  lay 
their  hands.* 

The  behaviour  of  the  Bishop  of  London  to- 
wards the  Puritans  moved  the  compassion  of 
some  of  the  conforming  clergy ;  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Wilkin,  rector  of  Danbury,  in  Essex,  in  a  letter 
to  the  lord-treasurer,  writes  thus :  "  As  some 
might  be  thought  over-earnest  about  trifles,  so. 


*  Here  Bishop  Warburton  remarks,  "The  Puri- 
tans were  even  with  them ;  and  to  the  jus  divimwt 
of  episcopacy,  opposed  the  _;h.s  dwiimni  of  presbytery, 
which  was  the  making  each  other  antichristian.** 
His  lordship  goes  into  this  conclusion  too  hastily, 
and  applies  it  without,  nay,  against  authority,  to  the 
Puritans :  they  never  required  such  as  had  been 
episcopally  ordained  to  be  reordainod ;  but,  in  ihs. 
height  of  their  power,  declared,  "  We  hold  ordinatioa 
by  a  bishop  to  be  for  substance  valid,  and  not  to  be 
disclaimed  by  any  that  have  received  it."— See  our 
author,  vol.  iii. — Ed. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


153 


on  the  other  hand,  there  had  been  too  severe 
and  sharp  punishment  for  the  same.  Though  I 
myself  think  reverently  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  yet  surely  it  is  a  reverence  due  only  to 
the  sacred  writings  of  Holy  Scripture  to  say 
the  authors  of  them  erred  in  nothing,  and  to 
none  other  books  of  men,  of  what  learning  so- 
ever. I  have  seen  the  letters  of  the  bishops  to 
Bullinger  and  Gualter,  when  I  was  at  Zurich  in 
the  year  1567,  in  which  they  declare  that  they 
had  no  hand  in  passing  the  book,  and  had  no 
other  choice  but  to  leave  their  places  to  papists 
or  accept  them  as  they  were  ;  but  they  profess- 
ed and  promised  never  to  urge  their  brethren 
to  those  things  ;  and  also,  when  opportunity 
should  serve,  to  seek  reformation."  How  dif- 
ferent was  the  practice  of  these  prelates  from 
their  former  professions  ! 

But  not  only  the  clergy,  but  the  whole  coun- 
try also,  exclaimed  against  the  bishops  for  their 
high  proceedings  ;  the  justices  of  peace  of  the 
county  of  Suffolk  were  so  moved,  that,  notwith- 
standing his  lordship's  late  citation  of  them  be- 
fore the  council,  they  wrote  again  to  their  hon- 
ours, praying  them  to  interpose  in  behalf  of  the 
injuries  that  were  offered  to  divers  godly  min- 
isters. The  words  of  their  supplication  are 
worth  remembering,  because  they  discover  the 
cruelty  of  the  commissioners,  who  made  no  dis- 
tinction between  the  vilest  of  criminals  and  con- 
scientious ministers :  "  The  painful  ministers  of 
the  Word,"  say  they,  "  are  marshalled  with  the 
malefactors,  presented,  indicted,  arraigned,  and 
condemned  for  matters,  as  we  presume,  of  very 
slender  moment :  some  for  leaving  the  holydays 
unbidden ;  some  for  singing  the  psalm  Nunc 
Dimittis  in  the  morning ;  some  for  turning  the 
questions  in  baptism  concerning  faith  from  the 
infants  to  the  godfathers,  which  is  but  you  for 
thou ;  some  for  leaving  out  the  cross  in  baptism  ; 
some  for  leaving  out  the  ring  in  marriage.  A 
most  pitiful  thing  it  is  to  see  the  back  of  the 
law  turned  to  the  adversary  [the  papists],  and 
the  edge  with  all  sharpness  laid  upon  the  sound 
and  true-hearted  subject.* 

"  We  grant  order  to  be  the  rule  of  the  Spirit 
of  God,  and  desire  uniformity  in  all  the  duties 
of  the  Church,  according  to  the  proportion  of 
faith ;  but  if  these  weak  ceremonies  are  so  in- 
different as  to  be  left  to  the  discretion  of  minis- 
ters, we  think  it  (under  correction)  very  hard 
to  have  them  go  under  so  hard  handhng,  to  the 
utter  discredit  of  their  whole  ministry  and  the 
profession  of  truth." 

"  We  serve  her  majesty  and  the  country  [as 
magistrates  and  justices  of  the  peace]  according 
to  law ;  we  reverence  the  law  and  lawmaker ; 
■when  the  law  speaks,  we  keep  silence  ;  when  it 
commandeth,  we  obey.  By  law  we  proceed 
against  all  offenders  ;  we  touch  none  that  the 
law  spareth,  and  spare  none  that  the  law  touch- 
eth  ;  we  allow  not  of  papists  ;  of  the  Family  of 
Love  ;  of  Anabaptists,  or  Brownists.  No,  we 
punish  all  these,  t 


*  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  iii.,  p.  183,  184. 

t  Bishop  Maddox  observes  the  e.xpressions  in 
Strype  are  stronger.  "  We  allow  not  of  the  papists, 
their  subtleties  and  hypocrisies  :  we  allow  not  of  the 
Family  of  Love,  an  egg  of  the  same  nest :  we  allow 
not  of  the  Anabaptists  and  their  communion :  we  al- 
low not  of  Brown,  the  overthrower  of  Church  and 
commonwealth  :  we  abhor  all  these  ;  no,  (we)  pun- 

VoL.  I. — U 


"  And  yet  we  are  christened  with  the  odious 
name  of  Puritans  ;  a  term  compounded  of  the 
heresies  above  mentioned,  which  we  disclaim. 
The  papists  pretend  to  be  pure  and  immaculate  ; 
the  Family  of  Love  connot  sin,  they  being  dei- 
fied (as  they  say)  in  God.  But  we  groan  under 
the  burden  of  our  sins,  and  confess  them  to 
God,  and,  at  the  same  time,  we  labour  to  keep 
ourselves  and  our  profession  unblameable  ;  this 
is  our  Puritanism  ;  a  name  given  to  such  magis- 
trates, and  ministers,  and  others,  that  have  a 
strict  eye  upon  their  juggling. 

"  We  think  ourselves  bound  in  duty  to  unfold 
these  matters  to  your  lordships ;  and  if  you 
shall  please  to  call  us  to  the  truth  of  them,  it  is 
the  thing  we  most  desire." 

This  supplication  produced  a  letter  from  the 
council  to  the  judges  of  the  assize,  command- 
ing them  not  to  give  ear  to  malicious  informers 
against  peaceful  and  faithful  ministers,  nor  to 
match  them  at  the  bar  with  rogues,  felons,  or 
papists,  but  to  put  a  difference  in  the  face  of  the 
world  between  those  of  another  faith  and  they 
who  differ  only  about  ceremonies,  and  yet  dili- 
gently and  soundly  preach  true  religion.  The 
judges  were  struck  with  this  letter,  and  the 
Bishop  of  London,  with  his  attendants,  returned 
from  his  visitation  full  of  discontent.  Indeed, 
his  lordship  had  made  himself  so  many  enemies^ 
that  he  grew  weary  of  his  bishopric,  and  peti- 
tioned the  queen  to  exchange  it  for  that  of  Ely, 
that  he  might  retire  and  be  out  of  the  way  ;  but 
her  majesty  refused  his  request. 

Notwithstanding  these  slight  appearances  in 
favour  of  the  Puritans  two  ministers  of  the 
Brownist  persuasion  were  condemned  and  put 
to  death  this  summer  for  nonconformity,  viz., 
Mr.  Elias  Thacker,  hanged  at  St.  Edrnund's- 
bury,  June  4th,  and  Mr.  John  Copping  two  days 
after,  June  6th,  1583.  Their  indictments  were 
for  spreading  certain  books  seditiously  penned 
by  Robert  Brown  against  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  established  by  the  laws  of  this  realm. 
The  sedition  charged  upon  Brown's  book  was, 
that  it  subverted  the  constitution  of  the  Church, 
and  acknowledged  her  majesty's  supremacy 
civilly,  but  not  otherwise,  as  appears  by  the 
report  which  the  judges  sent  to  court,  viz.. 
That  the  prisoners,  instead  of  acknowledging 
her  majesty's  supremacy  in  all  causes,  would 
allow  it  only  in  civil.*  This  the  judges  took 
hold  of  to  aggravate  their  offence  to  the  queen, 
after  they  had  passed  sentence  upon  them  on 
the  late  statute  of  the  23d  Eliz.  against  spread- 
ing seditious  libels,  and  for  refusing  the  oath  of 
supremacy.  Mr.  Copping  had  suffered  a  long 
and  illegal  imprisonment  from  the  bishop  of  his 
diocess  ;  his  wife  being  brought  to  bed  while  he 
was  under  confinement,  he  was  charged  with 
not  suffering  his  child  to  be  baptized  ;  to  which 
he  answered,  that  his  conscience  could  not  ad- 
mit it  to  be  done  with  godfathers  and  god- 
mothers, and  he  could  get  no  preacher  to  do  it 
without.  He  was  accused,  farther,  with  saying 
the  queen  was  perjured,  because  she  had  sworn 
to  set  forth  God's  glory  directly  as  by  the 
Scriptures  are  appointed,  and  did  not ;  but  these 
were  only  circumstances  to  support  the  grand 

ish  all  these."    This,  we  must  own  with  his  lord- 
ship, was  not  the  language  of  real  and  consistent, 
friends  to  liberty  of  conscience. — Ed. 
*  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  iii.,  p.  186. 


154 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


charge  of  sedition  in  spreading  Brown's  book. 
However,  it  seemed  a  little  hard*  to  hang  men 
for  spreading  a  seditious  book,  at  a  time  when 
the  author  of  that  very  book  [Brown]  was  par- 
doned and  set  at  liberty.  Both  the  prisoners 
died  by  their  principles ;  for  though  Dr.  Still, 
the  archbishop's  chaplain,  and  others,  travelled 
and  conferred  with  them,  yet  at  the  very  hour 
of  their  death  they  remained  immovable  ;  they 
were  both  sound  in  the  doctrinal  articles  of  the 
Church  of  England,  and  of  unblemished  lives. t 
One  Wilsford,  a  layman,  should  have  suffered 
Avith  them,  but  upon  conference  with  Secretary 
Wilson,  who  told  him  the  queen's  supremacy 
might  be  understood  only  of  her  majesty's  civil 
power  over  ecclesiastical  persons,  he  took  the 
oath  and  was  discharged. 

While  the  bishops  were  thus  harassing  hon- 
est and  conscientious  ministers  for  scrupling 
the  ceremonies  of  the  Church,  practical  religion 
"was  at  a  very  low  ebb  ;  the  fashionable  vices  of 
the  times  were,  profane  swearing,  drunkenness, 
revelling,  gaming,  and  profanation  of  the  .Lord's 
Day ;  yet  there  was  no  discipline  for  these  of- 
fenders, nor  do  I  find  any  such  cited  into  the 
spiritual  courts,  or  shut  up  in  prisons.  If  men 
came  to  their  parish  churches,  and  approved  of 
the  habits  and  ceremonies,  other  offences  were 
overlooked,  and  the  court  was  easy.  At  Paris 
Gardens,  in  Southwark,  there  were  public  sports 
on  the  Lord's  Day  for  the  entertainment  of 
great  numbers  of  people  who  resorted  thither  ; 
but  on  the  I3th  of  January,  being  Sunday,  it 
happened  that  one  of  the  scaffolds,  being  crowd- 
ed with  people,  fell  down,  by  which  accident 
some  were  killed  and  a  great  many  wounded. 
This  was  thought  to  be  a  judgment  from  heav- 
en ;  for  the  lord-mayor,  in  the  account  he  gives 
of  it  to  the  treasurer,  says  "  that  it  gives  great 
occasion  to  acknowledge  the  hand  of  God  for 
such  abuse  of  the  Sabbath  day,  and  moveth  me 
in  conscience  to  give  order  for  redress  of  such 
contempt  of  God's  service;  adding,  that  for 
this  purpose  he  had  treated  with  some  justices 
of  peace  in  Surrey,  who  expressed  a  very  good 
zeal,  but  alleged  want  of  commission,  which  ho 
referred  to  the  consideration  of  his  lordship."t 
But  the  court  paid  no  regard  to  such  remon- 
strances, and  the  queen  had  her  ends  in  en- 
couraging the  sports,  pastimes,  and  revellings 
of  the  people  on  Sundays  and  holydays. 

This  year  died  the  fam.ous  northern  apostle, 
Mr.  Bernard  Gilpin,  minister  of  Houghton,  in 
the  bishopric  of  Durham.  He  was  born  at 
Kentmire,  in  Westmoreland,  1517,  of  an  an- 
cient and  honourable  family,  and  was  entered 
into  Queen's  College,  Oxford,  in  the  year  1.533. 

*  Bishop  Warburton  imputes  it  to  party  and  preju- 
dice in  Mr.  Neal  that  he  doth  not  point  out  the  dif- 
ference in  this  case,  which  his  lordship  states  to  be 
the  same  as  between  "  the  dispensers  of  poison 
hanged  for  going  on  obstinately  in  mischief,  and  of 
him  who  compounded  the  poison,  but  was,  on  his 
repentance,  pardoned."  But  no  svch  distinction  ex- 
isted, and  his  lordship  lost  sight  of  the  real  state  of 
the  case.  Brown  did  not  renounce  his  principles 
till  seven  years  after  he  was  committed  to  prison  for 
publishing  his  hook,  and  was  dismissed,  not  on  his 
repentance,  but  at  the  intercession  of  the  lord-treas- 
urer. So  far  from  repenting,  he  went  up  and  down 
inveighing  against  bishops,  &c.,  and  gathered  a  sep- 
arate congregation  on  his  own  principles. — See  our 
author,  p.  2G8. — Ed. 

t  Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  532,  533.        %  Id.  ibid. 


He  continued  a  papist  all  the  reign  of  King 
Henry  VIII.,  but  was  converted  by  the  lectures 
of  Peter  Martyr,  in  the  beginning  of  the  reign 
of  Edward  VI.*  He  was  remarkably  honest 
and  open  to  conviction,  but  did  not  separate 
from  tiie  Romish  comnmnion  till  he  was  per- 
suaded the  pope  was  antichrist.  CuthbertTon- 
stal,  bishop  of  Durham,  was  his  uncle  by  the 
mother's  side,  by  whose  encouragement  he 
travelled  to  Paris,  Louvaine,  and  other  parts, 
being  still  for  the  real  presence  of  Christ  in  the 
sacrament,  though  not  for  transubstantiation. 
Returning  home  in  the  days  of  Queen  Mary,  his 
uncle  placed  him  fust  in  the  rectory  of  Essing- 
ton,  and  afterward  at  Houghton,  a  large  parish 
containing  fourteen  villages  ;  here  he  laboured 
in  the  work  of  the  ministry,  and  was  often 
exposed  to  danger,  but  constantly  preserved 
by  his  uncle.  Bishop  Tonstal,  who  was  averse 
to  burning  men  for  religion.  Miserable  and 
heathenish  was  the  condition  of  these  northern 
counties  at  this  time  with  respect  to  religion ! 
Mr.  Gilpin  beheld  it  with  tears  of  compassion, 
and  resolved,  at  his  own  expense,  to  visit  the 
desolate  churches  of  Northumberland  and  the 
parts  adjoining,  called  Riddesdale  and  Tindale, 
once  every  year,  to  preach  the  Gospel  and  dis- 
tribute to  the  necessities  of  the  poor,  which  he 
continued  till  his  death ;  this  gained  him  the 
veneration  of  all  ranks  of  people  in  those  parts  ; 
but  though  he  had  such  a  powerful  screen  as 
Bishop  Tonstal,  yet  the  fame  of  his  doctrine, 
which  was  Lutheran,  reaching  the  ears  of  Bon- 
ner, he  sent  for  him  to  London  ;  the  reverend 
man  ordered  his  servant  to  prepare  him  a  long 
shirt,  expecting  to  be  burned,  but  before  he  came 
to  London  Queen  Mary  died.  Upon  the  acces- 
sion of  Queen  Elizabeth,  Mr.  Gilpin,  having  a 
fair  estate  of  his  own,  erected  a  grammar- 
school,  and  allowed  maintenance  for  a  master 
and  usher  ;  himself  choosing  out  of  the  school 
such  as  he  liked  best  for  his  own  private  in- 
struction. Many  learned  men,  who  afterward 
adorned  the  Church  by  their  labours  and  up- 
rightness of  life,  were  educated  by  him  in  his 
domestic  academy.  Many  gentlemen's  sons 
resorted  to  him,  some  of  whom  were  boarded 
in  the  town,  and  others  in  his  own  house ;  be- 
sides, he  took  many  poor  men's  sons  under  hia 
care,  giving  them  meat,  drink,  clothes,  and 
education. 

In  the  year  1560  he  was  offered  the  bishopric 
of  Carlisle,  and  was  urged  to  accept  it  by  the 
Earl  of  Bedford,  Bishop  Sandys,  and  others, 
with  the  most  powerful  motives  ;  but  he  desi- 
red to  be  excused,  and  in  that  resolution  re- 
mained immovable ;  his  reasons  were  taken 
from  the  largeness  of  the  diocesses,  which  were 
too  great  for  the  inspection  of  one  person ;  for 
he  was  so  strongly  possessed  of  the  duty  of 
bi.shops,  and  of  the  charge  of  souls  that  was 
committed  to  them,  that  he  could  never  be  per- 
suaded to  keep  two  livings,  over  both  of  which 

*  In  1552  Giljnn  was  appointed  to  preach  before 
King  Edward,  at  Greenwich,  and  in  his  discourse  he 
censured  the  avarice  of  the  clergy  and  the  corrup- 
tions of  the  Church  with  great  freedom.  His  ad- 
dress to  the  king,  the  clergy,  and  magistrates,  is  one 
of  the  boldest  and  most  honest  remonstrances  in  bo- 
half  of  truth  to  be  found  in  the  annals  of  the  English 
hierarchy.  This  sermon,  the  only  one  he  ever  pub- 
lished, is  to  be  found  in  Carleton  and  Gilpin's  "  Life 
of  Bernard  Gilpin." — C. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


155 


he  could  not  have  a  personal  inspection,  and 
perform  all  the  offices  of  a  pastor ;  he  added, 
farther,  that  he  had  so  many  friends  and  rela- 
tives in  those  parts  to  gratify  or  connive  at, 
that  he  could  not  continue  an  honest  man  and 
be  their  bishop.  But  though  Mr.  Gilpin  would 
not  be  a  bishop,  he  supplied  the  place  of  one,  by 
preaching,  by  hospitality,  by  erecting  schools, 
by  taking  care  of  the  poor,  and  providing  for 
destitute  churches  ;  in  all  which  he  was  coun- 
tenanced and  encouraged  by  the  learned  and 
reverend  James  Pilkington,  then  bishop  of 
Durham,  by  whom  he  was  excused  from  sub- 
scriptions, habits,  and  a  strict  observance  of 
ceremonies,  it  being  his  fixed  opinion  that  no  hu- 
man invention  should  take  place  in  the  Church, 
instead  of  a  Divine  institution.  After  Bishop 
Pilkington's  death,  Dr.  Barnes  was  chosen  his 
successor,  who  was  disgusted  at  Mr.  Gilpin's 
popularity,  and  gave  him  trouble :  once,  when 
he  was  setting  out  upon  his  annual  visitation  to 
Riddesdale  and  Tindale,  the  bishop  summoned 
him  to  preach  before  him,  which  he  excused  in 
the  handsomest  manner  he  could,  and  went  his 
progress  ;  but  upon  his  return  he  found  himself 
suspended,  for  contempt,  from  all  ecclesiastical 
employments.  The  bishop  afterward  sent  for 
him  again  on  a  sudden,  and  commanded  him  to 
preach,  but  then  he  pleaded  his  suspension,  and 
his  not  being  provided  ;  the  bishop  immediately 
took  off  his  suspension,  and  would  not  excuse 
his  preaching,  upon  which  he  went  into  the  pul- 
pit, and  discoursed  upon  the  high  charge  of  a 
Cliristian  bishop  ;  and  having  exposed  the  cor- 
ruptions of  the  clergy,  he  boldly  addressed  him- 
self to  his  lordship  in  these  words  ;  "  Let  not 
your  lordship  say,  These  crimes  have  been 
committed  without  my  knowledge,  for  whatso- 
ever you  yourself  do  in  person,  or  suffer  through 
your  connivance  to  be  done  by  others,  it  is 
wholly  your  own  ;  therefore,  in  the  presence  of 
God,  angels,  and  men,  I  pronounce  your  father- 
hood to  be  the  author  of  all  lliese  evils  ;  and  I 
and  this  whole  congregation  wdl  be  a  witness  in 
the  day  of  judgment,  that  these  tbings  have  come 
to  your  ears."  All  men  thought  the  bishop 
would  have  deprived  Mr.  Gilpin  for  his  freedom 
as  soon  as  he  came  out  of  the  pulpit,  but,  by  the 
good  providence  of  God,  it  had  quite  a  different 
effect ;  the  bishop  thanked  him  for  his  faithful 
reproof,  and  after  this  suffered  him  to  go  on 
with  his  annual  progress,  giving  him  no  farther 
disturbance.  At  length,  his  lean  body  being 
quite  worn  out  with  labour  and  travail,  and 
feeling  the  approaches  of  death,  he  commanded 
the  poor  to  be  called  together,  and  took  a  sol- 
emn leave  of  them ;  afterward  he  did  the  like 
by  his  relatives  and  friends  ;  then  giving  him- 
self up  to  God,  he  took  his  bed  about  the  end 
of  February,  and  died  March  4,  1583,  in  the 
sixty-sixth  year  of  his  age.  He  was  a  heaven- 
ly man,  endued  with  a  large  and  generous  soul, 
of  a  tall  stature  of  body,  with  a  Roman  nose  : 
his  clothes  were  neat  and  plain,  for  he  was 
frugal  in  his  own  dress,  though  very  bountiful 
to  others.  His  doors  were  always  open  for  the 
entertainment  of  strangers.  He  boarded  in  his 
own  house  twenty-four  scholars,  most  of  whom 
were  upon  charity.  He  kept  a  table  for  the 
poor  every  Lord's  Day,  from  Michaelmas  to 
Easter,  and  expended  £500  for  a  free  school 
for  their  children.     Upon  the  whole,  he  was  a 


pious,  devout,  and  open-hearted  divine  ;  a  con- 
scientious Nonconformist,  but  against  separa- 
tion. He  was  accounted  a  saint  by  his  very 
enemies,  if  he  had  any  such,  being  full  of  faith 
and  good  works ;  and  was  at  last  put  into  his 
grave  as  a  shock  of  corn  fully  ripe.* 

The  same  year  died  Edmund  Grindal,  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  born  at  Copland,  in  the 
county  of  Cumberland,  in  the  year  1519,  and 
educated  in  Cambridge.      He   was   a  famous 
preacher  in  King  Edward's  days,  and  was  nom- 
inated by  him  to  a  bishopric  when  he  was  only 
thirty-three  years  of  age  ;  but  that  king  dying 
soon  after,  he  went  into  exile,  and  imbibed  the 
principles  of  a  farther  reformation  than  had  as 
yet  obtained  in  England.     Upon  Queen  Eliza- 
beth's accession  he  returned  to  England,  and 
was  advanced,  first  to  the  See  of  London,  and 
then  to  York  and  Canterbury,  though  he  could 
hardly  persuade  himself  for  some  time  to  wear 
the  habits  and  comply  with  the  ceremonies  of 
the  Church  ;  nor  did  he  ever  heartily  approve 
them,  yet  thought  it  better  to  support  the  Ref- 
ormation on  that  foot  than  hazard  it  back  into 
the  hands  of  the  papists.!     He  was  of  a  mild 
and  moderate  temper,  easy  of  access,  and  affa- 
ble even  in  his  highest  exaltation.    He  is  blamed 
by  some  for  his  gentle  usage  of  the  Puritans, 
though  he  used  them  worse  than  he  would  have 
done  if  he  had  been  left  to  himself     About  a 
year  or  two  after  his  promotion  to  the  See  of 
Canterbury,  he  lost  the  queen's  favour  on  the 
account  of  the  prophesyings,  and  was  suspended 
for  some  years,  during  which  time  many  Puri- 
tan ministers  took  shelter  in  the  counties  of 
Kent  and  Surrey,  &c.,  which  made  more  work 
for  his  successor.    The  good  old' archbishop  be- 
ing blind  and  broken-hearted,  the  queen  took  oS. 
his  sequestration  about  a  year  before  his  death, 
and  sent  to  acquaint  him  that  if  he  would  resign 
he  should  have  her  favour  and  an  honourable 
pension,  which  he  promised  to  accept  within 
six  months  ;  but  Whitgift,  who  was  designed  for 
his  successor,  refusing  to  enter  upon  the  see 
while  Grindal  lived,  he  made  a  shift  to  hold  it 
till  his  death,  which  happened  July  6th,  1583,  in 
the  sixty-third  year  of  his  age.     Camden  calls 
him  a  religious  and  grave  divine.    Hollingshead 
says  he  was  so  studious  that  his  book  was  his 
bride,  and  his  study  his  bridechamber,  in  which 
he  spent  his  eyesight,  his   strength,  and  his 
health.     He  was  certainly  a  learned  and  vener- 
able prelate,  and  had  a  high  esteem  for  the  name 
and  doctrines  of  Calvin,  with  whom,  and  with 
the  German  divines,  he  held  a  constant  corre- 
spondence.  His  high  stations  did  not  make  him 
proud ;  but  if  we  may  believe  his  successor  in 
the  See  of  York,  Archbishop  Sandys,  he  must 
be  tainted  with  avarice  (as  most  of  the  queen's 
bishops  were),  because,  within  two  months  after 
he  was  translated  to  Canterbury,  he  gave  to  his 
kinsmen  and  servants,  and  sold  for  round  sums 
of  money  to  himself,  six  score  leases  and  pat- 
ents, even   then  when  they  were  thought  not 
to  be  good  in  law.J     But,  upon  the  whole,  he 
was  one  of  the  best  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  bish- 


*  "  The  worth  and  labours  of  this  excellent  man," 
it  was  observed  in  the  New  Annual  Register  for 
1789,  "  have  been  amply  displayed  in  the  present 
century,  by  the  elegant  pen  of  one  of  his  own  name 
and  family."— Ed.  t  Grindal's  Life,  p.  295. 

t  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  ult.,  SuppL,  p.  21. 


]5G 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


ops.  He  lies  buried  in  the  cliancel  of  the  Church 
at  Croydon,  where  his  effigy  is  to  be  seen  at 
length  in  his  doctor's  robes,  and  in  a  praying 
posture.* 


CHAPTER  VII. 

FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  ARCHBISHOP  GRINDAL  TO  THE 
SPANISH  INVASION  IN  1588. 

Upon  the  death  of  Grindal,  Dr.  John  Whit- 
gift,  bishop  of  Worcester,  was  translated  to  the 
See  of  Canterbury,  and  confirmed  September 
23d,  1583.  He  had  distinguished  himself  in  the 
controversy  against  the  Puritans,!  and  was 
therefore  thought  the  most  proper  person  to  re- 
duce their  numbers.  Upon  his  advancement, 
the  queen  charged  him  "  to  restore  the  disci- 
pline of  the  Church,  and  the  uniformity  estab- 
lished by  law,  which  (says  her  majt»sty),  througli 
the  connivance  of  some  prelates,  the  obstinacy 
of  the  Puritans,  and  the  power  of  some  noble- 
men, is  run  out  of  square."  Accordingly,  the 
very  first  week  his  grace  published  the  following 
articles,  and  sent  them  to  the  bishops  of  his 
province,  for  their  direction  in  the  government 
of  their  several  diocesses  : 

"  That  all  preaching,  catechising,  and  pray- 
ing, in  any  private  family,  where  any  are  pres- 
ent besides  the  family,  be  utterly  extinguished. f 
That  none  do  preach  or  catechise,  except  also  he 
will  read  the  whole  service,  and  administer  the 
sacraments  four  times  a  year.  That  all  preach- 
ers, and  others  in  ecclesiastical  orders,  do  at  all 
times  wear  the  habits  prescribed.  That  none  be 
admitted  to  preach  unless  he  be  ordained  accord- 
ing to  the  manner  of  the  Church  of  England.  That 
none  be  admitted  to  preach,  or  execute  any  part 
of  the  ecclesiastical  function,  unless  he  subscribe 
the  three  following  articles:  1st,  To  the  queen's 
supremacy  over  all  persons,  and  in  all  causes 
ecclesiastical  and  civil  within  her  majesty's  do- 
minions. 2dly,  To  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
and  of  the -ordination  of  priests  and  deacons, 
as  containing  nothing  contrary  to  the  Word  of 
God  ;  and  that  they  will  use  it  in  all  their  public 
ministrations,  and  no  other.  3dly,  To  the  thirty- 
nine  articles  of  the  Church  of  England,  agreed 
upon  in  the  synod  of  1562,  and  afterward  confirm- 

*  This  prelate  is  the  Algrind  of  Spencer,  which  is 
the  anagram  of  his  name.  The  French  Protestants 
were  very  much  indebted  to  his  influence  and  activi- 
ty in  obtaining  for  them  a  settlement  in  England,  in 
their  own  method  of  worship.  This  was  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Walloon  Church,  situated  in  Threadnee- 
dJe-street,  London,  which  has  ever  since  been  ap- 
propriated to  the  use  of  the  French  nation. — British 
Biography,  vol.  iu.,  p.  161.  Granger's  Biographical 
History,  vol.  ii.,  p.  204,  note,  8vo. — Ed. 

t  "  It  is  seldom  good  policy,"  says  Mr.  Hallam,  when 
referring  to  Whitgift's  elevation,  "  to  confer  such  em- 
inent stations  in  the  Church  on  the  gladiators  of  the- 
ological controversy;  who,  from  vanity  and  resent- 
ment, as  well  as  the  course  of  their  studies,  will  al- 
ways be  prone  to  exaggerate  the  importance  of  the 
disputes  wherein  they  have  been  engaged,  and  to 
turn  whatever  authority  the  laws  or  the  influence  of 
their  place  may  give  them  against  their  adversaries. 
This  was  fully  illustrated  by  the  conduct  of  Arch- 
bishop Whitgift,  whose  elevation  the  wisest  of  Eliz- 
abeth's counsellors  had  ample  reason  to  regret." — 
Hallarn's  Constitutional  Hist.,  vol.  1.,  p.  269. — C. 

t  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  118. 


ed  by  Parliament."*  And  with  what  severity 
his  grace  enforced  these  articles  will  be  seea 
presently. 

It  is  easy  to  observe  that  they  were  all  level- 
led at  the  Puritans  ;  but  the  most  disinterested 
civil  lawyers  of  these  times  were  of  opinion  that 
his  grace  had  no  legal  authority  to  impose  those, 
or  any  other  articles,  upon  the  clergy,  without 
the  broad  seal ;  and  that  all  his  proceedings 
upon  them  were  an  abuse  of  the  royal  preroga- 
tive, contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  land,  and,  con- 
sequently, so  many  acts  of  oppression  upon  the 
subject.     Their  reasons  were, 

1.  Because  the  statute  of  the  twenty-fifth 
Henry  VIII. ,  chap.  20,  expressly  prohibits  "  the 
whole  body  of  the  clergy,  or  any  one  of  them,  to 
put  in  use  any  constitutions  or  canons  already 
made,  or  hereafter  to  be  made,  except  they  be 
made  in  convocation  assembled  by  the  king's 
writ,  his  royal  assent  being  also  had  thereunto, 
on  pain  of  fine  and  imprisonment." 

2.  Because,  by  the  statute  of  the  1st  of  Eliz., 
chap,  iii.,  "  all  such  jurisdictions,  privileges,  su- 
periorities, pre-eminences,  spiritual  or  ecclesi- 
astical power  and  authority,  which  hath  hereto- 
fore been,  or  may  lawfully  be,  executed  or  used 
for  the  visitation  of  the  ecclesiastical  state  and 
persons,  and  for  reformation  of  the  same,  and  of 
all  manner  of  errors,  heresies,  schisms,  abuses, 
contempts,  and  enormities,  are  forever  united  to 
the  imperial  crown  of  these  realms."  Whence 
it  follows  that  all  power  is  taken  from  the  bish- 
ops except  that  of  governing  their  diocesses  ac- 
cording to  the  laws  of  the  land,  or  according  to 
any  farther  injunctions  they  may  receive  from 
the  crown  under  the  broad  seal. 

3.  Because  some  of  the  archbishop's  articles 
were  directly  contrary  to  the  statute  laws  of  the 
realm,  which  the  queen  herself  has  not  power 
to  alter  or  dispense  with.  By  the  13th  Eliz., 
chap,  xii.,  the  subscription  of  the  clergy  is  lim- 
ited to  those  articles  of  the  Church  which  re- 
late to  the  doctrines  of  faith  and  administration 
of  the  sacraments  only  ;  whereas  the  bishop 
enjoined  them  to  subscribe  the  whole  thirty- 
nine.  And,  by  the  preamble  of  the  same  stat- 
ute, all  ordinations  in  the  times  of  popery,  or 
after  the  manner  of  foreign  Reformed  Church- 
es, are  admitted  to  be  valid,  so  that  such 
may  enjoy  any  ecclesiastical  preferment  in  the 
Church ;  but  the  archbishop  says  [art.  4th] 
"that  none  shall  be  admitted  to  preach  unless 
he  be  ordained  according  to  the  manner  of  the 
Church  of  England."  Upon  these  accounts,  if 
the  queen  had  fallen  out  with  him,  he  might 
have  incurred  the  guilt  of  a  prajmunire. 

To  these  arguments  it  was  replied  by  his 
grace's  lawyers, 

1.  That,  by  the  canon  law,^  the  archbishop 
has  power  to  make  laws  for  the  well-govern- 
ment of  the  Church,  so  far  as  they  do  not  en- 
counter the  peace  of  the  Church  and  quietness 
of  the  realm.  To  which  it  was  answered,  this 
might  be  true  in  times  of  popery,  but  the  case 
was  very  much  altered  since  the  Reformation, 
because  now  the  archbishops'  and  bishops'  au- 
thority is  derived  from  the  person  of  the  queea 
only  ;  for  the  late  Queen  Mary  having  surren- 
dered back  all  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  into 
the  hands  of  the  pope,  the  present  queen,  upon 
her  accession,  had  no  jurisdiction  resident  ia 


*  MS.,  p.  429. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


i57 


I 


lier  person  till  the  statute  of  recognisance,  1st 
of  Eiiz.,  by  which  the  archbishops  and  bish- 
ops of  this  realm,  being   exempted  from  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  pope,  are  made  subject  to 
the  queen,  to  govern  her  people  in  ecclesias- 
tical causes,  as  her  other  subjects  govern  the 
same  (according  to  their  places)  in  civil  caus- 
es ;*  so  that  the  clergy  are  no  more  to  be  called 
the  archbishops'  or  bishops'  children,  but  the 
queen's  liege  people,  and  are  to  be  governed  by 
them  according  to  the  laws,  which  laws  are 
such  canons,  constitutions,  and  synodals  pro- 
vincial, as  were  in  force  before  the  twenty-fifth 
of  Henry  VIII.,  and  are  not  contrary  nor  repug- 
nant to  the  laws  and  customs  of  the  realm,  nor 
derogatory  to  her  majesty's  prerogative  royal ; 
and,  therefore,  all  canons  made  before  the  twen- 
ty-fifth of  Henry  VIII.,  giving  to  the  archbish- 
ops or  bishops  an  unlimited  power  over  the 
clergy,  as  derived  from  the  See  of  Rome,  are  ut- 
terly void,  such  canons  being  directly  against 
the  laws  and  customs  of  the  realm,  which  do 
not  admit  of  any  subject  executing  a  law  but  by 
authority  from  the  prince  ;  and  they  are  derog- 
atory to  her  majesty's  prerogative  royal,  be- 
cause hereby  some  of  her  subjects  might  claim 
an  unlimited  power  over  her  other  subjects,  in- 
dependent of  the  crown,  and,  by  their  private 
authority,  command  or  forbid  what  they  please. 
Since,   then,   the    archbishop's    articles    were 
framed  by  his  own  private  authority,  they  can- 
not be  justified  by  any  of  the  canons  now  in 
force.     And  as  for  the  peace  of  the  Church  and 
quiet  of  the  realm,  they  were  so  far  from  pro- 
moting them,  that  they  were  like  to  throw  both 
into  confusion. 

2.  It  was  said  that  the  queen,  as  head  of  the 
Church,  had  power  to  publish  articles  and  in- 
junctions for  reducing  the  clergy  to  uniformity, 
and  that  the  archbishop  had  the  queen's  license 
and  consent  for  what  he  did.  I3ut  the  queen 
herself  had  no  authority  to  publish  articles  and 
injunctions  in  opposition  to  the  laws  ;  and  as 
for  her  majesty's  permission  and  consent,  it 
could  be  no  warrant  to  the  archbishop  except  it 
had  been  under  the  great  seal.  And  if  the  arch- 
bishop had  no  legal  authority  to  command,  the 
clergy  were  not  obliged  to  obey ;  the  oath  of 
canonical  obedience  does  not  bind  in  this  case, 
because  it  is  limited  to  Ileitis  ct  Jioncstis,  things 
lawful  and  honest  ;  whereas  the  present  arti- 
cles being  against  law,  they  were  enforced  by 
no  legal  authority,  and  were  such  as  the  minis- 
ters could  not  honestly  consent  to. 

Notwithstanding  these  objections,  the  arch- 
bishop, in  his  primary  metropolitical  visitation, 
insisted,  peremptorily,  that  all  who  enjoyed  any 
ofiice  or  benefice  in  the  Church  should  subscribe 
the  three  articles  above  mentioned  ;  the  second 
of  which  he  knew  the  Puritans  would  refuse : 
accordingly,  there  were  suspended  for  not  sub- 
scribing— 

In  the  county  of  Norfolk,  64  ministers. 

"  "  Suffolk,  60         " 

"  "  Sussex,  about  30  " 

"  "  Essex,  38         «' 

"  "  Kent,      19  or  20         « 

"  "  Lincolnshire,   21  " 

In  all,  233 

*  MS.,  p.  661. 


All  whose  names  are  now  before  me ;  besides 
great  numbers  in  the  diocess  of  Peterborough, 
in  the  city  of  London,  and  proportionable  in 
other  counties  ;  some  of  whom  were  dignitaries 
in  the  Church,  and  most  of  them  graduates  in  the 
university ;  of  these  some  were  allowed  time, 
but  forty-nine  were  absolutely  deprived  at  once.* 

Among  the  suspended  ministers  his  grace 
showed  some  particular  favour  to  those  of  Sus- 
sex, at  the  intercession  of  some  great  persons  ; 
for  after  a  long  dispute  and  many  arguments 
before  himself  at  Lambeth,  he  accepted  of  the 
subscription  of  six  or  seven,  with  their  own  ex- 
plication of  the  rubrics,  and  with  declaration 
that  their  subscription  was  not  to  be  under- 
stood in  any  other  sense  than  as  far  as  the 
books  were  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God,  and 
to  the  substance  of  religion  established  in  the 
Church  of  England,  and  to  the  analogy  of  faith  ; 
and  that  it  did  not  extend  to  anything  not  ex- 
pressed in  the  said  books. t  Of  all  which  the 
archbishop  allowed  them  an  authentic  copy  in 
writing,  dated  December  6th,  1583,  and  ordered 
his  chancellor  to  send  letters  to  Chichester  that 
the  rest  of  the  suspended  ministers  in  that 
county  might  be  indulged  the  same  favour. 

Many  good  and  pious  men  strained  their  con- 
sciences on  this  occasion  ;  some  subscribed  the 
articles  with  this  protestation  in  open  court, 
"  as  far  as  they  are  agreeable  to  the  Word  of 
God ;"  and  others  demplo  secundo,  that  is,  ta- 
king away  the  second.  Many,  upon  better  con- 
sideration, repented  their  subscribing  in  this 
manner,  and  would  have  rased  out  their  names, 
but  it  was  not  permitted.  Some,  who  were  al- 
lured to  subscribe  with  the  promises  of  favour 
and  better  preferment,  vi'ere  neglected  and  for- 
gotten, and  troubled  in  the  commissaries'  court 
as  much  as  before. t  The  court  took  no  notice 
of  their  protestations  or  reserves  ;  they  wanted 
nothing  but  their  hands,  and  when  they  had  got 
them,  they  were  all  listed  under  the  same  col- 
ours, and  published  to  the  world  as  absolute 
subscribers. 

The  body  of  the  inferior  clergy  wished  and 
prayed  for  some  amendments  in  the  service- 
book,  to  make   their  brethren   easy.     "  I   am 
sure,"  says  a  learned  divine  of  these  times, 
"  that  this  good  would  come  of  it.    (] .)  It  would 
please  Almighty  God.     (2.)  The  learned  minis- 
ters would  be  more  firmly  united  against  the 
papists.      (3.)  The   good  ministers   and  good 
subjects,  whereof  many  are  now  at  Weepmg- 
cross,  would  be  cheered ;  and  many  able  stu- 
dents encouraged  to  take  upon  them  the  minis- 
try.    And  (4.)  Hereby  the  papists,  and  more 
careless  sort  of  professors,  would  be  more  ea- 
sily won  to  religion.     If  any  object  that  excel- 
lent men  were  publishers  of  the  Book  of  Prayer, 
and   that  it  would   be   some  disgrace  to  the 
Church  to  alter  it,  I  answer,  1st,  That  though 
worthy  men  are  to  be  accounted  of,  yet  their 
oversights  in  matters  of  religion  are  not  to  be 
honoured  by  subscriptions.     2dly,  The  reforma- 
tion of  the  service-book  can  be  no  disgrace  to 
us  nor  them,  for  men's  second  thoughts  are 
wiser  than  their  first ;  and  the  papists,  in  the 
late  times  of  Pius  V.,  reformed  our  Lady's  Psal 
ter.     To  conclude,  if  amendments  to  the  book 


*  MS.,  p.  436. 

t  MS.,  p.  323,  405.    Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  129. 

j  Fanner's  Answer  to  Dr.  Bridges,  p.  119,  120. 


158 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


be  inconvenient,  it  must  be  either  in  regard  of 
Protestants  or  papists  ;  it  cannot  be  in  regard 
of  Protestants,  for  very  great  numbers  of  them 
pray  heartily  to  God  for  it.  And  if  it  be  in  re- 
gard of  the  papists,  we  are  not  to  mind  them  ; 
for  they,  whose  captains  say  that  we  have  nei- 
ther church,  nor  sacraments,  nor  ministers,  nor 
queen  in  England,  are  not  greatly  to  be  regard- 
ed of  us."* 

But  Whitgift  was  to  be  influenced  by  no  such 
arguments ;  he  was  against  all  alterations  in 
the  Liturgy,  for  this  general  reason,  lest  the 
Church  should  be  thought  to  have  maintained 
an  error  :  which  is  surprising  to  come  from  the 
mouth  of  a  Protestant  bishop,  who  had  so  lately 
separated  from  the  infallible  Church  of  Rome. 
His  grace's  arguments  for  subscription  to  his 
articles  are  no  less  remarkable.  1st,  If  you  do 
not  subscribe  to  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
you  do  in  effect  say,  there  is  no  true  service  of 
God,  nor  administration  of  sacraments,  in  the 
land.  2dly,  If  you  do  not  subscribe  the  Book 
of  Ordination  of  Priests,  &c.,  then  our  calling 
must  be  unlawful,  and  we  have  no  true  minis- 
try por  church  in  England.  3dly,  If  you  do  not 
subscribe  the  Book  of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles, 
you  deny  true  doctrine  to  be  established  among 
us,  which  is  the  main  note  of  a  true  church,  t 
Could  an  honest  man,  and  a  great  scholar,  be 
in  earnest  with  this  reasoning]  Might  not  the 
Puritans  dislike  some  things  in  the  service- 
book,  without  invalidating  the  whole  1  Did  not 
his  grace  know  that  they  offered  to  subscribe 
to  the  use  of  the  service-book,  as  I'ar  as  they 
could  apprehend  it  consonant  to  trutli,  though 
they  could  not  give  it  under  their  hands  that 
there  was  nothing  in  it  contrary  to  the  Word 
of  God,  nor  promise  to  use  the  whole,  with- 
out the  least  variation,  in  their  public  minis- 
try!  But,  according  to  the  archbishop's  logic, 
the  Church  must  be  infallible  or  no  church 
at  all.  The  Liturgy  must  be  perfect  in  every 
phrase  and  sentence,  or  it  is  no  true  service  of 
God  ;  and  every  article  of  the  Church  must  be 
agreeable  to  Scripture,  or  they  contain  no  true 
doctrine  at  all.  He  told  the  ministers  that  all 
who  did  not  subscribe  his  articles  were  schis- 
matics; that  they  had  separated  themselves 
from  the  Church  ;  and  declared  peremptorily 
that  they  should  be  turned  out  of  it. 

This  conduct  of  the  archbishop  was  exposed 
in  a  pamphlet  entitled,  "The  Practice  of  Prel- 
ates,"! which  says  that  none  ever  used  good 
ministers  so  severely  since  the  Reformation  as 
he  ;  that  his  severe  proceedings  were  against 
the  judgment  of  many  of  his  brethren  the  bish- 
ops, and  that  the  devil,  the  common  enemy  of 
mankind,  had  certainly  a  hand  in  it.  For  who 
of  the  ministers,  says  this  writer,  have  been 
tumultuous  or  unpeaceable  1  Have  they  not 
striven  for  peace  in  their  ministry,  in  their  wri- 
tings, and  by  their  example ;  and  sought  for 
their  discipline  only  by  lawful  and  dutiful 
means  1  Why,  then,  should  the  archbishop  tyr- 
annise over  his  fellow-ministers,  and  starve 
many  thousand  souls,  by  depriving  all  who  re- 
fuse subscription'?  Why  should  he  lay  such 
stress  upon  popish  opinions,  and  upon  a  hierar- 
chy that  never  obtained  till  the  approach  of 
antichrist  ■? 

»  MS.,  p.  156.  t  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  125. 

+  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  122. 


Loud  were  the  cries  of  these  poor  sufferers 
and  their  distressed  families  to  Heaven  for 
mercy,  as  well  as  to  their  superiors  on  earth ! 
Their  temptations  were  strong  ;  for  as  men, 
they  were  moved  with  compassion  for  their 
wives  and  little  ones,  and  as  faithful  ministers 
of  Christ,  they  were  desirous  to  be  useful,  and 
to  preserve  the  testimony  of  a  good  conscience. 
Some,  through  frailty,  were  overcome  and  sub- 
mitted, but  most  of  them  cast  themselves  and 
families  upon  the  providence  of  God,  having 
written  to  the  queen,  to  the  archbishop,  and  to 
the  lords  of  the  council,  and,  after  some  time, 
to  the  Parliament,  for  a  friendly  conference  or 
a  public  disputation,  when,  and  where,  and  be- 
fore whom  they  pleased,  though  without  suc- 
cess.* 

The  supplication  of  the  Norfolk  ministers  to 
the  lords  of  the  council,  signed  with  twenty 
hands;!  the  supplication  of  the  Lincolnshire 
ministers,  with  twenty-one  hands  ;  the  suppli- 
cation of  the  Essex  ministers,  with  twenty-seven 
hands ;  the  supplication  of  the  Oxfordshire  min- 
isters, with hands  ;  the  supplication  of  the 

ministers  of  Kent,  with  seventeen  hands,  are 
now  before  me  ;  besides  the  supplication  of  the 
London  ministers,  and  of  those  of  the  diocess 
of  Ely  and  Cambridgeshire,  representing  in 
most  moving  language  their  unhappy  circum- 
stances:  "We  commend,"  they  say,  "to  your 
honours'  compassion  our  poor  families,  but 
much  more  do  we  commend  our  doubtful,  fear- 
ful, and  distressed  consciences,  together  with 
the  cries  of  our  poor  people,  who  are  hungering 
after  the  Word,  and  are  now  as  sheep  having 
no  shepherd.  We  have  applied  to  the  arch- 
bishop, but  can  get  no  relief;  we  therefore 
humbly  beg  it  at  your  honours'  hands. "t  They 
declare  their  readiness  to  subscribe  the  doctri- 
nal articles  of  the  Church,  according  to  the  stat. 
13  Eliz.,  cap.  xii.,  and  to  the  other  articles,  as 
far  as  they  are  not  repugnant  to  the  Word  of 


*  In  the  year  1583  one  John  Lewis,  for  denying 
the  deity  of  Christ,  was  burned  at  Norwich.  Many 
of  the  popish  persuasion,  under  the  charge  of  trea- 
son, were  executed  in  different  places.  But,  not-. 
withstanding  these  severities,  "her  majesty,"  says 
Fuller,  "  was  most  merciful  unto  many  popish  male- 
factors wliose  lives  stood  forfeited  to  the  law  in  the 
rigour  thereof.  Seventy,  who  had  been  condemned, 
by  one  act  of  grace  were  pardoned  and  sent  beyond 
sea." — Church  History,  b.  ix.,  p.  169,  170. — Ed. 

t  "  We  dare  not  yield  to  these  ceremonies,"  say 
several  of  the  Norfolk  ministers,  in  a  supplication 
which  they  presented  to  the  council,  "  because, 
so  far  from  edifying  and  building  up  the  Church, 
they  have  rent  it  asunder,  and  torn  it  in  pieces,  to  its 
great  misery  and  ruin,  as  God  knoweth ;  although 
her  majesty  be  incensed  against  us,  as  if  we  would 
obey  no  laws,  we  take  the  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth 
to  witness  that  we  acknowledge,  from  the  bottom  of 
our  hearts,  her  majesty  to  be  our  lawful  queen, 
placed  over  us  by  God  for  our  good;  and  we  give 
God  our  most  humble  and  hearty  thanks  for  her 
happy  government,  and,  both  in  public  and  private, 
we  constantly  pray  for  her  prosperity.  We  renounce 
all  foreign  power,  and  acknowledge  her  majesty's 
supremacy  to  be  lawful  and  just.  We  detest  all  er- 
ror and  heresy.  Yet  we  desire  that  her  majesty  will 
not  think  us  disobedient,  seeing  we  suffer  ourselves 
to  be  displaced  rather  than  yield  to  some  things  re- 
quired. Our  bodies,  and  goods,  and  all  we  have, 
are  in  her  majesty's  hands ;  only  our  souls  we  re- 
serve to  our  God,  who  alone  is  able  to  save  us  or 
condemn  us." — MS.,  p.  253. 

t  MS.,  p.  328,  330,  &c. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS; 


159 


God.  And  they  promise  farther,  if  they  may 
be  dispensed  with  as  to  subscription,  that  they 
will  make  no  disturbance  in  the  Church,  nor 
separate  from  it. 

The  Kentish  ministers,  in  their  supplication 
to  the  lords  of  the  council,  professed  their  rev- 
erence for  the  established  Church,*  and  their 
esteem  for  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  so 
far  as  that  they  saw  no  necessity  of  separating 
from  the  unity  of  the  Church  on  that  account : 
that  they  believed  the  Word  preached,  and  the 
sacraments  administered  according  to  author- 
ity, touching  the  substance,  to  be  lawful.  They 
promised  to  show  themselves  obedient  to  the 
queen  in  all  causes  ecclesiastical  and  civil ; 
but  then  they  added,  that  there  were  many 
things  that  needed  reformation,  which  there- 
fore they  could  not  honestly  set  their,  hands 
to.t  They  conclude  with  praying  for  indul- 
gence, and  subscribe  themselves  their  honours' 
daily  and  faithful  orators,  the  ministers  of  Kent 
suspended  from  the  execution  of  their  ministry. 

The  London  ministers  applied  to  the  convo- 
cation, and  fifteen  of  them  offered  to  subscribe 
to  the  queen's  supremacy,  to  the  use  of  the 
Common  Prayer  Book,  and  to  the  doctrinal  ar- 
ticles of  the  Church,  if  they  might  be  restored  ; 
but  then  add,  "  We  dare  not  say  there  is  nothing 
in  the  three  books  repugnant  to  the  Word  of 
God,  tdl  we  aro  otherwise  enlightened  ;  and 
therefore  humbly  pray  our  brethren  in  convo- 
cation to  be  a  means  to  the  queen  and  Parlia- 
ment that  we  may  not  be  pressed  to  an  abso- 
lute subscription,  but  be  suffered  to  go  on  in  the 
quiet  discharge  of  the  duties  of  our  calling,  as 
we  have  done  heretofore,  to  the  honour  of  Al- 
mighty God,  and  the  edification  of  his  Church. 
We  protest,  before  God  and  our  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ,  that  if  by  any  means,  by  doing  that 
which  is  not  wicked,  we  might  continue  still 
our  labours  in  the  Gospel,  we  would  gladly  and 
willingly  do  anything  that  might  procure  that 
blessing,  esteeming  it  more  than  all  the  riches 
in  the  world  ;  but  if  we  cannot  be  suffered  to 
continue  in  our  places  and  callings,  we  beseech 
the  Lord  to  show  greater  mercy  to  those  by 
whom  this  affliction  shall  be  brought  upon  us, 
and  upon  the  people  committed  to  our  charge, 
for  whom  we  will  not  cease  to  pray,  that  the 
good  work  which  the  Lord  has  begun  by  our  la- 
bours may  still  be  advanced,  to  that  day  when 
the  Lord  shall  give  them  and  us  comfort  one  in 
another,  and  in  his  presence  everlasting  happi- 
ness and  eternal  glory."t  This  petition  was 
presented  to  the  convocation,  in  the  first  sessions 
of  the  next  Parliament,  in  the  name  of  the  min- 
isters of  London  that  had  refused  to  subscribe 
the  articles  lately  enforced  upon  them  ;  with  an 
humble  request  to  have  their  doubts  satisfied  by 
conference,  or  any  other  way. 

Among  the  suspended  ministers  of  London 
was  the  learned  and  virtuous  Mr.  Barber,  who 
preached  four  times  a  week  at  Bow  Church  : 
his  parishioners,  to  the  number  of  one  hundred 


*  This  has  been  considered,  by  Bishop  Warbur- 
ton,  as  inconsistent  with  caUing  the  "  established 
Church  an  hierarchy,  that  never  obtained  till  the  ap- 
proach of  antichrist."  But  the  charge  of  inconsist- 
ency does  not  lie  against  the  Kentish  ministers  who 
speak  above,  unless  it  be  proved  that  they  were  the 
authors  of  the  pamphlet  entitled  "  The  Practice  of 
Prelates,"  which  contains  the  other  sentiments. — Ed. 

t  MS.,  p.  326.  t  MS.,  p.  595,  632. 


and  twenty,  signed  a  petition  to  the  lord- 
mayor  and  court  of  aldermen  for  his  release, 
but  that  court  could  not  obtain  it.*  March  4, 
1584,  the  learned  Mr.  Field  and  Mr.  Egertoa 
were  suspended.  Mr.  Field  had  been  often  la 
bonds  for  nonconformity ;  he  was  minister  of 
Aldermary,  and  had  admitted  an  assembly  of 
ministers  at  his  house,  among  whom  were  some 
Scots  divines,  who,  being  disaffected  to  the  hie- 
rarchy, the  assembly  was  declared  an  unlawful 
conventicle,  and  Mr.  Field  was  suspended  from 
his  ministry  for  entertaining  them  ;  but  the  rest 
were  deprived  for  not  subscribing. 

Many  gentlemen  of  reputation  both  in  city 
and  country  appeared  for  the  suspended  minis- 
ters, as  well  out  of  regard  to  their  poor  families 
as  for  the  sake  of  religion,  it  being  impossible 
to  supply  so  many  vacancies  as  were  made  in 
the  Church  upon  this  occasion.  The  gentle- 
men of  Norfolk,  Cambridgeshire,  and  Kent  in- 
terceded with  the  archbishop,  alleging  that  it 
was  very  hard  to  deal  with  men  so  severely  for 
a  few  rites  and  ceremonies,  when  they  were 
neither  heretics  nor  schismatics,  and  when  the 
country  wanted  their  useful  preaching.  The 
parishioners  of  the  several  places  from  whence 
the  ministers  were  ejected  signed  petitions  to 
the  lord-treasurer,  and  others  of  the  queen's 
council,  beseeching  them,  in  the  bowels  of  Jesus 
Christ,  that  their  ministers,  being  of  an  upright 
and  holy  conversation,  and  diligent  preachers 
of  the  Word  of  God,  might  be  restored,  or  other- 
wise (their  livings  being  only  of  small  value) 
their  souls  would  be  in  danger  of  perishing  for 
lack  of  knowledge.! 

The  inhabitants  of  Maiden  in  Essex  sent  up 
a  complaint  to  the  council,  "  that  since  their 
ministers  had  been  taken  from  them,  for  not 
subscribing  to  certain  articles  neither  confirmed 
by  the  law  of  God  nor  of  the  land,  they  had 
none  left  but  such  as  they  could  prove  unfit  for 
that  office,  being  altogether  ignorant,  having 
been  either  popish  priests  or  shiftless  men, 
thrust  in  upon  the  ministry  when  they  knew  not 
else  how  to  live  ;  men  of  occupation,  serving- 
men,  and  the  basest  of  all  sorts  ;  and  which  is 
most  lamentable,  as  they  are  men  of  no  gifts,  so 
they  are  of  no  common  honesty,  but  rioters, 
dicers,  drunkards,  &c.,  and  of  offensive  lives. 
These  are  the  men,"  say  they,  "that  are  support- 
ed, whose  reports  and  suggestions  against  others 
are  readily  received  and  admitted  ;  by  reason 
of  which,  multitudes  of  papists,  heretics,  and 
other  enemies  to  God  and  the  queen,  are  in- 
creased, and  we  ourselves  in  danger  of  being  in- 
sulted. We  therefore  humbly  beseech  your 
honours,  in  the  bowels  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  be  a 
means  of  restoring  our  godly  and  faithful  minis- 
ters ;  so  shall  we  and  many  thousands  of  her 
majesty's  subjects  continue  our  daily  supplica- 
tions to  Almighty  God,"  &c. 

The  petition  of  the  inhabitants  of  Norwich,, 
signed  with  one  hundred  and  seventy-six  hands, 
and  many  letters  and  supplications  from  the  most 
populous  towns  in  England,  to  the  same  purpose, 
are  now  before  me.  But  these  appeals  of  the 
Puritans  and  their  friends  did  them  no  service  ; 
for  the  watchful  archbishop,  whose  eyes  were 
about  him,  wrote  to  the  council  to  put  them  in 
mind,  "  that  the  cause  of  the  Puritans  did  not 
lie  before  them  ;  that  he  wondered  at  the  pre- 


*  MS.,  p.  460,  568,  &c. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  457. 


160 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


sumption  of  the  ministers,  to  bring  his  doings  in 
question  before  their  lordships;  and  at  their 
proud  spirit,  to  dare  to  ofier  to  dispute  before  so 
great  a  body  against  the  religion  established  by 
law,  and  against  a  book  so  painfully  penned,  and 
confirmed  by  the  highest  authority."  He  then 
adds,  "  that  it  was  not  for  him  to  sit  in  his  place, 
if  every  curate  in  his  diocess  must  dispute  with 
him  ;  nor  could  he  do  his  duty  to  the  queen,  if 
he  might  not  proceed  without  interruption  ;  but 
if  they  would  help  him,  he  should  soon  bring 
them  to  comply."*  As  to  the  gentlemen  who 
petitioned  for  their  ministerst,  he  told  them  to 
their  faces  that  he  would  not  suffer  their  fac- 
tious ministers,  unless  they  would  subscribe  ; 
that  no  church  ought  to  suffer  its  laudable  rites 
to  be  neglected ;  that  though  the  ministers 
were  not  heretics,  they  were  schismatics,  be- 
cause they  raised  a  contention  in  the  Church 
about  things  not  necessary  to  salvation.  And 
as  for  lack  of  preaching,  if  the  gentlemen  or 
parishioners  would  let  him  dispose  of  their  liv- 
ings, he  would  take  care  to  provide  them  with 
able  men.  Thus  this  great  prelate,  who  had 
complied  with  the  popish  religion, t  and  kept 
his  place  in  the  university  through  all  the  reign 
of  Queen  Mary,  was  resolved  to  bear  down  all 
opposition,  and  to  display  his  sovereign  power 
against  those  whose  consciences  were  not  as 
flexible  as'his  own. 

But  not  content  with  his  episcopal  jurisdic- 
tion, his  grace  solicited  the  queen  for  a  new  ec- 
clesiastical commission,  and  gave  her  majesty 
these  weighty  reasons  for  it,  among  others. 
Because  the  Puritans  continue  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal censures.  Because  the  commission  may 
order  a  search  for  seditious  books,  and  examine 
the  writers  or  publishers  upon  oath,  which  a 
bishop  cannot.  Because  the  ecclesiastical  com- 
mission can  punish  by  fines,  which  are  very 
commodious  to  the  government ;  or  by  impris- 
-onment,  which  will  strike  more  terror  into  the 
Puritans.  Because  a  notorious  fault  cannot  be 
notoriously  punished  but  by  the  commission. 
Because  the  whole  ecclesiastical  law  is  but  a 
carcass  without  a  soul,  unless  it  be  quickened 
by  the  commission.^ 

The  queen,  who  was  already  disposed  to 
methods  of  severity,  easily  gave  way  to  the 
archbishop's  arguments,  and  ordered  a  new  high 
commission  to  be  prepared,  which  she  put  the 
great  seal  to,  in  the  month  of  December,  1583, 
and  the  twenty-sixth  year  of  her  reign.  II 

*  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  127. 

\  Strype's  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  4. 

j  Bishop  Maddox  here  censures  Mr.  Neal,  and  says 
that  the  reverse  was  true.  The  fact,  from  all  his  bi- 
ographers, appears  to  be,  that  on  the  expectation  of  a 
visitation  of  the  university,  in  Queen  Mary's  reign,  to 
suppress  heresy,  and  to  oblige  such  as  were  qualified 
to  take  the  first  tonsure,  Whitgift,  foreseeing  his  dan- 
ger, and  fearing  not  only  an  expulsion,  but  for  his  life, 
particularly  because  he  could  not  comply  with  this 
requisition,  would  have  gone  abroad  ;  but  Dr.  Pearn 
encouraged  and  persuaded  him  to  stay,  bidding  him 
to  keep  his  own  counsel,  and  not  utter  his  opinion, 
and  engaging  to  conceal  him  without  incurring  any 
danger  to  his  conscience  in  this  visitation.  He  con- 
tinued, therefore,  in  the  college  throughout  this  reign. 
But  it  is  not  to  be  conceived  but  that  he  must  have 
preserved  an  outward  conformity  to  the  pubhc  and 
usual  services  of  the  Church. — Ed. 

^  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  134. 

II  There  had  been  five  high  commissions  before 


The  Court  of  High  Commission  was  so  call- 
ed, because  it  claimed  a  larger  jurisdiction  and 

this,  in  most  of  which  the  powers  of  the  commission- 
ers had  been  enlarged ;  but  forasmuch  as  the  court 
was  now  almost  at  its  height,  I  will  give  the  reader 
an  abstract  of  their  commission  from  an  attested 
copy,  under  the  hand  and  seal  of  Abraham  Hartwell, 
a  notary  public,  at  the  special  request  and  command 
of  the  archbishop  himself,  dated  January  7th,  1583-4. 

The  preamble  recites  the  act  of  the  first  of  the 
queen,  commonly  called  the  act  for  "  restoring  to  the 
crown  the  ancient  jurisdiction  of  the  state  ecclesias- 
tical and  civil,  and  the  abobshing  all  foreign  power 
repugnant  to  the  same  ;"  and  another  of  the  same 
year,  "  for  uniformity  of  aemmon  prayer  and  service 
of  the  Church  and  administration  of  the  sacrament ;" 
and  a  third  of  the  fifth  of  the  queen,  entitled  "  An  Act 
of  Assurance  of  the  Queen's  Powers  over  all  States," 
&c. ;  and  a  fourth  of  the  thirteenth  Ehz.,  entitled 
"  An  Act  for  reforming  certain  Disorders  touching 
Ministers  of  the  Church,"  as  the  foundation  of  her 
ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  and  power.  Her  majesty 
then  names  forty-four  commissioners,  whereof  twelve 
were  bishops  ;  some  were  privy-councillors,  lawyers, 
and  officers  of  state,  as  Sir  Francis  Knollys,  treasu- 
rer of  the  household.  Sir  Francis  Walsingham,  sec- 
retary of  state,  Sir  Walter  Mildmay,  chancellor  of 
the  exchequer,  Sir  Ralph  Sadher,  chancellor  of  the 
Duchy  of  Lancaster,  Sir  Gilbert  Gerard,  master  of 
the  rolls.  Sir  Robert  Manhood,  lord-chief-baron  of 
the  exchequer.  Sir  Owen  Hopton,  lieutenant  of  the 
Tower  of  London,  John  Popham,  Esq.,  attorney-gen- 
eral, Thomas  Egerton,  Esq.,  solicitor-general ;  the 
rest  were  deans,  archdeacons,  and  civilians.  Her 
majesty  then  proceeds : 

"  We,  earnestly  minding  to  have  the  above-men- 
tioned laws  put  in  execution,  and  putting  special 
trust  and  confidence  in  your  wisdoms  and  discretions, 
have  authorized  and  appointed  you  to  be  our  com- 
missioners ;  and  do  give  full  power  and  authority  to 
you,  or  any  three  of  you,  whereof  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  or  one  of  the  bishops  mentioned  in  the 
commission,  or  Sir  Francis  Walsingham,  Sir  Gilbert 
Gerard,  or  some  of  the  civilians,  to  be  one,  to  inquire 
from  time  to  time  during  our  pleasure,  as  well  by  the 
oaths  of  twelve  good  and  lawful  men,  as  also  by  wit- 
nesses, and  all  other  means  and  ways  you  can  de- 
vise ;  of  all  offences,  contempts,  misdemeanors,  &c., 
done  and  committed  contrary  to  the  tenour  of  the 
said  several  acts  and  statutes;  and  also  to  inquire  of 
all  heretical  opinions,  seditious  books,  contempts, 
conspiracies,  false  rumours  or  talks,  slanderous  words 
and  sayings,  &c.,  contrary  to  the  aforesaid  laws,  or 
any  others,  ordained  for  the  maintenance  of  religion 
in  this  realm,  together  with  their  abettors,  counsel- 
lors, or  coadjutors. 

"  And  farther,  we  do  give  full  power  to  you,  or  any 
three  of  you,  whereof  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
or  one  of  the  bishops  mentioned  in  the  commission, 
to  be  one,  to  hear  and  determine  concerning  the 
premises,  and  to  order,  correct,  reform,  and  punish  all 
persons  dwelling  in  places  exempt  or  not  exempt, 
that  wilfully  and  obstinately  absent  from  church,  or 
Divine  service  established  by  law,  by  the  censures 
of  the  Church,  or  any  other  lawful  ways  and  means, 
by  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  or  any  laws  ecclesiastical 
of  this  realm  limited  and  appointed ;  and  to  take  or- 
der of  your  discretions,  that  the  penalties  and  forfeit- 
ures limited  by  the  said  Act  of  Uniformity  against 
the  offenders  in  that  behalf  may  be  duly  levied,  ac- 
cording to  the  forms  prescribed  in  the  said  act,  to  the 
use  of  us  and  the  poor,  upon  the  goods,  lands,  and 
tenements  of  such  offenders,  by  way  of  distress,  ac- 
cording to  the  true  meaning  and  limitation  of  the 
statute. 

"  And  we  do  farther  empower  you,  or  any  three 
of  you,  during  our  pleasure,  to  visit  and  reform  all 
errors,  heresies,  schisms,  &c.,  which  may  lawfully 
be  reformed  or  restrained  by  censures  ecclesiastical, 
deprivation,  or  otherwise,  according  to  the  power 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


161 


higher  powers  than  the  ordinary  courts  of  the 
bishops;  its  jurisdiction  extended  over  the  whole 
kingdom,  and  was  the  same,  in  a  manner,  with 
that  which  had  been  vested  in  the  single  person 
of  Lord  Cromwell,  vicar-general  to  Kmg  Henry 
VIII.,  though  now  put  into  commission.     The 

and  authority  limited  and  appointed  by  the  laws,  or- 
dinances, and  statutes  of  this  realm. 

"  And  we  do  hereby  farther  empower  you,  or  any 
three  of  you,  to  call  before  you  such  persons  as  have 
ecclesiastical  livings,  and  to  deprive  such  of  them  as 
wdfuUy  and  advisediy  maintain  any  doctrine  contra- 
iy  to  such  articles  of  religion  of  the  synod  of  1562 
which  only  concern  the  confession  of  the  true  faith 
and  doctrine  of  the  sacraments,  and  will  not  revoke 
the  same. 

"  And  we  do  farther  empower  you,  or  any  three  of 
you,  to  punish  all  incests,  adulteries,  fornications, 
outrages,  misbehaviours,  and  disorders  in  marriage ; 
and  ail  grievous  offences  punishable  by  the  ecclesias- 
tical laws,  according  to  the  tenour  of  the  laws  in  that 
behalf,  and  according  to  your  wisdoms,  consciences, 
and  discretions,  commanding  you,  or  any  three  of 
you,  to  devise  all  such  lawl'ul  ways  and  means  for 
the  searching  out  the  premises  as  by  you  shall  be 
thought  necessary  ;  and  upon  due  proof  thereof  had, 
by  confession  of  the  party,  or  lawful  witnesses,  or  by 
any  other  due  means,  to  order  and  award  such  pun- 
ishment, by  fine,  imprisonment,  censures  of  the 
Church,  or  by  all  or  any  of  the  said  ways,  as  to  your 
wisdom  and  discretions  shall  appear  most  meet  and 
convenient. 

"  And  farther  we  do  empower  you,  or  any  three  of 
you,  to  call  before  you  all  persons  suspected  of  any 
of  the  premises,  and  to  proceed  against  them,  as  the 
quality  of  the  offence  and  suspicion  shall  require,  to 
examine  them  on  their  corporeal  oaths,  for  the  better 
trial  and  opening  of  the  truth ;  and  if  any  persons 
are  obstinate  and  disobedient,  either  in  not  appearing 
at  your  command,  or  not  obeying  your  orders  and 
decrees,  then  to  punish  them  by  excommunication, 
or  other  censures  ecclesiastical,  or  by  fine,  accord- 
ing to  your  discretions ;  or  to  commit  the  said  of- 
fenders to  ward,  there  to  remain  till  he  or  they  shall 
be  by  you,  or  three  of  you,  enlarged  or  dehvered ; 
and  shall  pay  such  costs  and  expenses  of  suit  as  the 
cause  shall  require,  and  you,  in  justice,  shall  think 
reasonable. 

"  And  farther,  we  give  full  power  and  authority 
to  you,  or  three  of  you  as  aforesaid,  to  command 
all  our  sheriffs,  justices,  and  other  officers  by  your 
letters,  to  apprehend,  or  cause  to  be  apprehended, 
such  persons  as  you  shall  think  meet  to  be  convened 
before  you  ;  and  to  take  such  bond  as  you  shall  think 
fit  for  their  personal  appearance  ;  and  in  case  of  re- 
fusal, to  commit  them  to  safe  custody,  till  you  shall 
_give  order  for  their  enlargement ;  and,  farther,  to 
take  such  securities  for  their  performance  of  your 
decrees  as  you  shall  think  reasonable.  And,  farther, 
you  shall  keep  a  register  of  your  decrees,  and  of 
your  fines,  and  appoint  receivers,  messengers,  and 
other  officers,  with  such  salaries  as  you  shall  think 
fit ;  the  receiver  to  certify  into  the  exchequer,  every 
Easter  and  Michaelmas  term,  an  account  of  the  fines 
taxed  and  received,  under  the  hands  of  three  of  the 
commissioners.  » 

"  And  we  do  farther  empower  you,  or  any  six  of 
you,  whereof  some  to  be  bishops,  to  examine,  alter, 
review,  and  amend  the  statutes  of  colleges,  cathe- 
drals, grammar-schools,  and  other  public  foundations, 
and  to  present  them  to  us  to  be  confirmed. 

"And  we  do  farther  empower  you  to  tender  the 
oath  of  supremacy  to  all  ministers,  and  others  com- 
pellable by  act  of  Parliament,  and  to  certify  the  names 
of  such  as  refuse  it  into  the  King's  Bench. 

"  And,  lastly,  we  do  appoint  a  seal  for  your  office, 
having  a  crown  and  a  rose  over  it,  and  the  letter  E 
before  and  R  after  the  same ;  and  round  about  the 
seal  these  words,  '  Sigil.  commiss.  regiae  maj.  ad 
causas  ecclesiasticas.' " 

Vol.  I.— X 


court  was  erected  upon  the  authority  of  the  acts 
mentioned  in  the  preamble,  and  therefore  its 
powers  must  bo  limited  by  those  statutes ;  but 
the  counsel  for  Mr.  Cawdrey,  whose  case  was 
argued  before  all  the  judges  in  Trinity  term, 
1591,  questioned  whether  the  court  had  any 
foundation  at  all  in  law  ;  it  being  doubtful 
whether  the  queen  could  delegate  her  ecclesias- 
tical authority,  or  the  commissaries  act  by  vir- 
tue of  such  delegation. 

But  admitting  the  court  to  be  legal,  it  will  ap- 
pear that  both  the  queen  and  her  commission- 
ers exceeded  the  powers  granted  them  by  law ; 
for  it  was  not  the  intendment  of  the  act  of  su- 
premacy to  vest  any  new  powers  in  the  crown, 
but  only  to  restore  those  which  were  supposed 
to  be  its  ancient  and  natural  right.  Nor  do  the 
acts  above  recited  authorize  the  queen  to  dis- 
pense with  the  laws  of  the  realm,  or  act  contra- 
ry to  them ;  or  to  set  aside  the  ordinary  legal 
courts  of  proceeding  in  other  courts  of  judica- 
ture, by  indictments,  witnesses,  and  a  jury  of 
twelve  men  ;  nor  do  they  empower  her  to  levy 
fines,  and  inflict  what  corporeal  punishments 
she  pleases  upon  offenders  ;  but  in  all  criminal 
cases,  where  the  precise  punishment  is  not  de- 
termined by  the  statute,  her  commissioners 
were  to  be  directed  and  governed  by  the  com- 
mon law  of  the  land. 

Yet,  contrary  to  the  proceedings  in  other 
courts,  and  to  the  essential  freedom  of  the  Eng- 
lish Constitution,  the  queen  empowered  her  com- 
missioners to  "  inquire  into  all  misdemeanors, 
not  only  by  the  oaths  of  twelve  men,  and  wit- 
nesses, but  by  all  other  means  and  ways  they 
could  devise  ;"  that  is,  by  inquisition,  by  the 
rack,  by  torture,  or  by  any  ways  and  means 
that  forty-four  sovereign  judges  should  devise. 
Surely  this  should  have  been  limited  to  ways  and 
means  warranted  by  the  laws  and  customs  of 
the  realm. 

Farther,  her  majesty  empowers  her  "  commis- 
sioners to  examine  such  persons  as  they  sus- 
pected upon  their  corporeal  oaths,  for  the  better 
trial  and  opening  of  the  truth,  and  to  punish  those 
that  refused  the  oath  by  fine  or  imprisonment, 
according  to  their  discretion."  This  refers  to 
the  oath  ex  officio  mere,  and  was  not  in  the  first 
five  commissions. 

It  was  said  in  behalf  of  this  oath,  by  Dr.  Au- 
brey,* that  though  it  was  not  warrantable  by  the 
letter  of  the  statute  of  the  1st  of  Ehzabeth,  yet 
the  canon  law  being  in  force  before  the  making 
of  that  statute,  and  the  commission  warranting 
the  commissioners  to  proceed  according  to  the 
law  ecclesiastical,  they  might  lawfully  adminis- 
ter it  according  to  ancient  custom,  t  To  which 
it  was  answered,  "  that  such  an  oath  was  never 
allowed  by  any  canon  of  the  Church,  or  general 
council,  for  a  thousand  years  after  Christ ;  that 
when  it  was  used  against  the  primitive  Chris- 
tians, the  pagan  emperors  countermanded  it ; 
that  it  was  against  the  fjope's  law  in  the  decre- 
tals, which  admits  of  such  an  inquisition  only 
in  cases  of  heresy ;  nor  was  it  ever  used  in  Eng- 
land till  the  reign  of  King  Henry  IV.,  and  then 
it  was  enforced  as  law  only  by  a  haughty  arch- 
bishop, without  consent  of  the  commons  of  Eng- 
land, tdl  the  25th  of  Henry  VIII.,  when  it  was 


*  And  nine  others,  learned  civilians ;  and  most  of 
them,  Strype  says,  judges  in  the  civil  and  ecclesias- 
tical courts.— Ed.  t  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  340 


i62 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


utterly  abrogated.  This  pretended  law  was 
^gain  revived  by  Queen  Mary,  but  repealed  again 
by  the  1st  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  so  remain- 
ed.* Besides,  as  this  purging  men  by  oath  has 
no  foundation  in  the  law  of  the  land,  it  is  un- 
doubtedly contrary  to  the  law  of  nature  and  na- 
tions, where  this  is  a  received  maxim,  Nemo  ic- 
nclur  scipsum  accusarc :  No  man  is  bound  to  ac- 
cuse himself  The  queen,  therefore,  had  no  pow- 
er to  authorize  her  commissioners  to  set  up  an 
inquisition,  and  administer  an  oath  to  the  sus- 
pected person,  to  answer  all  questions  the  court 
should  put  to  him,  and  to  convict  him  upon  those 
answers  ;  or,  if  they  could  confront  his  declara- 
tions, to  punish  him  as  perjured. 

If  any  persons  disobeyed  the  orders  and  de- 
crees of  the  court,  by  not  appearing  at  their  sum- 
mons, &c.,  the  commissioners  were  empowered 
to  punish  them  by  line  or  imprisonment,  at  their 
discretions.  This  also  was  contrary  to  law,  for 
the  body  of  a  subject  is  to  be  dealt  with,  secun- 
dum legem  terra,  according  to  the  law  of  the  land, 
as  Magna  Cliarta  and  the  law  saith.  The  clerk 
felon  in  the  bishop's  prison  is  the  king's  prison- 
er, and  not  the  bishop's,  and  therefore  by  the  1st 
of  Henry  VII.,  cap.  iv.,  "the  bishop  of  the  dio- 
cess  is  empowered  to  imprison  such  priests,  or 
other  religious  persons  within  his  jurisdiction, 
as  shall  by  examination,  and  other  lawful  proofs 
requisite  by  the  law  of  the  Church,  be  convicted 
of  fornication,  incest,  or  any  fleshly  incontinen- 
cy,  and  there  to  detain  them  for  such  time  as 
shall  be  thought  by  their  discretions  convenient, 
according  to  the  quality  of  the  offence  ;  and  that 
none  of  the  said  archbishops  or  bishops  shall  be 
chargeable  with  an  action  of  false  imprisonment 
for  so  doing.t  Which  plainly  implies,  that  a 
bishop  cannot  by  law  commit  a  man  to  prison, 
e.\ce|)t  in  the  cases  above  mentioned  ;  and  that 
in  all  others,  the  law  remains  in  force  as  before. 
If,  then,  the  queen,  by  her  ecclesiastical  commis- 
sion, could  not  dispense  with  the  laws  of  the 
land,  it  is  evident  that  the  long  and  arbitrary 
imprisonments  of  the  Puritan  clergy,  before  they 
had  been  legally  convicted,  and  all  their  confine- 
ments afterward,  beyond  the  time  limited  by  the 
statutes,  were  so  many  acts  of  oppression  ;  and 
every  acting  bishop  or  commissioner  was  liable 
to  be  sued  in  an  action  of  false  imprisonment. 

The  law  says  no  man  shall  be  fined  ultra  te- 
7iemcntum,  beyond  his  estate  or  ability.  But  the 
fines  raised  by  thi?  court,  in  the  two  next  reigns, 
were  so  exorbitant,  that  no  man  was  secure  in 
his  property  or  estate ;  though,  according  to  Lord 
Clarendon,  their  power  of  levying  fines  at  all 
was  very  doubtful.  Some  for  speaking  an  un- 
mannerly word,  or  writing  what  the  court  was 
pleased  to  construe  a  libel,  were  fined  from 
£500  to  £10,000,  and  perpetual  imprisonment ; 
some  had  their  ears  cut  off,  and  their  noses  slit, 
after  they  had  been  exposed  several  days  m  the 
pillory  ;  and  many  families  were  driven  into  ban- 
ishment ;  till,  in  process  of  time,  the  court  be- 
came such  a  general  nuisance,  that  it  was  dis- 
solved by  Parliament,  with  a  clause  that  no  such 
court  should  be  erected  for  the  future. 

Farther,  the  commission  gives  no  authority  to 
the  court  to  frame  articles  and  oblige  the  clergy 
to  subscribe  them.  It  empowers  them  to  reform 
all  errors,  heresies,  and  schisms  which  may 

*  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  393,  394. 
t  Life  of  Ayhner,  p.  115. 


lawfully  be  reformed,  according  to  the  power 
and  authority  limited  and  appointed  by  the  laws 
and  statutes  of  the  realm.  But  there  never  was 
a  clause  in  anyof  the  commissions  empowering 
them  to  enforce  subscription  to  articles  of  their 
own  devising.*  Therefore,  their  doing  this 
without  a  special  ratification  under  the  great 
seal  was  no  doubt  a  usurpation  of  the  suprem- 
acy, and  brought  them  within  the  compass  of  a 
prajmunire,  according  to  the  statutes  of  25  Hen- 
ry VIII.,  cap  XX.,  and  1  Eliz.,  cap.  iii. 

Lastly  :  Though  all  spiritual  courts  (and,  con- 
sequently, high  commission)  are  and  ought  to  be 
subject  to  prohibitions  from  the  supreme  courts 
of  law,  yet  the  commissioners  would  seldom  or 
never  admit  them,  and  at  length  terrified  the 
judges  from  granting  them :  so  that,  upon  the 
whole,  their  proceedings  were  for  the  most  part 
contrary  to  the  act  of  submission  of  the  clergy, 
contrary  to  the  statute  laws  of  the  realm,  and 
no  better  than  a  spiritual  inquisition. t 

If  a  clergyman  omitted  any  of  the  ceremonies 
of  the  Church  in  his  public  ministrations,  or 
if  a  parishioner  bore  an  ill-will  to  his  minister, 
he  might  inform  the  commissioners  by  letter 
that  he  was  a  suspected  person  ;  upon  which  a 
pursuivant  or  messenger  was  sent  to  his  house 
with  a  citation.! 

The  pursuivant  who  brought  them  up  had 
thirty-three  shillings  and  fourpence  for  forty-one 
miles,  being  about  nine  or  ten  pence  a  mile.  Upon 
their  appearing  before  the  commissioners,  they 
were  committed  prisoners  to  the  Clink  Prisoa 
seven  weeks  before  they  were  called  to  their 
trial.  When  the  prisoners  were  brought  to  the 
bar,  the  court  immediately  tendered  them  the 
oath  to  answer  all  questions  to  the  best  of  their 
knowledge,  by  which  they  were  obliged  not 
only  to  accuse  themselves,  but  frequently  to 


*  MS.,  p.  573. 

t  In  this  view  it  was  considered  by  the  Lord-treas- 
urer Burleigh.  "  According  to  my  simple  judgment," 
says  he,  in  a  letter  to  the  archbishop,  "  this  kind  of 
proceeding  is  too  much  savouring  the  Romish  inqui- 
sition, and  is  rather  a  device  to  seek  for  offenders 
than  reform  any." — Fuller''s  Church  History,  b.  ix.,  p. 
155.  Mr.  Hume  stigmatizes  this  court  not  only  as  a 
real  inquisition,  but  attended  with  all  the  iniquities, 
as  well  as  cruelties,  inseparable  from  that  horrid  tri- 
bunal.— Ed. 

t  The  citation  was  to  the  following  effect : 

"We  will  and  command  you,  and  every  of  you,  in 
her  majesty's  name,  by  virtue  of  her  high  commission 
for  causes  ecclesiastical,  to  us  and  others  directed, 
that  you,  and  every  of  you,  do  make  your  personal 
appearance  before  us,  or  others  her  majesty's  com- 
missioners in  that  behalf  appointed,  in  the  consistory 
within  the  Cathedral  Church  of  St.  Paul's,  London 
[or  at  Lambeth],  the  seventh  day  next  after  the  sight 
hereof,  if  we  or  other  our  colleagues  shall  then  hap- 
pen to  sit  in  commission,  or  else  at  our  ne.xt  sitting 
there,  then  next  immediately  following ;  and  that  af- 
ter your  appearance  there  made,  you,  and  every  of 
you,  shall  attend,  and  not  depart  without  our  special 
license ;  willing  and  commanding  you,  to  whom  these 
our  letters  shall  first  be  delivered,  to  show  the  same, 
and  give  intimation  and  knowledge  thereof,  to  the 
others  nominated  upon  the  endorsement  hereof,  as 
you,  and  every  of  you,  will  answer  to  the  contrary  at 
your  perils.     Given  at  London,  the  16th  of  May,  1584. 

John  Cant. 
Gabriel  Goodman.         John  London. 
Endorsed, 
To  EzeUias  Morley,  ) 

Robert  Pamnet,  and  >  of  Ridgwell  in  Essex." 
William  Bigge,         ) 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


163 


bring  their  relations  and  friends  into  trouble. 
The  party  to  be  examined  was  not  to  be  ac- 
quainted with  the  interrogatories  beforehand, 
nor  to  have  a  copy  of  his  answers,  which  were 
lodged  with  the  secretary  of  the  court,  against 
the  day  of  his  trial.  If  the  commissioners  could 
not  convict  him  upon  his  own  confession,  then 
they  examined  their  witnesses,  but  never  clear- 
ed him  upon  his  own  oath.  If  they  could  not 
reach  the  prisoner  by  their  ordinary  jurisdiction 
as  bishops,  they  would  then  sit  as  ecclesiastical 
commissioners.  If  they  could  not  convict  him 
upon  any  statute,  then  they  had  recourse  to 
their  old  obsolete  law  ecclesiastical ;  so  that  the 
prisoner  seldom  knew  by  what  law  he  was  to 
be  tried,  or  how  to  prepare  for  his  defence. 
Sometimes  men  were  obliged  to  a  long  attend- 
ance, and  at  other  times  condemned  in  haste, 
without  any  trial.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Brayne,  a 
Cambridge  minister,  being  sent  for  to  Lambeth, 
made  his  appearance  before  the  archbishop  and 
two  other  commissioners,  on  Saturday,  in  the 
afternoon,  and  being  commanded  to  answer  the 
interrogatories  of  the  court  upon  oath,  he  re- 
fused, unless  he  might  first  see  them,  and  write 
down  his  answers  with  his  own  hand,  which  his 
grace  refusing,  immediately  gave  him  his  ca- 
nonical admonitions,  once,  twice,  and  thrice, 
and  caused  him  to  be  registered  for  contempt, 
and  suspended.* 

Let  the  reader  carefully  peruse  the  twenty- 
four  articles  themselves,  which  the  archbishop 
framed  for  the  service  of  the  court,  and  then 
judge  whether  it  were  possible  for  an  honest 
man  to  answer  them  upon  oath  without  expo- 
sing himself  to  the  mercy  of  his  adversaries.! 

*  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  163. 

I  The  articles  were  these  that  follow  : 

1.  Imprimis.  "Objicimus,  ponimus,  et  articulamur, 
',  e.,  We  object,  put,  and  article  to  you,  that  you  are 
■a  deacon  or  minister,  and  priest  admitted ;  declare 
by  whom  and  what  time  you  were  ordered ;  and 
likewise,  that  your  ordering  was  according  to  the  book 
in  that  behalf  by  the  law  of  this  land  provided.  Et 
objicimus  conjunctim  de  omni  et  divisimde  quoUbet, 
i.  e.,  '  And  we  object  to  you  the  whole  of  this  article 
taken  together,  and  every  branch  of  it  separately.' 

2.  Item.  "  Objicimus,  ponimus,  et  articulamur. 
That  you  deem  and  judge  snch  your  ordering,  admis- 
sion, and  calling  into  your  ministry,  to  be  lawful,  and 
not  repugnant  to  the  Word  of  God.  Et  objicimus  ut 
supra,  i.  e.,  '  And  we  object  as  before.' 

3.  Item.  "  Objicimus,  ponimus,  &c.  That  you  have 
sworn,  as  well  at  the  time  of  your  ordering  as  insti- 
tution, duty  and  allegiance  to  the  queen's  majesty, 
and  canonical  obedience  to  your  ordinary  and  his  suc- 
cessors, and  to  the  metropohtan  and  his  successors, 
or  to  some  of  them.     Et  objicimus  ut  supra. 

4.  Item.  "  Objicimus,  &;c.  That  by  a  statute  or 
act  of  Parliament  made  in  the  first  year  of  the 
queen's  majesty  that  now  is,  one  tirtuous  and  godly 
book,  entitled  The  Book  of  Common  Prayer  and  Ad- 
ministration of  Sacraments,  &c.,  was  authorized  and 
established  to  stand  and  be  from  and  after  the  feast 
of  the  Nativity  of  St.  John  Baptist  then  next  ensuing, 
in  full  force  and  effect,  according  to  the  said  statute, 
and  so  yet  remaineth.     Et  obj.  ut  supra. 

5.  Item.  "  Obj.,  That  by  the  said  statute  all  minis- 
ters within  her  majesty's  dominions,  ever  since  the 
said  feast,  have  been,  and  are  bound  to  say  and  use, 
a  certain  form  of  morning  and  evening  prayer  called 
m  the  act  matins,  even-song,  cpJebration  of  the  Lord's 
Supper,  and  administration  of  each  of  the  sacraments  ; 
and  all  other  common  and  open  prayer  in  such  order 
and  form  as  is  mentioned  in  the  same  book,  and  none 
other,  nor  otherwise.    Et  obj.  ut  supra. 


When  the  Lord-treasurer  Burleigh  had  read 
them  over,  and  seen  the  execution  they  liad 

6.  Item.  "  Obj.,  That  in  the  said  statute  her  maj- 
esty, the  lords  temporal,  and  all  the  commons,  in  that 
Parliament  assembled,  do  in  God's  name  earnestly 
charge  and  require  all  the  archbishops,  bishops,  and 
other  ordinaries,  that  they  shall  endeavour  them- 
selves, to  the  uttermost  of  their  knowledge,  that  the 
due  and  true  execution  of  the  said  act  might  be  had 
throughout  their  diocess  and  charge,  as  they  would 
answer  it  before  Almighty  God.     Et  obj.  ut  supra. 

7.  Item.  "Obj.  ponimus,  &c.  That  you  deem  and 
judge  the  said  whole  book  to  be  a  godly  and  a  virtu- 
ous book,  agreeable,  or  at  least  not  repugnant,  to  the 
Word  of  God  ;  '  if  not,  we  require  and  command  you 
to  declare  wherein,  and  in  what  points.'  Et  objici- 
mus ut  supra. 

8.  Item.  "  Obj.,  That  for  the  space  of  these  three 
years,  two  years,  one  year,  half  a  year ;  three,  two, 
or  one  month  last  past,  you  have  at  the  time  of  com- 
munion, and  at  all  or  some  other  times  in  your  min- 
istration, used  and  worn  only  your  ordinary  apparel, 
and  not  the  surplice,  as  is  required.  '  Declare  how 
long,  how  often,  and  for  what  cause,  consideration, 
or  intent  you  have  so  done,  or  refused  so  to  do.'  Et 
obj.  ut  supra. 

9.  Item.  "  Obj.,  That  within  the  time  aforpsaid  you 
have  baptized  divers,  or  at  least  one  infant,  and  have 
not  used  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  the  forehead,  with 
the  words  prescribed  to  be  used  in  the  said  Book  of 
Common  Prayer.  '  Declare  how  many  you  have  so 
baptized,  and  for  what  cause,  consideration,  and  in- 
tent.'   Et  obj.  ut  supra. 

10.  Item.  "  Obj.,  &c..  That  within  the  time  afore- 
said you  have  been  sent  unto,  and  required  divers 
times,  or  at  least  once,  to  baptize  children,  or  some 
one  child  being  weak,  and  have  refused,  neglected, 
or  at  least  so  long  deferred  the  same,  till  the  child  or 
children  died  without  the  sacrament  of  baptism.  '  De- 
clare whose  child,  when,  and  for  what  considera- 
tion.'   Et  obj.  ut  supra. 

11.  Item.  "  Ob].,  &c..  That  within  the  time  afore- 
said you  have  celebrated  matrimony  otherwise  than 
the  book  prescribes,  and  without  a  ring,  and  have  re- 
fused at  such  times  to  call  for  the  ring,  and  to  use 
such  words  in  that  behalf  as  the  book  appoints,  and 
particularly  those  words,  '  that  by  matrimony  is  sig- 
nified the  spriritual  marriage  and  unity  between 
Christ  and  his  Church.'  '  Declare  the  circumstan- 
ces of  time,  person,  and  place,  and  for  what  cause, 
intent,  and  consideration.'    Et  obj.  ut  supra. 

12.  Item.  "  Obj.,  &c..  That  you  have  within  the 
time  aforesaid  neglected,  or  refused  to  use,  the  form 
of  thanksgiving  for  women,  or  some  one  woman  af- 
ter childbirth,  according  to  the  said  book.  '  Declare  the 
like  circumstances  thereof,  and  for  what  intent,  cause, 
or  consideration  you  have  so  done,  or  refused  so  to 
do.'    Et  obj.  ut  supra. 

13.  Item.  "  Objicimus,  &c..  That  you  within  the 
time  aforesaid  baptized  divers  infants,  or  at  the  least 
one,  otherwise  and  in  other  manner  than  the  said 
book  prescribeth,  and  not  used  the  interrogatories  to 
the  godfathers  and  godmothers  in  the  name  of  the 
infant,  as  the  said  book  requireth.  '  Declare  the  like 
circumstances  thereof,  or  for  what  cause,  intent,  or 
consideration  you  have  so  done,  or  refused  so  to  do.' 
Ec  objicimus  ut  supra. 

14.  Item.  "  We  do  object,  that  you  have  within  the 
time  aforesaid  used  any  other  form  of  litany,  in  divers 
or  some  points,  from  the  said  book  ;  or  that  you  have 
often,  or  once,  wholly  refused  to  use  the  said  litany. 
'  Declare  the  like  circumstances  thereof,  or  for  what 
cause,  intent,  or  consideration  you  have  so  done,  or 
refused  so  to  do.' 

15.  Item.  "We  do  object,  &c..  That  you  have 
within  the  time  aforesaid  refused  and  omitted  to 
read  divers  lessons  prescribed  by  the  said  book,  and 
have  divers  times  either  not  read  any  lessons  at  all, 
or  read  Others  in  their  places.  '  Declare  the  like  cir- 
cumstance thereof,  and  for  what  intent,  cause,  or 


IG4 


HISTORY    OF  THE    PURITANS. 


done  upon  the  clergy,  he  wrote  his  grace  the 
following  letter : 

consideration  you  have  so  done  or  refused.'    Et  obj. 
ut  supra. 

16.  Item.  "  Objicimus,  That  within  the  time  afore- 
said you  have  eitlier  not  used  at  all,  or  else  used  an- 
other manner  of  common  prayer  or  service  at  burial, 
from  that  which  the  said  book  prescribeth,  and  have 
refused  there  to  use  these  words,  We  commit  earth 
to  earth,  in  sure  and  certain  hope  of  resurrection  to 
eternal  life.  '  Declare  the  like  circumstances  there- 
of, and  for  what  intent,  cause,  or  consideration  you 
have  so  done  or  refused  so  to  do.'    Et  obj.  ut  supra. 

17.  Item.  "Objicimus,  &c..  That  within  the  time 
aforesaid  you  have  advisedly,  and  of  set  purpose, 
not  only  omitted  and  refused  to  use  the  aforesaid 
parts,  or  some  of  them,  of  the  said  book,  but  also 
some  other  parts  of  the  said  Book  of  Common  Pray- 
er, as  being  persuaded  that  in  such  points  it  is  repug- 
nant to  the  Word  of  God.  '  Declare  what  other 
parts  of  the  said  book  you  have  refused  to  use,  for 
what  intent,  cause,  or  consideration.'  Et  objic.  ut 
supra. 

18.  Item.  "  Objic,  &c..  That  within  the  time  afore- 
said you  have  at  the  communion,  and  in  other  parts  of 
your  ministration,  advisedly  added  unto,  diminished, 
and  taken  from,  altered,  and  transposed,  manifoldly 
at  your  own  pleasure,  sundry  parts  of  the  said  Book 
of  Common  Prayer.  '  Declare  the  circumstances  of 
time  and  place,  and  for  what  intent,  cause,  and  con- 
sideration.'   Et  obj.  ut  supra. 

19.  Item.  "  Objic,  That  within  the  time  aforesaid 
you  have  advisedly,  and  of  set  purpose,  preached, 
taught,  declared,  set  down,  or  published  by  writing, 
public  or  private  speech,  matter  against  the  said  Book 
of  Common  Prayer,  or  of  something  therein  contain- 
ed, as  being  repugnant  to  the  Word  of  God,  or  not 
convenient  to  be  used  in  the  Church ;  or  something 
have  written  or  uttered  tending  to  the  depraving,  de- 
spising, or  defacing  of  some  things  contained  in  the 
said  book.  '  Declare  what,  and  the  like  circumstan- 
ces thereof,  and  for  what  cause  or  consideration  you 
have  so  done.'    Et  objic.  ul  supra. 

20.  Item.  "  Objicimus,  &c.,  That  you  at  this  pres- 
ent do  continue  all  or  some  of  your  former  opinions 
against  the  said  book,  and  have  a  settled  purpose  to 
continue  hereafter  such  additions,  diminutions,  alter- 
ations, and  transpositions,  or  some  of  them,  as  you 
heretofore  unlawfully  have  used  in  your  public  min- 
istration; and  that  you  have  used  private  conferen- 
ces, and  assembled,  or  been  present,  at  conventicles, 
for  the  maintenance  of  their  doings  herein,  and  for  the 
animating  and  encouraging  of  others  to  continue  in 
the  like  disposition  in  this  behalf  that  you  are  of 
'  Declare  the  like  circumstances,  and  for  what  intent, 
cause,  and  consideration.'    Et  objic.  ut  supra. 

21.  Item.  "  Objicimus,  &c..  That  you  have  been 
heretofore  noted,  defamed,  presented,  or  detected 
publicly,  to  have  been  faulty  in  all  and  singular  the 
premises,  and  of  every  or  some  of  them ;  and  that 
you  have  been  divers  and  sundry  times,  or  once 
at  the  least,  admonished  by  your  ordinaiy,  or  other 
ecclesiastical  magistrate,  to  reform  the  same,  and  to 
observe  the  form  and  order  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  which  you  have  refused,  or  defer  to  do. 
'  Declare  the  like  circumstances  thereof.'  Et  objic. 
ut  supra. 

22.  Item.  "  That  for  the  testification  hereafter  of 
your  unity  with  the  Church  of  England,  and  your 
conformity  to  laws  established,  you  have  been  re- 
quired simply  and  absolutely  to  subscribe  with  your 
hand,  (1.)  That  her  majesty,  under  God,  hath,  and 
ought  to  have,  the  sovereignty  and  rule  oyer  all 
manner  of  persons  born  within  her  realm,  dominions, 
and  countries,  of  what  estate  either  ecclesiastical  or 
temporal  soever  they  be  ;  and  that  none  other  foreign 
power,  prelate,  state,  or  potentate  hath,  or  ought  have, 
any  jurisdiction,  power,  superiority,  pre-eminence,  or 
authority,  ecclesiastical  or  spiritual,  within  her  maj- 
esty's said  realms,  dominions,  or  countries.  (2.)  That 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  of  ordering  bish- 


"  It  may  please  your  grace, 

"  I  am  sorry  to  trouble  you  so  oft  as  I  do,  but 
I  am  more  troubled  myself,  not  only  with  many 
private  petitions  of  sundry  ministers,  recom- 
mended for  persons  of  credit  and  peaceable  in 
their  ministry,  who  are  greatly  troubled  by  your 
grace,  and  your  colleagues  in  coinmission  ;  but 
I  am  also  daily  charged  by  counsellors  and  pub- 
lic persons  with  neglect  of  my  duty,  in  not  stay- 
ing your  grace's  vehement  proceedings  against 
ministers,  whereby  papists  are  greatly  encour- 
aged, and  the  queen's  safety  endangered.*  I 
have  read  over  your  twenty-four  articles,  found 
in  a  Romish  style,  of  great  length  and  curiosity, 
to  examine  all  manner  of  ministers  in  this  time, 
without  distinction  of  persons,  to  be  executed 
ex  officio  mcro.  And  I  find  them  so  curiously 
penned,  so  full  of  branches  and  circumstances, 
that  I  think  the  Inquisition  of  Spain  used  not  so 
many  questions  to  comprehend  and  to  trap  their 
priests.  I  know  your  canonists  can  defend 
these  with  all  their  particles  ;  but  surely,  under 
correction,  this  judicial  and  canonical  sifting 
poor  ministers  is  not  to  edify  or  reform.  And 
in  charity  I  think  they  ought  not  to  answer  all 
these  nice  points,  except  they  were  notorious 
papists  or  heretics.  I  write  with  the  testimony 
of  a  good  conscience.  I  desire  the  peace  and 
unity  of  the  Church.  I  favour  no  sensual  and 
wilful  recusant ;  but  I  conclude,  according  to 
my  simple  judgment,  this  kind  of  proceeding  is 
too  much  savouring  of  the  Romish  Inquisition, 
and  is  a  device  rather  to  seek  for  offenders  than 
to  reform  any.  It  is  not  charitable  to  send  poor 
ministers  to  your  common  registrar,  to  answer 
upon  so  many  articles  at  one  instant,  without  a 
copy  of  the  articles  or  their  answers.  I  pray 
your  grace  bear  with  this  one  (perchance)  fault, 
that  I  have  willed  the  ministers  not  to  answer 
these  articles  except  their  consciences  may  suf- 
fer them. 

"  July  15,  1584.  W.  Cecil." 

This  excellent  letter  was  so  far  from  soften- 
ing the  archbishop,  that,  two  days  after,  he  re- 
turned his  lordship  a  long  answer,  vindicating 
his  interrogatories,  from  the   practice  of  the 


ops,  priests,  and  deacons,  containeth  in  it  nothing 
contrary  to  the  Word  of  God,  and  that  the  same  may 
be  lawfully  used  ;  and  that  you  who  do  subscribe  will 
use  the  form  in  the  said  book  prescribed,  in  public 
prayer  and  administration  of  the  sacraments,  and 
none  other.  (.3.)  That  you  allow  the  book  of  articles 
of  religion,  agreed  upon  by  the  archbishops  and  bish- 
ops of  both  provinces,  and  the  whole  clergy  in  the 
convocation  holden  at  London  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  God  15C2,  and  set  forth  by  her  majesty's  au 
thority  ;  and  do  believe  all  the  articles  therein  con- 
tained to  be  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God.  '  De- 
clare by  whom,  and  how  often,  which  hitherto  you 
have  advisedly  refused  to  perform,  and  so  yet  do  per 
sist.'     Et  objic.  ut  supra. 

23.  Item.  "That  you  have  taken  upon  you  to 
preach,  read,  or  expound  the  Scriptures,  as  well  in 
public  places  as  in  private  houses,  not  being  licensed 
by  your  ordinary,  nor  any  other  magistrate  having  au- 
thority by  the  laws  of  this  land  so  to  license  you. 
'  Declare  the  like  circumstances  hereof  Et  objic. 
ut  supra. 

24.  Item.  "  Quod  praemissa  omnia  et  singula,  &c., 
i.  e.,  '  That  all  and  singular  the  premises,.'"  &c 

Could  the  wit  of  man  invent  anything  more  like 
an  inquisition !  Here  are  interrogatories  enough  to 
entangle  all  the  honest  men  in  the  kingdom,  and 
bring  them  into  danger. 

*  Life  of  Whitgift,  b.  iv.,  Rec.  No.  4. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


165 


Star  Chamber,  the  Court  of  Marches,  and  other 
places.*  The  treasurer  found  it  was  to  no  pur- 
pose to  contend,  and  therefore  repUed  in  a  short 
but  smart  letter,  in  which  he  tells  him  "  that 

*  "  W'hitgit't  rephed  to  the  lord-treasurer,  alleging 
that  he  had  uniformly  acquainted  him  with  his  pro- 
ceedings, and  had  acted  on  his  advice.  '  Touching 
ihe  twenty-four  articles,'  he  says,  '  which  your  lord- 
ship seemeth  so  much  to  dislike,  as  ivritten  in  a  Ro- 
mish style,  smelling  of  the  Romish  Inquisition,  &C.,  I 
cannot  but  greatly  marvel  at  your  lordship's  vehe- 
ment speeches  against  them  (I  hope  without  cause), 
seeing  it  is  the  ordinary  course  in  other  courts  like- 
wise ;  as  in  the  Star  Chamber,  the  Court  of  the 
Marches,  and  other  places.  And  (without  offence 
be  it  spoken)  I  tliink  these  articles  to  be  more  toler- 
able, and  better  agreeing  with  the  rule  of  justice  and 
charity,  and  less  captious,  than  those  in  other  courts. 

For  my  own  part,'  he  adds,  '  I  neither  do 

nor  have  done  anything  in  this  matter,  which  I  do 
not  think  myself  in  duty  and  conscience  bound  to  do ; 
which  her  majesty  hath  not  with  earnest  charge  com- 
mitted unto  me ;  and  the  which  1  am  well  able  to 
justify,  to  be  most  requisite  for  this  State  and 
Church ;  whereof,  next  to  her  majesty,  though  most 
unworthy,  or,  at  the  least,  most  unhappy,  the  chief 
care  is  committed  to  me  ;  which  I  may  not  neglect, 
whatsoever  come  upon  me  therefor.  I  never  es- 
teem the  honour  of  the  place  (which  is  to  me  gravis- 
simum  07ius),  nor  the  largeness  of  the  revenues  (for 
the  which  I  am  not  yet  one  penny  the  richer),  nor 
any  other  worldly  thing,  I  thank  God,  in  the  respect 
of  the  doing  of  my  duty.  Neither  do  I  fear  the  dis- 
pleasure of  man,  nor  regard  the  wicked  tongues  of 
the  uncharitable,  which  call  me  tyrant,  pope,  papist, 
knave,  and  lay  to  my  charge  things  which  I  never 
did,  nor  thought  upon.' 

"The  archbishop  expresses  his  deep  concern  at 
the  lord-treasurer's  dissatisfaction  with  his  proceed- 
ings. '  God  knoweth,'  he  said,  'how desirous  I  have 
been,  from  time  to  time,  to  satisfy  your  lordship  in 
all  things,  and  to  have  my  doings  approved  by  you. 
For  which  cause,  since  my  coming  to  this  place,  I 
did  nothing  of  importance  without  your  advice.  I 
have  risen  up  early  and  sat  up  late,  to  write  unto  you 
such  objections  and  answers  as  are  used  on  either 
side.  I  have  not  done  the  like  to  any  man.  And 
shall  I  now  say  that  I  have  lost  my  labour  ?  Or  shall 
my  just  dealing  with  two  of  the  most  disordered  min- 
isters in  a  whole  diocess  (the  obstinacy  and  contempt 
of  whom,  especially  of  one  of  them,  yourself  would 
not  bear  in  any  subjected  to  your  authority)  cause 
you  so  to  think  and  speak  of  my  doings  and  of  my- 
self? No  man  hving:  should  have  made  me  believe 
it.  My  lord,  an  old  friend  is  better  than  a  new.  And 
I  trust  your  lordship  will  not  so  lightly  cast  off  your 
old  friends  for  any  of  these  new-fangled  and  factious 
sectaries ;  whose  endeavour  is  to  make  division  where- 
soever they  come,  and  separate  old   and  assured 

friends Your  lordship  seemeth  to  burden 

me  with  wilfulness,  &c.  I  think  you  are  not  so  per- 
suaded of  me ;  I  appeal  therein  to  your  own  conscience. 
There  is  a  difference  betwixt  wilfulness  and  constan- 
cy. I  have  taken  upon  me  the  defence  of  the  religion 
and  rites  of  this  church ;  the  execution  of  the  laws 
concerning  the  same ;  the  appeasing  of  the  sec/s#md 
schisms  therein ;  the  reducing  the  ministers  tfJereof 
to  uniformity  and  due  obedience.  Herein  I  intend 
to  be  constant ;  which  also  my  place,  my  person,  my 
duty,  the  laws,  her  majesty,  and  the  goodness  of  the 
cause  requireth  of  me ;  and  wherein  your  lordship 
and  others  (all  things  considered)  ought,  as  I  take 
it,  to  assist  and  help  me.  It  is  more  than  strange 
that  d  man  in  my  place,  dealing  by  so  good  warran- 
ty as  I  do,  should  be  so  hardly  used,  and  for  not 
yielding  be  counted  wilful.  But  Vincit  qui  paiitur, 
overcomes.  And  if  my  friends  herein  forsake  me,  I 
trust  God  will  not,  nor  her  majesty,  who  have  laid 
the  charge  on  me,  and  are  able  to  protect  me  ;  upon 
whom  only  I  will  depend.' " — Dr.  Price's  Hist.  Nan- 
conformity,  vol.  i.,  341-2. — C.  I 


after  reading  his  grace's  long  answer,  he  was 
not  satisfied  in  the  point  of  seeking  by  exami- 
nation to  have  ministers  accuse  themselves, 
and  then  punish  them  for  their  own  confession; 
that  he  would  not  call  his  proceedings  captious, 
but  they  were  scarcely  charitable  ;  his  grace 
might  therefore  deal  with  his  friend  Mr.  Brayne 
as  he  thought  fit,  but  when,  by  examining  him, 
it  was  meant  only  to  sift  him  with  twenty-four 
articles,  he  had  cause  to  pity  the  poor  man."* 

The  archbishop,  being  desirous  to  give  satis- 
faction to  the  treasurer,  sent  him  two  papers 
of  reasons,  one  to  justify  the  articles,  and  the 
other  the  manner  of  proceeding  ex  mero  officio. 
In  the  former  he  says,  that  by  the  ecclesiastical 
or  canon  laws,  articles  of  inquiry  may  be  ad- 
ministered, and  have  been  ever  since  the  Ref- 
ormation ;  and  that  they  Ought  not  to  be  com- 
pared with  the  Inquisition,  because  the  Inquisi- 
tion punished  with  death,  whereas  they  only 
punished  obstinate  offenders  with  deprivation. t 
In  the  latter  his  lordship  gives  the  following  rea- 
sons, among  others,  for  proceeding  ex  mero  offi- 
cio :  If  we  proceed  only  by  presentment  and 
witnesses,  then  papists,  Brownists,  and  family 
men  would  expect  the  like  measure.  It  is  hard 
to  get  witnesses  against  the  Puritans,  because 
most  of  the  parishioners  favour  them,  and 
therefore  will  not  present  them,  nor  appear 
against  them.  There  is  great  trouble  and 
charge  in  examining  witnesses,  and  sending 
for  them  from  distant  parts.  If  archbishops 
and  bishops  should  be  driven  to  use  proofs  by 
witnesses  only,  the  execution  of  the  law  would 
be  partial ;  their  charges  in  procuring  and  pro- 
ducing witnesses  would  be  intolerable ;  and 
they  should  not  be  able  to  make  quick  despatch 
enough  with  the  sectaries.  These  were  the 
arguments  of  a  Protestant  archbishop !  I  do 
not  wonder  that  they  gave  no  satisfaction  to 
the  wise  treasurer ;  for  surely,  all  who  have 
any  regard  for  the  laws  of  their  country,  or  the 
civil  and  religious  rights  of  mankind,  must  be 
ashamed  of  them. 

The  treasurer  having  given  up  the  archbish- 
op, the'  lords  of  the  council  took  the  cause  in 
hand,  and  wrote  to  his  grace  and  the  Bishop  of 
London,  in  favour  of  the  deprived  ministers, 
September  20th.  t  In  their  letter  they  tell  their 
lorships  "  that  they  had  heard  of  sundry  com- 
plaints out  of  divers  counties,  of  proceedings 
against  a  great  number  of  ecclesiastical  persons, 
some  parsons,  some  vicars,  some  curates,  but 
all  preachers  ;  some  deprived,  and  some  sus- 
pended by  their  lordships'  officers,  chancellors, 
&c.,  but  that  they  had  taken  no  notice  of  these 
things,  hoping  their  lordships  would  have  stay- 
ed their  hasty  proceedings,  especially  against 
such  as  did  earnestly  instruct  the  people  against 
popery.  But  now  of  late,  hearing  of  great  num- 
bers of  zealous  and  learned  preachers  suspend- 
ed from  their  cures  in  the  county  of  Essex,  and 
that  there  is  no  preaching,  prayers,  or  sacra- 
ments in  most  of  the  vacant  places  ;  that  in 
some  few  of  them  persons  neither  of  learning 
nor  good  name  are  appointed ;  and  that  in  other 
places  of  the  country  great  numbers  of  persons 
that  occupy  cures  are  notoriously  unfit ;  most 
for  lack  of  learning  ;  many  chargeable  with 
great   and   enormous   faults,  as  drunkenness, 


*  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  160. 
X  lbid.,.p.  166. 


t  Ibid. 


]6G 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


filthiness  of  life,  gaming  at  cards,  haunting  of 
aleliouses,  &c.,  against  wliom  they  [the  coun- 
cil] heard  of  no  proceedings,  but  that  they  were 
quietly  suffered."  To  fix  this  charge  home  on 
the  bishops,  they  sent  with  their  letter  a  cata- 
logue of  names  ;  one  column  of  learned  minis- 
ters deprived  ;  a  second  of  unlearned  and  vi- 
cious persons  continued :  "  A  matter  very  la- 
mentable," say  they,  "  for  this  time !"  and  a 
third  of  pluralists  and  nonresidents  ;  "  Against 
these  latter  we  [the  council]  have  heard  of  no 
inquisition  ;  but  of  great  diligence,  and  extreme 
usage  against  those  that  were  known  to  be  dil- 
igent preachers  ;  we,  therefore,  pray  your  lord- 
ships to  have  some  charitable  consideration  of 
their  causes,  that  people  may  not  be  deprived 
of  their  diligent,  learned,  and  zealous  pastors, 
for  a  few  points  ceremonial,  which  entangled 
their  consciences."  This  letter  was  dated  from 
Oatlands,  September  20th,  1584,  and  signed  by 
Lord  Burleigh,  the  Earls  of  Warwick,  Shrews- 
bury, and  Leicester  ;  the  Lord  Charles  Howard, 
Sir  James  Crofts,  Sir  Christopher  Hatton  ;  and 
Sir  Francis  Walsingham,  secretary  of  state. 

But  this  excellent  remonstrance  had  no  man- 
ner of  influence  upon  our  archbishop.*  After 
this,  Mr.  Beale,  clerk  of  the  queen's  council,  a 
man  of  great  learning  and  piety,  drew  up  a  trea- 
tise, showing  the  injustice  and  unlawfulness  of 
the  bishop's  proceedings ;  and  delivered  it  in  man- 
uscript into  the  archbishop's  own  hands,  which, 
together  with  some  freedom  of  speech,  inflamed 
his  grace  to  that  degree,  that  he  complained  of 
him  to  the  queen  and  council,  and  used  all  his 
interest  to  have  him  tried  in  the  Star  Chamber, 
and  turned  out  of  his  place,  t  Among  his  mis- 
demeanors, drawn  up  by  the  archbishop,  were 
these  :  that  he  had  printed  a  book  against  eccle- 
siastical oaths  ;  that  in  the  House  of  Commons 
he  had  spoke  of  ecclesiastical  matters,  contrary 
to  the  queen's  command  ;  that  he  had  defended 
his  book  against  the  practice  of  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal courts  ;  that  he  had  disputed  against  the 
queen's  having  authority,  by  virtue  of  the  stat- 
ute of  the  1st  of  Elizabeth,  to  grant  power  to 
her  ecclesiastical  commissioners  to  imprison 
whom  they  please,  to  impose  fines  upon  offend- 
ers, and  to  administer  the  oath  ex  officio,  say- 
ing they  are  within  tlie  statute  of  praemunire  ; 
that  he  had  condemned  racking  for  grievous  of- 
fenders, as  contrary  to  law  and  the  liberty  of 
the  subject ;  and  advised  those  in  the  marches 
of  Wales  that  execute  torture  by  virtue  of  in- 
structions under  her  majesty's  hands  to  look  to 
it  that  their  doings  are  well  warranted  :  but 
the  court  would  not  prosecute  upon  this  charge. 

All  that  the  Puritans  could  obtain  was  a  kind 
of  conference  between  the  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury and  the  Bishop  of  Winchester  on  the 
one  part,  and  Dr.  Sparke  and  Mr.  Travers  on 
the  other,  in  presence  of  the  right  honourable 
the  Earl  of  Leicester,  the  Lord  Grey,  and  Sir 
Francis  Walsingham.  The  conference  was  at 
Lambeth,  concerning  things  needful  to  be  re- 
formed in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 

The  arclibishop  opened  it  with  declaring, 
"  that  my  Lord  of  Leicester,  having  requested 
for  his  satisfaction  to  hear  what  the  ministers 
could  reprove,  and  how  their  objections  were 
to  be  answered,  he  had  granted  my  lord  to  pro- 
cure such  to  come  for  that  purpose  as  might 


*  Lifeof  Wliilgift,  p.  143. 


t  Ibidt,  p.  212. 


seem  best  to  his  good  lordship  ;  and  now  I  per- 
ceive," said  he,  "  you  are  the  men,  of  whom  one 
I  never  saw  or  knew  before  [Dr.  Sparke] ;  the 
other  I  know  well.  Let  us  hear  what  things  in 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  you  think  ought 
to  be  mended :  you  appear  not  now  judicially 
before  me,  nor  as  called  in  question  by  author- 
ity for  these  things,  but  by  way  of  conference  ; 
for  which  cause  it  shall  be  free  for  you  (speak- 
ing in  duty)  to  charge  the  book  with  such  mat- 
ters as  you  suppose  to  be  blameworthy  in  it." 

Dr.  Sparke  replied,  '■'  We  give  most  humble 
and  hearty  thanks  to  Almighty  God,  and  to  this 
honourable  presence,  that  after  so  many  years, 
wherein  our  cause  could  never  be  admitted  to 
an  indifferent  hearing,  it  hath  pleased  God  of 
his  gracious  goodness  so  to  dispose  things,  that 
we  have  now  that  equity  and  favour  showed 
us,  that  before  such  honourable  personages,  as 
may  be  a  worthy  means  to  her  most  excellent 
majesty  for  reformation  of  such  things  as  are 
to  be  redressed,  it  is  now  lawful  for  us  to  de- 
clare with  freedom  what  points  ought  to  be  re- 
viewed and  reformed  which  our  endeavour  is, 
because  it  concerns  the  service  of  God,  and  the 
satisfaction  of  such  as  are  in  authority  ;  and  for 
that  the  good  issue  depends  on  the  favour  of 
God,  I  desire,  that  before  we  enter  any  farther, 
we  may  first  seek  for  the  gracious  direction  and 
blessing  of  God  by  prayer."  At  which  words, 
frammg  himself  to  begin  to  pray,  the  archbish- 
op interrupted  him,  saying  he  should  make  no 
prayers  there,  nor  turn  that  place  into  a  conven- 
ticle. 

Mr.  Travers  joined  with  Dr.  Sparke,  and  de- 
sired that  it  might  be  lawful  for  them  to  pray 
before  they  proceeded  any  farther  ;  but  the 
archbishop  not  yielding  thereunto,  terming  it  a 
conventicle  if  any  such  prayer  should  be  offered 
to  be  made,  my  Lord  of  Leicester  and  Sir  Fran- 
cis Walsingham  desired  Dr.  Sparke  to  content 
himself,  seeing  they  doubted  not  but  that  he 
had  prayed  already  before  his  coming  thither. 
Dr.  Sparke,  therefore,  omitting  to  use  such  pray- 
er as  he  had  proposed,  made  a  short  address  to 
God  in  very  few  words,  though  the  archbishop 
continued  to  interrupt  him  all  the  while. 

The  heads  that  the  ministers  insisted  upon 
were,  1st.  Putting  the  apocryphal  writings  (in 
which  were  several  errors  and  false  doctrines) 
upon  a  level  with  the  Holy  Scriptures,  by  read- 
ing thern  publicly  in  the  Church,  while  several 
parts  of  the  canon  were  utterly  omitted.  This 
they  said  had  been  forbidden  by  councils,  and 
particularly  that  of  Laodicea.  The  archbishop 
denied  any  errors  to  be  found  in  the  Apocrypha  ; 
which  led  the  ministers  into  a  long  detad  of 
particulars,  to  the  satisfaction  (says  my  author) 
of  the  noblemen.  2dly.  The  second  head  was 
upon  baptism ;  and  here  they  objected  against 
its  being  done  in  private.  Against  its  being 
done  by  laymen  or  women.  And  against  the 
doctrine  from  whence  this  practice  arises,  viz., 
that  children  not  baptized  are  in  danger  of  dam- 
nation ;  and  that  the  outward  baptism  of  water 
saveth  the  child  that  is  baptized.  Against  the 
interrogatories  in  the  name  of  the  child,  which 
Mr.  Travers  charged  with  arising  from  a  false 
principle,  viz.,  that  faith  was  necessary  in  all 
persons  to  be  baptized ;  he  added,  that  the  in- 
terrogatories crept  into  the  Church  but  lately, 
and  took  their  rise  from  the  baptism  of  those 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


167 


that  were  of  age  ;  from  whence,  very  ignorantly, 
they  were  transferred  to  infants.  Against  the 
cross,  as  a  mystical  rite  and  ceremony,  and  an 
addition  to  the  sacrament  of  human  invention  : 
here  they  argued,  that  though  the  foreign  di- 
vines did  not  condemn  the  use  of  the  cross,  yet 
all  agreed  it  ought  to  be  abolished ;  and  Beza 
gives  counsel  to  the  ministers,  rather  to  forego 
their  ministry,  than  subscribe  to  the  allowance 
of  it.  After  many  words  upon  this  head,  my 
Lord  of  Leicester  said  it  was  a  pitiful  thing  that 
so  many  of  the  best  ministers,  and  painful  in 
their  preaching,  should  be  deprived  for  these 
things.  3dly.  They  objected  to  private  com- 
munion. 4thly.  To  the  apparel ;  and  here  they 
produced  the  judgment  of  Bishop  Ridley  at  his 
■degradation,  as  reported  by  Mr.  Fox,  who  said 
it  was  too  bad  to  be  put  upon  a  fool  in  a  play. 
5thly.  They  objected  to  the  bishop's  allowing 
of  an  insufficient  ministry,  non-residence,  and 
pluralities.* 

The  conference  continued  two  days,  at  the 
close  of  which,  neither  party  being  satisfied,  the 
noblemen  requested  some  favour  for  the  minis- 
ters. Mr.  Strype  sayst  the  ministers  were 
convinced  and  confirmed;  but  it  is  evident  he 
knew  not  the  disputants,  nor  had  seen  the  de- 
bate, a  copy  of  which  is  before  me.  Travers 
was  a  Nonconformist  to  his  death,  and  Sparke 
appeared  at  their  head,  at  the  Hampton  Court 
conference,  the  beginning  of  the  next  reign. 
Nor  was  the  archbishop  softened,  but  rather 
confirmed  in  his  former  resolution. 

Aylmer,  bishop  of  London,  came  not  behind 
his  metropolitan  in  acts  of  severity.  Mr.  Strype 
says  he  was  the  chief  mover  in  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal commission,  and  had  as  high  a  spirit  as  the 
greatest  lord  in  the  land.  During  Grindal's  dis- 
grace, he  harassed  the  London  clergy  with  new 
interrogatories  and  articles,  three  or  fgur  times 
a  year.  He  advised  the  heads  of  the  Universi- 
ty of  Cambridge  (with  whom  he  had  nothing  to 
do)  to  call  in  all  their  licenses,  and  expel  every 
man  who  would  not  wear  the  apparel,  saying 
"  that  the  folly  that  is  bound  up  in  the  heart  of 
a  child  is  to  be  expelled  with  the  rod  of  disci- 
pline."J 

*  MS.,  p.  562,  &c.  t  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  170. 

t  Life  of  Aylmer,  p.  84,  94.  In  his  visitation  this 
summer  [1584],  he  suspended  the  following  clergy- 
men in  Essex,  &c.  Mr.  Whiteing,  of  Panfield, 
Messrs.  Wyresdale  and  Gilford,  of  Maiden,  Mr. 
Hawkdon,  vicar  of  Fryan,  Mr.  Carve,  of  Rain,  Mr. 
Tonstal,  of  Much-Tottam,  Mr.  Huckle,  of  Atrop- 
Kooding,  Mr.  Piggot,  of  Tilly,  Mr.  Cornwal,  of  Mark- 
stay,  Mr.  Negus,  of  Leigh,  Mr.  Carew,  of  Hatfield, 
Mr.  Ward,  of  Writtle,  Mr.  Dyke,  afterward  of  St. 
Alban's,  Mr.  Rogers,  of  Weathersfield,  Mr.  Northey, 
of  Colchester,'  Mr.  Newman,  of  Coxall,  Mr.  Taye, 
of  Peldon,  Mr.  Parker,  of  Dedham,  Mr.  Morley,  of 
Ridswell,  Mr.  Nix  (or  Knight),  of  Hampstead,  Mr. 
Winkfield,  of  Wicks,  Mr.  Wilton,  of  Aldham,  Mr. 
Dent,  of  South  Souberry,  Mr.  Pain,  of  Tolberry,  Mr. 
Larking,  of  Little- Waltham,  Mr.  Camillus  Rusticus, 
pastor  of  Tange,  Mr.  Seredge,  of  East-Havingfield, 
Mr.  Howel,  of  Pagelsam,  Mr.  Chadwick,  of  Danbu- 
17,  Mr.  Ferrar,  of  Langham,  Mr.  Serls,  of  Lexdon, 
Mr.  Lewis,  of  St.  Peter's,  Colchester,  Mr.  Cock,  of 
St.  Giles's,  Colchester,  Mr.  Beaumont,  of  East- 
Thorp,  Mr.  Redridge,  of  Hutton,  Mr.  Chaplain,  of 
Hempsted,  Mr.  Culverwell,  of  Felsted,  Mr.  D.  Chap- 
man, preacher  at  Dedham,  and  Mr.  Knevit,  of  Mile- 
End,  Colchester ;  in  all,  about  thirty-eight.  These, 
says  my  author,  are  the  painful  ministers  of  Essex, 
•whom  the  bishop  threatens  to  deprive  for  the  sur- 


Mr.  Carew,  of  Hatfield -Peveril,  was  a  zeal 
ous  promoter  of  the  welfare  of  souls,  and  mourn- 
ed over  the  want  of  a  learned  and  preaching 
ministry;  he  was  ordained  by  the  Bishop  of 
Worcester,  and  licensed  by  Archbishop  Grindal 
and  the  Bishop  of  London  himself,  who  com- 
mended his  preaching ;  but  being  too  forward 
in  acquainting  his  diocesan  by  letter,  that  in 
Essex,  within  the  compass  of  sixteen  miles, 
there  were  twenty-two  non-residents,  thirty  in- 
sufficient ministers,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
nineteen  preachers  silenced  for  not  subscribing  ; 
his  lordship,  instead  of  being  pleased  with  the 
information,  sent  for  Carew  before  the  commis- 
sioners, and  charged  him  falsely,  without  the 
least  evidence,  with  setting  up  a  presbytery, 
and  with  contemning  ecclesiastical  censures. 
It  was  alleged  against  him  farther,  that  he  was 
chosen  by  the  people  ;  that  he  had  defaced  the 
Book  of  Common'  Prayer,  and  had  put  several 
from  the  communion,  when  there  was  more 
need  to  allure  them  to  it,  &c.  But  to  make 
short  work,  the  bishop  tendered  him  the  oath 
ex  officio,  which  Carew  refusing,  he  was  com- 
mitted to  the  Fleet,  and  another  clergyman  sent 
down  to  supply  his  place.  Mr.  Allen,  the  pa- 
tron, in  whom  the  right  of  presentation  was  by 
inheritance,  refusing  to  admit  the  bishop's  read- 
er, was  summoned  before  his  lordship,  and  com- 
mitted to  prison  ;  because  (as  the  warrant  ex- 
presses it)  he  behaved  seditiously  in  withstand- 
ing the  authority  of  the  court :  nay,  the  very  sex- 
ton was  reprimanded,  and  ordered  not  to  meddle 
with  the  Church  any  more  ;  and  because  he 
asked  his  lordship  simply  whether  his  meaning 
was  that  he  should  not  come  to  church  any 
more,  he  committed  him  for  ridiculous  beha- 
viour. Both  Allen  and  Carew  offered  bail, 
which  was  refused,  unless  they  would  admit 
his  lordship's  clergyman.*  After  eight  weeks' 
imprisonment,  they  appealed  to  the  privy  coun- 
cil and  were  released ;  with  which  his  lordship 
was  so  displeased  that  he  sent  the  council  a 
very  angry  letter,  calling  the  prisoners  knaves, 
rebels,,  rascals,  fools,  petty  gentlemen,  precis- 
ians, &c.,  and  told  their  honours  that  if  such 
men  were  countenanced,  he  must  yield  up  his 
authority ;  and  the  bishop  never  left  him  till  he 
had  hunted  him  out  of  the  diocess. 

Mr.  Knight  suffered  six  months'  imprison- 
ment for  not  wearing  the  apparel,  and  was 
fined  one  hundred  marks.  ■•  Mr.  Negus  was  sus- 
pended on  the  same  account :  twenty-eight  of 
his  parishioners,  who  subscribed  themselves  his 
hungry  sheep  that  had  no  shepherd,  signed  a 
letter,  beseeching  him  to  conform  ;  but  he  pro- 
tested he  could  not  do  it  with  a  good  conscience, 
and  so  was  deprived. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Gifford,  of  Maiden,  was  a 
modest  man,  irreprovable  in  his  life,  a  great  and 
diligent  preacher,  says  Mr.  Strype,  and  esteem- 
ed by  many  of  good  rank.  He  had  written  learn- 
edly against  the  Brownists,  and  by  his  diligence 
had  wrought  a  wonderful  reformation  in  the 
town  ;  but  being  informed  against  for  preaching 
up  a  limited  obedience  to  the  magistrate,  he  was 
suspended  and  imprisoned.!  After  some  time 
he  was  brought  to  his  trial,  and  his  accuser  fail- 

plice,  saying.  We  shall  be  white  with  him,  or  he  will 
be  black  with  us.— M^.,  p.  584,  741. 

>"  Life  of  Aylmer,  p.  122.    MS.,  p.  662,  658. 

t  MS.,  p.  410,  420. 


1G8 


HISTORY  OF    THE    PURITAMb. 


ing  in  his  evidence,  he  was  released.  But  the 
Bishop  of  London  setting  his  spies  upon  him, 
he  was  imprisoned  again  for  nonconformity.* 
Upon  this  he  applied  to  the  lord-treasurer,  who 
applied  to  the  archbishop  in  his  favour  ;  but  his 
grace  having  consulted  his  brother  of  London, 
told  his  lordship  that  he  was  a  ringleader  of  the 
Nonconformists  ;  that  he  himself  had  received 
complaints  against  him,  and  was  determined  to 
bring  him  befote  the  high  commission.  The 
parishioners  of  Maiden  presented  a  petition  in 
behalf  of  their  minister,  signed  with  fifty-two 
hands,  whereof  two  were  bailiffs  of  the  town, 
two  justices  of  the  peace,  four  aldermen,  fifteen 
head  burgesses,  and  the  vicar  ;  but  to  put  an  end 
to  all  farther  application,  the  archbishop  wrote 
to  the  treasurer,  "  that  he  had  rather  die,  or  live 
in  prison  all  the  days  of  his  life,  than  relax  the 
rigour  of  his  proceedings,  by  showing  favour  to 
one,  which  might  give  occasion  to  others  to  ex- 
pect the  same,  and  undo  all  that  he  had  been 
doing  ;t  he  therefore  beseeches  his  lordship  not 
to  animate  this  forward  people  by  writing  in 
their  favour."  Sir  Francis  Knollys,  the  queen's 
kinsman,  and  treasurer  of  her  chamber,  second- 
ed the  treasurer,  beseeching  his  grace  to  open 
the  mouths  of  zealous  preachers,  who  were 
sound  in  doctrine,  though  they  refused  to  sub- 
scribe to  any  traditions  of  men,  not  compellable 
by  law  ;  but  all  was  to  no  purpose  ;  for  as  Ful- 
ler observes, t  "  This  was  the  constant  custom 
of  Whitgift :  if  any  lord  or  lady  sued  for  favour 
to  any  Nonconformist,  he  would  profess  how 
glad  he  was  to  serve  them,  and  gratify  their  de- 
sires, assuring  them,  for  his  part,  that  all  possi- 
ble kindness  should  be  indulged  to  them,  but  at 
the  same  time  he  would  remit  nothing  of  his  rig- 
our. Thus  he  never  denied  any  man's  desire, 
and  yet  never  granted  it ;  pleasing  them  for  the 
present  with  general  promises,  but  still  kept  to 
his  own  resolution  ;  whereupon  the  nobility,  in 
a  little  time,  ceased  making  farther  applications 
to  him,  as  knowing  them  to  be  ineffectual." 
Some  of  the  ministers  were  indicted  at  the  as- 
sizes,^ for  omitting  the  cross  in  baptism,  and 
for  not  wearing  the  surplice  once  every  month, 
and  at  every  communion.  Most  of  them  were 
deprived,  or,  to  avoid  it,  forced  to  quit  their  liv- 
ings and  depart  the  country. 

Among  these  was  the  excellent  Mr.  Dyke, 
preacher  first  at  Coggeshall  in  Essex,  and  after- 
ward at  St.  Alban's  in  Hertfordshire,  whose 
character  was  without  blemish,  and  whose  prac- 
tical writings  discover  him  to  be  a  divine  of  con- 
siderable learning  and  piety ;  he  was  suspend- 
ed, and  at  last  deprived,  because  he  continued 
a  deacon,  and  did  not  enter  into  priest's  orders, 
which  (as  the  bishop  supposed)  he  accounted 
popish.  He  also  refused  to  wear  the  surplice, 
and  troubled  his  auditory  with  notions  that 
thwarted  the  established  religion.  The  parish- 
ioners, being  concerned  for  the  loss  of  their  min- 
ister, petitioned  the  Lord  Burleigh  to  intercede 
for  them,  setting  forth  "  that  they  had  lived 
without  any  ordinary  preaching  till  within  these 
four  or  five  years,  by  the  want  of  which  they 
were  unacquainted  with  their  duty  to  God,  their 

*  Life  of  Aylmer,  p.  111. 

i-  Fuller,  b.  ix.,  p.  162.  t  Fuller,  b.  ix.,  p.  218. 

^  M.  Beaumont  of  East-Thorp,  Mr.  Wilton  of  Aid- 
ham,  Mr.  Hawkdon  of  Fryan,  M.  Seredge  of  East- 
Havingfield. 


sovereign,  and  their  neighbours  ;*  but  that  of 
late  it  had  pleased  the  Lord  lo  visit  them  with 
the  means  of  salvation,  the  ordinary  ministry  of 
the  Word,  in  the  person  of  Mr.  Dyke,  an  author- 
ized minister,  who,  according  to  liis  functioa, 
had  been  painful  and  profitable,  and  both  in  life 
and  doctrine  had  carried  himself  peaceably  and 
dutifully  among  them,  so  as  no  man  could  justly 
find  fault  with  him,  except  of  malice.  There 
were  some,  indeed,  that  could  not  abide  to  hear 
their  faults  reproved,  but  through  his  preaching 
many  had  been  brought  from  their  ignorance 
and  evil  ways  to  a  better  life,  to  be  frequent 
hearers  of  God's  Word,  and  their  servants  were 
in  better  order  than  heretofore. 

"  They  then  give  his  lordship  to  understaad 
that  their  minister  was  suspended,  and  that  they 
were  as  sheep  without  a  shepherd,  exposed  to 
manifold  dangers,  even  to  return  to  their  former 
ignorance  and  cursed  vanities,  'Unt  the  Lord 
had  spoken  it,  and  therefore  it  must  be  true,  that 
where  there  is  no  vision  the  people  perish.  They 
therefore  pray  his  lordship,  in  the  bowels  of  his 
compassion,  to  pity  them  in  their  present  misery, 
and  become  a  means  that  they  may  enjoy  their 
preacher  again." 

Upon  this  letter.  Lord  Burleigh  wrote  to  the 
bishop  to  restore  him,  promising  that  if  he  troub- 
led the  congregation  with  innovations  any  more, 
he  would  join  with  the  bishop  against  him  ;  but 
his  lordship  excused  himself,  insinuating  that  he 
was  charged  with  incontinence  ;  this  occasion- 
ed a  farther  inquiry  into  Dyke's  character,  which 
was  cleared  up  by  the  woman  herself  that  ac- 
cused him,  who  confessed  her  wicked  contri- 
vance, and  openly  asked  him  forgiveness.  His 
lordship,  therefore,  insisted  upon  his  being  resto- 
red, forasmuch  as  the  best  clergymen  in  the  world 
might  be  thus  slandered  ;  besides,  the  people  of 
St.  Alban's  had  no  teaching,  having  no  curate 
but  an  insufficient  doting  old  man.  For  thi» fa- 
vour (says  the  treasurer)  I  shall  thank  your  lord- 
ship, and  will  not  solicit  you  any  more,  if  hereaf- 
ter he  should  give  just  cause  of  public  offence 
against  the  orders  of  the  church  established. 
B°ut  all  that  the  treasurer  could  say  was  ineffect- 
ual ;  the  Bishop  of  London  was  as  inexorable 
as  his  grace  of  Canterbury. 

The  mhabitants  of  Essex  had  a  vast  esteem 
for  their  ministers ;  they  could  not  part  from 
them  without  tears ;  when  they  could  not  pre- 
vail with  the  bishop,  they  applied  to  the  Parlia- 
ment, and  to  the  lords  of  the  privy  council.  I 
have  before  me  two  or  three  petitions  from  the 
hundreds  of  Essex,  and  -one  from  the  county, 
signed  Ijy  Francis  Barrington,  Esq.,  at  the  head 
of  above  two  hundred  gentlemen  and  tradesmen, 
housekeepers,  complaining,  in  the  strongest 
terms,  that  the  greatest  number  of  their  pres- 
ent ministers  were  unlearned,  idle,  or  otherwise 
of  scandalous  lives ;  and  that  those  i'cw  from 
whom  they  reaped  knowledge  and  comfort  were 
molested,  threatened,  and  put  to  silence,  for 
small  matters  in  the  common  prayer,  though 
thej^were  men  of  godly  lives  and  conversatioas. 

The  bishop  was  equally  severe  in  other  parts 
of  his  diocess.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Barnaby  Beai- 
son,  a  city  divine  of  good  learning,  had  been 
suspended  and  kept  in  prison  several  years,  oa 
pretence  of  some  irregularity  in  his  marriage: 
the  bishop  charged  him  with  being  married  io 

»  Life  of  Aylmer,  p.  303. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


i6!> 


an  afternoon,  and  in  presence  of  two  or  three 
hundred  people,  by  Mr.  Field,  a  Nonconformist ; 
for  this  he  was  committed  to  the  Gate-house, 
where  he  had  lain  ever  since  the  year  1579.  At 
length  he  applied  to  the  queen  and  council,  and 
in  the  state  of  his  case  he  declares  that  he  had 
invited  only  forty  persons  to  the  ceremony,  and 
that  of  them  there  were  only  twenty  present ; 
that  he  was  married  in  a  morning,  and  accord- 
ing to  law ;  that  when  the  bishop  sent  for  him 
and  charged  him  with  sedition,  he  cleared  him- 
self to  his  satisfaction ;  but  that  after  he  was 
gone  home  he  gave  private  order  under  his  own 
hand  for  his  being  apprehended  and  sent  to  the 
Gate-house  ;  that  he  was  shut  up  there  in  a  dun- 
geon eight  days,  without  knowing  the  cause  of 
his  imprisonment,  though  Dr.  Hammond,  and 
his  faithful  father  Fox,  who  were  both  at  the 
■wedding,  and  saw  the  whole  proceeding,  went 
to  the  bishop  and  assured  him  that  he  was  with- 
out wickedness  or  fault  in  that  way  he  went 
about  to  charge  him  ;  but  his  lordship  would 
not  release  him  without  such  bonds  for  his  good 
behaviour  and  appearance  as  the  prisoner  could 
Dot  procure.  "  Thus  I  continue,"  says  Mr.  Ben- 
ison,  "  separated  from  my  wife  before  I  had  been 
married  to  her  two  weeks,  to  the  great  trouble 
of  her  friends  and  relations,  and  to  the  stagger- 
ing of  the  patient  obedience  of  my  wife ;  for  since 
my  imprisonment  his  lordship  has  been  endeav- 
ouring to  separate  us,  whom  God  has  joined 
together  in  the  open  presence  of  his  people. 
Wherefore  I  most  humbly  beseech  your  godly 
honours,  for  the  everlasting  love  of  God,  and 
for  the  pity  you  take  upon  God's  true  Protest- 
ants and  his  poor  people,  to  be  a  means  that  my 
pitiful  cry  may  be  heard,  and  my  just  cause  with 
some  credit  be  cleared,  to  God's  honour  and  her 
majesty's,  whose  favour  I  esteem  more  than  all 
the  bishop's  blessings  or  bitter  cursings  ;  and 
that,  I  now  being  half  dead,  may  recover  again 
to  get  a  poor  living  with  the  little  learning  that 
God  has  sent  me,  to  his  glory,  to  the  discharging 
some  part  of  my  duty,  and  to  the  profit  of  the 
land." 

The  council  were  so  moved  with  Benison's 
case,  that  they  sent  his  lordship  the  following 
letter : 

"Whereas  Barnaby  Benison,  minister,  has 
given  us  to  understand  the  great  hinderance  he 
has  received  by  your  hard  dealing  with  him,  and 
his  long  imprisonment,  for  which  if  he  should 
bring  his  action  of  false  imprisonment  he  should 
recover  damages,  which  would  touch  your  lord- 
ship's credit ;  we  therefore  have  thought  fit  to 
require  your  lordship  to  use  some  consideration 
towards  him,  in  giving  hjm  some  sum  of  money 
to  repay  the  wrong  you  have  done  him,  and  in 
respect  of  the  hinderance  he  hath  incurred  by 
your  hard  dealing  towards  him.  Therefore, 
praying  your  lordship  to  deal  with  the  poor  man, 
that  he  may  have  occasion  to  turn  his  complaint 
into  giving  to  us  a  good  report  of  your  charita- 
ble dealing,  we  bid  you  heartily  farewell.  Hamp- 
ton Court,  November  14th,  1584.  Signed, 
Ambrose  Warwick,  Fr.  Bedford, 
,Fr.  Knollys,  Rob.  Leicester, 

Walter  Mildmay,        Charles  Howard, 
Fr.  Walsingham,        James  Crofts, 
Wm.  Burghley,  Chr.  Hatton." 

Bromley,  chan. 
Vol.  I.— Y 


After  some  time  the  bishop  returned  this  an- 
swer : 

"  I  beseech  your  lordships  to  consider,  that  it 
is  a  rare  example  thus  to  press  a  bishop  for  his- 
zealous  service  to  the  queen  and  the  peace  of 
the  Church,  especially  the  man  being  found  wor- 
thy to  be  committed  for  nonconformity,  to  say 
nothing  of  his  contemptuous  using  of  me  ;  nev- 
ertheless, since  it  pleaseth  your  lordships  to  re- 
quire some  reasonable  sum  of  money,  I  pray  you 
to  consider  my  poor  estate  and  great  charges 
otherwise,  together  with  the  great  vaunt  the 
man  will  make  of  his  conquest  over  a  bishop. 
I  hope,  therefore,  your  lordships  will  be  fovoura- 
ble  to  me,  and  refer  it  to  myself,  either  to  bestow 
upon  him  some  small  benefice,  or  otherwise  to 
help  him  as  opportunity  offers.  Or  if  this  shall 
not  satisfy  the  man,  or  content  your  lordships, 
leave  him  to  the  trial  of  the  law,  which  I  hope 
will  not  be  so  plain  with  him  as  he  taketh  it. 
Surely,  my  lords,  this  and  the  like  must  greatly 
discourage  me  in  this  poor  service  of  mine  in 
the  commission." 

What  recompense  the  poor  man  had  for  his 
long  imprisonment  I  cannot  find.  But  he  was 
too  wise  to  go  to  law  with  a  bishop  of  the  court 
of  high  commission,  who  had  but  little  con- 
science or  honour,  and  who,  notwithstanding 
his  "poor  estate  and  great  charges,"  left  behind 
him  about  £16,000  in  money,  an  immense  sum 
for  those  times ! 

His  lordship  complained  that  he  was  hated 
like  a  dog,  and  commonly  styled  the  oppressor 
of  the  children  of  God  ;*  that  he  was  in  danger 
of  being  mobbed  in  his  progress  at  Maiden,  and 
other  places  ;  w^hich  is  not  strange,  considering 
his  mean  appearance,  being  a  very  little  man, 
and  his  high  and  insulting  behaviour  towards 
those  that  were  examined  by  him,  attended  with 
ill  language  and  a  cruel  spirit.  This  appears  in 
numberless  instances.  When  Mr.  Merbury,  one 
of  the  ministers  of  Northampton,  was  brought 
before  him,  he  spake  thus  : 

B.  Thou  speakest  of  making  ministers ;  the 
Bishop  of  Peterborough  was  never  more  over- 
seen in  his  life  than  when  he  admitted  thee  to 
be  a  preacher  in  Northampton. 

Merbury.  liike  enough  so  (in  some  sense) :  1 
pray  God  these  scales  may  fall  from  his  eyes. 

B.  Thou  art  a  very  ass ;  thou  art  mad ;  thou 
courageous  !  Nay,  thou  art  impudent ;  by  my 
troth,  I  think  he  is  mad  ;  he  careth  for  nobody. 

M.  Sir,  I  take  exception  at  swearing  judges  ; 
I  praise  God  I  am  not  mad,  but  sorry  to  see  you 
so  out  of  temper. 

B.  Did  you  ever  hear  one  more  impudent  1 

M.  It  is  not,  I  trust,  impudence  to  answer  for 
myself 

B.  Nay,  I  know  thou  art  courageous ;  thou 
art  foolhardy. 

M.  Though  I  fear  not  you,  I  fear  the  Lord. 

Recorder  of  London.    Is  he  learned  1 

B.  He  hath  an  arrogant  spirit:  he  can  scarce 
construe  Cato,  I  think. 

M.  Sir,  you  do  not  punish  me  because  I  am 
unlearned  ;  howbeit,  I  understand  both  the  Greek 
and  Latin  tongues  ;  assay  me  to  prove  your 
disgrace. 

B.  Thou  takest  upon  thee  to  be  a  preacher, 


*  Life  of  Aylmer,  p.  96. 


.70 


HISTORY   OF  THE  PURITANS. 


very 


but  there  is  nothing  in  thee  ;  thou  art  a 
ass,  an  idiot,  and  a  fool. 

M.  I  humbly  beseech  you,  sir,  have  patience  ; 
ffive  this  people  better  example ;  I  am  that  I 
am  through  the  Lord ;  I  submit  the  trial  of  my 
sufficiency  to  the  judgment  of  the  learned  ;  but 
this  wandering  speech  is  not  logical. 

There  is  a  great  deal  more  ol  the  same  lan- 
guage in  this  examination  ;  one  thing  is  remark- 
able°  that  he  insults  poor  Merbury,  because  he 
was  for  having  a  minister  in  every  parish.  At 
partint^  he  gave  him  the  salutation  of  an  "  over- 
thwart',  proud,  Puritan  knave  ;"  and  sent  him 
to  the  Marshalsea,  though  he  had  been  twice 
in  prison  before.^ 

How  different  was  this  from  the  apostolic 
character  of  a  bishop  '.     "  A  bishop,"  saith  St. 
Paul,  "  should  be  blameless,  of  good  behaviour, 
no  brawler,  nor  striker,  nor  greedy  of  filthy  lu- 
cre.    The  servant  of  the  Lord  must  not  strive, 
but  be  gentle  to  all  men,  patient,  in  meekness 
instructing  those  that  oppose  themselves,  that 
they  may  recover  them  out  of  the  snare  of  the 
devil."     Nay,  how   different   was  this   bishop 
from  himself  before  he  put  on  lawn-sleeves !  For 
in  his  book  entitled  "  The  Harbour  for  Faithful 
Subjects,"  published  soon  after  the  queen's  ac- 
cession, are  these  words:  "  Come  off,  ye  bishops, 
away  with  your   superfluities,   yield   up  your 
thousands ;  be  content  with  hundreds,  as  they 
be  in  other  Reformed  churches,  where  be  as 
great  learned  men  as  you  are.     Let  your  portion 
be  priestlike,  and  not  princelike  ;  let  the  queen 
have  the  rest  of  your  temporalities  and  other 
lands,  to  maintain  these  wars  which  you  pro- 
cured, and  your  mistress  left  her  ;  and  with  the 
rest  to  build  and  found  schools  throughout  the 
realm  ;  that  every  parish  may  have  his  preacher, 
every  city  his  superintendent,  to  live  honestly, 
and  not  pompously;  which  will  never  be,  unless 
your  lands  be  dispersed  and  bestowod  upon  many, 
which  now  feedeth  and   fatteth  but  one;  re- 
member that   Abimelech,  when   David   in   his 
banishment  would  have  dined  with  him,  kept 
such  hospitality  that  he  had  no  bread  in  his 
house  to  give  him  but  the  shew  bread.    Where 
was  all  his  superfluity  to  keep  your  pretended 
hospitality  1     For  that  is  the  cause  you  pretend 
why  you  must  have  thousands,  as  though  you 
were  commanded  to  keep  hospitality  rather  with 
a  thousand  than  with  a  hundred.     I  would  our 
countryman  Wickliffe's  book,  De  Ecclesia,  were 
in  print ;  there  should  you  see  that  your  wnnch- 
es  and  cavillations  be  nothing  worth."!    When 
the  bishop  was  put  in  mind  of  this  passage,  her 
madenoother  reply  than  that  of  St.  Paul,  "When 
I  was  a  child  I  spake  as  a  child,  I  thought  as  a 

child." 

The  case  of  those  clergymen  who  were  sent 
for  up  to  Lambeth  from  the  remotest  parts  of 
the  kingdom  was  yet  harder.  Mr.  Elliston, 
vicar  of  Preston,  made  seven  journeys  to  Pe- 
terborough, which  was  thirty-six  miles  from  his 
house,  and  ten  to  London,  within  the  compass 
of  two  years,  besides  several  to  Leicester  and 
Northampton,  at  his  own  cost  and  charge;  and, 
after  all,  was  deprived  for  not  subscribing.  To 
whom  might  be  added,  Mr.  Stephen  Turner,  Mr. 
William  Fleming  of  Beccles,  Mr.  Holden  of 
Biddlestone,  and  others. 

*  Part  of  a  register,  p.  382.   Pierce's  Vindic.,p.  97. 
t  Life  of  Aylmer,  p.  269. 


Among  these,  the  case  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Eu- 
sebius  Paget,   minister  of  the   parish   church 
of  Kilkhampton,  in  the  diocess  of  Exon,  was 
very  moving ;  this  divine,  at  the  time  of  his 
presentation,  acquainted  his  patron  and  ordina- 
ry that  he  could  not  with  quietness  of  conscience 
use  some  rites,  ceremonies,  and  orders  appoint- 
ed in  the  service-book  ;  who  promised,  that  if 
he  would  take  the  charge  of  the  said  cure,  he 
should  not  be  urged  to  the  precise  observation 
of  them  ;  upon  which  condition  he  accepted  the 
charge,  and  was  admitted  and  regularly  induct- 
ed.*    Mr.  Paget  was  a  lame  man,  but,  in  the 
opinion  of  Mr"  Strype,  a  learned,  peaceable,  and 
quiet  divine,  who  had  complied  with  the  cus- 
toms and  devotion  of  the  Church,  and  was  in- 
defatigable in  his  work,  travelling  up  and  down 
the  neighbouring  country,  to  preach  the  plain 
principles  of  religion  ;  but  Mr.  Farmer,  curate 
of  Barnstaple,  envying  his  popularity,  complain- 
ed of  him  to  the  high  commission,  because  he 
did  not  mention  in  his  prayers  the  queen's  su- 
premacy over  both  estates  ;  because  he  had  said 
that  the  sacraments  were  but  dumb  elements, 
and  did  not  avail  without  the  Word  preached  ; 
because  he  had  preached  that  Christ  did  not  de- 
scend into  hell  both  body  and  soul ;  that  the 
pope  might  set  up  the  feast  of  jubilee,  as  well 
as  the  feasts  of  Easter  and  Pentecost ;  that  holy 
days  and  fasting  days  were  but  the  traditions 
of  men,  which  we  were  not  obliged  to  follow  ; 
that  he  disallowed  the  use  of  organs  in  Divine 
service;  that  he  called  ministers  that  do  not 
preach  dumb  dogs,  and  those  that  have  two 
benefices  knaves  ;  that  he  preached  that  the 
late  Queen  Mary  was  a  detestable  woman  and 
a  wicked  Jezebel. 

But  when  Mr.  Paget  appeared  before  the  com- 
missioners, January  11th,  1584,  he  was  only  ar- 
ticled according  to  the  common  form,  lor  not 
observing  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  the 
rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church.  To  which 
he  made  the  following  answer  : 


"  I  do  acknowledge  that,  by  the  statute  of  the 
1st  of  Eliz.,  I  am  bound  to  use  the  said  Common 
Prayer  Book  in  such  a  manner  and  form  as  is 
prescribed,  or  else  to  abide  such  pains  as  bylaw- 
are  imposed  upon  me. 

"  I  have  not  refused  to  use  the  said  common 
prayer,  or  to  minister  the  sacraments  in  such 
order  as  the  book  appoints,  though  I  have  not 
used  all  the  rites,  ceremonies,  and  orders  set 
forth  in  the  said  book  :  1.  Partly  because  to  my 
knowledge  there  is  no  common  prayer  book  in 
the  Church.    2.  Because  I  am  informed  that  you 
before  whom  I  stand,  and  mine  ordinary,  and 
the  most  part  of  the  other  bishops  and  minis- 
ters, do  use  greater  liberty  in  omitting  and  al- 
tering the  said  rites,  ceremonies,  and  orders.  3. 
And  especially  for  that  I  am  not  fully  resolved 
in  conscience,  I  may  use  divers  of  them.     4. 
Because,  when  I  took  the  charge  of  that  church, 
I  was  promised  by  my  ordinary  that  I  should 
not  be  urged  to  such  ceremonies,  which  I  ara 
informed  he  might  do  by  law. 

"  In  these  things  which  I  have  omitted  I  have 
done  nothing  obstinately  ;  neither  have  I  used 
any  other  rite,  ceremony,  order,  form,  or  man- 
ner of  administration  of  the  sacraments,  or  opea 
prayers,  than  is  mentioned  in  the  said  book  ;  al- 


*  MS.,  p.  582. 


HISTORY   OF  (THE   PURITANS. 


171 


though  there  be  some   things  which  I  doubt 
whether  I  may  use  or  practise. 

"  Wherefore  I  humbly  pray  that  I  may  have 
the  liberty  allowed  by  the  said  book,  to  have  in 
some  convenient  time  a  favourable  conference 
either  with  mine  ordinary,  or  with  some  other 
by  you  to  be  assigned  ;  which  I  seek  not  for  any 
desire  I  have  to  keep  the  said  living,  but  only 
for  the  better  resolution  and  satisfaction  of  my 
own  conscience,  as  God  knoweth.  Subscribed 
thus — by  me, 

"  Lame  Eusebius  Paget,  minister." 

This  answer  not  proving  satisfactory,  he 
was  immediately  suspended  ;  and  venturing  to 
preach  after  his  suspension,  was  deprived  ;  the 
principal  causes  of  his  deprivation  were  these 
two  : 

1.  Omission  of  part  of  the  public  prayers,  the 
cross  in  baptism,  and  the  surplice. 

2.  Irregularities  incurred  by  dealing  in  the 
ministry  after  suspension. 

But  in  the  opinion  of  the  civilians  neither  of 
these  things  could  warrant  the  proceedings  of 
the  court  :*  1.  Because  Mr.  Paget  had  not  time, 
nor  a  conference,  as  he  craved,  and  as  the  stat- 
ute in  doubtful  matters  warrenteth.  2.  Because 
he  had  not  three  several  admonitions,  nor  so 
much  as  one,  to  do  that  in  time  which  the  law 
requires.  If  this  had  been  done,  and  upon  such 
respite  and  admonition  he  had  not  conformed, 
then  the  law  would  have  deemed  him  a  recu- 
sant, but  not  otherwise.  3.  If  this  course  had 
been  taken,  yet  Mr.  Paget's  omissions  had  so 
many  favourable  circumstances  (as  tlie  parish's 
not  having  provided  a  book,  and  his  ordinary's 
promising  not  to  urge  him  with  the  precise  ob- 
sei'vance  of  all  the  ceremonies),  that  it  was 
hardly  consistent  with  the  prudent  consideration 
and  charity  of  a  judge  to  deprive  him  at  once. 

As  to  his  irregularity,  by  exercising  the  minis- 
try after  suspension,  the  suspension  was  thought 
to  be  void,  because  it  was  founded' upon  a  meth- 
od not  within  the  cognizance  of  those  who  gave 
sentence  ;  for  the  ground  was,  refusing  to  sub- 
scribe to  articles  tendered  by  the  ecclesiastical 
commissioners,  who  had  no  warrant  to  offer  any 
such  articles  at  all ;  for  their  authority  reaches 
no  farther  than  to  reform  and  correct  facts  done 
contrary  to  certain  statutes  expressed  in  their 
commission,  and  contrary  to  other  ecclesiastical 
laws  ;  and  there  was  never  yet  any  clause  in 
their  commission  to  offer  subscription  to  articles 
of  their  own  devising.  But  suppose  the  suspen- 
sion was  good,  the  irregularity  was  taken  away 
by  the  queen's  pardon  long  before  his  depriva- 
tion. Besides,  Mr.  Paget  did  not  exercise  his 
ministry  after  suspension,  till  he  had  obtained 
from  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  a  release 
from  that  suspension,  which,  if  it  was  not  suffi- 
cient, it  was -apprehended  by  hitn  to  be  so,  the 
archbishop  being  chief  in  the  commission  ;  and 
all  the  canonists  allow  that  simplicity,  and  ig- 
norant mistaking  of  things,  being  void  of  wilful 
contempt,  is  a  lawful  excuse  to  discharge  irreg- 
ularity. But  the  commissioners  avowed  their 
own  act,  and  the  patron  disposed  of  the  living 
to  another. 

Mr.  Paget,  having  a  numerous  family,  set  up  a 
little  school,  but  the  arms  of  the  commissioners 
reached  him  there  ;  for,  being  required  to  take 


*  MS.,  p.  572. 


out  a  license,  they  tendered  him  the  articles  to 
subscribe,  which  he  refusing,  they  shut  up  his 
school  and  sent  him  a  begging.  Let  us  hear 
his  own  relation  of  his  case  in  a  letter  that  he 
sent  to  that  great  sea-officer  Sir  John  Hawkins, 
who  had  a  high  esteem  for  this  good  man.  "I 
was  never  present  at  any  separate  assembly 
from  the  Church,"  says  he,  "but  abhorred  them. 
I  always  resorted  to  my  parish  church,  and  was 
present  at  service  and  preaching ;  and  received 
the  sacrament  according  to  the  book.  I  thought 
it  my  duty  not  to  forsake  a  church  because  of 
some  blemishes  in  it ;  but  while  I  have  endeav- 
oured to  live  in  peace,  others  have  prepared 
themselves  for  war.  I  am  turned  out  of  my  liv- 
ing by  commandment.  I  afterward  preached 
without  living  or  a  penny  stipend  ;  and  when  I 
was  forbid,  I  ceased.  I  then  taught  a  few 
children,  to  get  a  little  bread  for  myself  and 
mine  to  eat ;  some  disliked  this,  and  wished  me 
to  forbear,  which  I  have  done,  and  am  now  to 
go  as  an  idle  rogue  and  vagabond  from  door  to 
door  to  beg  my  bread,  though  I  am  able  in  a 
lawful  calling  to  get  it."*  Thus  this  learned 
and  useful  divine  was  silenced  till  the  death  of 
Whitgift,  after  which  he  was  instituted  to  the 
living  of  St.  Anne  within  Aldersgate. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Walter  Travers,  B.D.,  some 
time  fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  al- 
ready mentioned,  came  into  trouble  this  year. 
He  had  been  ordained  at  Antwerp,  and  being  an 
admired  preacher,  a  fine  gentleman,  and  of  great 
learning,  he  became  domestic  chaplain  to  Sec- 
retary Cecil,  and  lecturer  at  the  Temple.  Dr. 
Alvey  the  master  dying  about  this  time,  Travers 
was  recommended  to  succeed  him  by  the  doctor 
on  his  deathbed,  and  by  the  benchers  of  the 
house,  in  a  petition  to  the  treasurer  on  his  be- 
half; but  the  archbishop  interposed,  and  de- 
clared, peremptorily,  that  unless  he  would  be 
reordained  according  to  the  usage  of  the  Church 
of  England,  and  subscribe  to  his  articles,  he 
would  not  admit  him.  Upon  which  he  was  set 
aside,  and  Mr.  Hooker  preferred.  Travers  con- 
tinued lecturer  about  two  years  longer,  and  was 
then  deprived  of  his  lectureship,  and  deposed 
from  the  ministry.  The  treasurer,  and  others  of 
Travers's  friends,  advised  him  for  peace'  sake 
to  be  reordained  ;  but  he  replied  in  a  letter  to 
his  lordship,  that  this  would  be  to  invalidate  his 
former  orders  ;  and  not  only  so,  but  as  far  as  in 
him  lay,  to  invalidate  the  ordinations  of  all  for- 
eign churches.  "  As  for  myself,"  says  he,  "  I 
had  a  sufficient  title  to  the  ministerial  office, 
having  been  ordained  according  to  God's  holy 
Word,  with  prayers  and  impositions  of  hands, 
and  according  to  the  order  of  a  church  of  the 
same  faith  and  profession  with  the  Church  of 
England,  as  appears  by  my  testimonials."  He 
prayed  his  lordship  to  consider,  farther,  whether 
his  subscribing  the  articles  of  religion,  which 
only  concern  the  profession  of  the  Christian 
faith  and  doctrine  of  the  sacraments,  as  agreed 
upon  in  the  convocation  of  1562,  which  most 
willingly  and  with  all  his  heart  he  assented  to 
according  to  the  statute,  did  not  qualify  him  for 
a  minister  in  the  Church,  as  much  as  if  he  had 
been  ordained  according  to  the  English  form. 
But  the  archbishop  was  determined  to  have  a 
strict  eye  upon  the  inns  of  court,  and  to  bring 
them  to  the  public  standard  ;  and  the  rather,  in- 

*  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  377. 


172 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PUR1TAM& 


asmuch  as  some  of  them  pretended  to  be  ex- 
empted from  his  jurisdiction  ;  for  though  m  all 
other  places  the  sacrament  was  received  in  the 
posture  of  kneeling,  the  templcrs  received  it  to 
this  very  time  sitting.  Travers  would  have  in- 
troduced the  posture  of  standing  at  the  side  ol 
the  table,  but  the  benchers  insisted  upon  their 
privilege,  and  would  receive  it  in  no  other  pos- 
ture than  sitting.*  The  archbishop,  in  order  to 
put  an  end  to  this  practice,  would  admit  none 
but  a  high  Conformist,  that  they  might  be  obli- 
ged to  receive  it  kneeling,  or  not  at  all. 

The  harder  the  Church  pressed  upon  the  Pu- 
ritans, the  more  were  they  disaffected  to  the 
national  establishment,  and  the  more  resolute 
in  their  attempts  for  a  reformation  of  discip  ine. 
There  was  a  book  in  high  esteem  among  them 
at  this  time,  entitled  DiscipUna  eccksicE  sacra  ex 
Dei  verbo  desenpta  ;  that  is,  "  The  Holy  Disci- 
pline of  the  Church  described  in  the^ord  of 
God  "     It  was  drawn  up  in  Latin  by  Mr.  1  rav- 
ers and  printed  at  Geneva  about  the  year  1574, 
but  since  that  time  had  been  diligently  reviewed 
corrected,  and  perfected  by  Mr.  Cartwright,  and 
other  learned  ministers,  at  their  synods.    It  was 
translated  into  English  this  year,  with  a  preface 
by  Mr  Cartwright,  and  designed  to  be  published 
for  more  general  use  ;  but  as  it  was  printing  at 
Cambridge  it  was  seized  at  the  press  ;  the  arch- 
bishop advised  that  all  the  copies  should  be 
burned  as  factious  and  seditious,  but  one  was 
found  in  Mr.  Cartwright's  study  after  his  death, 
and  reprinted  in  the  year  1654,  under  this  new 
title    "A   Directory  of  Government  anciently 
contended  for,  and  as  far  as  the  iime  would  suf- 
fer, practised  by  the   Nonconformists   in   the 
Days  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  found  in  the  Study  ot 
the   most   accomplished   Divine,  Mr.  Thomas 
Cartwright,  after  his  decease,  and  reserved  to 
be  published  for  such  a  time  as  this.    Published 
by  authority."     It  contains  the  substance  of 
those  alterations  in  discipline  which  the  Pun- 
tans  of  these  times  contended  for,  and  was  sub- 
scribed  by  the  brethren  hereafter  named,  as 
argeeable  to  the  Word  of  God,  and  to  be  pro- 
moted by  all  lawful  means,  that  it  may  be  es- 
tablished by  the  authority  of  the  magistrate  and 
of  the  Church  ;  and  in  the  mean  time  to  be  ob- 
served, as  far  as  lawfully  they  may,  consistently 
with  the  l^ws  of  the  land   and  peace  of  the 
Church      I  have  therefore  given  it  a  place  in 
the  Appendix,  to  which  I  refer  the  reader.t 

Another  treatise,  dispersed  privately  about 
this  time,  against  the  discipline  of  the  Church, 
was  entitled  "  An  Abstract  of  certain  Acts  of  Par- 
liament, andof  certain  .of  her  Majesty  s  Injunc- 
tions and  Canons,  &c.,  printed  by  H.  Denham 
1584  "     The  author's  designt  was  to  show  that 
the  bishops  in  their  ecclesiastical  courts  had  ex- 
ceeded their  power,  and  broke  through  the  laws 
and  statutes  of  the  realm  ;  which  was  so  noto- 
rious, that  the  answerer,  instead  of  confuting 
the  abstracter,  blames  him  for  exposing  their 
father's  nakedness,  to  the  thrusting  through  of 
religion,  by  the  sides  of  the  bishops.     But  who 
was  in  fault  1     Shall  the  liberties  and  properties 
of  mankind  be  trampled   upon  by  a  despotic 
power,  and  the  poor  sufferers  not  be  allowed  to 
hold  up  the  laws  and  statutes  of  the  land  to 


their  oppressors,  because  of  their  great  names 
or  religious  characters  1 

The  affairs  of  the  Church  were  in  this  fer- 
ment when  the  Parliament  met  November  23d, 
1584,  in  which  the  Puritans,  despairing  of  all 
other  relief,  resolved  to  make  their  utmost  ef- 
forts for  a  farther  reformation  of  church  disci- 
pUne.    Fuller  says*  their  agents  were  soliciting 
at  the  door  of  the  House  of  Commons  all  day, 
and  making  interest  in  the  evening  at  the  cham- 
bers of  Parliament  men  ;  and  if  the  queen  would 
have  taken  the  advice  of  her  two  houses,  they 
had  been  made  easy.     December  14th,  three 
petitions  were  offered  to  the  House  :  one  touch- 
m<T  liberty  for  godly  preachers  ;  a  second  to  ex- 
ercise and  continue  their  ministry  ;  and  a  third 
for  a  speedy  supply  of  able  men  for  destitute 
places  t    The  first  was  brought  in  by  Sir  Thom- 
as Lucy,  the  second  by  Sir  Edward  Dymock, 
and  the  third  by  Mr.  Gates.     Soon  after  this  Dr. 
Turner  stood  up,  and  put  the  House  in  remem- 
brance of  a  bill  and  book  which  he  had  hereto- 
fore offered  to  the  House  ;  the  bill  was  entitled 
"  An  Act  concerning  the  Subscription  of  Minis- 
ters "  and  proposes  "  that  no  other  subscription 
but  what  is  enjoined  by  the  13th  of  Queen  Eliz- 
abeth be  required  of  any  minister  or  preacher 
in  the  Church  of  England  ;  and  that  the  refusing 
to  subscribe  any  other  articles  shall  not  be  any 
cause  for  the  archbishops  or  bishops,  or  any 
other  persons  having  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction, 
to  refuse  any  of  the  said  ministers  to  any  eccle- 
siastical office,  function,  or  dignity,   but  that 
the  said  archbishops,  bishops,  &.C.,  shall  insti- 
tute, induct,  admit,  and  invest,  or  cause  to  be 
instituted,  &c.,  such  persons  as  shall  be  present- 
ed by  the  lawful  patrons,  notwithstanding  their 
refusal  to  subscribe  any  other  articles  not  set 
down  in  the  statute  13th  Eliz.     And  that  no 
minister  for  the  future  shall  be  suspended,  de- 
prived, or  otherwise  molested  in  body  or  goods, 
by  virtue  of  any  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  but 
only  in  the  cases  of  obstinately  and  wilfully  de- 
fending any  heresies  condemned  by  the  express 
Word  of  God,  or  their  dissolute  lives,  which  shall 
be  proved  by  two  credible  witnesses,  or  by  their 
own  voluntary  confession."    The  book  consist- 
ed of  thirty-four  articles  of  complaint,  but  by 
advice  of  the  House,  the  substance  of  the  peti- 
tions was  reduced  by  the  ministers  in  sixteen  ar- 
ticles, which  he  desired  might  be  imparted  to  the 
House  of  Lords,  and  they  be  requested  to  join 
with  the  Commons  in  exhibiting  them,  by  way  of 
humble  suit,  to  the  queen.     The  first  five  were 
against  insufficient  ministers  ;  then  followed, 

6  That  all  pastors  to  be  admitted  to  cures 
might  be  tried  and  allowed  by  the  parishes. 

7  That  no  oath  or  subscription  might  be  ten- 
dered to  any  at  their  entrance  into  the  ministry 
but  such  as  is  expressly  prescribed  by  the  stat- 
utes of  this  realm,  except  the  oath  against  cor- 
rupt entering. t  n    i  j- 

8.  That  ministers  may  not  be  troubled  lor 
omission  of  some  rites  or  portions  prescribed  in 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 

9  That  they  may  not  be  called  and  urged  to 
answer  before  the  officials  and  commissaries, 
but  before  the  bishops  themselves. 

10.  That  such  as  had  been  suspended  or  de- 


*  Strype's  Annals,  p.  244.  t  Appendix,  No.  4. 

i  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  iii.,  p.  233,  283. 


*  B.  ix.,  p.  173.       t  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  176,  177. 
J  MS.,  p.  466.     Fuller,  b.  ix.,  p.  1«9,  190. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


173 


prived  for  no  other  offence,  but  only  for  not  sub- 
scribing, might  be  restored. 

11.  That  the  bishops  would  forbear  their  ex- 
communication ex  officio  mero  of  godly  and  learn- 
ed preachers,  not  detected  for  open  offence  of 
life,  or  apparent  error  in  doctrine  ;  and  that  they 
might  not  be  called  before  the  High  Commission, 
or  out  of  the  diocess  where  they  lived,  except 
for  some  notable  offence. 

12.  That  it  might  be  permitted  to  them  in  ev- 
ery archdeaconry  to  have  some  common  exer- 
cises and  conferences  among  themselves,  to  be 
limited  and  prescribed  by  the  ordinaries. 

13.  That  the  high  censure  of  excommunica- 
tion may  not  be  denounced  or  executed  for  small 
matters. 

14.  Nor  by  lay-chancellors,  commissaries,  or 
officials,  but  by  the  bishops  themselves,  with  the 
assistance  of  grave  persons. 

15.  16.  That  nonresidence  and  pluralities  may 
be  quite  removed  out  of  the  Church,  or  at  least 
that,  according  to  the  queen's  injunctions  (arti- 
cle 44),  no  nonresident  having  already  a  license 
or  faculty  may  enjoy  it,  unless  he  depute  an 
able  curate,  who  may  weekly  preach  and  cat- 
echise, as  is  required  in  her  majesty's  injunc- 
tions. 

This  petition  was  attended  with  a  moving  sup- 
plication to  the  queen  and  Parliament,  in  the 
name  of  thousands  of  the  poor  untaught  people 
of  England,  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Sampson,  in  which 
they  complain,  that  in  many  of  their  congrega- 
tions they  had  none  to  break  the  bread  of  life, 
nor  the  comfortable  preaching  of  God's  Holy 
Word  ;*  that  the  bishops  in  their  ordinations 
had  no  regard  to  such  as  were  qualified  to 
preach,  provided  they  could  only  read,  and  did 
but  conform  to  the  ceremonies ;  that  they  de- 
prived such  as  were  capable  of  preaching  on  ac- 
count of  ceremonies  which  do  not  edify,  but  are 
rather  unprofitable  burdens  to  the  Church ;  and 
that  they  molest  the  people  that  go  from  their 
own  parish  churches  to  seek  the  bread  of  life, 
•when  they  have  no  preaching  at  home.  They 
complain  that  there  are  thousands  of  parishes 
destitute  of  the  necessary  means  of  salvation, 
and  therefore  pray  the  queen  and  Parliament  to 
provide  a  remedy. 

In  answer  to  the  petition  last  mentioned,  the 
Bishop  of  Winchester,  in  the  name  of  his  breth- 
ren, drew  up  the  following  reply  : 

The  first  five  petitions  tend  to  one  thing,  that 
is,  the  reformation  of  an  unlearned  and  insuffi- 
cient ministry  :  to  which  we  answer,  that  though 
there  are  many  such  in  the  Church,  yet  that 
there  was  never  less  reason  to  complain  of  them 
than  at  present,  and  that  things  are  mending 
every  day. 

To  the  sixth  article  they  answered,  that  it  sa- 
voured of  popular  elections  long  since  abroga- 
ted ;  that  it  would  breed  divisions  in  parishes, 
and  prejudice  the  patron's  right. 

To  the  seventh  and  four  following  articles 
they  reply,  that  if  they  are  granted,  the  whole 
hierarchy  will  be  unbraced  ;  for  the  seventh  ar- 
ticle shakes  the  ground  of  all  ecclesiastical  gov- 
ernment, by  subverting  the  oath  of  canonical 
obedience  to  the  bishop  in  "  omnibus  Ileitis  et 
honestis."t  The  eighth  article  requires  a  dis- 
pensation from  the  civil  magistrate,  to  the  sub- 
verting the  Act  of  Uniformity  of  common  prayer, 

*  Strype's  Ann.,  p.  223.     t  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  189. 


&c.,  and  confirmation  of  the  rites  and  ceremo- 
nies of  the  Church. 

The  ninth  desires  a  dispensation  from  the  ju- 
risdiction of  our  ecclesiastical  courts,  as  chan- 
cellors, officials,  &c.,  which  will  in  the  end  sub- 
vert all  episcopal  authority.  To  the  tenth  they 
say,  that  the  ministers  who  have  been  suspend- 
ed are  heady,  rash,  and  contentious  ;  and  it  is 
a  perilous  example  to  have  sentences  ravoked 
that  have  been  given  according  to  law,  except 
they  would  yield.  The  eleventh  petition  cutteth 
off  another  considerable  branch  of  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction,  viz.,  the  oath  ex  officio,  which  is 
very  necessary  in  some  cases,  where  the  parish- 
ioners are  so  perverse  that,  though  the  minister 
varies  the  service  of  the  Church  as  by  law  ap- 
pointed, they  will  not  complain,  much  less  be 
witnesses  against  him. 

The  exercises  mentioned  in  the  twelfth  article 
are  by  the  queen's  majesty  suppressed. 

To  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  they  answer, 
that  they  are  willing  to  petition  the  queen  that 
the  sentence  of  excommunication  may  be  pro- 
nounced by  the  bishop,  with  such  assistance  as 
he  shall  call  in,  or  by  some  ecclesiastical  person 
commissioned  by  him. 

To  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  articles  they 
answer,  that  the  small  value  of  many  ecclesias- 
tical livings  made  pluralities  and  nonresidence 
in  a  manner  necessary.* 

The  debates  upon  this  last  head  running  very 
high,  a  bill  was  ordered  to  be  brought  in  imme- 
diately against  pluralities  and  nonresidences, 
and  for  appeals  from  ecclesiastical  courts.  It 
was  said  in  favour  of  the  bill,  that  nonresiden- 
ces and  pluralities  were  mala  in  se,  evil  in  their 
own  nature  ;  that  they  answered  no  valuable 
purpose,  but  hindered  the  industry  of  the  clergy, 
and  were  a  means  to  keep  the  country  in  igno- 
rance, at  a  time  when  there  were  only  three 
thousand  preachers  to  supply  nine  thousand  par- 
ishes. The  archbishop  drew  up  his  reasons 
against  the  bill,  and  prevailed  with  the  convoca- 
tion to  present  them  in  an  address  to  the  queen, 
wherein  they  style  themselves  her  majesty's 
poor  distressed  supplicants,  now  in  danger  from 
the  bill  depending  in  the  House  of  Commons 
against  pluralities  and  nonresidences  ;  "  which," 
say  they,  "  impeacheth  your  majesty's  preroga- 
tive ;  lesseneth  the  revenues  of  the  crown  ; 
overthrows  the  study  of  divinity  in  both  univer- 
sities ;  will  deprive  men  of  the  livings  they  law- 
fully possess  ;  will  beggar  the  clergy  ;  will  bring 
'  in  a  base  and  unlearned  ministry  *  lessen  the  hos- 
pitality of  cathedrals  ;  be  an  encouragement  to 
students  to  go  over  to  foreign  seminaries,  where 
they  may  be  better  provided  for  ;  and,  in  a  word, 
will  make  way  for  anarchy  and  confusion. "t 

And  to  give  some  satisfaction  to  the  public, 
they  presented  six  articles  to  the  queen,  as  the 
sum  of  all  that  needed  amendment. t  The  first 
was,  that  none  should  be  admitted  into  holy  or- 
ders under  twenty-four  years  of  age  ;  that  they 
should  have  presentation  to  a  cure ;  that  they 
should  bring  testimonials  of  their  good  life ;  and 
that  the  bishop  might  refuse  whom  he  thought 
fit,  without  the  danger  of  a  quare  impedit.  The 
second  was  to  restrain  the  commutation  of  pen- 
ance, except  upon  great  consideration,  of  which 
the  bishop  to  be  judge.     The  third  was,  to  re- 


*  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  190. 
X  Ibid.,  p.  209. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  193. 


HISTORY    OF  THE    PURITANS. 


174 

strain  licenses  to  marry  without  bans.  The 
fourth,  to  moderate  some  excesses  about  excom- 
munication. The  fifth,  tor  restrammg  plurali- 
ties of  benefices.  The  sixth,  concernmg  fees  to 
ecclesiastical  oflScers  and  their  servants.  But 
even  these  articles  lay  by  till  the  year  1597 
■when  they  were  confirmed  in  convocation,  and 
afterward  incorporated  among  the  canons. 

In  tjie  mean  lime,  the  bill  against  pluralities 
passed  the  House  of  Commons,  and  was  sent 
up  to  the  Lords,  where  the  Archbishops  of  Can- 
terbury and  York,  and  Bishop  of  Winchester, 
made  long  speeches,  showing  that  neither  the 
cathedrals   nor  professors  in  the  universities 
could  subsist  without  them.    To  prove  this,  they 
produced  a  list  of  the  small  value  of  many  ec- 
clesiastical livings,  according  to  the  queen's 
books.      To  which  it  was  replied,  that  there 
were  many  suspended  preachers  would  be  glad 
of  the  smallest  of  those  livings,  if  they  might 
have  them  without  molestation  ;  however,  that 
it  was  more  proper  to  go  upon  ways  and  means 
for  the  augmentation  of  smaller  livings  than  to 
suflTer  the  poor  people  to  perish  for  lack  of  knowl- 
ed<^e,  while  the  incumbents  were  indulged  in  idle- 
ness'and  sloth  ;  but  the  weight  of  the  bench  of 
bishops,  with  the  court  interest,  threw  out  the  bill. 
This  exasperated  the  Commons  to  that  de- 
gree, that  after  the  holydays  they  resumed  the 
debate  of  the  Bill  of  Petitions,  and  ordered  sev- 
eral other  bills  to  be  brought  in  to  clip  the  wmgs 
of  the  bishops,  and  lessen  the  power  of  the  spir- 
itual courts.     One  was  for  swearing  bishops  in 
the  courts  of  Chancery  and  King's  Bench,  that 
they  should  act  nothing  against  the  common  law 
of  the  land;  another,toreduce  their  fees;  a  third, 
for  liberty  to  marry  at  all  times  of  the  year  ;  a 
fourth,  for  the  qualification  of  ministers  ;  and  a 
fifth,  for  restoring  of  discipline.      The  act  for 
quahfying  ministers  annuls  all  popish  ordina- 
tions, and  disqualifies  such  as  were  not  capable 
of  preaching,  as  well  as  those  who  were  con- 
victed of  profaneness,  or  any  kind  of  immorali- 
ty ;  but  obliges  the  successor  to  allow  the  de- 
prived minister  a  sufficient  maintenance,  at  the 
discretion  of  the  justices  of  the  quarter  sessions ; 
and  if  the  living  be  not  sufficient,  it  is  to  be  done 
by  a  parish  rate.     It  insists  upon  a  careful  ex- 
amination and  trial  of  the  qualifications  of  can- 
didates for  the  ministry  by  the  bishop,  assisted 
by  twelve  of  the  laity  ;  and  makes  the  election, 
or  consent  of  the  people,  necessary  to  his  in- 
duction to  the  pastoral  charge.     Tne  bill  lor 
discipline  is  for  abolishing  the  canon  law  and 
all  the  spiritual  courts,*  and  for  bringing  the 
probates  of  testaments,  and  all  civil  business, 
into  the  courts  of  Westminster  Hall ;  it  appoints 
a  presbytery  or  eldership  in  each  parish,  which, 
together  with  the  minister,  shall  determine  the 
spiritual  business  of  the  parish,  with  an  appeal 
to  higher  judicatories  in  cases  of  complaint. 

Mr.  Strype  sayst  the  bill  for  the  qualification 
of  the  ministers  passed  the  Commons,  which 
put  the  archbishop  into  such  a  fright,  that  the 
very  next  day  he  wrote  the  following  letter  to 
the  queen ; 

"  May  it  please  your  majesty  to  be  advertised, 

"That    notwithstanding  the  charge   of  late 

given  by  your  highness  to  the  lower  house  of 

Parliament  for  dealing  in  causes  of  the  Church; 


MS.,  p.  208,  213.  +  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  198 


albeit  also,  according  to  your  majesty's  good  li- 
king, we  have  sent  down  order  for  the  admitting 
of  meet  men  in  the  ministry  hereafter ;  yet  have 
they  passed  a  bill  in  that  house  yesterday  touch- 
ing that  matter ;  w^hich,  besides  other  inconveni- 
ences (as,  namely,  the  trial  of  the  minister's  suf- 
ficiency by  twelve  laymen,  and  such  like),  hath 
this  also,  that  if  it  pass  by  Parliament  it  cannot 
hereafter  but  in  Parliament  be  altered,  what  ne- 
cessity soever  shall  urge  thereunto:  which  I 
am  persuaded  in  a  short  time  will  appear,  con- 
sidering the  multitudes  of  livings,  not  fit  for  men 
so  qualified,  by  reason  of  the  smallness  thereof; 
whereas,  if  it  be  but  as  a  canon  from  us,  or  by 
your  majesty's  authority,  it  may  be  observed  or 
altered  at  pleasure. 

"They  have  also  passed  a  bill  giving  liberty 
to  marry  at  all  times  of  the  year  without  re- 
straint, contrary  to  the  old  canons  continually 
observed  among  us,  and  containing  matter 
which  tendeth  to  the  slander  of  this  Church,  as 
having  hitherto  maintained  an  error. 

"  There  is  likewise  now  in  hand  in  the  same 
house  a  bill  concerning  ecclesiastical  courts, 
and  visitation  by  bishops  ;  which  may  reach  to 
the  overthrow  of  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  and 
study  of  the  civil  laws.  The,  pretence  of  the 
bill  is  against  excessive  fees  and  exactions  in 
ecclesiastical  courts  ;  which  fees  are  none  other 
than  have  been  of  long  time  accustomed  to  be 
taken  ;  the  law  already  established  providing  a 
sharp  and  severe  punishment  for  such  as  shall 
exact  the  same  ;  besides  an  order  also  which 
we  have  at  this  time  for  the  better  performance 

thereof 

"  I  therefore  most  humbly  beseech  your  maj- 
esty to  continue  your  gracious  goodness  to- 
wards us,  who  with  all  humility  submit  our- 
selves to  your  highness,  and  cease  not  dady  to 
pray  for  your  happy  state,  and  long  and  pros- 
perous reign  over  us.  From  Lambeth,  the  24tli 
of  March,  1584. 

"  Your  majesty's  chaplain, 

"  And  daily  orator  most  bound, 

"Jo.  Cantuak." 

The  queen  was  pleased  with  the  archbishop's 
advice  of  making  alterations  by  canon,  and  not 
by  statute,  that  she  might  reserve  the  power  in 
her  own  hands  ;  and  immediately  sent  a  mes- 
sage to  the  Commons  by  the  lord-treasurer,  to 
reprimand  them  "for  encroachmg  upon  her  su- 
premacy, and  for  attempting  what  she  had  for- 
bidden, with  which  she  was  highly  ofl^^ended; 
and  to  command  the  speaker,  in  her  majesty  s 
name,  to  see  that  no  bills  touching  reforriiation 
in  causes  ecclesiastical  should  be  exhibited  ;  and 
if  any  such  were  exhibited,  she  commands  him 
upon  his  allegiance  not  to  read  them.';     The 
Commons  now  saw  their  mistake  in  vesting  the 
whole  power  of  reforming  the  policy  of   the 
Church  in  the  single  person  of  the  queen,  who 
knew  how  to  act  the  sovereign  and  display  her 
prerogative  as  well  as  her  father.     Had  it  been 
reserved  to  the  whole  Legislature,  queen,  lords, 
and  Commons,  with  advice  of  the  representa- 
tive body  of  the  clergy,  it  had  been  more  equi- 
table ;  but  now,  if  the  whole  nation  were  dissat- 
isfied, not  an  insignificant  rite  or  ceremony  must 
be  changed,  or  a  bill  brought  into  either  house 
of  Parliament,  without  an  infringement  ot  the 
prerogative  :  no  lay-person  in  the  kingdom  must 
meddle  with  religion  except  the  queen ;    the 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


175 


hands  of  Lords  and  Commons  are  tied  up,  her 
majesty  is  absolute  in  the  affairs  of  the  Church, 
and  no  motion  for  reformation  must  arise  from 
any  but  herself 

The  archbishop's  reasons  against  the  bill  for 
marrying  at  any  time  of  the  year  are  very  ex- 
traordinary ;  it  is  contrary  (says  his  grace)  to 
the  old  canons.  But  many  of  these  are  contrary 
to  the  canon  of  Scripture  ;  and  they  who  framed 
this  seem  a  little  to  resemble  the  character  which 
the  apostle  gives  of  an  apostate  from  tlie  faith, 
1  Tim.,  iv.,  3,  "Forbidding  to  marry,  and  com- 
manding to  abstain  from  meats."  He  adds,  "  It 
tendeth  to  the  slander  of  the  Church,  as  having 
hitherto  maintained  an  error."  Is  it,  then,  a 
slander  to  the  Church  of  England,  or  to  any 
Protestant  church,  to  say  she  is  fallible,  and 
may  have  maintained  an  error  1  Have  not  fa- 
thers and  councils  erred  1  Nay,  in  the  very 
Church  of  Rome,  which  alone  lays  claim  to  in- 
fallibility, have  we  not  read  of  one  pope  and 
council  reversing  the  decrees  of  another  1  The 
twenty-first  article  of  the  Church  of  England 
says  that  "  general  councils  may  err,  and  some- 
times have  erred,  even  in  things  pertaining  to 
God."  And  if  a  general  council  may  err,  even 
in  things  of  importance  to  salvation,  surely  it 
can  be  no  slander  to  say  a  convocation,  a  par- 
liament, or  a  single  person,  may  mistake  in 
commanding  to  abstain  from  meats,  and  forbid- 
ding to  marry  at  certain  times  of  the  year. 

While  the  Puritans  were  attending  the  Par- 
liament they  did  not  neglect  the  convocation  : 
a  petition  was  presented  to  them  in  the  name 
of  the  ministers  who  refused  to  subscribe  the 
archbishop's  three  articles,  wherein  they  desire 
to  be  satisfied  in  their  scruples,  which  the  lav^ 
admits,  but  had  not  hitherto  been  attempted.* 
The  (convocation  rejecting  their  petition,  the 
ministers  printed  their  '.'Apology  to  the  Church 
and  humble  Suit  to  the  High  Court  of  Parlia- 
ment," in  which  they  mention  several  things  in 
the  public  service  as  repugnat  to  the  Word  of 
God  :  as,  requiring  faith  in  an  infant  to  be  bap- 
tized ;  confounding  baptism  and  regeneration ; 
adding  to  the  pure  and  perfect  institutions  of 
Christ  the  cross  in  baptism,  and  the  ring  in  mar- 
riage ;  advancing  the  writings  of  the  Apochry- 
pha  to  a  level  with  Holy  Scripture,  by  reading 
them  in  the  Church  ;  with  many  others.  They 
conclude  with  an  earnest  supplication  to  their 
superiors  to  be  continued  in  their  callings,  con- 
sidering their  being  set  apart  to  the  ministry, 
and  the  obligations  they  were  under  to  God  and 
their  people  ;  they  protest  they  will  do  anything 
they  can  without  sin,  and  the  rather,  because 
they  are  apprehensive  that  the  "  shepherds  being 
stricken,  their  flocks  will  be  scattered." 

The  Puritans'  last  resort  was  to  the  arch- 
bishop, who  had  a  prevailing  interest  in  the 
queen  ;  a  paper  was  therefore  published,  enti- 
tled "  Means  how  to  settle  a  Godly  and  Charita- 
ble Quietness  in  the  Church,"  humbly  address- 
ed to  the  archbishop,  and  containing  the  follow- 
ing proposals  : 

That  it  would  please  his  grace  not  to  press 
such  subscription  as  had  been  of  late  required, 
seeing  in  the  Parliament  that  established  the 
articles  the  subscription  was  misliked,  and  put 
out  -.t  that  he  would  not  oblige  men  to  accuse 
themselves  by  the  oath  ex  officio,  it  being  contra- 


»  MS.,  p.  595. 


t  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  196. 


ry  to  law  and  the  liberty  of  the  subject ;  that 
those  ministers  who  have  been  of  late  suspend- 
ed may  be  restored,  upon  giving  a  bond  and  se- 
curity not  to  preach  against  the  dignities  of 
archbishops,  bishops,  &c.,  nor  to  disturb  the  or- 
ders of  the  Church,  but  to  maintain  it  as  far  as 
they  can,  and  soberly  to  teach  Jesus  Christ 
crucified  ;*  that  ministers  may  not  be  exposed 
to  the  malicious  prosecution  of  their  enemies, 
upon  their  omission  of  any  tittle  in  the  service- 
book  ;  that  they  may  not  be  obliged  to  read  the 
Apochrypha,  seeing  in  the  first  book  printed  in 
her  majesty's  reign  the  same  was  left  out,  and 
was  afterward  inserted  without  warrant  of  law, 
and  contrary  to  the  statute,  which  allows  but 
three  alterations  ;  that  the  cross  in  baptism  may 
not  be  enforced,  seeing  in  King  Edward's  second 
book  there  was  a  note  which  left  that  and  some 
other  rites  indifferent ;  which  note  ought  to  have 
been  in  the  queen's  book,  it  not  being  among 
the  alterations  appointed  by  statute :  they  far- 
ther desire,  that  in  baptism  the  godfathers  may 
answer  in  their  own  names,  and  not  in  the 
child's  ;  that  midwives  and  women  may  not 
baptize ;  that  the  words  upon  delivery  of  the 
ring  in  marriage  may  be  left  indifferent ;  that 
his  grace  would  not  urge  the  precise  wearing  of 
the  gown,  cap,  tippet,  and  surplice,  but  only  that 
ministers  be  obliged  to  wear  apparel  meet  and 
decent  for  their  callings  ;  that  lecturers  who 
have  not  cure  of  souls,  but  are  licensed  to 
preach,  behaving  themselves  well,  be  not  en- 
forced to  minister  the  sacraments  unless  they 
be  content  so  to  do. 

But  the  archbishop  would  abate  nothing,  nor 
admit  of  the  least  latitude  from  the  national  es- 
tablishment. He  framed  an  answer  to  the  pro- 
posals, in  which  he  insists  upon  a  full  conform- 
ity, telling  the  petitioners  that  it  was  none  of 
his  business  to  alter  the  ecclesiastical  laws  or 
dispense  with  them  :  which  was  all  they  were 
to  expect  from  him.  What  could  wise  and  good 
men  do  more  in  a  peaceable  way  for  the  liberty 
of  their  consciences,  or  a  farther  reformation  in 
the  Church  1  They  petitioned  the  queen,  appli- 
ed to  both  houses  of  Parliament,  and  addressed 
the  convocation  and  bishops  ;  they  moved  no 
seditions  nor  riots,  but  fasted  and  prayed  for  the 
queen  and  Church  as  long  as  they  were  allowed; 
and  when  they  could  serve  them  no  longer,  they 
patiently  submitted  to  suspensions  and  depriva- 
tions, fines  and  imprisonments,  till  it  should 
please  God,  of  his  infinite  mercy,  to  open  a  door 
for  their  farther  usefulness. 

The  papists  made  their  advantages  of  these 
divisions  :  a  plot  was  discovered  this  very  year 
[1585]  against  the  queen's  life,  for  which  Lord 
Pagett  and  others  fled  their  country  ;  and  one 
Parry  was  executed,  who  was  to  have  killed 
her  majesty  as  she  was  riding  abroad  ;  to  which 
(it  is  saidt)  the  pope  encouraged  him,  by 
granting  him  his  blessing,  and  a  plenary  indul- 
gence and  remission  of  ah  his  sins  ;  assuring 

*■  To  this  proposal  the  archbishop  answered,  "  I  do' 
not  mishke  of  the  bond  ;  but  he  that  shall  enter  into 
it,  and  yet  refuse  to  subscribe,  in  my  opinion  is  a  mere 
hypocrite,  or  a  very  wilful  fellow  ;  for  this  condition 
containeth  more  than  doth  the  subscription." — Mad- 
dox's  Vindication,  p.  348. — Ed. 

t  See  Bishop  Carleton's  thankful  Remembrance 
of  God's  Mercy,  1627  :  a  very  curious  volume,  with 
remarkably  line  illustrations. — C. 

f  Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  249. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


176 

him  that,  besides  the  merit  of  the  action  in 
heaven,  his  holiness  would  make  himself  his 
debtor  in  the  best  manner  he  could,  and  there- 
fore exhorted  him  to  put  his  "  most  holy  and 
honourable  purposes"  in  execution  ;  this  was 
written  from  Rome,  January  the  30th,  1584,  and 
signed  by  the  Cardinal  of  Como.  Mary,  queen 
of  Scots,  was  big  with  expectation  of  the  crown 
of  England  at  this  time,  from  the  preparations  of 
foreign  popish  princes,  who  were  determined  to 
make  the  strongest  efforts  to  set  her  upon  the 
throne,  and  to  restore  the  Catholic  religion  in 
England ;  but  they  could  not  get  ready  before 
her  head  was  laid  down  upon  the  block. 

The  Parliament,  which  met  again  in  Novem- 
der,  being  sensible  of  the  importance  of  the 
queen's  life,  entered  into  a  voluntary  association 
to  revenge  her  death,  If  that  should  happen 
through  any  violence  :*  they  also  made  a  severe 
statute  against  Jesuits  and  seminary  priests,  or 
others  who  engaged  in  plots  by  virtue  of  the 
bull  of  excommunication  of  Pope  Pius  V.,  and 
against  any  subject  of  England  that  should  go 
abroad  for  education  in  any  of  the  popish  sem- 
inaries. Yet  none  of  these  things  could  move 
the  queen  or  bishops  to  take  any  steps  towards 
uniting  Protestants  among  themselves. 

But  to  put  an  effectual  stop  to  the  pens  of  the 
Church's  adversaries,  his  grace  applied  to  the 
queen  for  a  farther  restraint  of  the  press,  which 
he  obtained  and  published  by  authority  of  the 
Star  Chamber  (says  Mr.  Strypet),  June  23d,  28 
Eliz.     It  was  framed  by  the  archbishop's  head, 
who  prefixed  a  preface  to  it :  the  decree  was  to 
this  purpose,  "  that  there  should  be  no  printing- 
presses  in  private  places,  nor  anywhere  but  in 
London  and  the  two  universities.     No  new 
presses  were  to  be  set  up  but  by  license  from 
the  Archbishop  and  Bishop  of  London,  for  the 
time  being  ;  they  to  signify  the  same  to  the  war- 
dens of  the  Stationers'  Company,  who  should 
present  such  as  they  chose  to  be  masters  of 
printing-presses  before  the  ecclesiastical  com- 
missioners for  their  approbation.     No  person  to 
print  any  book  unless  first  allowed  according  to 
the  queen's  injunctions,  and  to  be  seen  and  pe- 
rused by  the  Archbishop  or  Bishop  of  London, 
or  their  chaplain .     No  book  to  be  printed  against 
any  of  the  laws  in  being,  nor  any  of  the  queen's 
injunctions.     Persons  that  should  sell  or  bind 
up  such  books  to  suffer  three  months'  imprison- 
ment.    And  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  wardens 
of  the  Stationers'  Company  to  make  search  after 
them,  and  seize  them  to  her  majesty's  use  ;  and 
the  printers  shall  be  disabled  from  exercising 
their  trade  for  the  future,  and  suffer  six  months' 
imprisonment,  and  their  presses  be  broken." 
Notwithstanding  this  edict,  the  archbishop  was 
far  from  enjoying  a  peaceable  triumph,-the  Pu- 
ritans finding  ways  and  means  from  abroad  to 
propagate  their  writings,  and  expose  the  sever- 
ity of  their  adversaries. 

Some  faint  attempts  were  made  this  summer 
for  reviving  the  exercises  called  prophesymgs, 
in  the  diocess  of  Chester,  where  the  clergy  were 
very  ignorant:  Bishop  Chadderton  drew  up 
proper  regulations,  in  imitation  of  those  already 
mentioned,  but  the  design  proved  abortive. 
The  Bishop  of  Litchfield  and  Coventry  also  pub- 
lished some  articles  for  his  visitation  which  sa- 


voured  of  Puritanism,  as  against  nonresidents, 
for  making  a  more  strict  inquiry  into  the  quali- 
fications of  ministers,  and  for  restraining  un- 
worthy communicants.*  He  also  erected  a  kind 
of  judicatory,!  consisting  of  four  learned  divines 
with  himself,  to  examine  such  as  should  be  pre- 
sented for  ordination.  When  the  archbishop 
had  read  them  over,  he  called  them  the  well- 
spring  of  a  pernicious  platform,  and  represented 
them  to  the  queen  as  contrary  to  law,  and  the 
settled  state  of  the  Church  ;  the  bishop  wrote  a 
defence  of  his  articles  to  the  archbishop,  show- 
ing their  consistency  with  law,  and  the  great 
advantage  which  might  arise  from  them ;  but 
Whitgift  would  hear  of  nothing  that  looked  like 
a  Puritanical  reformation. J 

The  Lord's  Day  was  now  very  much  profaned 
by  the  encouragement  of  plays  and  sports  in  the 
evening,  and  sometimes  in  the  afternoon.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Smith,  M.A.,  in  his  sermon  before  the 
University  of  Cambridge,  the  first  Sunday  in 
Lent,  maintained  the  unlawfulness  of  these 
plays  ;  for  which  he  was  summoned  before  the 
vice-chancellor,  and  upon  examination  offered 
to  prove  that  the  Christian  Sabbath  ought  to  be 
observed  by  an  abstinence  from  all  worldly  bu- 
siness, and  spent  in  works  of  piety  and  charity ; 
though  he  did  not  apprehend  we  were  bound  to 
the  strictness  of  the  Jewish  precepts. iji  The 
Parliament  had  taken  this  matter  into  consider- 
ation, II  and  passed  a  bill  for  the  better  and  more 
reverent  observation  of  the  Sabbath,  which  the 
speaker  recommended  to  the  queen  in  an  ele- 
gant speech  ;  but  her  majesty  refused  to  pass 
it,  under  pretence  of  not  suffering  the  Parha- 
ment  to  meddle  with  matters  of  religion,  which 
was  her  prerogative.  However,  the  thing  ap- 
peared so  reasonable,  that,  without  the  sanction 
of  a  law,  the  religious  observation  of  the  Sab- 
bath grew  in  esteem  with  all  sober  persons,  and 
after  a  few  years  became  the  distinguishing 
mark  of  a  Puritan. 

This  summer  Mr.  Cartwright  returned  from 
abroad,  having  spent  five  years  in  preaching  to 
the  English  congregation  at  Antwerp ;  he  had 
been  seized  with  an  ague,  which  ended  in  a  hec- 
tic, for  which  the  physicians  advised  him  to  his 
native  air.  Upon  this  he  wrote  to  the  Earl  of 
Leicester  and  the  Jord-treasurer  for  leave  to 
come  home  ;  these  noblemen  made  an  honour- 
able mention  of  him  in  Parliament,  but  he  could 
not  obtain  their  mediation  with  the  queen  for 
his  pardon,  so  that  as  soon  as  it  was  known  he 
was  landed,  though  in  a  weak  and  languishing 
condition,  he  was  apprehended  and  thrown  into 
prison ;  when  he  appeared  before  the  archbishop 
he  behaved  with  that  modesty  and  respect  as 


*  Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  293. 
+  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  223. 


*  Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  328  . 

+  Here  Mr.  Neal  is  censured  by  Bishop  Warbur- 
ton,  as  partial,  for  reckoning  the  Bishop  of  Litch- 
field's conduct  to  be  agreeable  to  law,  because  m  fa- 
vour of  the  Puritans;  and  for  representing  before,  p. 
348,  the  archbishop's  publishing  articles  without  the 
great  seal  as  illegal,  because  agamst  the  Puritans. 
Not  to  say  that  the  articles  in  one  case  are  very  dif- 
ferent from  the  object  of  the  judicatory  in  the  other, 
Mr.  Neal,  it  will  appear  on  examining,  doth  not  de- 
cide on  the  legality  of  the  measure  in  either  case,  but, 
as  an  historian,  states  what  was  otTered  on  this  head 
by  the  parties ;  and  this  he  does  with  respect  to  the 
archbishop  very  fully  pro  and  con.— Ed. 

t  MS.,  p.  55.  §  Strype's  Ann.,  p.  341. 

II  Ibid.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  296. 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


177 


softened  the  heart  of  his  great  adversary,  who, 
upon  promise  of  his  peaceable  and  quiet  beha- 
Tiour,  suffered  him  to  go  at  large  ;  for  which 
the  Earl  of  Leicester  and  Mr.  Cartwright  return- 
ed his  grace  thanks  ;  but  all  their  interest  could 
not  procure  him  a  license  to  preach.  "Mr. 
Cartwright,"  says  the  archbishop  to  the  earl, 
"  shall  be  welcome  to  me  at  all  times,  but  to  grant 
him  a  license  to  preach  till  I  am  better  satisfied 
of  his  conformity,  is  not  consistent  with  my  duty 
or  conscience."  However,  the  earl  made  him 
governor  of  an  hospital  in  Warwick,  where  he 
was  connived  at  for  a  time,  and  preached  with- 
out a  license  :  his  salary  was  a  house,  and  £100 
per  annum. 

Mr.  Fenner  and  Wood,  two  other  suspended 
ministers,  were  released  after  twelve  months' 
imprisonment,  upon  a  general  subscription  to 
the  articles,  as  far  as  the  law  required,  and  a 
promise  to  use  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
and  no  other ;  but  such  was  the  clamour  on  all 
hands,  by  reason  of  the  three  articles  to  be  sub- 
scribed by  all  who  had  livings  already,  as  well 
as  those  that  should  hereafter  take  orders,  that 
Secretary  Walsingham  went  over  to  Lambeth, 
and  told  his  grace  that  it  would  stop,  in  a  great 
measure,  the  complaints  which  were  brought  to 
court,  if  he  would  require  subscription  only  of 
such  as  were  hereafter  to  enter  into  holy  orders, 
and  suffer  those  already  in  places  to  proceed  in 
the  discharge  of  their  duty,  upon  condition  of 
their  giving  bond  to  read  the  common  prayer 
according  to  the  usages  and  laws  prescribing 
the  same ;  which  the  archbishop  promised  to 
comply  with.* 

But  the  nonsubscribing  divines,  who  were  un- 
preferred,  might  not  so  much  as  teach  school 
for  a  livelihood,  for  the  archbishop  would  grant 
no  license  without  subscribing  ;  and  from  this 
time  his  licenses  to  teach  grammar,  and  even 
reading  and  writing,  were  granted  only  from 
year  to  year :  the  schoolmasters  were  to  be  full 
conformists  ;t  they  were  limited  to  a  particular 
diocess,  and  were  not  authorized  to  teach  else- 
where ;  they  were  to  instruct  their  scholars  in 
nothing  but  what  was  agreeable  to  the  laws 
and  statutes  of  the  realm  ;  and  all  this  only  du- 
ring the  bishop's  pleasure.  Such  was  the  rig- 
cur  of  these  times  ! 

Mr.  Travers  had  been  lecturer  at  the  Temple 
"With  Mr.  Hooker,  the  new  master,  about  two 
years,  but  with  very  little  harmony  or  agree- 
ment, one  being  a  strict  Calvinist,  the  other  a 
person  of  larger  principles ;  the  sermon  in  the 
morning  was  very  often  confuted  in  the  after- 
noon, and  vindicated  again  the  next  Lord's  Day. 
The  writer  of  Hooker's  lifef  reports  that  the 
morning  sermon  spoke  the  language  of  Canter- 
bury, the  afternoon  that  of  Geneva.  Hooker 
complaining  of  this  usage,  the  archbishop  took 
Uie  opportunity  to  suspend  Mr.  Travers  at  once. 


without  any  warning ;  for,  as  he  was  going  up 
into  the  pulpit  to  preach  on  the  Lord's  Day  af- 
ternoon, the  officer  served  him  witli  a  prohibi- 
tion upon  the  pulpit  stairs  ;  upon  which,  instead 
of  a  sermon,  he  acquainted  the  congregation 
with  his  suspension,  and  dismissed  them.*  The 
reasons  given  for  it  were,  1.  Tliat  he  was  not 
ordained  according  to  the  rites  of  tiie  Church 
of  England.  2.  That  he  had  broken  the  orders 
of  the  7th  of  the  queen,  "  That  disputes  should 
not  be  brought  into  the  pulpit." 

Mr.  Travers,  in  his  own  vindication,  drew  up 
a  petition  or  supplication  to  the  council,  in  which 
he  complains  of  being  judged  and  condemned 
before  he  was  heard,  and  then  goes  on  to  an- 
swer the  objections  alleged  against  him  in  the 
prohibition. 

First,  it  is  said  "that  I  am  not  lawfully 
called  to  exercise  the  office  of  a  minister,  nor 
allowed  to  preach,  according  to  the  laws  of  the 
Church  of  England." 

To  which  I  answer,  that  my  call  was  by  such 
methods  as  are  appointed  in  the  national  synods 
of  the  foreign  Reformed  churches  ;  testimonials 
of  which  I  have  shown  to  my  Lord  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury ;  so  that,  if  any  man  be  lawfully 
called  to  the  ministry  in  those  countries,  I  am. 
But  "  I  am  not  qualified  to  be  a  minister  in 
England,  because  I  am  not  ordained  according 
to  the  laws  of  this  country." 

I  beseech  your  lordships  to  weigh  my  answer : 
Such  is  the  communion  of  saints,  as  that,  what 
solemn  acts  are  done  in  one  true  church  of 
Christ,  according  to  his  Word,  are  held  lawful  in 
all  others  :  the  constituting  or  making  of  a  min- 
ister being  once  lawfully  done,  ought  not  to  be 
repealed  :  pastors  and  teachers  in  the  New 
Testament  hold  the  same  manner  of  calling  as 
I  had  :  the  repeating  ordination  makes  void  the 
former  ordination,  and,  consequently,  all  such 
acts  as  were  done  by  virtue  of  it,  as  baptism, 
confirmation,  marriage,  &c.  By  the  same  rule, 
people  ought  to  be  rebaptized  and  married  over 
again,  when  they  come  into  this  country  from 
a  foreign.! 

Besides,  by  the  statute  13  Elizabeth,  those 
who  have  been  ordained  in  foreign  Protestant 
churches,  upon  their  subscribing  the  articles 
therein  mentioned,  are  qualified  to  enjoy  any 
benefice  in  the  kingdom,  equally  with  them  who 
are  ordained  according  to  the  laws  now  in  be- 
ing ;  which,  comprehending  all  that  are  priests 
according  to  the  order  of  the  Church  of  Rome, 


*  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  226,  227.  f  Ibid.,  p.  246. 

t  Bishop  Warburton  deems  it  disingenuous  in  Mr. 
Weal  to  quote  the  language  of  this  biographer,  as  he 
knew  that,  so  quoted,  it  would  be  understood  to  re- 
flect upon  Mr.  Hooker  as  only  a  tool  or  creature  of 
the  archbishop.  But  is  not  Bishop  Warburton  here 
unnecessarily  captious  ?  To  me  it  appears  that  the 
opposition  lying  between  Canterbury  and  Geneva  is 
sufficient  to  screen  Mr.  Neal's  use  of  the  biogra- 
plier's  words  from  the  imputation  of  such  a  meaning. 
— Ed. 

Vol.  I Z 


*  Many  who  approved  of  the  silencing  of  Travers 
were  indignant  at  the  way  in  which  it  was  done. 
Fuller  gives  the  following  account  of  it.  "All  the 
congregation,  on  a  Sabbath  in  the  afternoon,  were 
assembled  together,  their  attention  prepared,  the 
cloth  (as  I  may  say)  and  napkins  were  laid,  yea,  the 
guests  set,  and  their  knives  drawn  for  their  spiritual 
repast ;  when  suddenly,  as  Mr.  Travers  was  going 
up  into  the  pulpit,  a  sorry  fellow  served  him  with  a 
letter  prohibiting  him  to  preach  any  more.  In  obe- 
dience to  authority,  Mr.  Travers  calmly  signified  the 
same  to  the  congregation,  and  requested  them  quiet- 
ly to  depart  to  their  chambers. 

"  Thus  was  our  good  Zecharias  struck  dumb  in  the 
Temple,  but  not  for  infidelity.  Meantime,  his  audi- 
tory, sent  sermonless  home,  manifested  in  their  va- 
riety of  passion,  some  grieving,  some  frowning,  some 
murmuring,  and  the  wisest  sort,  who  held  their 
tongues,  shook  their  heads  as  disliking  the  managing 
of  the  matter." — Church  History,  ch.  ix.,  p.  217. — C. 

t  Whitgift's  Life,  p.  251. 


178 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


must  certainly  be  as  favourable  to  ministers  or- 
dained among  foreign  Protestants.  In  conse- 
quence of  this  law  many  Scots  divines  are  now 
in  possession  of  benefices  in  the  Church,  as  was 
Mr.  Whittingham,  though  he  was  the  first  who 
was  called  in  question  in  this  case. 

But  it  is  said,  "  I  preached  without  presenta- 
tion or  license." 

To  which  I  answer,  that  the  place  where  I 
exercised  my  mini.stry  required  no  presentation, 
nor  had  I  a  title,  or  reaped  any  benefit  by  law, 
but  only  received  a  voluntary  contribution,  and 
was  employed  in  preaching  only ;  and  as  to  a 
license,  I  was  recommended  to  be  a  minister  of 
that  place  by  two  several  letters  of  the  Bishop 
of  London  to  the  gentlemen  of  the  Inner  Tem- 
ple, without  which  letters  that  society  would 
not  have  permitted  me  to  officiate. 

Secondly,  "  I  am  charged  with  indiscretion 
and  want  of  duty  to  Mr.  Hooker,  master  of  the 
Temple  ;  and  with  breaking  the  order  of  the  7th 
of  the  queen,  about  bringing  disputes  into  the 
pulpit." 

As  to  "  want  of  duty,"  I  answer,  though  some 
have  suspected  my  want  of  good-will  to  Mr. 
Hooker,  because  he  succeeded  Dr.  Alvey  in  the 
place  I  desired  for  myself;  this  is  a  mistake, 
for  I  declined  the  place  because  I  could  not 
subscribe  to  my  Lord  of  Canterbury's  late  arti- 
cles, which  I  would  not  do  for  the  mastership 
of  the  Temple,  or  any  other  place  in  the  Church. 
I  was  glad  the  place  was  given  Mr.  Hooker,  as 
well  for  the  sake  of  old  acquaintance  as  to  some 
kind  of  affinity  there  is  between  us,  hoping  we 
should  live  peaceably  and  amicably  together,  as 
becomes  brethren  ;  but  when  I  heard  him  preach 
against  the  doctrine  of  assurance,  and  for  sal- 
vation in  the  Church  of  Rome,  with  all  their  er- 
rors and  idolatry,  I  thought  myself  obliged  to 
oppose  him  ;  yet,  when  I  found  it  occasioned  a 
pulpit  war,  I  declared  publicly  that  1  would  con- 
cern myself  no  farther  in  that  manner,  though 
Mr.  Hooker  went  on  with  the  dispute. 

But  it  is  said,  "  I  should  then  have  complain- 
ed of  him  to  the  high  commission." 

To  which  I  answer.  It  was  not  out  of  con- 
tempt or  neglect  of  lawful  authority,  but  because 
I  was  against  all  methods  of  severity,  and  had 
declared  my  resolution  to  trouble  the  pulpit  with 
those  debates  no  more. 

Upon  the  whole,  I  hope  it  will  appear  to  your 
lordships  that  my  behaviour  has  not  deserved 
so  severe  a  punishment  as  has  been  inflicted 
upon  me  ;  and  therefore  I  humbly  pray  that  your 
lordships  would  please  to  restore  me  to  my  min- 
istry, by  such  means  as  your  wisdoms  shall 
think  fit ;  which  will  lay  me  under  farther  obli- 
gations to  pray  for  your  temporal  and  eternal 
happiness.  But  if  your  lordships  cannot  pro- 
cure me  this  favour,  I  recommend  myself  to  your 
lordships'  protection,  under  her  majesty,  in  a 
private  life,  and  the  Church  to  Almighty  God, 
who  in  justice  will  punish  the  wicked,  and  in 
mercy  reward  the  righteous  with  a  happy  im- 
mortality. 

Mr.  Hooker  wrote  an  answer  to  Mr.  Trav- 
ers's  supplication,  in  a  letter  to  his  patron,  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in  which  he  takes 
no  notice  of  Travers's  ordination,  but  confines 
himself  to  his  objections  against  his  doctrines; 
some  of  which  he  undertakes  lo  refute,  and  in 
other  places  complains  of  misrepresentation. 


But  let  all  be  granted  that  he  would  have,  says 
Mr.  Hooker,  what  will  it  advantage  him  1  He 
ought  to  have  complained  to  the  high  coinmie- 
sioners,  and  not  have  confuted  me  in  the  pulpit ; 
for  schisms  and  disturbances  will  arise  in  the 
Church,  if  all  men  may  be  tolerated  to  think  as 
they  please,  and  publicly  speak  what  they  think. 
Therefore,  by  a  decree  agreed  upon  by  the 
bishops,  and  confirmed  by  her  majesty,  it  was 
ordered  that,  if  erroneous  doctrine  should  be 
taught  publicly,  it  should  not  be  publicly  refu- 
ted, but  complained  of  to  such  persons  as  her 
majesty  should  appoint  to  hear  and  determine 
such  causes ;  for  breach  of  which  order  he  is 
charged  with  want  of  duty  ;  and  all  the  faults 
he  alleges  against  me  can  signify  nothing  in  his 
own  defence.  Mr.  Hooker  concludes  with  his 
unfeigned  desires  that  both  Mr.  Travers's  and 
his  papers  may  be  burned,  and  all  animosities 
buried  in  oblivion,  and  that  there  be  no  strife 
among  them  but  this,  who  shall  pursue  peace, 
unity,  and  piety  with  the  greatest  vigour  and 
diligence. 

But  the  council  interfered  not  in  the  affair. 
Travers  was  left  to  the  mercy  of  the  archbishop, 
who  could  never  be  prevailed  with  to  take  off 
his  suspension  or  license  him  to  preach  in  any 
part  of  England  ;  upon  which  he  accepted  art 
invitation  into  Ireland,  and  became  Provost  of 
Trinity  College  in  the  University  of  Dublin  ; 
here  he  was  tutor  to  the  famous  Dr.  Usher,  af- 
terward Archbishop  of  Armagh,  who  always 
had  him  in  high  esteem  ;  but  being  driven  from 
thence  by  the  wars,  he  returned  after  some 
years  into  England,  and  spent  the  remainder  of 
his  days  in  silence,  obscurity,  and  great  pover- 
ty ;  he  was  a  learned  man,  a  polite  preacher, 
an  admirable  orator,  and  one  of  the  worthiest 
divines  of  his  age.  But  all  these  qualifications 
put  together  could  not  atone  for  the  single  crime 
of  nonconformity. 

Mr.  Cartwright  being  forbid  preaching,  had 
been  encouraged  by  the  Earl  of  Leicester  and 
Secretary  Walsingham  to  answer  the  Rhemist 
translation  of  the  New  Testament,  published 
with  annotations  in  favour  of  popery;  divers  doc- 
tors and  heads  of  houses  of  the  University  of 
Cambridge  solicited  him  to  the  same  work,  as 
appears  by  their  epistle  prefixed  to  the  book : 
the  like  encouragement  he  received  from  sundry 
ministers  in  London  and  Suffolk,  none  being- 
thought  so  equal  to  the  task  as  himself;  and. 
because  Cartwright  was  poor,  the  secretary  of 
state  sent  him  £100,  with  assurance  of  such  far- 
ther assistance  as  should  be  necessary.*  This 
was  about  the  year  1583.  Cartwright  accord- 
ingly applied  himself  to  the  work,  but  the  arch- 
bishop, by  his  sovereign  authority,  forbade  him 
to  proceed,  being  afraid  that  his  writings  would 
do  the  hierarchy  more  damage  than  they  would 
do  service  to  the  Protestant  cause :  the  book, 
therefore,  was  left  unfinished,  and  not  published 
till  the  year  1618,  to  the  great  regret  of  the 
learned  world,  and  reproach  of  the  archbishop. 

The  sufferings  of  Mr.  Gardiner,  the  deprived 
minister  of  Maiden,  in  Essex,  would  have  moved 
compassion  in  any  except  the  Bishop  of  London. 
I  will  represent  them  in  his  own  words,  as  they 
were  sent  to  him  in  form  of  a  supplication,  dated 
September  7th,  1586.+ 


*  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  253. 


t  MS.,  p.  752. 


HISTORY   OF  THE  PURITANS. 


179 


i'o  the  right  reverend  father  in  God,  the  Lord- 
l^shop  of  London : 
"  My  duty  in  humble  wise  remembered,  my  lord, 

"I  am  cast  into  prison  by  your  lordship  for  a 
matter  which  about  seven  years  past  was  slan- 
derously raised  up  against  me  ;  I  was  by  course 
of  law  cleared,  and  the  Lord  God  which  search- 
eth  the  hearts,  before  whom  both  you  and  I 
shall  shortly  appear,  doth  know,  and  him  I  call 
to  witness,  that  I  was  and  am  falsely  accused 
I  have  been  extremely  sick  in  prison  ;  I  thank 
God  I  am  amended,  but  yet  so  that  the  physi- 
cians say  my  infection  from  the  prison  will  be 
very  dangerous.  I  have  a  poor  wife  and  five 
children,  which  are  in  lamentable  case ;  I  had 
six  children  at  the  beginning  of  my  imprison- 
ment ;  but  by  reason  of  my  sickness  in  prison, 
my  wife  being  constrained  to  attend  upon  me, 
one  of  my  children,  for  want  of  somebody  to 
oversee  them,  was  drowned  in  a  tub  of  wort, 
being  two  years  and  half  old.  If  your  lordship 
have  no  compassion  on  me,  yet  take  pity  upon 
the  widow  and  fatherless  (for  in  that  state  are 
now  my  wife  and  poor  infants),  whose  tears  are 
before  the  Lord.  I  crave  no  more  but  this,  to  be 
bailed  ;  and  if  I  am  found  guilty  of  any  breach  of 
law,  let  me  have  extremity  without  any  favour. 

"  Your  lordship's  to  command  in  Christ, 

"  John  Gardiner." 

Mr.  Giles  Wigginglon,  M.A.,  minister  of  Sed- 
burgh,  having  been  deprived  at  Lambeth  for 
nonconformity,  and  another  inducted  into  his 
living,  went  home,  and  being  denied  entrance 
mto  the  Church,  preached  a  kind  of  farewell 
sermon  to  his  parishioners  in  the  churchyard, 
and   administered   the   sacrament,   having   no 
peace  in  his  mind  till  he  had  done  it,  though  his 
brethren  in  the  ministry  would  have  dissuaded 
him ;  after  this  he  retired  with  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren to  Burrough-bridge,  but  was  arrested  in  his 
journey  by  a  pursuivant  from  the  Archbishop  of 
York,  and  sent  to  Lancaster  jail,  fifty  miles  dis- 
tant from  the  place  where  he  was  arrested,  m 
a  hard  and  cold  winter ;  there  he  was  shut  up 
among  felons  and  condemned  prisoners,   and 
worse  used  than  they,  or  than  the  recusant  pa- 
pist.    From  hence  he  sent  up  his  case  to  Sir 
Walter  Mildmay,  one  of  the  privy  council,  but 
with  little  success  ;  for  he  was  a  warm  noncon- 
formist, and  a  bold  preacher  against  the  lordly 
proceedings  of  the  bishops,  for  which,  and  for 
refusing  the  oath  ex  officio,  he  suffered  a  long 
imprisonment.*     He  was  afterward  apprehend- 
ed again,  upon  suspicion  of  his  being  one  of  the 
authors  of  Martin  Mar- Prelate,  which  he  denied  ; 
but  confessing  he  did  not  dislike  the  book,  he 
was  therefore  confined  in  the  Compter  and  the 
Gate-house,  till,  I  believe,  he  consented  to  leave 
the  realm. 

In  the  Parliament  that  met  this  year,  Octo- 
ber 29th,  1586,  and  28  Eliz.,  the  Puritan  minis- 
ters made  another  effort  for  parliamentary  re- 
lief, for  which  purpose  they  presented  an  hum- 
ble supplication  to  the  House  of  Commons  ;  in 
which  they  say,  "  It  pierces  our  hearts  with 
grief  to  hear  the  cries  of  the  country  people  for 
the  Word  of  God.  The  bishops  either  preach 
not  at  all,  or  very  seldom  ;  neither  can  they  for 
their  manifold  business,  their  diocesses  being 
too  large  for  their  personal  inspection  ;  besides, 

*  MS.,  754,  843,  &c. 


they  are  encumbered  with  civil  affairs,  not  only 
in  their  own  ecclesiastical  courts,  in  causes  tes- 
tamentary, &c.,  but  as  lord-barons,  justices  of 
peace,  members  of  the  Star  Chamber,  Council- 
table,  and  Ecclesiastical  Commission  ;  all  which 
is  contrary  to  the  words  of  Christ,  who  says 
his  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world  ;  and  contrary 
to  the  practice  of  all  other  Reformed  churches. 
And  whereas  the  Scriptures  say  that  ministers 
of  the  Gospel  should  be  such  as  are  able  to  teach 
sound  doctrine  and  convince  gainsayers,  yet  the 
bishops  have  made  priests  of  the  basest  of  the 
people,  not  only  for  their  occupations  and  trades 
whence  they  have  taken  them,  as  shoemakers, 
barbers,  tailors,  water-bearers,  shepherds,  and 
horse-keepers,  but  also  for  their  want  of  good 
learning  and  honesty.  Hovi^  true  this  our  com- 
plaint is,  may  appear  by  the  survey  of  some 
shires  and  counties  hereunto  annexed,  evea 
some  of  the  best,  whereby  the  rest  may  be  es- 
timated. 

"  We  do  acknowledge  that  there  are  a  num- 
ber of  men  within  the  ministry  who  have  good 
and  acceptable  gifts,  and  are  able  to  preach  the 
Word  of  God  to  edification  ;  of  which  number 
there  are  two  sorts  :  there  are  a  grea<:  number 
that  live  not  upon  the  place  where  they  are  ben- 
eficed, but  abandon  their  flocks,  directly  contrary 
to  the  charge  of  Christ  to  Peter,  saying,  '  Feed 
my  sheep  ;'  and  of  the  apostle  Paul  to  the  elders 
of  Ephesus,  '  Take  heed  to  yourselves,  and  the 
flock  over  which  the  Holy  Ghost  has  made  you 
overseers,  to  feed  the  Church  of  God.'  Of  this 
sort  are  sundry  bishops,  who  have  benefices  in 
commendam ;  university  men,  and  chaplains  at 
court ;  others  get  two  or  three  benefices  into 
their  hands,  to  serve  them  for  winter  and  sum- 
mer houses  ;  which  pluralities  and  nonresiden- 
ces  are  the  more  grievous  because  they  are  tol- 
erated by  law.  There  are,  indeed,  several  that 
reside  upon  their  benefices,  but  content  them- 
selves with  just  satisfying  the  law  ;  that  is,  to 
have  Divine  service  read,  and  four  sermons  a 
year. 

"  But  great  numbers  of  the  best  qualified  for 
preaching,  and  of  the  greatest  industry  and  ap- 
plication to  their  spiritual  functions,  are  not  suf- 
fered quietly  to  discharge  their  duties,  but  are 
followed  with  innumerable  vexations,  notwith- 
standing they  are  neither  heretics  nor  schismat- 
ics, but  keep  within  the  pale  of  the  Church,  and 
persuade  others  to  do  so,  who  would  otherwise 
have  departed  from  it.     They  fast  and  pray  for 
the  queen  and  the  Church,  though  they  have 
been  rebuked  for  it,  and  diversely  punished  by 
officers  both  civil  and  ecclesiastical.     They  are 
suspended  and  deprived  of  their  ministry,  and 
the  fruits  of  their  livings  are  sequestered  for  the 
payment  of  such  a  chaplain  as  their  superiors 
think  fit  to  employ  ;  this  has  continued  for  many 
months  and  years,  notwithstanding  the  interces- 
sion of  their  people,  of  their  friends,  and  some- 
times of  great  personages,  for  their  release. 
Last  of  all,  many  of  them  are  committed  to 
prison,  whereof  some  have  been  chained  with 
irons,  and  continued  in  hard  durance  for  a  long 
time. 

"To  bring  about  these  severities,  they  [the 
bishops]  tender  to  the  suspected  persons  an  oath 
ex  officio,  to  answer  all  interrogatories  that  shall 
be  put  to  them,  though  it  be  to  accuse  them- 
selves ;  and  when  they  have  gotten  a  confe* 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


180 

sion,  they  proceed  upon  it  to  punish  them  with 
all  rigour,  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God  and  of 
this  land,  and  of  all  nations  in  Christendom,  ex- 
cept it  be  in  Spain  by  the  Inquisition.  Those 
who  have  refused  the  oath  have  been  cast  into 
prison,  and  commanded  there  to  lie  without  bail 
till  they  yield  to  it. 

"  The  grounds  of  these  troubles  are,  not  im- 
piety, immorality,  want  of  learning  or  ddigence 
in  their  ministerial  work,  but  for  not  being  sat- 
isfied in  the  use  of  certain  ceremonies  and  or- 
ders of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  for  not  being 
able  to  declare  that  everything  in  the  Common 
Prayer  Book  is  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God. 
Alas  !  that  for  these  things  good  preachers 
should  be  so  molested,  and  the  people  deprived 
of  the  food  of  their  souls,  and  that  by  fathers  of 
the  same  faith  with  ourselves. 

"  We  therefore  most  humbly,  and  for  the 
Lord's  sake,  crave  of  this  high  and  honourable 
court  of  Parliament  that  it  may  please  you  to 
hear  and  read  this  our  supplication,  and  take 
such  order  for  it  as  to  your  godly  wisdom  shall 
be  thought  necessary.* 

November,  1586." 

The  grievances  annexed  to  this  supplication 
were  these  : 

1.  The  absolute  power  of  the  bishop  to  give 
and  take  away  licenses  to  preach  at  his  pleas- 
ure :    2.  The  proceedings  of  the  ecclesiastical 


commissioners  according  to  their  own  discre- 
tions, without  regard  to  law  :  3.  The  small  num- 
ber of  commissioners,  viz.,  three,  who  may  decide 
the  most  weighty  causes  :  4.  The  not  allowing 
an  appeal  to  any  other  court :  5.  The  double 
character  of  the  bishops,  who  sit  on  the  bench 
both  as  bishops  and  as  commissioners  :  6.  The 
oath  ex  officio,  in  which  this  is  always  one  of 
their  interrogatories,  "  Do  you  wholly  keep,  ob- 
serve, and  read  in  your  church,  all  the  parts  of 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  wear  the 
habits!" 

The  survey  mentioned  in  the  supplication,  by 
which  the  miserable  state  of  the  Church  for 
want  of  an  able  and  efficient  ministry  appears, 
is  too  large  to  be  inserted  ;  it  was  taken  in  the 
years  1585  and  1586,  by  some  persons  employed 
for  that  purpose  against  the  meeting  of  the  Par- 
liament ;*  it  is  divided  into  eight  columns  : 

The  first  contains  the  name  of  the  benefice^. 

The  second,  the  yearly  value. 

The  third,  the  number  of  souls. 

The  fourth,  the  name  of  the  incumbent,  and 
whether  a  preacher  or  not. 

The  fifth,  what  other  benefices  he  has,  and 
what  curates  do  serve  him. 

The  "sixth,  his  character  and  conversation. 

The  seventh,  who  made  him  minister.    And, 

The  eighth,  the  patron  of  the  living  ;  accord- 
ing to  the  following  plan  : 


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»  MS.,  p.  684,  and  seq. 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


181 


It  must  be  uncommon  diligence  and  appli- 
cation, as  well  as  a  very  great  expense,  to  col- 
lect so  many  names  and  characters  of  men  ; 
the  exact  valuation  of  so  many  livings ;  the 
number  of  nonresident  ministers  ;  of  such  as 
had  been  mass-priests  ;  and  of  mechanics  and 
tradesmen  :  but  such  was  the  zeal  of  these  pi- 
ous men  !  The  survey  of  Lincolnshire  was 
signed  by  the  justices  of  the  peace  of  that  coun- 
ty, and  the  others  are  attested  by  some  of  the 
principal  clergymen  of  those  parts,  and  are  so 
particular  in  all  circumstances,  as  leave  little 
room  to  doubt  of  their  truth  in  general,  though 
there  may  be  some  few  mistakes  in  characters 
and  numbers  :  upon  the  whole,  the  survey  takes 
notice  that,  after  twenty-eight  years'  establish- 
ment of  the  Church  of  England,  there  were 
only  two  thousand  preachers  to  serve  near  ten 
thousand  parish  churches,  so  that  there  were 
almost  eight  thousand  parishes  without  preach- 
ing ministers.*  To  this  .account  agrees  that  of 
Mr.  Fenner,  who  lived  in  these  times,  and  says 
that  a  third  part  of  the  ministers  of  England 
"were  covered  with  a  cloud  of  suspensions  ;t 
that  if  persons  would  hear  a  sermon,  they 
must  go  in  some  places  five,  seven,  twelve, 
yea,  in  some  counties  twenty  miles,  and  at  the 
same  time  be  find  I2d.  a  Sabbath  for  being  ab- 
sent from  their  own  parish  church,  though  it  be 
proved  they  were  hearing  a  sermon  elsewhere, 
because  they  had  none  at  home.  Nor  is  it  at  all 
strange  it  should  be  thus  in  the  country,  when 
the  Bishop  of  London  enjoined  his  clergy  in  his 
visitation  this  very  year,  1.  That  every  person 
should  have  a  Bible  in  Latin  and  English.  2. 
That  they  should  have  BuUinger's  Decads.  3. 
That  they  should  have  a  paper  book,  and  write  in 
it  the  quantity  of  a  sermon  every  week.  4.  That 
such  as  could  not  preach  themselves,  should  be 
taxed  at  four  purchased  sermons  a  year. J 
"What  a  miserable  state  of  things  was  this  ! 
when  many  hundreds  of  pious  and  conscientious 
preachers  were  excluded  the  Church,  and  starv- 
ing with  their  families  for  want  of  employment. 
With  the  supplication  and  survey  above  men- 
tioned, a  bill^  was  oiFered  to  the  House  of  Com- 

*  MS.,  p.  206.        t  Answer  to  Dr.  Bridges,  p.  48. 

J  Life  of  Aylmer,  p.  148. 

ij  Bishop  Warburton  condemns  "  the  offering  of 
this  bill  to  the  house  as  such  a  mutinous  action  in 
the  Puritan  ministers,"  that  he  wonders  a  writer  of 
Mr.  Neal's  "  good  sense  could  mention  them  without 
censure,  much  more  that  he  should  do  it  with  com- 
mendation." It  is  not  easy  to  see  where  his  lordship 
found  Mr.  Neal's  commendation  of  this  bill ;  the  edi- 
tor can  discern  a  bare  statement  of  the  proceedings 
only.  And  by  what  law,  or  by  what  principle  of  the 
constitution,  is  the  offering  of  a  bill  and  a  represent- 
ation of  grievances  to  the  house  an  act  of  mutiny  ? 
The  bill  of  the  Puritans  undoubtedly  went  to  new 
model  the  establishment,  but  only  by  enlarging  the 
terms  of  communion  ;  not  by  substituting  new  cere- 
monies in  the  room  of  those  which  were  burdensome 
to  themselves.  It  went,  it  is  true,  to  introduce  a  new 
discipline,  but  not  to  abolish  episcopacy.  And  was 
not  the  spiritual  jurisdiction  then  exercised  oppres- 
sive? Were  not  the  proceedings  of  the  bishops 
arbitrary?  If  so,  how  was  it  "insufferable  inso- 
lence" to  seek  a  parliamentary  reform  ?  It  would 
have  been,  as  his  lordship  grants,  just  and  reasonable 
if  the  Puritans  had  moved  for  toleration  only.  This 
would  have  been  more  consistent  in  those  who 
sought  only  their  own  liberty.  But  his  lordship  did 
not  allow  for  the  very  ditferent  ideas  we  may  have 
on  the  measures  that  should  have  been  pursued,  who 


mons  for  a  farther  reformation  ;  wherein,  after 
a  recital  of  their  grievances,  they  pray  that  the 
books  hereunto  annexed,  entitled  "  A  Book  of 
the  Form  of  Common  Prayer,  &c.,  and  every- 
thing therein  contained,  may  be  from  hence- 
forth authorized  and  put  in  use  and  practice, 
throughout  all  her  majesty's  dominions,  any 
former  law,  custom,  or  statute  to  the  contrary, 
in  any  wise  notwithstanding."  The  book  con- 
tained prayers  before  and  after  sermon,  but  left 
a  liberty  for  variation,  if  it  was  -thought  proper.* 
The  minister  was  to  pray  and  give  thanks  in 
the  words  there  prescribed,  or  such  like.  In 
the  Creed  it  leaves  the  article  of  Christ's  de- 
scent into  hell  more  at  large.  It  omits  three  of 
the  thirty-nine  articles,  viz.,  the  thirty-fourth, 
thirty-fifth,  and  thirty-sixth.  It  takes  the  juris- 
diction of  the  Church  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
spiritual  courts,  and  places  it  in  an  assembly  of 
ministers  and  elders  in  every  shire,  who  shall 
have  power  to  examine,  approve,  and  present 
ministers  to  the  several  parishes  for  their  elec- 
tion, and  even  to  depose  them,  with  the  con- 
sent of  the  bishop,  upon  their  misbehaviour. 

At  the  same  time  a  pamphlet  was  dispersed 
without  dqprs,  entitled  "  A  Request  of  all  true 
Christians  to  the  Honourable  House  of  Parlia- 
ment." It  prays  "that  every  parish  church 
may  have  its  pi'eacher,  and  every  city  its  super- 
intendent, to  live  honestly,  but  not  pompously." 
And  to  provide  for  this  it  prays  "  that  all  cathe- 
dral churches  may  be  put  down,  where  the  ser- 
vice of  God  is  grievously  abused  by  piping  with 
organs,  singing,  ringing,  and  trowling  of  psalms 
from  one  side  of  the  choir  to  another,  with  the 
squeaking  of  chanting  choristers,  disguised  (as 
are  all  the  rest)  in  white  surplices  ;  some  in 
corner  caps  and  filthy  copes,  imitating  the  fash- 
ion and  manner  of  antichrist  the  pope,  that  man 
of  sin  and  child  of  perdition,  with  his  other 
rabble  of  miscreants  and  shavelings.  These 
unprofitable  drones,  or,  rather,  caterpillars  of 
the  world,  consume  yearly,  some  £2500,  some 
£3000,  some  more,  some  less,  whereof  no  profit 
Cometh  to  the  Church  of  God.  They  are  the 
dens  of  idle,  loitering  lubbards  ;  the  harbours 
of  time-serving  hypocrites,  whose  prebends  and 
livings  belong,  some  to  gentlemen,  some  to 
boys,  and  some  to  serving-men  and  others.  If 
the  revenues  of  these  houses  were  applied  to 
augment  the  maintenance  of  poor,  diligent, 
preaching  parish  mmisters,  or  erecting  schools, 
religion  would  then  nourish  in  the  land."t 


view  these  transactions  at  this  distance  of  time,  and 
many  years  after  a  toleration  act  has  passed,  from 
what  those  had  whose  minds,  in  the  infancy  of  a. 
separation  from  the  Church,  felt  all  the  attachments 
to  it  produced  by  education  and  habit,  and  were  nat- 
urally averse  to  a  total  and  final  secession  from  it 
He  considers  "  the  House  of  Commons  in  a  temper 
to  have  passed  a  bill  for  toleration."  But  he  forgeta 
that  the  success  of  such  a  bill,  or  of  any  bill,  did  not 
depend  on  the  temper  of  the  house,  but  on  the  pleas- 
ure of  the  queen.  Besides,  for  the  first  twelve  or 
fourteen  years  of  her  majesty's  reign  the  prayer  of 
the  petitions  presented  by  the  Puritans  was,  if  not 
for  a  toleration  in  a  separation  from  the  Church,  yet 
only  for  a  dispensation  for  the  use  of  the  habits  and 
three  or  four  ceremonies,  and  a  redress  of  a  few  no- 
torious abuses.  As  the  queen  and  bishops  continued 
unyielding,  and  grew  more  vigorous,  new  questions 
were  started,  and  now  burdens  were  felt,  and  new 
demands  arose. — See  Mr.  Neale's  Review. — En. 
*  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  258.  f  MS.,  p.  814, 


182 

Some  bold  speeches  were  made  in  Parliament 
against  the  arbitrary  proceedings  of  the  bishops, 
by  Mr.  Wcntworth  and  others,  for  which  those 
members  were  sent  to  the  Tower  ;  at  which 
the  house  was  so  intimidated  that  they  would 
not  suffer  the  bill  to  be  read.  Besides,  the 
queen  sent  both  for  the  bill  and  petition  out  of 
the  house,  and  ordered  the  speaker  to  acquaint 
them  "  that  she  was  already  settled  in  her  reli- 
gion, and  would  not  begin  again  ;  that  changes 
in  religion  were  dangerous ;  that  it  was  not 
reasonable  for  them  to  call  in  question  the  es- 
tablished religion,  while  others  were  endeav- 
ouring to  overthrow  it ;  that  she  had  consider- 
ed the  objections,  and  looked  upon  them  as 
frivolous  ;  and  that  the  platform  itself  was  most 
prejudicial  to  her  crown,  and  to  the  peace  of 
her  government."*  Nay,  so  incensed  was  the 
queen  with  these  attempts  of  the  Puritans,  that 
in  drawing  up  a  general  pardon  to  he  passed  in 
Parliament,  she  ordered  an  exception  to  be 
'made  of  such  as  committed  any  offence  against 
the  Act  of  Uniformity,  or  were  publishers  of 
seditious  books  or  pamphlets. t 

The  convocation,  contrary  to  all  custom  and 
usage,  continued  sitting  after  the  Parliament, 
and  gave  the  queen  a  subsidy  or  benevolence. 
This  precedent  Archbishop  Laud  made  us  of  in 
the  year  1G40  to  prove  the  lawfulness  of  a  con- 
vocation sitting  without  a  Parliament.  All  they 
did  farther  was  to  address  the  queen  with  an 
offer  to  maintain  by  disputation  that  the  plat- 
form of  the  Puritans  was  absurd  in  divinity,  and 
dangerous  to  the  state  ;  which  the  Nonconform- 
ists would  willingly  have  debated,  but  the  others 
icnew  the  queen  and  council  would  not  admit  it. 

The  press  was  in  the  hands  of  the  archbish- 
op, who  took  all  possible  care  to  stifle  the  wri- 
tings of  the  Puritans,  while  he  gave  licenset  to 
Ascanio,  an  Italian  merchant,  and  bookseller  in 
London,  to  import  what  popish  books  he  thought 
fit,  upon  this  very  odd  pretence,  that  the  adver- 
saries' arguments  being  better  known  by  learn- 
ed men,  might  be  more  easily  confuted. (^  But 
was  it  not  a  shorter  way  to  confute  them  in  the 
high  commission  "!  Or  might  not  the  same  rea- 
son have  served  for  licensing  the  books  of  the 
Puritans  1  But  his  grace  seems  to  have  been 
in  no  fear  of  popery,  though  this  very  year 
another  assassination -plot  was  discovered,  for 
which  Ballard,  a  priest,  and  about  twelve  or 
fourteen  more,  were  executed.il  Remarkable 
are  the  words  of  this  Ballard,  who  declared,  upon 
examination,  to  Sir  Francis  Knollys,  treasurer 
of  the  queen's  household,  and  a  privy  counsellor, 
"  that  he  would  desire  no  better  books  to  prove 
his  doctrine  of  popery  than  the  archbishop's 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


*  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  259.        t  Heyl.  Aer.,  p.  269. 

J  This  license  was  not  absolute  and  unlimited,  but 
restrained  the  importation  to  a  few  copies  of  every 
such  sort  of  books,  and  on  this  condition  only,  that  any 
of  them  be  not  showed  or  dispersed  abroad  ;  but  a  de- 
livery of  them  was  to  be  made  to  one  of  the  privy 
council,  or  to  such  only  as  they  or  some  one  of  them 
should  judge  meet  to  have  the  perusal  of  them.  As- 
canio was  obliged  to  enter  into  strict  bonds  to  per- 
form these  conditions.  This  method  of  licensing 
popish  books  was  not  so  inconsistent  with  the  re- 
straint laid  on  the  liberty  of  the  press,  and  on  the  cir- 
culation of  the  hooks  of  the  Puritans,  as  our  author 
represents  it,  and  appears  to  have  conceived  of  it. — 
Maddox's  Vindication,  p.  350. — Ed. 

§  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  268.  |1  Ibid.,  p.  265. 


writings  against  Cartwright,  and  his  injunctions 
set  forth  in  her  majesty's  name.  That  if  any 
men  among  the  Protestants  lived  virtuously, 
they  were  the  Puritans,  who  renounced  their 
ceremonies,  and  would  not  be  corrupted  with 
pluralities.  That  unlearned  and  reading  minis- 
ters were  rather  a  furtherance  than  a  hinderance 
to  the  Catholic  cause.  That  though  the  bishops 
owned  her  majesty  to  be  supreme  governor  in 
causes  ecclesiastical,  yet  they  did  not  keep  their 
courts  in  her  majesty's  name  ;  and  that,  though 
the  names  and  authority  of  archbishops  and  bish- 
ops, &c.,  were  in  use  in  the  primitive  Church, 
they  forgot  that  they  were  then  lords  or  magis- 
trates of  order  only,  made  by  the  prince,  and  not 
lords  of  absolute  power,  ruling  without  appeal." 
This  was  written  by  Mr.  Treasurer  himself,  Oc- 
tober 15th,  1586,  upon  which  Sir  Francis  advi- 
sed in  council  "  that  special  care  should  be  ta- 
ken of  popish  recusants  ;  and  that  the  absolute 
authority  of  private  bishops,  without  appeal, 
should  be  restrained  ;  that  they  might  not  con- 
demn zealous  preachers  against  the  pope's  su- 
premacy for  refusing  to  subscribe  unlawful  arti- 
cles, nor  without  the  assembly  of  a  synodical 
council  of  preachers,  forasmuch  as  the  absolute 
authority  of  the  bishops,  and  their  ambition  and 
covetousness,  had  a  tendency  to  lead  people 
back  to  popery."  But  how  much  truth  soever 
there  was  in  these  observations,  the  queen  and 
archbishop  were  not  to  be  convinced. 

The  Puritans  being  wearied  out  with  repeated 
applications  to  their  superiors  for  relief,  began 
to  despair,  and  in  one  of  their  assemblies  came 
to  this  conclusion  :  that  since  the  magistrate 
could  not  be  induced  to  reform  the  discipline  of 
the  Church,  by  so  many  petitions  and  supplica- 
tions (which  we  all  confess  in  the  liturgy  is  to 
be  wished),  that  therefore,  after  so  many  years" 
waiting,  it  was  lawful  to  act  without  him,  and 
introduce  a  reformation  in  the  best  manner  they 
could.   We  have  mentioned  their  private  classes 
in  Essex,  Warwickshire,  Northamptonshire,  and 
other  parts,  in  which  their  book,  entitled  "  The 
Holy  Discipline  of  the  Church,  described  in  the 
Word  of  God,"  being  revised,  was  subscribed 
by  the  several  members  in  these  words,  accord- 
ing to  Mr.  Strype,  which  are  something  different 
from  the  form  at  the  end  of  the  book  in  the  Ap- 
pendix :    "  We  acknowledge  and  confess   the 
same,  agreeable  to  God's  most  holy  Word,  so 
far  as  we  are  able  to  judge  or  discern  of  it,  ex- 
cepting some  few  points  [which  they  sent  to 
their  reverend  brethren  in  soine  assembly  of 
them,  for  their  farther  resolution],  and  we  affirm 
it  to  be  the  same  which  we  desire  to  be  estab- 
lished in  this  Church,  by  daily  prayer  to  God, 
which  we  profess  (as  God  shall  offer  opportunity, 
and  gives  us  to  discern  it  so  expedient)  by  hum- 
ble suit  to  her  majesty's  most  honourable  privy 
council  and  Parliament,  and  by  all  other  lawful 
means  to  farther  and  advance,  so  far  as  the  law 
and  peace  of  the  present  state  of  our  Church 
will  suffer  it,  and  not  to  enforce  the  contrary. 
We  promise  to  guide  ourselves  according  to  it, 
and  follow  the  directions  set  down  in  the  chap- 
ter '  Of  the  Office  of  the  Ministers  of  the  Word.' 
We  promise  to  frequent  our  appointed  assem- 
blies, that  is,  every  six  weeks  classical  confer- 
ences, every  half  year  provincial  assemblies,  and 
general  assemblies  every  year."* 

*  Among  those  that  subscribed  or  declared  their 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


183 


Besides  the  Puritans  already  mentioned  as 
suffering  this  year,  the  learned  Dr.  John  Wal- 
ward,  divinity  professor  at  Oxford,  was  enjoin- 
ed a  public  recantation,  and  suspended  till  he 
had  done  it,  for  teaching  that  the  order  of  the 
Jewish  synagogue  and  eldership  was  adopted 
by  Christ  and  his  apostles  into  the  Christian 
Church,  and  designed  as  a  perpetual  church 
government.*  He  was  also  bound  in  a  recog- 
nizance of  £100  for  his  good  behaviour.  Mr. 
Harsnet,  of  Pembrolce  Hall,  was  imprisoned  at 
the  same  time  for  not  wearing  the  surplice.  Mr. 
Edward  Gillibrand,  fellow  of  Magdalen  College, 
Cambridge,  was  forbid  preaching,  and  bound  in 
a  recognizance  of  £100  to  revoke  his  errors  in 
such  words  as  the  commissioners  should  ap- 
point. His  crime  was  speaiiing  against  the  hie- 
larchy,  and  against  the  swelling  titles  of  arch- 
bishops and  bishops,  for  which  Whitgift  told  him 
he  deserved  not  only  to  be  imprisoned  and  sus- 
pended, but  to  be  banished  the  university.  Mr. 
Farrar,  minister  of  Langham  in  Essex,  was 
charged  with  rebellion  against  the  ecclesiastical 
laws,  and  suspended  for  not  wearing  the  habits. 
Bishop  Aylmer  told  himt  that  except  he  and  his 
companions  would  be  conformable,  in  good  faith, 
he  and  his  brethren  the  bishops  would,  in  one 
quarter  of  a  year,  turn  them  all  out  of  the  Church. 
September  Uth,  Mr.  Udall,  of  Kingston-upon- 
Thames,  was  suspended  and  imprisoned  for 
keeping  a  private  fast  in  his  parish.  In  the 
month  of  January,  Mr.  Wilson,  Mr.  More,  and 
two  other  ministers  were  imprisoned,  and  obli- 
ged to  give  bond  for  their  good  behaviour. 

In  the  month  of  May  the  Rev.  Mr.  Settle  was 
summoned  before  the  Archbishop  of  Lambeth, 
and  charged  with  denying  the  article,  "  Of  the 
descent  of  our  Saviour's  soul  into  hell,"  or  the 
place  of  the  damned.  Mr.  Settle  confessed  it 
was  his  opinion  that  Christ  did  not  descend  lo- 


approbation  of  the  Book  of  Discipline,  were  the  Rev. 
Messrs.  Cartwright,  Travers,  Dr.  Knewstubs,  Messrs. 
Charke,  Edgerton,  Reynolds,  Gardiner,  Gifibrd,  Bar- 
ber, Spicer,  Greenham,  Payne,  Fenner,  Field,  Snape, 
Johnson,  Nichols,  Dr.  Sparkes,  Messrs.  Ward,  Stone, 
Warkton,  Larke,  Fletcher,  Lord,  Farmer,  Rushbrook, 
Littleton,  Oxenbridge,  Seyntclere,  Standen,  Wilcox, 
Dr.  Whitaker,  Messrs.  Chadderton,  Perkins,  Allen, 
Edmunds,  Gillibrand,  Bradshaw,  Harrison,  Massie, 
Hidersham,  Dod,  Brightman,  Cawdrey,  Rogers,  Udall, 
Dyke,  Wight,  Paget,  and  others  to  the  number  of 
above  five  hundred,  all  beneficed  in  the  Church  of 
England,  useful  preachers,  of  unspotted  lives  and 
characters,  and  many  of  them  of  the  University  of 
Cambridge,  where  they  had  a  strong  and  powerful 
interest. 

Bishop  Maddox  triumphs  in  the  representation  of 
Mr.  Neal,  that  five  hundred  who  subscribed  the  holy 
discipline  were  all  beneficed  in  the  Church,  as  a  proof 
of  the  lenity  of  government.  Mr.  Neal,  in  his  reply, 
adds,  "  that  there  were  more  than  twice  five  hundred 
clergymen  who  made  a  shift  to  keep  their  places  in 
the  Church."  But  when,  at  the  same  time,  they 
were  continually  exposed  to  suffer  from  the  rigour  of 
government;  when,  as  Dr.  Bridges  declared,  a  third 
part  of  the  ministers  of  England  were  covered  with 
a  cloud  of  suspensions ;  when  many  smarted  severely 
for  attempting  a  reformation,  for  which  they  all  wish- 
ed and  prayed;  when  Cartwright,  Travers,  Field, 
Johnson,  Cawdery,  Udall,  and  other  leaders  of  the 
Puritans,  were  suspended,  imprisoned,  and  frequently 
in  trouble,  not  to  say  dying  under  the  hand  of  power, 
the  reader  will  judge  with  what  propriety  his  lord- 
ship exults  over  our.  author. —See  Mr.  Neal's  Review, 
p.  872,  873.— Ed. 

*  MS.,  p.  798.  t  Ibid.,  p.  800,  805. 


cally  into  hell,  and  that  Calvin  and  Beza  were 
of  his  mind,  which  put  the  archbishop  into 
such  a  passion  that  he  called  him  ass,  dolt,  fool. 
Mr.  Settle  said  he  ought  not  to  rail  at  him,  be- 
ing a  minister  of  the  Gospel.  What,  said  the 
archbishop,  dost  thou  think  much  to  be  called 
ass  and  doitl  I  have  called  many  of  thy  bet- 
ters so.  True,  said  Mr.  Settle,  but  the  question 
is,  How  lawfully  you  have  done  so  1  Then  said 
the  archbishop,  Thou  shalt  preach  no  more  in 
my  diocess.  Mr.  Settle  answered,  I  am  called 
to  preach  the  Gospel,  and  I  will  not  cease  to  do 
it.  The  archbishop  replied,  with  a  stern  coun- 
tenance. Neither  you  nor  any  one  in  England 
shall  preach  without  my  leave.  He  then  char- 
ged Mr.  Settle  with  not  observing  the  order  of 
the  service-book ;  with  not  using  the  cross  in 
baptism  ;  with  disallowing  the  baptism  of  mid- 
wives  ;  and  not  using  the  words  in  marriage, 
"With  this  ring  I  thee  wed."  The  Dean  of 
Winchester  asked  him  if  he  had  subscribed. 
Settle  answered,  Yes,  as  far  as  the  law  requi- 
red, that  is,  to  the  doctrines  of  faith  and  the  sac- 
raments, but  as  touching  other  rites  and  cere- 
monies he  neither  could  nor  would.  Then  said, 
the  archbishop,  Thou  shalt  be  subject  to  the 
ecclesiastical  authority.  Mr.  Settle  replied,  I 
thank  God  you  can  use  no  violence  but  upon  my 
poor  body.  So  his  grace  committed  him  to  the 
Gate-house,  there  to  be  kept  close  prisoner.* 

Sandys,  archbishop  of  York,  was  no  less  ac- 
tive in  his  province  ;  I  have  many  of  his  exam- 
inations before  me  ;  he  was  a  severe  governor, 
hasty  and  passionate ;  but  it  was  said  in  ex- 
cuse for  him  and  some  others,  that  the  civilians 
by  their  emissaries  and  spies  turned  informers, 
and  then  pnshed  the  bishops  forward,  to  bring 
business  into  the  spiritual  courts. 

About  this  time  Dr.  Bridges,  afterward  bishop 
of  Oxford,  wrote  against  the  Puritans,  and  main- 
tained that  they  were  not  grievously  afflicted, 
unless  it  were  caused  by  their  own  deserts. 
The  doctor  was  answered  by  Mr.  Fenner,  who 
appealed  to  the  world  in  these  words  :  "  Is  it  no 
grievous  affliction  by  suspension  to  be  hung  up 
between  hope  and  despair  for  a  year  or  two,  and, 
in  the  mean  time,  to  see  the  wages  of  our  labour- 
ers eaten  up  by  loiterers'!  Nay,  our  righteous 
souls  are  vexed  with  seeing  and  hearing  the  ig- 
norance, the  profane  speeches,  and  evil  exam- 
ples of  those  thrust  upon  our  charges,  while  we 
ourselves  are  defamed,  reproached,  scoffed  at, 
and  called  seditious  and  rebellious ;  cited,  ac- 
cused, and  indicted,  and  yet  no  redress  to  he 
found.  All  this  we  have  patiently  bore,  though 
we  come  daily  to  the  congregations  to  prayers, 
to  baptisms,  and  to  the  sacrament,  and  by  our 
examples  and  admonitions  have  kept  away  many 
from  excesses  whereunto  rashness  of  zeal  have 
carried  them.  And  though  to  such  as  you,  who 
swarm  with  deaneries,  with  double  benefices, 
pensions,  advowsons,  reversions,  &c.,  these  mo- 
lestations seem  light,  yet  surely,  upon  every 
irreligious  man's  complaint  in  such  things  as 
many  times  are  incredible,  to  be  sent  for  by  pur- 
suivants, to  pay  twopence  for  every  mile,  to  find 
messengers,  to  defray  our  own  charges,  and  this 
by  such  as  can  hardly,  with  what  they  have, 
clothe  and  feed  themselves  and  their  families,  it 
is  not  only  grievous,  but,  as  far  as  well  can  be, 
a  very  heart-burning.     It  is  grievous  to  a  free- 

*  MS.,  p.  798. 


184 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


man,  and  to  a  free  minister,  for  a  light  cause — 
as,  for  an  humble  supplication  to  her  majesty 
and  the  whole  Parliament,  and  to  the  fathers  of 
the  Church — to  be  shut  in  close  prison,  or,  upon 
every  trifling  complaint,  to  be  brought  into  a  sla- 
vish subjection  to  a  commissary,  so  as  at  his 
pleasure  to  be  summoned  into  the  spiritual 
courts,  and  coming  thither,  to  be  sent  home 
again  at  least  with  unnecessary  expenses,  mas- 
terlike answers,  yea,  and  sometimes  with  open 
revilings.  We  will  not  justify  ourselves,"  says 
Mr.  Fenner,*  "in  all  things,  but  acknowledge, 
that  when  coming  by  dozens  and  scores  before 
the  bishop,  after  half  a  day's  disorderly  reason- 
ing, some  not  being  heard  to  the  full,  some  rail- 
ed on  and  miscalled,  none  with  lenity  satisfied, 
but  all  suspended  from  our  office  because  we 
would  not  subscribe  his  last  two  articles,  there 
might  pass  from  us  some  infirmities  afterward  ; 
this  and  many  other  things  we  are  willing  to  im- 
pute to  ourselves."  But,  after  all,  it  may  be  ques- 
tioned whether  the  history  of  former  ages  can 
furnish  an  example  of  so  many  severities  against 
divines  of  one  and  the  same  faith,  for  a  few  tri- 
fling ceremonies,  or  of  a  more  peaceable  and 
Christian  behaviour  under  sufferings. 

Camden,  indeed,  complains  of  their  disper- 
sing pamphlets  against  the  Church  and  prelates, 
in  a  time  of  common  danger,  when  the  nation 
was  in  arms  against  the  Spanish  invasion  ;  but 
these  pamphlets  were  only  to  show  that  the 
danger  of  the  return  of  popery  (which  all  men 
were  now  apprehensive  of)  arose  from  stopping 
the  mouths  of  those  ministers  who  were  most 
zealous  against  it.  It  had  been  easy  at  this 
time  to  have  distressed  the  government  and  the 
hierarchy,  for  the  cry  of  the  people  was  against 
the  bishops  ;  but  the  Puritans  both  here  and  in 
Scotland  were  more  afraid  of  the  return  of  po- 
pery than  their  adversaries  :  those  in  Scotland 
entered  into  an  association  to  assemble  in  arms 
at  what  time  and  place  their  king  should  require, 
to  assist  the  Queen  of  England  against  the 
Spaniards  ;  and  their  brethren  in  London  took 
the  opportunity  to  petition  the  queen  for  the 
liberty  of  their  preachers.!  "  That  the  people 
might  be  better  instructed  in  the  duties  of  obe- 
dience to  their  civil  governors,  and  not  be  left  a 
prey  to  priests  and  Jesuits,  who  were  no  better 
than  traitors  to  her  majesty  and  the  kingdom. 
They  assure  her. majesty  that  the  people  will 
give  their  ministers  a  good  maintenance;  that 
they  [the  people]  will  always  pray  for  her  maj- 
esty's safety,  and  be  ready  to  part  with  their 
goods,  and  pour  out  their  blood  like  water  for 
her  preservation,  if  they  may  but  have  the  Gos- 
pel." But  the  queen  gave  them  no  answer  ; 
the  whole  Reformation  must  be  hazarded  rath- 
er than  the  Puritans  relieved. 

After  this,  they  applied  to  the  lord-mayor  and 
court  of  aldermen,  beseeching  them  to  address 
the  queen,  to  make  some  better  provision  for 
the  city  ;  and  to  enforce  their  petition,  they  laid 
before  them  a  new  survey  of  the  ministry  of 
London,  taken  this  very  year,  with  the  names 
of  every  parish-priest  and  curate  set  down 
against  his  living  and  curacy,  which  is  now  be- 
fore me;t  and  it  appears  at  the  foot  of  the  ac- 
count that  there  were, 

Double-beneficed  men  within  the  city   .  18 

*  Answer  to  Dr.  Bridges,  p.  45,  46. 

t  MS.,  p.  838.  t  Ibid.,  p.  482. 


Double-beneficed  men  without     .     .     .21 

Simple  preachers  (as  the  survey  calls 
them) 10 

Dumb,  or  unpreaching  ministers       .     .  17 

Resident  preachers,  abiding  in  London 
only 19 

With  the  survey  they  offered  divers  reasons 
to  prevail  with  the  court  to  appear  for  them; 
as.  Because  the  laws  of  the  realm  have  provided 
very  well  for  a  learned  preaching  ministry; 
whereas  by  the  account  above,  it  appears  that 
many  are  pluralists  and  nonresidents,  others  il- 
literate, being  brought  up  to  trades,  and  not  to 
learning,  and  others  of  no  very  good  character 
in  life  :  because  divers  of  the  principal  preach- 
ers of  this  land  have  of  late  been  put  to  silence: 
because  of  the  prevailing  ignorance  and  impiety 
that  is  among  the  common  people  for  want  of 
better  instruction  ;  and  because  we  now  pay 
our  money  and  dues  to  them  that  do  little  or 
nothing  for  it :  but  the  aldermen  were  afraid  to 
interpose.* 

Such  was  the  scarcity  of  preachers,  and  the 
thirst  of  the  people  after  knowledge,  that  the 
suspended  ministers  of  Essex  petitioned  the 
Parliament,  March  8th,  1587,  for  some  remedy. 
"  Such,"  .'■ay  they,  "is  the  cry  of  the  people  to 
us  day  and  night  for  the  bread  of  life,  that  our 
bowels  yearn  within  us  ;  and  remembering  the 
solemn  denunciation  of  the  apostle,  '  Wo  be  to 
us  if  we  preach  not  the  Gospel,'  we  begin  to 
think  it  our  duty  to  preach  to  our  people  as  we 
have  opportunity,  notwithstanding  our  suspen- 
sion, and  to  commit  our  lives  and  whole  estates 
to  Almighty  God,  as  to  a  faithful  Creator ;  and 
under  God  to  the  gracious  clemency  of  the 
queen,  and  of  this  honourable  house."  Many 
suspended  preachers  came  out  of  the  countries, 
and  took  shelter  in  the  city.  But  to  prevent  as 
much  as  possible  their  getting  into  any  of  the 
pulpits  of  London,  the  following  commissiott 
was  sent  to  all  the  ministers  and  church-ward- 
ens of  the  city. 

"  Whereas  sundry  preachers  have  lately  come 
into  the  city  of  London,  and  suburbs  of  the 
same  ;  some  of  them  not  being  ministers,  others 
such  as  have  no  sufficient  warrant  for  their  . 
calling,  and  others  such  as  have  been  detected 
in  other  countries,  and  have,  notwithstanding, 
in  the  city  taken  upon  them  to  preach  publicly, 
to  the  infamy  of  their  calling;  others  have  ia 
their  preaching  rather  stirred  up  the  people  to 
innovation  than  sought  the  peace  of  the  Church. 
These  are,  therefore,  in  her  majesty's  name,  by 
virtue  of  her  high  commission  for  causes  eccle- 
siastical to  us  and  others  directed,  straitly  to 
enjoin,  command,  and  charge  all  persons,  vic- 
ars, curates,  and  church-wardens  of  all  church- 
es in  the  city  of  London,  and  the  suburbs  there- 
of, as  well  in  places  exempt  as  not  exempt,  that 
they  nor  any  of  them  do  suffer  any  to  preach  ia 
their  churches,  or  to  read  any  lectures,  they  not 
being  in  their  own  cures,  but  only  sucli  whose 
licenses  they  shall  first  have  seen  and  read,  and 
whom  they  shall  find  to  be  licensed  thereto, 
either  by  the  queen's  majesty,  or  by  one  of  the 
universities  of  Cambridge  or  Oxford,  or  by  the 
Lord-archbishop  of  Canterbury,  or  the  Bishop 
of  London  for  the  time  being,  under  seal. 

"  And  that  this  may  be  published  and  take  the 
better  effect,  we  will  that  a  true  copy  thereof 

*  MS.,  p.  839. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


185 


shall  be  taken  and  delivered  to  every  curate  and 
church- warden  of  every  of  the  churches  afore- 
said.    The  16th  day  of  August,  1587.* 

(Subscribed)  "  John  Canterbury, 

" John  London, 
"Val.  Dale, 
"  Edward  Stanhope, 
"Rich.  Cozin." 
Under  all  these  discouragements  the  Puri- 
tans kept  close  together,  hoping  one  time  or 
other  that  Providence  would  make  way  for  their 
relief  They  maintained  their  classes  and  as- 
sociations, wherein  they  agreed  upon  certain 
general  rules  for  their  behaviour :  one  was,  that 
they  should  endeavour  in  their  preaching  and 
conversation  to  wipe  off  the  calumny  of  schism, 
forasmuch  as  the  brethren  communicated  with 
the  Church  in  the  Word  and  sacraments,  and  in 
all  other  things,  except  their  corruptions  ;  and 
that  they  assumed  not  authority  to  themselvest 
of  compelling  others  to  observe  their  decrees. 
In  their  provincial  synod,  held  at  Warwick, 
June  4th,  1588,  it  was  agreed  that  it  was  not 
lawful  to  baptize  in  private ;  nor  sufficient  for 
a  minister  to  read  homilies  in  churches ;  nor 
lawful  to  use  the  cross  in  baptism.  They  agreed, 
farther,  that  they  were  not  obliged  to  rest  in 
the  bishop's  deprivation,  nor  to  appear  in  their 
courts,  without  a  protestation  of  their  unlawful- 
ness. In  another  synod  it  was  determined  that 
no  man  should  take  upon  him  a  vague  or  wan- 
dering ministry  ;  that  they  who  take  upon  them 
a  cure  of  souls  should  be  called  by  the  church 
■whom  they  are  to  serve,  and  be  approved  by 
the  classes  or  some  greater  assembly ;  and  if  by 
them  they  are  found  meet,  ihey  are  to  be  rec- 
ommended to  the  bishop  for  ordination,  if  it 
might  be  obtained  without  subscribing  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer. t  It  was  farther  agreed 
how  nmch  of  the  common  prayer  might  be  law- 
fully read  for  the  preserving  their  ministry,  and 
how  far  they  might  exercise  their  discipline 
■without  the  civil  magistrate.  In  another  pro- 
vincial synod  about  Michaelmas,  it  was  agreed 
that  the  oppressions  offered  to  others,  and  es- 
pecially to  the  ministers,  by  the  bishops  and 
their  officials  in  their  spiritual  courts,  should  be 
collected  arid  registered  :  if  this  had  been  pre- 
served entire,  more  of  the  sufferings  of  these 
great  and  good  men  would  have  appeared,  and 
many  works  of  darkness,  oppression,  and  cru- 
elty would  have  been  brought  to  light,  which 
now  must  be  concealed  till  the  day  of  judg- 
ment. 

The  danger  with  which  the  nation  was 
threatened  from  a  foreign  invasion  gave  a  little 
check  to  the  zeal  of  the  bishops  against  the  Pu- 
ritans for  the  present ;  however,  this  year  Mr. 
Cawdrey,  minister  of  South  Luffingham,  was 
suspended,  imprisoned,  and  deprived  by  the 
Bishop  of  London  ;^  he  had  a  wife  and  seven 
children,  which  were  cast  upon  Providence ; 
but  this  divine  gave  his  lordship  some  farther 
trouble,  as  will  be  seen  hereafter.  Mr.  Wilson, 
who  had  been  suspended  some  time  before, 
moved  for  a  release  in  the  bishop's  court ;  but 


*  MS.,  p.  835. 

+  There  was,  as  Bishop  Warburton  hints,  an  im- 
propriety in  disclaiming  the  use  of  authority,  when, 
being  a  small  and  oppressed  party,  no  authority  from 
the  state  was  invested  in  them. — Ed. 

t  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  192.  4  MS.,  p.  825. 

Vol.  I.— a.  a 


because  he  refused  to  subscribe  his  suspension 
was  continued,  and  himself  treated  by  the  ci-    ^ 
vilians  with  great  inhumanity. 

Mr.  Arthur  Hildersham,  whom  Mr.  Fuller 
represents  as  a  heavenly  divine,  being  at  this 
time  fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  was 
suspended  by  the  commissioners  for  preaching 
occasionally  before  he  had  taken  orders,  and 
obliged  to  sign  the  following  recantation:*  "I 
confess  that  I  have  rashly  and  indiscreetly  ta- 
ken upon  me  to  preach,  not  being  licensed  nor 
admitted  into  holy  orders,  contrary  to  the  orders 
of  the  Church  of  England,  contrary  to  the  ex- 
ample of  all  antiquity,  and  contrary  to  the  di- 
rection of  the  apostle  in  the  Acts ;  whereby  I 
have  given  great  and  just  offence  to  many  ;  and 
the  more,  because  I  have  uttered  in  my  sermons 
certain  impertinent  and  very  unfit  speeches  for 
the  auditory,  as  moving  their  minds  to  discon- 
tent with  the  state,  rather  than  tending  to  god- 
ly edification  ;  for  which  my  presumption  and 
indiscretion  I  am  very  heartily  sorry,  and  de- 
sire you  to  bear  witness  of  this  my  confession, 
and  acknowledging  my  said  offences."  This  re- 
cantation was,  by  the  archbishop's  appointment, 
to  be  uttered  in  Trinity  Hall  Chapel,  before 
Easter.  In  the  mean  while,  he  was  suspended 
from  the  profits  of  his  fellowship,  and  stood 
bound  to  appear  before  the  commissioners  the 
first  court  day  of  Easter  term,  if  he  did  not  be- 
fore that  time  recant.  Whether  Mr.  Hildersham 
recanted  I  am  not  certain,  but  September  14, 
1587,  he  left  the  university,  and  settled  at  Ash- 
by-de-la-Zouch,  in  Leicestershire,  where  he  con- 
tinued a  deep  sufferer  for  nonconformity  forty- 
three  years,  having  been  suspended  and  put  to 
silence  by  the  High  Commission  no  less  than 
four  times,  and  continued  under  that  hardship 
almost  twenty  years. 

This  year  put  an  end  to  the  life  of  the  famous 
martyrologist,  John  Fox,  a  person  of  indefatiga- 
ble labour  and  industry,  and  an  exile  for  reli- 
gion in  Queen  Mary's  days  ;  he  spent  all  his 
time  abroad  in  compiling  the  acts  and  monu- 
ments of  the  Church  of  England,  which  were 
published  first  in  Latin,  and  afterward,  when  he 
returned  to  his  native  country,  in  English,  with 
enlargements  ;  vast  were  the  pains  he  took  in 
searching  records  and  collecting  materials  for 
this  v/ork  ;  and  such  was  its  esteem,  that  it 
was  ordered  to  be  set  up  in  all  the  parish  church- 
es in  England.  Mr.  Fox  was  born  at  Boston,  in 
Lincolnshire,  1517,  educated  in  Brazen-nose 
College,  Oxon,  where  he  proceeded  M.A.  in  the 
year  1543.  He  was  afterward  tutor  to  the  Duke 
of  Norfolk's  children,  who,  in  the  days  of  Queen 
Mary,  conveyed  him  privately  out  of  the  king- 
dom. He  was«,  most  learned,  pious,  and  judi- 
cious divine,  of  a  catholic  spirit,  and  against  all 
methods  of  severity  in  religion.  But  he  was 
shamefullv  neglected  for  some  years,  because 
he  was  a'  Nonconformist,  and  refused  to  sub- 
scribe the  canons  and  ceremonies  ;  nor  did  he 
get  any  higher  preferment  in  the  Church  than 
a  prebend  "of  Salisbury,  though  the  queen  used 
to  call  him  father,  and  professed  a  high  venera- 
tion for  him,  as,  indeed,  he  deserved.  He  died 
in  London  in  the  seventieth  year  of  his  age, 
and  lies  buried  in  Cripplegate  Church,  where 
his  monument  is  still  to  be  seen,  against  the 


*  Fuller,  b.  ix.,  p.  642. 


186 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


south  wall  of  the  chancel,  with  a  flat  marble 
'  Btone  over  his  remains.* 

It  has  been  observed,  that  om-  Reformers  ad- 
.aiitted  only  two  orders  of  church  officers  to  be 
»f  Divine  appointment,  viz.,  bishops  and  dea- 
cons, a  presbyter  and  bishop,  according  to  them, 
Being  two  names  for  the  same  office  ;  but  Dr. 
Bancroft,  the  archbishop's  chaplain,  in  a  ser- 
mon at  Paul's  Cross,  January  12,  1588,  main- 
tained that  the  bishops  of  England  were  a  dis- 
tinct order  from  priests,  and  had  superiority 
over  them  jure  dmno,  and  directly  from  God. 
He  affirmed  this  to  be  God's  own  appointment, 
though  not  by  express  words,  yet  by  necessary 
consequence,  and  that  the  denial  of  it  was 
heresy.  The  doctor  confessed  that  Aerius  had 
maintained  there  was  no  difference  between  a 
priest  and  a  bishop  ;  but  that  Epiphanius  had 
pronounced  his  assertion  full  of  folly,  and  that 
it  had  been  condemned  as  heresy  by  the  gener- 


*  Fox's  Acts  and  Monuments  of  the  Martyrs  have 
long  been,  still  remain,  and  will  ever  continue,  sub- 
stantial pillars  of  the  Protestant  Church ;  of  mure 
force  than  volumes  of  bare  arguments,  to  withstand 
the  tide  of  popery ;  and,  like  a  Pharos,  should  be  kept 
kindled  in  every  age,  as  a  warning  to  all  posterity. 
Strype  pronounces  the  following  encomium  on  this 
work :  "  Mr.  Fox,"  says  he,  "  hath  done  such  ex- 
quisite service  to  the  Protestant  cause,  in  showing, 
from  abundance  of  ancient  books,  records,  registers, 
and  choice  manuscripts,  the  encroacliments  of  popes 
and  papalins,  and  the  stout  oppositions  that  were 
made  in  all  ages  and  countries  by  learned  and  good 
men  against  them,  especially  under  King  Henry  and 
Queen  Mary  in  England.  He  hath  preserved  the  me- 
moirs of  those  holy  men  and  women,  those  bishops  and 
divines,  together  with  their  histories,  acts,  sufferings, 
and  death,  willingly  undergone  for  the  sake  of  Christ 
and  his  Gospel,  and  for  refusing  to  comply  with  the 
popish  doctrines  and  superstitions  ;  and,  as  he  hath 
been  found  most  diligent,  so  most  strictly  true  and 
faithful  in  his  descriptions." — Strypc's  Annals,  vol.  i., 
p.  239-241.  Mr.  Fox  enjoyed  the  Iriendship  of  Grin- 
dal,  Parkhurst,  Pilkington,  Sir  Francis  Walsingham, 
Sir  Thomas  Gresham,  and  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  by 
them  could  have  received  any  preferment,  but  he 
would  not  subscribe  nor  conform  to  the  ceremonies. 
Fuller  says,  "  How  learnedly  he  wrote,  how  con- 
stantly he  preached,  how  piously  he  lived,  how 
cheerfully  he  died,  may  be  fetched  from  his  life  at 
large,  prefaced  before  his  book.  One  page  therein 
omitted  we  must  here  insert,  having  received  it 
from  witnesses  beyond  exception :  In  the  year  88, 
•when  the  Spanish  half  moon  did  hope  to  rule  all  the 
motion  in  our  sea's.  Master  Fox  was  privately  in  his 
chamber  at  prayers,  battering  heaven  with  his  impor- 
tunity in  behalf  of  this  sinful  nation.  And  we  may 
justly  presume  that  his  devotion  was  as  actually  in- 
strumental to  the  victory  as  the  wisdom  of  our  ad- 
miral, valour  of  his  soldiers,  skill  and  industry  of  his 
seamen.  On  a  sudden,  coming  down  to  his  parish, 
he  cried  out,  They  arc  gone,  they  are  gone  !  which,  in- 
deed, happened  in  the  same  instant,  as,  by  exact 
computation,  did  afterward  appear." — Abel  Redivivus, 
p.  381-2. 

His  epitaph  still  remains  on  his  tombstone. 

In  memory  of  John  Fox, 

the  most  faithful  martyrologist  of  our  English  Church, 

a  most  diligent  searcher  into  historical  antiquity, 

a  most  strong  bulwark 

and  fighter  for  evangelical  truth  ; 

who  hath  revised  the  Marian  martyrs 

as  so  many  Phoenixes. 

from  the  dust  of  oblivion, 

is  this  monument  erected, 

in  grief  and  affliction, 

by  his  eldest  son,  Samuel  Fox. 

He^ied  April  18,  A.D.  1588.— C. 


al  council  of  the  Church  ;  that  Martin  and  his 
companions  had  maintained  the  same  opinion  ; 
but  that  St.  Jerome  and  Calvin  had  confessed 
that  bishops  have  had  superiority  over  presby- 
ters ever  since  the  times  of  St,  Mark  the  evan- 
gelist. This  was  new  and  strange  doctrine  to 
the  churchmen  of  these  times.  It  had  been  al- 
ways said  that  the  superiority  of  the  order  of 
bishops  above  presbyters  had,  been  a  politic  human 
appointnienl,  for  tlie  more  orderly  government 
of  the  Church,  begun  about  the  third  or  fourth 
century ;  but  Ijancroft  was  one  of  the  first  who, 
by  the  archbishop's  directions,  advanced  it  into 
a  Divine  right.*  His  sermon  gave  offence  to 
many  of  the  clergy  and  to  all  the  friends  of  the 
Puritans  about  the  court,  who  would  have 
brought  the  preacher  into  a  praemunire  for  say 
ing  that  any  subject  of  this  realm  hath  superi- 
ority over  the  persons  of  the  clergy,  otherwise 
than  from  and  by  her  majesty's  authority.  But 
the  doctor  retorted  this  argument  upon  the  dis- 
ciplinarians, and  added,  that  it  was  no  better 
than  a  sophism,  because  the  prince's  authority 
may,  and  very  often  does,  confirm  and  corrob- 
orate that  which  is  primarily  from  the  laws  of 
God.  Sir  Francis  Knollys,  who  had  this  affair 
at  heart,  told  the  archbishop  that  Bancroft's  as- 
sertion was  contrary  to  the  command  of  Christ, 
who  condemned  all  superiority  among  the  apos- 
tles. "  I  do  not  deny,"  says  he,  "  that  bishops 
may  have  lordly  authority  and  dignity,  provided 
they  claim  it  not  from  a  higher  authority  than 
her  majesty's  grant.  If  the  bishops  are  not  un- 
der-governors  to  her  majesty  of  the  clergy,  but 
superior  governors  over  their  brethren  by  God's 
ordinance  [i.  e.,jure  divino],  it  will  then  follow 
that  her  majesty  is  not  supreme  governor  over 
her  clergy."  The  same  gentleman,  not  relying 
upon  his  own  judgment,  wrote  to  the  learned 
Dr.  Reynolds,  of  Oxford,  for  his  opinion  of  Ban- 
croft's doctrine,  which  he  gave  him  in  a  letter 
now  before  me.t 

*  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  292.  The  first  English  Re- 
formers acknowledged  only  two  orders  of  church  of- 
ficers, bishops  and  deacons,  to  be  of  Divine  appoint- 
ment.— C. 

t  The  letter  is  to  this  effect : 

"Though  Epiphanius  says  that  Aerius's  as- 
sertion is  full  of  folly,  he  does  not  disprove  his  rea- 
sons from  Scripture ;  nay ,  his  arguments  are  so  weak, 
that  even  Bellarmine  confesses  they  are  not  agreea- 
ble to  the  text.  As  for  the  general  consent  of  the 
Church,  which,  the  doctor  says,  condemned  Aerius's 
opinion  for  heresy,  what  proof  does  he  bring  for  it  ? 
It  appears  (he  says)  in  Epiphanius ;  but  I  say  it  does 
not;  and  the  contrary  appears  by  St.  Jerome,  and 
sundry  others  who  lived  about  the  same  time.  I 
grant  that  St.  Austin,  in  his  book  of  heresies,  ascribes 
this  to  Aerius  for  one ;  that  he  said  there  ought  to  be 
no  difference  between  a  priest  and  a  bishop,  because 
this  was  to  condemn  the  Church's  order,  and  to  make 
a  schism  therein.  But  it  is  a  quite  different  thing  to 
say  that,  by  the  Word  of  God,  there  is  a  difference 
between  them,  and  to  say  that  it  is  by  the  order  and 
custom  of  the  Church  ;  which  is  all  that  St.  Austin 
maintains.  When  Harding  the  papist  alleged  these 
very  witnesses  to  prove  the  opinion  of  bishops  and 
priests  being  of  the  same  order  to  be  heresy,  our 
learned  Bishop  Jewel  cited  to  the  contrary  Chrysos- 
tom,  Jerome,  Ambrose,  and  St.  Austin  himself,  and 
concluded  his  answer  with  these  words  :  All  these, 
and  other  more  holy  fathers,  together  with  the  Apos- 
tle Paul,  for  thus  saying,  by  Harding's  advice,  must 
be  held  for  heretics.  Michael  Medina,  a  man  of  great 
account  in  the  Ccuncil  of  Trent,  adds  to  the  foremen- 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS. 


187 


We  shall  meet  with  this  controversy  again 
hereafter.  Whitgift  said  the  doctor's  sermon 
had  done  much  good,  though  he  himself  rather 
wished  than  believed  it  to  be  true:  it  was  new 

tioned  testimonies,  Theodorus,  Primarius,  Sedulius, 
Theophylact,  with  whom  agree  QScumenius  the 
Greek  scholiast,  Anselm,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
Gregory,  and  Gratian ;  and  after  them,  how  many  ? 
it  being  once  enrolled  in  the  canon  law  for  Catholic 
doctrine,  and  thereupon  taught  by  learned  men. 

"  Besides,  alt  that  have  laboured  in  reforming  the 
Church  for  five  hundred  years  have  taught  that  all 
j)astors,  be  they  entitled  bishops  or  priests,  have  equal 
authority  and  power  by  God's  Word ;  as,  first,  the  Wal- 
denses,  next  Marsilius  Patavinus,  then  WickliiTe  and 
his  scholars,  afterward  Husse  and  the  Hussites  ;  and 
last  of  all,  Luther,  Calvin,  Brentius,  Bullinger,  and 
Musculus.  Among  ourselves  we  have  bishops,  the 
queen's  professors  of  divinity  in  our  universities,  and 
other  learned  men  consenting  herein,  as  Bradford, 
Lambert,  Jewel,  Pilldngton,  Humphreys,  Fulke,  &c. 
But  what  do  I  speak  of  particular  persons  ?  It  is  the 
common  judgment  of  the  Reformed  churches  of  Helvetia, 
Savoy,  France,  Scotland,  Germany,  Hungary,  Po- 
land, the  Low  Countries,  and  our  own.  I  hope  Dr. 
Bancroft  will  not  say  that  all  these  have  approved 
that  for  sound  doctrine  which  was  condemned  by  the 
general  consent  of  the  whole  Church  for  heresy,  in 
a  most  flourishing  time  :  I  hope  he  will  acknowledge 
that  he  was  overseen  when  he  avouched  the  superi- 
ority which  bishops  have  among  us  over  the  clergy 
to  be  God's  own  ordinance. 

"  As  for  the  doctor's  saying  that  St.  Jerome,  and 
Calvin  from  him,  confessed  that  bishops  have  had 
the  same  superiority  ever  since  the  time  of  St.  Mark 
the  evangelist,  I  think  him  mistaken,  because  neither 
Jerome  says  it,  nor  does  Calvin  seem  to  confess  it  on 
his  report ;  for  bishops  among  us  may  do  sundry  oth- 
er things  besides  ordaining  and  laying  on  of  hands, 
which  inferior  ministers  or  priests  may  not ;  where- 
as, St.  Jerome  says.  What  does  a  bishop  except  or- 
dination which  a  priest  does  not  ?  meaning,  that  in 
his  time,  bishops  had  only  that  power  above  priests ; 
which  Chrysostom  also  witnesses  in  Homily  .xi.,  on 
1  Timothy.  Nor  had  they  this  privilege  alone  in  all 
places,  for  in  the  Council  of  Carthage  it  is  said 
that  the  priests  laid  their  hands  together  with  the 
bishops  on  those  who  were  ordained.  And  St.  Je- 
rome having  proved  by  Scripture  that,  in  the  apos- 
tle's time,  bishops  and  priests  were  all  one,  yet  grant- 
eth  that  afterward  bishops  had  that  peculiar  to  them- 
selves somewhere,  but  nothing  else ;  so  that  St.  Je- 
rome does  not  say,  concerning  the  superiority  in 
question,  that  bishops  have  had  it  ever  since  St. 
Mark's  time. 

"  Nor  does  Calvin  confess  it ;  he  says  that,  in  old 
time,  ministers  chose  one  out  of  their  company  in 
every  city,  to  whom  they  gave  the  title  of  bishop  ; 
yet  the  bishop  was  not  above  them  in  honour  and 
dignity,  but,  as  consuls  in  the  Senate,  propose  mat- 
ters, ask  their  opinions,  direct  others  by  giving  ad- 
vice, by  admonishing,  by  exhorting,  and  so  guide  the 
whole  action,  and  by  their  authority  see  that  per- 
formed which  was  agreed  on  by  common  consent ; 
the  same  charge  had  the  bishop  in  the  assembly  of 
ministers ;  and  having  showed  from  St.  Jerome  that 
this  was  brought  in  by  consent  of  men,  he  adds,  that 
it  was  an  ancient  order  of  the  Church,  even  from 
St.  Mark  ;  from  whence  it  is  apparent  that  the  order 
of  the  Church  he  mentions  has  relation  to  that  above 
described,  in  which  he  affirms,  '  that  the  bishop  was 
not  so  above  the  rest  in  honour  as  to  have  rule  over 
them.'  It  follows,  therefore,  that  Calvin  does  not  so 
much  as  seem  to  confess  of  St.  Jerome's  report,  that, 
ever  since  St.  Mark's  time,  bishops  have  had  a  ru- 
ling superiority  over  the  clergy." 

Dr.  Reynolds,  on  account  of  his  uncommon  skill  in 
Greek  and  Hebrew,  was  appointed  by  James,  in  1C04, 
one  of  the  translators  of  the  Bible.  His  name  is  oft- 
en found  iu  history  spelled  Rainolds. — C 


doctrine  at  this  time.  Most  of  the  clergy  who 
approved  the  superiority  of  the  episcopal  order 
were  against  the  Divine  right ;  but  the  bishops 
in  the  next  age  revived  the  debate,  and  carried 
their  pretensions  so  high  as  to  subvert  the  very 
foundations  upon  which  they  built. 

The  queen  having  suffered  Mary,  queen  of 
Scots,  to  be  beheaded  at  Fotheringay  Castle, 
February,  1587-8,  all  the  Roman  Catholic  prin- 
ces were  alarmed,  and  threatened  revenge  ; 
among  others,  the  Spaniards  hasted  their  invin- 
cible armada,  to  reduce  England  to  the  Catholic 
faith,  which  had  been  three  years  preparing  at  a 
prodigious  expense  :  the  fleet  was  well  manned, 
and  furnished  with  strange  instruments  of  tor- 
ture for  the  English  heretics ;  they  came  through 
the  Channel  like  so  many  floating  castles,  being 
to  take  in  a  land  army  from  the  Low  Countries  ; 
but  partly  by  storms,  and  partly  by  the  valour 
and  wise  conduct  of  the  queen's  admirals  and 
sea  captains,  the  whole  fleet  was  burned  and 
destroyed,  so  that  not  a  Spaniard  set  foot  upon 
English  ground  ;  nor  was  there  a  ship  left  entire 
to  carry  the  news  back  to  Spain.  The  queen 
ordered  the  coasts  to  be  well  guarded,  and  raised 
a  land  army,  which  she  animated  by  appearing 
at  the  head  of  them.  A  terror  was  spread 
through  the  whole  nation  by  reports  of  the  en- 
gines of  cruelty  that  were  aboard  the  fleet ;  their 
barbarous  usage  of  the  poor  Protestants  in  the 
Low  Countries  under  the  Duke  d'Alva  was  re- 
membered, as  well  as  their  bloody  massacres 
of  the  poor  Indians  in  America  ;  but  the  storm 
blew  over,  and,  by  the  blessing  of  God  upon  the 
queen's  arms,  the  nation  was  soon  restored  to 
its  former  tranquillity. 

The  following  winter  the  queen  summoned  a 
Parliament  to  meet  [February  4th,  1588],  in  or- 
der to  defray  the  extraordinary  expenses  of  the 
year,  and  make  some  new  laws  against  the  pa- 
pists. The  Puritans  having  expressed  their  zeal 
for  the  queen  and  the  Protestant  religion  by 
listing  in  her  army  and  navy,  thought  it  advisa- 
ble once  more  to  address  the  houses  for  some 
favour  in  point  of  subscription.  Upon  the  de- 
livery of  the  petition,  one  of  the  members  stood 
up  and  moved  that  an  inquiry  might  be  made 
how  far  the  bishops  had  exceeded  the  laws  in 
the  prosecution  of  her  majesty's  Protestant  sub- 
jects. Another  moved  for  reviving  the  bill 
against  pluralities  and  nonresidents,  which  was 
brought  in,  and  having  passed  the  Commons,  was 
sent  up  to  the  Lords.  This  alarmed  the  convo- 
cation, who  addressed  the  queen  to  protect  the 
Church  ;  and  having  flattered  her  with  the  title . 
of  a  goddess,  "Odea  certe  !"  they  tell  her,  "that 
the  passing  of  the  bill  will  be  attended  with  the 
decay  of  learning,  and  the  spoiling  of  their  liv- 
ings ;  that  it  will  take  away  the  set  forms  of 
prayer  in  the  Church,  and  bring  in  confusion' 
and  barbarism.  They  put  her  in  mind  how  dan- 
gerous innovations  are  in  a  settled  state ;  and 
add,  that  all  the  Reformed  churches  in  Europe 
cannot  compare  with  England  in  the  number  of 
learned  ministers.  We  therefore,"  say  they,, 
"  not  as  directors,  but  as  humble  remembran- 
cers, beseech  your  highness's  favourable  behold- 
ing of  our  present  state,  and  not  to  suffer  the 
bill  against  pluralities  to  pass."*  Hereupon  the 
queen  forbade  the  House  of  Lords  to  proceed, 
and  sent  for  those  members  of  the  House  of 

*  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  280. 


188 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


Commons  into  custody  who  had  dared  to  break 
through  her  orders,  of  not  meddhng  with  affairs 
of  religion  without  her  special  allowance  ;  which 
put  an  end  to  all  expectations  of  relief  for  the 
present. 

This  year  died  the  reverend  and  learned  Mr. 
Thomas  Sampson,  of  whom  mention  has  been 
made  already  ;  he  was  horn  about  the  year  1517, 
andeducated  at  Oxford;  he  afterward  studied 
at  the  Temple,  and  was  a  means  of  converting 
the  famous  martyr  John  Bradford  to  the  Prot- 
estant religion  ;  he  took  orders  from  Archbishop 
Cranmer  and  Ridley  in  the  year  1549  (who  dis- 
pensed with  the  habits  at  his  request;,  and  be- 
came Rector  of  Allhallows,  Bread -street :  he 
was  a  famous  preacher  in  the  reign  of  King  Ed- 
ward ;  but  upon  the  accession  of  Queen  Mary 
he  fled  to  Strasburgh,*  and  was  highly  esteem- 
ed by  the  learned  Tremelius.  When  Queen 
Elizabeth  came  to  the  crown,  she  offered  him 
the  Bishopric  of  Norwich,  which  he  refused,  for 
no  other  reason  but  because  he  could  not  con- 
form to  the  habits  and  ceremonies.  In  the  year 
1561,  he  was  installed  Dean  of  Christ  Church, 
Oxon  ;  but  soon  after,  in  the  year  1564,  was 
deprived  by  sentence  of  Archbishop  Parker  for 
nonconformity.  He  afterward  Contented  him- 
self with  the  mastership  of  an  hospital  in  Lei- 
cester, where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his 
days  in  peace.  He  was  seized  with  the  dead 
palsy  on  one  side  many  years  before  he  died  ; 
but  continued  preaching  and  writing  to  the  last, 
and  was  in  high  esteem  over  all  England  for  his 
learning,  piety,  and  zeal  for  the  Protestant  reli- 
gion. He  died  at  his  hospital,  with  great  tran- 
quillity and  comfort  in  his  nonconformity,  the 
latter  end  of  March  or  the  beginning  of  April, 
1588-9,  in  the  seventy-second  year  of  his  age.t 

Soon  after  him  died  the  very  learned  Dr. 
Lawrence  Humphreys,  a  gi'eat  friend  and  com- 
panion of  Sampson's  ;  he  was  born  at  Newport- 
Pagnel,  in  Buckinghamshire,  and  educated  in 
Magdalen  College,  Oxon,  of  which  he  was  per- 
petual fellow.  In  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary  he 
obtained  leave  to  travel,  and  continued  at  Zu- 
rich till  Queen  Elizabeth's  accession,  when  he 
was  made  queen's  professor  in  divinity ;  he  was 
afterward  President  of  Magdalen  College,  and 
Dean  of  Gloucester,  which  was  the  highest  pre- 
ferment he  could  obtain,  because  he  was  a  Non- 
conformist from  the  ceremonies  of  the  Church. 
The  Oxford  historian  says  he  was  a  moderate 
and  conscientious  Nonconformist,  and  stocked 
his  college  with  a  generation  of  that  sort  of  men 
that  could  not  be  rooted  out  in  many  years  :  he 
was  certainly  a  strict  Calvinist,  and  a  bitter 
enemy  of  the  papists  ;  he  was  a  great  and  gen- 
eral scholar,  an  able  linguist,  and  a  deeper  di- 
vine than  most  of  his  age  :  he  published  many 
learned  works,  and  at  length  died  in  his  college, 
in  the  sixty-third  year  of  his  age,  1589,  having 
had  the  honour  to  see  many  of  his  pupils  bish- 
ops,t  while  he  who  was  every  way  their  superi- 

*  The  particular  cause  of  his  leaving  the  kingdom 
was  a  discovery  that  he  was  concerned  with  Ricliard 
Chambers,  a  zealous  Protestant,  in  collecting  money 
in  the  city  of  London  for  the  use  of  poor  scholars  in 
the  universities  who  had  imbibed  the  reformed  doc- 
trines.— British  Biography,  vol.  iii.,  p.  20,  the  note. 
— Ed. 

t  Wood's  Ath.  Ox.,  vol.  i.,  p.  192. 

i  Strype's  Ann.,  voi.  i.,  p.  472 ;  vol.  ii.,  p.  451. 


or  was  denied  preferment  for  his  Puritanical 
principles. 

To  these  we  may  add  the  venerable  Edwin 
Sandys,  archbishop  of  York,  an  excellent  and 
frequent  preacher  in  his  younger  days,  and  aa 
exile  for  religion  in  Queen  Mary's  reign.  He 
was  afterward  successively  Bishop  of  Worces- 
ter, London,  and  York,  and  a  zealous  defender 
of  the  laws  against  Nonconformists  of  all  sorts ; 
when  arguments  failed,  he  would  earnestly  im- 
plore the  secular  arm  ;  though  he  had  no  great 
opinion  of  the  discipline  or  ceremonies  of  the 
Church,  as  appears  by  his  last  will  and  testa- 
ment, in  which  are  these  remarkable  expres- 
sions :  "  I  am  persuaded  that  the  rites  and  cer- 
emonies, by  political  institution  appointed  in  the 
Church,  are  not  ungodly  nor  unlawful,  but  may 
for  order  and  obedience'  sake  be  used  by  a  good 
Christian  ;  but  I  am  now,  and  ever  have  been, 
persuaded  that  some  of  these  rites  and  ceremo- 
nies are  not  expedient  for  this  church  now;  but 
that  in  the  Church  reformed,  and  in  all  this  time 
of  the  Gospel,  they  may  better  be  disused  by  little 
and  little,  than  more  and  more  urged."*  Such  a 
testimony,  from  the  dying  lips  of  one  who  had 
been  a  severe  persecutort  of  honest  men,  for 
things  which  he  always  thought  had  better  be 
disused  than  urged,  deserves  to  be  remembered. 
He  diedt  in  the  month  of  July,  1588,  in  the  six- 
ty-ninth year  of  his  age,  and  was  buried  in  the 
collegiate  church  of  Southwell,  where  there  is 
a  monument  erected  to  his  memory,  with  his 
own  effigies  on  the  top,  and  a  great  number  of 
his  children  kneeling  round  the  sides  of  it. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

FROM   T^E    SPANISH    INVASION    TO    THE    DEATH    OV 
QUEEN    ELIZABETH. 

While  there  were  any  hopes  of  compromi 
sing  matters  between  the  Church  and  Puritans 
the  controversy  was  carried  on  with  some  de- 
cency ;  but  when  all  hopes  of  accommodatioa 
were  at  an  end,  the  contending  parties  loaded 
each  other  with  the  heaviest  reproaches.  The 
public  printing-presses  being  shut  against  the 
Puritans,  some  of  them  purchased  a  private  one, 
and  carried  it  from  one  country  to  another  to 
prevent  discovery :  it  was  first  set  up  at  Moul- 
sey  in  Surrey,  near  Kingston-on-Thames  ;  from 
thence  it  was  conveyed  to  Fawsley  in  North- 
amptonshire ;  from  thence  to  Norton,  from 
thence  to  Coventry,  from  Coventry  to  Woolstoa 
in  Warwickshire,  and  from  thence  to  Manches- 
ter in  Lancashire,  where  it  was  discovered. 
Sundry  satirical  pamphlets  were  printed  by  this 
press,  and  dispersed  all  over  the  kingdom ;  as, 

*  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  287. 

t  Life  of  Parker,  p.  428,  438.  Pierce's  Vindica- 
tion, p.  89. 

X  Bishop  Sandys  was  one  of  the  translators  of  the 
Bible  in  this  reign,  and  the  author  of  a  volume  of 
sermons  esteemed  superior  to  any  of  his  contempo- 
raries. The  words  of  his  last  will,  quoted  above, 
agree  with  his  former  declaration  to  Bishop  Parker, 
produced  by  our  author,  p.  ICO.  But  his  treatment 
of  the  Puritans  was  a  contradiction  to  both,  and  is 
one  proof,  among  the  several  instances  furnished  by 
these  times,  of  the  influence  of  preferment  and  pros- 
perity in  corrupting  the  human  mind  or  blinding  the 
judgment.  For,  in  the  same  will,  he  entered  his  se- 
rious protest  against  the  platforms  oflered  by  the  Pu- 
ritans.— See  Maddox's  Vindication,  p.  352. — Ed. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


189 


"  Martin  Mar-Prelate,"  written,  as  is  suppo- 
sed, by  a  club  of  separatists,  for  the  authors 
'were  never  discovered  :  it  is  a  violent  satire 
against  the  hierarchy  and  all  its  supporteKS ;  it 
calls  the  lord-bishops  petty  antichrists,  petty 
popes,  proud  prelates,  enemies  to  the  Gospel, 
and  most  covetous,  wretched  priests.  It  says 
"that  the  Lord  has  given  many  of  our  bishops 
over  to  a  reprobate  sense,  because  they  wilfully 
oppose  and  persecute  the  truth ;  and  supposes 
them  to  have  committed  the  unpardonable  sin, 
because  they  have  manifested  in  their  public 
writings,  &c.,  most  blasphemous  and  damnable 
doctrines."  Tire  author  then  addresses  him- 
self to  the  clergy  who  had  subscribed,  and  who 
were  for  pressing  subscription  upon  others,  in 
such  punning  language  as  this  :  "  Right  puissant 
and  terrible  priests,  my  clergy  masters  of  the 
confocation  or  conspiration  house,  whether /cA-ers 
[vicars],  paltripolitatis,  or  others  of  the  holy 
league  of  subscription.  Right  poisoned,  perse- 
cuting, and  terrible  priests  ;  my  horned  masters, 
your  government  is  antichristian,  your  cause  is 
desperate,  your  grounds  are  ridiculous  ;  Martin 
understands  all  your  knavery  ;  you  are  intoler- 
able withstanders  of  reformation,  enemies  of 
the  Gospel,  and  most  covetous,  wretched,  and 
popish  priests,"  &c.*  There  are  a  great  many 
sad  truths  in  the  book,  but  delivered  in  rude 
and  unbecoming  language,  and  with  a  bitter,  an- 
gry spirit. 

The  titles  of  the  rest  were, 

"  Theses  Martinianae  ;  i.  e.,  certain  demon- 
strative conclusions  set  down  and  collected  by 
Martin  Mar-Prelate  the  Great,  serving  as  a 
manifest  and  sufficient  confutation  of  all  that 
ever  the  college  of  eater-caps,  with  their  whole 
band  of  clergy-priests,  have  or  can  bring  for  the 
defence  of  their  ambitious  and  antichristian  prel- 
acy. Published  by  Martin,  Junior,  1589,  in  oc- 
tavo, and  dedicated  to  John  Kankerbury"  [i.  e., 
Canterbury].  The  author  of  this  tells  the  bish- 
ops that  he  would  plant  young  Martins  in  every 
diocess  and  parish,  who  should  watch  the  beha- 
viour of  the  clergy,  that  when  anything  was 
done  amiss  it  might  be  made  public. 

"  Protestation  of  Martin  Mar- Prelate  ;  where- 
in, notwithstanding  the  surprising  of  the  print- 
er, he  maketh  it  known  to  the  world  that  he 
feareth  neither  proud  priest,  antichristian  pope, 
tyrannous  prelate,  nor  godless  eater-cap,  &,c. 
Printed  1589."     Octavo. 

"  His  appellation  to  the  High  Court  of  Parlia- 
ment from  the  bad  and  injurious  dealing  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  other  his  col- 
leagues of  the  High  Commission,  &c.t  Printed 
1589."     Octavo. 

"  Dialogue,  wherein  is  plainly  laid  open  the 
tyrannical  dealings  of  the  lords-bishops  against 
God's  children.     Printed  1589."     Quarto. 

"  A  Treatise,  wherein  is  manifestly  proved 
that  Reformation,  and  those  that  sincerely  fa- 
vour the  same,  are  unjustly  charged  to  be  ene- 
mies to  her  majesty  and  the  state.  Printed 
1590."     Quarto. 

"Ha'  ye  any  work  for  the  Cooper  1"  This 
was  written  against  Dr.  Thomas  Cooper,  bishop 
of  Winchester,  and  is  said  to  be  printed  in  Eu- 
rope, not  far  from  some  of  the  bouncing  priests, 
1590. 

*  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  290. 
+  Ath.  Oxon.,  vol.,  i.,  p.,  259. 


"  Epitome  of  the  First  Book  of  Dr.  John  Bridges 
against  the  Puritans,"  with  this  expression  in 
the  title-page,  "  Oh  !  read  over  Dr.  John  Bridg- 
es, for  it  is  a  worthy  work.  Printed  over  sea 
in  Europe,  within  two  furlongs  of  a  bouncing 
priest,  at  the  cost  and  charges  of  Martin  Mar- 
Prelate,' gent.,  in  quarto." 

"The  Cobbler's  Book,"*  which  denies  the 
Church  of  England  to  be  a  true  church,  and 
charges  her  with  maintaining  idolatry  under  the 
name  of  decency,  in  the  habits,  fonts,  baptism 
by  women,  gang-days,  saints'  eves,  bislioping 
of  children,  organs,  wafer-cakes,  &c. 

"  Ha'  ye  any  more  work  for  the  Cooper  V-  In 
printing  of  which  the  press  was  discovered  and 
seized,  with  several  pamphlets  unfinished  ;  as, 
Episto  [Episco]  Mastix,  Paradoxes,  Dialogues, 
Miscellanea,  Varice  Lectionps,  Martin's  Dream, 
The  Lives  and  Doings  of  English  Popes,  Itine- 
rarium  or  Visitations,  Lambethisms. 

The  last  two  of  these  were  imperfect ;  but  to 
complete  the  Itinerarium,  the  author  threatens 
to  survey  all  the  clergy  of  England,  and  note 
their  intolerable  pranks  ;  and  for  his  Lambeth- 
isms he  would  have  a  Martin  at  Lambeth.  Oth- 
er books  were  published  of  the  same  nature ; 
as,  "  A  Demonstration  of  Discipline,"  "  The 
Counter-poison,"  &c. 

The  writers  on  the  Church  side  came  not  be- 
hind their  adversaries  in  bulToonery  and  ridi- 
cule, as  appears  by  the  following  pamphlets 
printed  at  this  time  : 

"  Pappe  with  an  hatchet,  alias,  A  fig  for  my 
godson  ;  or.  Crack  me  this  nut,  that  is,  a  sound 
box  of  the  ear  for  the  idiot  Martin  to  hold  his 
peace.  Written  by  one  that  dares  call  a  dog  a 
dog.  Imprinted  by  John  Anoke,  and  are  to  be 
sold  at  the  sign  of  the  Crab  Tree  Cudgel,  in 
Thwack- Coat-Lane,  "t 

"  Pasquil's  Apology.  In  the  first  part  whereof 
he  renders  a  reason  of  his  long  silence,  and  gal- 
lops the  field  with  the  treatise  of  Reformation. 
Printed  where  I  was,  and  where  I  shall  be  ready, 
by  the  help  of  God  and  my  muse,  to  send  you  a 
May-game  of  Martinism.    Anno  1593."   Quarto. 

"  An  Almond  for  a  Parrot ;  or.  An  Alms  for 
Martin  Mar-Prelate,  &c.  By  Cuthbert  Curry- 
Knave."     Quarto. 

"  The  return  of  the  renowned  Cavaliero  Pas- 
quil  to  England,  and  his  meeting  with  Marforius 
at  London,  upon  the  Royal  Exchange,  London, 
1589,  against  Martin  and  Martinism." 

"  A  Counter-cuff  given  to  Martin,  Junior,  by 
the  Pasquil  of  England,  Cavaliero.    1589."    8vo. 

It  is  sad  when  a  controversy  about  serious 
matters  runs  these  dregs  :  ridicule  and  personal 
reflection  may  expose  an  adversary  and  make 
him  ashamed,  but  will  never  convince  or  recon- 
cile ;  it  carries  with  it  a  contempt  which  sticks 
in  the  heart,  and  is  hardly  ever  to  be  removed, 
nor  do  I  remember  any  cause  that  has  been 
served  by  such  methods.  Dr.  Bridges  answer- 
ed Martin  in  a  ludicrous  style  ;  but  Cooper, 
bishop  of  Winchester,  did  more  service  by  his 
grave  and  sober  reply,  with  the  assistance  of 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who,  being  mis- 
erably aspersed,  furnished  the  bishop  with  re- 
plies to  the  particular  charges  brought  against 
him.  The  book  is  entitled  "An  Advertisement 
to  the  People  of  England,"  wherein  the  slan- 


*  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  296. 
t  Ath.  Ox.,  vi.,  280. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  288. 


190 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


ders  of  Martin  Mar- Prelate  the  libeller  are  dis- 
tincily  answered.  But,  after  all,  it  was  impos- 
sible for  the  bishops  to  wipe  off  from  them- 
selves the  charge  of  persecution  and  violation 
of  the  laws. 

To  put  a  stop  to  these  pamphlets,  the  queen 
sent  a  letter  to  the  archbishop,  commanding  him 
to  malie  diligent  inquiry  after  the  printing-press, 
and  issued  out  her  royal  proclamation,  dated 
February  13th,  1589,  "  for  the  bringing  in  ail  sedi- 
tious and  schismatical  books,  whether  printed 
or  written,  to  the  ordinary,  or  to  one  of  the 
privy  council,  as  tending  to  bring  in  a  monstrous 
and  dangerous  innovation  of  all  manner  of  ec- 
clesiastical government  now  in  use,  and  with  a 
rash  and  malicious  purpose  to  dissolve  the  state 
of  the  prelacy,  being  one  of  the  three  ancient 
estates  of  this  realpi  under  her  highness,  where- 
of her  majesty  mindeth  to  have  a  reverend  re- 
gard ;  she  therefore  prohibits  any  of  her  sub- 
jects from  keeping  any  books  in  their  custody 
against  the  order  of  the  Church,  or  the  rites  and 
ceremonies  of  it,  her  majesty  being  minded  to 
have  the  laws  severely  executed  against  the 
authors  and  abetters  of  them,  as  soon  as  they 
shall  be  apprehended."* 

As  soon  as  the  printing-press  was  discovered, 
his  grace  wrote  to  the  treasurer  to  prosecute 
the  persons  with  whom  it  was  found  ;  but,  like 
an  able  politician,  wishes  it  might  be  done  by 
the  lords  of  the  council  rather  than  by  the  ec- 
clesiastical commissioners,  because  they  had 
already  suffered  for  supporting  the  government, 
which  was  wounded  through  their  sides. t  Ac- 
cordingly, Sir  Richard  Knightly,  Sir Wig- 

ston,  who  had  entertained  the  press,  together 
with  the  printer,  and  Humphrey  Newman,  the 
disperser,  were  deeply  lined  in  the  Star  Cham- 
ber, and  others  were  put  to  death. t 

The  archbishop,  being  now  in  his  visitation, 
had  framed  twenty-two  articles  of  inquiry,  upon 
which  the  church-wardens  of  every  parish  were 
to  be  examined  upon  oath.  By  these  articles 
they  were  to  swear  that  their  minister  was  ex- 
actly conformable  to  the  orders  of  the  Church, 
or  else  to  impeach  him  ;  and  to  declare,  farther, 
whether  they  knew  any  of  their  neighbours  or 
fellow-parishioners  that  were  "  common  swear- 
ers, drunkards,  usurers,  witches,  conjurers, 
heretics  ;  any  man  that  had  two  wives,  or 
woman  that  had  two  husbands ;  whether  they 
knew  any  that  went  to  conventicles  or  meet- 
ings for  saying  prayers  in  private  houses  ; 
any  that  were  of  age,  and  did  not  receive  the 
sacrament  at   church  three  times  a  year  -"^ 

*  Life  of  Whitgift,  in  Rec,  b.  iii.,  no.  41. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  314.     Fuller,  b.  ix.,  p.  194. 

j  Fuller  adds.  Archbishop  Whitgift  improved  his 
interest  with  the  queen  tdl,  though  she  was  at  first 
angry  with  his  solicitations,  they  were  delivered  out 
of  prison  and  eased  of  their  fines.  Bishop  Maddox 
censures  Mr.  Neal  for  passing  this  over  in  silence  ; 
but  he  himself  omits  the  conslructiou  put  on  this 
apparently  kind  conduct  of  the  prelate,  '-which, 
wliile  some  highly  commended,  so  others,"  says  Ful- 
ler, "  imputed  it  to  the  declining  of  envy,  gaining  of 
applause,  and  remorse  of  conscience  for  over-rigor- 
ous proceedings ;  it  being  no  charity  to  cure  the 
wound  he  had  caused,  and  solicit  the  remitting  those 
fines  which  he  had  procured  to  be  imposed."  Our 
author  proceeds:  "Thus  impossible  is  it  to  please 
froward  spirits,  and  to  make  them  like  the  best  deed 
who  dislike  the  doer." — Ed. 
<)  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  309,  311. 


with  others  calculated  to  dissolve  all  friendship 
in  country  towns,  and  set  a  whole  diocess  in  a 
flame.  When  Sir  Francis  Knollys  had  read  the 
articles,  he  sent  them  to  the  treasurer,  calling 
them  by  their  proper  name,  "  articles  of  inqui- 
sition, highly  prejudicial  to  the  royal  preroga- 
tive ;"  but  there  was  no  stopping  his  grace's 
career.* 

Among  the  divines  that  suffered  death!  for 
the  libels  above  mentioned  were  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Udal,  whose  case  being  peculiarly  hard,  I  shall 
give  the  reader  an  abstract  of  it.  He  had  beea 
minister  of  Kingston-upon-Thames,  where, 
having  been  silenced  by  the  official.  Dr.  Hone, 
he  lay  by  for  half  a  year,  having  no  farther  pros- 
pect of  usefulness  in  the  Chruch.  At  length, 
the  people  of  Newcastle-upon-Tyne  wanting  a 
minister,  prevailed  with  the  Earl  of  Huntingdon 
to  send  him  to  them  ;  when  he  had  been  there 
about  a  year  he  was  sent  for  up  to  London  by 
the  Lord  Hnnsdon  and  the  lord-chamberlain,  in 
the  name  of  the  whole  privy  council.  Mr.  Udal 
set  out  December  29,  1589,  and  on  the  13th  of 
January,  1590,  appeared  at  Lord  Cobham's 
house  before  the  commissioners,  Lord  Cobham, 
Lord  Buckhurst,  Lord-chief-justice  Anderson, 
Dr.  John  Young,  bishop  of  Rochester,  Mr.  For- 
tescue,  Mr.  Egerton,  the  queen's  solicitor,  Dr. 
Aubrey,  and  Dr.  Lewin.  The  bishop  began  the 
examination  in  this  manner  :  Bishop.  Have  you 
the  allowance  of  the  bishop  of  the  diocess  to 
preach  at  Newcastle  1  Udal.  There  was  neither 
bishop  of  the  diocess  nor  Archbishop  of  York  at 
that  time.  Fortescue.  By  what  law,  then,  did 
you  preach  at  Newcastle,  being  silenced  at 
Kingston!  Udal.  I  know  no  law  against  it, 
seeing  I  was  silenced  only  by  the  official,  whose 
authority  reaches  not  beyond  his  archdeaconry. 
L.  C.  J.  Anderson.  You  are  called  to  answer 
concerning  certain  books  thought  to  be  of  your 
writing.  Udal.  If  it  be  any  of  Martin's  books, 
I  have  disowned  them  a  year  and  a  half  ago  at 
Lambeth.  L.  C.  J.  Anderson.  Who  was  the 
author  of  the  Demonstration,  or  the  Dialogue  1 
Udal.  I  shall  not  answer.  Anderson.  Why  will 
you  clear  yourself  of  Martin,  and  not  of  these'? 
Udal.  Because  I  would  not  be  thought  to  handle 
the  cause  of  discipline  as  Martin  did;  but  I 
think  otherwise  of  the  other  books,  and  care 
not  though  they  should  be  fathered  upon  me ;  I 
think  the  author  did  well,  and,  therefore,  would 
not  discover  him  if  I  knew  him,  but  would  hin- 
der, it  all  I  could.  L.  C.  J.  Anderson.  Why- 
dare  you  not  confess  if  you  be  the  author  1 
Udal.  I  have  said  I  liked  of  the  books,  and  the 
matter  handled  in  them;  but  whether  I  made 
them  or  no  I  will  not  answer,  for  by  the  law  I 


*  Pierce's  Vindic,  p.  129. 

t  Bishop  Warburton  is  very  severe  in  his  censure 
of  Mr.  Neal  for  using  this  language ;  "  which,"  he 
says,  "  in  common  English,  means  dying  by  the  hand 
of  the  executioner ;"  whereas  Mr.  Udal  died  in  pris- 
on. But  when  he  died  quite  heart-broken  with  sor- 
row and  grief  through  imprisonment  and  the  severe 
treatment  he  met  with  on  account  of  the  libels,  his 
death  was  as  much  the  consequence  of  Ihe  prosecution 
commenced  against  him  as  if  it  had  been  inflicted  by  the 
executioner.  At  most  there  W2s  only  an  inaccuracy 
in  the  expression,  which  it  was  very  unworthy  the 
bishop  to  censure  as  "  unworthy  a  candid  historian 
or  an  honest  man."— Ed.  There  is  no  attempt  at 
deception  in  Neal,  for  he  goes  on  and  minutely  re- 
lates his  dying  daily  in  the  prison. — 0. 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


I&l 


am  not  obliged  to  it.  Anderson.  That  is  true, 
if  it  concerned  the  loss  of  your  life.  [And  yet 
the  judges  tried  and  condemned  him  for  his 
life.]  Udal.  I  pray  your  lordship,  does  not  the 
law  say,  No  man  shall  be  put  to  answer  with- 
out presentment  before  justices  on  matters  of 
record,  or  by  due  proofs  and  writ  original,  &c.  1 
(A.  42  Edw.  TIL,  cap.  iii.).  Anderson.  That  is 
law  if  it  be  not  repealed.  Bishop  of  Rochester. 
Pray  let  me  ask  you  a  question  concerning  your 
book.  But  Udal  was  upon  his  guard,  and  said. 
It  is  not  yet  proved  to  be  mine.  Mr.  Solicitor. 
I  am  sorry,  Mr.  Udal,  you  will  not  answer  nor 
take  an  oath,  which  by  law  you  ought  to  do ; 
but  he  did  not  say  by  what  law.  Udal.  Sir,  if  I 
have  a  liberty  by  law,  there  is  no  reason  why  I 
should  not  challenge  it ;  show  me  by  what  law 
I  am  obliged  to  accuse  myself.  Dr.  Lewin. 
You  have  taken  the  oath  heretofore,  why  should 
you  not  take  it  nowl  Udal.  I  then  voluntarily 
confessed  certain  things  concerning  my  preach- 
ing of  the  points  of  discipline,  which  could  never 
have  been  proved,  and  when  my  friends  labour- 
ed to  have  me  restored  to  my  ministry,  the 
archbishop  answered  there  was  sufficient  mat- 
ter against  me,  by  my  own  confession,  why  I 
should  not  be  restored  ;  whereupon  I  covenant- 
ed with  my  own  heart  never  to  be  my  own  ac- 
cuser again. 

At  length  the  bishop  told  him  his  sentence 
for  that  time  was  to  be  sent  to  the  Gate-house  ; 
take  it  in  his  own  words.  "  I  was  carried  to 
the  Gate-house  by  a  messenger,  who  delivered 
me  with  a  warrant  to  be  kept  close  prisoner, 
and  not  to  be  suffered  to  have  pen,  ink,  or  pa- 
per, or  anybody  to  speak  with  me.  Thus  I  re- 
mained half  a  year,  in  all  which  time  my  wife 
could  not  get  leave  to  come  to  me,  saving  only 
that  in  the  hearing  of  the  keeper  she  might 
speak  to  me,  and  I  to  her,  of  such  things  as  she 
should  think  meet.  All  which  time  my  cham- 
ber-fellows were  seminary  priests,  traitors,  and 
professed  papists.  At  the  end  of  the  half  year 
I  was  removed  to  the  White  Lion,  in  South- 
wark,  and  so  carried  to  the  assizes  at  Croy- 
don."' 

On  the  23d  of  July,  Mr.  Udal  was  brought  to 
Croydon  with  fetters  on  his  legs,  and  indicted 
upon  the  statute  23  Eliz.,  cap.  ii.,  before  Baron 
Clarke  and  Mr.  Sergeant  Puckering,  for  wri- 
ting a  wicked,  scandalous,  and  seditious  libel, 
cahed  "  A  Demonstration  of  Discipline,"  dedi- 
cated to  the  supposed  governors  of  the  Church 
of  England,*  in  which  is  this  passage:  "Who 
can,  without  blushing,  deny  you  [the  bishops] 
to  be  the  cause  of  all  ungodUnessI  forasmuch 
as  your  government  gives  liberty  for  a  man  to  be 
anything  but  a  sound  Christian  ;  it  is  more  free 
in  these  days  to  be  a  papist  or  a  wicked  man 
than  what  we  should  be ;  I  could  live  twenty 
years  as  such  in  England,  and  it  may  be  in  a 
bishop's  house,  and  not  be  molested  :  so  true  is 
it  that  you  care  for  nothing  but  the  mainte- 
nance of  your  dignities,  be  it  to  damnation  of 
your  souls,  and  infinite  millions  more."  These 
are  the  words  of  the  indictment.  To  which 
Mr.  Udal  pleaded  not  guilty,  and  put  himself 
upon  the  trial  of  his  country.  In  opening  the 
cause,  Mr.  Daulton,  the  queen's  counsel,  made  a 
long  inVective  against  the  new  discipline,  which 

*  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  343. 


he  affirmed  was  not  to  be  found  in  the  Word 
of  God.  To  whom  Udal  replied.  This  being  a 
controversy  among  learned  divines,  he  thought 
Mr.  Daulton  might  have  suspended  his  judg- 
ment, since  he  had  formerly  showed  some  li- 
king to  the  cause.  Upon  which  the  judge  said. 
Sirrah  !  sirrah  !  answer  to  the  matter.  Mr. 
Daulton,  go  on  to  the  proof  of  the  points  in  the 
indictment,  which  were  these  three  : 

1.  That  Udal  was  the  author  of  the  book. 

2.  That  he  had  a  malicious  intent  in  making  it. 

3.  That  the  matters  in  the  indictment  were 
felony  by  the  statute  23  Eliz.,  cap.  ii. 

The  first  point  was  to  prove  Udal  to  be  the 
author  of  the  book ;  and  here  it  is  observable, 
that  the  witnesses  were  not  brought  into  court, 
but  only  their  examinations,  which  the  registrar 
swore  to.  And,  first,  Stephen  Chatfield's  arti- 
cles were  produced,  which  contained  a  report 
of  certain  papers  he  had  seen  in  Udal's  study. 
Upon  seeing  them,  he  asked  whose  writings 
they  were.  Udal  answered,  A  friend's.  Chat- 
field  then  desired  him  to  rid  his  hands  of  them, 
for  he  doubted  they  concerned  the  state.  He 
added,  that  Udal  told  him  another  time,  that  if 
they  put  him  to  silence,  he  would  give  the  bish- 
ops such  a  blow  as  they  had  never  had.  Chat- 
field  was  called  to  witness  these  things,  but  ap- 
peared not.  Daulton  said  he  went  out  of  the 
way  on  purpose.  The  judge  said,  Mr.  Udal, 
you  are  glad  of  that.  Mr.  Udal  answered,  My 
lord,  I  wish  heartily  he  were  here ;  for  as  I  am 
sure  he  could  never  say  anything  against  me  to 
prove  this  point,  so  I  am  able  to  prove  it  to  be 
true  that  he  is  very  sorry  that  he  ever  made 
any  complaint  against  me,  confessing  he  did  it 
in  anger  when  Martin  came  first  out,  and  by  their 
suggestions,  whom  he  had  proved  since  to  be  very 
bad  men.  Mr.  Uda  added,  that  the  book  was 
published  before  this  conversation  with  Chatfield. 

The  examination  of  Nicholas  Tomkins  be- 
fore the  commissioners  was  next  produced. 
This  Tomkins  was  now  beyond  sea,  but  the 
paper  said  that  Udal  had  told  him  he  was  the 
author.  But  Tomkins  himself  sent  word  that 
he  would  not  for  a  £1000  affirm  any  more  than 
that  he  had  heard  Udal  say,  that  he  would  not 
doubt  but  set  his  name  to  the  book  if  he  had 
indifferent  judges.  And  when  Udal  offered  to 
produce  his  witnesses,  the  judge  said,  that  be- 
cause the  witnesses  were  against  the  queen's 
majesty,  they  could  not  be  heard. 

The  confession  of  Henry  Sharp,  of  North- 
ampton, was  then  read,  who,  upon  oath  before 
the  lord-chancellor,  had  declared  that  he  heard 
Mr.  Penry  say  that  Mr.  Udal  was  the  author  of 
the  Demonstration. 

This  was  the  whole  evidence  of  the  fact  upon 
which  he  was  convicted,  not  a  single  living  wit- 
ness being  produced  in  court ;  so  that  the  pris- 
oner had  no  opportunity  to  ask  any  questions, 
or  refute  the  evidence.  And  what  methods 
were  used  to  extort  these  confessions  may 
easily  be  imagined  from  the  confessors  flying 
their  country,  and  then  testifying  their  sorrow 
for  what  they  had  said. 

To  prove  the  sedition,  and  bring  it  within  the 
statute,  the  counsel  insisted  upon  his  threaten- 
ing the  bishops,  who  being  the  queen's  officers, 
it  was  constructed  a  threatening  of  the  queea 
herself  The  prisoner  desired  liberty  to  explain 
the  passage,  and  his  counsel  insisted  that  aa 


192 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


offence  against  the  bishops  was  not  sedition 
against  the  queen;  but  the  judge  gave  it  for 
law,  that  "  they  who  spake  against  the  queen's 
government  in  causes  ecclesiastical,  or  her  laws, 
proceedings,  and  ecclesiastical  officers,  defamed 
the  queen  herself"  Upon  this  the  jury  were 
directed  to  find  him  guilty  of  the  fact,  and  the 
judges  took  upon  them  the  point  of  law,  and 
condemned  him  as  a  felon.  Mr.  Fuller  confess- 
es* that  the  proof  against  him  was  not  preg- 
nant, for  it  was  generally  believed  he  wrote  not 
the  book,  but  only  the  preface.  They  might  as 
"well  have  condemned  him  without  the  form  of 
a  trial,  for  the  statute  was  undoubtedly  strained 
beyond  the  intent  of  it,  to  reach  his  life.  He 
behaved  modestly  and  discreetly  at  the  bar ; 
and  having  said  as  much  for  himself  as  must 
have  satisfied  any  equitable  persons,  he  submit- 
ted to  the  judgment  of  the  court. 

Mr.  Udal  was  convicted  in  the  summer  assi- 
zes, 1590,  but  did  not  receive  sentence  till  the 
Lent  assizes ;  in  the  mean  time,  he  was  offered 
his  pardon  if  he  would  sign  the  following  sub- 
mission :t 

"  I,  John  Udal,  have  been  heretofore,  by  due 
course  of  law,  convicted  of  felony,  for  penning 
or  setting  forth  a  certain  book  called  *  The  Dem- 
onstration of  Discipline,'  wherein  false,  slan- 
derous, and  seditious  matters  are  contained 
against  her  majesty's  prerogative  royal,  her 
crown  and  dignity,  and  against  the  laws  and 
government  ecclesiastical  and  temporal  by  law 
established  under  her  highness,  and  tending  to 
the  erecting  a  new  form  of  government  contrary 
to  her  said  laws  ;  all  which  points  I  do  now  per- 
ceive, by  the  grace  of  God,  to  be  very  danger- 
ous to  the  peace  of  this  realm  and  church,  se- 
ditious in  the  commonwealth,  and  infinitely  of- 
fensive to  the  queen's  most  excellent  majesty ; 
so  as  thereby  I,  now  seeing  the  grievousness  of 
my  offence,  do  most  humbly  on  my  knees,  be- 
fore and  in  this  presence,  submit  myself  to  the 
mercy  of  her  highness,  being  most  sorry  that  I 
have  so  deeply  and  worthily  incurred  her  majes- 
ty's indignation  against  me  :  promising,  if  it 
shall  please  God  to  move  her  royal  heart  to  have 
compassion  on  me,  a  most  sorrowful,  convicted 
person,  that  I  will  forever  hereafter  forsake  all 
such  undutiful  and  dangerous  courses,  and  de- 
mean myself  dutifully  and  peaceably  ;  for  I  do 
acknowledge  her  laws  to  be  both  lawful  and 
godly,  and  to  be  obeyed  by  every  subject.  Feb- 
ruary, 1590-1." 

No  arguments  or  threatenings  of  the  judges 
could  prevail  with  Udal  to  sign  this  submission  ; 
but  the  day  before  sentence  was  to  be  passed 
he  offered  the  following,  drawn  up  by  himself: 

"  Concerning  the  book  whereof  I  was  by  due 
course  of  law  convicted,  by  referring  myself  to 
the  trial  of  the  law,  and  for  that  by  the  verdict 
of  twelve  men  I  am  found  to  be  the  author  of 
it,  for  which  cause  an  humble  submission  is 
worthily  required  and  offered  of  me :  although 
I  cannot  disavow  the  cause  and  substance  of 
the  doctrine  debated  in  it,  which  I  must  needs 
acknowledge  to  be  holy,  and  (so  far  as  I  con- 
ceive it)  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God,  yet  I 
confess  the  manner  of  writing  it  is  such  in  some 
part  as  may  worthily  be  blamed,  and  might  pro- 
voke her  majesty's  just   indignation  therein. 


»  B.  ix.,  p.  223.      t  Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  ult.,  p.  26. 


Whereof  the  trial  of  the  law  imputing  to  me  all 
such  defaults  as  are  in  that  book,  and  laying  the 
punishment  of  the  same  in  the  most  grievous 
manner  upon  me  ;  as  my  most  humble  suit  to 
her  most  excellent  majesty  is,  that  her  mercy 
and  gracious  pardon  may  free  me  from  the  guilt 
and  offence  which  the  said  trial  of  the  law  hath 
cast  upon  me,  and  farther  of  her  great  clemen- 
cy to  restore  me  to  the  comfort  of  my  life  and 
liberty,  so  do  I  promise,  in  all  humble  submis- 
sion to  God  and  her  majesty,  to  carry  myself  in 
the  whole  course  of  my  life  in  such  humble  and 
dutiful  obedience  as  shall  befit  a  minister  of 
the  Gospel  and  dutiful  subject,  fervently  and 
continually  praying  for  a  good  preservation  of 
her  highness's  precious  life  and  happy  govern- 
ment, to  the  honour  of  God,  and  comfort  of 
her  loyal  and  dutiful  subjects.  February  19, 
1590-1." 

Mr.  Udal  had  often,  and  with  great  earnest- 
ness, petitioned  his  judges  for  their  mediation 
with  the  queen  :  in  his  letter  of  November  11th, 
he  says,  "  I  pray  you  call  to  mind  my  tedious 
state  of  imprisonment,  whereby  myself,  my  wife, 
and  children  are  reduced  to  beggary  ;  pray  call 
to  mind  by  what  course  this  misery  is  brought 
upon,  me,  and  .if  you  find,  by  due  consideration, 
that  I  am  worthy  to  receive  the  punishment  from 
the  sentence  of  upright  justice,  I  pray  you  to 
hasten  the  execution  of  the  same,  for  it  were 
better  for  me  to  die  than  to  live  in  this  case ; 
but  if  it  appear  to  your  consciences  (as  I  hope 
it  will)  that  no  malice  against  her  majesty  can 
possibly  be  in  me,  then  do  I  humbly  and  heartily 
desire  you  to  be  a  means  that  I  may  be  releas- 
ed ;  then  I  shall  not  only  forget  that  hard  opin- 
ion conceived  of  your  courses  against  me,  but 
pray  heartily  to  God  to  bury  the  same,  with  the 
rest  of  your  sins,  in  the  grave  of  his  Son  Jesus 
Christ."  Mr.  Udal  wrote  again,  November  18 
and  25,  in  most  humble  and  dutiful  language, 
but  the  court  would  do  nothing  till  he  had  sign- 
ed their  submission. 

At  the  close  of  the  Lent  assizes,  being  called 
to  the  bar  with  the  rest  of  the  felons,  and  asked 
what  he  had  to  say  why  judgment  should  not 
be  given  against  him  according  to  the  verdict, 
he  gave  in  a  paper  consisting  of  nine  reasons, 
of  which  these  are  the  principal : 

1.  "Because  the  jury  were  directed  only  to 
find  the  fact  whether  I  was  author  of  the  book  ; 
and  were  expressly  freed  by  your  lordship  from 
inquiring  into  the  intent,  without  which  there  is 
no  felony. 

2.  "  The  jury  were  not  left  to  their  own  con- 
sciences, but  were  wrought  upon  partly  by 
promises,  assuring  them  it  should  be  no  farther 
danger  to  me,  but  tend  to  my  good  ;  and  partly 
by  fear,  as  appears,  in  that  it  has  been  a  grief 
to  some  of  them  ever  since. 

3.  "  The  statute,  in  the  true  meaning  of  it,  is 
thought  not  to  reach  my  case,  there  being  no- 
thing in  the  book  spoken  of  her  majesty's  per- 
son but  in  duty  and  honour ;  I  beseech  you, 
therefore,  to  consider  whether  the  drawing  of 
it  from  her  royal  person  to  the  bishops,  as  being 
part  of  her  body  politic,  be  not  a  violent  depra- 
ving and  wresting  of  the  statute. 

4.  "  But  if  the  statute  be  taken  as  it  is  urged, 
the  felony  must  consist  in  the  malicious  intent ; 
wherein  I  appeal  first  to  God,  and  then  to  all 
men  who  have  known  the  course  of  my  life. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


193 


and  to  your  lordships'  own  consciences,  wheth- 
er you  can  find  me  guilty  of  any  act  in  all  my 
life  that  savoured  of  any  malice  or  malicious 
intent  against  her  majesty ;  of  which,  if  your 
consciences  must  clear  me  before  God,  I  hope 
you  will  not  proceed  to  judgment. 

5.  "By  the  laws  of  God,  and  I  trust  also  by  the 
laws  of  the  land,  the  witnesses  ought  to  be  pro- 
duced face  to  face  against  me  ;  but  I  have  none 
such,  nor  any  other  things,  but  papers  and  re- 
ports of  depositions  taken  by  ecclesiastical  com- 
missioners and  others.  This  kind  of  evidence 
is  not  allowed  in  case  of  lands,  and  therefore 
much  less  ought  it  to  be  allowed  in  case  of  life. 

6.  "  None  of  the  depositions  prove  me  direct- 
ly to  be  the  author  of  the  book  in  question  ;  and 
the  author  of  the  chief  testimony  is  so  grieved, 
that  he  is  ashamed  to  come  where  he  is  known. 

7.  "  Supposing  me  to  be  the  author  of  the 
book,  let  it  be  considered  that  the  said  book  for 
substance  contains  nothing  but  what  is  taught 
and  believed  by  the  best  Reformed  churches  in 
Europe,  so  that  in  condemning  me  you  condemn 
all  such  nations  and  cliurcdes  as  hold  the  same 
doctrine.  If  the  punishment  be  for  the  manner 
of  writing,  this  may  be  thought  by  some  worthy 
of  an  admonition,  or  fine,  or  some  short  impris- 
onment ;*  but  death  lor  an  error  of  sucii  a  kind, 
as  terms  and  words  not  altogether  dutiful  of 
certain  bishops,  cannot  but  be  extreme  cruelty 
against  one  that  has  endeavoured  to  show  him- 
self a  dutiful  subject  and  faithful  minister  of 
the  Gospel. 

"  If  all  this  prevail  not,  yet  my  Redeemer 
liveth,  to  whom  I  commend  myself,  and  say  as 
sometime  Jeremiah  said  in  a  case  not  much  un- 
like, '  Behold,  I  am  in  your  hands  to  do  with  me 
"whatsoever  seemeth  good  unto  you  ;  but  know 
you  this,  that  if  you  put  me  to  death,  you  shall 
bring  innocent  blood  upon  your  own  heads,  and 
upon  the  land.'  As  the  blood  of  Abel,  so  the 
blood  of  Udal  will  cry  to  God  with  a  loud  voice, 
and  the  righteous  Judge  of  the  land  will  require 
it  at  the  hands  of  all  that  shall  be  guilty  of  it." 

But  nothing  would  avail  unless  he  would 
sign  the  submission  the  court  had  drawn  up  for 
him  ;  which  his  conscience  not  suffering  him  to 
do,  sentence  of  death  was  passed  upon  him  Feb- 
ruary 20th,  and  execution  openly  awarded  ;  but 
next  morning  the  judges,  by  direction  from 
court,  gave  private  orders  to  respite  it  till  her 
majesty's  pleasure  was  farther  known.  The 
Dean  of  St.  Paul's  and  Dr.  Andrews  were  sent 
to  persuade  him  to  sign  the  submission,  which 
he  peremptorily  refused.  But  because  the  queen 
had  been  misinformed  of  his  belief,  he  sent  her 
majesty  a  short  confession  of  his  faith  in  these 
words  : 

"  I  believe,  and  have  often  preached,  that  the 
Church  of  England  is  a  part  of  the  true  visible 
Church,  the  Word  and  sacraments  being  truly 
dispensed ;  for  which  reason  I  have  communi- 
cated with  it  several  years  at  Kingston,  and  a 
year  at  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  and  do  still  desire 
to  be  a  preacher  in  the  same  church  ;  therefore 
I  utterly  renounce  the  schism  and  separation  of 
the  Brownists  :  I  do  allow  the  articles  of  reli- 
gion as  far  as  they  contain  the  doctrine  of  faith 
and  sacraments  according  to  law  :  I  believe  the 
queen's  majesty  hath,  and  ought  to  have,  su- 
preme authority  over  all  persons,  in  all  causes 

*  Steype's  Ann.,  vol.  iv.,  p.  23. 
Vol.  I.— B  b 


ecclesiastical  and  civil.  And  if  the  prince  com- 
mands anything  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God, 
it  is  not  lawful  for  subjects  to  rebel  or  resist, 
but  with  patience  and  humility  to  bear  the  pun- 
ishment laid  upon  them:  I  believe  the  Church, 
rightly  refornieJ,  ought  to  be  governed  ecclesi- 
astically by  ministers,  assisted  by  elders,  as  in 
the  foreign  Reformed  churches  :  I  believe  the 
censures  of  the  Church  ought  merely  to  con- 
cern the  soul,  and  may  not  impeach  any  sub- 
ject, much  less  any  prince,  in  liberty  of  body, 
goods,  dominion,  or  any  earthly  privilege  ;  nor 
do  I  believe  that  a  Christian  prince  ought  oth- 
erwise to  be  subject  to  the  Church  censures 
than  our  gracious  queen  professes  herself  to  be 
to  the  preaching  of  the  Word  and  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  sacraments."* 

With  this  declaration  of  his  faith  he  sent  an 
hu.mble  request,  that  il  her  majesty  would  not 
graciously  be  pleased  to  pardon  him,  she  would 
change  his  sentence  into  banishment,  that  the 
land   might   not   be   charged  with  his  blood. t 
King  James  of  Scotland  wrote  to  the  queen,  re- 
questing most  earnestly  that,  for  the  sake  of  his 
intercession,  Udal  might  be  relieved  of  his  pres- 
ent strait,  promising  to  do  the  like  for  her  maj- 
esty in  any  matter  she  should  recommend  to 
him.     The  Turkey  merchants  also  offered  to 
send  him  as  chaplain  to  one  of  their  factories 
abroad  if  he  might  have  his  life  and  liberty ; 
which  Udal  consented  to,  as  appears  by  his  let- 
ter to   the  lord-treasurer,  in  which   he   says, 
"  Lamentable  is  my  case,  having  been  three 
years  in  durance,  which  makes  me  humbly  de- 
sire your  lordship's  favour,  that  I  may  be  re- 
leased from  my  imprisonment,  the  Turkey  mer- 
chants having  my  consent  to  go  into  Syria  or 
Guinea,  there  to  remain  two  years  with  their 
factors,  if  my  lii^erty  may  be  obtained."     The 
writer  of  Archbishop  Whitgift's  life  says  the 
archbishop  yielded  to  this  petition  ;   that  the 
lord-keeper  promised  to  farther  it ;  and  that  the 
Earl  of  Essex  had  a  draught  of  a  pardon  ready 
prepared,  with  this  condition  annexed,  that  he 
should  never  return  without  the  queen's  license ; 
but  her  majesty  never  signed  it,  and  the  Tur- 
key ships  going  away  without  him,  poor  unhap- 
py Udal  died  a  few  months  after  in  the  Mar- 
shalsea  prison,  quite  heart-broken  with  sorrow 
and  grief,  about  the  end  of  the  year  1592.     Mr. 
Fullert  says  he  was  a  learned  man,  and  of  a 
blameless  life,  powerful  in  prayer,  and  no  less 
profitable  than  painful  in  preaching.     He  was 
decently   interred    in   the    churchyard   of  St. 
George,  Southwark,  not  far  from  the  grave  of 
Bishop  Bonner,  being  honoured  with  the  attend- 
ance of  great  numbers  of  the  London  ministers, 
who  visited  him  in  prison,  and  now  wept  over 
the  remains  of  a  man  who,  after  a  long  and  se- 
vere trial  of  his  faith  and  patience,  died  for  the 
testimony  of  a  good   conscience,  and  stands 
upon  record  as  a  monument  of  the  oppression 
and  cruelty  of  the  government  under  which  he 
suffered. 

Though  the  moderate  Puritans  publicly  dis- 
owned the  libels  above  mentioned,  and  con- 
denmed  the  spirit  with  which  they  were  writ- 
ten, they  were  nevertheless  brought  into  troub- 
le for  their  associations.  Among  others,  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Cartwright,   the   father   of  the    Pu- 

*  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  376. 

t  Fuller,  b.  ix.,  p.  203.  t  Fuller,  b.  ix.,  p.  222. 


194 


HISTORY    OF   THE   PURITANS. 


Titans,  and  master  of  the  new  hospital  at  War- 
wick, was  suspended  by  his  diocesan,  and  sum- 
moned before  the  hi>;h  commissioners,  wlio 
committed  him  to  the  Fleet,  with  his  breiliren, 
Mr.  Egerton,  Fen,  Wright,  Farmer,  Lord, 
Snape,  King,  Rushbrooke,  Wiggins,  Littleton, 
Field,  Iloyde,  Payne,  Proudlove,  and  Jewel.  At 
their  first  appearance,  the  commissioners  asked 
them  wliere  liiey  held  their  associations  or  as- 
semblies, and  how  often  ;  who  were  present, 
and  what  matters  were  treated  of;  who  cor- 
rected or  set  forth  the  book  of  Discipline,  and 
■who  had  subscribed  or  submitted  to  it ;  wheth- 
er in  a  Christian  monarchy  the  king  is  supreme 
governor  of  the  Church,  or  whether  he  is  un- 
der the  government  of  pastors,  doctors,  and 
such  like ;  whether  it  be  lawful  for  a  foreign 
prince  to  ordain  ceremonies,  and  make  orders 
for  the  Church  ;  whether  the  ecclesiastical  gov- 
ernment established  in  England  be  lawful,  and 
allowed  by  ihe  Word  of  God  ;  whether  the  sac- 
raments ministered  according  to  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  are  godly  and  rightly  minis- 
tered, &.C. 

Mr.  Cartwright's  answer  to  these  interroga- 
tories was  said  by  the  civilians  to  be  sufficient; 
upon  which  they  exhibited  thirty-one  articles 
against  him,  September  1,  1590,  and  required 
him  to  answer  them  upon  oath.* 

The  first  twenty- four  articles  charge  him 
•with  renouncing  his  episcopal  orders,  by  being 
xeordained  beyond  sea,  with  interrupting  the 
peace,  and  breaking  the  orders  of  the  Church 
since  he  came  home,  and  with  knowing  the 
authors  or  printers  of  Martin  Mar-Prelate. 

Art.  25.  Charges  him  with  penning,  or  pro- 
curing to  be  penned,  the  book  of  Discipline, 
and  with  recommending  the  practice  of  it. 

Art.  26.  Charges  him  with  being  present  at 
sundry  pretended  synods,  classes,  or  conferen- 
ces of  ministers  in  divers  countries. 

Art.  27.  That  at  such  synods  they  subscribed 
the  book  of  Discipline,  and  promised  to  govern 
themselves  by  it  as  far  as  they  could. 

Art.  28.  Charges  him  with  setting  up  partic- 
ular conferences  in  several  shires,  which  were 
to  receive  the  determinations  of  the  General 
Assembly,  and  put  them  in  practice. 

Art.  29,  30,  and  31.  Mention  some  rules  and 
orders  of  their  synods ;  as,  that  the  members 
should  bring  testimonials  from  their  several 
classes  ;  that  they  should  subscribe  the  book  of 
Discipline  ;  that  no  books  should  be  printed  but 
by  consent ;  that  they  should  be  subject  to  the 
censures  of  the  brethren  both  for  doctrine  and 
life ;  and  that  if  any  should  be  sent  abroad  upon 
public  service  at  the  meeting  of  Parliament, 
their  charges  should  be  borne,  &c. 

Mr.  Cartwright  offered  to  clear  himself  of 
some  of  these  articles  upon  oath,  and  to  give 
his  reasons  for  not  answering  the  rest ;  but  if 
this  would  not  satisfy,  he  was  determined  to 
submit  to  the  punishment  the  commissioners 
should  award*  [which  was  imprisonment  in  the 
Fleet],  praying  the  lord-treasurer  to  make  some 
provision  for  the  poor  people  of  Warwick,  who 
had  no  minister.  The  rest  of  Cartwright's 
brethren  refusing  the  oath  for  the  same  rea- 
sons, viz.,  because  they  would  not  accuse  tiiem- 
selves,  nor  bring  their  friends  into  trouble,  were 


*  LifeofWhilgift,  p.  373. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  338. 


committed  to  divers  prisons.  But  the  archbish- 
op, by  advice  of  the  treasurer,  was  not  present 
at  the  commitment  of  his  old  adversary. 

On  the  13th  of  May,  1591,  they  were  brought 
before  the  Star  Chamber,*  which  was  a  court 
made  up  of  certain  noblemen,  bishops,  judges, 
and  counsellors  of  the  queen's  nomination,  to 
the  number  of  twenty  or  thirty,  with  her  maj- 
esty at  their  head,  who  is  the  sole  judge  whea 
present,  the  other  members  being  only  to  give 
their  opinion  to  their  sovereign  by  way  of  ad- 
vice, which  he  [or  she]  disallows  at  their  pleas- 
ure ;  hut  in  the  absence  of  the  sovereign,  the 
determination  is  by  a  majority,  the  lord-chan- 
cellor or  keeper  having  a  casting  vole.  The 
determinations  of  this  court,  says  Mr.  Rush- 
worth,  were  not  by  the  verdict  of  a  jury,  nor  ac- 
cording to  any  statute-law  of  the  land,  but  ac- 
cording to  the  king's  [or  queen's]  royal  will  and 
pleasure,  and  yet  they  were  made  as  binding  to 
the  subject  as  an  act  of  Parliament.  In  the 
reign  of  King  Henry  VII.,  the  practice  of  that 
court  was  thought  to  intrench  upon  the  com- 
mon law,  though  it  seldom  did  any  business ; 
but  in  the  latter  end  of  this,  and  during  the 
two  next  reigns,  the  court  sat  constantly,  and 
was  so  unmerciful  in  its  censures  and  punish- 
ments, that  the  whole  nation  cried  aloud  against 
it  as  a  mark  of  the  vilest  slavery.  Lord  Clar- 
endon says,t  "  There  were  very  few  persons  o^. 
quality  in  those  times  that  had  not  suffered  or 
been  perplexed  by  the  weight  and  fear  of  its 
censure  and  judgments  ;  for  having  extended 
their  jurisdiction  from  riots,  perjuries,  and  the 
most  notorious  misdemeanors,  to  an  asserting 
of  all  proclamations  and  orders  of  state,  to  the 
vindicating  illegal  commissioners  and  grants  of 
monopolies,  no  man  could  hope  to  be  any  longer 
free  from  the  inquisition  of  that  court,  than  he 
resolved  to  submit  to  those  and  the  like  ex- 
traordinary courses." 

When  Mr.  Cartwright  and  his  brethren  ap- 
peared before  the  court,  Mr.  Attorney-general 
inveighed  bitterly  against  them  for  refusing  the 
oath  ;  and  when  Mr.  Fuller,  counsel  for  the  pris- 
oners, stood  up  to  answer,  he  was  commanded 
silence,  and  told  that  far  less  crimes  than  theirs 
had  been  punished  with  the  galleys  or  perpetual 
banishment,  which  latter  he  thought  proper  for 
them,  provided  it  was  in  some  remote  place 
from  whence  they  might  not  return. J  From 
the  Star  Chamber  they  were  remitted  back  to 
the  High  Commission,  where  Bancroft  had  a  long 
argument  with  Cartwright  about  the  oath  ;  from 
thence  they  were  returned  again  to  the  Star 
Chamber,  and  a  bill  was  exhibited  against  them 
with  twenty  articles ;  in  answer  to  which  ihey 
maintain  that  their  associations  were  very  use- 
ful, and  not  forbidden  by  any  law  of  the  realm  ; 
that  they  exercised  no  jurisdiction,  nor  moved 
any  sedition,  nor  transacted  any  affairs  in  them, 
but  with  a  due  regard  to  their  duty  to  their 
prince,  and  to  the  peace  of  the  Church  ;  that 
they  had  agreed  upon  some  regulations  to  ren- 
der their  ministry  more  edifying,  but  all  was 
voluntary,  and  in  breach  of  no  law ;  and  as  for 
tlie  oath,  they  refused  it,  not  in  contempt  of  the 
court,  but  as  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God  and 
nature. 

*  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  361. 

t  Hist,  of  Gr.  Rebellion,  vol.  i.,  8vo,  p.  68,  &c. 

t  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  360. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    PURITANS. 


195 


But  this  answer  not  being  satisfactory,  they 
were  remanded  to  prison,  where  they  continued 
two  years  without  any  fartlier  process,  or  being 
admitted  to  bail ;  in  the  mean  time,  King  James 
of  Scotland  interceded  for  them,  in  a  letter  to 
the  queen,  dated  June  12,  1591,  in  which  he  re- 
quests her  majesty  to  show  favour  to  Mr.  Cart- 
wright  and  his  brethren,  becau.-se  of  their  great 
learning  and  faithful  travels  in  the  Gospel.* 
Carlwright  himself  petitioned  fur  his  liberty,! 
as  being  afflicted  with  excessive  pains  of  the 
gout  and  sciatica,  which  were  much  increased 
by  lying  in  a  cold  prison  ;  he  wrote  a  most  hum- 
ble and  pious  letter  to  the  Lady  llussel,  and 
another  to  the  lord-treasurer,  beseeching  them 
to  procure  his  enlargement  with  the  queen, 
though  it  were  upon  bond,  expressing  a  very 
great  concern  that  her  majesty  should  be  so 
highly  offended  with  him,  since  he  had  printed 
no  books  for  thirteen  years  past  that  could  give 
the  least  uneasiness  ;  since  he  had  declared  his 
dislike  of  Martin  Mar-Prelate;  and  that  he  never 
had  a  finger  in  any  of  the  books  under  the  name, 
nor  in  any  other  satirical  pamphlets  ;  and  far- 
ther, that  in  the  course  of  his  ministry  for  five 
years  past  at  Warwick,  he  had  avoided  all  con- 
troversy. Dr.  Goad,  Dr.  Whitaker,  and  two 
others  of  the  university,  wrote  an  excellent  let- 
tert  to  the  treasurer  in  favour  of  the  prisoners, 
beseeching  his  lordship  tiiat  they  might  not  be 
more  hardly  dealt  with  than  papists  ;  but  this 
not  prevailing,  after  six  months  they  petitioned 
the  lords  of  the  council  [December  4,  1591]  to 
be  enlarged  upon  bail,  and  wrote  to  the  treasu- 
rer to  second  it,  assuring  his  lordship  of  their 
loyalty  to  the  queen,  and  peaceable  behaviour 
in  the  Church.  "  We  doubt  not,"  say  they, 
"but  your  lordship  is  sensible  that  a  year's  im- 
prisonment and  more,  which  we  have  suffered, 
must  strike  deeper  into  our  healths,  considering 
our  education,  than  a  number  of  years  to  men 
of  a  different  occupation.  Your  lordship  knows 
that  many  papists  who  deny  the  queen's  suprem- 
acy have  been  enlarged,  whereas  we  have  all 
sworn  to  it,  and,  if  the  government  require,  are 
ready  to  take  the  oath  again."  This  was  signed 
by 

Tho.  Cartweight,      Edward  Lord, 
Hump.  Fen,  Edmund  Snape, 

Andrew  King,  Wm.  Proudlove, 

Dan.  Wright,  Melancthon  Jewel. 

John  Payne, 

They  also  applied  to  the  archbishop,  who  re- 
fused to  consent  to  their  enlargement,  unless 
they  vvould  under  their  hands  declare  the  Church 
of  England  to  be  a  true  church,  and  the  whole 
order  of  public  prayers,  &c.,  consonant  to  the 
Word  of  God,  and  renounce  for  the  future  all 
their  assemblies,  classes,  and  synods,  which 
they  declined.  These  applications  proving  in- 
effectual, they  resolved  at  last  to  address  the 
queen  herself,  for  which  purpose  they  drew  up 
a  declaration,  containing  a  full  answer  to  the 
several  charges  brought  against  them.'J 

It  was  not  till  some  time  after  this  that  Mr. 
Cartwright  was  released, II  upon  promise  of  his 


I 


*  Life  of  Aylmer,  p.  321.       t  Fuller,  b.  ix.,  p.  203. 

t  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  370. 

1^  See  the  Appendix,  No.  5. 

II  It  should  be  ob.served  here,  that  Mr.  Cartwright 
was  indebted  for  his  liberty  to  the  services  of  Arch- 
bishop Whitgift,  who  had  been  his  old  acquaintance 


quiet  and  peaceable  behaviour,  and  restored  to 
his  hospital  in  Warwick,  where  he  continued 
without  farther  disturbance  the  rest  of  his  days ; 
but  many  of  his  brethren  continued  under  sus- 
pension while  their  families  were  starvin<T,  as  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Fenner,  of  Cranbrook,  suspended  sev- 
en years ;  Mr,  Leverwood,  of  Manchelsea,  seven 
years ;  Mr.  Percival  Wyburne,  of  Rochester,  five 
years;  Mr.  Rockeray,  prebendary  of  Rochester, 
four  years ;  Mr.  Barber,  of  Bow  Church,  London, 
two  years  six  months ;  Mr.  Field,  of  Aldcrmary, 
London;  Mr.  Smith,  lecturer  of  St.  Clement's, 
whose  printed  sermons  were  a  family  book  all 
over  England  for  many  years  ;*  Mr.  Travers, 
of  the  Temple  ;  Mr.  Colset,  of  Easton-on-the- 
Hill ;  Mr.  Settle,  of  Bu.xstead,  Suffolk  ;  Mr.  Gel- 
librand.  Dyke,  Flemming;  Mr.  Kendal;  Mr. 
Hubbock,  of  Oxford  ;  with  many  others  whose 
names  are  before  me.  Mr.  Hubbock  was  an 
excellent  divine,  and  was  called  before  the 
commission  for  saying  that  a  great  nobleman 
(meaning  the  archbishop)  had  kneeled  down  to 
her  majesty  for  staying  and  hindering  her  intent 
to  reform  religion.  But  his  grace  not  being  will- 
ing to  insist  upon  this,  commanded  him  to  sub- 
scribe, and  in  case  of  refusal,  to  enter  into  bonds 
not  to  preach  any  more,  nor  to  come  within 
ten  miles  of  Oxford  ;  which  Mr.  Hubbock  de- 
clined, saying  "  he  had  rather  go  to  prison  than 
consent  to  be  silent  froin  preaching,  unless  he 
was  convinced  that  he  had  taught  false  doctrine, 
or  committed  any  fault  worthy  of  bonds."!  Sir 
Francis  Knollys  and  the  treasurer  interceded  for 
him,  but  to  no  purpose  ;  upon  which  Sir  Francis 
wrote  back  to  the  treasurer  in  these  words : 
"  You  know  how  greatly,  yea,  and  tyrannously, 
the  archbishop  hath  urged  subscription  to  his 
own  articles  without  law ;  and  that  he  has  claim- 
ed, in  the  right  of  all  the  bishops,  a  superiority 
over  the  inferior  clergy  from  God's  own  ordi- 
nance, in  prejudice  to  her  majesty's  supreme 
government,  though  at  present  he  says  he  does 
not  claim  it :  therefore,  in  my  opinion,  he  ought 
openly  to  retract  it" 

These  high  proceedings  of  the  commissioners 
brought  their  powers  under  examination  ;  most 
were  of  opinion  that  they  exceeded  the  law,  but 
some  thought  the  very  court  itself  was  illegal, 
imagining  the  queen  could  not  delegate  her  su- 
premacy to  others.    Mr.  Cawdery,  late  minister 
of  Luflingham,  in  Suffolk,  had  been  suspended 
by  the  Bishop  of  London  for  refusing  the  oath 
ex  officio ;  but  not  acquiescing  in  his  lordship's 
sentence,  the  bishop  summoned  him  before  the 
high  commissioners,  who  deprived  him  for  non- 
conformity and  lack  of  learning,  and  gave  away 
his  living  to  another,  though  Mr.  Cawdery  was 
one  of  the  most  learned  clergymen  and   best 
preachers  in  the  country,  and  offered  to  give 
proof  of  his  learning  before  his  judges.    When 
this  would  not  be  accepted,  he  pleaded  with, 
tears  his  wife  and  eight  poor  children  that  had 
no  maintenance ;   but  the  hearts  of  the  com- 
missioners not  being  mollified,  Mr.  Cawdery  was 

at  Trinity  College,  and  had  a  respect  for  his  abilities, 
and  it  was  also  said,  "  feared  the  success  in  so  tough 
a  conflict." — Fuller's  Church  History,  b.  ix.,  p.  204. 

"  Putting  all  the  circumstances  together,"  remarks 
Mr.  Hanbury,  "  and  weighing  them  deliberately,  no 
fair  inference  can  be  deduced  that  Cartwright  was 
indebted  for  any  voluntary  favour  from  Whitgift." — 
Life  of  Cartwright,  p.  200.— C. 

*  MS.,  p.  584.  t  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  341,  342. 


1&6 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS, 


advised  to  appeal  to  the  Court  of  Exchequer, 
and  proceed  against  the  chaplain  that  had  pos- 
session of  his  hving  ;  on  this  occasion  the  juris- 
diction of  the  court  was  argued  before  all  the 
judges  in  Hilary  term,  1591.*  Dr.  Aubrey,  the 
civilian,  confessed  that  their  proceedings  were 
not  warrantable  by  the  letter  of  the  statute  1st 
Eliz.,  but  were  built  upon  the  old  canon  law  still 
in  force ;  though  it  has  been  shown  that  their  pro- 
ceeding, by  way  of  inquisition,  was  warranted 
by  no  law  at  all ;  but  the  judges  confirmed  the 
proceedings  of  the  court,  and  left  Mr.  Cawdery, 
■with  his  large  family,  to  starve  as  a  layman. 
The  suit  cost  Mr.  Cawdery's  friends  a  round 
sura  of  money,  besides  two-and-twenty  journeys 
which  ho  made  to  London.  But  it  was  a  brave 
stand  for  the  rights  of  the  subject,  and  stagger- 
ed the  archbishop  so  much,  that  he  declined 
the  business  of  the  commission  afterward,  and 
sent  most  of  his  prisoners  to  the  Star  Chamber. 
While  these  causes  were  depending,  sundry 
books  were  written  for  and  against  the  oath  ex 
officio ;  among  others,  Mr.  Morrice,  attorney  of 
the  Court  of  Wards,  and  member  of  Parliament, 
published  a  learned  treatise,  to  prove  that  no 
prelates  or  ecclesiastical  judges  have  authority 
to  compel  any  subject  of  the  land  to  an  oath, 
except  in  causes  testamentary  or  matrimonial ; 
and  he  gives  these  reasons  for  it  •  Because  it  is 
against  the  Word  of  God  :  it  was  never  aUowed 
by  any  general  council  for  a  thousand  years  after 
Christ :  it  was  forbidden  by  the  pagan  emperors 
against  the  Christians  :  it  is  against  the  pope's 
decretals,  except  in  cases  of  heresy,  and  where 
there  is  danger  to  the  accuser,  and  not  other- 
wise :  it  is  against  the  laws  of  the  realm  ;  and. 
Because  it  is  against  the  queen's  prerogative.! 
Morrice's  book  was  answered  by  Dr.  Cosins,  a 
civilian,  in  his  "Apology  for  the  Ecclesiastical 
Proceedings;"  to  which  Morrice  had  prepared 
a  reply,  but  the  archbishop  hearing  of  it,  sent 
for  him,  and  forbade  the  publication.  The  at- 
torney complained  of  this  usage  to  the  treasurer 
in  these  woris :  "Cosins  may  vvrite  at  his  pleas- 
ure of  ecclesiastical  courts  without  check  or  con- 
trolment,  though  never  so  erroneously ;  but  I, 
poor  man,  such  is  my  illhap,  may  not  maintain 
the  right  cause  of  justice  without  some  blot  or 
blemish."  But  this  was  his  grace's  shortest 
way  of  ending  controversies. 

Though  Mr.  Cartwright  and  his  brethren 
above  mentioned  had  the  resolution  to  lie  in  jail 
for  two  years  rather  than  take  the  oath  ex  officio, 
others  out  of  weakness,  or  some  other  principle, 
yielded  to  it,  and  discovered  their  classes,  with 
the  names  of  those  that  were  present  at  them  :% 
among  these  were  Mr.  Stone,  rector  of  Wark- 
ton,  in  Northamptonshire ;  Mr.  Henry  Alvey, 
fellow  of  St.  John's,  Cambridge ;  Mr.  Thomas 
Edmunds,  Mr.  William  Perkins,  Mr.  Littleton, 
Johnson,  Barber,  Cleaveley,  and  Nutter.  These 
divines  confessed,  upon  examination,  that  they 
had  several  meetings  with  their  brethren  in 
London,  at  the  houses  of  Mr.  Travers,  Egcr- 
ton,  Gardner,  and  Barber  ;  that  there  had  been 
assemblies  of  ministers  in  Cambridge,  North- 
amptonshire, and  Warwickshire  ;  that  at  these 
meetings  there  were  usually  between  twelve 
and  twenty  ministers  present ;  that  they  had  a 
moderator  ;  that  they  began  and  ended  with 


*  Heyl.,  Hist.  Presb.,  p.  318. 
t  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  340. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  371. 


prayer  ;  and  that  their  usual  debates  were,  how 
far  they  might  comply  with  the  establishment 
rather  than  forego  their  ministry  ;  here  they  re- 
vised their  Book  of  Discipline,  and  consulted  of 
peaceable  methods  in  subordination  to  the  laws 
for  promoting  a  reformation  in  the  Church,  and 
how  far  they  might  exercise  their  own  platform 
in  the  mean  time :  but  the  worst  part  of  their 
confession  was  their  discovering  the  names  of 
the  brethren  that  were  present,  which  brought 
them  into  trouble.  The  reasons  they  gave  for 
taking  the  oath  were,  Because  it  was  adminis- 
tered by  a  lawful  magistrate:  because  the  ma- 
gistrate had  a  right  to  search  out  the  truth  in 
matters  relating  to  the  public  safety :  because 
it  was  impossible  to  keep  things  any  longer  se- 
cret, many  letters  of  the  brethren  having  been 
intercepted  :  because  there  was  nothing  crimi- 
nal in  their  assemblies,  and  the  magistrate  might 
suspect  worse  things  of  them  than  were  true  ; 
and  though  their  confessions  might  bring  some 
into  trouble,  they  might  deliver  others  who  were 
suspected.  How  far  these  reasons  will  justify 
the  confessors,  I  leave  with  the  reader ;  but  it 
is  certain  they  purchased  their  own  liberties  at 
the  expense  of  their  brethren's ;  for  they  had 
the  favour  to  be  dismissed,  and  lived  without 
disturbance  afterward. 

To  render  the  Puritans  odious  to  the  public, 
all  enthusiasts,  without  distinction,  were  ranked 
among  them  ;  even  Hacket  and  his  two  proph- 
ets, Arthington  and  Coppinger.*  Hacket  was 
a  blasphemous,  ignorant  wretch,  who  could  not 
so  much  as  read  ;  he  pretended  to  be  King  Je- 
sus, and  to  set  up  his  empire  in  the  room  of  the 
queen's,  who,  he  said,  was  no  longer  to  be  Queen 
of  England.  He  defaced  her  majesty's  arms, 
and  slabbed  her  picture  through  with  his  dag- 
ger, in  the  house  where  he  lodged.  Being  ap- 
prehended and  put  upon  the  rack,  he  confessed 
everything  they  would  have  him,  and  upon  his 
trial  pleaded  guilty,  declaring  he  was  moved 
thereunto  by  the  Spirit ;  he  was  hanged  July 
18,  and  died  raving  like  a  madman.  Coppinger 
starved  himself  in  prison,  but  Arthington  lived 
to  recover  his  senses,  and  was  pardoned.  Dr 
Nichols  says,  that  by  the  solicitation  of  these 
men  the  Puritans  stirred  up  the  people  to  rebell- 
ion, their  design  being  communicated  to  Cart- 
wright,  Egerton,  and  Wiggington  ;t  whereas 
there  was  not  a  single  Puritan  concerned  with 
them.  Fuller,1:  the  historian,  speaks  candidly 
of  the  matter  :  "  This  business  of  Hacket,"  says 
he,  "  happened  unseasonably  for  the  Presbyteri- 
ans; true  it  is,  they  as  cordially  detested  his 
blasphemies  as  any  of  the  episcopal  party  ;  and 
such  of  them  as  loved  Hacket  the  Nonconform- 
ist abhorred  Hacket  the  heretic,  after  he  had 
mounted  to  so  high  a  pitch  of  impiety."  Howev- 
er, Mr.  Cartwright  wrote  an  apology  for  himself 
ami  his  brethren  against  the  aspersions  of  Dr. 
Suiclifr,  in  which  he  declares  he  had  never  seen 
Hacket  nor  Arthington,  nor  ever  had  any  con- 
ference with  them  by  letter  or  message.^     Had 


*  Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  ult.,  p.  71. 

t  Pierce's  Vindic,  p.  140.  t  B.  ix.,  p.  206. 

I)  No  legal  steps  were  taken  against  Cartwright 
for  his  justification,  which  aflibrds  a  practical  admis- 
sion of  the  innocence  of  the  Puritans.  "  True  it  is," 
says  the  candid  Fuller,  "  they  as  cordially  detested 
his  blasphemies  as  any  of  the  episcopal  party." — 
Church  History,  ix.,  200. — C. 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS. 


197 


.here  been  any  ground  for  this  vile  charge,  we 
should  no  doubt  have  found  it  among  their  arti- 
cles of  impeachment. 

At  the  opening  of  the  new  Parliament,  Feb- 
ruary 19,  the  queen  signified  her  pleasure  to  the 
house,  that  they  might  redress  such  popular 
grievances  as  were  complained  of  in  their  sev- 
eral counties,  but  should  leave  all  matters  of 
state  to  herself  and  the  council ;  and  all  mat- 
ters relating  to  the  Church,  to  herself  and  the 
bishops.  What  an  insignificant  thing  is  a  repre- 
sentative body  of  the  nation,  that  must  not  med- 
dle with  matters  of  Church  or  State  !  But  her 
majesty  was  resolved  to  let  them  see  she  would 
be  obeyed,  for  when  Mr.  Wentworth  and  Bromley 
moved  the  house  to  address  the  queen  to  name 
her  successor,  she  sent  for  them,  together  with 
Mr.  Welsh  and  Stevens,  and  committed  them 
to  prison,  where  Wentworth  remained  many 
years.*  When  it  was  moved  in  the  house  to 
address  the  queen  for  the  release  of  their  mem- 
bers, it  was  answered  by  those  privy  council- 
lors that  were  of  the  house,  "  that  her  majesty 
had  committed  tliem  for  causes  best  known  to 
herself;  that  the  house  must  not  call  the  queen 
to  account  for  what  she  did  of  her  royal  author- 
ity ;  that  the  causes  of  their  restraint  might  be 
high  and  dangerous  ;  that  her  majesty  did  not 
like  such  questions,  nor  did  it  become  the  house 
to  deal  in  such  matters." 

After  this  it  was  a  bold  adventure  of  Mr.  At- 
torney Morrice,t  and  for  which  he  paid  very 
dear,  to  move  the  house  to  inquire  into  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  bishops  in  their  spiritual  courts,t 
and  how  far  they  could  justify  their  inquisition  ; 
their  subscriptions  ;  their  binding  the  queen's 
subjects  to  their  good  behaviour  contrary  to  the 
laws  of  God  and  of  the  realm  ;  their  compelling 
men  to  take  oaths  to  accuse  themselves,  and, 
upon  their  refusal,  to  degrade,  deprive,  and  im- 
prison them  at  pleasure,  and  not  to  release  them 
till  they  had  complied.  At  the  same  time  he 
offered  two  bills  to  the  house  :  one  against  the 
oath  ex  officio,  and  the  other  against  their  illegal 
imprisonments,  which  last  he  prayed  might  be 
read  presently.  Sir  Francis  Knollys  seconded 
the  attorney,  and  said,  "  that  in  his  opinion 
these  abuses  ought  to  be  reformed  ;  and  that  if 
the  prelates  had  acted  against  law,  they  were  in 
a  praemunire. ij  He  added,  that  after  the  refor- 
mation of  King  Henry  VHI.,  no  bishop  practised 
superiority  over  his  brethren  ;  that  in  King  Ed- 
ward VI. 's  time  a  statute  was  made  that  bish- 
ops should  keep  their  courts  in  the  king's  name  ; 
and  that  though  this  statute  was  repealed  by 
Queen  Mary,  and  not  since  revived,  yet  it  was 
doubtful  what  authority  bishops  had  to  keep 
courts  in  their  own  name,  because  it  was  mani- 
festly against  the  prerogative  that  any  subject 
sliould  hold  a  court  without  express  warrant 
from  the  crown.  If  it  was  said  they  kept  their 
courts  by  prescription,  or  by  the  statute  of  King 
Henry  VIII. ,  which  gives  bishops  the  same  rule 

*  Heyl.,  Hist.  Presb.,  p.  319. 

t  This  step  of  Mr.  Attorney  Morrice  is  described 
in  more  proper  and  h.ippy  language  by  Dr.  Warner, 
who  cali-s  it  "a  noble  attempt  in  favour  of  religious 
libeity."  His  situation  was  in  the  gift  of  the  crown, 
which  exhibits  his  conduct  in  a  remarkably  honoura- 
ble light.  Morrice  was  the  legal  adviser  of  Cawdery, 
and  was  author  of  a  treatise  against  the  oath  ex  offi- 
cio.— C. 


i  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  3SG,  387 


i)  Ibid.,  p.  388. 


under  the  king  as  they  had  under  the  pope,  he 
answered,  that  there  was  a  clause  in  the  act 
which  restrains  them  from  offending  against  the 
king's  prerogative  and  the  laws  and  customs  of 
the  realm  ;  and,  according  to  the  laws  and  cus- 
toms of  the  realm,  no  subject  can  hold  a  court 
but  by  special  warrant  from  the  crown."  Mr. 
Beal  spoke  upon  the  same  side,  and  added, 
"that  the  bishops  had  incurred  a  prasmunire, 
because  the  statute  of  13  Eliz.  requires  subscrip- 
tion to  articles  of  faith  only  ;  that  this  limitation 
was  made  by  the  Lords  after  the  bill  had  passed 
the  Commons  ;  and  that  no  councils  nor  canon.s 
gave  authority  to  the  bishops  to  frame  articles 
and  require  subscription  at  their  pleasure."  For 
which  speech  the  queen  forbade  him  the  court, 
and  commanded  him  to  absent  himself  from 
Parliament. 

These  debates  awakened  the  civilians  in  the 
house,  and  particularly  Mr.  Daulton,  who  op- 
posed the  reading  of  the  bill,  because  the  queen 
had  often  forbid  them  to  meddle  with  the  ref- 
ormation of  the  Church ;  which  Sir  Robert 
Cecil,  one  of  her  majesty's  secretaries,  con- 
firmed. 

As  soon  as  the  queen  was  acquainted  with 
the  proceedings  of  the  house,  she  sent  for  the 
speaker.  Coke,*  and  commanded  him  to  tell 
the  house  "  that  it  was  wholly  in  her  power  to 
call,  to  determine,  to  assent  or  dissent,  to  any- 
thing done  in  Parliament ;  that  the  calling  of 
this  was  only  that  such  as  neglected  the  ser- 
vice of  the  "Church  might  be  compelled  to  it 
with  some  sharp  laws ;  and  that  the  safety  of 
her  majesty's  person  and  the  realm  might  be 
provided  for ;  that  it  was  not  meant  that  they 
should  meddle  with  matters  of  state  or  causes 
ecclesiastical ;  that  she  wondered  they  should 
attempt  a  thing  so  contrary  to  her  command- 
ment ;  that  she  was  highly  offended  at  it ;  and 
that  it  was  her  royal  pleasure  that  no  bill, 
touching  any  matters  of  state  and  causes  ec- 
clesiastical, should  there  be  exhibited. "t  At  the 
same  time,  Mr.  Attorney  Morrice  was  seized  on 
in  the  house  by  a  sergeant-at-arms,  discharged 
from  his  office  in  the  court  of  the  duchy  of  Lan- 
caster, disabled  from  any  practice  in  his  profes- 
sion as  a  barrister-at-law,  and  kept  for  some 
years  prisoner  in  Tutbury  Castle. 

If  there  had  been  a  just  spirit  of  English  lib- 
erty in  the  House  of  Commons,  they  would  not 
have  submitted  so  tamely  to  the  insults  of  an 
arbitrary  court,  which  arrested  their  members 
for  liberty  of  speech,  and  committed  them  to 
prison  ;  which  forbade  their  redressing  the 
grievances  of  Church  or  State,  and  sent  for 
their  bills  out  of  the  house  and  cancelled  them. 
These  were  such  acts  of  sovereign  power  aa 
none  of  her  majesty's  predecessors  had  dared 
to  assume,  and  which  cost  one  of  her  successors 
his  crown  and  life. 

But  this  Parliament,  instead  of  asserting 
their  own  and  the  people's  liberties,  stands 
upon  record  for  one  of  the  severest  acts  of  of>- 
pression  and  cruelty  that  ever  was  passed  by 
the  representatives  of  a  Protestant  nation  and 

*  Heyl.,  Hist.  Presb.,  p.  320. 

t  This,  says  Dr.  Warner,  "  was  the  message  of  a 
queen  to  the  House  of  Commons,  whose  reign  affords 
such  subjects  of  panegyric  to  those  who  would  be 
thought  patriots  and  patrons  of  liberty  in  the  present 
age." — Ecclesiastical  Jiistory,  vol  iii.,  p.  464. — Eb. 


198 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


a  free  people.  It  is  entitled  "  An  act  for  the 
punishment  of  persons  obstinately  refusing  to 
come  to  church,  and  persuading  others  to  im- 
pugn the  queen's  authority  m  ecclesiastical 
causes."  It  is  therein  enacted  "  that  if  any 
person  above  the  age  of  sixteen  shall  obstinate- 
ly refuse  to  repair  to  some  church,  chaj)el,  or 
usual  place  of  common  prayer,  to  hear  Divine 
service,  for  the  space  of  one  month,  without 
lawful  cause;  or  shall  at  any  time,  forty  days 
after  the  end  of  this  session,  by  printing,  wri- 
ting, or  express  words,  go  about  to  persuade 
any  of  her  majesty's  subjects  to  deny,  with- 
stand, or  impugn  her  majesty's  power  or  au- 
thority in  causes  ecclesiastical ;  or  shall  dis- 
suade tliem  from  coming  to  church  to  hear  Di- 
vine service,  or  receive  the  communion  accord- 
ing as  the  law  directs  ;  or  shall  be  present  at 
any  unlawful  assembly,  conventicle,  or  meeting, 
under  colour  or  pretence  of  any  exercise  of  re- 
ligion ;  that  every  person  so  offending,  and  law- 
fully convicted,  sliall  be  committed  to  prison 
without  bail,  till  they  shall  conform  and  yield 
themselves  to  come  to  church,  and  make  the 
following  declaration  of  tlieir  conformity  : 

" '  I,  A  B,  do  humbly  confess  and  acknowl- 
edge that  I  have  grievously  offended  God  in 
contemning  her  majesty's  godly  and  lawful 
government  and  authority,  by  absenting  myself 
from  church  and  from  hearing  Divine  service, 
contrary  to  the  godly  laws  and  statutes  of  the 
realm,  and  in  frequenting  disorderly  and  un- 
lawful conventicles,  under  pretence  and  colour 
of  exercise  of  religion  ;  and  I  am  heartily  sorry 
for  the  same,  and  do  acknowledge  and  testify 
in  my  conscience  that  no  other  person  has,  or 
ought  to  have,  any  power  or  authority  over  her 
majesty.  And  I  do  promise  and  protest,  with- 
out any  dissimulation  or  colour  of  dispensation, 
that  from  henceforth  I  will  obey  her  majesty's 
statutes  and  laws  in  repairing  to  church  and 
hearing  Divine  service  ;  and  to  my  utmost  en- 
deavour will  maintain  and  defend  the  same.' 

"  But  in  case  the  offenders  against  this  stat- 
ute, being  lawfully  convicted,  shall  not  submit 
and  sign  the  declaration  within  three  months, 
then  they  sliall  abjure  the  realm,  and  go  into 
perpetual  banishment.*  And  if  they  do  not 
depart  within  the  time  limited  by  the  quarter 
sessions  or  justices  of  peace,  or  if  they  return 
at  any  time  afterward  without  the  queen's  li- 
cense, they  shall  suffer  death  without  benefit  of 
clergy."  So  that,  as  Lord-chancellor  King  ob- 
served at  the  trial  of  Dr.  Sacheverel,  the  case 
of  the  Nonconformists  by  this  act  was  worse 
than  that  of  felons  at  common  law,  for  these 
were  allowed  the  benefit  of  clergy,  but  the 
others  were  not.  This  statute  was  levelled 
against  the  laity  as  well  as  the  clergy,  and  the 
severe  execution  of  it  with  that  of  the  23d  of 
Eliz.,  in  this  and  the  following  reigns, t  brought 

*  It  is  remarkable  that  there  is  a  proviso  in  this 
stitute  that  no  popish  recusant  shall  be  compelled 
or  bound  to  abjure  by  virtue  of  this  act.  Such  was 
her  majesty's  tenderness  for  the  papists  while  she 
was  crushing  Protestant  dissenters. — Neal's  Review. 
—Ed. 

t  "These  laws  are  still  put  in  execution,  and 
about  three  years  ago,  in  Cornwall,  a  poor  fellow,  a 
Dissenter,  was  libelled  in  the  spiritual  court  for  not 
attending  Divine  worship  at  his  parish  church  on 
■  Sunday.  He  had  not  taken  the  oaths  required  by 
the  Toleration  Act ;  but  it  beuig  a  sufficient  defence 


infinite  mischiefs  upon  the  kingdom ;  many 
families  being  forced  into  banishment  ;  some 
put  to  death,  as  in  cases  of  treason  ;  and  others 
as  the  authors  of  seditious  pamphlets.* 

The  moderate  Puritans  made^  siiift  to  evade 
the  force  of  this  law  by  coming  to  church  whea 
common  prayer  was  almost  over,  and  by  re- 
ceiving the  sacrament  in  some  churches  where 
it  was  administered  with  some  latitude;  but 
the  weight  of  it  fell  upon  the  separatists,  who 
renounced  all  communion  with  the  Church  in 
the  Word  and  sacraments  as  well  as  in  the 
common  prayer  and  ceremonies ;  these  were 
called  Brownists  or  Barrowists,  f^i-om  one  Bar- 
row, a  gentleman  of  the  Temple,  who  was  now 
at  their  head.  We  have  given  an  account  of 
their  distinguishing  principles  in  the  year  1580, 
since  which  time  their  numbers  were  prodi- 
giously increased,  though  the  bi.shops  pursued 
them,  and  shut  them  up  in  prison  without  bail 
or  troubling  themselves  to  bring  them  to  a  trial. 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh  declared  in  the  Parliament 
house  that  they  were  not  less  than  twenty  thou- 
sand, divided  into  several  congregations  in  Nor- 
folk, in  Essex,  and  in  the  parts  about  London  : 
there  were  several  considerable  men  now  at 
their  head,  as  the  Reverend  Mr.  Smith,  Mr.  Ja- 
cob, the  learned  Mr.  Ainsworth,  the  rabbi  of 
his  age.  and  others. 

The  congregation  about  London,  being  pretty 
numerous,  formed  themselves  into  a  church, 
Mr.  Francis  Johnson  being  chosen  pastor  by  the 
suffrage  of  the  brotherhood,  Mr.  Greenhood  doc- 
tor [or  teacher],  Mr.  Bowman  and  Lee  deacons, 
Mr.  Studley  and  Kinaston  elders,  all  in  one  day, 
at  the  house  of  Mr.  Fox  in  Nicholas  Lane,  in 
the  year  1592  ;t  seven  persons  were  baptized  at 
the  same  time  without  godfathers  or  godmoth- 
ers, Mr.  Johnson  only  washing  their  faces  with 
water,  and  pronouncing  the  form,  I  baptize  thee 
in  the  name,  &c.  The  Lord's  Supper  was  also 
administered  in  this  manner :  five  white  loaves 
being  set  upon  the  table,  the  pastor  blessed 
them  by  prayer  ;  after  which,  having  broken  the 
bread,  he  delivered  it  to  some,  and  the  deacons 
to  the  rest,  some  standing  and  others  sitting 
about  the  table,  using  the  words  of  the  apostle, 
1  Cor.,  xi.,  24,  "Take,  eat,  this  is  the  body  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  which  was  broken  for  you  :  this 
do  in  remembrance  of  him."  In  like  manner 
he  gave  the  cup,  using  the  like  words  of  the 
apostle,  "This  cup  is  the  New  Testament  in 


to  take  them  at  any  time  during  the  prosecution,  he 
applied  to  the  magistrates  of  the  county,  at  their 
quarter  sessions,  who  illegally  refused  to  administer 
them ;  the  consequence  was,  that  he  was  excommu- 
nicated. Up(m  a  representation  of  the  committee  in 
London  for  taking  care  of  the  civil  concerns  of  the 
Dissenters,  the  chairman  of  the  sessions  acknowl- 
edged the  error  of  the  justices,  and  the  man  took  the 
oaths  at  the  ensuing  sessions,  but  it  was  then  too 
late." — /%/«  Church  Pulitics,  p.  59. — Ed. 

*  Dr.  Warner  remarks  on  this  statute,  "  that  thus 
in  some  measure  were  renewed  the  days  of  Henry 
VUl.,  when  it  was  a  crime  against  the  state  to  de- 
part ever  so  little  from  the  religion  of  the  sovereign; 
but  in  some  part  of  this  act  she  exceeded  her  father's 
tyranny.  For,  absolute  as  he  was,  he  contented 
himself  with  punishing  such  as  opposed  the  estab- 
lished religion  by  some  overt  act.  But  by  this  new 
statute,  the  subjects  were  obliged  to  make  an  open 
prolesslon  by  a  constant  attendance  on  the  establish- 
ed service." — Eccles.  History,  vol.  if,  p.  465. — Ed. 

t  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  iv.,  p.  174. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


199 


his  blood ;  this  do  yc,  as  oft  as  ye  drink  it,  in 
lemembrance  of  him."  In  the  close  they  sung 
a  hymn,  ami  made  a  collection  for  the  poor. 
When  any  person  came  first  into  the  church, 
he  made  this  protestation  or  promise  :  that  "  he 
"Would  walk  with  them  so  long  as  they  did  walk 
in  the  way  of  the  Lord,  and  as  far  as  might  be 
■warranted  by  the  Word  of  God." 

The  congregation  being  obliged  to  meet  in 
different  places  to  conceal  themselves  from  the 
bishop's  officers,  was  at  length  discovered  on  a 
Lord's  Day  at  Islington,  in  the  very  same  place 
■where  the  Protestant  congregation  met  in  Queen 
Mary's  reign  ;  about  fifty-six  were  taken  pris- 
oners, and  sent  two  by  two  to  the  jails  about 
London,  where  several  of  their  friends  iiad  been 
confined  for  a  considerable  time. 

At  their  examination,  they  confessed  that  for 
some  years  they  had  met  in  the  fields  in  the 
summer-time  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  of 
the  Lord's  Day,  and  in  the  winter  at  private 
houses  ;*  that  they  continued  all  day  in  prayer 
and  expounding  the  Scriptures  ;  that  they  dined 
together,  and  after  dinner  made  a  collection  for 
their  diet,  and  sent  the  remainder  of  the  money 
to  their  brethren  in  prison  ;  that  they  did  not 
use  the  Lord's  Prayer,  apprehending  it  not  to 
be  intended  by  our  blessed  Saviour  to  be  used 
as  a  form  after  the  sending  down  of  the  Spirit 
at  Pentecost.  Their  adversaries  charged  them 
■with  several  extravagances  about  baptism,  mar- 
riage, lay-preaching,  &c.,  from  which  they  vin- 
dicated themselves  in  a  very  solid  and  judicious 
leply,  showing  how  far  they  disowned,  and 
■with  what  limitations  they  acknowledged,  the 
charge,  t 

But  the  bishops  observing  no  measures  with 
this  people,  they  ventured  to  lay  their  case  be- 
fore the  lords  of  the  council  in  an  humble  peti- 
tion.t     But  the  privy  council  dropped  the  peti- 


*  Stiype's  Annals,  vol.  iii.,  p.  579. 

t  MS.,  p.  850. 

J  In  this  petition  they  say,  that  "  upon  a  careful 
examination  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  we  find  the 
English  hierarchy  to  be  dissonant  from  Christ's  in- 
stitution, and  to  be  derived  from  antichrist,  being  the 
same  the  pope  left  in  this  land,  to  which  we  dare  not 
subject  ourselves.  We  farther  find  that  God  has 
commanded  all  that  believe  the  Gospel  to  walk  in 
that  holy  faith  and  order  which  he  has  appointed  in 
his  Church ;  wherefore,  iu  the  reverend  fear  of  his 
name,  we  have  joined  ourselves  together,  and  sub- 
jected our  souls  and  bodies  to  those  laws  and  ordi- 
nances ;  and  have  chosen  to  ourselves  such  a  minis- 
try of  pastor,  teacher,  elders,  and  deacons  as  Christ 
has  given  to  his  Church  on  earth  to  the  world's  end, 
hoping  for  the  promised  assistance  of  his  grace  in 
our  attendance  upon  him  ;  notwithstanding  any  pro- 
hibition of  men,  or  what  by  men  can  be  done  unto 
us.  We  are  ready  to  prove  our  church  order  to  be 
warranted  by  the  Word  of  God,  allowable  by  her  maj- 
esty's laws,  and  noways  prejudicial  to  her  sovereign 
power  ;  and  to  disprove  the  public  hierarchy,  wor- 
ship, and  government,  by  such  evidence  of  Scripture 
as  our  adversaries  shall  not  be  able  to  withstand  ; 
protesting,  if  we  fail  herein,  not  only  willingly  to 
sustain  such  deserved  punishment  as  shall  be  inflict- 
ed upon  us,  but  to  become  conformable  for  the  fu- 
ture ;  if  we  overthrow  not  our  adversaries,  we  will 
not  say  if  our  adversaries  overcome  us. 

"  But  the  prelates  of  this  land  have  for  a  long 
time  dealt  most  injuriously,  unlawfully,  and  outrage- 
ously with  us,  by  the  great  power  and  high  authori- 
ty they  have  gotten  in  their  hands,  and  usurped  above 
all  the  public  courts,  judges,  laws,  and  charters  of 
this  land,  persecuting,  imprisoning,  and  detahiing  at 


tion,  being  afraid  to  move  in  an  affair  that  lay 
more  immediately  before  the  High  Commission, 
Mr.  Smith,  one  of  their  ministers,  after  he 
had  been  in  prison  twelve  months,  was  called 
before  the  commissioners,  and  being  asked 
whether  he  would  go  to  church,  answered,  that 
he  should  dissemble  and  play  the  hypocrite  if 
he  should  do  it  to  avoid  trouble,  for  he  thought 
it  utterly  unlawful ;  to  which  one  of  the  com- 
missioners answered,  "  Come  to   church  and 

their  pleasure  our  poor  bodies,  without  any  trial,  re- 
lease, or  bail ;  and  hitherto  without  any  cause  either 
for  error  or  crime  directly  objected.  Some  of  us 
they  have  kept  in  close  prison  four  or  five  years  with 
miserable  usage,  as  Henry  Burrowe  and  John  Green- 
wood, now  in  the  Fleet;  others  they  have  cast  into 
Newgate,  and  laden  with  as  many  irons  as  they  could 
bear;  others  into  dangerous  and  loathsome  jails, 
among  the  most  facinorous  and  vile  persons,  where 
it  is  lamentable  to  relate  how  many  of  these  inno- 
cents have  perished  within  these  five  years:  aged 
widows,  aged  men,  and  young  maidens,  &c.,  where, 
so  many  as  the  infection  hath  spared,  lie  in  woful 
distress,  like  to  follow  their  fellows,  if  speedy  redress 
be  not  had  ;  others  of  us  have  been  grievously  beaten, 
with  cudgels  in  Bridewell,  and  cast  into  a  place 
called  Little  Ease,  for  refusing  to  come  to  their 
chapel  service ;  in  which  prison  several  have  ended 
their  lives  ;  but  upon  none  of  our  companions  thus 
committed  by  them,  and  dying  in  their  prison,  is  any 
search  or  inquest  suffered  to  pass,  as  by  law  in  like 
case  is  provided. 

"  Their  manner  of  pursuing  and  apprehending  us 
is  with  no  less  violence  and  outrage  ;  their  pursui- 
vants, with  their  assistants,  break  into  our  houses  at 
all  times  of  the  night,  where  they  break  open,  ran- 
sack, and  rifle  at  their  pleasure,  under  pretence  of 
searching  for  seditious,  unlawful  books.  The  hus- 
bands in  the  dead  of  the  night  they  have  plucked  out 
of  their  beds  from  their  wives,  and  haled  them  to 
prison.  Some  time  since  their  pursuivants,  late  in 
the  night,  entered  in  the  queen's  name  into  an  honest 
citizen's  house  upon  Ludgate  Hill,  where,  after  they 
had  at  their  pleasure  searched  and  ransacked  all  pla- 
ces, chests,  &c.,  of  the  house,  they  apprehended 
two  of  our  ministers,  Mr.  Francis  Johnson  and  John 
Greenwood,  without  any  warrant  at  all,  both  whom, 
between  one  and  two  of  the  clock  after  midnight, 
they  with  bills  and  staves  led  to  the  counter  of  Wood- 
street,  taking  assurance  of  Mr.  Boys,  the  master  of 
the  house,  to  bo  prisoner  in  his  house  till  next  day; 
at  which  time  the  archbishop,  with  certain  doctors 
his  associates,  committed  them  to  close  prison,  two 
to  the  Clink,  and  the  third  to  the  Fleet,  where  they 
now  remain  in  distress.  Since  this  they  have  cast 
into  prison  Thomas  Settle,  Daniel  Studley,  and 
Nicholas  Lane,  taken  upon  a  Lord's  Day  in  our  as- 
sembly, and  shut  them  up  in  the  Gate-house ;  others 
of  our  friends  they  are  in  continual  pursuit  of;  so 
that  there  is  no  safety  for  them  in  any  one  place. 

"We  therefore  humbly  pray,  in  the  name  of  God 
and  our  sovereign  the  queen,' that  we  may  have  the 
benefit  of  the  laws,  and  of  the  public  charter  of  the 
land,  namely,  that  we  maybe  received  to  bail  till  we 
be  by  order  of  law  convicted  of  some  crime  deserv- 
ing bonds.  We  plight  unto  your  honours  our  faith 
unto  God,  and  our  allesiauce  to  her  majestv.  that  we 
will  not  commit  anything  unworthy  the  Gospel  of 
Christ,  or  to  the  disturbance  of  the  common  peace 
and  good  order  of  the  land,  and  that  we  will  be  forth- 
coming at  such  reasonable  warning  as  your  lordships 
shall  command.  Oh  !  let  us  not  perish  before  trial 
and  judgment,  especially  imploring  and  crying  out  to 
you  for  the  same.  However,  we  here  take  the  Lord 
of  heaven  and  earth,  and  his  angels,  together  with 
your  own  consciences,  and  all  persons  in  all  ages,  to 
whom  this  our  supplication  may  come,  to  witness 
that  we  have  here  truly  advertised  your  honours  of 
our  case  and  usage,  and  have  in  all  humiUty  offered 
oar  cause  to  Christian  trial." 


200 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


obey  the  queen's  laws,  and  be  a  dissembler,  be 
a  hypocrite,  or  a  devil,  if  thou  wilt."*  Upon 
his  refusal  he  was  remanded  to  the  Clink,  and 
his  brethren  to  the  Fleet,  where,  by  order  of 
Mr.  Justice  Young,  one  of  the  commissioners, 
they  were  shut  up  in  close  rooms,  not  being  al- 
lowed the  liberty  of  the  prison  ;  here  they  died 
like  rotten  sheep,  some  of  the  disease  of  the 
prison,  some  for  want,  and  others  of  infectious 
distempers.  "  These  bloody  men  [the  ecclesi- 
astical commissioners],"  says  Mr.  Barrowe,  in 
his  supplication,  "  will  allow  us  neither  meat, 
drink,  lire,  lodging,  nor  suffer  any  whose  hearts 
the  Lord  would  stir  up  for  our  relief  to  have  an 
access  to  us,  by  which  means  seventeen  or  eigh- 
teen have  perished  in  the  noisome  jails  within 
these  six  years  ;t  some  of  us  had  not  one  penny 
about  us  when  we  were  sent  to  prison,  nor  any- 
thing to  procure  a  maintenance  for  ourselves  and 
families  but  our  handy  labour  and  trades,  by 
which  means  not  only  we  ourselves,  but  our  fam- 
ilies and  children,  are  undone  and  starved.  Their 
unbridled  slander,  their  lawless  privy  searches, 
their  violent  breaking  open  houses,  their  taking 
away  whatever  they  think  meet,  and  their  bar- 
barous usage  of  women,  children,  &;c.,  we  are 
forced  to  omit,  lest  we  be  tedious.  That  which 
we  crave  for  us  all  is  the  liberty  to  die  openly, 
or  live  openly  in  the  land  of  our  nativity  ;  if  we 
deserve  death,  let  us  not  be  closely  murdered, 
yea,  starved  to  death  with  hunger  and  cold,  and 
stifled  in  loathsome  dungeons."  Among  those 
■who  perished  in  prison  was  one  Mr.  Roger  Rip- 
pon,  who,  dying  in  Newgate,  his  fellow-prison- 
ers put  this  inscription  upon  his  coffin  : 

"  This  is  the  corpse  of  Roger  Rippon,  a  ser- 
vant of  Christ,  and  her  majesty's  faithful  sub- 
ject ;  who  is  the  last  of  sixteen  or  seventeen 
■which  that  great  enemy  of  God,  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  with  his  high  commissioners, 
have  murdered  in  Newgate  within  these  five 
years,  manifestly  for  the  testimony  of  Jesus 
Christ ;  his  soul  is  now  with  the  Lord,  and  his 
blood  cried  for  speedy  vengeance  against  that 
great  enemy  of  the  saints,  and  against  Mr.  Rich- 
ard Young  [a  justice  of  peace  in  London],  who 
in  this,  and  many  the  like  points,  hath  abused 
his  power  for  the  upholding  of  the  Romish  an- 
tichrist, prelacy,  and  priesthood.  He  died  A.D. 
1592."t 

Many  copies  of  this  inscription  were  dispersed 
among  friends,  for  which  some  were  apprehend- 
ed and  confined. 

The  privy  council  taking  no  notice  of  the 
above-mentioned  supplications,  the  prisoners  in 
the  several  jails  about  London  joined  in  the 
petition  given  below  to  the  Lord-treasurer  Bur- 
leigh, to  which  they  subscribed  their  names. ij 

*  Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  ult.,  p.  134. 

t  Ibid.,  vol.  ult,  p.  133.         J  Ibid.,  vol.  ult.,  p.  91. 

^  "  The  humble  petition  of  many  poor  Christians, 
imprisoned  by  the  Ijishops  in  sundry  prisons  in  and 
about  London,  to  the  lord-treasurer. 

"  We  humbly  beseech  your  honour  either  to  grant 
us  a  speedy  trial  together,  or  some  free  Christian 
conference,  or  else,  m  the  mean  while,  that  we  may 
be  bailed  according  to  law,  or  else  put  into  Bride- 
■well,  or  some  other  convenient  place  where  we  may 
be  together  for  our  mutual  help  and  comfort ;  or,  if 
your  honour  will  not  yourself  alone  grant  this  our  re- 
quest, that  then  it  may  please  you  to  be  a  mean  for 
our  speedy  relief,  unto  the  rest  of  her  majesty's  most 
honourable  privy  counciL 


Among  the  names  subscribed  to  this  petition 
is  Mr.  Henry  Barrowe,  an  ingenious  and  learn- 

"  The  Almighty  God,  that  hath  preserved  your 
lordship  unto  these  honourable  years  in  so  high  ser- 
vice to  our  sovereign  prince,  and  to  the  unspeakable 
comfort  of  this  whole  land,  give  your  honourable 
heart  so  tender  compassion  and  careful  considera- 
tion m  equity,  of  the  poor  afflicted  servants  of  Christ, 
and  that  (before  the  Lord  plead  against  this  land  for 
Abel's  innocent  blood  that  is  shod  in  the  several 
prisons)  your  honour  may  open  your  mouth  for  the 
dumb  in  the  cause  of  the  children  of  [devoted  to] 
destruction,  [that]  you  may  open  your  mouth  and 
judge  righteously,  and  judge  the  cause  of  the  alllict- 
ed ;  as  the  people  of  Israel,  when  they  went  to  war, 
first  made  peace  with  God,  and  removed  all  occasion 
whereby  his  wrath  might  be  incensed,  lest  he  should 
fight  against  them  in  battle.  For  if  this  suppression 
of  the  truth  and  oppression  of  Christ  in  his  members, 
contrary  to  all  law  and  justice,  be,  without  restraint, 
prosecuted  by  the  enemy  in  the  land,  then  not  only 
the  persecuted  shall  daily  cry  from  under  the  altar 
for  redress,  but  God's  wrath  be  so  kindled  for  the 
shedding  the  innocent  blood  of  men,  even  the  blood 
of  his  own  servants  (of  whom  he  has  said,  '  Touch 
not  mine  anointed'),  that,  if  Noah,  Daniel,  and  Job 
should  pray  for  this  people,  yet  should  they  not  de 
liver  them. 

''Pleaseth  it,  then,  your  lordship  to  understand, 
that  we,  her  majesty's  loyal,  dutiful,  and  true-heart- 
ed subjects,  to  the  number  of  threescore  persons  and 
upward,  have,  contrary  to  all  law  and  equity,  been  im 
prisoned,  separated  from  our  trades,  wives,  children, 
and  families;  yea,  shut  up  close  prisoners  from  all 
comfort,  many  of  us  for  the  space  of  two  years  and  a 
half,  upon  the  bishop's  sole  commandment,  in  great 
penury  and  noisomeness  of  the  prisons ;  many  ending 
their  lives,  never  called  to  trial ;  some  haled  forth  to 
the  sessions ;  some  cast  in  irons  and  dungeons ;  some 
in  hunger  and  famine ;  all  of  us  debarred  from  any 
lawful  audience  before  our  honourable  governors  and 
magistrates,  and  from  all  benefit  and  help  of  the 
laws  ;  daily  defamed  and  falsely  accused  by  publish- 
ed pamphlets,  by  private  suggestions,  open  preach- 
ing, slanders,  and  accusations  of  heresy,  sedition, 
schism,  and  what  not.  And,  above  all,  which  most 
utterly  touchethour  salvation,  they  keep  us  from  all 
spiritual  comfort  and  edifying  by  doctrine,  prayer,  or 
mutual  conference,  &c. 

"  And  seeing  for  our  conscience  only  we  are  de- 
prived of  all  comfort,  we  most  humbly  beseech  your 
good  lordship  that  some  more  mitigate  and  peacea- 
ble course  might  be  taken  therein,  that  some  free 
and  Christian  conference,  publicly  or  privately,  be- 
fore your  honour,  or  before  whom  it  would  please 
you,  where  our  adversaries  may  not  be  our  judges 
[might  be  had] ;  that  our  case,  with  the  reason  and 
proof  on  both  sides,  might  be  recorded  by  indifferent 
notaries  and  faithful  witnesses;  and  if  anything  be 
found  in  us  worthy  of  death  or  bonds,  let  us  be  made 
an  example  to  all  posterity  ;  if  not,  we  entreat  for 
some  compassion  to  be  shown  in  equity  according  to 
law  for  our  relief;  [and]  that,  in  the  mean  time,  we 
may  be  bailed  to  do  her  majesty  service,  walk  in  our 
callings,  to  provide  things  needful  for  ourselves,  our 
poor  wives,  disconsolate  children,  and  families,  lying 
upon  us,  or  else  that  we  might  be  prisoners  together 
ill  Bridewell,  or  any  other  convenient  place  at  your 
honour's  appointment,  where  we  might  provide  such 
relief  by  our  diligence  and  labours  as  might  preserve 
life,  to  the  comfort  both  of  our  souls  and  bodies." 

Signed  by  your  supplicants  in  the  following  pris 
ons : 


In  the  Gale-house. 

John  Gaulter, 
John  Nicolas, 
John  Barnes, 
John  Crawford, 
Thomas  Conadyne, 
Thomas  Reeve, 


William  Dodshowe, 
Father  Debnam, 
Edmund  Thompson, 
Thomas  Freeman. 

In  the  Fleet, 

Henry  Barrowe, 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


201 


ed  man,  but  of  too  warm  a  spirit,  as  appears  by 
his  book,  entitled  "  A  Brief  Discovery  of  False 
Churches,"  printed  1590,  and  reprinted  1707. 
This  gentleman  having  been  several  years  in 
prison,  sent  another  supplication  to  the  attorney- 
general  and  privy  council  for  a  conference  with 
the  bishops,  or  that  their  ministers  might  be  con- 
ferred with  in  their  hearing,  without  taunts  or 
railings,  for  searching  out  the  truth  in  love.  "  If 
it  be  objected,"  says  Barrowe,  "  that  none  of 
our  side  are  worthy  to  be  thus  disputed  with, 
we  think  we  should  prove  the  contrary,  for  there 
are  three  or  four  of  them  in  the  city  of  London, 
and  more  elsewhere,  who  have  been  zealous 
preachers  in  the  parish  assemblies,  and  are  not  ig- 
norant of  the  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew  tongues, 
nor  otherwise  unlearned,  and  generally  confess- 
ed to  be  of  honest  conversation.  If  this  motion 
takes  effect,  the  controversy  will  soon  end  with 
most  of  us,  for  by  this  means  we  poor  wretches 
shall  perceive  whether,  as  simple  souls,  we  are 
lead  aside,  or  whether,  as  the  dear  children  of 
God,  we  are  first  trusted  with  the  view  of,  and 
standing  up  for,  the  cause  of  holiness  and  righte- 
ousness. But  let  us  not  perish  secretly  in  prison, 
or  openly  by  execution,  for  want  of  that  help 
that  lies  in  your  power  to  afford  ;  when  we  pro- 
test, in  the  sight  of  God,  we  do  not  separate 
from  the  establishment  out  of  pride  or  obstinacy, 
but  from  the  constraints  of  conscience." 

But  all  these  petitions  were  rejected  by  the 
bishops  and  privy  council,  for  the  following  rea- 
sons, if  they  deserve  that  name  :  "  Because  a 
disputation  had  been  denied  to  papists  :  to  call 
the  ministry  of  the  Church  of  England  into 
question,  is  to  call  all  other  churches  into  ques- 


John  Greenwood, 
Daniel  Studley, 
Robert  Badkyne, 
Walter  Lane. 

In  Newgate. 
William  Deptford, 
Widow  Borrough, 
Roger  Waterer. 

Ill  Bridewell. 
William  Broomal, 
James  Forrester, 
Antony  Claxton, 
Nicholas  Lee, 
Joiih  Francis, 
William  Forrester, 
John  Clarke, 
.rohn  Fisher, 
John  Bucer, 
Roger  Rippon, 
Robert  Andrews, 
Richard  Skarlet, 
Luke  Hayes, 
Richard  Maltusse, 
Richard  Umberfield, 
William  Fowler, 
William  Burt, 
William  Hutton. 

In  the  Clink. 

Geo.-go  Collier, 
John  Sparrow, 
Edmund  Nicholson, 
Christopher  Browne, 
Thomas  Mitchel, 
Andrew  Smith, 
William  Blackborrow, 
Thomas  Lemare, 
Christopher  Raper, 
Quintin  Smith. 
Vol,.  I.— C  c 


In  the  White  Lion. 

Thomas  Legat, 
Edmund  Marsh, 
Antony  Johnes, 

Cook, 

Auger. 

Wood-street  Compter. 

George  Snells, 
Christopher  Bowman, 
Robert  Jackson, 
Rowlet  Skipvvith. 

Poultry  Compter. 

George  Kingston, 
Thomas  Eyneworth, 
Richard  Hayward, 
John  Lancaster. 

In  all,  fifty-nine. 
Prisoners  deceased : 
Old  uf  the  Poultry  Compter. 
John  Chandler. 
Out  of  Wood-street  Compter. 
George  Dinghtic. 

Out  of  the  Clink. 

Henry  Thompson, 
Jerome  Studley. 

Out  of  Newgate. 

Richard  Jackson, 
Widow  Mainard, 
Widow  Row, 
Nicholas  Crane, 
Thomas  Stephens. 

Out  of  Bridewell. 
John  Pardy. 

In  all,  ten. 


tion,  against  whom  their  exceptions  extend  :* 
the  Church  of  England  has  submitted  to  dispu- 
tation three  times  in  King  Edward's,  Queen 
Mary's,  and  Queen  Elizabeth's  time :  these  men's 
errors  have  been  condemned  by  the  writings  of 
learned  men  :  it  is  not  reasonable  that  a  religion 
established  by  Parliament  should  be  examined 
by  an  inferior  authority  :  it  is  not  reasonable  to 
condemn  those  foreign  churches  that  have  ac- 
knowledged ours  for  a  true  church  :  their  prin- 
cipal errors  have  been  confuted  by  St.  Austin : 
this  will  strengthen  the  hands  of  the  papists  : 
it  has  been  the  manner  of  heretics  to  require 
disputations  with  clamour  and  importunity:  the 
cause  has  been  already  decided  by  written  books, 
which  they  may  consult :  they  will  not  stand  to 
the  judgment  of  the  civil  magistrate:  if  the 
Church  should  satisfy  every  sect  that  riseth, 
there  would  be  no  end  of  disputations."  Thus 
these  pious  and  conscientious  persons,  after  a 
long  and  illegal  imprisonment,  were  abandoned 
to  the  severity  of  an  unrighteous  law  ;  some  of 
them  being  publicly  executed  as  felons,  and  oth- 
ers proscribed  and  sent  into  banishment. 

Among  the  former  were  Mr.  Barrowe,  gent., 
of  Gray's  Inn,  Mr.  Greenwood  and  Pcnry,  min- 
isters ;  the  first  two  had  been  in  prison  some 
years,  and  several  times  before  the  commission- 
ers ;  their  examinations,  written  by  themselves, 
are  now  before  me.  Barrowe  was  apprehended 
at  the  Clink  prison  in  Southwark,  where  he  went 
to  visit  his  brother  Greenwood  ;  he  was  carried 
immediately  to  Lambeth,  where  the  archbishop 
would  have  examined  him  upon  the  oath  ex  offi- 
cio, but  he  refused  to  take  it,  or  to  swear  at  all 
upon  the  Bible ;  but,  says  he,  by  God's  grace  I 
will  answer  nothing  but  the  truth.  So  the  arch 
bishop  took  a  paper  of  interrogatories  into  his 
hand,  and  asked  him,  1.  "Whether  the  Lord's 
Prayer  might  be  used  in  the  Church  T'  He  an- 
swered, that  in  his  opinion  it  was  rather  a  sum- 
mary than  a  form,  and  not  finding  it  used  by  the 
apostles,  he  thought  it  should  not  be  constantly 
used  by  us.  2.  Whether  forms  of  prayer  may 
be  used  in  the  Church?  He  answered,  that 
none  such  ought  to  be  imposed.  3.  Whether 
the  common  prayer  he  idolatrous  or  supersti- 
tious !  He  answered,  that  in  his  opinion  it  was 
so.  4.  Whether  the  sacraments  of  the  Church 
are  true  sacraments  and  seals  of  the  favour  of 
God  1  He  answered,  he  thought,  as  they  were 
publicly  administered,  they  were  not.  5.  Wheth- 
er the  laws  of  the  Church  are  good  1  He  an- 
swered, that  many  of  them  were  unlawful  and 
antichristian.  6.  Whether  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land is  a  true  church  1  He  answered,  that,  as 
it  was  now  formed,  it  was  not ;  yet  there  are 
manyexcellent  good  Christians  of  it.  7.  Wheth- 
er the  queen  be  supreme  governor  of  the  Church, 
and  may  make  laws  for  it  1  He  answered,  that 
the  queen  was  supreme  governor  of  the  Church, 
but  might  not  make  laws  other  than  Christ  had 
left  in  his  Word.  8.  Whether  a  private  person 
may  reform  if  the  prince  neglects  it1  He  an- 
swered, that  no  private  persons  might  reform 
the  state,  but  they  are  to  abstain  from  any  un- 
lawful thing  commanded  by  the  prince.  9. 
Whether  every  particular  church  ought  to  have 
a  presbytery  1  He  answered  in  the  affirmative. 
After  this  examination  he  was  remanded  to  & 

*  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  ult.,  p.  172. 


202 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


close  prison,  and  denied  a  copy  of  his  answers, 
though  he  earnestly  desired  it. 

His  next  examination  was  before  the  arch- 
bishop, the  lord-chanoellor,  h)rd-treasurer.  Lord 
Buckhurst,  and  the  Bishop  of  London,  at  White- 
hall, where  lie  found  twelve  of  his  brethren  in 
the  same  circumstances  with  himself,  but  was 
not  admitted  to  speak  to  them.     Being  called 
into  another  room,  and  kneeling  down  at  the 
end  of  the  table,  the  lord-treasurer  spoke  to 
him  thus  :  Treasurer.  Why  are  you  in  prison  1 
Barrowe.  Upon  the  statute  against  recusants. 
Treasurer.  Why  will  you  not   go   to  church  1 
Barrowe.  Because  I  think  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land as  established  bylaw  not  a  church  of  Christ, 
nor  their  manner  of  worship  lawful.     After  a 
long  debate  on  this  head  the  treasurer  said,  You 
complain  of  injustice,  where  have  you  wrong! 
Barrowe.  In  being  kept  in  prison  without  due 
trial ;  and  in  the  misery  we  suffer  by  a  close  im- 
prisonment contrary  to  law.     The  archbishop 
said  he  had  matter  to  call  him  before  him  for  a 
heretic.     Barrowe  replied.  That  you  shall  never 
do  ;  I  may  err,  but  heretic,  by  the  grace  of  God, 
I  will  never  be.     It  being  observed  that  he  did 
not  pay  such  reverence  to  the  Archbishop  and 
Bishop  of  London  as  to  the  temporal  lords,  the 
chancellor  asked  him  if  he  did  not  know  those 
two  men,  pointing  to  the  bishops.     To  which 
he  answered,  that  he  had  cause  to  know  them, 
but  did  not  own  them  for  lord  bishops.     Being 
then  asked  by  what  name  he  would  call  the  arch- 
bishop, he  replied   that  he  was  a  monster,  a 
persecutor,  a  compound  of  he  knew  not  what, 
neither  ecclesiastical  nor  civil,  like  the  second 
beast  spoken  of  in  the  Revelations  :  upon  which 
the  archbishop  rose  out  of  his  place,  and  with  a 
severe  countenance  said,  My  lords,  will  you  suf- 
fer him  1     So  he  was  plucked  off  his  knees,  and 
carried  away. 

Mr.  Greenwood  the  minister  was  examined 
after  the  same  manner  before  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  the  Bishops  of  Loudon  and  Win- 
chester, the  lords-chief-justices,  the  lord-chief- 
baron,  and  the  master  of  the  rolls  :  he  had  in- 
terrogatories put  to  him  as  Barrowe  had,  but  re- 
fused to  swear,  and  made  much  the  same  an- 
swer with  the  other.  At  length,  on  March  21, 
1592,  they,  together  with  Saxio  Bellot,  gent., 
Daniel  Studley,  girdler,  and  Robert  Bowlle,  fish- 
monger, were  indicted  at  the  sessions-house  in 
the  Old  Bailey,  upon  the  statute  of  23  Eliz.,  for 
writing  and  publishing  sundry  seditious  books 
and  pamphlets,  tending  to  the  slander  of  the 
queen  and  government,  when  they  had  only 
written  against  the  Church  ;  but  this  was  the 
archbishop's  artful  contrivance  to  throw  off  the 
odium  of  their  death  from  himself  to  the  civil 
magistrate  ;  for,  as  the  reverend  and  learned 
Mr.  Hugh  Broughton  observes,  "though  Mr. 
Barrowe  and  Greenwood  were  condemned  for 
disturbance  of  the  state,  yet  this  would  have 
been  pardoned,  and  their  lives  spared,  if  they 
would  have  promised  to  come  to  church."* 
Upon  their  trial  they  behaved  with  constancy 
and  resolution,  showing  no  token  of  recognition, 
says  the  attorney,  nor  prayer  for  mercy :  they 
protested  their  inviolable  loyalty  to  the  queen, 
and  obedience  to  her  government ;  that  they 
never  wrote,  nor  so  much  as  intended  anything, 
against  her  highness,  but  only  against  the  bish- 

*  Broughton's  Works,  p.  731. 


ops  and  the  hierarchy  of  the  Church  ;  which 
was  apparent  enough.  However,  the  jury 
brought  them  all  in  guilty.*  Bellot  desired  a 
conference,  and  with  tears  confessing  his  sor- 
row for  what  he  had  done,  was  pardoned. 
Bowlle  and  Studley  being  looked  upon  only  as 
accessories,  though  they  continued  firm,  decla- 
ring their  unshaken  loyalty  to  the  queen,  and  re- 
fusing to  ask  for  mercy,  were  reprieved  and  sent 
back  to  prison;  but  Barrowe  and  Greenwood 
were  to  be  made  examples.  Sentence  of  death 
being  passed  upon  them  March  23,  sundry  di- 
vines were  appointed  to  persuade  them  to  re- 
cant ;  who  not  succeeding,  they  were  brought 
in  a  cart  to  Tyburn  on  the  last  of  March,  and 
exposed  under  the  gallows  for  some  time  to  the 
people,  to  see  if  the  terrors  of  death  would  af- 
fright them  ;  but  remaining  constant,  they  were 
brought  back  to  Newgate,  and  on  the  6th  of 
April,  1593,  carried  a  second  time  to  Tyburn 
and  executed.  At  the  place  of  execution  they 
gave  such  testimonies  of  their  unfeigned  piety 
towards  God  and  loyalty  to  the  queen,  praying 
so  earnestly  for  her  long  and  prosperous  reign, 
that  when  Dr.  Reynolds,  who  attended  them, 
reported  their  behaviour  to  her  majesty,  she  re- 
pented that  she  had  yielded  to  their  death. 

They  had  been  in  close  prison  ever  since  the 
year  1590,  exposed  to  all  the  severities  of  cold, 
liunger,  and  nakedness,  which  Mr.  Barrowe  rep- 
resented in  a  supplication  to  the  queen,  already 
mentioned,  concluding  with  an  earnest  desire  of 
deliverance  from  the  present  miseries,  though  it 
were  by  death  ;  but  the  archbishop  intercept- 
ed the  paper,  and  endeavoured  to  prevent  the 
knowledge  of  their  condition  from  coming  to  the 
queen's  ear :  upon  this,  Mr.  Barrowe  exposed 
his  grace's  behaviour  towards  miserable  men, 
in  a  letter  to  one  Mr.  Fisher,  wherein  he  char- 
ges him  with  "  abusing  the  queen's  clemency 
by  false  informations  and  suggestions,  and  with 
artful  disingenuity,  in  committing  so  many  in- 
nocent men  to  Bridewell,  the  Compter,  Newgate, 
the  White  Lion,  and  the  Fleet,  and  then  post- 
ing them  to  the  civil  magistrate  to  take  off  the 
clamour  of  the  people  from  himself  He  says 
that  he  had  destined  himself  and  his  brother 
Greenwood  to  death,  and  others  to  be  kept  ia 
close  prison  ;  their  poor  wives  and  children  to 
be  cast  out  of  the  city,  and  their  goods  to  be 
confiscated.  Is  not  this  a  Christian  bishop  1" 
says  he.  "  Are  these  the  virtues  of  him  who 
takes  upon  him  the  care  and  government  of  all 
the  churches  of  the  land,  to  tear  and  devour 
God's  poor  sheep,  and  to  rend  off  the  flesh  and 
break  their  bones,  and  chop  them  in  pieces  as 
flesh  to  the  caldron  It  Will  he  thus  instruct 
and  convince  gainsayersl  Surely  he  wdl  per- 
suade but  lew  that  fear  God  to  his  religion  by 
his  dealing  and  evil.  Does  he  consult  his  own 
credit,  or  the  honour  of  his  prince,  by  this  tyr- 
annous havoc  ]  For  our  parts,  our  lives  are  not 
dear  to  us,  so  that  we  may  finish  our  testimony 
with  joy  :  we  are  always  ready,  through  God's 
grace,  to  be  offered  up  upon  the  testimony  of 
the  faith  that  we  have  made." 

Thus  fell  these  two  unhappy  gentlemen  a  sac- 
rifice to  the  resentments  of  an  angry  prelate. 

About  six  weeks  after  this,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Joha 
Penry,  or  A p- Henry,  a  Welsh  divine,  was  exs- 

*  Heyl.,  Hist.  Presb.,  p.  323. 
t  Life  of  Wlutgift,  p.  416. 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


203 


cuted  for  the  same  crime,  in  a  cruel  and  inhu- 
man manner.  He  was  a  pious  and  learned  man, 
well  disposed  to  religion,  says  Mr.  Strype,  but 
mistaken  in  his  principles  and  hot  in  his  tem- 
per ;  a  zealous  platformer,  and  a  declared  ene- 
my of  the  archbishop.  He  was  born  in  the 
county  of  Brecknocii,  and  educated  first  at  Cam- 
bridge, and  afterward  in  St.  Alban's  Hall,  Ox- 
ford, where  he  became  M.A.,  1586,  and  entered 
into  holy  orders,  being  well  acquainted  with  arts 
and  languages.  He  preached  in  both  universi- 
ties with  applause,  and  afterward  travelling  into 
Wales,  was  the  first,  as  he  said,  that  preached 
the  Gospel  publicly  to  the  Welsh,  and  sowed  the 
good  seed  among  his  countrymen.  In  the  year 
1518  he  published  a  "  View  of  such  Public  Wants 
and  Disorders  as  are  in  her  Majesty's  Country 
of  Wales,  with  an  humble  Petition  to  the  High 
Court  of  Parliament  for  their  Redress  :"  where- 
in is  showed  not  only  the  necessity  of  reforming 
the  state  of  religion  among  that  people,  but  also 
the  only  way  in  regard  of  substance  to  bring 
that  reformation  to  pass.  He  also  published 
"An  Exhortation  to  the  Governors  and  People 
of  her  Majesty's  Country  of  Wales,  to  labour 
earnestly  to  have  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel 
planted  among  them."     Printed  in  1588. 

When  Martin  Mar-Prelate  and  the  other  sa- 
tirical pamphlets  against  the  bishops  were  pub- 
lished, a  special  warrant  was  issued  from  the 
privy  council,  1590,  under  several  of  their  hands, 
■whereof  the  archbishop's  was  one,  to  seize  and 
apprehend  Mr.  Penry  as  an  enemy  of  the  state, 
and  that  all  the  queen's  good  subjects  should 
take  him  so  to  be.  To  avoid  being  taken,  he  reti- 
red intoScotland,  where  he  continued  till  the  year 
1593.  Here  he  made  many  observations  of  things 
relating  to  religion,  for  his  own  private  use,  and 
at  length  prepared  the  heads  of  a  petition,*  or 

*  The  heads  of  the  petition,  taken  upon  him,  were 
as  follow  :  "  The  last  days  of  your  reign  are  turned 
rather  against  Jcsu.s  Christ  and  his  Gospel  than  to 
the  maintenance  of  the  same. 

"  I  have  great  cause  and  complaint,  madam ;  nay, 
the  Lord  and  his  Church  have  cause  to  complain 
of  your  government,  because  we  your  subjects,  this 
day,  are  not  permitted  to  serve  our  God  under  your 
government  accordmg  to  his  Word,  but  arc  sold 
to  be  bond-slaves,  not  only  to  our  alfections,  to  do 
what  we  will,  so  that  we  keep  ourselves  within  the 
compass  of  established  civil  laws,  but  also  to  be  ser- 
vants to  the  man  of  sin  [the  pope]  and  his  ordinances. 

"  It  is  not  the  force  that  we  seem  to  fear  that  will 
come  upon  us  (for  the  Lord  may  destroy  both  you  for 
denying,  and  us  for  slack  seeking,  of  his  will)  by 
strangers :  I  come  unto  you  with  it :  if  you  will  hear 
it,  our  cause  may  be  eased ;  if  not,  that  posterity  may 
know  that  you  have  been  dealt  with,  and  that  this 
age  may  know  that  there  is  no  expectation  [hope]  to 
be  looked  for  at  your  hands. 

"  Among  the  rest  of  the  princes  under  the  Gospel, 
that  have  been  drawn  to  oppose  it,  you  must  think 
yourself  to  be  one ;  for  until  you  see  this,  madam, 
you  see  not  yourself,  and  they  are  but  sycophants  and 
flatterers  whoever  tell  you  otherwise :  your  standing 
is  and  has  been  by  the  Gospel.  It  is  little  beholden 
to  you  for  anything  that  appears.  The  practice  of 
your  government  shows  that  if  you  could  have  ruled 
without  the  Gospel,  it  would  have  been  doubtful 
whether  the  Gospel  should  be  established  or  not : 
for  now  that  you  are  established  in  your  throne  by 
the  Gospel,  you  suffer  it  to  reach  no  farther  than  the 
end  of  your  sceptre  limitelh  unto  it. 

"  If  we  had  had  Queen  Mary's  days,  I  think  that 
we  should  have  had  as  flourishing  a  church  this 
day  as  ever  any,  for  it  is  well  known  that  there  was 


an  address  to  the  queen,  to  show  her  majesty 
the  true  state  of  religion,  and  how  ignorant  she 
was  of  many  abuses  in  the  Church  of  England, 
especially  in  the  management  of  ecclesiastical 
matters  ;  and  likewise  to  intercede  for  so  much 
favour  that  he  might,  by  her  authority,  have  lib- 
erty to  go  into  Wales,  his  native  country,  to 
preach  the  Gospel.*   With  this  petition  he  came 


then  in  London,  under  the  burden,  and  elsewhere  in 
exile,  more  llourishing  churches  than  any  now  toler- 
ated by  your  authority. 

"  Now,  whereas  we  should  have  your  help  both, 
to  join  ourselves  v^ith  the  true  Church  and  reject 
the  false,  and  all  the  ordinances  thereof,  we  are  in 
your  kingdom  permitted  to  do  nothing,  but  account- 
ed seditious  if  we  affirm  either  the  one  or  the  other 
of  the  former  points  ;  and,  therefore,  madam,  you  are 
not  so  much  an  adversary  to  us  poor  men  as  unto 
Christ  Jesus  and  the  wealth  of  his  kingdom. 

"  If  we  cannot  have  your  favour  but  by  omitting 
our  duty  to  God,  we  are  unworthy  of  it,  and,  by  God's 
grace,  w'e  mean  not  to  purchase  it  so  dear. 

"  But,  madam,  thus  much  we  must  needs  say. 
that  in  all  likelihood,  if  the  days  of  your  sister  Queen 
Mary  and  her  persecution  had  continued  unto  this 
day,  that  the  Church  of  God  in  England  had  been 
far  more  flourishing  than  at  this  day  it  is ;  for  then, 
madam,  the  Church  of  God  within  this  land,  and 
elsewhere,  being  strangers,  enjoyed  the  ordinances 
of  God's  holy  Word  as  far  as  then  they  saw. 

"  But  since  your  majesty  came  unto  your  crown,  we 
have  had  whole  Christ  Jesus,  God  and  man ;  but  we 
must  serve  him  only  in  heart. 

"And  if  those  days  had  continued  to  this  time,, 
and  those  lights  risen  therein,  which,  by  the  mercy 
of  God,  have  since  shined  in  England,  it  is  not  to  be 
doubted  but  the  Church  of  England,  even  in  England, 
had  far  surpassed  all  the  Reformed  churches  in  the 
world. 

"Then,  madam,  any  of  our  brethren  durst  not 
have  been  seen  within  the  tents  of  antichrist ;  now 
they  are  ready  to  defend  them  to  be  the  Lord's,  and 
that  he  has  no  other  tabernacle  upon  earth  but  them. 
Our  brethren  then  durst  not  temporize  in  the  cause 
of  God,  because  the  Lord  himself  ruled  in  his  Church, 
by  his  own  laws,  in  a  good  measure  ;  but  now,  be- 
hold !  they  may  do  what  they  will,  for  any  sword 
that  the  Church  has  to  draw  against  them,  if  they 
contain  themselves  within  your  laws. 

"This  peace,  under  these  conditions,  we  cannot 
enjoy,  and  therefore,  for  anything  I  can  see,  Queen 
Mary's  days  will  be  set  up  again,  or  we  must  needs 
temporize.  The  whole  truth  we  must  not  speak; 
the  whole  truth  we  must  not  profess.  Your  state 
must  have  a  stroke  above  the  truth  of  God. 

"  New,  madam,  your  majesty  may  consider  what 
good  the  Church  of  God  hath  taken  at  your  hands, 
even  outward  peace  with  the  absence  of  Jesus 
Christ  in  his  ordinance  ;  otherwise  as  great  troubles 
are  likely  to  come  as  ever  were  in  the  days  of  your 
sister. 

"As  for  the  council  and  clergy,  if  we  bring  any  such 
suit  unto  them,  we  have  no  other  answer  but  that 
which  Pharaoh  gives  to  the  Lord's  messengers 
touching  the  state  of  the  Church  under  his  govern- 
ment. 

"  For  when  any  are  called  for  this  cause  before 
your  council,  or  the  judges  of  the  land,  they  must 
take  this  for  granted,  once  for  all,  that  the  upright- 
ness of  their  cause  will  profit  them  nothing  if  the 
law  of  the  land  be  against  them ;  for  your  council 
and  judges  have  so  well  profited  in  religion,  that  they 
will  not  stick  to  say  that  they  come  not  to  consult 
whether  the  matter  be  with  or  against  the  Word  or 
not,  but  their  purpose  is  to  take  the  penalty  of  tho 
transgressions  against  your  laws. 

"If  your  council  were  wise,  they  would  not  kindle 
your  wrath  against  us ;  but,  madam,  if  you  give  ear 
to  their  words,  no  marvail  though  you  have  not  bet- 
ter counsellors."  *  Life  of  Whitjiift,  p.  409. 


204 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


from  Scotland,  resolving  to  finish  and  deliver  it 
with  his  own  hand,  as  lie  should  find  opportu- 
nity ;  but  upon  his  arrival  he  was  seized  with 
his  papers  at  Stepney  parish,  by  the  information 
of  the  vicar,  in  the  month  of  May,  and  arraign- 
ed, condemned,  and  executed,  hastily,  the  very 
same  month. 

It  appears  by  this  petition,  as  well  as  by  his 
letter  sent  to  the  confrregation  of  Separatists 
in  London,  that  Mr.  Penry  was  a  Brownist. 
His  Book  of  Observations  was  also  seized,  out 
of  which  were  drawn  articles  of  accusation 
against  him.  He  was  indicted  upon  the  statute 
of  the  23d  of  Eliz.,  cap.  ii.,  for  seditious  words 
and  rumours  uttered  against  the  queen's  most 
excellent  majesty,  tending  to  the  stirring  up  of 
rebellion  among  her  subjects,  and  was  convict- 
ed of  felony,  May  21,  in  the  King's  Bench,  be- 
fore the  Lord-chief-justice  Popham.  He  re- 
ceived sentence  of  death  May  25,  and  was  exe- 
cuted on  the  29th  of  the  same  month.  It  was 
designed  to  indict  him  for  the  books  published 
in  his  name,  but  by  the  advice  of  council,  Mr. 
Penry  drew  up  a  paper  entitled  "  Mr.  Penry's 
Declaration,  May  16,  1593,  that  he  is  not  in 
danger  of  the  law  for  the  books  published  in  his 
name."  Here  he  observes  that  the  statute  was 
not  intended  again.st  such  as  wrote  only  against 
the  hierarchy  of  the  Church,  for  then  it  must 
condemn  most  of  the  most  learned  Protestants 
both  at  home  and  abroad  ;  but  relates  to  such 
as  defame  her  majesty's  royal  person,  whereas 
he  had  always  written  most  dutifully  of  her 
person  and  government,  having  never  encour- 
aged sedition  or  insurrection  against  her  maj- 
esty, but  the  contrary ;  nor  had  he  ever  been 
at  any  assembly  or  conventicle  where  any,  un- 
der or  above  the  number  of  twelve,  were  as- 
sembled with  force  of  arms,  or  otherwise,  to 
alter  anything  established  by  law ;  nor  was  it 
his  opinion  that  private  persons  should  of  their 
own  authority  attempt  any  such  thing,  for  he 
had  always  written  and  spoken  to  the  contrary. 
But,  however,  if  all  this  had  been  true,  he 
ought  to  have  been  accused  within  one  month 
of  the  crime,  upon  the  oath  of  two  witnesses, 
and  have  been  indicted  within  one  year,  other- 
wise the  statute  itself  clears  him  in  express 
v/ords. 

The  court,  apprehending  this  declaration 
might  occasion  an  argument  at  law,  set  aside 
his  printed  books,  and  convicted  him  upon  the 
petition  and  private  observations  above  men- 
tioned, which  was  still  harder,  as  he  represent- 
ed it  himself  in  the  following  letter  to  the  lord- 
treasurer,  with  a  protestation  enclosed,  imme- 
diately after  his  condemnation.  "Vouchsafe, 
I  beseech  your  lordship  (right  honourable),  to 
read  the  enclosed  writing.  My  days,  I  see,  are 
drawing  to  an  end,  and  I  thank  God  an  unde- 
served end,  except  the  Lord  stir  up  your  honour 
to  acquaint  her  majesty  with  my  guiltless  state. 

"  The  cause  is  most  lamentable  that  tlie  pri- 
vate observations  of  any  student,  being  in  a 
foreign  land  and  wishing  well  to  his  prince  and 
country,  should  bring  his  life  with  blood  to  a 
violent  end,  especially  seeing  they  are  most 
private,  and  so  imperfect  as  they  have  no  cohe- 
rence at  all  in  them,  and  in  most  place  carry  no 
true  English. 

*  LifeofWhitgift,  p.  412. 


"  Though  my  innocence  may  stand  me  in  no 
stead  before  an  earthly  tribunal,  yet  I  know  that 
I  shall  have  the  reward  thereof  before  the  judg- 
ment-seat of  the  Great  King  ;  and  the  merciful 
Lord,  who  relieves  the  widow  and  fatherless, 
will  reward  my  desolate  orphans  and  friendless 
widow  that  I  leave  behind  me,  and  even  hear 
their  cry,  for  he  is  merciful. 

"  Being  like  to  trouble  your  lordship  with  no 
more  letters,  I  do  with  thankfulness  acknowl- 
edge your  honour's  favour  in  receiving  the  wri 
tings  I  have  presumed  to  send  to  you  from  time 
to  time  ;  and  in  this  my  last,  I  protest  I  have 
written  nothing  but  the  truth  from  time  to  time. 

'•  Thus  preparing  myself,  not  so  much  for  an 
unjust  verdict,  and  an  undeserved  doom  in  this 
life,  as  unto  that  blessed  crown  of  glory  which, 
of  the  great  mercy  of  my  God,  is  ready  for  me 
in  heaven,  I  humbly  betake  your  lordship  unto 
the  hands  of  the  just  Lord.  May  22, 1593.  Your 
lordship's  most  humble  in  the  Lord, 

".John  Peney." 

In  the  protestation  enclosed  in  this  letter  he 
declared  that  he  wrote  his  observations  in  Scot- 
land ;  that  they  were  the  sum  of  certain  objec- 
tions made  by  people  in  those  parts  against  her 
majesty  and  her  government,  which  he  intend- 
ed to  examine,  but  had  not  so  much  as  looked 
into  them  for  fourteen  or  fifteen  months  past ; 
that  even  in  these  writings,  so  imperfect,  unfin- 
ished, and  enclosed  within  his  private  study,  he 
had  shown  his  dutifulness  to  the  queen,  nor  had 
he  ever  a  secret  wandering  thought  of  the  least 
disloyalty  to  her  majesty  ;  "  I  thank  the  Lord," 
says  he,  "  I  remember  not  that  that  day  has 
passed  over  my  head,  since  under  her  govern- 
ment I  came  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth, 
wherein  I  have  not  commended  her  estate  unto 
God.  Well,  I  may  be  indicted  and  condemned, 
and  end  my  days  as  a  felon  or  a  traitor  against 
my  natural  sovereign,  but  heaven  and  earth 
shall  not  be  able  to  convict  me  thereof  When- 
soever an  end  of  my  days  comes  (as  I  look  not 
to  live  this  week  to  an  end),  I  shall  die  Queen 
Elizabeth's  most  faithful  subject,  even  in  the 
consciences  of  mine  enemies,  if  they  will  be  be- 
holders thereof* 

"  I  never  took  myself  for  a  rebuker,  much  less 
for  a  reformer  of  states  and  kingdoms  ;  far  was 
that  from  me  ;  yet  in  the  discharge  of  my  con- 
science, all  the  world  must  bear  with  me  if  I 
prefer  my  testimony  to  the  truth  of  Jesus  Christ 
before  the  favour  of  any  creature.  An  enemy 
to  good  order  and  policy  either  in  this  Church 
or  commonwealth  was  I  never.  I  never  did 
anything  in  this  cause  (Lord  !  thou  art  witness) 
for  contention,  vainglory,  or  to  draw  disciples 
after  me.  Great  tilings  in  this  life  I  never 
sought  for ;  sufficiency  I  have  had,  with  great 
outward  trouble,  but  most  content  I  was  with  my 
lot ;  and  content  I  am  and  shall  be  with  my  un- 
timely death,  though  I  leave  behind  me  a  friend- 
less widow  and  four  infants,  the  eldest  of  which 
is  not  above  four  years  old.  I  do  from  my  heart 
forgive  all  that  seek  my  life  ;  and  if  my  death 
can  procure  any  quietness  to  the  Church  of  God 
or  the  State,  I  shall  rejoice.  May  my  prince 
have  many  such  subjects,  but  may  none  of  them 
meet  with  such  a  reward !  My  earnest  request 
is  that  her  majesty  may  be  acquainted  with 

*  Life  of  Whitgift,  in  Rec,  p.  176. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


205 


these  things  before  my  death,  or  at  least  after 
my  departure. 

"  Subscribed  with  the  heart  and  hand  that 
never  devised  or  wrote  anything  to  the  discredit 
or  defamation  of  my  sovereign  Queen  Elizabeth : 
I  take  it  on  my  death,  as  I  hope  to  have  a  hfe 
after  this.     By  me,  John  Penrv." 

It  was  never  known  before  this  time  that  a 
minister  and  a  scholar  was  condemned  to  death 
for  private  papers  found  in  his  study ;  nor  do  I 
remember  more  than  once  since  that  time,  in 
whose  case  it  was  given  for  law,  that  scriberc 
est  agcre,  that  to  write  has  been  construed  an 
overt  act ;  but  Penry  must  die,  right  or  wrong  ; 
the  archbishop  was  the  first  man  who  signed 
the  warrant  for  his  execution,  and  after  him 
Puckering  and  Popham.  The  warrant  was  sent 
immediately  to  the  sheriff,  who  the  very  same 
day  erected  a  gallows  at  St.  Thomas  Water- 
ings ;  and  while  the  prisoner  was  at  dinner,  sent 
his  officers  to  bid  him  make  ready,  for  he  must 
die  that  afternoon ;  accordingly,  he  was  carried 
in  a  cart  to  the  place  of  execution  ;  when  he 
came  thither  the  sheriff  would  not  suffer  him  to 
speak  to  the  people,  nor  make  any  profession  of 
his  faith  towards  God,  or  his  loyalty  to  the 
queen,  but  ordered  him  to  be  turned  off  in  a 
hurry  about  five  of  the  clock  in  the  evening, 
May  29,  1593,  in  the  thirty- fourth  year  of  his 
age. 

The  court  being  struck  with  this  behaviour 
of  the  Brownists,  began  to  be  ashamed  of  hang- 
ing men  for  sedition  against  the  state,  who  died 
with  such  strong  professions  of  loyalty  to  the 
queen  and  government,  and  therefore  could  suf- 
fer only  for  the  cause  of  religion.  This  raised 
an  odium  against  the  bishops  and  the  high  com- 
missioners, who,  all  men  knew,  were  at  the 
bottom  of  these  proceedings.  It  is  said  the 
queen  herself  was  displeased  with  them  when 
she  heard  of  the  devotion  and  loyalty  of  the 
sufferers.  It  was  therefore  resolved  to  proceed 
for  the  future  on  the  late  statute  of  the  31st 
Eliz.,  to  retain  the  queen's  subjects  in  their 
obedience,  and  instead  of  putting  the  Brown- 
ists to  death,  to  send  them  into  banishment. 
Upon  this  statute,  Mr.  Johnson,  pastor  of  the 
Brownist  Church,  was  convicted,  and  all  the 
jails  were  cleared  for  the  present ;  though  the 
commissioners  took  care  within  the  compass 
of  another  year  to  fdl  them  again. 

The  papists  were  distressed  by  this  statute, 
and  that  of  23d  Eliz.,  as  much  as  the  Brown- 
ists, though  they  met  with  much  more  favour 
from  the  ecclesiastical  courts  ;  the  queen  either 
loved  or  feared  them,  and  would  often  say  she 
would  never  ransack  their  consciences  if  they 
would  be  quiet ;  but  they  were  always  libelling 
her  majesty,  and  in  continual  plots  against  her 
government.  While  the  Queen  of  Scots  was 
alive,  they  supported  her  pretensions  to  the 
crown,  and  after  her  death  they  maintained  in 
print  the  title  of  the  Infanta  of  Spain  :  they 
were  concerned  with  the  Spaniards  in  the  inva- 
sion of  1588,  which  obliged  the  queen  to  con- 
fine some  of  their  chiefs  in  Wisbeach  Castle, 
and  other  places  of  safety,  but  she  was  tender 
•of  their  lives.  In  the  first  eleven  years  of  her 
reign,  not  one  Roman  Catholic  was  prosecuted 
capitally  for  religion  ;  in  the  next  ten  years, 
when  the  pope  had  excommunicated  the  queen 
and  the  whole  kingdom,  and  there  had  been 


dangerous  rebellions  in  the  north,  there  were 
only  twelve  priests  executed,  and  most  of  them 
for  matters  against  the  state.  In  the  ten  fol- 
lowing years,  when  swarms  of  priests  and  Jes- 
uits came  over  from  foreign  seminaries  to  in- 
vite the  Catholics  to  join  with  the  Spaniards, 
the  laws  were  girt  closer  upon  them,  fifty  priests 
being  executed,  and  fifty-five  banished  ;  but  as 
soon  as  the  danger  was  over,  the  laws  were  re- 
laxed, and  by  reason  of  the  ignorance  and  lazi- 
ness of  the  beneficed  clergy,  the  missionaries 
gained  over  such  numbers  of  proselytes  in  the 
latter  end  of  this  reign,  as  endangered  the 
whole  government  and  Reformation  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  next. 

The  last  and  finishing  hand  was  put  to  the 
Presbyterian  discipline  in  Scotland  this  year 
[15.54].  That  kingdom  had  been  governed  by 
different  factions  during  the  minority  of  King 
James,  which  prevented  a  full  settlement  of  re- 
ligion. The  General  Assembly  in  the  year 
1566  had  approved  of  the  Geneva  discipline ; 
but  the  Parliament  did  not  confirm  the  votes  of 
the  assembly,  nor  formally  deprive  the  bishops 
of  their  power,  though  all  church  affairs  from 
that  time  were  managed  by  presbyteries  and 
general  assemblies.  In  the  year  1574  they  vo- 
ted the  bishops  to  be  only  pastors  of  one  par- 
ish ;  and  to  show  their  power,  they  deposed  the 
Bishop  of  Dunkeld,  and  delated  the  Bishop  of 
Glasgow.  In  the  year  1577  they  ordained  that 
all  bishops  be  called  by  their  own  names,  and 
the  next  year  voted  the  very  name  of  a  bishop 
a  grievance.  In  the  year  1580,  the  General 
Assembly,  with  one  voice,  declared  diocesan 
episcopacy  to  be  unscriptural  and  unlawful. 
The  same  year,  King  James  with  his  family, 
and  the  whole  nation,  subscribed  a  confession 
of  faith,  with  a  solemn  league  and  covenant  an- 
nexed, obliging  themselves  to  maintain  and  de- 
fend the  Protestant  doctrine  and  the  Presbyte- 
rian government.  After  this,  in  the  year  1584, 
the  bishops  were  restored  by  Parliament  to 
some  parts  of  their  ancient  dignity,*  and  it 
was  made  treason  for  any  man  to  procure  the 
innovation  or  diminution  of  the  power  and  au- 
thority of  any  of  the  three  estates ;  but  when 
this  act  was  proclaimed,  the  ministers  protested 
against  it,  as  not  having  been  agreed  to  by  the 
Kirk.  In  the  year  1587,  things  took  another 
turn,  and  his  majesty  being  at  the  full  age  of 
twenty-one,  consented  to  an  act  to  take  away 
bishops'  lands,  and  annex  them  to  the  crown. 
In  the  year  1593,  it  was  ordained  by  the  Gener- 
al Assembly  that  all  that  bore  office  in  the  Kirk, 
or  should  hereafter  do  so,  should  subscribe  to 
the  Book  of  Discipline.  In  the  year  1592,  all 
acts  of  Parliament  whatsoever,  made  by  the 
king's  highness  or  any  of  his  predecessors,  in 
favour  of  popery  or  episcopacy,  were  annulled  ; 
and  in  particular,  the  act  of  May  23,  1-584,  "  for 
granting  commissions  to  bishops,  or  other  ec- 
clesiastical judges,  to  receive  presentations  to 
benefices,  and  give  collation  thereupon  ;"  and 
it  was  ordained  that  for  the  future  "  all  present- 
ations to  benefices  shall  be  directed  to  the  par- 
ticular presbyteries,  with  full  power  to  give  col- 
lation thereupon  ;  and  to  order  all  matters  and 
causes  ecclesiastical  within  their  bounds  accord- 
ing to  the  discipline  of  the  Kirk.t 

*  Heyl.,  Hist.  Presb.,  p.  231.         t  Id.  ibid.,  p.  294. 


206 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


"Farther,  the  act  ratifies  and  confirms  all 
former  acts  of  Parliament  in  favour  of  kirk  dis- 
cipline, and  declares  that  it  shall  be  lawful  for 
the  Kirk  and  ministers  to  hold  general  assem- 
blies once  a  year,  or  ol'tener  if  necessity  require, 
the  king's  commissioner  being  present  if  his 
majesty  pleases.  It  ratifies  and  approves  of 
provincial  and  synodal  assemblies  twice  a  year 
^vithin  every  province;  and  of  presbyteries  and 
particular  sessions  appointed  by  the  Kirk,  with 
the  whole  discipline  and  jurisdiction  of  the 
same.  Provincial  assemblies  have  power  to 
redress  all  things  omitted  or  done  amiss  in  the 
particular  assemblies,  to  depose  the  office  bear- 
er of  the  province,  and  generally  they  have  the 
power  of  the  particular  elderships  whereof  they 
are  cohected. 

"  The  power  of  presbyteries  is  declared  to 
consist  in  keeping  the  kirks  within  their  bounds 
in  good  order ;  to  inquire  after  and  endeavour 
to  reform  vicious  persons.  It  belongs  to  the 
elderships  to  see  that  the  Word  of  God  be  duly 
preached,  and  the  sacraments  rightly  adminis- 
tered, and  discipline  entertained  ;  they  are  to 
cause  the  ordinances  made  by  the  Provincial, 
National,  and  General  Assemblies,  to  be  put  in 
execution ;  to  make  or  abolish  constitutions 
"ivhich  concern  decent  order  in  their  kirks,  pro- 
vided they  alter  no  rules  made  by  the  superior 
assemblies;  and  communicate  their  constitu- 
tions to  the  Provincial  Assembly ;  they  have 
power  to  excommunicate  the  obstinate  after 
due  process.  Concerning  particular  kirks,  if 
they  are  lavt-fully  ruled  by  sufficient  ministers 
and  session,  they  have  power  and  jurisdiction 
in  their  own  congregation  in  matters  ecclesias- 
tical." 

This  act,  for  the  greater  solemnity,  was  con- 
firmed again  in  the  year  1593,  and  again  this 
present  year  1594,  so  that  from  this  time  to  the 
year  1612  presbytery  was  undoubtedly  the  le- 
gal establishment  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland,  as  it 
had  been,  in  fact,  ever  since  the  Reformation. 

To  return  to  England.  Several  champions 
appeared  about  this  tune  for  the  cause  of  epis- 
copacy;  as.  Dr.  Bilson,  Bancroft,  Bridges,  Cos- 
ins,  Soam,  and  Dr.  Adrian  Sararia,  a  Spaniard, 
but  beneficed  in  the  Church  of  England :  this 
last  was  answered  by  Beza  ;  Bridges  was  an- 
swered by  Fenner,  Cosins  by  Morrice,  and  Bil- 
son by  Bradshaw,  though  the  press  was  shut 
■against  the  Puritans. 

But  the  most  celebrated  performance,  and  of 
jrreatest  note,  was  Mr.  Hooker's  Ecclesiastical 
Polity,  in  eight  books  ;  the  first  four  of  which 
were  published  this  year  ;  the  filth  in  the  year 
1597,  and  last  three  not  till  many  years  after 
his  death  ;  for  which  reason  some  have  suspect- 
ed them  to  be  interpolated,  though  they  were 
deposited  in  the  hands  of  Archbishop  Abbot, 
from  whose  copy  they  were  printed,  about  the 
beginning  of  the  civil  wars.*  This  is  esteemed 
the  most  learned  defence  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, wherein  all  that  would  be  acquainted  with 
its  constitution,  says  a  learned  prelate,  may  see 
upon  what  foundation  it  is  built.t    Mr.  Hooker 

*  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  421. 

t  The  Ecclesiatitica.1  Polity  is  deeply  interesting  to 
the  Protestant  Noncorifonuist,  because  it  exliibits  the 
utmost  that  can  be  advanced  in  support  of  the  church 
•system  to  which  he  is  opposed.  "All,"  says  Dr. 
Price,  "  that  human  genius,  or  the  most  patient  and 


begun  his  work  while  master  of  the  Temple,  bu8 
meeting  with  some  trouble,  and  many  interrup- 
tions in  that  place,  the  archbishop,  at  his  re- 
quest, removed  him  to  Boscum,  in  the  diocess 
of  Salisbury,  and  gave  him  a  minor  prebend  in 
that  church  ;  here  he  finished  his  first  four 
books  ;  from  thence  he  was  removed  to  the  par- 
sonage of  Bishopsborn,  in  Kent,  about  three 
miles  from  Canterbury,  where  he  finished  his 
work  and  his  life  in  the  year  1660,  and  in  the 
forty-seventh  year  of  his  age.* 

The  chief  principles  upon  which  this  learned 
author  proceeds  are, 

"  That  though  the  Holy  Scriptures  are  a  per- 
fect standard  of  doctrine,  they  are  not  a  rule  of 
discipline  or  government :  nor  is  the  practice  of 
the  apostles  an  invariable  rule  or  law  to  the 
Church  in  succeeding  ages,  because  they  acted 
according  to  the  circumstances  of  the  Church 
in  its  infant  and  persecuted  state  :  neither  are 
the  Scriptures  a  rule  of  human  actions,  so  far 
as  that  whatsoever  we  do  in  matters  of  religion 
without  their  express  direction  or  warrant  is 
sin,  but  many  things  are  left  indifterent :  the 
Church  is  a  society  like  others,  invested  with 
powers  to  make  what  laws  she  apprehends  rea- 
sonable, decent,  or  necessary  for  her  well-being 
and  government,  provided  they  do  not  interfere 
with  or  contradict  the  laws  and  commandments 
of  Holy  Scripture  :  where  the  Scripture  is  si- 
lent, human  authority  may  interpose  ;  we  must 
then  have  recourse  to  the  reason  of  things  and 
the  rights  of  society  :  it  follows  from  hence  that 
the  Church  is  at  liberty  to  appoint  ceremonies, 
and  establish  order  within  the  limits  above 
mentioned  ;  and  her  authority  ought  to  deter- 
mine what  IS  fit  and  convenient :  all  who  are  born 
within  the  confines  of  an  established  church, 
and  are  baptized  into  it,  are  bound  to  submit  to 
Its  ecclesiastical  laws  ;  they  may  not  disgrace, 


scrutinizing  inquiry  into  the  nature  of  man  and  the 
constitution  of  human  society  can  effect,  is  here  ac- 
complished on  behalf  of  the  hierarchy.  If,  therefore, 
such  a  work  fails  to  sustain  its  positions ;  if  many  of 
its  principles  are  unsound,  and  its  course  of  argu- 
mentation is  precisely  similar  to  that  which  popery 
employs  ;  if  large  sections  of  the  work  are  as  conclu- 
sive against  the  Protestant  faith  as  against  that  form 
of  it  to  which  Hooker  was  opposed,  a  strong  pre- 
sumption must  be  awakened  that  there  was  a  radical 
unsoundness  in  the  cause  he  advocated,  which  no 
genius  could  remedy  or  diligence  correct.  That 
such  defects  do  attach  to  this  celebrated  performance 
has  been  extensively  acknowledged,  and  will  be  in- 
creasingly felt,  as  the  true  spirit  of  Protestantism 
prevails  among  its  professed  disciples."  "  The  better 
parts  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Polity,"  remarks  Mr.  Hal- 
lam,  "bear  a  resemblance  to  the  philosophical  wri- 
tings of  antiquity,  in  their  defects  as  well  as  their 
excellences.  Hooker  is  often  too  vague  in  the  use 
of  general  terms ;  too  inconsiderate  in  the  admission 
of  principles  ;  too  apt  to  acquiesce  in  the  scholastic 
pseudo-philosophy;  and,  indeed,  hi  all  received  ten- 
ets. He  is  comprehensive  rather  than  sagacious, 
and  more  fitted  to  sift  the  truth  from  the  stores  of 
accumulated  learning  than  to  seize  it  by  an  original 
impulse  of  his  own  mind.  Nor  would  it  be  difficult 
to  point  out  several  other  subjects,  such  as  religious 
toleration,  as  to  which  he  did  not  emancipate  him- 
self from  the  trammels  of  prejudice." — Constitutional 
History,  vol.  i.,  p.  295.— C. 

*  Hooker's  production  grew  out  of  his  dispute  with 
Travers,  and  his  object  was  to  recover  the  junior 
members  of  the  Temple  from  the  influence  of  Trav- 
ers's  ministry. — See  WaltorCs  Life  of  Hooker,  i.,  295. 
— C. 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS. 


207 


resile,  or  reject  them  at  pleasure :  the  Church 
is  their  mother,  and  has  more  than  a  maternal 
power  over  them  :  the  positive  laws  of  the 
Church  not  being  of  a  moral  nature,  are  muta- 
ble, and  may  be  changed  or  reversed  by  the 
same  powers  that  made  them  ;  but  while  they 
are  in  force  they  are  to  be  submitted  to,  under 
such  penalties  as  the  Church  in  her  wisdom 
shall  direct." 

The  fourth  and  fifth  propositions  are  the  main 
pillars  of  Mr.  Hooker's  fabric,  and  the  founda- 
tion of  all  human  establishments,  viz.,  "  that  the 
Church,  like  other  societies,  is  invested  with 
power  to  make  laws  for  its  well-being;  and  that 
■where  the  Scripture  is  silent,  human  authority 
may  interpose."     All  men    allow  that  human 
societies  may  form  themselves  after  any  model, 
and  make  what  laws  they  please  for  their  well- 
being  ;  and  that  the  Christian  Church  has  some 
things  in  common  with  all  societies  as  such,  as 
the  appointing  time  and  place,  and  the  order  of 
public  worship,  &c.  ;  hut  it  must  be  remembered 
that  the  Christian  Church  is  not  a  mere  volun- 
tary society,  but  a  community  formed  and  con- 
stituted by  Christ,  the  sole  king  and  lawgiver  of 
it,  who  has   made   sufficient  provision   for  its 
"well-being  to  the  end  of  the  world.     It  does  not 
appear  in  the  New  Testament  tiiat  the  Church 
is  empowered  to  mend  or  alter  the  constitution 
of  Christ,  by  creating  new  offices,  or  making 
new  laws,  though  the  Christian  world  has  ven- 
tured upon  it.     Christ  gave  his  church,  proph- 
ets, evangelists,  pastors,  and  teachers  for  the 
perfecting  the  saints,  and  edifying  his  body  ;  but 
the  successors  of  the  apostles  in  the  government 
of  the  Church,  apprehending  these  not  sufficient, 
have  added  patriarchs,  cardinals,  deans,  arch- 
deacons, canons,  and  other  officials.  The  Church 
is  represented  in  Scripture  as  a  spiritual  body, 
her  ordinances,  privileges,  and  censures  being 
purely  such  ;  but  later  ages  have  wrought  the 
civil  powers  into  her  constitution,  and  kept  men 
within  her  pale  by  all  the  terrors  of  this  world, 
as  fines,  imprisonments,  banishments,  fire,  and 
sword.    It  is  the  peculiar  excellence  of  the  Gos- 
pel worship  to  be  plain  and  simple,  free  from 
the  yoke  of  Jewish  ceremonies ;  but  the  anti- 
christian  powers,  thinking  this  a  defect,  have 
loaded  it  with  numberless  ceremonies  of  their 
own  invention  ;  and  though  there  are  laws  in 
Scripture   sufficient    for  the  direction   of  the 
Church,  as  constituted  by  Christ  and  his  apos- 
tles, they  have  thought  fit  to  add  so  many  vol- 
umes of  ecclesiastical  laws,  canons,  and  injunc- 
tions, as  have  confounded,  if  not  subverted,  the 
laws  of  Christ. 

Whereas,  if  men  considered  the  Church  as  a 
spiritual  body,  constituted  by  Christ  its  sole 
lawgiver  for  spiritual  purposes,  they  would  then 
see  that  it  had  no  concern  with  their  civil  rights, 
properties,  and  estates,  nor  any  power  to  force 
men  to  be  of  its  communion,  by  the  pains  and 
penalties  of  this  world.  The  laws  of  the  New 
Testament  would  appear  sufficient  for  the  well- 
being  of  such  a  society  ;  and  in  cases  where 
there  are  no  particular  rules  or  injunctions,  that 
it  is  the  will  of  Christ  and  his  apostles  there 
should  be  liberty  and  mutual  forbearance  ;  there 
■would  then  be  no  occasion  for  Christian  courts, 

as  they  are  called,  nor  for  the  interposition  of 
human  authority,  any  father  than  to  keep  the 

peace.    Upon  the  whole,  as  far  as  any  church 


is  governed  by  the  laws  and  precepts  of  the 
New  Testament,  so  far  is  it  a  Church  of  Christ ; 
but  when  it  sets  up  its  own  by-laws  as  terms 
of  communion,  or  works  the  policy  of  the  civil 
magistrate  into  its  constitution,  it  is  so  far  a 
creature  of  the  state. 

Mr.  Hooker's  last  two  propositions  are  incon- 
sistent with  the  first  principles  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, viz.,  that  all  men  that  are  born  within  the 
confines  of  an  established  church,  and  are  bap- 
tized into  it,  are  bound  to  submit  to  its  ecclesi- 
astical laws  under  such  penalties  as  the  Church 
in  her  wisilom  shall  direct.  Must  I,  then,  be  ot 
the  religion  of  the  country  where  I  am  born"! 
that  is,  at  Rome  a  papist,  in  Saxony  a  Lutheran, 
in  Scotland  a  Presbyterian,  and  in  England  a 
diocesan  prelatist,  and  this  under  such  penalties 
as  the  Church  in  her  wisdom  shall  think  fit  i 
Must  I  believe  as  the  Church  believes,  and  sub- 
mit to  her  laws  right  or  wrong!  Have  I  no 
right,  as  a  man  and  a  Christian,  to  judge  and 
act  for  myself,  as  long  as  I  continue  a  loyal  and 
faithful  subject  to  my  prince  1  Surely  religious 
principles  and  Church  cominunion  should  he  the 
effect  of  exainination  and  a  deliberate  choice, 
or  they  lose  their  name,  and  degenerate  into 
hypocrisy  or  atheism. 

From  general  principles  Mr.  Hooker  proceeds 
to  vindicate  the  particular  rites  and  ceremonies 
of  the  Church,  and  to  clear  them  from  the  ex- 
ceptions of  the  Puritans  ;  which  may  easily  be 
done  when  he  has  proved  that  the  Church  has 
a  discretionary  power  to  appoint  what  cere- 
monies and  establish  what  order  she  thinks  fit ; 
he  may  then  vindicate  not  only  the  ceremonies 
of  the  Church  of  England,  but  all  those  of 
Rome,  for  no  doubt  that  church  alleges  all 
their  ceremonies  conducive  to  her  well-being, 
and  not  inconsistent  with  the  laws  of  Christ.* 

This  year  died  Dr.  John  Aylmer,  bishop  of 
London,  whose  character  has  been  sufficiently 
drawn  in  this  history  ;  he  was  born  in  Norfolk, 
educated  in  Cambridge,  and  in  Queen  Mary's 
reign  an  exile  for  religion  ;  he  was  such  a  little 
man,  that  Fullert  says,  when  the  searchers  were 
clearing  the  ship  in  which  he  made  his  escape, 
the  merchant  put  him  into  a  great  wine-butt  that 
had  a  partition  in  the  middle,  so  that  Mr.  Ayl- 
mer sat  enclosed  in  the  hinder  part  while  the 
searchers  drank  of  the  wine  which  they  saw 
drawn  out  of  the  head  on  the  other  part ;  he 
was  of  an  active,  busy  spirit,  quick  in  his  lan- 
guage, and,  after  his  advancement,  of  a  stout  and 

*  To  Mr.  Neal's  remarks  on  the  principles  of  the 
Ecclesiastical  Polity,  it  may  be  added,  that  how  just 
and  conclusive  soever  those  principles  are  in  them- 
selves, they  do  not,  they  cannot  apply  to  the  vindica- 
tion of  bur  religious  establishment,  till  jt  be  proved 
that  its  ceremonies  and  laws  were  fixed  by  the 
Church.  In  whatever  sense  the  word  church  is 
used,  this  is  not  the  fact.  Whether  you  understand 
by  it  "  a  congregation  of  faithful  men,"  or  "  all  eccle- 
siastical persons,"  or  "  an  order  of  men  who  are  set 
apart  by  Christianitv,  and  dedicated  to  this  veiy  pur- 
pose of  public  instruction,"  in  neither  sense  were  the 
forms  and  opinions  of  our  established  religion  settled 
by  the  Church.  They  originated  with  royal  pleas- 
ure ;  they  have  changed  as  the  will  of  our  princes 
hath  changed  ;  they  have  been  settled  by  acts  of 
Parliaments,  formed  illegally,  corrupted  by  pensions, 
and  overawed  by  prerogative,  and  they  constitute 
part  of  the  statute  law  of  the  land. — See  my  Letters 
to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Sturges,  1782,  p.  15-28.   -Ed. 

t  Fuller's  Worthies,  b.  ii.,  p.  548. 


208 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


imperious  behaviour :  in  his  younger  days  he 
was  inclined  to  Puritanism,  Imt  when  he  was 
made  a  bishop  he  became  a  resolute  champion 
of  the  hierarchy,  and  a  bitter  persecutor  of  his 
former  friends.  In  his  latter  days  he  was  very 
covetous,  and  a  little  too  lax  in  his  morals  ;  he 
usually  played  at  bowls  on  Sundays  in  the  after- 
noons, and  used  such  language  at  his  game  as 
justly  exposed  his  character  to  reproach  ;  but 
with  all  these  blemishes,  the  w  riter  of  his  life, 
Mr.  Strype,  will  have  him  a  learned,  pious, 
and  humble  bishop.  He  died  at  Fulham,  June 
3,  1594,  in  the  seventy-fourth  year  of  his  age.* 
Aylmer  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Fletcher,  bish- 
op of  Worcester,  who,  in  his  primary  visitation, 
gave  out  tvventy-seven  articles  of  inquiry  to  the 
church-wardens  concerning  their  preachers ; 
as,  whether  tliey  prayed  for  the  queen  as  su- 
preme head  over  all  persons  and  causes  within 
her  dominions,  ecclesiastical  and  temporal  ; 
whether  they  were  learned,  or  frequented  con- 
venticles, or  taught  innovations,  or  commended 
the  new  discipline,  or  spoke  in  derogation  of 
any  part  of  the  common  prayer,  or  did  not  ad- 
minister the  sacrament  in  their  own  persons  at 
certain  times  of  the  year,  &c.  By  these,  and 
such  like  inquiries,  the  prisons,  which  had  been 
lately  cleared,  were  filled  again ;  for  by  an  ac- 
count sent  to  the  queen  from  the  ecclesiastical 
commissioners  towards  the  close  of  this  year, 
it  appears  that  in  the  Marshalsea,  Newgate,  the 
Gate-house,  Bridewell,  the  Fleet,  the  Compters, 
the  White  Lion,  and  the  King's  Bench,  there 
were  eighty-nine  prisoners  for  religion  ;  some 
of  them  were  popish  recusants,  and  the  re.st 
Protestant  Nonconformists,  of  whom  twenty- 
four  had  been  committed  by  the  ecclesiastical 
commission,  and  the  rest  by  the  council  and 
the  bishops'  courts.  But  his  lordship's  pro- 
ceedings were  quickly  interrupted  by  his  falling 
under  her  majesty's  displeasure,  a  few  months 
after  his  translation,  for  marrying  a  second 
wife,  which  the  queen  looked  upon  as  indecent 
in  an  elderly  clergyman  ;  for  this  she  banished 
him  the  court,  and  commanded  the  archbishop 
to  suspend  him  from  his  bishopric  ;  but  after  six 
months,  her  majesty  being  a  little  pacified,  or- 
dered his  suspension  to  be  taken  off,  though 
she  would  never  admit  him  into  her  presence, 
which  had  such  an  influence  upon  his  great 

*  This  prelate  had  been  preceptor  to  Lady  Jane 
Grey.  During  his  residence  in  Switzerland  he  as- 
sisted John  Fox  in  translating  his  Marlyrology  into 
Latin.  It  was  usual  with  him,  v\'hen  he  observed 
his  audience  to  be  inattentive,  to  take  a  Hebrew  Bi- 
ble out  of  his  pocket  and  read  them  a  few  verses, 
and  then  resume  his  discourse.  It  is  related,  as  an 
instance  of  his  courage,  that  he  had  a  tooth  drawn 
to  encourage  the  queen  to  submit  to  the  like  opera- 
tion. But  It  is  more  to  the  honour  of  his  judgment 
and  patriotism  that,  notwithstanding  his  rigour  and 
cruelty  in  ecclesiastical  matters,  he  had  and  avowed 
just  sentiments  concerning  the  constitution  of  the 
English  government  and  the  pov^^er  of  Parliaments, 
of  whom  he  said,  that  "if  they  used  their  privileges, 
the  king  can  do  nothing  without  them ;  if  he  do,  it  is 
his  fault  in  usurping  it,  and  their  folly  in  permitting 
it.  Wherefore,  in  my  judgment,  those  that  in  King 
Henry's  days  would  not  grant  him  that  proclamation 
should  have  the  force  of  a  statute,  were  good  fathers 
of  the  country,  and  worthy  of  commendation  in  de- 
fending their  liberty."- — Strype,  as  quoted  in  British 
Bingraphy,  vol.  lii.,  p.  240,  241,  and  Granger's  Biogr. 
History,  vol.  i.,  p.  208,  209. 


spirit  as  was  thought  to  hasten  his  death,  which 
happened  the  next  year,  as  he  was  sitting  in  his 
chair  smoking  a  pipe  of  tobacco.  The  year  fol- 
lowing he  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Bancroft,  the 
great  adversary  of  the  Puritans. 

These  violent  proceedings  of  the  bishops  drove 
great  nuinbers  of  the  Brownists  into  Holland, 
where  their  leaders,  Mr.  Johnson,  Mr.  Smith, 
Mr.  Ainsworth,  Mr.  Robinson,  .Mr.  Jacob,  and 
others,  were  gone  beforehand,  and,  with  the 
leave  of  the  States,  were  erecting  churches  after 
their  own  model  at  Amsterdam,  Arnheim,  Mid- 
dleburgh,  Leyden,  and  other  places.  The  church 
at  Amsterdam  had  like  to  have  been  torn  in  pie- 
ces at  first  by  intestine  divisions,  but  it  after- 
ward flourished  under  a  succession  of  pastors 
for  above  a  hundred  years.  Mr.  Robinson,  pas- 
tor of  the  church  at  Leyden,  first  struck  out  the 
Congregational  or  Independent  form  of  church 
government,  and  at  length  part  of  this  church, 
transplanting  themselves  into  America,  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  noble  colony  of  New-England, 
as  will  be  seen  hereafter. 

Hitherto  the  controversy  between  the  Church 
and  Puritans  had  been  chiefly  about  habits,  and 
ceremonies,  and  church  discipline,  but  now  it 
began  to  open  upon  points  of  doctrine  ;  for  this 
year  Dr.  Bound  published  his  treatise  of  the 
Sabbath,  wherein  he  maintains  the  morality  of 
a  seventh  part  of  time  for  the  worship  of  God ; 
that  Christians  are  bound  to  rest  on  the  Lord's 
Day  as  much  as  the  Jews  on  the  Mosaical  Sab- 
bath, the  commandment  of  rest  being  moral  and 
perpetual ;  that,  therefore,  it  was  not  lawful  to 
follow  our  studies  or  worldly  business  on  that 
day,  nor  to  use  such  recreations  and  pleasures 
as  were  lawful  on  other  days,  as  shooting,  fen- 
cing, bow'ling,  &c.  This  book  had  a  wonderful 
spread  among  the  people,  and  wrought  a  mighty 
reformation,  so  that  the  Lord's  Day,  which  used 
to  be  profaned  by  interludes.  May-games,  mor- 
rice-dances,  and  other  sports  and  recreations, 
began  to  be  kept  more  precisely,  especially  in 
corporations.  AH  the  Puritans  fell  in  with  this 
doctrine,  and  distinguished  themselves  by  spend- 
ing that  part  of  sacred  time  in  public,  family, 
and  private  acts  of  devotion.*  But  the  govern- 
ing clergy  exclaimed  against  it  as  a  restraint  of 
Christian  hberty,  as  putting  an  unequal  lustre 
on  the  Sunday,  and  tending  to  eclipse  the  au- 
thority of  the  Church  in  appointing  other  festi- 
vals. Mr.  Rogers,  author  of  a  commentary  oa 
the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  writes  in  his  preface 
"  that  it  was  the  comfort  of  his  soul,  and  would 
be  to  his  dying  day,  that  he  had  been  the  man 
and  the  means  that  the  Sabbatarian  errors  were 
brought  to  the  light  and  knowledge  of  the  state." 
But  I  should  have  thought  this  clergyman  might 
have  had  as  much  comtbrt  upon  a  dying  bed  if 
he  had  spent  his  zeal  in  recommending  the  reli- 
gious observation  of  that  sacred  day.  Dr.  Bound 
might  carry  his  doctrine  too  high  if  he  advan- 
ced it  to  a  level  with  the  Jewish  rigours  ;  but 
it  was  certainly  unworthy  the  character  of  di- 
vines to  encourage  men  in  shooting,  fencing, 
and  other  diversions  on  the  Lord's  Day,  which 
they  are  forward  enough  to  give  way  to  with- 
out the  countenance  and  example  of  their  spir- 
itual guides.  Archbishop  Whitgift  called  in  all 
the  copies  of  Dr.  Bound's  book  by  his  letters 
and  officers  at  synods  and  visitations,  and  for- 

*  Fuller,  b.  ix.,  p.  227^  ' 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


209 


bade  it  to  be  reprinted  ;  and  the  Lord-chief-jus- 
tice Popham  did  the  same,  both  of  them  decla- 
ring that  the  Sabbath  doctrine  agreed  neither 
with  the  doctrine  of  our  Church  nor  with  the 
laws  and  orders  of  this  kingdom  ;*  that  it  dis- 
turbed the  peace  of  the  commonwealth  and 
Church,  and  tended  to  schism  in  the  one  and 
sedition  in  the  other ;  but,  notwithstanding  all 
this  caution,  the  book  was  read  privately  more 
than  ever.  "  The  more  liberty  people  were  of- 
fered," says  Mr.  Fuller,  "  the  less  they  used  ; 
refusing  to  take  the  freedom  authority  tendered 
them,  as  being  jealous  of  a  design  to  blow  up 
their  civil  liberties."  The  archbishop's  head 
was  no  sooner  laid  but  Dr.  Bound  prepared  his 
book  for  the  press  a  second  time,  and  published 
it,  with  large  additions,  in  1606  ;  and  such  was 
its  reputation,  that  scarce  any  comment  or  cate- 
chism was  published  by  the  stricter  divines  for 
many  years  in  which  the  morality  of  the  Sab- 
bath was  not  strongly  recommended  and  urged  ; 
but  this  controversy  will  return  again  in  the 
next  reign. 

All  the  Protestant  divines  in  the  Church, 
whether  Puritans  or  others,  seemed  of  one  mind 
hitherto  about  the  doctrines  of  faith  ;  but  now 
there  arose  a  party,  which  were  first  for  soften- 
ing, and  then  for  overthrowing,  the  received  opin- 
ions about  predestination,  perseverance,  free- 
will, effectual  grace,  and  the  extent  of  our  Sa- 
viour's redemption.  The  articles  of  the  Church 
of  England  were  thought  by  all  men  hitherto  to 
favour  the  explication  of  Calvin  ;  but  these  di- 
vines would  make  them  stand  neuter,  and  leave 
a  latitude  for  the  subscriber  to  take  either  side 
of  the  question.  All  the  Puritans,  to  a  man, 
maintained  the  articles  of  the  Church  to  be  Cal- 
vinistical,  and  inconsistent  with  any  other  in- 
terpretation, and  so  did  far  the  greatest  number 
of  the  conforming  clergy  ;  but  as  the  new  expli- 
cations of  Arminius  grew  into  repute,  the  Cal- 
vinists  were  reckoned  oldfashioned  divines,t 
and  at  length  branded  with  the  character  of 
Doctrinal  Puritans. 

The  debate  began  in  the  University  of  Cam- 
bridge, where  one  Mr.  Barret,  fellow  of  Gon- 
■ville  and  Caius  College,  in  his  sermon  ad  clerum, 
declared  himself  against  Calvin's  doctrine  about 
predestination  and  falling  from  grace,  reflecting 
with  some  sharpness  upon  that  great  divine, 
and  advising  his  hearers  not  to  read  him.  For 
this  he  was  summoned  before  the  vice-chancel- 
lor and  heads  of  colleges,  and  obliged  to  retract 
in  St.  Mary's  Church,  according  to  a  form  pre- 
scribed by  his  superiors,  which  he  read  after  a 
manner  that  showed  he  did  it  only  to  save  his 
place  in  the  University.  This  was  so  offensive 
to  the  scholars,  that  forty  or  fifty  graduates  of 
the  several  colleges  signed  a  petition,  dated  May 
26, 1595,  desiring  some  farther  course  might  be 
taken  with  him,  that  the  great  names  which  he 
had  reproached,  as  P.  Martyr,  Calvm,  Beza, 
Zanchius,  &c.,  might  receive  some  reparation.t 
Both  parties  appealed  to  the  archbishop,  who 
blamed  the  University  for  their  too-hasty  pro- 
ceedings, and  seemed  to  take  part  with  Barret ; 
but  the  heads  of  colleges,  in  a  second  letter,  vin- 
dicated their  proceedings,  desiring  his  grace  not 

*  LifeofWhitgift.p.  531. 

+  While  they,  in  return,  looked  on  the  others  as 
lillle  better  than  novelists.— War««-.— Ed. 
t  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  437. 
Vol.  I.— D  d 


to  encourage  such  a  bold,  corrupt,  and  unlearned 
young  fellow,  and  insisted  on  the  rights  and 
prerogatives  of  the  University.  At  length  Mr. 
Barret  was  sent  for  to  Lambeth,  and  having 
been  examined  before  the  archbishop  and  some 
other  divines,  they  agreed  that  he  had  main- 
tained some  errors,  and  enjoined  him  in  an 
humble  manner  to  confess  his  ignorance  and 
mistake,  and  not  to  teach  ine  like  doctrines  for 
the  future  ;  but  he  chose  rather  to  quit  the  Uni- 
versity.* This  Barret  was  a  conceited  youth, 
who  did  not  treat  his  superiors  with  decency : 
in  one  of  his  letters  he  calls  the  grave  and  learn- 
ed Mr.  Perkins,  homuncio  qiiidam,  a  little  con- 
temptible fellow :  but  at  last  he  turned  papist. 
The  fire  was  no  sooner  kindled  than  it  was  ob- 
served that  Barret  and  his  friends  were  coun- 
tenanced by  the  high  Conformists  and  Roman 
Catholics,  and  that  his  adversaries  took  part 
with  the  Puritans,  which  was  like  to  produce  a 
new  division  in  the  Church,  t 

To  put  an  end  to  these  disputes,  the  heads  of 
the  University  sent  Dr.  Whitaker  and  Dr.  Tyn- 
dal  to  Lambeth,  to  consult  with  the  archbishop, 
and  some  other  learned  divines,  upon  these 
points  ;  who  at  length,  November  20,  concluded 
upon  the  following  nine  propositions,  commonly 
called  the  Lambeth  Articles,  which  the  scholars 
in  the  University  were  strictly  enjoined  to  con- 
form their  judgments  unto,  and  not  to  vary  from. 
The  articles  were  as  follows  : 

"  That  God  from  eternity  has  predestinated 
some  persons  to  life  and  reprobated  others  to 
death  :  the  moving  or  efficient  cause  of  predes- 
tination to  life  is  not  foreseen  faith,  or  good 
works,  or  any  other  commendable  quality  in  the 
persons  predestinated,  but  the  good-will  and 
pleasure  of  God :  the  number  of  the  predestinate 
is  fixed,  and  cannot  be  lessened  or  increased : 
they  who  are  not  predestinated  to  salvation 
shall  be  necessarily  condemned  for  their  sins  : 
a  true,  lively,  and  justifying  faith,  and  the  sanc- 
tifying influence  of  the  Spirit,  is  not  extinguish- 
ed, nor  does  it  fail,  or  go  off  either  finally  or 
totally  :  a  justified  person  has  a  full  assurance 
and  certainty  of  the  remission  of  his  sins,  and 
his  everlasting  salvation  by  Christ :  saving  grace 
is  not  communicated  to  all  men  ;  neither  have 
all  men  such  a  measure  of  Divine  assistance, 
that  they  may  be  saved  if  they  will :  no  person 
can  come  to  Christ  unless  it  be  given  him,  and 
unless  the  Father  draw  him  ;  and  all  men  are 
not  drawn  by  the  Father  that  they  may  come 
to  Christ :  it  is  not  in  every  one's  will  and  power 
to  be  saved." 

These  high  propositions  were  drawn  up  and 
consented  to  by  Archbishop  Whitgift,  Dr.  Fletch- 
er, bishop  of  London,  Dr.  Vaughan,  elect  of  Ban- 
gor, and  some  others ;  they  were  sent  to  Dr. 
Hutton,  archbishop  of  York,  and  Dr.  Young,  of 
Rochester,  who  subscribed  them,  only  wishing 
that  the  word  necessarily,  in  the  fourth  article, 
and  those  words  in  the  seventh  article,  if  they 
will,  might  be  omitted.  The  archbishop,  in  his 
letter  which  he  sent  to  the  University  with  the 
articles,  says  they  are  to  look  upon  them  not  as 
new  laws  and  decrees,  but  only  as  an  explica- 
tion of  certain  points  which  they  apprehend  to 
be  true,  and  corresponding  to  the  doctrine  pro- 
fessed in  the  Church  of  England,  and  already 

*  Heyl.,  Hist.  Pres.,  p.  343.  , 

t  Hiclunan's  Quinq.  Hist,  against  Heyhn,  p.  210.  | 


210 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


established  by  the  laws  of  the  land.  But,  foras- 
much as  they  had  not  the  queen's  sanction,  he 
desires  they  may  not  become  a  public  act,  but 
used  privately  and  with  discretion.*  He  adds, 
that  her  majesty  was  fully  persuaded  of  the  truth 
of  them  ;  which  is  strange.'when  shepommanded 
Sir  Robert  Cecil  to  signify  to  the  archbishop 
by  letter  "  that  she  misliked  much  that  any  al- 
lowance had  been  given  by  his  grace  and  his 
brethren  for  any  such  points  to  be  disputed,  be- 
ing a  matter  tender  and  dangerous  to  weak,  ig- 
norant minds ;  and  thereupon  commanded  him 
to  suspend  the  urging  them  publicly,  or  suffer- 
ing them  to  be  debated  in  the  pulpit." 

The  queen's  design  was  to  stifle  the  contro- 
versy in  its  birth  ;  for  if  she  was  dissatisfied 
with  the  archbishop's  private  determinations,  she 
was  downright  angry  with  Dr.  Baro,  a  French- 
man, and  one  of  the  divinity  professors  at  Cam- 
bridge, for  continuing  the  debate.  She  said 
that,  being  an  alien,  and  humanely  harboured 
and  enfranchised,  both  himself  and  family,  he 
ought  to  have  carried  himself  more  quietly  and 
peaceably.  His  case  was  this :  in  his  sermon 
before  the  University,  preached  January  12,  he 
asserted  "  that  God  created  all  men  according 
to  his  own  likeness  in  Adam,  and  consequently 
to  eternal  life,  from  which  he  rejects  no  man 
but  on  the  account  of  his  sins :  that  Christ  died 
for  all  mankind,  and  was  a  propitiation  for  the 
sins  of  the  whole  world,  original  and  actual ; 
the  remedy  provided  by  him  being  as  extensive 
as  the  ruins  of  the  fall :  that  the  promises  of 
eternal  life  made  to  us  in  Christ  are  to  be  gen- 
erally and  universally  taken  and  understood,  be- 
ing made  as  much  to  Judas  as  to  Peter."  For 
these  propositions  he  was  summoned  before  the 
vice-chancellor  and  heads  of  colleges,  who  ex- 
amined him  by  several  interrogatories,  and  com- 
manded him  peremptorily  to  abstain  from  those 
controversies  in  his  lectures  and  sermons  for 
the  future. 

They  acquainted  Secretary  Cecil  by  letter  with 
their  proceedings,  in  which  they  call  all  doc- 
trines popish,  and  say  that  for  fourteen  or  fif- 
teen years  he  has  taught  in  his  lectures,  and 
preached  in  his  sermons,  divers  points  of  doc- 
trine contrary  to  those  which  have  been  taught 
and  read  over  since  her  majesty's  reign,  and 
agreeable  to  the  errors  of  popery,  by  which 
means  they  fear  the  whole  body  of  that  religion 
will  break  in  upon  them ;  they  therefore  pray 
his  lordship's  assistance  for  the  suppressing 
them.     Cambridge,  March  8th,  1595.t 

On  the  other  hand,  Baro  wrote  to  the  archbish- 
op to  keep  him  in  his  place,  promising  obedience 
to  his  grace's  commands,  and  to  keep  the  peace 
of  the  University  by  dropping  the  controversy  in 
silence. t  He  also  wrote  to  Secretary  Cecil  to 
put  a  stop  to  the  proceedings  of  the  vice-chan- 
cellor, which  he,  together  with  the  archbishop, 
accomplished  ;  but  the  University  not  being  sat- 
isfied with  him,  he  was  obliged  next*year  to 
quit  his  professorship  and  retire  to  London, 
where  he  died  two  or  three  years  after,  having 
been  Lady  Margaret's  professor  at  Cambridge 

*  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  462,  463. 

t  Signed  by  Roger  G-oad,  pro  can.,  R.  Some,  The. 
Legge,  John  Jegon,  The.  Nevyle,  Tho.  Preston, 
Hump.  Tyndal,  James  Montague,  Edm.  Barrel,  Lawr. 
Chaddenon. 

X  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  ult.,  p.  230.      " 


about  twenty-five  years.*  He  left  a  large  fam- 
ily behind  him,  and  was  buried  in  St.  Olave's, 
Hart-street,  his  pall  i)eing  supported  by  six  doc- 
tors of  divinity,  by  order  from  the  Bishop  of 
London.  The  chancellor,  in  his  letter  to  the 
University,  was  very  angry  because  they  sifted 
Baro  with  interrogatories,  "as  if,"  says  he,  "he 
was  a  thief ;  this  seems  done  of  stomach  among 
you."t  How  sad,  then,  was  the  case  of  the 
Puritans ! 

The  divines  of  Oxford,  and,  indeed,  all  the  first; 
Reformers,  were  in  the  same  sentiments  with 
those  of  Cambridge  about  the  disputed  points; 
Calvin's  Institutions  being  read  publicly  in  tho 
schools  by  appointment  of  the  convocation, 
though  perhaps  they  might  not  go  the  full  lengtli 
of  the  Lambeth  Articles,  nor  express  themselves 
with  the  exactness  of  those  who  lived  afterward, 
when  those  doctrines  were  publicly  opposed  by 
Arminius  and  his  followers. 

The  article  of  our  Saviour's  local  descent  into 
hell  began  to  be  questioned  at  this  time.  It  had 
been  the  received  doctrine  of  the  Church  of 
England,  that  the  soul  of  Christ,  being  separa- 
ted from  his  body,  descended  locally  into  hell, 
that  he  might  there  triumph  over  Satan,  as  be- 
fore he  had  over  death  and  sin.t  But  the  learn- 
ed Mr.  Hugh  Broughton,  the  rabbi  of  his  age, 
whom  King  James  would  have  courted  into 
Scotland,  convinced  the  world  that  the  word 
hades,  used  by  the  Greek  fathers  for  the  place 
into  which  Christ  went  after  his  crucifixion,  did 
not  mean  hell,  or  the  place  of  the  damned,  but 
only  the  state  of  the  dead,  or  the  invisible  world. 
It  was  farther  debated  whether  Christ  under- 
went in  his  soul  the  wrath  of  God  and  the  pains 
of  hell,  and  finished  all  his  sufferings  upon  the 
cross  before  he  died.^  This  was  Calvin's  sen- 
timent, and  with  him  agreed  all  the  Puritan  di- 
vines, who  preached  it  in  their  sermons,  and  in- 
serted it  in  their  catechisms.  On  the  other 
hand.  Bishop  Bilson,  in  his  sermons  at  Paul's 
Cross,  maintained  that  no  text  of  Scripture  as- 
serted the  death  of  Christ's  soul,  or  the  pains 
of  the  damned,  to  be  requisite  in  the  person  of 
Christ  before  he  could  be  our  ransomer,  and  the 
Saviour  of  the  world.  ||  But  still  he  maintained 
the  local  descent  of  Christ  into  hell,  or  the  ter- 
ritory of  the  damned  ;  and  that,  by  the  course 
of  the  creed,  the  article  must  refer,  not  to  Christ 
living  upon  the  cross,  but  to  Christ  dead  ;  and 
that  he  went  thither,  not  to  suffer,  but  to  wrest 
the  keys  of  hell  and  death  out  of  the  hands  of 
the  devil.lT    When  these  sermons  were  printed, 

*  "  Hence,"  remarks  an  able  writer,  "  it  appears 
what  little  latitude  was  then  allowed  to  the  freedom 
of  thinking  and  debate,  on  subjects  the  most  innocent, 
and  with  regard  to  doctrines,  the  truth  of  which  is 
now  generally  maintained  by  the  clergy,  and  especi- 
ally by  those  of  tiiem  who  stand  the  highest  in  dig- 
nity, reputation,  and  learning.  We  must  be  sensible 
how  narrow  was  the  spirit,  and  how  confined  ihe 
true  theological  knowledge  of  the  times,  when  the 
dogmas  of  Calvinism  were  maintained  with  such  per- 
tinacity by  the  governors  of  the  Church,  and  to  call 
them  in  question  was  looked  upon  as  a  crime." — 
History  of  Knowledge  in  the  New  A  nnual  Register  for 
1789,  p.  9.  t  Life  of  Whitgilt,  p.  473. 

X  Heyl.,  Hist.  Presb.,  p.  349. 

ij  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  482. 

II  Keyl.,  Hist.  Presb.,  p.  350. 

'iF  This  controversy  gave  a  celebrity,  beyond  his 
own  time,  to  the  name  of  Bishop  Bilson  :  he  was  aa 
eminent  diviire,  and  the  author  of  some  doctrinal  and 


HISTORY    OF   THE    PURITANS. 


Ill 


they  were  presently  answered  by  Mr.  Henry  Ja- 
cob, a  learned  Brownist.  Bilson,  by  the  queen's 
command,  defended  his  sermons  in  a  treatise 
entitled  "  A  Survey  of  Christ's  Sufl'erings," 
"Which  did  not  appear  in  the  world  till  lfi04.  The 
controversy  was  warmly  debated  in  both  uni- 
versities;  but  when  the  learned  combatants  had 
spent  their  artillery,  it  dropped  in  silence,  with- 
out any  determination  from  authority,  though  it 
■was  one  of  the  articles  usually  objected  to  the 
Puritans,  for  which  they  were  suspended  their 
ministry.  [And  the  rational  sentiment,  that  the 
"word  hades  signifies  only  the  state  of  the  dead, 
or  the  invisible  world,  silently  and  universally 
took  place.] 

Among  other  reproaches  cast  upon  their  cler- 
gy, was  one,  that  they  deluded  the  people  by 
claiming  a  power  to  exorcise  the  devil.  "  Some 
of  their  ministers,"  says  Mr.  Strype,  "pretend- 
ed to  cast  out  devils,  that  so  the  amazed  multi- 
tude, having  a  great  veneration  for  these  exer- 
cisers of  devils,  by  the  power  of  their  prayers 
and  fastings,  might  the  more  readily  and  awful- 
ly submit  to  their  opinions  and  ways  ;  a  prac- 
tice borrowed  from  the  then  papists  to  make 
their  priests  revered,  and  to  confirm  the  laity  in 
their  superstitions."  One  would  tiiink  here  was 
a  plot  of  some  cunning,  designing  men,  to  con- 
iure  the  people  into  the  belief  of  discipline  ;  but 
*  wall  vanishes  in  the  peculiar  principles  of  a  weak 
and  (as  Mr.  Strype  confesses)  honest  man,  whose 
name  was  Darrel,  a  bachelor  of  arts  and  minis- 
ter of  Nottingham.  This  divine  was  of  opinion, 
that  by  the  power  of  prayer  the  devil  might  be 
castout  of  persons  possessed;*  and  having  tried 
the  experiment  upon  one  Darlmg  of  Burton,  a 
boy  of  about  fourteen  years  old,  with  supposed 
success,  and  upon  some  others,  he  was  impor- 
Juned  by  one  of  the  ministers,  and  several  in- 
toabitants  of  the  town  of  Nottingham,  to  visit 
one  William  Somers,  a  boy  that  had  such  con- 
clusive agonies  as  were  thought  to  be  preter- 
natural, inasmuch  that  when  Mr.  Darrel  had 
seen  them,  he  concluded,  with  the  rest  of  the 
spectators,  that  he  was  possessed,  and  advised 
his  friends  to  desire  the  help  of  godly  and  learn- 
ed ministers  to  endeavour  his  recovery,  but  ex- 
cused himself  from  being  concerned,  lest,  if  the 
devil  should  be  dispossessed,  the  common  peo- 
ple should  attribute  to  him  some  special  gift  of 
casting  out  devils  ;  but  upon  a  second  request 
fiom  tlie  mayor  of  Nottingham,  he  agreed  with 
Mr.  Aldridge  and  two  other  ministers,  with  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  neighbouring  Christians, 
to  set  apart  a  day  for  fasting  and  prayer,  to  en- 
treat the  Lord  to  cast  out  Satan,  and  deliver  the 
young  man  from  his  torments  ;  and  after  some 
time,  the  Lord,  they  say,  was  entreated,  and  they 
blessed  God  for  the  same  :  this  was  November, 
1597.  A  few  days  after,  the  mayor  and  some 
of  the  aldermen  began  to  suspect  that  Somers 
was  a  cheat ;  and  to  make  him  confess,  they 
took  him  from  his  parents,  and  committed  him 
to  the  custody  of  two  men,  who  with  threaten- 
ings  prevailed  with  him  to  acknowledge  that  he 

practical  works,  as  well  as  some  Latin  poems  and 
orations  never  published.  In  the  reign  of  James  I. 
he  was  one  of  the  two  final  correctors  of  the  English 
translation  of  the  Bible,  for  which  office  his  easy  and 
harmonious  style  particularly  qualified  him. — History 
of  Knowledge  in  the  New  Ammal  Register  for  1789,  p. 
17.— Ed.  *  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  492, 494,  495. 


had  dissembled  and  counterfeited  all  he  did. 
Upon  this  he  was  carried  before  the  commis- 
sion, where  at  first  he  owned  himself  a  counter- 
feit, and  then  presently  denied  it  again  ;  but 
being  thoroughly  frightened,  he  fell  into  fits  be- 
fore the  commissioners,  which  put  an  end  to 
his  examination  for  the  present.  After  some 
time,  being  still  in  custody,  he  returned  to  his 
confessing,  and  charged  Mr.  Darrel  with  train- 
ing him  up  in  the  art  for  four  years.  Upon  this, 
Mr.  Darrel  was  summoned  before  the  commis- 
sioners, and  brought  witnesses  with  him  to  prove 
that  Somers  had  declared,  in  a  very  solemn 
manner,  that  he  had  not  dissembled ;  upon  which 
he  was  dismissed,  and  the  commission  dissolv- 
ed ;  but,  the  affair  making  a  great  noise  in  the 
country,  Mr.  Darrel  was  sent  for  to  Lambeth, 
and  after  a  long  hearing  before  the  archbishop, 
and  others  of  the  High  Commission,  he  was  depo- 
sed from  his  ministry,  and  committed  close  pris- 
oner to  the  Gate-house,  for  being  accessory  to  a 
vile  imposture,  where  he  continued  many  years. 

While  Mr.  Darrel  was  in  the  prison,  he  wrote 
an  apology  to  show  that  people  in  these  latter 
days  may  be  possessed  with  devils,  and  that 
by  prayer  and  fasting  the  unclean  spirit  may  be 
cast  out.  In  the  end  of  which  he  makes  this 
protestation  :  "  If  what  I  am  accused  of  be  true 
(viz.,  that  I  have  been  accessory  to  a  vile  im- 
posture, with  a  design  to  impose  on  mankind), 
let  me  be  registered  to  my  perpetual  infamy, 
not  only  for  a  notorious  deceiver,  but  such  a 
hypocrite  as  never  trod  on  the  earth  before ; 
yea.  Lord  !  for  to  thee  I  convert  my  speech,  who 
knowest  all  things,  if  I  have  confederated  more 
or  less  with  Somers,  Darling,  or  any  of  the  rest ; 
if  ever  I  set  eye  on  them  before  they  were  pos- 
sessed, then  let  me  not  only  be  made  a  laugh- 
ing-stock and  a  by-word  to  all  men,  but  rase  my 
name  also  out  of  the  Book  of  Life,  and  let  me 
have  my  portion  with  hypocrites." 

It  has  been  observed  that  the  bishops  had 
now  wisely  transferred  the  prosecution  of  the 
Puritans  from  themselves  to  the  temporal  courts, 
so  that,  instead  of  being  sunimoned  before  the 
High  Commission,  they  were  indicted  at  the  as- 
sizes, and  tried  at  common  law;  this  being 
thought  more  advisable,  to  take  off  the  odium 
from  the  Church.  Judge  Anderson  discovered 
his  zeal  against  them  this  summer  in  an  extra- 
ordinary manner,  for  in  his  charge  to  the  jury 
at  Lincoln,  he  told  them  that  the  country  was 
infested  with  Brownists,  with  disciphnarians  and 
erectors  of  presbyteries,  which  he  spoke  with  so 
much  wrath,  with  so  many  oaths,  and  such  re- 
viling language,  as  offended  the  gentlemen  upon 
the  bench.  He  called  the  preachers  knaves, 
saying  that  they  would  start  up  into  the  pulpit 
and  speak  against  everybody.*  He  was  for 
extending  the  statute  of  recusancy  to  such  who 
went  at  any  time  to  hear  sermons  from  their 
own  parish  churches,  though  they  usually  at- 
tended in  their  places,  and  heard  divine  service 
dutifully.  When  Lord  Clinton,  and  the  deputy- 
lieutenants  and  justices  of  those  parts,  obtain- 
ed the  bishop's  allowance  for  a  day  of  fasting 
and  prayer  at  Lowth,  upon  an  extraordinary  oc- 
casion, his  lordship  urged  the  jury  to  find  a  bill 
against  them,  upon  the  statute  of  conventicles. 

Mr.  Allen,  minister  of  that  parish,  being  in- 
dicted  by  means  of  a  revengeful  justice  of  peace 

*  Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  ult.,  p.  264. 


212 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


for  not  reading  all  the  prayers  at  once  (he  using 
sometimes  to  omit  part  of  them  for  the  sermon), 
■was  obhged  to  hold  up  his  hand  at  the  bar,  when 
Judge  Anderson  standing  up,  spoke  to  him  with 
a  fierce  countenance,  and  having  insinuated 
some  grievous  faults  against  the  man  (though 
he  named  none),  called  him  oftentimes  knave, 
rebellious  knave,  with  more  such  opprobrious 
language,  though  it  was  known  all  over  the 
country  that  Mr.  Allen  was  a  good  preacher ; 
that  he  had  subscribed  ;  was  esteemed  by  the 
bishop  ;  was  conformable  in  his  affections  ;  and 
behaved  upon  this  occasion  with  all  humility 
and  submission.  But  his  lordship  had  said  in 
his  charge  that  he  would  hunt  all  the  Puritans 
out  of  his  circuit.  One  thing  was  remarkable 
in  Mr.  Allen's  arraignment,  that  when,  upon 
some  point  wherein  judgment  in  divinity  was 
required,  Mr.  Allen  referred  himself  to  the  bish- 
op (his  ordinary  then  sitting  upon  the  bench), 
the  judge  took  him  up  with  marvellous  indigna- 
tion, and  said  he  was  both  his  ordmary  and 
bishop  in  that  place.* 

Thus  the  Puritan  clergy  were  put  upon  a  lev- 
el with  rogues  and  felons,  and  made  to  hold  up 
their  hands  at  the  bar  among  the  vilest  crimi- 
nals :  there  was  hardly  an  assize  in  any  county 
in  England,  but  one  or  more  ministers,  through 
the  resentments  of  some  of  their  parishioners, 
appeared  in  this  condition,  to  the  disgrace  of 
their  order,  and  the  loss  of  their  reputation  and 
usefulness,  besides  being  exposed  to  the  insults 
of  the  rude  multitude.  "  But  I  would  to  God," 
says  my  author,  "  that  they  which  judge  in  re- 
ligious causes,  though  in  the  name  of  civil  af- 
fairs, would  either  get  some  more  knowledge  in 
religion  and  God's  Word  than  my  Lord  Ander- 
son hath,  or  call  in  the  assistance  of  those  that 
have."t 

Archbishop  Whitgift  was  busy  this  summer 
about  elections  for  the  ensuing  Parliament, 
which  was  to  meet  Oct.  24,  1597.  Mr.  Strype 
says,  his  grace  took  what  care  he  could  to  pre- 
vent such  as  were  disaffected  to  the  constitution 
of  the  Church,  that  is,  all  Puritans,  from  com- 
ing into  the  House  ;  but  some  thought  it  a  little 
out  of  character  lor  an  archbishop  to  appear  so 
publicly  in  the  choice  of  the  people's  represent- 
atives.t  The  House  being  thus  modelled,  did 
not  meddle  with  the  foundations  of  discipline, 
or  form  of  public  worship  ;  but  several  bills  were 
brought  in  to  regulate  abuses  in  spiritual  courts, 
as  against  licenses  to  marry  without  bans, 
against  excessive  fees,  frivolous  citations  ex  offi- 
cio, and  excommunications  for  little  matters,  as 
twopence  or  threepence.  These  and  all  other 
bdls  of  this  nature  were,  according  to  custom, 
quashed  by  a  message  from  the  queen,  forbid- 
ding them  to  touch  her  prerogative,  and  assu- 
ring them  that  she  would  take  the  aforesaid 
grievances  into  her  princely  consideration.  Ac- 
cordingly, her  majesty  referred  these  matters  to 
the  convocation ;  it  being  her  steady  maxim, 
not  to  proceed  in  matters  of  the  Church  by  stat- 
utes, which  the  Parliament  alone  could  repeal, 
but  rather  by  canons,  which  she  could  confirm 


*  Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  ult.,  p.  267. 

t  These  are  not  the  words  of  Mr.  Strype  himself, 
as  they  may  appear  by  the  manner  of  qiiofntinn,  but 
are  part  of  a  letter  "  from  a  person  unki  .i  of  the 
clergy  to  a  person  of  quaUty"  on  Jnd  .mlerson's 
proceedings. — Ed.  J  Life  of  Wiuia^ii'i  p.  508. 


or  dispense  With  at  pleasure.  The  convocation 
drew  up  some  regulations  upon  these  and  other 
heads,  relating  to  ecclesiastical  courts,  which 
the  queen  confirmed  by  her  letters  patent,  Jan- 
uary 18,  in  the  fortieth  year  of  her  reign.  They 
were  printed  the  same  year  by  her  authority, 
and  may  be  seen  in  Bishop  Sparrow's  collection 
of  articles,  injunctions,  &cc. 

But  still  the  ecclesiastical  courts  were  an  in- 
sufferable  grievance :    the  oppressions   which 
people  underwent  from  the  bottomless  deep  of 
the  canon  law  put  them  upon  removing  their 
causes  into  Westminster  Hall,  by  getting  prohi- 
bitions to  stay  proceedings  in  the  bishops'  courts, 
or  in  the  High  Commission.    This  awakened  the 
archbishop,  who,  in  order  to  support  the  civil- 
ians, drew  up  certain  queries  to  be  considered 
by  the  lords  and  judges  of  the  land  touching 
prohibitions  ;  of  which  this  was  the  principal, 
"  that,  seeing  ecclesiastical  authority  is  as  truly 
vested  in  the  crown  as  temporal,  whether  the 
queen's  temporal  authority  should  any  more  re- 
strain her  ecclesiastical,  than  her  ecclesiastical 
should  her  temporal  ?    And  seeing  so  many  and 
so  great  personages,  with  some  others,  are  trust- 
ed to  do  her  majesty  service  in  her  ecclesiasti- 
cal commission,  whether  it  be  convenient  that 
an  offender,  ready  to  be  censured,  should  obtain, 
and  publicly  throw  into  court,  a  prohibition,  ta 
the  delay  of  justice,  and  to  the  disgrace  and  di* 
paragement  of  those  who  serve  freely,  without 
all  fee  therein."     The  archbishop  caused  a  list 
to  be  made  of  divers  cases,  wherein  the  Chris- 
tian court,  as  he  called  it,  had  been  interrupted 
by  the  temporal  jurisdiction ;  and  of  many  causes 
that  had  been  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  the  bish- 
ops' courts,  the  High  Commission,  and  the  court 
of  delegates  ;  the  former  authorized  by  immedi- 
ate commission  from  the  queen,  and  the  latter 
by  a  special  commission  upon  an  appeal  to  her 
court  of  chancery.*      But,  notwithstanding  all 
these  efforts  of  Whitgift  and  his  successor  Ban- 
croft, the  number  of  prohibitions  increased  every 
year  ;  the  nobility,  gentry,  and  judges  being  too 
wise  to  subject  their  estates  and  liberties  to  a 
number  of  artful  civilians,  versed  in  a  codex  or 
body  of  laws  of  most  uncertain  authority,  and 
strangers  to  the  common  and  statute  law,  with- 
out the  check  of  a  prohibition,  when  it  was  no- 
torious that  the  canon  law  had  been  always, 
since  the  Reformation,  controlled  by  the  laws 
and  statutes  of  the  realm.     Thus  the  civilians 
sunk  in  their  business  under  the  two  next  arch- 
bishops, till  Laud  governed  the  Church,  who,  ter- 
rifying the  judges  from  granting  prohibitions, 
the  spiritual  courts.  Star  Chamber,  council-ta- 
ble, and  high  commissioners  rode  triumphant, 
fining,  imprisoning,  and  banishing  men  at  their 
pleasure,  till  they  became  as  terrible  as  the  Span- 
ish Inquisition,  and  brought  upon  the  nation  all 
the  confusions  and  desolations  of  a  civil  war. 

From  this  time  to  the  queen's  death  there 
was  a  kind  of  cessation  of  arms  between  the 
Church  and  Puritans  ;  the  combatants  were  out 
of  breath,  or  willing  to  wait  for  better  times. 
Some  apprehended  that  the  Puritans  were  van- 
quished, and  their  numbers  lessened  by  the  se- 
vere execution  of  the  penal  laws ;  whereas  it 
wih  appear,  by  a  survey  in  the  beginning  of  the 
next  reign,  that  the  nonconforming  clergy  were 
about  fifteen  hundred.     But  the  true  reason  was 

*  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  537.  . 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


213 


this :  the  queen  was  advanced  in  years,  and 
could  not  live  long  in  a  course  of  nature,  and 
the  next  heir  to  the  crown  being  a  Presbyterian, 
the  bishops  were  cautious  of  acting  against  a 
party  for  whom  his  majesty  had  declared,  not 
knowing  what  revenge  he  might  take  when  he 
was  fixed  on  the  throne ;  and  the  Puritans  were 
quiet,  in  hopes  of  great  matters  to  be  done  for 
them  upon  the  expected  change. 

Notwithstanding   all   former   repulses    from 
court,  the  queen's  last  Parliament,  which  sat  in 
the  year  1601,  renewed  their  attacks  upon  the  ec- 
clesiastical courts,  a  bill  being  brought  in  to  ex- 
amine into  bishops'  leases,  and  to  disable  them 
from  taking  fines,  another  against   pluralities 
and   nonresidents,  and   another  against   com- 
missaries and  archdeacons'  courts.    Multitudes 
of  complaints  came  to  the  House  against  the 
proceedings  of  the  ordinaries  ex  mero  o^cio,  with- 
out due  presentments  preceding,  and  against 
the  frequent  keeping  their  courts,  so  that  the 
church-wardens  were  sometimes  cited  to  two 
or  three  spiritual  courts  at  once  ;*  complaint 
was  made  of  their  charging  the  country  with 
quarterly  bills  ;  of  the  great  number  of  appari- 
tors and  petty  summoners,  who  seized  upon 
people  for  trifling  offences  ;  of  the  admission  of 
curates  by  officials  and  commissaries,  without 
the  bishop's  knowledge,  and  without  testimo- 
nials of  their  conversation  ;  of  scandalous  com- 
mutations of  penance,  and  divers  abuses  of  the 
like  kind  ;  but  the  queen  would  not  suffer  the 
House  to  debate  them,  referring  them  to  the 
archbishop,  who  wrote  to  his  brethren  the  bish- 
ops to  endeavour,  as  much  as  possible,  to  reform 
the  above-mentioned  grievances,  which,  says 
he,t  have  produced  multitudes  of  complaints  in 
Parliament ;  and  had  they  not  been  prevented 
by  great  circumspection,  and  promise  of  care- 
ful reformation,  there  might  perhaps  have  ensu- 
ed the  taking  away  of  the  whole,  or  most  of 
those  courts.     "  So  prudently  diligent  was  the 
archbishop,"  says  Mr.  Strype,  "to  keep  up  the  ju- 
risdiction of  the  bishops'  courts,  and  the  wealthy 
estate  of  the  clergy,  by  preserving  nonresidences 
to  them." 

There  was  another  bill  brought  into  the  House 
to  punish  voluntary  absence  from  church  ;  the 
forfeiture  was  to  be  twelvepence  each  Sunday, 
to  be  levied  by  distress,  by  a  warrant  from  a 
justice  of  peace  ;  but  the  bill  was  opposed  be- 
cause there  was  a  severe  law  already  against 
recusants  of  £20  per  month,  and  because,  if 
this  bill  should  pass,  a  justice  of  peace's  house 
would,  like  a  quarter  sessions,  be  crowded  with 
a  multitude  of  informers  ;  it  was  likewise 
against  Magna  Charta,  which  entitles  every 
man  to  be  tried  by  his  peers,  whereas  by  this 
act  two  witnesses  before  a  justice  of  peacd 
were  sufficient.f  The  bill,  however,  was  en- 
grossed, and  being  put  to  the  question,  the  noes 
carried  it  by  a  single  voice,  upon  which  the 
yeas  said  the  speaker  was  with  them,  which 
made  the  number  even.  The  question  was  then 
put  whether  the  speaker  had  a  voice,  which  be- 
ing carried  in  the  negative,  the  bill  miscar- 
ried. 

The  convocation  did  nothing  but  give  the 
queen  four  subsidies,  to  be  collected  in  four 

*  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  546,  547. 

+  Ibid.,  p.  547,  549. 

X  CoUyer's  Eccles.  Hist.,  p.  667. 


years,  and  receive  an  exhortation  from  the  arch- 
bisliop  to  observe  the  canons  passed  in  the  last 
convocation.  They  met  October  the  18th,  and 
were  dissolved,  with  the  Parhament,  December 
the  19th  following. 

This  year  [1602]  died  the  reverend  and  learn- 
ed Mr.  William  Perkins,  born  at  Marston,  in 
Warwickshire,  in  the  first  year  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, and  educated  in  Christ's  College,  Cam- 
bridge, of  which  he  was  fellow  :  he  was  one  of 
the  most  famous  practical  writers  and  preach- 
ers of  his  age  ;  and  being  a  strict  Calvinist,  he 
published  several  treatises  in  favour  of  those 
doctrines,  which  involved  him  in  a  controversy 
with  Arminius,  then  professor  of  divinity  at 
Leyden,  that  continued  to  his  death.  He  was 
a  Puritan  Nonconformist,  and  a  favourer  of  the 
discipline,  for  which  he  was  once  or  twice 
brought  before  the  High  Commission,  but  his 
peaceable  behaviour,  and  great  fame  in  the 
learned  world,  procured  him  a  dispensation  from 
the  persecutions  of  his  brethren.  Mr.  Perkins 
was  a  little  man,  and  wrote  with  his  left  hand, 
being  lame  of  his  right.  His  works,  which 
were  printed  in  three  volumes  folio,  show  him 
to  have  been  a  most  pious,  holy,  and  industri- 
ous divine,  considering  he  lived  only  forty-four 
years.* 

To  sum  up  the  state  of  religion  throughout 
this  long  reign.  It  is  evident  that  the  Parlia- 
ment, the  people,  and  great  numbers  of  the  in- 
ferior clergy  were  for  carrying  the  Reforma- 
tion farther  than  the  present  establishment. 
The  first  bishops  came  into  it  with  this  view; 
they  declared  against  the  Popish  habits  and 
ceremonies,  and  prornised  to  use  all  their  in- 
terest with  the  queen  for  their  removal ;  but 
how  soon  they  forgot  themselves,  when  they 
were  warm  in  their  chairs,  the  foregoing  histo- 
ry has  discovered.!  Most  of  the  first  Reform- 
ers were  of  Erastian  principles,  looking  upon 
the  Church  as  a  mere  creature  of  the  state ; 
they  gave  up  everything  to  the  crown,  and 
yielded  to  the  supreme  magistrate  the  absolute 
direction  of  the  consciences,  or,  at  least,  the  re- 
ligious profession,  of  all  his  subjects.  They  ac- 
knowledged only  two  orders  of  Divine  institu- 
tion, viz.,  bishops  or  priests,  and  deacons.  They 
admitted  the  ordination  of  foreign  churches  by 
mere  presbyters  till  towards  the  middle  of  this 
reign,  when  their  validity  began  to  be  disputed 
and  denied.  Whitgift  was  the  first  who  de- 
fended the  hierarchy  from  the  practice  of  the 
third,  fourth,  and  fifth  centuries,  when  the  Ro- 
man Empire  became  Christian ;  but  Bancroft 
divided  off  the  bishops  from  the  priesthood,  and 
advanced  them  into  a  superior  order  by  Divine 

*  Many  of  his  works  were  translated  into  Dutch, 
Spanish,  French,  and  Italian,  and  are  still  in  esti- 
mation in  Germany.  Mr,  Orton,  who  by  his  mother's 
side  descended  in  a  direct  line  from  Mr.  Perkins's 
elder  brother,  speaks  of  him  as  an  excellent  writer, 
clear  and  judicious,  and  recommends  his  works  to 
all  ministers,  especially  young  ones,  as  affording  large 
materials  for  composition. — Orion's  Letters  to  a  Young 
Clergyman,  p.  39,  40.— Ed. 

t  Bishop  Warburton  informs  us,  from  Selden,  de 
Synedriis,  that  Erastiis's  famous  book,  De  Excom- 
municatione,  was  purchased  by  Whitgift  of  Erastus's 
widow,  in  Germany,  and  put  by  him  to  the  press  in 
London,  under  fictitious  names  of  the  place  and 
printer. — Supplemental  Volume  to  Warburton' s  Work*, 
p.  473— Ed. 


214 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


right,  ^vith  the  sole  power  of  ordination  and  the 
keys  of  discipline  ;  so  that  from  this  time  there 
were  reckoned  three  orders  of  clergy  in  the 
English  hierarchy,  viz.,  bishops,  priests,  and 
deacons.  Thus  the  Church  advanced  in  her 
claims,  and  removed  by  degrees  to  a  greater 
distance  from  the  foreign  Protestants. 

The  controversy  with  the  Puritans  had  only 
a  small  beginning,  viz.,  the  imposing  of  the  po- 
pish habits  and  a  few  indifferent  ceremonies  ; 
but  it  opened  by  degrees  into  a  reformation  of 
discipline,  which  all  confessed  was  wanting  ; 
and  at  last  the  doctrinal  articles  were  debated. 
The  queen  and  the  later  bishops  would  not  part 
with  a  pin  out  of  the  hierarchy,  nor  leave  a  lat- 
itude in  the  most  trifling  ceremonies,  but  insist- 
ed upon  an  exact  uniformity  both  in  doctrine 
and  ceremonies,  that  all  might  unite  in  the  pub- 
lic standard.  The  Puritans,  in  their  writings 
and  conferences,  attempted  to  show  the  defects 
of  the  establishment  from  Scripture,  and  from 
the  earliest  ages  of  the  Church  ;  and  what  they 
sufTered  for  it  has  been  in  part  related,  the  sus- 
pensions and  deprivations  of  this  long  reign 
amounting  to  several  thousands ;  but  when  it 
appeared  that  nothing  would  be  abated,  and  that 
penal  laws  were  multiplied  and  rigorously  exe- 
cuted, they  endeavoured  to  erect  a  sort  of  vol- 
untary discipline  within  the  Church,  for  the  ease 
and  satisfaction  of  their  own  consciences,  being 
unwilling  to  separate  ;  till  at  length  the  violence 
of  persecution  drove  some  of  them  into  the  ex- 
tremes of  Brownism,  which  divided  the  Puri- 
tans, and  gave  rise  to  a  new  controversy  con- 
cerning the  necessity  of  a  separation  from  the 
Established  Church,  of  which  we  shall  hear  more 
hereafter ;  but  under  all  their  hardships,  their 
loyalty  to  the  queen  was  untainted,  and  their 
behaviour  peaceable  ;  they  addressed  the  queen, 
and  Parliament,  and  bishops  for  relief  at  sundry 
times,  and  remonstrated  against  the  arbitrary 
proceedings  of  the  spiritual  court,  making  use 
of  no  other  weapons  but  prayers  and  tears,  at- 
tended with  Scripture  and  argument. 

The  chief  principles  of  the  Puritans  have 
•  been  already  related  :  they  were  no  enemies  to 
the  name  or  function  of  a  bishop,  provided  he 
was  no  more  than  nposanjc,  or  a  stated  presi- 
dent of  the  college  of  presbyters  in  his  diocess, 
and  managed  the  affairs  of  it  with  their  concur- 
rence and  assistance.  They  did  not  object 
against  prescribed  forms  of  prayer,  provided  a 
latitude  was  indulged  the  minister  to  alter  or 
vary  some  expressions,  and  to  make  use  of  a 
prayer  of  his  own  conception  before  and  after 
sermon  :  nor  had  they  an  aversion  to  any  de- 
cent and  distinct  habits  for  the  clergy  that  were 
not  derived  from  popery  ;  but,  upon  the  whole, 
they  were  the  most  resolute  Protestants  in  the 
nation,  zealous  Calvinists,  warm  and  affection- 
ate preachers,  and  determined  enemies  to  po- 
pery, and  to  everything  that  had  a  tendency  to- 
wards it. 

It  is  not  pretended  that  the  Puritans  were 
v/ithout  their  failings ;  no,  they  were  men  of 
like  passions  and  infirmities  with  their  adversa- 
ries ;  and  while  they  endeavoured  to  avoid  one 
extreme,  they  might  fall  into  another;  their 
zeal  for  their  platform  of  discipline  would,  I  fear, 
have  betrayed  them  into  the  imposition  of  it 
upon  others,  if  it  had  been  established  by  law. 
Their  notions  of  the  civil  and  religious  rights 


of  mankind  were  narrow  and  confused,  and  de- 
rived too  much  from  the  theocracy  of  the  Jews, 
which  was  now  at  an  end.     Their  behaviour 
was  severe   and   rigid,  far  removed  from  the 
fashionable  freedoms  and  vices  of  the  age  :  and 
possibly  they  might  be  too  censorious,  in  not 
making  those  distinctions  between  youth  and 
age,  grandeur  and  mere  decency,  as  the  nature 
and  circumstances  of  things  would  admit ;  but 
with  all  their  faults,  they  were  the  most  pious 
and  devout  people  in  the  land ;  men  of  prayer, 
both  in  secret  and  public,  as  well  as  in  their 
families  ;  their  manner  of  devotion  was  fervent 
and  solemn,  depending  on  the  assistance  of  the 
Divine   Spirit,  not  only  to  teach  them  how  to 
pray,  but  what  to  pray  for  as  they  ought.    They 
had  a  profound  reverence  for  the  holy  name  of 
God,  and  were  great  enemies  not  only  to  pro- 
fane swearing,  but  to  "  foolish  talking  and  jest- 
ing, which   are   not   convenient ;"   they  were 
strict   observers  of  the  Christian  Sabbath  or 
Lord's  Day,  spending  the  whole  of  it  in  acts  of 
public  and  private  devotion  and  charity.    It  was 
the  .dislinguisliing  mark  of  a  Puritan  in  these 
tunes,  to  see  him  going  to  church  twice  a  day 
with  his  Bible  under  his  arm  :  and  while  others 
were  at  plays  and  interludes,  at  revels,  or  walk- 
ing in  the  fields,  or  at  the  diversions  of  bowling, 
fencing,  &c.,  on  the  evening  of  the  Sabbath, 
these,  with   their   families,  were   employed   in 
reading  the  Scriptures,  singing  psalms,  catechi- 
zing their  children,  repeating  sermons,  and  pray- 
er :  nor  was  this  only  the  work  of  the  Lords 
Day,  but  they  had  their  hours  of  family  devo- 
tion on  the  week  days,  esteeming  it  their  duty 
to  take  care  of  the  souls  as  well  as  the  bodies 
of  their  servants.     They  were  circumspect  as 
to  all  the  excesses  of  eating,  drinking,  apparel, 
and  lawful  diversions,  being  frugal  in  house- 
keeping, industrious  in  their  particular  callings, 
honest  and  exact  in  their  dealings,  and  solicit- 
ous to  give  to  every  one  his  own.     These  were 
the  people  who  were  branded  with  the  name 
of  Precisians,  Puritans,  Schismatics,  enemies 
to  God  and  their  country,  and  throughout  the 
course  of  this  reign  underwent  cruel  mockings, 
bonds,  and  imprisonment. 

Sir  Francis  Walsingham  has  given  a  summa- 
ry account  of  the  queen's  policy  towards  them, 
in  a  letter  to  Monsieur  Cretoy,  which  I  shall 
transcribe  in  his  own  words.* 

"  I  find,"  says  Sir  Francis,  "  that  the  queen's 

*  Mr.  Neal,in  his  Review,  observes  that  Sir  Fran- 
cis wrote  this  letter  as  secretary  of  state  and  as  the 
queen's  servant,  endeavouring  to  vindicate  her  beha- 
viour towards  Nonconformists  to  a  foreign  court ;  he 
must  be  allowed,  therefore,  to  put  the  most  favoura- 
ble construction  on  his  royal  mistress's  conduct,  and 
acquit  her  in  the  best  manner  he  is  able.  It  also  de- 
serves to  be  remarked,  that  Sir  Francis,  dying  April, 
1590,  did  not  see  the  severities  of  the  last  thirteen 
years  of  Queen  Ehzabeth's  reign,  which  were  by 
much  the  sharpest  and  most  cruel. — NeaVs  Review, 
4to  edition,  p.  875.— Ed. 

Mr.  Hallam  says  that  this  letter  "is  a  very  able 
apology  for  the  queen's  government,  and  if  the  read- 
er should  detect,  as  he  doubtless  may,  sophistry  in 
reasoning  and  misstatement  in  fact,  he  will  ascribe 
both  one  and  the  other  to  the  narrow  spirit  of  the 
age  with  respect  to  civil  and  religious  freedom,  or  to 
the  circumstances  of  the  writer — an  advocate  whose 
sovereign  was  his  client!" — Const.  Hist.,  i.,  309. 
— C. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


215 


proceedings,  both  against  papists  and  Puritans, 
are  grounded  upon  these  two  principles;* 

"  The  one,  that  consciences  are  not  to  be 
forced,  but  to  be  won,  and  reduced  by  force  of 
truth,  with  the  aid  of  time  and  use  of  all  good 
means  of  instruction  and  persuasion. 

"  The  other,  that  causes  of  conscience,  when 
they  exceed  their  bounds,  and  grow  to  be  mat- 
ter of  faction,  lose  their  nature :  and  that  sov- 
ereign princes  ought  distinctly  to  punish  their 
practices  and  contempt,  though  coloured  with 
the  pretence  of  conscience  and  religion. 

"  According  to  these  principles,  her  majesty 
behaved  towards  the  papists  with  great  mild- 
ness, not  liking  to  make  a  window  into  their 
hearts,  except  the  abundance  of  them  overflow- 
ed into  overt  acts  of  disobedience,  in  impugn- 
ing her  supremacy.  When  the  pope  excom- 
municated her,  she  only  defended  herself  against 
his  bulls ;  but  when  she  was  threatened  with 
an  invasion,  and  the  papists  were  altered  from 
being  papists  in  conscience  to  being  papists  in 
faction,  she  was  then  obliged  to  provide  severer 
laws  for  the  security  of  her  people. 

"  For  the  other  party,  which  have  been  offen- 
sive to  the  state,  though  in  another  degree, 
and  which  call  themselves  Reformers,  and  we 
commonly  call  Puritans,  this  hath  been  by  the 
proceeding  towards  them  :  a  great  while,  when 
they  inveighed  against  such  abuses  in  the 
Church  as  pluralities,  non-residents,  and  the 
like,  their  zeal  was  not  condemned,  only  their 
Tiolence  was  sometimes  censured.  When  they 
refused  the  use  of  some  ceremonies  and  rites 
as  superstitious,  they  were  tolerated  with  much 
connivance  and  gentleness  ;  yea,  when  they 
called  in  question  the  superiority  of  bishops, 
and  pretended  to  a  democracy  in  the  Church, 
their  propositions  were  considered,  and  by  con- 
trary writings  debated  and  discussed  ;  yet  all 
this  while  it  was  perceived  that  their  course 
■was  dangerous  and  very  popular ;  as  because 
papistry  was  odious,  therefore  it  was  ever  in 
their  mouths,  that  they  sought  to  purge  the 
Church  from  the  relics  of  papistry,  a  thing  ac- 
ceptable to  the  people,  who  love  ever  to  run 
from  one  extreme  to  another. 

"  Because  multitudes  of  rogues  and  poverty 
was  an  eyesore,  and  a  dislike  to  every  man, 
therefore  they  put  into  people's  heads  that,  if 
discipline  were  planted,  there  would  be  no  vag- 
abonds, no  beggars,  a  thing  very  plausible  ; 
and  in  like  manner  they  promised  the  people 
many  of  the  impossible  wonders  of  their  disci- 
pline ;  besides,  they  opened  to  the  people  a  way 
to  government  by  their  consistories  and  pres- 
byteries, a  thing  though  in  consequence  no  less 
prejudicial  to  the  liberties  of  private  men  than 
to  the  sovereignty  of  princes,  yet  in  first  show 
Tery  popular  ;  nevertheless,  this,  except  it  were 
in  some  few^that  entered  into  extreme  contempt, 
was  borne  with,  because  they  pretended  in  du- 
tiful manner  to  make  propositions,  and  to  leave 
it  to  the  providence  of  God  and  the  authority  of 
the  magistrate. 

"  But  now,  of  late  years,  when  there  issued 
from  them  [some]  that  affirmed  the  consent  of 
the  magistrate  was  not  to  be  attended ;  when, 
under  pretence  of  a  confession  to  avoid  slander 
and  imputations,  they  combined  themselves  by 


*  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  419, 


classes  and  subscriptions  ;  when  they  descend- 
ed into  that  vile  and  base  means  of  defacing  of 
the  Church  by  ridiculous  pasquils;  when  they 
began  to  make  many  subjects  in  doubt  to  take 
oaths,  which  is  one  of  the  fundamental  parts  of 
justice  in  this  land  and  in  all  places ;  when 
they  began  both  to  vaunt  of  their  strength,  and 
number  of  their  partisans  and  followers,  and  to 
use  comminations,  that  their  cause  would  pre- 
vail through  uproar  and  violence,  then  it  ap- 
peared to  be  no  more  zeal,  no  more  conscience, 
but  mere  faction  and  division  ;  and,  therefore, 
though  the  state  were  compelled  to  hold  some- 
what a  harder  hand  to  restrain  them  than  be- 
fore, yet  was  it  with  as  great  moderation  as  the 
peace  of  the  State  or  Church  could  permit. 
Thus  her  majesty  has  always  observed  the  two 
rules  before  mentioned,  in  dealing  tenderly  with 
consciences,  and  yet  in  discovering  faction  from 
conscience,  and  softness  from  singularity." 

The  false  colourings  of  this  letter  are  easily 
discerned :  it  admits  that  the  consciences  of 
men  ought  not  to  be  forced  but  when  they  grow 
into  faction  ;  that  is,  to  an  inconsistency  with 
the  peace  and  safety  of  the  civil  government ; 
and  was  there  anything  like  this  in  the  petitions, 
addresses,  and  submissive  behaviour  of  the  Pu- 
ritans 1  but  they  did  not  attend  the  consent  of 
the  magistrate.  Let  the  reader  judge  by  the 
foregoing  history  whether  they  did  not  attend 
and  apply  for  it  several  years  ;  and  if,  after  all, 
the  consent  of  the  magistrate  must  be  waited 
for  before  we  follow  the  dictates  of  our  con- 
sciences, it  is  easy  to  see  there  would  have 
been  no  reformation  in  the  Protestant  world. 
But  the  queen's  worst  maxim  was,  that  while 
she  pretended  not  to  force  the  consciences  of 
her  subjects,  she  obliged  them,  under  the  se- 
verest penalties,  to  come  to  church,  and  make 
an  outward  profession  of  that  way  of  worship 
which  they  inwardly  disallowed.  This  was  to 
establish  hypocrisy  by  a  law,  and  to  force  men 
to  deal  falsely  with  God  and  their  own  con- 
sciences in  matters  of  the  most  solemn  impor- 
tance. 

Practical  religion  was  during  all  this  reign  at 
a  very  low  ebb,  the  greatest  part  of  the  clergy 
being  barely  capable  of  reading  prayers  and  a 
homily.  In  the  remoter  countries  and  villages, 
the  people  were  either  papists,  or  no  better 
than  heathens.  "  If  any  among  the  clergy  or 
laity  were  remarkably  pious,  strict  observers  of 
the  Sabbath,  and  declared  enemies  of  profane- 
ness  and  popery,"  says  Mr.  Osburn,  "they  were 
eitlier  real  Puritans,  or  branded  with  that  in- 
vidious name  ;  and  great  numbers  of  the  inferi- 
or clergy  and  people,  in  cities  and  corporations, 
were  of  this  number ;"  the  conforming  clergy 
lost  ground ;  and  the  order  of  bishops,  by  spend- 
ing their  zeal  more  about  the  external  forms  of 
worship  than  in  painful  preaching  and  encour- 
aging practical  religion,  grew  into  contempt ; 
popery  gained  ground  in  the  country  by  the 
diligence  of  the  missionaries,  and  the  ignorance 
and"  laziness  of  the  established  clergy,  while 
Puritanism  prevailed  in  cities  and  corporations: 
so  that,  as  Archbishop  Parker  observed,  the 
queen  was  the  only  friend  of  the  Church,  and 
supported  it  by  a  vigorous  execution  of  the  pe- 
nal laws,  and  by  resolving  to  admit  of  no  mo- 
tion for  Reformation  but  what  should  arise 
from  herself 


216 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


Thus  things  continued  to  the  queen's  death  ; 
her  majesty  was  grown  old  and  infirm,  and  un- 
der a  visible  decay  of  natural  spirits,  some  say 
for  the  loss  of  the  Earl  of  Essex,  whom  she  had 
lately  beheaded,  but  others,  from  a  just  indigna- 
tion to  see  herself  neglected  by  those  who  were 
too  ready  to  worship  the  rising  sun.  This  threw 
her  into  a  melancholy  state,  attended  with  a 
drowsiness  and  heaviness  in  ail  her  limbs, 
which  was  followed  with  a  loss  of  appetite,  and 
all  the  marl\s  of  an  approaching  dissolution  ; 
upon  this  she  retired  to  Richmond  ;  and  having 
caused  her  inauguration  ring,  which  was  grown 
into  the  flesh  and  become  painful,  to  be  filed  off, 
she  languished  till  the  24th  of  March,  and  then 
died,  in  the  seventieth  year  of  her  age,  and 
forty-fifth  of  her  reign. 

Queen  Elizabeth  was  a  great  and  successful 
princess  at  home,  and  the  support  of  the  Prot- 
estant interest  abroad  while  it  was  in  its  in- 
fancy ;  for  without  her  assistance  neither  the 
Huguenots  in  France  nor  the  Dutch  Reformers 
could  have  stood  their  ground  ;    she  assisted 
the  Protestants  of  Scotland  against  their  popish 
queen,  and  the  princes  of  Germany  against  the 
emperor,  while  at  the  same  time  she  demanded 
an  absolute  submission  from  her  own  subjects, 
and  would  not  tolerate  that  religion  at  home 
which  she  countenanced  and  supported  abroad. 
As  to  her  own  religion,  she  affected  a  middle 
way  between   popery  and  Puritanism,  though 
her  majesty  was  more  inclined  to  the  former ; 
disliking  the  secular  pretensions  of  the  court  of 
Rome  over  foreign  states,  though  she  was  in 
love  with  the  pomp  and  splendour  of  their  wor- 
ship ;  on  the  other  hand,  she  approved  of  the 
doctrines  of  the  foreign  Reformed  churches,  but 
thought  they  had  stripi)ed  religion  too  much  of 
its  ornaments,  and  made  it  look  with  an  un- 
friendly aspect   upon  the   sovereign  power  of 
princes.     She  understood  not  the  rights  of  con- 
science in  matters  of  religion,  and  is,  therefore, 
justly  chargeable  with  persecuting  principles. 
More  sanguinary  laws  were  made  in  her  reign 
than  in  any  of  her  predecessors'  ;  her  hands 
were  stained  with  the  blood  of  papists  and  Pu- 
ritans ;  the  former  were  executed  for  denying 
her  supremacy,  and  the  latter  for  sedition   or 
nonconformity.     Her  greatest  admirers  blame 
her  for  plundering  the  Church  of  its  revenues, 
and  for  keeping  several  sees  vacant  many  years 
together  for  the  sake  of  their  profits ;  as  the 
bishoprics  of  Ely,  Oxford,  and   others,  which 
last  was  without  a  bishop  for  twenty-two  years. 
The  queen  was  devout  at  prayers,  yet  seldom 
or  never  heard  sermons  except  in  Lent,  and 
would  often  say  that  two  or  three  preachers  in 
a  county  were  sufficient.     She  had  high  notions 
of  the  sovereign  authority  of  princes,  and  of  her 
own  absolute  supremacy  in  church  affairs ;  and 
being  of  opinion  that  methods  of  severity  were 
lawful  to  bring  her  subjects  to  an  outward  uni- 
formity, she  countenanced  all  the  engines  of 
persecution,  such  as  spiritual  courts.  High  Com- 
mission, and  Star  Chamber,  and  stretclied  her 
prerogative  to  support  them  beyond  the  laws 
and  against  the  sense  of  the  nation.*    However, 
notwithstanding    all    these    blemishes.   Queen 
Elizabeth  stands  upon  record  as  a  wise  and 
politic  princess,  for  delivering  the  kingdom  from 

*  Fuller's  "Worthies,  b.  ii.,  p.  213. 


the  difficulties  in  which  it  was  involved  at  her 
accession ;  for  preserving  the  Protestant  Ref- 
ormation against  the  potent  attempts  of  the 
pope,  the  emperor,  and  the  King  of  Spain 
abroad,  and  the  Queen  of  Scots  and  her  popish 
subjects  at  home,  and  for  advancing  the  re- 
nown of  the  English  nation  beyond  any  of  her 
predecessors.  Her  majesty  held  the  balance  of 
power  in  Europe,  and  was  in  high  esteem  with, 
all  foreign  princes  the  greatest  part  of  her  reign ; 
and  though  her  Protestant  subjects  were  divi- 
ded about  church  affiiirs,  they  all  discovered  a 
high  veneration  for  her  royal  person  and  gov- 
ernment; on  which  accounts  she  was  the  glory 
of  the  age  in  which  she  lived,  and  will  be  tho 
admiration  of  posterity. 

Considering  the  complexion  of  that  series  of 
events  through  which  Mr.  Neal's  History  con- 
ducts the  reader,  he  must  be  allowed  to  have 
drawn  the  character  of  Queen  Elizabeth  with 
great  fairness  and  candour.     A  later  ecclesias- 
tical historian,  a  learned  writer  of  our  estab- 
lishment, has  described  the  leading  features  of 
her  reign  and  principles  in  stronger  and  bolder 
terms  of  reprobation.     With  Mr.  Neal,  he  has 
allowed  her  the  merit  of  "  being  a  wise  and  pol- 
itic princess,  for  delivering  the  kingdom  from 
the  difficulties  in  which  it  was  involved  at  her 
accession,  for  preserving  the  Protestant  Refor- 
mation against  the  potent  enemies  which  at- 
tempted to  destroy  it,  and  for  advancing  the 
renown  of  the  English  nation  beyond  any  of  her 
predecessors ;"   yet  he  taxes  her  with  many 
flagrant  instances  of  weakness  and  misrule  ia 
which  her  ministers  had  no  share,  and  which 
they  had  neither  power  nor  interest  enough  to 
prevent.     Having  enumerated  these,  to  them, 
he  observes,  must  be  added,  "  the  severity  with 
which  she  treated  her  Protestant  subjects  by 
her  High  Commission  Court,  against  law,  against 
liberty,  and  against  the  rights  of  human  nature. 
If  these  are  not,"  says  he,  "  flagrant  instances 
of  weakness  and  misrule  to  which  her  ministers 
never  encouraged,  but  ofttimes  dissuaded  her 
as  far  as  they  durst,  and  which  were  not  owing 
to  sudden  starts  of  passion,  but  to  her  own  ty- 
rannical disposition,  then  all   arbitrary  power 
may  be  defended  as  just  and  lawful.     The  pas- 
sion of  Elizabeth  was  to  preserve  her  crowa 
and  prerogative  ;  and  every  measure  which  she 
herself  directed,  or  approved  when  projected  by 
her  ministers,  was   subservient  to  these  two 
purposes."     To  this  account  "we  are  to  place 
all  the  measures  which  she  directed,  and  she 
alone,  against  the  disturbers  of  the  uniformity 
which  was  established.     To  her  alone  it  was 
owing  at  first,  and  not  to  her  bishops,  that  no 
concession  or  indulgence  was  granted  to  tender 
consciences.     She  understood  her  prerogative, 
which  was  as  dear  to  her  as  her  crown  and  life; 
but  she  understood  nothingof  the  rights  of  con- 
science in  matters  of  religion,  and,  like  the  ab- 
surd king  her  father,  she  would  have  no  opinion 
in  religion  acknowledged,  at  least,  but  her  own. 
She  restored  the  Reformation,  it  is  true,  and,  I 
believe,  restored  it  upon  principle  ;    she  was 
likewise  at  the  head  of  the  Protestant  religioa 
abroad,  in  assisting  those  who  professed  it  in  ' 
France  and  the  Netherlands,  as  well  as  Scotland, 
and  it  was  her  interest  to  do  so  ;  but  where  her 
interest  called  upon  her  to  neglect  the  Reformed 
religion,  she  did  it  without  scruple,     She  differ- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


217 


ed  from  her  sister  in  this,  that  she  would  not 
part  with  her  supremacy  upon  any  terms  ;  and, 
as  she  had  much  greater  abilities  for  govern- 
ing, so  she  applied  herself  more  to  promote 
the  strength  and  glory  of  her  dominion  than 
Mary  did ;  but  she  had  as  much  of  the  bigot 
and  tyrant  in  her  as  her  sister,  though  the  ob- 
ject of  that  bigotry  was  prerogative,  and  not 
religion."* 

If  facts  have  any  meaning  and  force,  those 
which  we  have  now  reviewed  abundantly  con- 
firm this  representation  of  the  spirit  and  princi- 
ples of  Queen  Elizabeth.  Yet  a  celebrated  mod- 
ern writer!  has  resolved  her  conduct  to  her  Pu- 
ritan subjects  into  "  her  good  taste,  which  gave 
her  a  sense  of  order  and  decorum,  and  her  sound 
judgment,  which  taught  her  to  abhor  innova- 
tions." What !  Can  the  severest  acts  of  op- 
pression and  cruelty,  can  a  series  of  arbitrary 
and  unfeeling  outrages  committed  against  the 
property,  lives,  and  rights  of  men,  take  shelter 
under  the  sanction  of  good  taste  and  a  sound 
judgment]  "Nature  and  religion  reclaim." 
"If,"  says  an  accurate  and  judicious  writer,  "it 
be  once  laid  down  as  a  maxim  that  a  sound 
judgment  will  teach  a  monarch  to  abhor  inno- 
vations, and  if  his  power  be  but  little  subject  to 
control,  one  does  not  know  to  what  lengths  it 
might  proceed,  so  as  to  be  extended  not  only  in 
matters  ofchurch  government,  but  likewise,  per- 
haps, against  those  who  would  introduce  '  en- 
larged,' or,  rather,  libertine  '  sentiments,'  about 
religion.  Such  persons,  I  doubt,  would  soon 
give  up  the  wisdom  and  equity  of  this  maxim 
concerning  innovations,  if  they  were  in  danger 
of  having  the  concluding  section  of  the  35th 
of  Elizabeth,  cap.  i.,  put  in  execution  against 
them."t 

Another  writer  has  thrown  the  blame  of  the 
separation  from  the  Church  of  England,  and  of 
the  evils  of  which  it  was  productive,  on  the  Pu- 
ritans. "  It  was  more  owing  to  the  weakness 
and  want  of  judgment  in  the  Puritans,  who  could 
think  such  things  were  sinful  about  which  the 
Scriptures  were  wholly  silent,  and  who  desired 
a  great  majority  to  give  way  to  the  humour  of  a 
few,  than  to  the  superstition  and  want  of  tem- 
per in  the  queen  and  the  archbishop,  who  could 
press  such  indifferent  rites  with  that  severity, 
before  the  minds  of  men  had  time  to  be  recon- 
ciled to  them."^  To  this  representation  it  may 
be  replied.  Was  it  anything  unreasonable  that 
the  few  should  desire  the  majority  not  to  oppress 
and  bind  their  consciences  in  matters  about 
which,  it  was  allowed,  the  Scriptures  were  si- 
lent, and,  of  course,  where  Christ  had  left  them 
free  1  Or  could  it  be  deemed  weakness  and 
■want  of  judgment,  that  they  requested  only  to 
be  permitted  to  stand  fast  in  this  liberty  1  Need 
a  Protestant  divine  be  reminded  that  to  add  to 
the  rehgion  of  Christ  is  sinful ;  and  to  enforce 
these  additions,  and  by  severe  penalties,  is  to 
exercise  a  forbidden  jurisdiction  in  his  Church  1 
Can  it  be  deemed  weakness  and  want  of  judg- 
ment to  see  this  criminality,  and  to  resist  this 
yoke  1  But  if  to  scruple  the  use  of  the  habits 
indicated  weakness  and  want  of  judgment,  yet 

*  Warner's  Ecclesiastical  History  of  England, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  474,  475.  t  Mr.  Hume. 

t  Letters  on  Mr.  Hume's  History  of  Great  Britain, 
printed  al  Edinburgh,  1756,  p.  226. 

()  Warner's  Ecclesiastical  History,  vol.  ii.,  p.  431. 

Vol.  I.— E  e 


a  conscientious  adherence  to  the  dictates  of  their 
own  minds,  the  integrity  which  would  not  allow 
them  to  adopt  habits  or  ceremonies  that  they 
thought  or  suspected  to  be  sinful,  should  not  be 
reproached,  but  applauded.  An  apostle  would 
on  such  an  occasion  have  said,  that  "  Whatev- 
er is  not  of  laith  is  sin  ;"  and  "  Happy  is  he  that 
condemneth  not  himself  in  that  thing  which  he 
alloweth."  Why  should  the  rejection,  or  even 
a  hesitation  about  the  use  of  habits,  which  had 
no  J)ivine  authority,  but  a  popish  original,  and 
by  the  mystical  signification  atfixed  to  them  led 
to  superstition,  be  resolved  into  weakness  and 
want  of  judgment  1  It  argued  rather  a  true 
discernment,  a  just  estimate  of  things,  and  a 
comprehensive  view  of  the  tendency  and  prog- 
ress of  superstition,  when  once  admitted. 

The  weakness,  I  should  conceive,  lay  on  the 
other  side,  where  these  things  were  held  in  such 
high  account,  and  deemed  of  such  essential  im- 
portance, as  to  be  the  ground  of  the  severest 
laws  to  enforce  the  use  of  them.  The  cruelty 
of  the  imposition  aside,  the  very  imposition  itself 
was  folly.  For  a  mighty  prince,  a  convocation 
of  the  clergy,  a  bench  of  bishops,  and  the  Legis- 
lature of  the  nation,  to  give  all  their  attention  to 
support  the  reputation  of  the  wearing  of  a  hood 
and  a  surplice ;  to  employ  all  the  earnestness 
of  their  minds,  the  weight  of  their  character, 
and  the  dignity  of  their  rank,  about  such  little 
things,  this  is  a  ridiculous  transaction  ;  it  be- 
trays the  thoughts  and  passions  of  a  child.  But 
when  to  this  impotence  of  judgment  oppression 
and  tyranny  are  added,  our  indignation  is  raised  1 

It  is  an  argument  of  the  rationality  and  good 
sense  of  the  general  principles  by  which  the 
Puritans  professed  to  be  governed,  that  "  these 
very  principles,"  as  a  late  writer  observes, 
"  were  the  same  which  rightly  influenced  the 
conduct  of  the  Reformers  in  other  instances ; 
for  example,  in  their  removing  the  altars  out  of 
the  churches  and  setting  up  tables  in  the  place 
of  them.*  Namely,  that  the  retaining  altars 
would  serve  only  to  nourish  in  the  people's 
minds  the  superstitious  opinion  of  a  propitiatory 
mass,  and  would  administer  an  occasion  of  of- 
fence and  division."  A  like  argument  in  rela- 
tion to  the  ancient  habits  was  argued  by  Bishop 
Hooper  so  early  as  the  year  1550  ;t  and  it  was 
thought  of  weight  in  1562  by  one  half  of  the 
House  of  Convocation. t 

The  conduct  of  the  Puritans,  it  appears  froiu 
hence,  was  wisely  adapted  to  the  times  in  which 
they  lived :  in  which  the  habits  had  a  tendency 
and  influence  that  rendered  the  contest  about 
them  far  from  being  such  a  frivolous  affair  as 
many  are  now  disposed  to  c6nsider  it.  For 
then  a  mystical  signification  was  affixed  to  them 
by  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  there  was  a  pre- 
vailing notion  of  their  necessity  and  efficacy  ia 
the  administration  of  the  clergy.  It  is  also  ev- 
ident that  they  gave  the  queen  and  her  cour- 
tiers a  handle  to  establish  and  exercise  a  despot- 
ic power :  they  were  tire  instruments  by  which 
the  Court  of  High  Commission  endeavoured  to 
rivet  on  the  people  the  chains  of  tyranny.  The 
opposition  of  the  Puritans,  therefore,  may  be 
vindicated  on  the  largest  principles.  It  was  a 
bold  and  vigorous  stand  against  arbitrary  pow- 


*  See  our  author,  p.  56,  of  this  volume. 

t  See  the  same,  p.  103. 

i  Letters  on  Mr.  Hume's  History,  p.  212,  213. 


218 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


er,  which  justly  calls  for  resistance  in  its  first 
outset  and  its  most  trivial  demands,  if  men 
•would  not  give  it  room  to  place  its  foot  and 
erect  its  banner.  It  is  a  pertinent  and  very  sen- 
sible remark  of  a  great  author,  "  that  our  ances- 
tors, the  old  Puritans,  had  the  same  merit  in 
opposing  the  imposition  of  the  surplice  that 
Hampden  had  in  opposing  the  levying  of  ship- 
money.  In  neither  case  was  the  thing  itself 
objected  to  so  much  as  the  authority  that  en- 
joined it,  and  the  danger  of  the  precedent.  And 
it  appears  to  us  that  the  man  who  is  as  tena- 
cious of  his  religious  as  he  is  of  his  civil  liber- 
ty, will  oppose  them  both  with  equal  firmness."* 

The  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth  affords  many 
instances  of  the  connexion  between  civil  and 
religious  liberty,  and  furnishes  striking  docu- 
ments of  her  disposition  and  endeavours  to  vio- 
late both.  In  this  view  the  behaviour  of  the 
Puritans  was  eventually  attended  with  the  most 
important  effects.  Mr.  Hume,  who  treats  their 
principles  as  frivolous  and  their  conduct  as  ri- 
diculous, has  bestowed  on  them,  at  the  same 
time,  the  highest  eulogium  his  pen  could  well 
dictate.  "  So  absolute,"  says  he,  "  was  the  au- 
thority of  the  crown,  that  the  precious  spark  of 
liberty  had  been  kindled,  and  was  preserved,  by 
the  Puritans  alone ;  and  it  was  to  this  sect  that 
the  English  owe  the  whole  freedom  of  their  Con- 
stitution."! 

While  it  is  not  asserted  that  all  the  Puritans 
acted  upon  such  enlarged  views  of  things ;  while 
it  is  granted  that  the  "  notions"  of  numbers, 
probably  of  the  majority,  of  them  concerning 
"  the  civil  and  religious  rights  of  mankind,  were 
dark  and  confused ;"  yet  it  should  be  allowed 
that  some  of  them,  for  instance,  Fox  the  mar- 
tyrologist,  acted  upon  liberal  principles  ;  and  all 
of  them  felt  the  oppression  of  the  day,  so  as, 
by  their  own  experience  of  its  iniquity  and  evils, 
to  be  instigated  to  oppose  them  ;  though  they 
did  not  apply  the  principles,  which  were  thus 
generated  in  the  mind,  to  their  full  extent. 

The  charge  brought  against  the  Puritans  for 
satirical  pamphlets,  libels,  and  abusive  language, 
was  in  some  instances  well  founded,  but  it  by 
no  means,  justly,  lay  against  the  whole  party. 
"  The  moderate  Puritans  publicly  disowned  the 
libels  for  which  they  were  accused,  yet  they 
were  brought  before  the  Star  Chamber.  The 
determinations  of  this  court  were  not  according 
to  any  statute  law  of  the  land,  but  according  to 
the  queen's  will  and  pleasure  ;  yet  they  were 

*  Dr.  Priestley's  View  of  the  Principles  and  Con- 
duct of  the  Protestant  Dissenters,  page  66. 

t  Hume's  History  of  England,  vol.  v.,  p.  189,  8vo, 
ed.  1763. 


as  binding  upon  the  subject  as  an  act  of  Parlia- 
ment, which  the  whole  nation  exclaimed  against, 
as  a  mark  of  the  vilest  slavery."* 

Such  oppression,  such  violent  outrages  against 
the  security,  the  conscience,  and  the  lives  of 
men,  were  sufficient  to  irritate  their  minds,  and 
to  provoke  them  to  reviling  and  abusive  lan- 
guage. Much  allowance  should  be  madfe  for 
men  who  were  galled  and  inflamed  by  severe 
sufferings.  But,  independently  of  this  consid- 
eration, we  should  judge  of  the  strain  and  spirit 
of  their  writings,  not  by  the  more  polite  man- 
ners and  liberal  spirit  of  the  present  age,  but  by 
the  times  in  which  they  lived  ;  when,  on  aU 
subjects,  a  coarse  and  rough,  and  even  abusive 
style,  was  common  from  authors  of  learning  and 
rank.  Bishop  Aylmer,  in  a  sermon  at  court, 
speaking  of  the  fair  sex,  said,  "  Women  are  of 
two  sorts  :  some  of  them  are  wiser,  better  learn- 
ed, discreeter,  and  more  constant,  than  a  num- 
ber of  men  ;  but  another  and  a  worse  sort  of 
them,  and  the  most  part,  are  fond,  foolish,  wan- 
ton flibbergibs,  tattlers,  triflers,  wavering,  wit- 
less, without  counsel,  feeble,  careless,  rash, 
proud,  dainty,  nice,  talebearers,  eavesdroppers, 
rumour-raisers,  evil-tongued,  worse-minded,  arid 
in  every  wise  doltified  with  the  dregs  of  the  dev- 
il's dunghill."!  If  a  bishop,  when  preaching 
before  the  queen,  could  clothe  his  sentiment  in 
such  words,  on  a  subject  where  this  age  would 
study  peculiar  politeness  of  style,  can  we  won- 
der that  reviling  language  should  proceed,  in  the 
warmth  of  controversy,  from  those  who  were 
suffering  under  the  rod  of  oppression  1 

The  other  side,  who  had  not  the  same  provo- 
cations, did  not  come  behind  the  most  abusive 
of  the  Puritan  writers  in  this  kind  of  oratory. 
In  a  tract  ascribed  to  Archbishop  Parker,  the 
Nonconformists  are  described  and  condemned 
as  "  schismatics,  bellie-gods,  deceivers,  flatter- 
ers, fools,  such  as  have  been  unlearnedlie  brought 
up  in  profane  occupations  ;  puffed  up  in  arro- 
gancie  of  themselves,  chargeable  to  vanities  of 
assertions  :  of  whom  it  is  feared  that  they  make 
posthaste  to  be  Anabaptists  and  libertines,  gone 
out  from  us,  but  belike  never  of  us ;  differing 
not  much  from  Donatists,  shrinking  and  refusing 
ministers  of  London ;  disturbers,  factious,  wilful 
entanglers,  and  encumberers  of  the  consciences 
of  their  herers,  glrdirs,  nippers,  scoffers,  biters, 
snappers  at  superiors,  havingthe  spirit  of  irony, 
like  to  Audiani,  smelling  of  Donatistrie,  or  of 
Papistrie,  Rogatianes,  Circumcellians,  and  Pe- 
Iagians."t 

*  Warner's  Ecclesiastical  History,  vol.  ii.,  p.  463. 

t  British  Biography,  vol.  iii.,  p.  239. 

i  Pierce's  Vindication  of  the  Dissenters,  p.  62. 


PREFACE 

TO  VOL.  II.  OF  THE   ORIGINAL  EDITION. 


The  favourable  acceptance  of  the  first  volume  of  this  work  has  encouraged 
me  to  publish  a  second,  which  carries  the  history  forward  to  the  beginning  of 
the  civil  war,  when  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament  wrested  the  spiritual  sword 
out  of  the  hands  of  the  king  and  bishops,  and  assumed  the  supremacy  to  them- 
selves. 

There  had  been  a  cessation  of  controversy  for  some  time  before  the  death 
of  Queen  Elizabeth,  the  Puritans  being  in  hopes,  upon  the  accession  of  a  king 
that  had  been  educated  in  their  own  principles,  to  obtain  an  easy  redress  of 
their  grievances;  and  certainly  no  prince  ever  had  so  much  in  his  power  to 
compromise  the  differences  of  the  Church  as  King  James  I.  at  the  conference 
of  Hampton  Court ;  but,  being  an  indolent  and  vainglorious  monarch,  he  be- 
came a  willing  captive  to  the  bishops,  who  flattered  his  vanity,  and  put  that 
maxim  into  his  head,  "  No  bishop,  no  king."  The  creatures  of  the  court,  in 
lieu  of  the  vast  sums  of  money  they  received  out  of  the  exchequer,  gave  him 
the  flattering  title  of  an  absolute  sovereign,  and,  to  supply  his  extravagances, 
broke  through  the  Constitution,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  all  the  calamities  of 
his  son's  reign  ;  while  himself,  sunk  into  luxury  and  ease,  became  the  contempt 
of  all  the  powers  of  Europe.  If  King  James  had  any  principles  of  religion  be- 
sides what  he  called  kingcraft  or  dissimulation,  he  changed  them  with  the 
climate,  for  from  a  rigid  Calvinist  he  became  a  favourer  of  Arminianism  in  the 
latter  part  of  his  reign  ;  from  a  Protestant  of  the  purest  kirk  upon  earth,  a  doc- 
trinal papist ;  and  from  a  disgusted  Puritan,  the  most  implacable  enemy  of  that 
people,  putting  all  the  springs  of  the  prerogative  in  motion  to  drive  them  out 
of  both  kingdoms. 

But,  instead  of  accomplishing  his  designs,  the  number  of  Puritans  increased 
prodigiously  in  his  reign,  which  was  owing  to  one  or  other  of  these  causes. 

First.  To  the  standing  firm  by  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  their  country, 
which  brought  over  to  them  all  those  gentlemen  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  in  the  several  counties  of  England,  who  found  it  necessary,  for  the  pres- 
ervation of  their  properties,  to  oppose  the  court,  and  to  insist  upon  being  gov- 
erned according  to  law ;  these  were  called  State  Puritans. 

Secondly.  To  their  steady  adherence  to  the  doctrines  of  Calvin  and  the  Syn- 
od of  Dort,  in  the  points  of  predestination  and  grace,  against  the  modern  in- 
terpretations of  Arminius  and  his  followers.  The  court  divines  fell  in  with  the 
latter,  and  were  thought  not  only  to  deviate  from  the  principles  of  the  first 
Reformers,  but  to  attempt  a  coalition  with  the  Church  of  Rome  ;  while  most  of 
the  country  clergy,  being  stiff  in  their  old  opinions  (though  otherwise  well 
enough  affected  to  the  discipline  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church),  were,  in  a 
manner,  shut  out  from  all  preferment,  and  branded  with  the  name  of  Doctrinal 
Puritans. 

Thirdly.  To  their  pious  and  severe  manner  of  life,  which  was  at  this  time 
very  extraordinary.  If  a  man  kept  the  Sabbath  and  frequented  sermons  ;  if  he 
maintained  family  religion,  and  would  neither  swear,  nor  be  drunk,  nor  comply 
with  the  fashionable  vices  of  the  times,  he  was  called  a  Puritan ;  this,  by  de- 
grees, procured  them  the  compassion  of  the  sober  part  of  the  nation,  who  be- 
gan to  think  it  very  hard  that  a  number  of  sober,  industrious,  and  conscientious 
people  should  be  harassed  out  of  the  land  for  scrupling  to  comply  with  a  few 


220  PREFACE. 

indifferent  ceremonies,  which  had  no  relation  to  the  favour  of  God  or  the  prac- 
tice of  virtue. 

Fourthly.  It  has  been  thought  by  some  that  their  increase  was  owing  to  the 
mild  and  gentle  government  of  Archbishop  Abbot.  While  Bancroft  lived,  the  Pu- 
ritans were  used  with  the  utmost  rigour ;  but  Abbot,  having  a  greater  concern 
for  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  than  for  its  ceremonies,  relaxed  the  penal  laws, 
and  connived  at  their  proselyting  the  people  to  Calvinism.  Arminianism  was 
at  this  time  both  a  Church  and  State  faction ;  the  divines  of  this  persuasion, 
apprehending  their  sentiments  not  very  consistent  with  the  received  sense  of 
the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  and  being  afraid  of  the  censures  of  a  parliament  or  a 
convocation,  took  shelter  under  the  prerogative,  and  went  into  all  the  slavish 
measures  of  the  court  to  gain  the  royal  favour,  and  to  secure  to  their  friends 
the  chief  preferments  in  the  Church.  They  persuaded  his  majesty  to  stifle  the 
predestinarian  controversy,  both  in  the  pulpit  and  press,  and  would  no  doubt, 
in  a  few  years,  have  got  the  balance  of  numbers  on  their  side,  if,  by  grasping 
at  too  much,  they  had  not  precipitated  both  Church  and  State  into  confusion. 
It  was  no  advantage  to  those  divines  that  they  were  linked  with  the  Roman 
Catholics,  for  these  being  sensible  they  could  not  be  protected  by  law,  cried 
up  the  prerogative,  and  joined  the  forces  with  the  court  divines,  to  support  the 
dispensing  power ;  they  declared  for  the  unlimited  authority  of  the  sovereign 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  absolute  obedience  of  the  subject  on  the  other ;  so 
that,  though  there  is  no  real  connexion  between  Arminianism  and  popery,  the 
two  parties  were  unhappily  combined  at  this  time  to  destroy  the  Puritans,  and 
to  subvert  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  their  country. 

But  if  Abbot  was  too  remiss,  his  successor.  Laud,  was  as  much  too  furious, 
for  in  the  first  year  of  his  government  he  introduced  as  many  changes  as  a 
wise  and  prudent  statesman  would  have  attempted  in  seven  5*  he  prevailed  with, 
his  majesty  to  set  up  the  English  service  at  Edinburgh,  and  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Scotch  Liturgy  ;  he  obtained  the  revival  of  the  Book  of  Sports  ;  he 
turned  the  communion-tables  into  altars  ;  he  sent  out  injunctions  which  broke 
up  the  French  and  Dutch  churches;  and  procured  the  repeal  of  the  Irish  Arti- 
cles, and  those  of  England  to  be  received  in  their  place.  Such  was  his  rigor- 
ous persecution  of  the  Puritans,  that  he  would  neither  suffer  them  to  live  peace- 
ably in  the  land,  nor  remove  quietly  out  of  it!  His  grace  was  also  the  chief 
mover  in  all  those  unbounded  acts  of  power  which  were  subversive  of  the  rights 
and  liberties  of  the  people  ;  and  while  he  had  the  reins  in  his  hands,  drove  so 
near  the  precipices  of  popery  and  tyranny,  that  the  hearts  of  the  most  resolved 
Protestants  turned  against  him,  and  almost  all  England  became  Puritan. 

I  am  sensible  that  no  part  of  modern  history  has  been  examined  with  so  much 
critical  exactness  as  that  part  of  the  reign  of  King  Charles  I.  which  relates  to 
the  rise  and  progress  of  the  civil  war ;  here  the  writers  on  both  sides  have 
blown  up  their  passions  into  a  flame,  and,  instead  of  history,  have  given  us  lit- 
tle else  but  panegyric  or  satire.  I  have  endeavoured  to  avoid  extremes,  and 
have  represented  things  as  they  appeared  to  me,  with  modesty,  and  without 
any  personal  reflections.  The  character  I  have  given  of  the  religious  princi- 
ples of  the  Long  Parliament  was  designedly  taken  out  of  the  Earl  of  Claren- 
don's History  of  the  Grand  Rebellion,  that  it  might  be  without  exception:  and 
I  am  of  opinion  that  the  want  of  due  acquaintance  with  the  principles  of  the 
two  houses  with  regard  to  Church  discipline  has  misled  our  best  historians, 
who  have  represented  some  of  them  as  zealous  prelatists,  and  others  as  cun» 
ning  Presbyterians,  Independents,  sectaries,  &c.,  whereas,  in  truth,  they  had 
these  matters  very  little  at  heart.  The  king  was  hampered  with  notions  of  the 
Divine  right  of  diocesan  episcopacy,  but  the  two  houses  (excepting  the  bish- 
ops) were,  almost  to  a  man,  of  the  principles  of  Erastus,  who  maintained  that 
Christ  and  his  apostles  had  prescribed  no  particular  form  of  discipline  for  his 
Church  in  after  ages,  but  had  left  the  keys  in  the  hands  of  the  civil  magistrate, 
who  had  the  sole  power  of  punishing  transgressors,  and  of  appointing  such  par- 

*  Heylin'a  Life  of  Laud,  p.  506. 


PREFACE.  221 

ticular  forms  of  Church  government  from  time  to  time  as  were  most  subservi- 
ent to  the  peace  and  welfare  of  the  commonweahh.  Indeed,  these  were  the 
sentiments  of  our  Church-reformers  from  Archbishop  Cranmer  down  to  Ban- 
croft. And  though  the  Puritans,  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  wrote  with 
great  eagerness  for  the  Divine  right  of  their  Book  of  Discipline,  their  posterity 
in  the  next  reigns  were  more  cool  upon  that  head,  declaring  their  satisfaction, 
if  the  present  episcopacy  might  be  reduced  to  a  more  primitive  standard.  This 
was  the  substance  of  the  ministers'  petition  in  the  year  1641,  signed  with  sev- 
en hundred  hands.  And  even  those  who  were  for  root  and  branch  were  will- 
ing to  submit  to  a  parliamentary  reformation,  till  the  Scots  revived  the  notion 
of  Divine  right  in  the  assembly  of  divines.  However,  it  is  certain  the  two 
houses  had  no  attachment  to  Presbytery  or  Independency,  but  would  have 
compromised  matters  with  the  king  upon  the  episcopal  scheme  as  long  as  his 
majesty  was  in  the  field ;  but  when  victory  had  declared  on  their  side,  they 
complied  in  some  measure  with  their  Northern  friends,  who  had  assisted  them 
in  the  war,  but  would  never  part  with  the  power  of  the  keys  out  of  their  own 
hands.  If  the  reader  will  keep  this  in  mind,  he  will  easily  account  for  the  sev- 
eral revolutions  of  Church  government  in  these  unsettled  times. 

It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  the  most  disinterested  writer  of  these  affairs 
should  escape  the  censures  of  different  parties ;  I  thought  I  had  already  suf- 
ficently  expressed  my  intentions  in  publishing  the  History  of  the  Puritans  j  but 
because  it  has  been  insinuated  in  a  late  pamphlet  that  it  looked  like  a  plot 
against  the  ecclesiastical  constitution,*  I  think  it  proper  to  assure  the  world, 
once  for  all,  that  what  I  have  written  is  with  no  ill  spirit  or  design  against  the 
peace  of  the  Church  or  nation ;  that  I  have  no  private  or  party  views  ;  no  pa- 
tron; no  associates;  nor  other  prospects  of  reward  than  the  pleasure  of  set- 
ting the  English  Reformation  in  a  true  light,  and  of  beating  down  some  of  the 
fences  and  enclosures  of  conscience.  Nor  can  there  be  any  inconvenience  in 
remembering  the  mistakes  of  our  ancestors,  when  all  the  parties  concerned  are 
gone  off  the  stage,  and  their  families  reconciled  by  intermarriages ;  but  it  may 
be  of  some  use  and  benefit  to  mankind,  by  enabling  them  to  avoid  those  rocks 
on  which  their  forefathers  have  split.  When  I  am  convinced  of  any  mistakes 
or  unfair  representations,  I  shall  not  be  ashamed  to  retract  them  before  the 
world ;  but  facts  are  stubborn  things,  and  will  not  bend  to  the  humours  and 
inclinations  of  artful  and  angry  men :  if  these  have  been  disguised  or  misre- 
ported,  let  them  be  set  right  in  a  decent  manner,  without  the  mean  surmises 
of  plots  and  confederacies ;  and  whoever  does  it  shall  have  mine  as  well  as 
the  thanks  of  the  public. 

I  have  no  controversy  with  the  present  Church  of  England,  which  has  aban- 
doned, in  a  great  measure,  the  persecuting  principles  of  former  times ;  for 
though  I  am  not  unacquainted  with  the  nature  and  defects  of  religious  estab- 
lishments, yet  neither  my  principles  nor  inclinations  will  allow  me  to  give  them 
the  least  disturbance,  any  farther  than  they  impose  upon  conscience,  or  intrench 
upon  the  rights  of  civil  society.  If  the  Presbyterians  or  Independents  have 
been  guilty  of  such  practices  in  their  turns,  I  shall  freely  bear  my  testimony 
against  them,  and  think  I  may  do  it  with  a  good  grace,  since  I  have  always  de- 
clared against  restraints  upon  conscience  among  all  parties  of  Christians  ;f  but 
if  men  will  vindicate  the  justice  and  equity  of  oaths  ex  officio,  and  of  exorbi- 
tant fines,  imprisonment,  and  banishment  for  things  in  their  own  nature  indif- 
ferent ;  if  they  will  call  a  relation  of  the  illegal  severities  of  council-tables, 
star  chambers,  and  high  commissions  a  satire  against  the  present  establish- 
ment, they  must  use  their  liberty,  as  I  shall  mine,  in  appearing  against  eccle- 
siastical oppression,  from  what  quarter  soever  it  comes. 

I  have  freely  censured  the  mistakes  of  the  Puritans  in  Queen  Elizabeth's 
reign  ;  nor  will  I  be  their  advocate  any  longer  than  they  have  Scripture,  rea- 
son, and  some  degree  of  good  manners  on  their  side.  If  it  shall  at  any  time 
appear  that  the  body  of  them  lived  in  contempt  of  all  lawful  authority,  or  bid 

*  Expostulatory  Letter,  p.  29,  30.  t  Ibid.,  p.  12. 


222  -PREFACE. 

defiance  to  the  laws  of  their  country,  except  in  such  cases  wherein  their  con- 
sciences told  them  it  was  their  duty  to  obey  God  rather  than  man ;  if  they 
were  guilty  of  rebellion,  sedition,  or  of  abandoning  the  queen  and  the  Protest- 
ant religion  when  it  was  in  danger,  let  them  bear  their  own  reproach  ;  but  as 
yet  I  must  be  of  opinion  that  they  were  the  best  friends  of  the  Constitution 
and  liberties  of  their  country;  that  they  were  neither  unquiet  nor  restless,  un- 
less against  tyranny  in  the  state  and  oppression  upon  the  conscience ;  that 
they  made  use  of  no  other  weapons,  during  a  course  of  fourscore  years,  but 
prayers  to  God  and  petitions  to  the  Legislature  for  redress  of  their  grievan- 
ces, it  being  an  article  of  their  belief  that  absolute  submission  was  due  to  the 
supreme  magistrate  in  all  things  lawful,  as  will  sufficiently  appear  by  their  prot- 
estations in  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  King  James  I.  I  have  admitted 
that  the  Puritans  might  be  too  stiff  and  rigid  in  their  behaviour  ;  that  they 
were  unacquainted  with  the  rights  of  conscience ;  and  that  their  language  to 
their  superiors,  the  bishops,  was  not  always  decent  and  mannerly  :  oppression 
maketh  wise  men  mad.  But  surely  the  depriving,  imprisoning,  and  putting 
men  to  death  for  these  things  will  not  be  vindicated  in  our  times. 

In  the  preface  to  the  first  volume  of  this  history,  I  mentioned  with  pleasure 
the  growing  sentiments  of  religious  liberty  in  the  Church  of  England,  but  com- 
plained of  the  burden  of  subscriptions  upon  the  clergy,  and  of  the  corporation 
and  test  acts  as  prejudicial  to  the  cause  of  religion  and  virtue  among  the  laity  ; 
for  which  reasons  the  Protestant  Dissenters  throughout  England  intended  to 
petition  for  a  repeal  or  amendment  of  these  acts  the  ensuing  session  of  Par- 
liament, if  they  had  met  with  any  encouragement  from  their  superiors,  or  had 
the  least  prospect  of  success.  The  sacramental  test  is,  no  doubt,  a  distinguish- 
ing mark  of  reproach  which  they  have  not  deserved ;  and,  I  humbly  conceive, 
no  very  great  security  to  the  Church  of  England,  unless  it  can  be  supposed  that 
one  single  act  of  occasional  conformity  can  take  oflf  the  edge  of  all  their  ima- 
gined aversion  to  the  hierarchy,  who  worship  all  the  rest  of  the  year  among 
Nonconformists.  Nor  can  the  repeal  of  these  acts  be  of  any  considerable  ad- 
vantage to  the  body  of  Dissenters,  because  not  one  in  five  hundred  can  expect 
to  reap  any  private  benefit  by  it  to  himself  or  family ;  their  zeal,  therefore,  in 
this  cause  must  arise  principally  from  a  regard  to  the  liberties  of  their  coun- 
try, and  a  desire  of  rescuing  one  of  the  most  sacred  rights  of  Christianity  from 
the  profanation  to  which  it  is  exposed. 

But  it  seems  this  will  not  be  believed  till  the  Dissenters  propose  some  other 
pledge  and  security  by  which  the  end  and  intent  of  the  sacramental  test  may 
be  equally  attained;  for  (says  a,  late  writer*)  the  Legislature  never  intended 
them  any  share  of  trust  or  power  in  the  government ;  and  he  hopes  never  will, 
till  they  see  better  reasons  for  it  than  hath  hitherto  appeared.  Must  the  Dis- 
senters, then,  furnish  the  Church  with  a  law  to  exclude  themselves  from  serving 
their  king  and  country  1  Let  the  disagreeable  work  be  undertaken  by  men 
that  are  better  skilled  in  such  unequal  severities.  I  will  not  examine  into  the 
intent  of  the  Legislature  in  this  place ;  but  if  Protestant  Nonconformists  are 
to  have  no  share  of  trust  or  power  in  the  government,  why  are  they  chosen 
into  such  offices,  and  subject  to  fines  and  penalties  for  declining  them  1  Is  it 
for  not  serving  1 — this,  it  seems,  is  what  the  Legislature  never  intended.  Is  it, 
then,  for  not  qualifying  1 — surely  this  is  a  penalty  upon  conscience.  I  would  ask 
the  warmest  advocate  for  the  sacramental  test  whether  the  appointing  Protest- 
ant Dissenters  for  sheriffs  of  counties,  and  obliging  them  to  qualify  against 
their  consciences  under  the  penalties  of  a  premunire,  without  the  liberty  of 
serving  by  a  deputy  or  of  commuting  by  a  fine,  is  consistent  with  so  full  a 
toleration  and  exemption  from  penal  laws  as  this  writerf  says  they  enjoy  1 
It  is  true,  a  good  government  may  take  no  advantage  of  this  power,  but  in  a 
bad  one  men  must  qualify,  or  their  liberties  and  estates  lie  at  the  king's  mercy; 
it  seems,  therefore,  but  reasonable  (whatever  the  intent  of  the  Legislature  may 
be),  that  Protestant  Dissenters  should  be  admitted  to  serve  their  country  with 
*  History  of  the  Test,  p.  16,  23,  25.  +  History  of  the  Test,  p.  25. 


PREFACE.  ,  223 

a  good  conscience  in  offices  of  trust  as  well  as  of  burden,  or  be  exempted  from 
all  pains  and  penalties  for  not  doing  it.* 

it  is  now  pretty  generally  agreed,  that  receiving  the  holy  sacrament  merely 
as  a  qualification  for  a  place  of  civil  profit  or  trust  is  contrary  to  the  ends  of 
its  institution,  and  a  snare  to  the  consciences  of  menjf  for  though  the  law  is 
open,  and  "they  who  obtain  offices  in  the  state  know  beforehand  the  conditions 
of  keeping  them,"  yet  when  the  bread  of  a  numerous  family  depends  upon  a 
qualification  which  a  man  cannot  be  satisfie.d  to  comply  with,  it  is  certainly  a 
snare  J  and  though  I  agree  with  our  author,  that  "if  the  minds  of  such  per- 
sons are  wicked,  the  law  does  not  make  them  so,"  yet  I  am  afraid  it  hardens 
them,  and  makes  them  a  great  deal  worse.  How  many  thousand  come  to  the 
sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  with  reluctance!  and,  perhaps,  eat  and  drink 
judgment  to  themselves,  the  guilt  of  which  must  be  chargeable  either  upon 
the  imposers  or  receivers,  or  upon  both.  Methinks,  therefore,  charity  to  the 
souls  of  men,  as  well  as  a  concern  for  the  purity  of  our  holy  religion,  should 
engage  all  serious  Christians  to  endeavour  the  removal  of  this  grievance  ;  and 
since  we  are  told  that  the  appearing  of  the  Dissenters  at  this  time  is  unseason- 
able, and  will  be  ineffectual,  I  would  humbly  move  our  right  reverend  fathers 
the  bishops  not  to  think  it  below  their  high  stations  and  dignities  to  consider 
of  some  expedient  to  roll  away  this  reproach  from  the  Church  and  nation,  and 
agree  upon  some  security  for  the  former  (if  needful)  of  a  civil  nature,  that  may 
leave  room  (as  King  William  expresses  it  in  his  speech  to  his  first  Parliament) 
for  the  admission  of  all  Protestants  that  are  able  and  willing  to  serve  the'ir 
country.  The  honour  of  Christ  and  the  cause  of  public  virtue  seem  to  require 
it;  and  forasmuch  as  the  influence  of  these  acts  affects  great  numbers  of  the 
laity  in  a  very  tender  part,  I  should  think  it  no  dishonour  for  the  several  cor- 
porations in  England,  as  well  as  for  the  officers  of  the  army,  navy,  customs, 
and  excise,  who  are  more  peculiarly  concerned,  to  join  their  interests  in  peti- 
tioning the  Legislature  for  such  relief.  And  I  flatter  myself  that  the  wise  and 
temperate  behaviour  of  the  Protestant  Dissenters  in  their  late  general  assembly 
in  London,  with  the  dutiful  regard  that  they  have  always  shown  to  the  peace 
and  welfare  of  his  majesty's  person,  family,  and  government,  will  not  fail  to 
recommend  them  to  the  royal  protection  and  favour ;  and  that  his  most  excellent 
majesty,  in  imitation  of  his  glorious  predecessor.  King  William  IIL,  will,  in  a 
proper  time,  recommend  it  to  his  Parliament  to  strengthen  his  administration, 
by  taking  off"  those  restraints  which  at  present  disable  his  Protestant  Dissenting 
subjects  from  showing  their  zeal  in  the  service  of  their  king  and  country. 

Daniel  Neal. 

London,  March  C,  1732-3. 

*  It  should  be  mentioned  to  the  honour  of  Bishop  Warburton,  who  was  an  advocate  for  a  test,  though 
not  a  sacramental  test,  that  to  this  proposal,  that  "  Dissenters  should  be  exempted  from  all  pains  and  pen- 
alties for  not  serving  their  country  in  offices  of  trust,"  he  gave  liis  hearty  assent  by  adding  in  the  margin, 
most  certainly  ! — En. 

+  History  of  the  Test,  p.  22. 


ADVERTISEMENT 

TO   VOL.   II.    OF  DR.    TOULMIN'S   EDITION. 


The  editor,  in  revising  the  first  volume  of  Mr.  Neal's  "  History  of  the  Puri 
tans,"  was  greatly  assisted  by  the  author's  "  Review  of  the  principal  facts  ob- 
jected to  in  that  volume."  In  the  volume  which  is  now  presented  to  the  pub- 
lic, such  aid  fails  him,  as  it  will  also  in  the  succeeding  ones,  since  Dr.  Grey's 
"  Examination"  did  not  make  its  appearance  till  the  declining  state  of  Mr. 
Neal's  health  prevented  his  farther  vindication  of  his  work. 

The  justice  due  to  Mr.  Neal's  memory  and  to  truth  required  the  editor  to 
attempt  what  could  have  been  done  by  the  author  himself  with  much  greater 
advantage  than  at  this  distance  of  time  from  the  first  statement  of  the  facts, 
by  one  who  cannot  come  at  all  the  authorities  on  which  Mr.  Neal  spake.  He 
has  endeavoured,  however,  to  acquit  himself  with  care  and  impartiality  in  the 
examination  of  Dr.  Grey's  animadversions,  and  is  not  aware  that  he  has  passed 
over  any  material  strictures,  extended  through  a  volume  of  four  hundred  pages. 

Though  Dr.  Grey's*  "  Examination"  may  be  now  little  known  or  sought  af- 
ter, it  received,  at  its  first  publication,  the  thanks  of  many  divines  of  the  first 
eminence,  particularly  of  Dr.  Gibson,  then  Bishop  of  London,  and  of  Dr.  Sher- 
lock, then  Bishop  of  Salisbury.  The  latter  prelate,  writing  to  the  doctor,  said, 
*'  It  is  happy  that  Mr.  Neal's  account  appeared  when  there  was  one  so  well 
versed  in  the  history,  and  so  able  to  correct  the  errors  and  prejudices.  The 
service  you  have  done  must  be  considered  as  a  very  important  one  by  all  the 
friends  of  the  constitution  of  the  Church  of  England."! 

From  the  notes  in  the  following  pages,  the  reader  will  be  able  to  form  a 
judgment  whether  the  encomium  bestowed  on  Dr.  Grey's  work  proceeded  from 
a  careful  investigation  of  his  remarks,  and  a  comparison  of  them  with  Mr. 
Neal's  History  and  vouchers,  or  from  bias  to  a  cause.  In  the  editor's  appre- 
hensions, the  value  of  Mr.  Neal's  history  and  its  authorities  is,  so  far  as  he  has 
proceeded,  heightened  by  the  comparison. 

In  his  advertisement  to  the  first  volume,  he  made  a  great  mistake  in  ascri- 
bing the  quarto  edition  of  "  The  History  of  the  Puritans"  to  the  author  himself, 
who  died  about  twelve  years  before  its  appearance.  It  was  given  to  the  public 
by  his  worthy  son,  Mr.  Nathaniel  Neal,  of  the  Million  Bank,  and  is  generally 
esteemed  very  correct. 

There  has  been  pointed  out  to  the  editor  a  slight  error  of  Mr.  Neal,  vol.  i., 
p.  183,  who  says  that  Bishop  Jewel  was  educated  in  Christ's  College,  Oxford, 
whereas,  according  to  Fuller  and  Wood,  he  was  of  Corpus  Christi. 

The  editor  has  been  asked, J  on  what  authority,  in  the  biographical  account 
of  Mr.  Tomkins,  subjoined  to  p.  17  of  the  "Memoirs  of  Mr.  Neal,"  he  charged 
Mr.  Asty,§  on  making  an  exchange  with  Mr.  Tomkins,  one  Lord's  day,  with 
"  alarming  the  people  with  the  danger  of  pernicious  errors  and  damnable  her- 
esies creeping  in  among  the  Dissenters,  and  particularly  referring  to  errors 
concerning  the  doctrine  of  Christ's  divinity." 

On  examining  the  matter,  he  finds  that  he  has  used  the  very  words,  as  well 
as  written  on  the  authority,  of  Mr.  Tomkins,  who  spoke  on  the  information  he 

*  Dr.  Zachary  Grey  was  of  a  Yorkshire  family,  originally  from  France;  he  was  rector  of  Houghton 
Conquest,  in  Bedfordshire,  and  vicar  of  St.  Peter's  and  St.  Giles's  parishes  in  Cambridge,  where  he  usually 
passed  all  his  winter,  and  the  rest  of  his  time  at  Ampthill,  the  neighbouring  market-town  to  his  living.  He 
died  November  25,  1766,  at  Ampthill,  in  the  seventy-ninth  year  of  his  age,  and  was  buried  at  Houghton 
Conquest.  He  was  of  a  most  amiable,  sweet,  and  communicative  disposition,  most  friendly  to  his  acquaint- 
ance, and  never  better  pleased  than  when  performing  acts  of  friendship  and  benevolence.  His  publica- 
tions were  numerous. — A?iecdotes  of  Bowyer,  p.  354.  t  See  Anecdotes  of  Bowyer,  p.  .356,  note. 

t  By  the  Rev.  Thomas  Towle,  a  dissenting  minister  of  eminence  among  the  Independents,  in  an  inter- 
view, at  which  the  editor  was  very  politely  received,  and  which  took  place  at  Mr.  Towle's  desire,  in  con- 
sequence of  a  letter  written  to  him  by  a  friend  on  the  subject  of  the  above  charge. 

^  Mr.  Asty  was  grandson  of  Mr.  Robert  Asty,  who  was  ejected  from  Stratford,  in  Suffolk.  He  had 
good  natural  parts,  and  by  spiritual  gifts,  and  considerable  attainments  in  literature,  was  richly  furnished 
for  his  ministerial  province.  He  was  perceived  to  have  drunk  very  much  into  the  sentiments  and  spirit  of 
Dr.  Owen,  who  was  his  favourite  author.  The  amiable  traits  of  his  character  were  a  sweetness  of  temper, 
an  ailectionate  sympathy  in  the  afflictions  and  prosperity  of  others,  a  familiarity  and  condescension  of  de- 
portment, and  a  disposition  to  cast  a  mantle  over  the  failings  of  others,  and  to  ask  pardon  for  his  own.  He 
died  Jan.  20,  1729-30,  aged  57.— Dr.  Guyse's  funeral  sermon  for  him. 

Vol.  I.— F  f 


226 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


had  received  concerning  the  tenour  and  strain  of  Mr.  Asty's  sermon  ;  and  adds, 
that  Mr.  Asty  himself  afterward  acknowledged  to  him,  "  that  tlie  information 
in  o-eneral  was  true,  viz.,  that  he  spake  of  damnable  heresies,  and  applied  those 
texts,  2  Pet.,  ii.,  1  ;  Jude,  verse  4,  or,  at  least,  one,  to  the  new  doctrines  about 
the  deity  of  Christ,  that  were  now,  as  he  apprehended,  secretly  spreading." 
Mr.  Tomkins  was  also  told  that  Mr.  Asty  was  very  warm  upon  these  points  j 
but  he  subjoins,  "I  must  do  Mr.  Asty  this  justice,  to  acquaint  others  that  he 
had  no  particular  view  to  me,  or  suspicion  of  me,  when  he  brought  down  this 
sermon,  among  others,  to  Newington.  As  he  had  an  apprehension  of  the  dan- 
ger of  those  errors,  and  of  the  spreading  of  them  at  that  time,  he  thought  it 
mitr-ht  be  seasonable  to  preach  such  a  sermon  anywhere."  When  another  gen- 
tleman, however,  put  the  matter  more  closely  to  him,  he  could  not  deny  that 
he  had  some  intimation  of  a  suspicion  of  Mr.  Tomkins.  But  from  the  assurance 
Mr.  Asty  gave  Mr.  Tomkins,  candour  will  be  ready  to  conclude  that  he  did  not 
jjreatly  credit  the  intimation. 

Mr.  Towle,  who  was  a  successor  to  Mr.  Asty  in  the  pastoral  office,  could 
scarcely  suppose  that  he  could  be  guilty  of  a  conduct  so  remote  from  the 
amiable  and  pacific  character  he  always  bore,  and  from  the  delineation  of  it  in 
the  funeral  sermon  for  him  by  Dr.  Guyse,  who,  I  find,  says  of  him,  "I  have 
with  pleasure  observed  a  remarkable  tenderness  in  his  spirit,  as  judging  the 
state  of  those  that  differed  from  him,  even  in  points  which  he  took  to  be  of 
very  great  importance." 

It  will  be  right  to  add  Mr.  Tomkins's  declaration  with  respect  to  Mr.  Asty's 
views :  "  I  never  had  a  thought  that  he  preached  his  sermon  out  of  any  partic- 
ular personal  prejudice  against  me,  but  really  believed  that  he  did  it  from  a 
zeal  for  what  he  apprehended  to  be  truth  necessary  to  salvation.  Though  I 
am  persuaded,  in  my  own  mind,  that  this  zeal  of  his  in  this  matter  is  a  mista- 
ken zeal,  I  do  nevertheless  respect  him  as  a  Christian  and  a  minister." 

In  the  memoirs  of  Mr.  Neal,  we  mentioned  his  letter  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Francis 
Hare,  dean  of  Worcester.  The  editor  has  lately  met  with  this  piece  ;  it  does 
the  author  credit,  for  it  is  written  with  ability  and  temper.  He  is  inclined  to 
give  a  passage  from  it,  as  a  specimen  of  the  force  of  argument  it  shows,  and 
as  going  to  the  foundation  of  our  ecclesiastical  establishment. 

The  dean  contended  for  submission  to  the  authority  of  the  rightful  govern- 
ors of  the  Church,  whom  he  defined  to  be  "  an  ecclesiastical  consistory,  of 
presbyters,  with  their  bishop  at  their  head."  Mr.  Neal,  to  show  that  this  defini- 
tion does  not  apply  to  the  Church  of  England,  replies :  •'  Now,  taking  all  this 
for  granted,  what  an  argument  have  you  put  into  the  mouths  of  the  Dissenters 
to  justify  their  separation  from  the  present  establishment !" 

"For  is  there  anything  like  this  to  be  found  there  "?  Is  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land governed  by  a  bishop  and  his  presbyters  1  Is  not  the  king  the  fountain 
of  all  ecclesiastical  authority  1  And  has  he  not  power  to  make  ordinances 
which  shall  bind  the  clergy  without  their  consent,  under  the  penalty  of  a  pre- 
munire'?  Does  not  his  majesty  nominate  the  bishops,  summon  convocations, 
and  prorogue  them  at  pleasure  1  When  the  convocations  of  Canterbury  and 
York  are  assembled,  can  they  debate  upon  any  subject  without  the  king's  li- 
cense, or  make  any  canons  that  can  bind  the  people  without  an  act  of  Parlia- 
ment 1  The  bishops,  in  their  several  courts,  can  determine  nothing  in  a  judicial 
manner  about  the  faith,  there  lying  an  appeal  from  them  to  the  king,  who  de- 
cides it  by  his  commissioners  in  the  Court  of  Delegates. 

"  Now,  though  this  may  be  a  wise  and  prudent  institution,  yet  it  can  lay  no 
claim  to  antiquity,  because  the  civil  magistrate  was  not  Christian  for  three 
hundred  years  after  our  Saviour;  and,  consequently,  the  Dissenters,  who  are 
for  reducing  religion  to  the  standard  of  the  Bible,  can  be  under  no  obligation.^ 
to  conform  to  it.  We  have  a  divine  precept  to  oblige  us  to  do  whatsoever 
Christ  and  his  apostles  have  commanded  us,  but  I  find  no  passage  of  Scripture 
that  obliges  us  to  be  of  the  religion  of  the  state  we  happen  to  be  born  in.  If 
there  be  any  such  obligation  on  the  English  Dissenters,  it  must  arise  only  from 
the  laws  of  their  country,  which  can  have  no  influence  upon  them  at  present^ 
those  laws  having  been  long  since  suspended  by  the  Act  of  Indulgence." 


PART    II. 


CHAPTER  I. 

FKOM    THE    DEMISE    OF   QUEEN   ELIZABETH   TO   THE 
DEATH    OF    ARCHBISHOP    BANCROFT. 

The  royal  house  of  the  Stuarts  has  not  been 
more  calamitous  to  the  English  Church  and  na- 
tion in  the  male  descendants,  than  successful 
and  glorious  in  the  female.     The  four  kings  of 
this  line,  while  in  power,  were  declared  ene- 
mies of  our  civil  constitution  ;  tliey  governed 
without  law,  levied  taxes  by  the  prerogative, 
and  endeavoured  to  put  an  end  to  the  very  being 
of  Parliaments.     With  regard  to  religion,  the 
first  two  were  neither  sound  Protestants  nor 
good  Catholics,  but  were  for  reconciling  the  two 
religions,  and  meeting  the  papists  half  way  ;  but 
the  last  two  went  over  entirely  to  the  Church  of 
Rome,  and  died  professedly  in  her  communion. 
The  female  branches  of  this  family  being  mar- 
ried among  foreign  Protestants,  were  of  a  dif- 
ferent stamp,  being  more  inclined  to  Puritanism 
than  popery;  one  of  them  [Mary,  eldest  daugh- 
ter of  King  Charles  I.]  was  mother  of  the  great 
King  William  III,  the  glorious  deliverer  of  these 
kingdoms  from  popery  and  slavery ;  and  another 
[Elizabeth,  daughter  of  King  James   I.]  was 
grandmother  of  his  late  majesty  King  Gfeorge  I., 
in  whom  the  Protestant  succession  took  place, 
and  whose  numerous  descendants  in  the  person 
and  offspring  of  his  present  majesty,  are  the  de- 
fence and  glory  of  the  whole  Protestant  interest 
in  Europe. 

King  James  was  thirty-six  years  of  age  when 
he  came  to  the  English  throne,  having  reigned 
in  Scotland  from  his  infancy.  In  the  year  1589 
he  married  the  Princess  Anne,  sister  to  the  King 
of  Denmark,  by  whom  he  had  three  children  liv- 
ing at  this  time  :  Henry,  prince  of  Wales,  who 
died  before  he  was  nineteen  years  of  age  [1612]; 
Elizabeth,  married  to  the  elector  palatine,  1613  • 
and  Charles,  who  succeeded  his  father  in  his 
kingdoms.  His  majesty's  behaviour  in  Scotland 
raised  the  expectations  and  hopes  of  all  parties ; 
the  Puritans  relied  upon  his  majesty's  educa- 
tion, upon  his  subscribing  the  solemn  league 
and  covenant,  and  upon  various  solemn  repeat- 
ed declarations  ;  in  particular,  one  made  in  the 
General  Assembly  at  Edinburgh,  1590:  when 
standing  with  his  bonnet  off,  and  his  hands  hfted 
up  to  heaven,  "  he  praised  God  that  he  was  born 
in  the  time  of  the  light  of  the  Gospel,  and  in 
■such  a  place  as  to  be  king  of  such  a  church,  the 
sincerest  [purest]  kirk  in  the  world.  The  Church 
of  Geneva,"  says  he,  "  keep  Pasche  and  Yule 
[Easter  and  Christmas],  what  have  they  for 
them  1  They  have  no  institution.  As  for  our 
.^eighbour  Kirk  of  England,  their  service  is  an 
evil-said  mass  in  English;  they  want  nothing 
of  the  mass  but  the  liftings.  I  charge  you,  my 
good  ministers,  doctors,  elders,  nobles,  gentle- 


men, and  barons,  to  stand  to  your  purity,  and  to 
exhort  the  people  to  do  the  same  ;  and  I,  for- 
sooth, as  long  as  I  brook  my  life,  shall  maintain 
the  same."*     In  his  speech  to  the  Parliament, 
1598,  he  tells  them  "  that  he  minded  not  to  bring 
in  papistical  or  Anglicane  bishops."!   Nay,  upon 
his  leaving  Scotland  to  take  possession  of  the 
crown  of  England,  he  gave  public  thanks  to  God 
m  the  kirk  of  Edinburgh,  "that  he  had  left  both 
kirk  and  kingdom  in   that  state  which  he  in- 
tended not  to  alter  any  ways,  his  subjects  living 
in  peace."!     But  all  this  was  kingcraft,  or  else 
his  majesty  changed  his  principles  with  the  cli- 
mate.    The  Scots  ministers  did  not  approach 
him  with  the  distant  submission  and  reverence 
of  the  English  bishops,  and  therefore  within  nine 
months  after  he  ascended  the  throne  of  England 
he  renounced  presbytery,  and  established  it  for 
a  maxim,  No  bishop,  no  king.    So  soon  did  this 
pious  monarch  renounce  his  principles  (if  he 
had  any),  and  break  through  the  most  solemn 
vows  and  obligations  !     When  the  Long  Parlia- 
ment addressed  King  Charles  I.  to  set  up  pres- 
bytery in  the  room  of  episcopacy,  his  majesty 
objected  his  coronation  oath,  in  which  he  had 
sworn  to  maintain  the  clergy  in  their  rights  and 
privileges  ;  but  King  James  had  no  such  scru- 
ples of  conscience ;  for  without  so  much  as  ask- 
ing the  consent  of  Parliament,  General  Assem- 
bly, or  people,  he  entered  upon  the  most  effect- 
ual measures   to   subvert   the   kirk    discipline 
which  he  had  sworn  to  maintain  with  hands 
hfted  up  to  Heaven,  at  his  coronation,  and  had 
afterward  solemnly  subscribed,  with  his  queen 
and  family,  in  the  years  1581  and  1590.(J 


*  Calderwood's  Hist,  of  the  Church  of  Scotland, 
p.  256. 

t  Ibid.,  p,  418.  James,  when  settled  on  the  Eng- 
hsh  throne,  talked  a  different  language.  Dr.  Grey 
quotes  different  passages  to  this  purport,  with  a  view 
to  invalidate  Mr.  Neal's  authority.  The  fact  is  not 
that  Calderwood  falsified,  and  Mr.  N.  through  preju- 
dice adopted,  his  representations,  but  that  James  was 
a  dissembler,  and,  when  he  wrote  what  Dr.  Grey 
produces  from  his  work,  had  thrown  off  the  mask  he 
wore  in  Scotland.— See  Harris's  Life  of  James  I.,  p. 
25-29.— Ed.  t  Ibid.,  p.  473. 

^  Bishop  Warburton  censures  Mr.  Neal  for  not 
giving  here  the  provocation  which  the  king  had  re- 
ceived from  what  he  styles  "  the  villanous  and  ty- 
rannical usage  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland  to  him."  On 
this  censure  it  may  be  observed,  that  had  Mr.  Neal 
gone  into  the  detail  of  the  treatment  the  king  had 
met  with  from  the  Scots  clergy,  besides  the  long  di- 
gression into  which  it  would  have  led  him,  it  would 
not  have  eventually  saved  the  reputation  of  the  kino-  • 
for  Mr.  Neal  must  have  related  the  causes  of  that 
behaviour.  It  arose  from  their  jealousy,  and  their 
fears  of  his  disposition  to  crush  them  and  their  reli- 
gion ;  founded  on  facts  delivered  to  them  by  tjie  Eng- 
lish ministry,  and  from  his  favouring  and  emplojang 
known  papists.  The  violation  of  his  solemn  reitera- 
ted declarations,  when  he  became  King  of  England. 


228 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


The  papists  put  the  king  in  remembrance 
that  he  was  born  of  Roman  Catholic  parents, 
and  had  been  baptized  according  to  the  rites  and 
ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  Rome  ;  that  his 
mother,  of  whom  he  usually  spoke  with  rever- 
ence, was  a  martyr  for  that  church  ;  and  that  he 
himself,  upon  sundry  occasions,  had  expressed 
no  dislike  to  her  doctrines,  though  he  disallowed 
of  the  usurpations  of  the  court  of  Rome  over 
foreign  princes  ;  that  he  had  called  the  Church 
of  Rome  his  mother-church ;  and,  therefore,  they 
presumed  to  welcome  his  majesty  into  England 
with  a  petition  for  an  open  toleration.* 

But  the  bishops  of  the  Church  of  England 
made  the  earliest  apphcation  for  his  majesty's 
protection  and  favour.  As  soon  as  the  queen 
was  dead.  Archbishop  Whitgift  sent  Dr.  Nevil, 
dean  of  Canterbury,  express  into  Scotland,  in 
the  name  of  all  the  bishops  and  clergy  of  Eng- 
land, to  give  his  majesty  assurance  of  their  un- 
feigned duty  and  loyalty ;  to  know  what  com- 
mands he  had  for  them  with  respect  to  the 
ecclesiastical  courts,  and  to  recommend  the 
Church  of  England  to  his  countenance  and  fa- 
vour, t  The  king  replied  that  he  would  uphold 
the  government  of  the  Church  as  the  queen  left 
it ;  which  comforted  the  timorous  archbishop, 
who  had  sometimes  spoke  with  great  uneasi- 
ness of  the  Scotch  mist. 

Upon  his  majesty's  arrival  all  parties  address- 
ed him,  and  among  others  the  Dutch  and  French 
churches,  and  the  English  Puritans  ;  to  the  for- 
mer his  majesty  gave  this  answer  :  "  I  need  not 
use  many  words  to  declare  my  good-will  to  you, 
who  have  taken  sanctuary  here  for  the  sake  of 
religion  ;  I  am  sensible  you  have  enriched  this 
kingdom  with  several  arts  and  manufactures  ; 
and  I  swear  to  you,  that  if  any  one  shall  give 
you  disturbance  in  your  churches,  upon  your 
application  to  me,  I  will  revenge  your  cause ; 
and  though  you  are  none  of  my  proper  subjects, 
I  will  maintain  and  cherish  you  as  much  as  any 
prince  in  the  world."  But  the  latter,  whatever 
they  had  reason  to  expect,  met  with  very  differ- 
ent usage. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  precautions  that  were 
taken  to  secure  the  elections  of  members  for 
the  next  Parliament,  the  archbishop  wished  he 
might  not  live  to  see  it,  for  fear  of  some  altera- 
tion in  the  Church  ;  for  the  Puritans  were  pre- 
paring petitions,  and  printing  pamphlets  in  their 
own  vindication,  though  by  the  archbishop's 
vigilance,  says  Mr.  Strype,t  not  a  petition  or  a 

showed  how  just  were  those  suspicions,  and  proved 
him  to  have  been  a  dissembler.  To  these  remarks 
it  may  be  added,  What  provocation  constrained  him 
to  give  the  public  thanks  and  promise,  with  which 
he  left  Scotland  ?— See  Dr.  Harris's  Life  of  James  I., 
p.  25-31,  and  Burnet's  History  of  his  Own  Times,  vol. 
i.,  p.  5,  Edinburgh  edition  in  12mo. — Ed. 

*  That  the  expectations  of  the  papists  were  not 
disappointed,  though  Dr.  Grey  controverts  Mr.  Neal's 
representation,  there  is  ample  proof  given  by  Dr. 
Harris  in  his  Life  of  James  I.,  p.  219,  22G.  "  It  is 
certain,"  says  Dr.  Warner,  "  that  he  had  on  several 
occasions  given  great  room  to  suspect  that  he  was 
far  from  being  an  enemy  to  the  Roman  Catholics. 
Amid  all  their  hopes,"  he  adds,  "  each  side  had  their 
fears  ;  while  James  himself  had,  properly  speaking, 
no  other  religion  than  what  flowed  from  a  principle 
which  he  called  kingcraft." — Warner's  Ecclesiastical 
History,  vol.  ii.,  p.  476,  477. — Ed. 

t  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  559.. 

j  Strype's  Ann  ,  vol.  ult.,  p.  187. 


pamphlet  escaped  without  a  speedy  and  effectu- 
al answer. 

While  the  king  was  in  his  progress  to  Lon- 
don [April,  1003]  the  Puritans  presented  their 
millenary  petition,  so  called,  because  it  was  said 
to  be  subscribed  by  a  thousand  hands,  though 
there  were  not  more  than  eight  hundred  out  of 
twenty-five  counties.*  It  is  entitled  "  The 
humble  Petition  of  the  Ministers  of  the  Church 
of  England,  desiring  Reformation  of  certain 
Ceremonies  and  Abuses  of  the  Church."  The 
preamble  sets  forth,  "  that  neither  as  factious 
men  affecting  a  popular  parity  in  the  Church, 
nor  as  schismatics  aiming  at  the  dissolution  of 
the  state  ecclesiastical,  but  as  the  faithful  min- 
isters of  Christ,  and  loyal  subjects  to  his  maj- 
esty, they  humbly  desire  the  redress  of  some 
abuses."  And  though  divers  of  them  had  for- 
merly subscribed  to  the  service-book,  some  upon 
protestation,  some  upon  an  exposition  given, 
and  some  with  condition,  yet  now  they,  to  the 
number  of  more  than  a  thousand  ministers, 
groaned  under  the  burden  of  human  rites  and 
ceremonies,  and  with  one  consent  threw  them- 
selves down  at  his  royal  feet  for  relief  in  the 
following  particulars : 

1.  In  the  Church  service.  "That  the  cross 
in  baptism,  the  interrogatories  to  infants,  bap- 
tism by  women,  and  confirmation,  may  be  ta- 
ken away  ;  that  the  cap  and  surplice  may  not 
be  urged  ;  that  examination  may  go  before  the 
communion  ;  that  the  ring  in  marriage  may  be 
dispensed  with  ;  that  the  service  may  be  abridg- 
ed ;  church  songs  and  music  moderated  to  bet- 
ter edification  ;  that  the  Lord's  Day  may  not  be 
profaned,  nor  the  observation  of  other  holydays 
strictly  enjoined;  that  ministers  may  not  be 
charged  to  teach  their  people  to  bow  at  the  name 
of  Jesus  ;  and  that  none  but  canonical  Scrip- 
tures be  read  in  the  Church." 

2.  Concerning  ministers.  "That  none  may 
be  admitted  but  able  men  ;  that  they  be  obliged 
to  preach  on  the  Lord's  Day ;  that  such  as  are 
not  capable  of  preaching  may  be  removed  or 
obliged  to  maintain  preachers  ;  that  nonresi- 
dency  be  not  permitted ;  that  King  Edward's 
statute  for  the  lawfulness  of  the  marriage  of 
the  clergy  be  revived ;  and  that  ministers  be 
not  obliged  to  subscribe,  but  according  to  law,  to 
the  articles  of  religion,  and  the  king's  suprema- 
cy only." 

3.  For  Church  livings.  "  That  bishops  leave 
their  commendams  ;  that  impropriations  annex- 
ed to  bishoprics  and  colleges  be  given  to  preach- 
ing incumbents  only;  and  that  lay-impropria- 
tions  be  charged  with  a  sixth  or  seventh  part 
for  the  maintenance  of  a  preacher." 

4.  For  Church  discipline.  "  That  excommu- 
nication and  censures  be  not  in  the  name  of  lay- 
chancellors,  &c.  ;  that  men  be  not  excommuni- 
cated for  twelvepenny  matters,  nor  without 
consent  of  their  pastors  ;  that  regi.strais'  places, 
and  others  having  jurisdiction,  do  not  put  them 
out  to  farm;  that  sundry  popish  canons  be  re- 
vised ;  that  the  oath  ex  officio  be  more  sparingly 
used  ;  and  licenses  for  marriages  without  bans 
be  more  sparingly  granted." 

"  These  things,"  say  they,  "  we  are  able  to 
show  not  to  be  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God, 
if  it  shall  please  your  majesty  to  hear  us,  or  by 

*  Clark's  Life  of  Hildersham,  p.  116,  annexed  to 
the  General  Martyrology. 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


229 


writing  to  be  informed,  or  by. conference  among 
the  learned  to  be  resolved." 
'  The  king  met  with  sundry  other  petitions  of 
the  like  nature  from  most  of  the  counties  he 
passed  through  ;  but  the  heads  of  the  two  uni- 
versities having  taken  offence  at  the  millenary 
petition,  for  demising  away  the  impropriations 
annexed  to  bishoprics  and  colleges,  which,  says 
Fuller,  would  cut  off  more  than  the  nipples  of 
the  breasts  of  both  universities  in  point  of  main- 
tenance,* expressed  their  resentment  different 
ways  :  those  of  Cambridge  passed  a  grace,  June 
9th,  1603,  "That  whosoever  in  the  University 
should  openly  oppose  by  word  or  writing,  or  any 
other  way,  the   doctrine   or   discipline   of  the 
Church  of  England  established  by  law,  or  any 
part  thereof,   should   be  suspended   ipso  facto 
from  any  degree  already  taken,  and  be  disabled 
from  taking  any  degree  for  the  future."    About 
the  same  time  the  University  of  Oxford  pub- 
lished an  answer  to  the  ministers'  petition,  en- 
titled "  An  Answer  of  the  Vice-chancellor,  Doc- 
tors, Proctors,  and  other  Heads  of  Houses  in  the 
University  of  Oxford,  to  the  Petition  of  the  Min- 
isters of  the  Church  of  England,  desiring  Ref- 
ormation ;  dedicated  to  the  King,  with  a  Pref- 
ace to  the  Archbishop,  the  Chancellors  of  both 
Universities,  and  the  two  Secretaries  of  State. "t 
The  answer  shows  the  high  spirit  of  the  Univer- 
sity ;  it  reproaches  the  ministers  in  very  severe 
language  for  subscribing  and  then  complaining  ; 
it  reflects  upon  them  as  factious  men,  for  affect- 
ing a  parity  in  the  Church,  and  then  falls  se- 
verely on  the  Scots   Reformation,  which  his 
majesty  had  so  publicly  commended  before  he 
left  that  knigdom.     It  throws  an  odium  upon 
the  petitioners,  as  being  for  a  limited  monarchy, 
and  for  subjecting  the  titles  of  kings  to  the  ap- 
probation of  the  people.     It  then  goes  on  to 
vindicate  all  the  grievances  complained  of,  and 
concludes  with  beseeching  his  majesty  not  to 
suffer  the  peace  of  the  state  to  be  disturbed  by 
allowing  these  men  to  disturb  its  polity.    "Look 
upon  the  Reformed  churches  abroad,"  say  they  : 
"  wheresoever  the  desire  of  the  petitioners  takes 
place,  how  ill  it  suits  with  the  state  of  mon- 
archy ;  does  it  become  the  supereminent  au- 
thority and  regal  person  of  a  king  to  subject 
his  sovereign  power  to  the  overswaying  and  all- 
commanding  power  of  a  presbytery ;  that  his 
meek  and  humble  clergy  should  have  power  to 
bind  their  king  in  chains,  and  their  prince  in 
links  of  iron  1  that  is,  to  censure  him,  and,  if 
they  see  cause,  to  proceed  against  him  as  a  ty- 
rant.   That  the  supreme  magistrate  should  only 
be  a  maintainor  of  their  proceedings,  but  not  a 
commander  in  them ;  these  are  but  petty  abridg- 
ments of  the  prerogative  royal,  while  the  king 
submits  his  sceptre  to  the  sceptre  of  Christ,  and 
licks  the  dust  of  the  Church's  feet."   They  then 
commend  the  present  Church  government  as 
the  great  support  of  the  crown,  and  calculated 
to  promote  unlimited  subjection,  and  aver,  "  that 
I      there  are  at  this  day  more  learned  rhen  in  this 
land,  in  this  one  kingdom,  than  are  to  be  found 
among  all  the  ministers  of  religion  in  France, 
Flanders,  Germany,  Poland,  Denmark,  Geneva, 
Scotland,  or  (to  speak  in  a  word)  all  Europe  be- 
sides. "J     Such  a  vainglorious  piece  of  self-ap- 

*  Fuller's  Church  History,  b.  x.,  p.  23. 

t  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  567. 

t  Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  iv.,  p.  137. 


plause  is  hardly  to  be  met  with.  They  must 
have  a  mean  opinion  of  the  king's  acquaintance 
with  the  learned  world,  to  use  him  in  this  man- 
ner, at  a  time  when,  though  there  were  some 
very  considerable  divines  among  ourselves, 
there  were  as  many  learned  men  in  the  foreign 
universities  as  had  been  known  since  the  Ref- 
ormation ;  witness  the  Bezas,  Scaligers,  Ca- 
saubons,  &c.,  whose  works  have  transmitted 
their  great  names  down  to  posterity. 

And  that  the  divines  of  Cambridge  might  not 
come  behind  their  brethren  of  Oxford,  the  heads 
of  that  university  wrote  a  letter  of  thanks  to  the 
Oxonians  for  their  answer  to  the  petition,  in 
which  "  they  applaud  and  commend  their  weigh- 
ty arguments,  and  threaten  to  battle  the  Puri- 
tans with  numbers  ;  for  if  Saul  has  his  thou- 
sands (say  they),  David  has  his  ten  thousands. 
They  acquaint  them  with  their  decree  of  June 
9,  and  bid  the  poor  pitiful  Puritans  [Iwmunciones 
miserrimi]  answer  their  almost  a  thousand  books 
in  defence  of  the  hierarchy  before  they  pre- 
tend to  dispute  before  so  learned  and  wise  a 
king."*  A  mean  and  pitiful  triumph  over  hon- 
est and  virtuous  men,  who  aimed  at  nothing 
more  than  to  bring  the  discipline  of  the  Church 
a  little  nearer  the  standard  of  Scripture  ! 

But  that  his  majesty  might  part  with  his  old 
friends  with  some  decency,  and  seem  to  answer 
the  request  of  the  petitioners,  he  agreed  to  have 
a  conference  with  the  two  parties  at  Hampton 
Court.t  for  which  purpose  he  published  a  proc- 
lamation from  Wilton,  October  24th,  1603, 
touching  a  meeting  for  the  hearing  and  for  the 
determining  things  pretended  to  be  amiss  in 
the  Church.  In  which  he  declares  "  that  he 
was  already  persuaded  that  the  constitution  of 
the  Church  of  England  was  agreeable  to  God's 
Word,  and  near  to  the  condition  of  the  primi- 
tive Church  ;  yet  because  he  had  received  in- 
formation that  some  things  in  it  were  scanda- 
lous, and  gave  offence,  he  had  appointed  a  meet- 
ing, to  be  had  before  himself  and  council,  of  di- 
vers bishops  and  other  learned  men,  at  which 
consultation  he  hoped  to  be  better  informed  of 
the  state  of  the  Church,  and  whether  there 
were  any  such  enormities  in  it ;  in  the  mean 
time,  he  commanded  all  his  subjects  not  to  pub- 
lish anything  against  the  state  ecclesiastical,  or 
to  gather  subscriptions,  or  make  supplications, 
being  resolved  to  make  it  appear  by  their  chas- 
tisement how  far  such  a  manner  of  proceeding 
was  displeasing  to  him,  for  he  was  determined 
to  preserve  the  ecclesiastical  state  in  such  form 
as  he  found  it  established  by  the  law,  only  to 
reform  such  abuses  as  he  should  find  apparently 
proved. "t 

The  archbishop  and  his  brethren  had  been  in- 
defatigable in  possessing  the  king  with  the  ex- 
cellence of  the  English  hierarchy,  as  coming 
near  the  practice  ol  the  primitive  Church,  and 
best  suited  to  a  monarchical  government ;  they 
represented  the  Puritans  as  turbulent  and  fac- 
tious, inconsiderable  in  number,  and  aiming  .at 

*  Dr.  Warner,  with  reason  and  judgment,  supposes 
that  what  determined  James,  more  than  anything- 
else,  to  appoint  the  Hampton  Court  Conference,  of 
wliich  he  would  be  the  moderator,  was,  that  he 
might  give  his  new  subjects  a  taste  of  his  talents  for 
disputation,  of  which  he  was  extremely  fond  and 
conceited. — Eccles.  Hist.,  vol.  i.,  p.  478. — Ed. 

t  Life  of  Whitgift,  b.  iv.,  c.  xxxi.,  p.  5G8. 

X  Ibid.,  p.  370. 


230 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


confusion  both  in  Churcli  and  State ;  and  yet, 
after  all,  the  old  archbishop  was  doubtful  of  the 
event,  for  in  one  of  his  letters  to  Cecil,  after- 
ward Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  he  writes,  "Though 
our  humorous  and  contentious  brethren  have 
made  many  petitions  and  motions  correspond- 
ent to  their  natures,  yet  to  my  comfort  they 
have  not  much  prevailed.  Your  lordship,  I  am 
sure,  does  imagine  that  I  have  not  all  this  while 
b»'en  idle,  nor  greatly  quiet  in  mind,  for  who 
can  promise  himself  rest  among  so  many  vi- 
pers !"* 

The  place  of  conference  was  the  drawing- 
room  within  the  privy-chamber  at  Hampton 
Court ;  the  disputants  on  both  sides  were  nom- 
inated by  the  king.  For  the  Church  there  were 
nine  bir.hops,  and  about  as  many  dignitaries, 
viz.,  Dr.  Whitgift,  archbishop  of  Canterbury ;  Dr. 
Bancroft,  bishop  of  London  ;  Dr.  Mathew,  bishop 
of  Durham  ;  Bilson,  bishop  of  Winchester  ;  Bab- 
ington,  bishop  of  Worcester  ;  Rudd,  bishop  of 
St.  David's;  Watson,  bishop  of  Chichester;  Rob- 
inson, bishop  of  Carlisle  ;  and  Dove,  bishop  of 
Peterborough.  Dr.  Andrews,  dean  of  the  chapel ; 
Overal,  dean  of  St.  Paul's ;  Barlow,  dean  of 
Chester;  Bridges,  dean  of  Salisbury;  Field,  dean 
of  Gloucester  ;  and  King,  archdeacon  of  Notting- 
ham ;  besides  the  deans  of  Worcester  and  Wind- 
sor. 

For  the  Puritans  were  only  four  ministers : 
Dr.  John  Raynolds,  Dr.  Thomas  Sparks,  pro- 
fessors of  divinity  in  Oxford  ;  Mr.  Chadderton 
and  Mr.  •Knewstubs,  of  Cambridge.  The  di- 
vines of  the  Church  appeared  in  the  habits  of 
their  respective  distinctions  ;  but  those  for  the 
Puritans  in  fur  gowns,  like  the  Turkey  mer- 
chants, or  the  professors  in  foreign  universities. 
When  the  king  conferred  with  the  bishops,  he 
behaved  with  softness,  and  a  great  regard  to 
their  character  ;  but  when  the  Puritan  ministers 
stood  before  him,  instead  of  being  moderator,  he 
took  upon  him  the  place  of  respondent,  and  bore 
them  down  with  his  majestic  frowns  and  threat- 
enings,  in  the  midst  of  a  numerous  crowd  of 
courtiers,  all  the  lords  of  the  privy-council  be- 
ing prenset ;  while  the  bishops  stood  by,  and 
were  little  more  than  spectators  of  the  triumph. 

Tne  account  of  this  conference  was  published 
at  large  only  by  Dr.  Barlow,  who,  being  a  party, 
says  Fuller,t  set  a  sharp  edge  on  his  own,  and 
a  blunt  one  on  his  adversaries'  weapons.  Dr. 
Sparks  and  Raynolds  complained  that  they  were 
wronged  by  that  relation, i  and  Dr.  Jackson  de- 
clared that  Barlow  himself  repented,  upon  his 
deathbed,  of  the  injury  he  had  done  the  Puritan 
ministers  in  his  relation  of  the  Hampton  Court 
Conference. iji    Mr.  Strype  has  lately  published  a 


*  Life  of  Whitgift,  Append.,  b.  iv.,  no.  43. 

t  Ch.  Hist.,  b.  X.,  p.  21.  t  Pierce,  p.  153,  154. 

(j  "  The  Puritans,"  Dr.  Harris  observes,  "  needed 
not  to  have  complained  so  much  as  they  have  done 
of  Barlow.  If  he  has  not  represented  their  arguments 
in  as  just  a  light,  nor  related  what  was  done  by  the 
ministers  as  advantageously  as  truth  required,  he  has 
abundantly  made  it  up  to  them  by  showing  that  the 
bishops,  their  adversaries,  were  gross  flatterers,  and 
had  no  regard  to  their  sacred  characters ;  and  that 
their  mortal  foe  James  had  but  a  low  understanding, 
and  was  undeserving  of  the  rank  he  assumed  in  the 
republic  of  learning.  This  he  has  done  effectually, 
and,  therefore,  whatever  was  his  intention,  the  Puri- 
tans should  have  applauded  his  performance,  and  ap- 
pealed to  it  for  proof  of  the  insufficiency  of  him  who 


letter  of  the  Bishop  of  Durham  toHutton,  arch- 
bishop of  York,  which  agrees  pretty  much  with 
Barlow  ;*  but  Mr.  Patrick  Galloway,  a  Scotsman, 
has  set  things" in  a  different  light ;  from  all 
these,  and  from  the  king's  own  letter  to  Mr. 
Blake,  a  Scotsman,  we  must  form  the  best  judg- 
ment of  it  that  we  can. 

The  conference  continued  three  days,  viz., 
January  the  14th,  16th,  and  18th  ;  the  first  was 
with  the  bishops  and  deans  alone,  January  14th. 
the  Puritan  ministers  not  being  present,  when 
the  king  made  a  speech  in  commendation  of  the 
hierarchy  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  congrat- 
ulated himself  that  "he  was  now  come  into  the 
promised  land  ;  that  he  sat  among  grave  and 
reverend  men,  and  was  not  a  king,  as  formerly, 
without  state,  nor  in  a  place  where  beardless 
boys  would  brave  him  to  his  face.  He  assured 
them  he  had  not  called  this  assembly  for  any  in- 
novation, for  he  acknowledged  the  government 
ecclesiastical,  as  now  it  is,  to  have  been  appro- 
ved by  manifold  blessings  from  God  himself ; 
but  because  he  had  received  some  complaints 
of  disorders,  he  was  willing  to  remove  them  i) 
scandalous,  and  to  take  notice  of  them  if  but 
trifling  ;  that  the  reason  of  his  consulting  them 
by  themselves  was  to  receive  satisfaction  from 
them,  (1.)  About  some  things  in  the  Common 
Prayer  Book ;  (2.)  Concerning  excommunica- 
tion in  the  ecclesiastical  courts  ;  (3.)  About  pro- 
viding some  well-qualified  ministers  for  Ireland  ; 
that  if  anything  should  be  found  meet  to  be  re- 
dressed, it  might  be  done  without  their  being 
confronted  by  their  opponents. "t 

In  the  Common  Prayer  Book  his  majesty  had 
some  scruples  about  the  confirmation  of  chil- 
dren, as  it  imported  a  confirmation  of  baptism. 
But  the  archbishop  on  his  knees  replied,  that  the 
Church  did  not  hold  baptism  imperfect  without 
confirmation.  Bancroft  said  it  was  of  apostoli- 
cal institution,  Heb.,  iv.,  2,  where  it  is  called 
"the  doctrine  of  the  laying  on  of  hands."  But 
to  satisfy  the  king,  it  was  agreed  that  the  words 
examination  of  children  should  be  added  to  con- 
firmation. 

His  majesty  excepted  to  the  absolution  of  the 
Church,  as  too  nearly  resembling  the  pope's  par- 
don. But  the  archbishop  is  said  to  clear  it  up 
to  the  king's  satisfaction  ;  only  to  the  rubric  of 
the  general  absolution  these  words  were  to  be 
added,  for  explanation's  sake,  remission  of  sins. 

He  farther  objected  to  private  baptism,  and 
baptism  by  women.  It  had  been  customary  till 
this  time  for  bishops  to  license  midwives  to 
their  office,  and  to  allow  their  right  to  baptize  in 
cases  of  necessity,  under  the  following  oath  : 

"I,  Eleanor ,  admitted  to  the  office  and 

occupation  of  a  midwife,  will  faithfully  and  dili- 
gently exercise  the  said  office,  according  to  such 
cunning  and  knowledge  as  God  has  given  me, 
and  that  I  wUl  be  ready  to  help  and  aid  as  well 
poor  as  rich  women,  being  in  labour  and  travail 
with  chdd,  and  will  always  be  ready  to  execute 
my  said  onice.  Also,  I  will  not  permit  or  suffer 
that  any  woman,  being  in  labour  or  travail,  shall 
name  any  other  to  be  the  father  of  the  child 
than  only  he  who  is  the  right  and  true  father 
thereof;  and  that  I  will  not  suffer  any  other 


set  himself  up  as  a  decider  of  their  controversies.'' — 
Harris's  Life  of  James  I.,  p.  87. — Ed. 

*  Life  of  Whitgift,  Append.,  b.  iv.,  no.  45. 

t  Fuller,  b.  x.,  p.  8, 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


231 


body's  child  to  be  set,  brought,  or  laid  before 
any  woman  delivered  of  child,  in  the  place  of 
her  natural  child,  so  far  forth  as  I  can  know  or 
understand.  Also,  I  will  not  use  any  kind  of 
sorcery  or  incantation  in  the  time  of  travail  of 
any  woman  ;  and  I  will  not  destroy  the  child 
born  of  any  woman,  nor  cut  nor  pull  off  the  head 
thereof,  or  otherwise  dismember  or  hurt  the 
same,  or  suffer  it  to  be  so  hurt,  &c.  Also,  that 
in  the  ministration  of  the  sacrament  of  baptism, 
in  the  time  of  necessity,  I  will  use  the  accus- 
tomed words  of  the  same  sacrament ;  that  is  to 
say,  these  words  following,  or  to  the  like  effect, 
'  I  christen  thee  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  the 
Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,'  and  none  other  pro- 
fane words.  And  that,  in  baptizing  any  infant 
born,  and  pouring  water  on  the  head  of  the  said 
infant,  I  will  use  pure  and  clean  water,  and  not 
any  rose  or  damask  water,  or  water  made  of 
any  confection  or  mixture.  And  that  I  will  cer- 
tify the  curate  of  the  parish  church  of  every 
such  baptizing."* 

Notwithstanding  this  oath,  Whitgift  assured 
the  king  that  baptism  by  women  and  lay  per- 
sons was  not  allowed  by  the  Church.  Others 
said  it  was  a  reasonable  practice,  the  minister 
not  being  of  the  essence  of  the  sacrament.  But 
the  king  not  being  satisfied,  it  was  referred  to 
consideration  whether  the  word  curate,  or  laio- 
ful  minister,  might  not  be  inserted  into  the  ru- 
bric for  private  baptism. 

Concerning  excommunication  fpr  lesser 
crimes  in  ecclesiastical  courts,  it  was  agreed 
that  the  name  should  be  changed,  but  the  same 
censure  retained,  or  an  equivalent  thereunto 
appointed.  These  were  all  the  alterations  that 
"were  agreed  upon  between  the  king  and  bishops 
in  the  first  day's  conference. 

Mr.  Patrick  Galloway,  who  was  present  at 
the  conference,  gives  this  account  of  it  to  the 
presbytery  of  Edmburgh :  "  That  on  January  12 
the  king  commanded  the  bishops,  as  they  would 
answer  it  to  God  in  conscience,  and  to  himself 
upon  their  obedience,  to  advise  among  them- 
selves of  the  corruptions  of  the  Church  in  doc- 
trine, ceremonies,  and  discipline,  who,  after 
consultation,  reported  that  all  was  well ;  but 
■when  his  majesty,  with  great  fervency,  brought 
instances  to  the  contrary,  the  bishops  on  their 
Icnees  craved  with  great  earnestness  that  no- 
thing might  be  altered,  lest  popish  recusants, 
punished  by  penal  statutes  for  disobedience, 
and  the  Puritans,  punished  by  deprivation  from 
their  callings  and  livings  for  nonconformity, 
should  say  they  had  just  cause  to  insult  upon 
them,  as  men  who  had  travailed  to  bind  them 
to  that  which  by  their  own  mouths  now  was 
confessed  to  be  erroneous."!  Mr.  Strype  calls 
this  an  aspersion,  but  I  am  apt  to  think  him 
mistaken,  because  Mr.  Galloway  adds  these 
■words  :  "  When  sundry  persons  gave  out  copies 
of  these  actions,  I  myself  took  occasion,  as  I 
was  an  ear  and  eye  witness,  to  set  them  down, 
and  presented  them  to  his  majesty,  who  with 
his  own  hand  mended  some  things,  and  eked 
out  others  that  I  had  omitted."  It  is  very  cer- 
tain that  Bishop  Barlow  has  cut  off  and  con- 
cealed all  the  speeches  that  his  majesty  made 
against  the  corruptions  of  the  Church  and  the 
practices  of  the  prelates,  for  five  hours  together. 


*  Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  i.,  p.  537. 

t  Calderwood's  Hist.  Church  of  Scotland,  p.  474. 


according  to  the  testimony  of  J)x.  Andrews, 
dean  of  the  chapel,  who  said  that  his  majesty 
did  that  day  wonderfully  play  the  Puritan. 

The  second  day's  conference  was  on  Monday, 
January  16lh,  when  the  four  ministers  were 
called  in,  with  Mr.  Galloway,  minister  of  Perth 
in  Scotland,  on  the  one  part,  and  two  bishops 
and  six  or  eight  deans  on  the  other,  the  rest 
being  secluded.  The  king  being  seated  in  his 
chair,  with  his  nobles  and  privy  counsellors 
around  him,  let  them  know  he  was  now  ready 
to  hear  their  objections  against  the  establish- 
ment. Whereupon  Dr.  Raynolds,  in  the  name 
of  his  brethren,  humbly  requested, 

1.  That  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  might  be 
preserved  pure,  according  to  God's  Word. 

2.  That  good  pastors  might  be  planted  in  all 
churches  to  preach  the  same. 

3.  That  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  might 
be  fitted  to  more  increase  of  piety. 

4.  That  church  government  might  be  sin- 
cerely ministered  according  to  God's  Word. 

1.  With  regard  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Church, 
he  requested  that  to  those  words  in  the  six- 
teenth article,  "We  may  depart  from  grace," 
may  be  added,  neither  totally  7ior  finally,  to  make 
them  consistent  with  the  doctrine  of  predesti- 
nation in  the  seventeenth  article ;  and  that  (if 
his  majesty  pleased)  the  nine  articles  of  Lam- 
beth might  be  inserted.  That  in  the  twenty- 
third  article  these  words,  "in  the  congregation," 
might  be  omitted,  as  implying  a  liberty  for  men 
to  preach  out  of  the  congregation  without  a  law- 
ful call.  That  in  the  twenty-fifth  article  the 
ground  for  confirmation  might  be  examined : 
one  passage  confessing  it  to  be  a  depraved  imi- 
tation of  the  apostles,  and  another  grounding  it 
on  their  example ;  besides,  that  it  was  too  much 
work  for  a  bishop — 

Here  Bancroft,  no  longer  able  to  contain  him- 
self, falling  upon  his  knees,  begged  the  king 
with  great  earnestness  to  stop  the  doctor's 
mouth,  according  to  an  ancient  canon  that 
schismatics  are  not  to  be  heard  against  their 
bishops.  It  is  not  reasonable,  says  he,  that 
men  who  have  subscribed  to  these  articles 
should  be  allowed  to  plead  against  their  own 
act,  contrary  to  the  statute  1st  Eliz.  The  king, 
perceiving  the  bishop  in  a  heat,  said,  My  lord, 
you  ought  not  to  interrupt  the  doctor,  but  either 
let  him  proceed  or  answer  what  he  has  object- 
ed. Upon  which  he  replied,  "that  as  to  Dr. 
Raynolds's  first  objection,  the  doctrine  of  pre- 
destination was  a  desperate  doctrine,  and  had 
made  many  people  libertines,  who  were  apt  to 
say,  '  If  I  shall  be  saved,  I  shall  be  saved :'  he 
therefore  desired  it  might  be  left  at  large.  That 
his  second  objection  was  trifling,  because,  by 
the  practice  of  the  Church,  none  but  licensed 
ministers  might  preach  or  administer  the  sacra- 
ment. And  as  to  the  doctor's  third  objection, 
he  said  that  the  bishops  had  their  chaplains 
and  curates  to  examine  such  as  were  to  be  con- 
firmed ;  and  that  in  ancient  time,  none  confirm- 
ed but  bishops."  To  which  Raynolds  replied, 
in  the  words  of  St.  Jerome,  "  that  it  was  rather 
a  compliment  to  the  order  than  from  any  reason 
or  necessity  of  the  thing."  And  whereas  the 
bishop  had  called  him  a  schismatic,  he  desired 
his  majesty  that  that  imputation  might  not  lie 
upon  him  ;  which  occasioned  a  great  deal  of 
mirth  and  raillery  between  the  king  and  his  no- 


232 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


bles  about  the  unhappy  Puritans.  In  conclusion, 
the  king  said  he  was  against  increasing  the 
number  of  articles  or  stuffing  them  with  theo- 
logical niceties,  because,  were  they  never. so 
explicit,  there  will  be  no  preventing  contrary 
opinions.  As  to  confirmation,  he  thought  it 
not  decent  to  refer  the  solemnity  to  a  parish 
priest,  and  closed  his  remarks  with  this  maxim, 
No  bishop,  no  king. 

After  a  long  interruption  the  doctor  went  on, 
and  desired  a  new  catechism ;  to  which  the  king 
consented,  provided  there  might  be  no  curious 
questions  in  it,  and  that  our  agreement  with  the 
Koman  Catholics  in  some  points  might  not  be 
esteemed  heterodoxy.  He  farther  desired  a  new 
translation  of  the  Bible,  to  which  his  majesty 
agreed,  provided  it  were  without  marginal  notes, 
saying,  that  of  all  tlie  translations,  the  Geneva 
was  the  worst,  because  of  the  marginal  notes, 
■which  allowed  disobedience  to  kings.  The  doc- 
tor complained  of  the  printing  and  dispersing 
popish  pamphlets,  which  reflected  on  Bancroft's 
character  :  the  king  said,  "  What  was  done  of 
this  kind  was  by  warrant  from  the  court,  to 
nourish  the  schism  between  the  seculars  and 
Jesuits,  which  was  of  great  service.  Doctor, 
you  are  a  better  collegeman  than  statesman." 
To  which  Raynolds  replied,  that  he  did  not  in- 
tend such  books  as  were  printed  in  England, 
but  such  as  were  imported  from  beyond  sea  ; 
and  this  several  of  the  privy  council  owned  to 
be  a  grievance.  The  doctor  having  prayed  that 
some  effectual  remedy  might  be  provided  against 
the  profanation  of  the  Lord's  Day,  declared  he 
had  no  more  to  add  on  the  first  head. 

2.  With  regard  to  preaching,  the  doctor  com- 
plained of  pluralities  in  the  Church,  and  pray- 
ed, that  all  parishes  might  be  furnished  with 
preaching  ministers.  Upon  which  Bancroft  fell 
upon  his  knees,  and  petitioned  his  majesty  that 
all  parishes  might  have  a  praying  ministry  ;  for 
preaching  is  grown  so  much  in  fashion,  says 
he,  that  the  service  of  the  Church  is  neglected. 
Besides,  pulpit  harangues  are  very  dangerous ; 
he  therefore  humbly  moved  that  the  number  of 
homilies  might  be  increased,  and  that  the  clergy 
might  be  obliged  to  read  them  instead  of  ser- 
mons, in  which  many  vented  their  spleen  against 
their  superiors.  The  king  asked  the  plaintiffs 
their  opinion  of  the  bishop's  motion ;  who  replied, 
that  a  preaching  minister  was  certainly  best 
and  most  useful,  though  they  allowed,  where 
preaching  could  not  be  had,  godly  prayers,  hom- 
ilies, and  exhortations  might  do  much  good. 
The  lord-chancellor  [Egerton]  said,  there  were 
more  livings  that  wanted  learned  men  than 
learned  men  living ;  let  all,  therefore,  have  single 
coats  before  others  have  doublets.  Upon  which 
Bancroft  replied  merrily,  But  a  doublet  is  good 
in  cold  weather.  The  king  put  an  end  to  the 
debate  by  saying  he  would  consult  the  bishops 
upon  this  head. 

3.  But  the  doctor's  chief  objections  were  to 
the  service-book  and  church  government.  Here 
he  complained  of  the  late  subscriptions,  by  which 
many  were  deprived  of  their  ministry  who  were 
willing  to  subscribe  to  the  doctrinal  articles  of 
the  Church,  to  the  king's  supremacy,  and  to  the 
statutes  of  the  realm.  He  excepted  to  the  read- 
ing the  Apocrypha ;  to  the  interrogatories  in  bap- 
tism, and  to  the  sign  of  the  cross  ;  to  the  sur- 
plice, and  other  superstitious  habits  ;  to  the  ring 


in  marriage  ;  to  the  churching  of  women  by  the 
name  of  purification.  He  urged  that  most  of 
these  things  were  relics  of  popery  ;  that  thcj 
had  been  abused  to  idolatry,  and  therefore  ought, 
like  the  brazen  serpent,  to  be  abolished.  Mr. 
Knewstubs  said  these  rights  and  ceremonies 
were  at  best  but  indifferent,  and  therefore  doubt- 
ed whether  the  power  of  the  Church  could  biad 
the  conscience  without  impeaching  Christian 
liberty. 

Here  his  majesty  interrupted  them,  and  said 
that  he  apprehended  the  surplice  to  be  a  very 
comely  garment ;  that  the  cross  was  as  old  as 
Constantine,  and  must  we  charge  him  with  po- 
pery 1  besides,  it  was  no  more  a  significant 
sign  than  imposition  of  hands,  which  the  peti- 
tioners allowed  in  ordination  ;  and  as  for  their 
other  exceptions,  they  were  capable  of  being 
understood  in  a  sober  sense  ;  "  but  as  to  the 
power  of  the  Church  in  things  indifferent,"  says 
his  majesty,  "  I  will  not  argue  that  point  with, 
you,  but  answer  as  kings  in  Parliament,  Le  lioy 
s'avisera.  This  is  like  Mr.  John  Black,  a  beard- 
less boy,  who  told  me,  the  last  conference  ia 
Scotland,  that  he  would  hold  conformity  witli 
me  in  doctrine,  but  that  every  man  as  to  cere- 
monies was  to  be  left  to  his  own  liberty,  but  I 
will  have  none  of  that ;  I  will  have  one  doc- 
trine, one  discipline,  one  religion  in  substance 
and  ceremony  :  never  speak  more  to  that  point, 
how  far  you  are  bound  to  obey." 

4.  Dr.  Raynolds  was  going  on  to  complain  of 
excommunication  by  lay-chancellors ;  but  the 
king  having  said  that  he  should  consult  the 
bishops  on  that  head,  the  doctor  desired  that  the 
clergy  might  have  assemblies  once  in  three 
weeks ;  that  in  rural  deaneries  they  might  have 
the  liberty  of  prophesyings,  as  in  Archbishop 
Grindal's  time  ;  that  those  cases  which  could 
not  be  resolved  there  might  be  referred  to  the 
archdeacon's  visitation,  and  from  thence  to  the 
diocesan  synod,  where  the  bishop  with  his  pres- 
byters should  determine  such  points  as  were 
too  difficult  for  the  other  meetings.  Here  the 
king  broke  out  into  a  flame,  and  instead  of  hear- 
ing the  doctor's  reasons,  or  commanding  his 
bishops  to  answer  them,  told  the  ministers  that 
he  found  they  were  aiming  at  a  Scots  presby- 
tery, "  which,"  says  he,  "  agrees  with  monar- 
chy as  well  as  God  and  the  devil ;  then  Jack  and 
Tom,  Will  and  Dick,  shall  meet,  and  at  their 
pleasure  censure  both  me  and  my  council 
Therefore,  pray  stay  one  seven  years  before  you 
demand  that  of  me,  and  if  then  you  find  me 
pursy  and  fat,  and  my  windpipe  stuffed,  I  will 
perhaps  hearken  to  you  ;  for  let  that  government 
be  up,  and  I  am  sure  I  shall  be  kept  in  breath ; 
but  till  you  find  I  grow  lazy,  pray  let  that  alone. 
I  remember  how  they  used  the  poor  lady,  ray 
mother,  in  Scotland,  and  me  in  my  minority." 
Then  turning  to  the  bishops,  he  put  his  hand  to 
his  hat  and  said,  "  My  lords,  I  may  thank  you 
that  these  Puritans  plead  for  my  supremacy,  for 
if  once  you  are  out  and  they  in  place,  I  know 
what  would  become  of  my  supremacy,  for,  No 
bishop,  no  king.  Well,  doctor,  have  you  any- 
thing else  to  offer  1 "  Dr.  Raynolds  :  "  No  more, 
if  it  please  your  majesty."  Then  rising  from 
his  chair,  the  king  said,  "If  this  be  all  your  party 
have  to  say,  I  will  make  them  conform,  or  I 
will  harry  them  out  of  this  land,  or  else  worse  ;" 
and  he  was  as  good  as  his  word. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


233 


Thus  ended  the  second  day's  conference,  af- 
ter four  hours'  discourse,  with  a  perlect  triumph 
on  the  side  of  tlie  Church  ;  the  Puritan  minis- 
ters were  insulted,  ridiculed,  and  laughed  to 
scorn,  without  either  wit  or  good  manners. 
One  of  the  council  said  he  now  saw  that  a  Pu- 
ritan was  a  Protestant  frighted  out  of  his  wits. 
Another,  that  the  ministers  looked  more  like 
Turks  than  Christians,  as  appeared  hy  their 
habits.  Sir  Edward  Peyton  confessed  that  Dr. 
Raynolds  and  his  brethren  had  not  freedom  of 
speech  ;  but  finding  it  to  no  purpose  to  reply, 
they  held  their  peace.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
bishops  and  courtiers  flattered  the  king's  wis- 
dom and  learning  beyond  measure,  calling  him 
the  Solomon  of  the  age.  Bancroft  fell  upon  his 
knees,  and  said,  "  I  protest  my  heart  melteth 
for  joy,  that  Almighty  God,  of  his  singular  mer- 
cy, has  given  us  such  a  king  as,  since  Christ's 
time,  has  not  been."  Chancellor  Egerton  said 
"  he  had  never  seen  the  king  and  priest  so  fully 
united  in  one  person."*  His  majesty  was  no 
less  satisfied  with  his  own  cortduct ;  for  in  his 
letter  to  Mr.  Blake,  a  Scotsman,  he  told  him 
that  he  had  soundly  peppered  off  the  Puritans, 
that  they  had  fled  before  him,  and  that  their  pe- 
titions had  turned  him  more  earnestly  against 
them.  "  It  were  no  reason,"  says  his  majesty, 
"that  those  who  refuse  the  airy  sign  of  the 
cross  after  baptism,  should  have  their  purses 
stuffed  with  any  more  solid  and  substantial 
crosses.  They  fled  me  so  from  argument  to 
argument,  without  ever  answering  me  directly 
(ut  est  eorum  maris),  that  I  was  forced  to  tell 
them,  that  if  any  of  them,  when  boys,  had  dis- 
puted thus  in  the  college,  the  moderator  would 
have  fetched  them  up,  and  applied  the  rod  to 
their  buttocks — I  have  a  book  of  theirs  that 
may  convert  infidels,  but  never  shall  convert 
me,  except  by  turning  me  more  earnestly  against 
them."  This  was  the  language  of  the  Solomon 
of  the  age.  I  leave  the  reader  to  judge  how 
much  superior  the  wise  monarch  was  in  the 
knowledge  of  antiquity,  or  the  art  of  syllogism, 
to  Dr.  Raynolds,  who  was  the  oracle  of  his  time 
for  acquaintance  with  ecclesiastical  history, 
councils,  and  fathers,  and  had  lived  in  a  college 
all  his  days. 

The  third  day's  conference  was  on  Wednes- 
day, January  18th,  when  the  bishops  and  deans 
were  first  called  into  the  privy  chamber  with 
the  civihans,  to  satisfy  the  king  about  the  high 
commission  and  the  oath  ex  officio,  which  they 
might  easily  do  as  being  principal  branches  of 
his  prerogative.  When  the  king  said  he  appro- 
ved of  the  wisdom  of  the  law  in  making  the 
oath  ex  officio,  the  old  archbishop  was  so  trans- 
ported as  to  cry  out,  "  Undoubtedly  your  maj- 
esty speaks  by  the  special  assistance  of  God's 
Spirit."  A  committee  of  bishops  and  privy 
counsellors  was  then  appointed  to  consider  of 
lessening  the  charges  in  the  high  commisson, 
and  for  planting  schools,  and  proper  ministers 
in  the  kingdom  of  Ireland,  and  on  the  borders 
of  England  and  Scotland.  After  which,  Dr. 
Raynolds  and  his  brethren  were  called  in,  not 
to  dispute,,  but  only  to  hear  the  few  alterations 
or  explanations  in  the  Common  Prayer  Book 


*  A  modern  prelate  has  said,  "  Sancho  Pancha 
never  made  a  better  speech,  nor  more  to  the  purpose, 
during  his  government." — Bishop  Warburto?i's  Notes 
on  Neal. — Ed. 
Vol.  1.— G  g 


already  mentioned  ;  which  not  answering  their 
expectations,  Mr.  Chadderton  fell  on  his  knees, 
and  humbly  prayed  that  the  surplice  and  cross 
might  not  be  urged  on  some  godly  ministers  in 
Lancashire ;  and  Mr.  Knewstubs  desired  the 
same  favour  for  some  Suffolk  ministers  ;  which 
the  bishops  were  going  to  oppose,  but  the  king 
replied,  with  a  stern  countenance,  "  We  have 
taken  pains  here  to  conclude  in  a  resolution  for 
uniformity,  and  you  will  undo  all  by  preferring 
the  credit  of  a  few  private  men  to  the  peace  of 
the  Church ;  this  is  the  Scots  way,  but  I  will 
have  none  of  this  arguing  ;  therefore  let  them 
conform,  and  that  quickly,  too,  or  they  shall  hear 
of  it;  the  bishops  will  give  them  some  time, 
but  if  they  are  of  an  obstinate  and  turbulent 
spirit,  I  will  have  them  enforced  to  conform- 
ity."* 

Thus  ended  this  mock  conference,!  for  it  de- 
serves no  better  name,  all  things  being  previ- 
ously concluded  between  the  king  and  the  bish- 
ops, before  the  Puritans  were  brought  upon  the 
stage,  to  he  made  a  spectacle  to  their  enemies, 
and  borne  down,  not  with  calm  reason  and  ar- 
gument, but  with  the  royal  authority,  I  approve 
or  I  dissent ;  the  king  making  himself  both 
judge  and  party.J  No  wonder,  therefore,  if 
Dr.  Raynolds  fell  below  himself,  and  lost  some 
part  of  his  esteem  with  the  Puritans,  being 
overawed  by  the  place  and  company,  and  the 
arbitrary  dictates  of  his  sovereign   opponent. 


*  "  In  this  manner  ended  this  conference  ;  which," 
observes  Dr.  Warner,  "  convinced  the  Puritans  they 
were  mistaken  in  depending  on  the  king's  protection ; 
which  convinced  the  king  that  they  were  not  to  be 
won  by  a  few  insignificant  concessions  ;  and  which, 
if  it  did  not  convince  the  privy  council  and  the  bish- 
ops that  they  had  got  a  Solomon  for  their  king,  yet 
they  spoke  of  him  as  though  it  did." — Eccles.  Hist., 
vol.  iii.,  p.  482. 

"This  conference,"  says  another  writer,  "was  but 
a  blind  to  introduce  episcopacy  in  Scotland  ;  all  the 
Scotch  noblemen  then  at  court  being  designed  to  be 
present,  and  others,  both  noblemen  and  ministers, 
being  called  up  from  Scotland  by  the  king's  letter  to 
assist  at  it." — Dr.  Welwood,  as  quoted  by  Crosby. 
Hist,  of  Engl.  Baptists,  vol.  i.,  p.  85. — Ed. 

t  "  The  Hampton  Court  Conference,"  says  Robert 
Robinson,  of  Cambridge,  "  was  a  ridiculous  farce,  a 
compound  of  kingcraft  and  priestcraft.  The  actors 
in  it  forgot  nothing  but  their  masks.  The  Puritans 
would  not  be  gulled  by  it,  but  continued  to  dissent, 
and  they  were  right." — Lectures  on  the  Principles  of 
Nonconformity,  Works,  ii.,  221. 

"  In  the  accounts  that  we  read  of  this  meeting," 
remarks  Mr.  Hallam,  "  we  are  alternately  struck 
with  wonder  at  the  indecent  and  partial  behaviour 
of  the  king,  and  at  the  abject  baseness  of  the  bishops, 
mixed,  accordnig  to  the  customs  of  servile  natures, 
with  insolence  towards  their  opponents.  It  was 
easy  for  a  monarch  and  eighteen  churchmen  to  claim 
the  victory,  be  the  merits  of  the  dispute  what  they 
might,  over  abashed  and  intimidated  adversaries."— 
Const.  Hist.,  i.,  404. — C. 

t  The  conclusion  of  his  address  to  the  Puritan 
ministers,  at  this  conference,  as  it  was  a  curious  spe- 
cimen of  the  king's  logic,  so  it  was  a  proof  of  the  in- 
solent and  tyrannical  spirit  with  which  he  aimed  to 
bear  down  all  opposition.  "If,"  said  he,  "  this  be  all 
your  party  hath  to  say,  I  will  make  them  conform 
themselves,  or  else  1  will  harrie  them  out  of  the  land, 
or  else  do  worse,  only  hang  them,  that's  all."  It  is 
very  evident,  from  this,  that  he  trusted  more,  as  it 
has  been  observed  by  a  modern  writer,  to  the  power 
of  hanging  than  of  convhicing  his  adversaries. — Secret 
History  of  the  Court  and  Reign  of  Charles  II.,  vol.  i.. 
Introduction,  p.  23,  the  note. — Ed. 


234 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


The  Puritans  refused  to  be  concluded  by  this 
conference,  for  the  following  reasons  :  because, 

1.  "The  ministers  appointed  to  speak  for 
them  were  not  of  their  nomination  or  choosing, 
nor  of  one  judgment  in  the  points  of  controver- 
sy ;  for  being  desired  by  their  brethren  to  argue 
against  the  corruptions  of  the  Church  as  simply 
evil,  they  replied,  tiiey  were  not  so  persuaded. 
Being  farther  desired  to  acquaint  the  king  that 
some  of  their  brethren  thought  them  sinful,  they 
refused  that  also.  Lastly,  being  desired  to  give 
their  reasons  in  writing  why  they  thought  the 
ceremonies  only  indifferent,  or  to  answer  the 
reasons  they  had  to  offer  to  prove  them  sinful, 
they  would  do  neither  one  nor  other. 

2.  "  Because  the  points  in  controversy  were 
not  thoroughly  debated,  but  nakedly  propounded, 
and  some  not  at  all  touched.  Neither  was  there 
any  one  argument  to  the  purpose  pursued  and 
followed. 

3.  "  Because  the  prelates  took  the  liberty  of 
interrupting  at  their  pleasure  those  of  the  other 
side,  insomuch  that  they  were  checked  for  it  by 
the  king  himself" 

They  objected  also  to  the  account  of  the  con- 
ference by  Dean  Barlow,  as  published  without 
the  knowledge,  advice,  or  consent  of  the  other 
side,  and  therefore  deserving  no  credit ;  they 
said  that  Dr.  Moreton  had  called  some  part  of 
it  in  question,  and  rectified  some  speeches  fa- 
thered on  the  king  ;  besides,  that  the  prelates 
only  were  present  at  the  first  day's  conference, 
when  the  principal  matters  were  determined. 

"Therefore  the  Puritan  ministers  offer  (if 
his  majesty  will  give  them  leave)  in  one  v/eek's 
space  to  deliver  his  majesty  in  writing  a  full 
answer  to  any  argument  or  assertion  propound- 
ed in  that  conference  by  any  prelate ;  and  in 
the  mean  time  they  do  aver  them  to  be  most 
vain  and  frivolous." 

If  the  bishops  had  been  men  of  moderation, 
or  if  the  king  had  discovered  any  part  of  that 
■wisdom  he  was  flattered  with,  all  parties  might 
have  been  made  easy  at  this  time  ;  for  the  bish- 
ops, in  such  a  crisis,  would  have  complied  with 
anything  his  majesty  had  insisted  on  ;  but  the 
king's  cowardice,  his  love  of  flattery,  his  high 
and  arbitrary  principles,  and  his  mortal  hatred 
of  the  Puritans,  .lost  one  of  the  fairest  opportu- 
nities that  have  ever  offered  to  heal  the  divis- 
ions of  the  Church. 

On  the  5th  of  March  the  king  published  a 
proclamation,  in  which  he  says,  "  That  though 
the  doctrine  and  discipline  of  the  established 
Church  were  unexceptionable,  and  agreeable  to 
primitive  antiquity,  nevertheless  he  had  given 
way  to  a  conference,  to  hear  the  exceptions  of 
the  Nonconformists,  which  he  had  found  very 
slender  ;  but  that  some  few  explanations  of  pas- 
sages had  been  yielded  to  for  their  satisfaction ; 
therefore  he  now  requires  and  enjoins  all  his 
subjects  to  conform  to  it,  as  the  only  public 
form  established  in  this  realm ;  and  admonishes 
them  not  to  expect  any  farther  alterations,  for 
that  his  resolutions  were  absolutely  settled." 
The  Common  Prayer  Book  was  accordingly 
printed  with  the  amendments,  and  the  procla- 
mation prefixed. 

It  was  a  high  strain  of  the  prerogative  to  al- 
ter a  form  of  worship  established  by  law,  mere- 
ly by  a  royal  proclamation,  without  consent  of 
Parliament  or  convocation ;   for  by  the  same 


power  that  his  majesty  altered  one  article  ia 
the  liturgy,  he  might  set  aside  the  whole,  every 
sentence  being  equally  established  by  act  of 
Parliament ;  but  this  wise  monarch  made  no 
scruple  of  dispensing  with  the  laws.  However, 
the  force  of  all  proclamations  determining  with 
the  king's  life,  and  there  being  no  subsequent 
act  of  Parliament  to  establish  these  amend- 
ments, it  was  urged  very  justly  in  the  next 
reign,  that  this  was  not  the  liturgy  of  the  Church 
of  England  established  by  law,  and,  consequent- 
ly, not  binding  upon  the  clergy. 

A  fortnight  before  this  conference  was  held, 
the  learned  and  reverend  Mr.  Thomas  Cart- 
wright,  one  of  the  chief  of  the  Puritans,  and  a 
great  sufferer  for  nonconformity,  died.  He  was 
born  in  Hertfordshire,  1535,  and  entered  into  St. 
John's  College,  Cambridge,  1550,  where  he  be- 
came a  hard  student,  never  sleeping  above  five 
hours  in  a  night.  During  the  reign  of  Queen 
Mary  he  left  the  University,  and  became  a  law- 
yer's clerk ;  but  upon  the  accession  of  Queen 
Elizabeth  he  resumed  his  theological  studies, 
and  was  chosen  fellow  of  Trinity  College  in  the 
year  1563.  The  year  following  he  bore  a  part 
in  the  Philosophy  Act  before  the  queen.  In  the 
year  1567  he  commenced  bachelor  of  divinity, 
and  three  years  after  was  chosen  Lady  Marga- 
ret's professor.  He  was  so  popular  a  preacher, 
that  when  his  turn  came  at  St.  Mary's,  the  sex- 
ton was  obliged  to  take  down  the  windows. 
But  Mr.  Cartwright  venturing  in  some  of  his 
lectures  to  show  the  defects  of  the  discipline  of 
the  Church  as  it  then  stood,  he  was  questioned 
for  it  before  the  vice-chancellor,  denied  his  doc- 
tor's degree,  and  expelled  the  University,  as  has 
been  related.  He  then  travelled  to  Geneva, 
and  afterward  became  preacher  to  the  English 
merchants  at  Antwerp.  King  James  invited 
him  to  be  professor  in  his  University  of  St.  An- 
drew's, which  he  declined.  After  his  return 
from  Antwerp  he  was  often  in  trouble  by  sus- 
pensions, deprivations,  and  long  imprisonment ; 
at  length  the  great  Earl  of  Leicester,  who  knew 
his  worth,  made  him  governor  of  his  hospital  in 
Warwick,  where  he  ended  his  days,  December 
27,  1603.  He  was  certainly  one  of  the  most 
learned  and  acute  disputants  of  his  age,  but 
very  ill  used  by  the  governing  clergy.  He  wrote 
several  books,  besides  his  controversy  with 
Archbishop  Whitgift,  as,  his  Latin  comment  on 
Ecclesiastes,  dedicated  to  King  James,  in  which 
he  thankfully  acknowledges  his  being  appointed 
professor  to  a  Scots  university ;  his  celebrated 
confutation  of  the  Rhemist  translation  of  the 
New  Testament,  to  which  work  he  was  solicit- 
ed not  only  by  Sir  Francis  Walsingham,  but  by 
letter  under  the  hands  of  the  principal  divines 
of  Cambridge,  as,  Roger  Goad,  Wm.  Whitaker, 
Thomas  Crooke,  John  Ireton,  Wm.  Fulke,  John 
Field,  Nicholas  Crane,  Gibs  Seinthe,  Richard 
Gardiner,  Wm.  Clarke,  &c.  Such  an  opinion 
had  these  great  men  of  his  learning  and  abili- 
ties.*    He  was  a  person  of  uncommon  industry 

*  Dugdale  calls  him  the  standard-bearer  of  the  Pu- 
ritans, and  says  he  was  the  first  in  the  Church  of 
England  who  began  to  pray  extempore  before  ser- 
mons. Fuller  says  "he  was  most  pious  and  strict 
in  his  conversation,  a  pure  Latinist,  an  accurate  Gre- 
cian, an  exact  Hebrean,  and,  in  short,  an  excellent 
scholar."  And  yet  Churton,  in  his  Life  of  Nowell,  p. 
225,  casts  a  slur  upon  his  piety,  learning,  and  good 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


235 


and  piety,  fervent  in  prayer,  a  frequent  preach- 
er, and  of  a  meek  and  humble  spirit.  In  his 
I  old  age  he  was  so  troubled  with  the  stone  and 
gout  by  frequent  lying  in  prisons,  that  he  was 
obliged  always  to  study  on  his  knees.  His  last 
sermon  was  on  Eccles.,  xii.,  7:  "Then  shall 
the  dust  return  to  the  earth,  and  the  spirit  shall 
return  to  God  who  gave  it."  The  Tuesday  fol- 
lowing he  was  two  hours  on  his  knees  in  pri- 
vate prayer,  and  a  few  hours  after  quietly  re- 
signed his  spirit  to  God,  in  the  sixty-eighth  year 
of  his  age,  and  was  buried  in  his  own  hospital. 
The  famous  Mr.  Dod  preached  his  funeral  ser- 
mon.* 

Six  weeks  after  died  his  great  antagonist, 
Dr.  John  Whitgift,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
"Who  was  born  at  Great  Grimsby,  in  Lincoln- 
shire, in  the  year  1530,  and  educated  in  Pem- 
broke Hall,  and  was  fellow  of  Peter  House, 
Cambridge.  He  complied  with  the  changes  in 
Queen  Mary's  reign,  though  he  disapproved  of 
her  religion.  He  commenced  doctor  of  divinity 
1569,  and  was  afterward  Margaret  and  queen's 
professor,!  and  master  of  Trinity  College.  Hav- 
ing been  a  celebrated  champion  for  the  hierar- 
chy, the  queen  advanced  him  first  to  the  Bish- 
opric of  Worcester,  and  then  to  the  Archbishop- 
ric of  Canterbury.  He  was  a  severe  governor 
of  the  Church,  pressing  conformity  with  the  ut- 
most rigour,t  in  which  her  majesty  always  gave 
him  her  countenance  and  support.  He  regard- 
ed neither  the  entreaties  of  poor  ministers  nor 
the  intercessions  of  courtiers,  being  steady  to 

sense.  He  charges  Cartwright  with  saying,  in  a  cor- 
respondence, "  that  prayer  was,  as  it  were,  a  bunch 
of  keys,  whereby  we  go  to  all  the  treasures  and  store- 
houses of  the  Lord ;  his  batteries,  his  pantries,  his 
cellars,  his  wardrobe." 

All  this,  perhaps,  did  enter  into  a  familiar  letter. 
Well,  what  if  it  did?  it  was  just  in  the  taste  of  the 
times;  but  Churton  makes  everything  bad  out  of 
these  few  words.  He  exclaims,  "Does  fanaticism 
extinguish  all  taste  and  judgment  ?  or  is  it  only  in 
minds  originally  weak  that  the  infection  can  lit  it- 
self? Which  ever  way  the  reader  may  solve  the  prob- 
lem, he  will  naturally  ask,  Was  this  the  man  that 
was  to  improve  what  had  been  done  by  Cranmer  and 
Ridley,  by  Parker  and  Nowell,  and  their  coadjutors? 
to  give  us  a  form  of  worship  more  pure  and  edifying, 
more  dignified  and  devout  ?"  But,  says  Brookes,  "  this 
eloquent  calumniator  does  not  stop  here :  he  felt  the 
poetic  flame  arise,  and  therefore  immediately  asks, 
"  '  Is  this  the  region,  this  the  soil,  the  clime. 

That  we  must  change  for  heaven  ?  this  moumful  gloom 

For  that  celestial  light  V 

We  do  confess  that  so  much  bombast,  scurrility,  and 
barefaced  misrepresentation  were  scarcely  ever  found 
within  so  small  a  compass.  The  reader  will,  at  the 
same  time,  easily  perceive  that  the  whole  is  desio-n- 
ed  to  extol  the  Church  of  England,  if  not  above  per- 
fection, at  least  beyond  the  possibility  of  amendment, 
and  to  blacken  the  character  and  disgrace  the  mem- 
ory of  that  man,  who  was  justly  esteemed  one  of 
the  most  celebrated  divines  of  the  age  in  which  he 
-lived." — Brookes,  Lives  of  Puritans,  vol.  i.,  p.  IGl. — C. 

*  Clarke's  Lives  annexed  to  his  General  Martyr- 
ology,  p.  16. 

t  For  his  sake  the  salary  of  Lady  Margaret's  pro- 
fessorship was  raised  from  twenty  marks  to  £20. 
And  it  is  observed  to  his  honour,  that  this  prelate 
was  the  great  restorer  of  order  and  disciphne  in  the 
University  of  Cambridge,  when  deeply  wounded  and 
almost  sunk. — Granger's  History  of  England,  8vo, 
vol.  i.,  p.  206.— Ed. 

t  "  Even  sometimes  it  may  be,"  says  Dr.  Warner, 
"beyond  all  other  law  but  that  of  her  majesty's 
pleasure." — Ed. 


the  laws,  and  even  outgoing  them  in  the  cause 
of  uniformity.  Mr.  Fuller  says  he  would  give 
fair  words  and  good  language,  but  would  abate 
nothing.  Sir  G.  Paul,  the  author  of  his  life, 
says  that  choler  was  his  chief  infirmity,*  which 
has  sufiiciently  appeared  by  the  account  already 
given  of  the  many  persecutions,  oppressions, 
and  unjustifiable  hardships  the  Puritans  suffer- 
ed under  his  administration  ;  notwithstanding 
which  they  increased  prodigiously,  insomuch, 
that  towards  the  end  of  his  life,  his  grace  grew 
weary  of  the  invidious  employment,  and  being 
afraid  of  King  James's  first  Parliament,!  died, 
as  it  is  said,  with  grief  before  it  met,  desiring 
rather  to  give  an  account  of  his  bishopric  to 
God  than  exercise  it  among  men. J  He  had 
been  at  court  the  first  Sunday  in  Lent,  and  as 
he  was  going  to  the  council-chamber  to  dinner, 
was  seized  with  the  dead  palsy  on  the  right 
side,  and  with  the  loss  of  his  speech ;  upon  which 
he  was  carried  first  to  the  lord-treasurer's  cham- 
ber, and  afterward  to  Lambeth,  where  the  king 
visited  him  on  Tuesday,  but  not  being  able  to 
converse,  lifted  up  his  eyes  and  hand  and  said. 
Pro  ecclesia  Dei,  which  were"  his  last  words. 
He  would  have  written  something,  but  could  not 
hold  his  pen.  His  disease  increasing,  he  ex- 
pired the  next  day,  being  the  29th  of  February, 
1603,  aged  seventy-three,  and  was  buried  at 
Croydon  on  the  27th  of  March  following,  where 
he  has  a  fair  monument,  with  his  effigies  at 
length  upon  it.  He  was  an  hospitable  man,  and 
usually  travelled  with  a  great  retinue  ;  in  the 
year  1589  he  came  into  Canterbury  with  a  train 
of  five  hundred  horse,  of  which  one  hundred 
were  his  own  servants.  He  founded  an  hos- 
pital and  free  school  at  Croydon,  and  though 
he  was  a  cruel  persecutor  of  the  Puritans,  yet, 
compared  with  his  successor,  Bancroft,  he  was 
a  valuable  prelate. ij 

Before  the  meeting  of  the  Parliament  the 

*  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  108. 

t  Fuller's  Church  History,  book  x.,  p.  25. 

t  Stype's  words.  Dr.  Grey  .says,  are,  "Et  nunc 
Domine  exaltata  est  mea  anima,  quod  in  eo  tempore 
succubui,  quando  majlem  episcopatus  mei  reddere 
rationem,  quam  inter  homines  exercere." — Ed. 

(}  The  character  of  Whitgift's  administration  ap- 
pears plain  in  the  page  of  history.  It  imbodied  the 
worst  passions  of  an  intolerant  state  priest,  and  stood 
out  in  the  history  of  Protestant  persecution  as  wor- 
thy of  special  reprobation.  It  knew  no  mercy — it  ex- 
ercised no  compassion.  It  had  but  one  object,  and 
that  it  pursued  without  compunction  or  remorse. 
The  most  conscientious  of  the  queen's  subjects  were 
mingled  with  the  vilest  of  their  race.  Whatever  was 
noble  in  character,  elevated  in  sentiment,  or  pure  and 
ethereal  in  devotion,  was  confounded  with  the  baser 
elements  of  society,  and  proscribed  and  punished  as 
an  offence  to  God  and  treason  against  the  state. 
The  legal  institutions  of  the  kingdom  were  convert- 
ed into  means  of  oppression,  and  the  dark  recesses  of 
its  prisons  resounded  at  once  with  the  sighs  and 
prayers  of  men  of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy, 
it  is  in  vain  to  defend  the  administration  of  Whitgift 
on  the  ground  of  the  excesses  of  the  Puritans.  Those 
excesses  were  provoked  by  his  cruelty.  They  grew 
out  of  government,  the  unmitigated  rigour  of  which 
exasperated  the  spirits  and  soured  the  temper  of 
his  opponents.  Neither  can  the  archbishop  be  justi- 
fied on  the  plea  that  he  acted  on  the  commands  of 
the  queen.  His  servihty  was,  indeed,  contemptible, 
but  his  ecclesiastical  measures  had  their  origin  in  his 
own  breast.  He  was  the  queen's  adviser,  to  whose 
judgment  she  deferred,  and  of  whose  hearty  concur- 
rence in  every  measure  of  severity  and  intolerance 


236 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PUKITANS. 


king  issued  out  two  proclamations,  one  com- 
manding all  Jesuits  and  priests  in  orders  to  de- 
part the  kingdom  [February  22,  1603],  wherein 
he  was  very  careful  to  let  the  world  know  that 
he  did  not  banish  them  out  of  hatred  to  the 
Catholic  religion,  but  only  for  maintaining  the 
pope's  temporal  power  over  princes.*  The  other 
was  against  the  Puritans,  in  which  there  was 
no  indulgence  for  tender  consciences  :  all  must 
conform,  or  suffer  the  extremities  of  the  law.t 

The  king  opened  the  first  session  of  Parlia- 
ment with  a  long  speech,  in  which  there  are 
many  strokes  in  favour  of  tyranny  and  arbitrary 
power  :  "  his  majesty  acknowledges  the  Roman 
Church  to  be  his  mother-church,  though  defded 
with  some  infirmities  and  corruptions.  That 
his  mind  was  ever  free  from  persecution  for 
matters  of  conscience,  as  he  hopes  those  of  that 
religion  have  proved  since  his  first  coming.  He 
pities  the  laity  among  them,  and  would  indulge 
their  clergy  if  they  would  but  renounce  the 
pope's  supremacy  and  his  pretended  power  to 
dispense  with  the  murder  of  kings.  He  wishes 
that  he  might  be  a  means  of  uniting  the  two  re- 
ligions, for  if  they  would  but  abandon  their  late 
corruptions,  he  would  meet  them  in  the  mid- 
way, as  having  a  great  veneration  for  antiquity 
in  the  points  of  ecclesiastical  policy.  But  then, 
as  to  the  Puritans  or  Novelists,  who  do  not  dif- 
fer from  us  so  much  in  points  of  religion  as 
in  their  confused  form  of  policy  and  purity, 
those,"  says  he,  "  are  discontented  with  the 
present  church  government ;  they  are  impatient 
to  suffer  any  superiority,  which  makes  their 
sect  insufferable  in  any  well-governed  common- 
wealth, "t 

The  bishops  and  their  adherents  were  pleased 

she  was  fully  assured.  Several  of  her  counsellors 
were  opposed  to  his  severity,  "but  secure  of  the 
queen's  support,  Whitgift  relented  not  a  jot  of  his 
resolution,  and  went  far  greater  lengths  than  Parker 
had  ever  ventured,  or  perhaps  had  desired  to  proceed." 
His  administration  involved  an  immense  sacrifice  ot 
life.  It  is  easy  to  number  the  martyrs  whom  popery 
led  to  the  stake,  but  no  other  than  an  omniscient 
being  is  competent  to  reveal  the  secrets  of  his  dark 
and  loathsome  prison-houses.  Many  of  his  victims 
entered  with  a  robust  frame  and  a  vigorous  spirit,  but 
the  one  was  wasted  by  disease  and  the  other  broken 
down  by  oppression,  till  the  last  enemy  released  them 
from  the  tyrant's  grasp,  and  ushercci  them  into  the 
presence  of  the  King  of  kings.  The  Protestant 
Church  of  England  is  deeply  steeped  in  the  blood  of 
the  saints.  The  martyrdom  it  inflicted  was  less  vio- 
lent, and  less  calculated  to  shock  the  public  mind, 
but  it  was  not  a  jot  less  cruel  or  wicked  than  that 
which  Bonner  and  Gardiner  practised.  —  See  Dr. 
Price^s  History  of  Nonconformity,  vol.  i.,  p.  471.  Con- 
sult i/fi//om's  Constitutional  History,  vol.  i.,  p.  271. — C. 

*■  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  163,  folio  edition. 

t  "  The  Puritans  about  this  time,"  says  Mrs. 
Macaulay,  "suffered  so  severe  a  persecution,  that 
they  were  driven  to  offer  a  petition  for  relief  to  the 
king  while  he  was  taking  the  diversion  of  hunting. 
James  was  something  startled  at  this  unexpected  in- 
trusion, and  very  graciously  directed  them  to  depute 
ten  of  their  members  to  declare  their  grievances  to 
the  council.  These  deputies  no  sooner  made  their 
appearance  before  the  council  than  they  were  sent 
to  jail,  and  Sir  Francis  Hastings,  Sir  Edward  Mon- 
tague, and  Sir  Valentine  Knightly,  under  whose  pro- 
tection they  had  thus  acted,  were  turned  out  of  the 
lieutenancy  of  the  county  and  tlie  commission  of  the 
peace." — Wimmod's  Memorials,  quoted  by  Mrs.  Mac- 
aulay, Hist,  of  England,  vol.  i.,  p.  7,  note,  8vo. — Ed. 

I  Rapin.  vol.  ii.,  p.  165,  166,  folio  ed. 


with  this  speech,  because  the  king  seemed  re- 
solved not  to  indulge  the  Puritans  at  any  rate  ; 
the  Catholics  did  not  like  his  majesty's  distinc- 
tion between  the  laics  and  clerics  ;  but  the  Pu- 
ritans had  most  reason  to  complain,  to  see  so 
much  charity  expressed  towards  papists,  and 
so  little  for  themselves.*  All  Protestants  in 
general  heard  with  concern  the  king's  offer  to 
meet  the  papists  half  way.  What  does  he 
mean?  say  they  ;  is  there  no  difference  between 
popery  and  Protestantism  but  the  pope's  author- 
ity over  princes  ?  Are  all  other  doctrines  to  be 
given  up  1  Are  the  religions  the  same  !  And 
is  this  the  only  point  upon  which  we  separated 
from  the  Church  of  Rome  ^  Thus,  unhappily,  did 
this  pretended  Protestant  prince  set  out  with 
laying  the  foundation  of  discontent  among  all 
ranks  of  his  people. 

His  majesty  made  frequent  mention  in  his 
speech  of  his  hereditary  right  to  the  crown,  and 
of  his  lineal  descent ;  that  he  was  accountable 
to  none  but  God  ;  and  that  the  only  difference 
between  a  rightful  king  and  a  tyrant  is,  that  the 
one  is  ordained  for  preserving  the  prosperity  of 
his  people,  the  other  thinks  his  kingdom  and 
people  are  ordained  to  satisfy  his  unreasonable 
appetites.t  Farther,  his  majesty  altered  the 
writs  for  electing  members,  and  took  upon  him 
to  prescribe  what  sort  of  representatives  should 
be  elected,  not  by  way  of  exhortation,  but  of 
command,  and  as  indispensable  conditions  of 
their  being  admitted  into  the  House,  and  which 
were  to  be  judged  of  and  determined  in  the 
Court  of  Chancery. I  He  threatened  to  fine  and 
disfranchise  those  corporations  that  did  not 
choose  to  his  mind,  and  to  fine  and  imprison 
their  representatives  if  they  presumed  to  sit  in 
the  House.  When  the  House  of  Commons  met, 
he  interrupted  their  examinations  of  elections^ 
and  commanded  the  return  of  Sir  Francis  Good- 
win, whose  election  they  had  set  aside,  to  be 
brought  before  him  and  his  judges.  Most  of 
those  "who  approached  the  king's  person  labour- 
ed to  inspire  him  with  the  design  of  making 
himself  absolute,  or,  rather,  to  confirm  him  in 
that  resolution. ij  The  bishops  were  of  this 
number  ;  and  from  this  time  there  has  appeared 
among  the  clergy  a  party  of  men  who  have  car- 
ried the  obedience  of  the  subject  and  the  author- 
ity of  the  crown  as  high  as  in  the  most  arbitrary 
monarchies. 

But  though  the  court  and  bishops  were  so 
well  agreed,  the  Parliament  passed  some  acts 
which  gave  them  uneasiness  ;  as  the  revival  of 
the  statute  of  Edward  VI.  which  enacts  that  all 
processes,  citations,  judgments,  &c.,  in  any  ec- 
clesiastical courts,  shall  be  issued  in  the  king's 
name,  and  under  the  king's  seal  of  arms.     The 

'^  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  167,  168,  folio  ed. 

t  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  252.     Coke,  p.  51. 

i  "  Tlris,"  as  Dr.  Warner  well  observes,  "  was 
directly  striking  at  the  privileges  of  the  Commons." 
—Ed. 

i)  We  are  told,  in'  particular,  that  Cecil  assured 
James,  on  his  coming  to  the  crown,  "  that  he  should 
find  his  English  subjects  like  asses,  on  whom  he 
might  lay  any  burden,  and  should  need  neither  bit 
nor  bridle  but  their  asses'  ears."  "His  rei.gu,  how- 
ever, affords  sufficient  proof."  observes  a  late  writer, 
"  that  the  king  himself  was  the  only  ass,  and  that  the 
English  lions  were  not  to  be  intimidated  by  his  silly 
braying." — Secret  History  of  the  Court  and  Reign  of 
Charles  II.,  vol.  i.,  Introduction,  p.  30,  note. — E^. 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS. 


237 


bishops  were  said  to  be  asleep  when  they  suffer- 
ed this  clause  to  pass  ;  but  the  Laudean  clergy 
broke  through  it  afterward,  as  they  did  through 
everything  else  that  stood  in  the  way  of  their 
sovereignty.  It  was  farther  enacted  that  all 
leases  or  grants  of  Church  lands  to  the  king,  or 
his  heirs,  &c.,  for  more  than  twenty-one  years 
for  the  future,  should  be  made  void,  which 
put  an  effectual  stop  to  the  alienation  of  the 
Church's  revenues.  The  marriages  of  the  cler- 
gy were  also  legitimated,  by  reviving  the  stat- 
ute of  King  Edward  VI.  for  that  purpose.* 

The  convocation  which  sat  with  the  Parlia- 
ment was  very  active  against  the  Puritans.  The 
see  of  Canterbury  being  vacant,  Bancroft,  bish- 
of  London,  presided,  and  produced  the  king's 
license  to  make  canons. t  May  2,  1603,  he  de- 
livered a  book  of  canons,  of  his  own  preparing, 
to  the  lower  house  for  their  approbation.  About 
the  same  time,  Mr.  Egerton,  Fleetwood,  Wot- 
ton,  Clark,  and  other  Puritan  divines,  presented 
a  petition  for  reformation  of  the  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer,  but  instead  of  receiving  it,  they 
admonished  them  and  their  adherents  to  be 
obedient,  and  conform  before  midsummer-day, 
or  else  they  should  undergo  the  censures  of  the 
Church.  In  the  mean  time  the  canons  were 
revising.  May  23,  there  was  a  debate  in  the 
upper  house  upon  the  cross  in  baptism,  when 
Bancroft  and  some  others  spoke  vehemently  for 
it,  but  Dr.  Rudd,  bishop  of  St.  David's,  stood  up 
and  made  the  following  speech  for  charity  and 
moderation : 

"  For  my  part,  I  acknowledge  the  antiquity 
of  the  use  of  the  cross,  as  mentioned  in  Tertul- 
lian,  and  after  him  in  St.  Cyprian,  St.  Chrysos- 
tom,  Austin,  and  others.  I  also  confess  the 
original  of  the  ceremony  to  have  sprung  by  oc- 
casion of  the  pagans,  who  reproached  the  an- 
cient Christians  for  believing  in  Christ  crucified  ; 
and  that  in  popery  it  has  been  superstitiously 
abused  ;  and  I  affirm  that  it  is  in  the  Church  of 
England  now  admitted  and  entertained  by  us, 
and  restored  to  its  ancient  integrity,  all  super- 
stition abandoned. 

"  Likewise,  I  wish  that,  if  the  king's  highness 
shall  persist  in  imposing  it,  all  would  submit  to 
it  (as  we  do)  rather  than  forego  the  ministry  in 
that  behalf.  But  I  greatly  fear,  by  the  report 
which  I  hear,  that  very  many  learned  preachers, 
whose  consciences  are  not  in  our  custody,  nor 
to  be  disposed  of  at  our  devotion,  will  not  easily 
be  drawn  thereunto  ;  of  which  number,  if  any 
shall  come  in  my  walk,  I  desire  to  be  furnished 
beforehand,  by  those  that  be  present,  with  suffi- 
cient reasons  to  satisfy  them  (if  it  be  possible) 
concerning  some  points  which  have  been  now 
delivered. 

"  First.  Whereas  sundry  passages  of  Scrip- 
ture have  been  alleged  for  the  cross  ;  as,  '  God 
forbid  that  I  should  rejoice  save  in  the  cross  of 
Christ,'  and  divers  others  of  the  like  sense  ;  if 
any  of  the  adverse  opinion  fall  into  my  company, 
and  say  that  these  scriptures  are  figurative,  im- 
plying the  death  and  passion  of  our  Saviour 
Christ,  and  that  to  draw  an  argument  from 
them  to  justify  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  the  fore- 
head is  an  insufficient  kind  of  reasoning,  and  a 
fallacy,  what  answer  shall  I  make  unto  them  1 

"  Secondly.    Whereas  I  have  observed,  upon 

*  Heyliu's  Hist.  Presb.,  p.  375. 
t  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  iv.,  p.  396. 


present  relation,  that  the  impungers  of  this  cer 
emony  were  heard  at  large  in  the  conference  at 
Hampton  Court,  and  having  objected  the  exam- 
ple of  Hezekiah,  who  broke  in  pieces  the  brazen 
serpent,  after  it  had  been  abused  to  idolatry, 
and  therefore  the  sign  of  the  cross  (which  was 
not  brought  into  the  Church  by  God's  express 
command,  as  the  brazen  serpent  was,  but  was 
from  the  beginning  a  mere  invention  of  men) 
ought  now  to  be  taken  away  by  reason  of  the 
superstitious  abuse  which  is  sustained  in  po- 
pery ;  they  received  answer,  That  King  Hezekiah 
might  have  preserved  it,  abandoning  the  abuse 
of  it,  if  it  had  pleased  him,  and,  consequently, 
it  is  in  the  king's  majesty's  power  to  abolish 
this  ceremony,  having  been  abused,  or  to  retain 
it  in  manner  aforesaid.  Hereunto  I  say,  that  I 
was  one  of  the  conference,  yet  I  was  not  at  that 
part  of  the  conference  where  those  that  stood 
for  reformation  had  access  to  the  king's  majes- 
ty's presence,  and  liberty  to  speak  for  them- 
selves ;  for  that  I,  and  some  other  of  my  breth- 
ren the  bishops,  were  secluded  from  that  day's 
assembly  ;  but  I  suppose  it  to  be  true,  as  it  has 
formerly  been  reported,  and  I  for  my  own  par- 
ticular admit  the  consequence  put  down  above. 
Now,  because  I  wish  all  others  abroad  as  well 
satisfied  herein  as  ourselves  that  be  here  pres- 
ent, if  any  of  the  contrary  opinion  shall  come  to 
me  and  say  that  the  aforesaid  ansvi'er  does  not 
satisfy  them,  because  they  think  there  is  as 
great  reason  now  to  move  them  to  become  peti- 
tioners to  his  majesty  for  abolishing  the  cross 
in  baptism  as  there  was  to  move  the  godly 
zealous  in  Hezekiah's  time  to  be  petitioners  for 
defacing  the  brazen  serpent,  because  the  church- 
going  papists  now  among  us  do  superstitiously 
abuse  the  one,  as  the  Israelites  did  the  other ; 
what  sound  answer  shall  I  make  to  them  for 
their  better  satisfaction  1 

"  Thirdly.  Whereas  it  has  been  this  day  al- 
leged that  it  is  convenient  and  necessary  to 
preserve  the  memory  of  the  cross  of  Christ  by 
this  means  ;  if  haply  any  of  the  other  side  shall 
come  to  me  and  say  that  the  memory  of  the 
cross  of  Christ  might  be  sufficiently  and  more 
safely  preserved  by  preaching  the  doctrine  of 
the  Gospel,  the  sum  whereof  is  '  Christ  cruci- 
fied;' which  was  so  lively  preached  to  the  Ga- 
latians,  as  if  his  bodily  image  had  been  crucified 
among  them  ;  and  yet  we  know  not  of  any  ma- 
terial or  signal  cross  that  was  in  use  in  the 
Church  at  that  time  ;  I  desire  to  know  what 
satisfaction  or  answer  must  be  given  to  them  1 

"Moreover,  I  protest,  that  all  my  speeches 
now  are  uttered  by  way  of  proposition,  not  by 
way  of  opposition,  and  that  they  all  tend  to  work 
pacification  in  the  Church ;  for  I  put  great  dif- 
ference between  what  is  lawful  and  what  is  ex- 
pedient, and  between  them  that  are  schismatical 
and  them  that  are  scrupulous  only  upon  some 
ceremonies,  being  otherwise  learned,  studious, 
grave,  and  honest  men. 

"  Concerning  these  last,  I  suppose,  if,  upon 
the  urging  them  to  absolute  subscription,  they 
should  be  stiff,  and  choose  rather  to  forego  their 
livings,  and  the  exercise  of  their  ministry,  though 
I  do  not  justify  their  doings  herein,  yet  surely 
their  service  will  be  missed  at  such  a  time,  as 
need  shall  require  us  and  them  to  give  the  right 
hand  of  fellowship  one  to  another,  and  to  go 
arm  in  arm  against  the  common  adversary. 


238 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS. 


"  Likewise  consider  who  must  be  the  execu- 
tioners of  their  deprivation  ;  even  we  ourselves, 
the  bishops,  against  whom  there  will  be  a  great 
clamour  of  them  and  their  dependants,  and  many 
others  who  are  well  affected  towards  them, 
whereby  our  persons  will  be  in  hazard  to  be 
brought  into  extreme  dislike  or  hatred. 

"Also  remember,  that  when  the  Benjamites 
were  all  destroyed,  saving  six  hundred,  and  the 
men  of  Israel  sware  in  their  fury  that  none  of 
them  would  give  his  daughter  to  the  Benjamites 
to  wife,  though  they  suffered  for  their  just  de- 
serts, yet  their  brethren  afterward  lamented  and 
said.  There  is  one  tribe  cut  off  from  Israel  this 
day  ;  and  they  used  all  their  wits,  to  the  utter- 
most of  their  policy,  to  restore  that  tribe  again. 

"  In  like  sort,  if  these  our  brethren  aforesaid 
shall  be  deprived  of  their  places  for  the  matter 
premised,  I  think  we  should  find  cause  to  bend 
our  wits  to  the  utmost  extent  of  our  skill  to 
provide  some  cure  of  souls  for  them,  that  they 
may  exercise  their  talents. 

''  Furthermore,  if  these  men,  being  divers 
hundreds,  should  forsake  their  charges,  who, 
I  pray  you,  should  succeed  them  ?  Verily,  I 
know  not  where  to  find  so  many  able  preachers 
in  this  realm  unprovided  for  ;  but  suppose  there 
were,  yet  they  might  more  conveniently  be  set- 
tled in  the  seats  of  unpreaching  ministers.  But 
if  they  are  put  in  the  places  of  these  men  that 
are  dispossessed,  thereupon  it  will  follow,  1 .  That 
the  number  of  preaching  ministers  will  not  be 
multiplied.  2.  The  Church  cannot  be  so  well 
furnished  on  a  sudden  ;  for  though  the  new 
supply  may  be  of  learned  men  from  the  univer- 
sities, yet  will  they  not  be  such  ready  preachers 
for  a  time,  nor  so  experienced  in  pastoral  gov- 
ernment, nor  so  well  acquainted  with  the  man- 
ners of  the  people,  nor  so  discreet  in  their  car- 
riage, as  those  who  have  already  spent  many 
years  in  their  ministerial  charge. 

"  Besides,  forasmuch  as  in  the  time  of  the 
late  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  these  things 
were  not  so  extremely  urged,  but  that  many 
learned  preachers  enjoyed  their  liberty  condi- 
tionally, that  they  did  not  by  word  or  deed 
openly  disturb  the  state  established,  I  would 
know  a  reason  why  they  should  now  be  so  gen- 
erally and  exceedirgly  straitly  called  upon,  es- 
pecially since  there  is  a  greater  increase  of  pa- 
pists lately  than  heretofore. 

"  To  conclude,  I  wish,  that  if  by  petition  to 
the  king's  majesty  there  cannot  be  obtained  a 
quiet  remove  of  the  premises,  nor  yet  a  tolera- 
tion for  them  that  are  of  more  staid  and  temper- 
ate carriage,  yet  at  least  there  might  be  procu- 
red a  mitigation  of  the  penalty."* 

■The  Bishops  of  London,  Winchester,  Ely,  and 
Lincoln,  answered  the  Bishop  of  St.  David's  ; 
but  when  his  lordship  would  have  replied,  he 
was  forbid  by  the  president,  and  submitted  ;  af- 
firming, that  as  nothing  Was  more  dear  to  him 
than  the  peace  of  the  Church,  he  was  determin- 
ed to  use  the  best  means  he  could  to  draw  oth- 

*  Dr.  Grey  also  gives  this  speech  of  Bishop  Rudd 
at  length,  inserting  in  brackets  some  words  and  claus- 
es both  from  Mr.  Pierce  and  Mr.  Thomas  Baker's 
MSS.,  omitted  by  Mr.  JNeal,  in  order  to  convict  him- 
self of  inaccuracy  ;  but  from  the  nature  of  them,  it 
should  seem  that  these  omissions  proceeded  not 
from  negligence,  but  design,  as  not  essential  to  Bish- 
op Rudd's  argument. — Ed. 


ers  to  unity  and  conformity  with  himself,  and 
the  rest  of  his  reverend  brethren.  And  thus 
the  debate  ended. 

The  Book  of  Canons  found  an  easy  passage 
through  both  houses  of  convocation,  and  was 
afterward  ratified  by  the  king's  letters  patent 
under  his  great  seal ;  but  not  being  confirmed 
by  act  of  Parliament,  it  has  several  times  been 
adjudged  in  the  courts  of  Westminster  Hall  that 
they  bind  on^ly  the  clergy,  the  laity  not  being 
represented  in  convocation.  The  book  contains 
one  hundred  and  forty-one  articles,  collected 
out  of  the  injunctions,  and  other  episcopal  and 
synodical  acts  of  the  reigns  of  King  Edward 
VI.  and  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  are  the  same  that 
are  now  in  force.  By  these  we  discern  the 
spirit  of  the  Church  at  this  time,  and  how  free- 
ly she  dispensed  her  anathemas  against  those 
who  attempted  a  farther  reformation.  The  can- 
ons that  relate  to  the  Puritans  deserve  a  par- 
ticular mention,  because  (however  illegally)  they 
suffered  severely  under  them. 

"  Canon  3  says,  that  whosoever  shall  affirm 
that  the  Church  of  England  by  law  established 
is  not  a  true  and  apostolical  church,  let  him  be 
excommunicated  ipso  facto,  and  not  restored 
but  only  by  the  archbishop,  after  his  repentance 
and  public  revocation  of  his  wicked  error. 

"  Canon  4.  Whosoever  shall  affirm  the  form 
of  God's  worship  in  the  Church  of  England  es- 
tablished by  law,  and  contained  in  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer  and  administration  of  sacra- 
ments, is  a  corrupt,  superstitious,  and  unlawful 
worship,  or  contains  anything  repugnant  to 
Scripture,  let  him  be  excommunicated  ipso  facto, 
and  not  restored,  &c. 

"  Canon  5.  Whosoever  shall  affirm,  that  any 
of  the  thirty -nine  articles  of  the  Church,  agreed 
upon  in  the  year  1562,  for  avoiding  diversity  of 
opinions,  and  for  establishing  consent  touching 
true  religion,  are  in  any  part  superstitious  or 
erroneous,  or  such  as  he  may  not  with  a  good 
conscience  subscribe  to,  let  him  be  excommu- 
nicated ipso  facto,  and  not  restored,  &c. 

"  Canon  6.  Whosoever  shall  affirm,  that  the 
rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  England 
by  law  established  are  wicked,  antichristian, 
superstitious,  or  such  as,  being  commanded  by 
lawful  authority,  good  men  may  not  with  a  good 
conscience  approve,  use,  or,  as  occasion  re- 
quires, subscribe,  let  him  be  excommunicated 
ipso  facto,  and  not  restored,  &c. 

"  Canon  7.  Whosoever  shall  affirm  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Church  of  England,  by  archbish- 
ops, bishops,  deans,  and  archdeacons,  and  the 
rest  that  bear  office  in  the  same,  is  antichristian, 
or  repugnant  to  the  Word  of  God,  let  him  be 
excommunicated  ipso  facto,  and  not  restored, 
&c. 

"  Canon  8.  Whosoever  shall  affirm,  that  the 
form  and  manner  of  making  and  consecrating 
bishops,  priests,  or  deacons,  contain  anything 
repugnant  to  the  Word  of  God  ;  or  that  persons 
so  made  and  consecrated  are  not  lawfully  made, 
or  need  any  other  calling  or  ordination  to  their 
divine  offices,  let  him  be  excommunicated  ipso 
facta,  and  not  restored,  &c. 

"  Canon  9.  Whosoever  shall  separate  from 
the  communion  of  the  Church  of  England,  as  it 
is  approved  by  the  apostles'  rules,  and  combine 
together  in  a  new  brotherhood,  accounting 
those  who  conform  to  the  doctrines,  rites,  and 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


229 


ceremonies  of  the  Church  unmeet  for  their 
communion,  let  him  be  excommunicated  wso 
facto,  and  not  restored,  &c. 

"  Canon  10.  Whosoever  shall  affirm  that  such 
ministers  as  refuse  to  subscribe  to  the  form  and 
number  of  God's  worship  in  the  Church  of 
England,  and  their  adherents,  may  truly  take  to 
themselves  the  name  of  another  church  not  es- 
tablished by  law,  and  shall  publish  that  their 
pretended  church  has  groaned  under  the  burden 
of  certain  grievances  imposed  on  them  by  the 
Church  of  England,  let  him  be  excommunicated 
ipso  facto,  and  not  restored,  &c. 

"Canon  11.  Whosoever  shall  affirm  that 
there  are  within  this  realm  other  meetings,  as- 
semblies, or  congregations,  of  the  king's  born 
subjects,  than  such  as  are  established  by  law, 
■which  may  rightly  challenge  to  themselves  the 
name  of  true  and  lawful  churches,  let  him  be 
excommunicated  ipso  facto,  and  not  restored,  &c. 
"  Canon  12.  Whosoever  shall  affirm  that  it 
is  lawful  for  any  sort  of  ministers  or  lay  persons 
to  make  rules,  orders,  and  constitutions,  in  caus- 
es ecclesiastical,  without  the  king's  authority, 
and  shall  submit  to  be  ruled  and  governed  by 
them,  let  him  be  excommunicated  ipso  facto,  and 
not  restored,  iScc. 

"  Canon  98.  We  decree  and  appoint,  that  af- 
ter any  judge  ecclesiastical  hath  proceeded  ju- 
dicially against  obstinate  and  factious  persons, 
for  not  observing  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of 
the  Church,  or  for  contempt  of  public  prayer, 
no  judge  ad  qucm  shall  admit  or  allow  of  an  ap- 
peal, unless  he  having  first  seen  the  original 
appeal,  the  party  appellant  do  first  personally 
promise  and  vow  that  he  will  faithfully  keep 
and  observe  all  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the 
Church  of  England,  as  also  the  prescript  form 
of  common  prayer ;  and  do  likewise  subscribe 
the  three  articles  formerly  by  us  specified  and 
declared." 

They  who  are  acquainted  with  the  terrible 
consequences  of  an  excommunication  in  the 
spiritual  courts,  must  be  sensible  of  the  new 
hardships  put  upon  the  Puritans  by  these  can- 
ons :  suspensions  and  deprivations  from  their 
livings  were  not  now  thought  sufficient  punish- 
ments for  the  sin  of  nonconformity  ;  but  the 
Puritans,  both  clergy  and  laity,  must  be  turned 
out  of  the  congregation  of  the  faithful ;  they  must 
be  rendered  incapable  of  'suing  for  their  lawful 
debts  ;  they  must  be  imprisoned  for  life  by  pro- 
cess out  of  the  civil  courts,  or  until  they  make 
satisfaction  to  the  Church  ;  and  when  they  die, 
they  must  be  denied  Christian  burial ;  and,  so 
far  as  lies  in  the  power  of  the  court,  be  excluded 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.  0  uncharitableness  ! 
Papists  excommunicate  Protestants,  because,  by 
renouncing  the  Catholic  faith,  they  apprehended 
them  guilty  of  heresy  ;  but  for  Protestants  of 
the  same  faith  to  excommunicate  their  fellow- 
Christians  and  subjects,  and  deprive  them  of 
their  liberties,  properties,  and  estates,  for  a  few 
ceremonies,  or  because  they  have  not  the  same 
veneration  for  the  ecclesiastical  constitution 
with  themselves,  is  hardly  to  be  paralleled. 

To  take  notice  of  a  few  more  of  the  canons  : 
canon  14  forbids  the  minister  to  add  to,  or  leave 
out,  any  part  of  the  prayers.  Canon  18  enjoins 
bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus.  Canons  17,  24, 
25,  58,  74,  enjoin  the  wearing  the  habits  in  col- 
leges, cathedrals,  &c.,  as  copes,  surplices,  hpods. 


Canon  27  forbids  giving  the  sacrament  to  schis- 
matics, or  to  any  other  but  such  as  kneel,  and 
allow  of  the  rites,  ceremonies,  and  orders  of  the 
Church.  Canon  28  says  that  none  shall  be  ad- 
mitted to  the  sacrament  but  in  their  own  parishi 
Canon  29,  That  no  parent  shall  be  urged  to  be 
present,  nor  be  admitted  to  answer  as  a  godfa- 
ther for  his  own  child  in  baptism.  Canon  30 
declares  the  sign  of  the  cross  to  be  no  part  of 
the  substance  of  the  sacrament  of  baptism,  but 
that  the  ordinance  is  perfect  without  it.  Canon 
33  prohibits  ordination  without  a  presentation, 
and  says,  that  if  any  bishop  ordain  without  a 
title,  he  shall  maintain  the  person  till  he  be  pro- 
vided with  a  living.  Canons  36  and  37  say  that 
no  person  shall  be  ordained,  or  suffered  to  preach, 
or  catechise  in  any  place  as  a  lecturer,  or  oth- 
erwise, unless  he  first  subscribe  the  three  arti- 
cles following:  1.  That  the  king's  majesty  is 
the  supreme  head  and  governor  of  this  realm,  as 
well  in  all  spiritual  and  ecclesiastical  as  tem- 
poral causes.  2.  That  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  &c.,  contains  nothing  contrary  to  the 
Word  of  God,  and  that  he  will  use  it,  and  none 
other.  3.  That  he  alloweth  the  thirty-nine  ar- 
ticles of  1562  to  be  all  and  every  one  of  them 
agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God.  To  these  he 
shall  subscribe  in  the  following  form  of  words  : 

I,  N  N,  do  willingly,  and  ex  animo,  subscribe 
to  these  three  articles  above  mentioned,  and  to 
all  things  that  are  contained  in  them. 

Canon  38  says,  that  if  any  minister,  after 
subscription,  shall  disuse  the  ceremonies,  he 
shall  be  suspended  ;  then,  after  a  month,  be  ex- 
communicated ;  and  after  another  month,  be  de- 
posed from  his  ministry.  Canon  55  contains 
the  form  of  bidding  prayer  before  sermon  :  "Ye 
shall  pray  for  Christ's  holy  Catholic  Church," 
&c.,  the  original  of  which  I  have  accounted  for. 
Canon  82  appoints,  "  that  convenient  and  de- 
cent tables  shall  be  provided  in  all  churches  for 
the  celebration  of  the  holy  communion,  and  the 
same  tables  shall  be  covered  in  limes  of  Divine 
service  with  a  carpet  of  silk,  or  other  convenient 
stuff;  and  with  a  fair  linen  cloth  at  the  time  of 
the  administration,  as  becometh  that  table,  and 
so  stand,  saving  when  the  said  holy  communion 
is  to  be  administered  ;  at  which  time  the  same 
shall  be  placed  in  so  good  sort  within  the  church 
or  chancel,  as  thereby  the  minister  may  be  more 
conveniently  heard  of  the  communicants  in  his 
prayer  and  administration  ;  and  the  communi- 
cants also  more  conveniently,  and  in  more  num- 
bers, may  communicate  with  the  said  minister ; 
and  a  convenient  seat  shall  be  made  for  the 
minister  to  read  service  in." 

The  other  canons  relate  to  the  particular  du- 
ties of  ministers,  lecturers,  church-wardens,  par- 
ish-clerks ;  to  the  jurisdiction  and  business  of 
ecclesiastical  courts,  with  their  proper  officers, 
as  judges  ecclesiastical,  surrogates,  proctors, 
registrars,  apparitors,  cStc.  The  book  concludes 
with  denouncing  the  sentence  of  excommunica- 
tion, I.  Against  such  as  shall  affirm  that  this 
synod,  thus  assembled,  is  not  the  true  Church 
of  England  by  representation.  2.  Against  such 
as  shall  affirm  that  person^  not  particularly  as- 
sembled in  this  synod,  either  clergy  or  laity,  are 
not  subject  to  the  decrees  thereof,  as  no't  having 
given  their  voices  to  them.  3.  Against  such  as 
shall  affirm  this  sacred  synod  was  a  company 
of  such  persons  as  did  conspire  against  godly 


240 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


and  religious  professors  of  the  Gospel,  and, 
therefore,  that  they  and  their  proceedings  ought 
to  be  despised  and  contemned,  though  ratified 
and  confirmed  by  the  royal  supremacy  and  au- 
thority. 

The  king,  in  his  ratification  of  these  canons, 
commands  them  to  be  diligently  observed  and 
executed,  and  for  the  better  observation  of  the 
same,  that  every  parish  minister  shall  read  them 
over  once  every  year  in  his  church,  on  a  Sun- 
day or  holyday,  before  Divine  service  ;  and  all 
archbishops,  bishops,  and  others  having  eccle- 
siastical jurisdiction,  are  commanded  to  see  all 
and  every  the  same  put  in  execution,  and  not 
spare  to  execute  the  penalties  in  them  severally 
mentioned  on  those  that  wilfully  break  or  neg- 
lect them.  I  shall  leave  the  reader  to  make  his 
own  comment  on  the  proceedings  of  this  synod, 
only  observing  that,  when  they  had  finished 
their  decrees,  they  were  prorogued  to  January, 
1605-6,  when,  Dr.  Overal  being  prolocutor,  they 
gave  the  king  four  subsidies,  but  did  no  more 
church  business  till  the  time  of  their  dissolution, 
in  the  year  1610. 

Dr.  Bancroft,  bishop  of  London,  being  trans- 
lated to  the  see  of  Canterbury*  [December  1604], 
■was  succeeded  by  Vaughan,  bishop  of  Chester, 
a  corpulent  man,  and  of  little  activity;  upon  his 
advancement  the  Dutch  and  French  ministers 
"within  his  diocess  presented  him  with  an  ad- 
dress for  his  protection  and  favour,  wherein 
they  set  forth  "  that  their  churches  were  grant- 
ed them  by  charter  ffom  pious  King  Edward 
VI.,  in  the  year  1550;  and  that,  though  they 
were  again  dispersed  by  the  Marian  persecution, 
they  were  restored  to  their  churches  and  privi- 
leges by  Queen  Elizabeth,  in  the  year  1558, 
from  which  time  they  have  been  in  the  uninter- 
rupted possession  of  them.  It  appears  from 
our  records,"  say  they,  "  how  kind  and  friendly 
the  pious  Grindal  was  to  us ;  and  what  pains 
the  prudent  Bishop  Sandys  took  in  composing 
our  differences.  We  promise  ourselves  the  like 
favour  from  your  lordship,  &c.,  for  whom  we 
shall  always  pray,"  &c.t  Monsieur  de  la  Fon- 
taine delivered  the  address,  with  a  short  Latin 
speech,  to  whom  the  bishop  replied,  "I  thank 

*  The  causes  which  led  to  Bancroft's  elevation 
are  thus  stated  by  Sir  John  Harrington :  "  His  maj- 
«sty  had  long  since  understanding  of  his  writing 
against  the  Genevesing  and  Scottising  ministers;  and 
1  hough  some  imagined  he  had  therein  given  the  king 
some  distaste,  yet  finding  him  in  the  disputations  at 
Hampton  Court  both  learned  and  stout,  he  did  more 
and  more  increase  his  liking  to  him ;  so  that  al- 
though in  the  common  rumour  Thoby  Matthew  was 
likeliest  to  have  carried  it,  so  learned  a  man  and  so 
assiduous  a  preacher,  qui  in  concionibus  dominatur,  as 
his  emulous  and  bitter  enemy  wrote  of  him,  yet  his 
majesty,  in  his  learning  knowing,  and  in  his  wisdom 
weighing,  that  this  same  strict  charge,  ^pasce  oves 
meos,'  feed  my  sheep,  requires  as  well  a  pastoral 
courage  of  driving  in  the  stray  sheep  and  driving  out 
the  infectious,  as  of  feeding  the  sound,  made  special 
choice  of  the  Bishop  of  London,  as  a  man  more  ex- 
ercised in  the  affairs  of  the  state.  I  will  add  also 
mine  own  conjecture  out  of  some  of  his  majesty's 
own  speeches,  that  in  respect  he  was  a  single  man, 
he  supposed  him  the  fitter,  according  to  Queen  EUz- 
abeth's  principles  of  state,  upon  whose  wise  founda- 
tions his  majesty  doth  daily  erect  more  glorious 
buildings."— iVa»-ffi  Antique,  vol.  ii.,  p.  25.— C. 

t  Address  of  the  French  and  Dutch  churches  to 
the  Bishop  of  London,  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  iv.,  p. 
390. 


you,  most  dear  brethren,  for  your  kind  address  ; 
I  am  sensible  of  the  merits  of  John  Alasco, 
Utenhovius,  and  Edmund  Grindal,  bishop  of 
London,*  superintendents  of  your  churches, 
and  of  the  rest  of  my  predecessors  in  this  bish- 
opric, who  had  reason  to  take  your  churches, 
which  are  of  the  same  faith  with  our  own,  un- 
der their  patronage,  which  I  am  also  ready  to 
do.  I  have  known  your  churches  twenty-five 
years  to  have  been  beneficial  to  the  kingdom, 
and  serviceable  to  the  Church  of  England,  in 
which  the  devil,  the  author  of  discord,  has  kin- 
dled the  fire  of  dissension,  into  which  I  pray 
you  not  to  pour  oil,  but  to  endeavour  by  your 
councils  and  prayers  to  extinguish. "t  Thus 
the  foreign  churches  enjoyed  full  peace,  while 
his  majesty's  own  subjects,  of  the  same  faith 
and  discipline  with  them,  were  harassed  out  of 
the  kingdom. 

Bancroft  was  a  divine  of  a  rough  temper,  a 
perfect  creature  of  the  prerogative,  and  a  de- 
clared enemy  of  the  religious  and  civil  liberties 
of  his  country.  He  was  for  advancing  the  pre- 
rogative above  law,  and  for  enlarging  the  juris- 
diction of  the  spiritual  courts,  by  advising  his 
majesty  to  take  from  the  courts  of  Westminster 
Hail  to  himself  the  whole  right  of  granting  pro- 
hibitions ;  for  this  purpose  he  framed  twenty- 
five  grievances  of  the  clergy,  which  he  called 
ariiculi  cleri,  and  presented  them  to  the  king  for 
his  approbation ;  but  the  judges  having  decla- 
red them  to  be  contrary  to  law,  they  were  set 
aside. 

His  grace  revived  the  persecutions  of  the 
Puritans  by  enforcing  the  strict  observance  of 
all  the  festivals  of  the  Church ;  reviving  the  use 
of  copes,  surplices,  caps,  hoods,  &c.,  according 
to  the  first  service-book  of  King  Edward,  obli- 
ging the  clergy  to  subscribe  over  again  to  the 
three  articles  of  Whitgift,  which  by  the  late 
canon  [No.  36]  they  were  to  declare  they  did 
willingly,  and  from  the  heart.  By  these  meth- 
ods of  severity  above  three  hundred  Puritan 
ministerst  were  silenced  or  deprived,  some  of 
whom  were  excommunicated  and  cast  into  pris- 
on, others  were  forced  to  leave  their  native 
country  and  livelihood,  and  go  into  banishment 
to  preserve  their  consciences.  I  say,  says  Mr. 
Collyer,  to  preserve  their  consciences,  for  it  is 
a  hard  thing  to  bring  everybody's  understand- 
ing to  a  common  standard,  and  to  make  all 
honest  men  of  the  same  mind.^ 

To  countenance  and  support  the  archbishop's 


*  Utenhovius  and  Edmund  Grindal,  as  Dr.  Grey 
observes,  are  not  mentioned  in  the  bishop's  answer, 
though  they  are  in  Fontaine's  speech. — Ed. 

t  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  v.,  p.  395. 

i  This  account  is  controverted  by  Dr.  Grey  on  the 
authority  of  HeyUn's  Aer.  Rediviv.,  p.  376,  who  says 
"  that,  by  the  rolls  brought  in  by  Bishop  Bancroft 
before  his  death,  it  appears  that  there  had  been  but 
forty-five  deprived  on  all  occasions,  which,  in  a  realm 
containing  nine  thousand  parishes,  could  be  no  great 
matter.  But  it  was  that,  by  the  punishment  of  some 
of  the  principals,  he  struck  such  a  general  terror  into 
all  the  rest,  that  inconformity  grew  out  of  fashion  in 
less  time  fhan  could  be  easily  imagined." — En.  Cal- 
derwood  says  there  were,"  three  hundred,"  and  he  is 
supported  bv  the  author  of  "  A  Short  Dialogue,"  1605, 
who  says  "  their  names  amounted,  1st  November, 
1605,  to  270  and  upward,  yet  there  were  eight  bish- 
oprics whereof  it  could  not  yet  be  learned  what  had 
been  done  in  them." — P.  58. — 0. 

(J  Eccles.  Hist.,  p.  687. 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS. 


241 


proceedings,  the  king  summoned  the  twelve 
judges  into  the  Star  Chamber,  and  demanded 
their  judgments  upon  three  questions  ;  there 
were  present  the  Bishops  of  Canterbury  and 
London,  and  about  twelve  lords  of  the  privy 
council. 

The  lord-chancellor  opened  the  assembly  with 
a  sharp  speech  against  the  Puritans,  as  disturb- 
ers of  the  peace,  declaring  that  the  king  intend- 
ed to  suppress  them  by  having  the  laws  put  in 
execution  ;*  and  then  demanded,  in  his  majesty's 
name,  the  opinion  of  the  judges  in  three  things  : 
Q.  1.  "'Whether  the  deprivation  of  Puritan 
ministers  by  the  high  commissioners,  for  refu- 
sing to  conform  to  the  ceremonies  appointed  by 
the  last  canons,  was  lawful  1" 

The  judges  replied,  "  that  they  had  conferred 
thereof  before,  and  held  it  to  be  lawful,  because 
the  king  had  the  supreme  ecclesiastical  power, 
which  he  has  delegated  to  the  commissioners, 
"Whereby  they  have  the  power  of  deprivation,  by 
the  canon  law  of  the  realm,  and  the  statute  1st 
EUz.,  which  appoints  commissioners  to  be  made 
by  the  queen,  but  does  not  confer  any  new  pow- 
er, but  explain  and  declare  the  ancient  power ; 
and  therefore  they  held  it  clear  that  the  king 
without  Parliament  might  make  orders  and  con- 
stitutions for  the  government  of  the  clergy,  and 
might  deprive  them  if  they  obeyed  not ;  and  so 
the  commissioners  might  deprive  them,  but  that 
the  commissioners  could  not  make  any  new  con- 
stitutions without  the  king.  And  the  divulging 
such  ordinances  by  proclamation  is  a  most  gra- 
cious admonition.  And  forasmuch  as  they  [the 
Puritans]  have  refused  to  obey,  they  are  lawfully 
deprived  by  the  commissioners  ex  officio,  without 
libel,  et  ore  terms  convocati." 

Q.  2.  "  Whether  a  prohibition  be  grantable 
against  the  commissioners  upon  the  statute  of 
2  Henry  V.,  if  they  do  not  deliver  the  copy  of 
the  libel  to  the  party  1" 

The  judges  replied,  "  that  that  statute  was 
intended  where  the  ecclesiastical  judge  proceeds 
ex  officio,  et  ore  tenus." 

Q.  3.  "  Whether  it  be  an  offence  punishable, 
and  what  punishment  they  deserved,  who  framed 
petitions,  and  collected  a  multitude  of  hands 
thereto,  to  prefer  to  the  king  in  a  public  cause, 
as  the  Puritans  had  done,  with  an  mtimation  to 
the  king,  that  if  he  denied  their  suit,  many  thou- 
sands of  his  subjects  would  be  discontented  !" 
The  judges  replied,  "  that  it  was  an  offence 
finable  at  discretion,  and  very  near  to  treason 
and  felony  in  the  punishment,  for  it  tended  to 
the  raising  sedition,  rebellion,  and  discontent 
among  the  people."  To  which  unaccountable 
lesolution  all  the  lords  agreed. t 

By  these  determinations  the  whole  body  of  the 
clergy  are  excluded  the  benefit  of  the  common 
and  statute  law  ;  for  the  king  without  Parlia- 
ment may  make  what  constitutions  he  pleases  : 
his  majesty's  high  commissioners  may  proceed 
upon  these  constitutions  ex  officio ;  and  the  sub- 
ject may  not  open  his  complaints  to  the  king,  or 
petition  for  relief,  without  being  finable  at  pleas- 
ure, and  coming  within  danger  of  treason  or 
felony.} 


Before  the  breaking  up  of  the  assembly,  some 
of  the  lords  declared  that  the  Puritans  had  raised 
a  false  rumour  of  the  king,  as  intending  to  grant 
a  toleration  to  papists  ;  which  offence  the  judges 
conceived  to  be  heinously  finable  by  the  rules  of 
common  law,  either  in  the  King's  Bench,  or  by 
the  king  in  council ;  or  now,  since  the  statute 
of  3  Henry  VII.,  in  the  Star  Chamber.  And  the 
lords  severally  declared  that  the  king  was  discon- 
tenied  with  the  said  false  rumour,  and  had  made 
but  the  day  before  a  protestation  to  them  that 
he  never  intended  it,  and  that  he  would  spend 
the  last  drop  of  blood  in  his  body  before  he  would 
do  it  ;  and  prayed,  that  before  any  of  his  issue 
should  maintain  any  otlier  religion  than  what  he 
truly  possessed  and  maintained,  God  would  take 
them  out  of  the  world.  The  reader  will  remem- 
ber this  solemn  protestation  hereafter. 

After  these  determinations  the  archbishop  re- 
sumed fresh  courage,  and  pursued  the  Puritans 
without  the  least  compassion.  A  more  grievous 
persecution  of  the  orthodox  faith,  says  my  au- 
tlior,  is  not  to  be  met  with  in  any  prince's  reign. 
Dr.  John  Burgess,  rector  of  Sutton  Colefield,  in 
one  of  his  letters  to  King  James,  says  the  num- 
ber of  Nonconformists  in  the  counties  he  men- 
tions were  six  or  seven  hundred,  agreeable  to 
the  address  of  the  Lincolnshire  ministers,  here- 
after mentioned.* 

The  whole  clergy  of  London  being  summoned 
to  Lambeth,  in  order  to  subscribe  over  again, 
many  absconded,  and   such  numbers   refused, 
that  the  Church  was  in  danger  of  being  disfur- 
nished,  which  awakened  the  court,  who   had 
been  told  that  the  Nonconformists  were  an  in- 
considerable body  of  men.     Upon  this  surprising 
appearance,  the  bishops  were  obliged  to  relax 
the  rigour  of  the  canons  for  a  while,  and  to  ac- 
cept of  a  promise  from  some  to  use  the  cross 
and  surplice ;  from  others  to  use  the  surplice 
only  ;  and  from  others  a  verbal  promise  that  they 
might  be  used,  not  obliging  themselves  to  the 
use  of  them  at  ckll ;  the  design  of  which  was  to 
serve  the  Church  by  them  at  present,  till  the 
universities  could  supply  them  with  new  men  ; 
for  they  had  a  strict  eye  upon  those  seminaries 
of  learning,  and  would  admit  no  young  scholar 
into  orders  without  an  absolute  and  full  sub- 
scription to  all  the  articles  and  canons. 

Bancroft,  in  a  letter  to  his  brethren  the  bish- 
ops, dated  December  18,  1604,  gives  the  follow- 
ing directions  :  "  As  to  such  ministers  as  are 
not  already  placed  in  the  Church,  the  thirty-sixth 

the  king  absolute  in  all  ecclesiastical  affairs,  without 
any  hmitation  or  redress ;  and  it  was  intended,  proba- 
bly, as  a  step  to  make  him  so  in  the  state." — Ed. 

*  The  number  of  nonsubscribers  in 
Oxfordshire,  were  .     .     9  i  Staffordshire   ...     14 


*  Crook's  Reports,  Mich,  term,  2  Jac,  part  ii.,  p. 
37,  parag.  13. 

■j-  The  reader  is  referred  to  Vaughan's  Stuart  Dy- 
nasty, vol.  i.,  p.  139.— C. 

t  "  This  (as  Dr.  Warner  well  observes)  was  making 

Vol.  I.— H  h 


Dorsetshire  ....  17 
Nottinghamshire  .  .  20 
Norfolk 28 


Hertfordshire  ...     17 

Surrey 81 

Wiltshire    ....    31 

Sussex 47 

Cheshire  .  •  .  .  .  12 
Somersetshire  .  .  17 
Lancashire      ...    21 

London 30 

Warwickshire      .    .    44 

Northamptonshire    .    57 

Suffolk 71  I  Essex _57 

In  the  twenty-four  counties  above  mentioned  .  746 
From  whence  it  is  reasonable  to  conclude,  that  in  the 
fifty-two  counties  of  England  and  Wales,  there  were 
more  than  double  the  number. 


Buckinghamshire 
Leicestershire    . 
Bedfordshire 
Derbyshire    .    .    . 

Kent 

Lincolnshire      .    . 
Devon  and  Cornwall 


,  33 
57 
16 
20 
23 
33 
51 


242 


HISTORY    OF  THE   PURITANS. 


and  thirty-seventh  canons  are  to  be  observed  ; 
and  none  are  to  be  admitted  to  execute  any  ec- 
clesiastical function  without  subscription.  Such 
as  are  already  placed  in  the  Church  are  of  two 
sorts  :  1.  Some  promise  conformity,  but  are 
unwilling  to  subscribe  again.  Of  these,  foras- 
much as  the  near  affinity  between  conformity 
and  subscription  gives  apparent  hopes  that,  be- 
ing men  of  sincerity,  they  will  in  a  short  time 
frame  themselves  to  a  more  constant  course, 
and  subscribe  to  that  again,  which  by  their  prac- 
tice they  testify  not  to  be  repugnant  to  the  Word 
of  God,  your  lordship  may  (an  act  remaining 
upon  record  of  such  their  offer  and  promise)  re- 
spite their  subscription  for  some  short  time.  2. 
Others,  in  their  obstinacy,  will  yield  neither  to 
subscription  nor  promise  of  conformity  ;  these 
are  either  stipendiary  curates,  or  stipendiary  lec- 
turers, or  men  beneficed  ;  the  first  two  are  to  be 
silenced,  and  the  third  deprived."  He  adds, 
'■that  the  king's  proclamation  of  July  16,  1604, 
admonishes  them  to  conform  to  the  Church,  and 
obey  the  same,  or  else  to  dispose  of  themselves 
and  their  families  some  other  way,  as  being  men 
unfit,  for  their  obstinacy  and  contempt,  to  oc- 
cupy such  places  ;  and  besides,  they  are  within 
the  compass  of  several  laws." 

The  Puritans  who  separated  from  the  Church, 
or  inclined  that  way,  were  treated  with  yet 
greater  rigour.  Mr.Maunsel,  minister  of  Yar- 
mouth, and  Mr.  Lad,  a  merchant  of  that  town, 
were  imprisoned  by  the  High  Commission,  for  a 
supposed  conventicle,  because  that  on  the  Lord's 
Day,  after  sermon,  they  joined  with  Mr.  Jack- 
ler,  their  late  minister,  in  repeating  the  heads 
of  the  sermon  preached  on  that  day  in  the 
church.  Mr.  Lad  was  obliged  to  answer  upon 
oath  certain  articles  without  being  able  to  ob- 
tain a  sight  of  them  beforehand,  and,  after  he 
had  answered  before  the  chancellor,  was  cited 
up  to  Lambeth  to  answer  them  again  before  the 
high  commissioners  upon  a  new  oath,  which 
he  refusing  without  a  sight  of  his  former  an- 
swer, was  thrown  into  prison,  where  he  contin- 
ued a  long  time  without  being  admitted  to  bail. 
Mr.  Maunsei,  the  minister,  was  charged  farther 
■with  signing  a  complaint  to  the  lower  house  of 
Parliament,  and  for  refusing  the  oath  ex  officio, 
for  which  he  also  was  shut  up  in  prison  without 
bail.  At  length,  being  brought  to  the  bar  upon  a 
writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  having  prevailed  with 
Nic.  Fuller,  Esq.,  a  bencher  of  Gray's  Inn,  and  a 
learned  man  in  his  profession,  to  be  their  coun- 
sel, he  moved  that  the  prisoners  might  be  dis- 
charged, because  the  high  commissioners  were 
not  empowered  by  law  to  imprison,  or  to  ad- 
minister the  oath  ex  officio,  or  to  fine  any  of  his 
majesty's  subjects.  This  was  reckoned  an  un- 
ptrdonable  crime,  and,  instead  of  serving  his 
clients,  brought  the  indignation  of  the  commis- 
sioners upon  himself  Bancroft  told  the  king 
that  he  was  the  champion  of  the  Nonconform- 
ists, and  ought,  therefore,  to  be  made  an  exam- 
ple to  terrify  others  from  appearing  for  them  ; 
accordingly,  he  was  shut  up  in  close  prison,  from 
whence  neither  the  intercession  of  his  friends 
r.or  his  own  humble  petitions  could  obtain  his 
release  to  the  day  of  his  death.* 

This  iiigh  abuse  of  Church  power  obliged 
many  learned  ministers  and  their  followers  to 
leave  the  kingdom  and  retire  to  Amsterdam, 

*  Pierce's  Vindication,  p.  174. 


Rotterdam,  the  Hague,  Leyden,  Utrecht,  and 
other  places  of  the  Low  Countries,  where  Eng- 
lish churches  \vere  erected  after  the  Presbyteri- 
an model,  and  maintained  by  the  States  accord- 
ing to  treaty  with  Queen  Elizabeth,  as  the 
French  and  Dutch  churches  were  in  England. 
Besides,  the  English  being  yet  in  possession  of 
the  cautionary  towns,  many  went  over  as  chap- 
lains to  regiments,  which,  together  with  the 
merchants  that  resided  in  the  trading  cities, 
made  a  considerable  body.  The  reverend  and 
learned  Dr.  William  Ames,  one  of  the  most 
acute  controversial  writers  of  his  age,  settled 
with  the  Epglish  church  at  the  Hague  ;  the 
learned  Mr.  Robert  Parker,  a  Wiltshire  divine, 
and  author  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Policy,  being 
disturbed  by  the  High  Commission,  retired  to 
Amsterdam,  and  afterward  became  chaplain  to 
the  English  regiment  at  Doesburgh,  where  he 
died.  The  learned  Mr.  Forbes,  a  Scots  divine, 
settled  with  the  English  church  at  Rotterdam, 
as  Mr.  Pots,  Mr.  Paget,  and  others  did  at  Am- 
sterdam and  other  places. 

But  the  greatest  number  of  those  who  left 
their  native  country  for  religion  were  Brown- 
ists,*  or  rigid  Separatists,  of  whom  Mr.  John- 
son, Ainsworth,  Smith,  and  Robinson  were  the 
leaders.  Mr.  Johnson  erected  a  church  at  Am- 
sterdam after  the  model  of  the  Brownists,  hav- 
ing the  learned  Mr.  Ainsworth  for  doctor  or 
teacher.  These  two  published  to  the  world  a 
confession  of  faith  of  the  people  called  Brown- 
ists, in  the  year  1602,  not  much  different  in  doc- 
trine from  "  The  Harmony  of  Confessions,"  but 
being  men  of  warm  spirits,  they  fell  to  pieces 
about  points  of  disciphne  ;t  Johnson  excomrnu- 

*  These  conscientious  exiles,  driven  from  their 
own  country  by  persecution,  in.stead  of  meeting  with 
a  hospitable  reception  or  even  a  quiet  refuge  in  Hol- 
land, were  there  "  loaded  with  reproaches,  despised, 
and  afflicted  by  all,  and  almost  consumed  with  deep 
poverty."  The  learned  Ainsworth,  we  are  told,  lived 
upon  ninepence  a  week  and  some  boiled  roots,  and 
was  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  hiring  himself  as  a 
porter  to  a  bookseller,  who  first  of  all  discovered  his 
skill  in  the  Hebrew  language,  and  made  it  known  to 
his  countrymen.  The  Dutch  themselves,  just  emer- 
ged from  civil  and  religious  oppression,  looked  with  a 
jealous  eye  on  these  suffering  refugees.  And  though 
the  civil  power,  commonly  in  every  state  more  friend- 
ly than  the  ecclesiastic  to  toleration,  does  not  appear 
to  have  oppressed  them ;  the  clergy  would  not  afford 
them  an  opportunity  to  refute  the  unfavourable  re- 
ports generally  circulated  against  them  on  the  au- 
thority of  letters  from  England,  nor  receive  their  con- 
fession of  faith,  nor  give  them  an  audience  on  some 
points  on  which  they  desired  to  lay  their  sentiments 
before  them ;  but  with  a  man  at  their  head  of  no  less 
eminence  than  James  Arminius,  judged  that  they 
ought  to  petition  the  magistrate  for  leave  to  hold 
their  assemblies  for  the  worship  of  God,  and  inform- 
ed against  them  in  such  a  way  as  might  have  render- 
ed them  the  objects  of  suspicion.  "  They  seemed  evi- 
dently," it  has  been  remarked,  "  to  have  considered 
them  in  the  same  light  in  which  serious  and  consci- 
entious dissenters  from  the  religious  profession  of  the 
majority  will  ever  be  viewed,  as  a  set  of  discontent- 
ed, factious,  and  conceited  men,  with  whom  it  would 
be  safest  for  them  to  have  no  connexion." — Ains- 
worth's  two  Treatises  on  The  Communion,  of  Saints, 
and  An  Arrow  against  Idolatry,  printed  at  Edinburgh, 
1789,  pref,  p.  15-17.— En. 

t  A  late  writer,  who  appears  to  have  accurately 
investigated  the  history  of  the  Brownists,  represents 
Mr.  Neal  as  incorrect  in  his  account  of  the  debate.si 
which  arose  among  them.    The  principal  leaders  of 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


243 


nicated  his  own  father  and  brother  for  trifling 
matters,  after  having  rejected  the  mediation  of 
the  presbytery  of  Amsterdam.  This  divided  the 
congregation,  insomuch  that  Mr.  Ainsvvorth  and 
half  the  congregation  excommunicated  Johnson, 
who,  after  some  time,  returned  the  same  com- 
phment  to  Ainsworth.  At  length  the  contest 
grew  so  hot  that  Amsterdam  could  not  hold 
them  ;  Johnson  and  his  followers  removed  to 
Embden,  where  soon  after  dying,  his  congrega- 
tion dissolved.  Nor  did  Mr.  Ainsworth  and  his 
followers  live  long  in  peace,  upon  which  he  left 
them  and  retired  to  Ireland,  where  he  continued 
some  time ;  but  when  the  spirits  of  his  people 
were  quieted  he  returned  to  Amsterdam,  and 
continued  with  them  to  the  day  of  his  death. 
This  Mr.  Ainsworth  was  author  of  an  excellent 
little  treatise  entitled  "  An  Arrow  against  Idol- 
atry," and  of  a  most  learned  commentary  on  the 
five  books  of  Moses,  by  which  he  appears  to  have 
been  a  great  master  of  the  Oriental  languages 
and  of  Jewish  antiquities.  His  death  was  sud- 
den, and  not  without  suspicion  of  violence,  for  it 
is  reported  that,  having  found  a  diamond  of  very 
great  value  in  the  streets  of  Amsterdam,  he  ad- 
vertised it  in  print,  and  when  the  owner,  who 
was  a  Jew,  came  to  demand  it,  he  offered  him  any 

this  party  were  the  two  brothers  Francis  and  George 
Johnson,  Mr.  Ainsworth,  and  Mr.  John  Smith,  who 
had  been  a  clergyman  in  England.  Three  principal 
subjects  of  controversy  occasioned  dissensions  in  the 
Brownist  churches.  The  first  ground  of  dissension 
was  the  marriage  of  Francis  Johnson  with  a  widow 
of  a  taste  for  living  and  dress,  particularly  unsuita- 
ble to  times  of  persecution  :  his  father  and  his  broth- 
er opposed  this  connexion.  This  occasioned  such  a 
difference  that  the  latter  proceeded  from  admonitions 
and  reproofs  to  bitter  revdings  and  reproaches,  and 
Francis  Johnson,  his  colleague  Ainsworth,  and  the 
church  at  length  passed  a  sentence  of  excommunica- 
tion against  the  father  and  brother.  Mr.  Neal,  it 
seems,  confounds  this  unhappy  controversy  with  an- 
other that  succeeded  to  it,  but  distinct  from  it,  be- 
tween Francis  Johnson  and  Ainsworth.  It  turned 
upon  a  question  of  discipline  ;  the  former  placing  the 
government  of  the  Church  in  the  eldership  alone,  the 
latter  in  the  Church,  of  which  the  elders  are  a  part. 
This  dispute  was  carried  to  an  unchristian  height,  but, 
according  to  Jlr.  John  Cotton,  of  New-England,  who 
was  the  contemporary  of  Johnson  and  Ainsworth, 
and  had  hved  amid  the  partisans  of  each  side,  they 
did  not,  as  Mr.  Neal  represents  the  matter,  mutually 
excommunicate  each  other,  but  Ainsworth  and  his 
company  withdrew,  and  worshipped  by  themselves 
after  Johnson  and  those  with  him  had  denied  the 
communion.  In  the  interim  of  these  debates,  a 
schism  had  taken  place  in  the  church,  headed  by 
Mr.  John  Smith,  who  advanced  and  maintained  opin- 
ions similar  to  those  afterward  espoused  by  Armini- 
us ;  and  besides  his  sentiments  concerning  baptism, 
to  which  Mr.  Neal  refers  in  the  ne.xt  paragraph,  sev- 
eral singular  opinions  were  ascribed  to  him  ;  as,  that 
no  translation  of  the  Bible  could  be  properly  the 
Word  of  God,  but  the  original  only  was  so;  that 
singing  set  words  or  verses  to  God  was  without  any 
proper  authority ;  that  flight  in  time  of  persecution 
was  unlawful ;  that  the  new  creature  needed  not  the 
support  of  Scriptures  and  ordinances,  but  is  above 
them ;  that  perfection  is  attainable  in  this  life,  &c. 
There  arose  against  him  a  whole  host  of  opponents ; 
Johnson,  Robinson,  Clifton,  Ainsworth,  and  Jessop. 
His  character  as  well  as  his  sentiments  were  attack- 
ed with  a  virulence  of  spirit,  and  an  abusive  language 
that  discredit  the  charges  and  expose  the  spirit  of  the 
Writer's. — See  some  account  of  Mr.  Ainsworth,  pre- 
fixed to  a  new  edition  of  his  two  treatises,  p.  27-12  ; 
and  Crosby's  History  of  EngUfh  Baptists,  vol.  i.,  p.  3., 
&c.,  and  p.  265,  &c. — Ed. 


acknowledgment  he  would  desire;  but  Ains- 
worth, though  poor,  would  accept  of  nothing  but 
a  conference  with  some  of  his  rabbles  upon  the 
prophecies  of  the  Old  Testament  relating  to  the 
Messias,  which  the  other  promised,  but  not  hav- 
ing mterest  enough  to  obtain  it,  and  Ainsworth 
being  resolute,  it  is  thought  he  was  poisoned.* 
His  congregation  remained  without  a  pastor  for 
some  years  after  his  death,  and  then  chose  Mr. 
Canne,  author  of  the  marginal  references  to  the 
Bible,  and  sundry  other  treatises. 

Mr.  Smith  was  a  learned  man,  and  of  good 
abilities,  but  of  an  unsettled  head,  as  appears 
by  the  preface  to  one  of  his  books,  in  which  he 
desires  that  his  last  writiiigs  may  always  be  ta- 
ken for  his  ■present  judgment.  He  was  for  refi- 
ning upon  the  Brownists'  scheme,  and  at  last 
declared  for  the  principles  of  the  Baptists  ;  upon 
this  he  left  Amsterdam,  and  settled  with  his 
disciples  at  Ley  ;  where,  being  at  a  loss  for  a 
proper  administrator  of  the  ordinance  of  bap- 
tism, he  plunged  himself,  and  then  performed 
the  ceremony  upon  others,  which  gained  him 
the  name  of  a  Se-Baptist.t     He  afterward  em- 

*  Others  say  that  he  obtained  this  conference,  and 
so  confounded  the  Jews  that  from  pique  and  mal- 
ice they  in  this  manner  put  an  end  to  his  life.  He 
died  in  1G22  or  1G23,  leaving  an  exemplary  character 
for  humility,  sobriety,  discretion,  and  unblamable  vir- 
tue.—-See  an  account  prefixed  to  his  two  treatises,  p.  ' 
60,  62.— Ed. 

t  This  is  said  on  the  authority  of  his  opponents 
only,  who,  from  the  acrimony  with  which  they  wrote 
against  him,  it  may  be  reasonably  concluded,  might 
be  ready  to  take  up  a  report  against  him  upon  slen- 
der evidence.     His  defences  of  himself  and  his  opin- 
ions have  not  been,  for  many  years,  to  be  met  with ; 
but  the  large  quotations  from  them  in  the  writings 
of  his  opponents  afforded  not  the  least  intimation, 
either  in  the  way  of  concession  or  justification,  of 
his  having  done  such  a  thing ;  the  contrary  may  be 
rather  concluded  from  them.    The  first  ground  of 
his  separation  from  the  Established  Church  was  a 
dislike  of  its  ceremonies  and  prescribed  forms  of 
prayer ;  he  afterward  doubted  concerning  the  validi- 
ty of  baptism  administered  in  a  national  church; 
this  paved  the  way  for  his  rejecting  the  baptism  of 
infants  altogether,  and  adopting  immersion  as  the 
true  and  only  meaning  of  the  word  baptism.    His 
judgment   on   doctrinal   points    underwent    similar 
changes.     Hence,  Mr.  Neal  has  called  him  a  man 
"of  an  unsettled  head."    This  language  seems  to  in- 
sinuate a  reflection  on  Mr.  Smith :  whereas  it  is  an 
honour  to  any  man ;  it  shows  candour,  ingenuousness, 
an  openness  to  conviction,  and  sincerity,  for  one  to 
change  his  sentiments  on  farther  inquiry,  and  to  avow 
it.    A  lover  of  truth,  especially  who  has  imbibed  in 
early  life  the  principles  of  the  corrupt  establishments 
of  Christianity,  will  continually  find  it  his  duty  to 
recede  from  his  first  serltiments.     Bishop  Tillotson 
justly  commended  his  friend  Dr.  Whichcot ;  because 
while  it  is  customary  with  learned  men  at  a  certain 
age  to  make  their  understandings,  the  doctor  was  so 
wise  as  to  be  willing  to  learn  to  the  last;  i.  e.,  he 
was  of  an  unsettled  head. — Crosby's  History  of  the 
English  Baptists,  vol.  i.,  p.  65,  &c.     Account  of  Mr. 
Ainsworth  prefixed  to  his  two  treatises,  p.  41. — Ed. 

It  .seems  that  the  accusers  of  Mr.  Smith  have  for- 
gotten the  progressive  nature  of  the  changes  he  under- 
went. "  For  a  man,"  he  himself  remarks,  "  if  a  Turk, 
to  become  a  Jew,  if  a  Jew,  to  become  a  papist,  if  a 
papist,  to  become  a  Protestant,  are  all  commendable 
changes,  though  they  all  befall  one  and  the  same 
person  in  one  year,  nay,  if  it  were  in  one  month ;  so 
that  not  to  change  religion  is  evil  simply ;  and,  there- 
fore, that  we  should  fall  from  the  profession  of  Puri 
tanism  to  Brownism,  and  from  Brownism  to  true 
Christian  baptism,  is  not  simply  evil,  or  reprovabla 


244 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


braced  the  tenets  of  Arminius,  and  published 
certain  conclusions  upon  those  points  in  the 
year  1611,  which  Mr.  Robinson  answered;  but 
Smith  died  soon  after,  and  his  congregation 
dissolved. 

Mr.  John  Robinson  was  a  Norfolk  divine, 
beneficed  about  Yarmouth,  where  being  often 
molested  by  the  bishop's  officers,  and  his  friends 
almost  ruined  in  the  ecclesiastical  courts,  he  re- 
moved to  Leyden,  and  erected  a  congregation 
upon  the  model  of  the  Brownists.*  He  set  out 
upon  the  most  rigid  principles,  but  by  conver- 
sing with  Dr.  Ames,  and  other  learned  men,  he 
became  more  moderate  ;  and  though  he  always 
maintained  the  lawfulness  and  necessity  of  sep- 
arating from  those  Reformed  churches  among 
which  he  lived,  yet  he  did  not  deny  them  to  be 
true  churches,  and  admitted  their  members  to 
occasional  communion,  allowing  his  own  to 
join  with  the  Dutch  churches  in  prayer  and 
hearing  the  Word,  but  not  in  the  sacraments 
and  discipline,  which  gained  him  the  character 
of  a  semi-separatist  ;  his  words  are  these:! 
•'  We  profess,  before  God  and  men,  that  we 
agree  so  entirely  with  the  Reformed  Dutch 
churches  in  matters  of  religion,  that  we  are 
willing  to  subscribe  to  all  and  every  one  of  their 
articles,  as  they  are  set  down  in  '  The  Harmo- 
ny of  Confession.'  We  acknowledge  these  Re- 
formed churches  for  true  and  genuine  :  we  hold 
communion  with  them  as  far  as  we  can  ;  those 
among  us  that  understand  the  Dutch  language 
frequent  their  sermons  ;  and  we  administer  the 
Lord's  Supper  to  such  of  their  members  as  are 
known  to  us,  and  desire  it  occasionally."  This 
Mr.  Robinson  was  the  father  of  the  Independ- 
ents. 

Mr.  Henry  Jacob  was  born  in  Kent,  and  edu- 
cated in  St.  Mary's  Hall,  where  he  took  the  de- 
grees in  arts,  entered  into  holy  orders,  and  be- 
came precentor  of  Christ  Church  College,  and 
afterward  beneficed  in  his  own  country  at  Cher- 
iton.J  He  was  a  person  thoroughly  versed  in 
theological  authors,  but  withal  a  most  zealous 
Puritan.  He  wrote  two  treatises  against  Fr. 
Johnson,  the  Brownist,  in  defence  of  the  Church 
of  England's  being  a  true  church,  printed  at 
Middleburgh,  1599,  and  afterward  published 
*'  Reasons  taken  out  of  God's  Word,  and  the 
best  Human  Testimonies,  proving  a  Necessity  of 
reforming  our  Churches  of  England,  &c.,  1604."iJ 
But  going  to  Leyden,  and  conversing  with  Mr. 
Robinson,  he  embraced  his  sentiments  of  dis- 
cipline and  government,  and  transplanted  it  into 
England  in  the  year  1616,  as  will  be  seen  in  its 
proper  place. 

in  itself,  except  it  be  proved  that  we  have  fallen  from 
true  religion." — The  Character  of  the  Beast,  Epistle  to 
the  Reader,  p.  1.  *  Boyle's  Dissuasive,  p.  177. 

t  "  Profitemur  coram  Deo  et  hominibus  adeo  nobis 
convenire  cum  ecclesiis  reformatis  Belgicis  in  re  re- 
ligionis  ut  omnibus  et  singulis  earundem  ecclesiarum 
fidei  articulis,  prout  habentur  in  Harmonia  Confes- 
sionum  Fidei,  parati  sumus  subscribers.  Ecclesias 
reformatas  pro  veris  et  genuinis  habemus,  cum  iis- 
dem  in  sacris  Dei  communionem  profitemur,  et  quan- 
tum in  nobis  est,  colimus.  Conciones  publicas  ab 
illarum  pastoribus  habitas,  ex  nostris  qui  norunt  lin- 
guatn  Belgicam  frequentant :  sacram  ccsnam  earum 
membris,  si  qua  forte  nostris  coetibus  intersint  nobis 
cognita,  participiamus." 

t  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  566. 

^  Ath.  Ox.,  vol.  i.,  p.  394. 


This  difTerence  among  the  Puritans  engaged 
them  in  a  warm  controversy  among  themselves 
about  the  lawfulness  and  necessity  of  separating 
from  the  Cimrch  of  England,  while  the  conform- 
ing clergy  stood  by  as  spectators  of  the  combat. 
Most  of  the  Puritans  were  for  keeping  within 
the  pale  of  the  Church,  apprehending  it  to  be  a 
true  church  in  its  doctrines  and  sacraments, 
though  defective  in  discipline,  and  corrupt  in 
ceremonies  ;  but  being  a  true  church,  they 
thought  it  not  lawful  to  separate,  though  they 
could  hardly  continue  in  it  with  a  good  con- 
science. They  submitted  to  suspensions  and 
deprivations ;  and  when  they  were  driven  out 
of  one  diocess,  took-sanctuary  in  another,  being 
afraid  of  incurring  the  guilt  of  schism  by  forming 
themselves  into  separate  communions.  Where- 
as the  Brownists  maintained  that  the  Church 
of  England,  in  its  present  constitution,  was  no 
true  Church  of  Christ,  but  a  limb  of  antichrist, 
or  at  best  a  mere  creature  of  the  state ;  that 
their  ministers  were  not  rightly  called  and  or- 
dained, nor  the  sacraments  duly  administered  ; 
or,  supposing  it  to  be  a  true  church,  yet  as  it 
was  owned  by  their  adversaries  [the  conform- 
ing Puritans]  to  be  a  very  corrupt  one,  it  must 
be  as  lawful  to  separate  from  it  as  for  the 
Church  of  England  to  separate  from  Rome. 
The  conforming  Puritans  evaded  this  conse- 
quence by  denying  the  Church  of  Rome  to  be 
a  true  church  ;  nay,  they  affirmed  it  to  be  the 
very  antichrist ;  but  the  argument  remained  in 
full  force  against  the  bishops,  and  that  part  of 
the  clergy  who  acknowledged  the  Church  of 
Rome  to  be  a  true  church. 

It  is  certainly  as  lawful  to  separate  from  the 
corruptions  of  one  church  as  of  another  ;  and  it 
is  necessary  to  do  so,  when  those  corruptions 
are  imposed  as  terms  of  communion.  Let  us 
hear  Archbishop  Laud,  in  his  conference  with 
the  Jesuit  Fisher.  "  Another  church,"  says  his 
grace,  "  may  separate  from  Rome,  if  Rome  will 
separate  from  Christ ;  and  so  far  as  it  separates 
from  him  and  the  faith,  so  far  may  another 
church  separate  from  it.  I  grant  the  Church 
of  Rome  to  be  a  true  church  in  essence,  though 
corrupt  in  manners  and  doctrine.  And  cor- 
ruption of  manners,  attended  with  errors  in  the 
doctrines  of  faith,  is  a  just  cause  for  one  par- 
ticular church  to  separate  from  another."  His 
grace  then  adds,  with  regard  to  the  Church  of 
Rome  :  "  The  cause  of  the  separation  is  yours, 
for  you  thrust  us  from  you,  because  we  called 
for  truth  and  redress  of  abuses  ;  for  a  schism 
must  needs  be  theirs  whose  the  cause  of  it  is ; 
the  wo  runs  full  out  of  the  mouth  of  Christ, 
even  against  him  that  gives  the  offence,  not 
against  him  that  takes  it.  It  was  ill  done  of 
those,  whoever  they  were,  who  first  made  the 
separation  [from  Rome] ;  I  mean  not  actual, 
but  casual,  for,  as  I  said  before,  the  schism  is 
theirs  whose  the  cause  of  it  is ;  and  he  makes 
the  separation  who  gives  the  first  just  cause  of 
it,  not  he  that  makes  an  actual  separation  upon 
a  just  cause  preceding."  Let  the  reader  care- 
fully consider  these  concessions,  and  then  judge 
how  far  they  will  justify  the  separation  of  the 
Brownists,  or  the  Protestant  Nonconformists  at 
this  day. 

This  year  [1605]  was  famous  for  the  discov- 
ery of  the  Gunpowder  Plot,  which  was  a  contri- 
vance of  the  papists  to  blow  up  the  king  and. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    PURITANS. 


245 


the  whole  royal  family,  with  the  chief  of  the 
Protestant  nobility  and  gentry,  November  5th, 
the  first  day  of  their  assembling  in  Parliament. 
For  this  purpose  a  cellar  was  hired  under  the 
House  of  Lords,  and  stored  with  thirty-six  bar- 
rels of  gunpowder,  covered  over  with  coals  and 
fagots  ;  but  the  plot  was  discovered  the  night 
before,  by  means  of  a  letter  sent  to  Lord  Mont- 
eagle,  advising  him  to  absent  himself  from  the. 
house,  because  they  were  to  receive  a  terrible 
blow,  and  not  to  know  who  hurt  them.  Mont- 
eagle  carrying  the  letter  to  court,  the  king  or- 
dered the  apartments  about  the  Parliament 
House  to  be  searched ;  the  powder  was  found 
under  the  House  of  Lords,  and  Guy  Faux  with 
a  dark  lantern  in  the  cellar,  waiting  to  set  fire 
to  the  train  when  the  king  should  come  to  the 
house  the  next  morning.  Faux  being  appre- 
hended, confessed  the  plot,  and  impeached  sev- 
eral of  his  accomplices,  eight  of  whom  were 
tried  and  executed,  and  among  them  Garnet, 
provincial  of  the  English  Jesuits,  whom  the 
pope  afterward  canonized. 

The  discovery  of  this  murderous  conspiracy 
was  ascribed  to  the  royal  penetration  ;*  but  Mr. 
Osborne,t  and  others,  with  great  probability,  say 
that  the  first  notice  of  it  came  from  Henry  IV., 
king  of  France,  who  heard  of  it  from  the  Jes- 
uits, and  that  the  letter  to  Monteagle  was  an 
artifice  of  Cecil's,  who  was  acquainted  before- 
hand with  the  proceedings  of  the  conspirators, 
and  suffered  them  to  go  to  their  full  length.  Even 
Heyhn  says  that  the  king  and  his  council  mined 
with  them,  and  undermined  them,  and  by  so  do- 
ing blew  up  their  whole  invention. t  But  it  is 
agreed  on  all  hands,  that  if  the  plot  had  taken 
place,  it  was  to  have  been  fathered  upon  the 
Puritans  ;  and,  as  if  the  king  was  in  the  secret, 
his  majesty,  in  his  speecli  to  the  Parliament 
November  9th,  takes  particular  care  to  bring 
them  into  reproach  ;  for,  after  having  cleared 
the  Roman  Catholic  religion  from  encouraging 
such  murderous  practices,  he  adds,  the  cruelty 
of  the  Puritans  was  worthy  of  fire,  that  would 
not  allow  salvation  to  any  papists.  So  that,  if 
these  unhappy  people  had  been  blown  up,  his 
majesty  thinks  they  would  have  had  their  de- 
serts. Strange  !  that  a  Puritan  should  be  so 
much  worse  than  a  papist,  or  deserve  to  be  burn- 
ed for  uncharitableness,  when  his  majesty  knew 
that  the  papists  were  so  much  more  criminal  in 
this  respect  than  they,  not  only  denying  salva- 
tion to  the  Puritans,  but  to  all  who  are  without 
the  pale  of  their  own  church.  But  what  was 
all  this  to  the  ploti  except  it  was  to  turn  off 
the  indignation  of  the  people  from  the  papists, 
whom  the  king  both  feared  and  loved,  to  the 
Puritans,  who,  in  a  course  of  forty  years'  suf- 
ferings, had  never  moved  the  least  sedition 
against  the  state,  but  who  would  not  be  the  ad- 
vocates or  dupes  of  an  unbounded  prerogative  ! 

The  discovery  of  this  plot  occasioned  the 
drawing  up  the  oath  of  allegiance,  or  of  sub- 
mission and  obedience  to  the  king  as  a  temporal 
sovereign,  independent  of  any  other  power  upon 
earth ;  which  quickly  passed  both  houses,  and 
was  appointed  to  be  taken  by  all  the  king's  sub- 
jects ;  this  oath  is  distinct  from  the  oath  of  su^ 
premacy,  which  obliges  the  subject  to  acknowl- 
edge his  majesty  to  be  supreme  head  of  the 

*  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  171.  t  Osborne,  p.  448. 

X  History  of  Presbytery,  p.  378. 


Church  as  well  as  the  State,  and  might  there- 
fore be  taken  by  all  such  Roman  Catholics  as 
did  not  believe  the  pope  had  power  to  depose 
kings,  and  give  away  their  dominions.  Ac- 
cordingly, Blackwell,  their  superior,  and  most 
of  the  English  Catholics,  submitted  to  the  oath, 
though  the  pope  absolutely  forbade  them  on  pain 
of  damnation  ;  which  occasioned  a  new  debate, 
concerning  the  extent  of  the  pope's  power  in 
temporals,  between  the  learned  of  both  religions. 
Cardinal  Bellarmine,  under  the  feigned  name 
of  Tortus,  wrote  against  the  oath,  which  gave 
occasion  to  King  James's  Apology  to  all  Chris- 
tian Princes ;  wherein,  after  clearing  himself 
from  the  charge  of  persecuting  the  papists,  he 
reproaches  his  holiness  with  ingratitude,  con- 
sidering the  free  liberty  of  religion  that  he  had 
granted  the  papists,  the  honours  he  had  confer- 
red on  them,  the  free  access  they  had  to  his  per- 
son at  all  times,  the  general  jail  delivery  of  all 
Jesuits  and  papists  convict,  and  the  strict  orders 
he  had  given  his  judges  not  to  put  the  laws  in 
execution  against  them  for  the  future.*  All 
which  was  true,  while  the  unhappy  Puritans 
were  imprisoned  and  fined,  or  forced  into  ban- 
ishment. The  Parliament,  on  occasion  of  this 
plot,  appointed  an  annual  thanksgiving  on  the 
5th  of  November,  and  passed  another  law,  obli- 
ging all  persons  to  come  to  church  under  the 
penalty  of  twelve  pence  every  Sunday  they  were 
absent,  unless  they  gave  such  reasons  as  should 
be  satisfactory  to  a  justice  of  the  peace.  This, 
like  a  two-edged  sword,  cut  down  all  Separatists, 
whether  Protestants  or  papists. 

To  return  to  the  Puritans  ;  the  more  moderate 
of  whom,  being  willing  to  steer  a  middle  course, 
between  a  total  separation  and  absolute  con- 
formity, were  attacked  by  some  of  the  bishops 
with  this  argument  : 

"  All  those  who  wilfully  refuse  to  obey  the 
king  in  all  things  indifferent,  and  to  conform 
themselves  to  the  orders  of  the  Church  author- 
ized by  him,  not  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God, 
are  schismatics,  enemies  to  the  king's  suprem- 
acy and  the  state,  and  not  to  be  tolerated  in 
church  or  commonwealth. 

"  But  you  do  so — 

"  Therefore,  you  are  not  to  be  tolerated  in 
church  or  commonwealth." 

The  Puritans  denied  the  charge,  and  returned 
this  argument  upon  their  accusers  : 

"  Ail  those  who  freely  and  willingly  perform 
to  the  king  and  state  aO  obedience,  not  only  in 
things  necessary,  but  indifferent,  commanded  by 
law,  and  that  have  been  always  ready  to  conform 
themselves  to  every  order  of  the  Church  author- 
ized by  him,  not  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God, 
are  free  from  all  schism,  friends  to  the  king's 
supremacy,  and  to  the  state,  and  unworthy  in 
this  manner  to  be  molested  in  church  or  com- 
monwealth. 

"  But  there  are  none  of  us  that  are  deprived 
or  suspended  from  our  ministry,  but  have  been 
ever  ready  to  do  all  this  ;  therefore  we  are  free 
from  schism,  friends  to  the  king's  supremacy, 
and  most  unworthy  of  such  molestation  as  we 
sustain." 

This  being  the  point  of  difference,  the  Puri- 
tans offered  a  public  disputation  upon  the  law- 
fulness of  imposing  ceremonies  in  general ;  and 
in  particular  upon  the  surplice,  the  cross  in  bap- 

*  King  James's  Apol,  p.  253. 


2-16 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


tism,  and  kneeling  at  the  communion  ;  but  were 
refused.  Upon  which,  the  Lincolnshire  minis- 
ters drew  up  an  apolog)'  for  those  ministers  who 
are  troubled  for  refusing  of  subscription  and 
conformity,  and  presented  it  to  the  king,  Decem- 
ber 1,  1604,  the  abridgment  of  which  is  now 
before  me,  and  begins  with  a  declaration  of  their 
readiness  to  subscribe  the  first  of  the  three  arti- 
cles required  by  the  thirty-sixth  canon,  concern- 
ing the  king's  supremacy  ;  but  to  the  other  two, 
say  they,  we  cannot  subscribe,  because  we  are 
persuaded  that  both  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
and  the  other  book  [of  Articles]  to  be  subscribed 
by  this  canon  (which  yet,  in  some  respects,  we 
reverently  esteem),  contain  in  them  sundry  things 
which  are  not  agreeable,  but  contrary  to,  the 
"Word  of  God. 

They  object  to  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
in  general.  That  it  appoints  that  order  for  read- 
ing the  Holy  Scriptures  which  in  many  respects 
is  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God.     As, 

1.  "  The  greatest  part  of  the  canonical  Scrip- 
ture is  left  out  in  the  public  reading ;  whereas 
'all  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration,  and  is 
profitable,'  &c.,  and  sundry  chapters  that  are,  in 
their  opinion,  more  edifying  than  some  others 
that  are  read,  are  omitted. 

2.  "  It  does  too  much  honour  to  the  Apochry- 
phal  writings,  commanding  many  of  them  to  be 
read  for  first  lessons,  and  under  the  name  of 
Holy  Scriptures,  and  in  as  great  a  proportion  ; 
for  of  the  canonical  chapters  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment (being  in  all  seven  hundred  and  seventy- 
nine)  are  read  only  five  hundred  and  ninety-two, 
and  of  the  Apocryphal  hooks  (being  one  hundred 
and  seventy-two  chapters)  are  read  one  hundred 
and  four.  This  they  apprehend  to  be  contrary 
to  the  Word  of  God,  forasmuch  as  the  Apocry- 
phal books  contain  sundry  and  manifest  errors, 
divers  of  which  are  here  produced. 

3.  4,  5,  6,  7.  "  The  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
appoints  such  a  translation  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures to  be  read  in  the  churches  as  in  some 
places  is  absurd,  and  in  others  takes  from,  per- 
verts, obscures,  and  falsifies  the  Word  of  God  ; 
examples  of  which  are  produced  with  the  au- 
thorities of  the  most  considerable  reformers." 

Their  next  general  objection  against  sub- 
scribing the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  is,  be- 
cause it  enjoins  the  use  of  such  ceremonies  as 
they  apprehend  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God. 

To  make  good  this  assertion,  they  say,*  "  It 
is  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God  to  use  (much 
more  to  command  the  use  of)  such  ceremonies 
in  the  worship  of  God  as  man  hath  devised,  if 
they  be  notoriously  known  to  be  abused  to  idol- 
atry and  superstition  by  the  papists,  and  are  of 
no  necessary  use  in  the  Church.  Here  they 
cite  such  passages  of  Scriptrue  as  command 
the  Jews  to  abolish  all  instruments  of  idolatry, 
and  even  to  cast  away  such  things  as  had  a 
good  original,  when  once  they  are  known  to 
have  been  abused  to  idolatry;  as  images,  groves, 
and  the  brazen  serpent,  2  Kings,  xviii.,  11. 
They  produce,  farther,  the  testimonies  of  sun- 
dry fathers,  as  Eusebius,  St.  Austin,  &c.,  and 
of  the  most  considerable  moderns,  as  Calvin, 
Bucer,  Musculus,  Peter  Martyr,  Beza,  Zanchy  ; 
Bishop  .Jewel,  Pilkington,  Bilson ;  Dr.  Hum- 
phreys, Fulk,  Andrews,  Sutcliffe,  and  others, 
against  conformity  with  idolaters." 

*  Abridgment,  p.  17. 


With  regard  to  the  three  ceremonies  in  ques- 
tion, they  allege  they  have  all  been  abused  by 
the  papists  to  superstition  and  idolatry. 

1.  "  The  surplice*  has  been  thus  abused,  for 
it  is  one  of  those  vestments  without  which  no- 
thing can  be  consecrated  ;  all  priests  that  are 
present  at  mass  must  wear  it,  and,  therefore, 
the  use  of  it  in  the  Church  has  been  condemn- 
ed, not  only  by  foreign  divines,  but  by  Bishop 
Hooper,  Farrar,  Jewel,  Pilkington,  Rogers,  and 
others  among  ourselves." 

2.  "  The  cross  has  been  also  abused  to  su- 
perstition and  idolatry,  to  drive  away  devils,  to 
expel  diseases,  to  break  the  force  of  witchcraft, 
&c.  It  is  one  of  the  images  to  which  the  pa- 
pists give  religious  adoration.  The  water  in 
baptism  has  no  spiritual  virtue  in  it  without  the 
cross,  nor  is  any  one  rightly  baptized  (according 
to  the  papists)  without  it." 

3.  "  Kneeling  at  the  sacrament  has  been  no 
less  abused ;  it  arose  from  the  notion  of  the 
transubstantiation  of  the  elements,  and  is  still 
used  by  the  papists  in  the  worship  of  their 
breaden  God  ;  who  admit  they  would  be  guilty 
of  idolatry  in  kneeling  before  the  elements  if 
they  did  not  believe  them  to  be  the  real  body 
and  blood  of  Christ.  This  ceremony  was  not 
introduced  into  the  Church  till  antichrist  was 
at  its  full  height ;  and  there  is  no  action  in  the 
whole  service  that  looks  so  much  like  idolatry 
as  this." 

Their  second  argumentt  for  the  unlawfulness 
of  the  ceremonies  is  taken  from  their  mystical 
signification,  which  gives  them  the  nature  of  a 
sacrament.  Now,  no  sacrament  ought  to  be  of 
man's  devising ;  the  ceremonies,  therefore,  be- 
ing affirmed  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  to 
be  significant,  are  unlawful. 

Their  third  argument^  is  taken  from  the  un- 
lawfulness of  imposing  them  as  parts  of  God's 
worship,  which  they  prove  from  hence,  "  That 
God  is  the  only  appointer  of  his  own  worship, 
and  condemns  all  human  inventions,  -so  far 
forth  as  they  are  made  parts  of  it.  Now  all  the 
ceremonies  in  question  are  thus  imposed,  for 
Divine  service  is  supposed  not  to  be  rightly  per- 
formed without  the  surplice,  nor  baptism  right- 
ly administered  without  the  cross,  nor  the  Lord's 
Supper  but  to  such  as  kneel ;  and,  therefore,  they 
are  unlawful." 

Their  fourth  is  taken  from  hence,  That  no 
rites  or  ecclesiastical  orders  should  be  ordained 
or  used  but  such  as  are  needful  and  profitable, 
and  for  edification ;  and,  especially,  that  none 
shall  be  ordained  or  used  that  cause  offence 
and  hinder  edificationij  (Rom.,  xvi.,  21  ;  I  Cor., 
X.,  23,  32).  "  Now  the  ceremonies  in  question 
are  neither  needful  nor  profitable,  nor  do  they 
tend  to  edification  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  have 
given  great  offence,  as  appears  from  hence, 
that  very  many  of  the  learned  and  best  experi- 
enced ministers  in  the  land  have  chosen  rather 
to  suffer  any  trouble  than  yield  to  the  use  of 
them ;  and  we  doubt  not  to  affirm  that  the 
greatest  number  of  resident,  able,  and  godly 
ministers  in  the  land  at  this  day  do  in  their 
consciences  dislike  them,  and  judge  them  need- 
less and  unfit,  as  appears  by  the  list  of  non- 
subscribers  already  mentioned  [p.  44J,  besides 
many  more  who,   though  unwilling   in   some 


*  Abridgment,  p.  28. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  37. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  31. 
i)  Ibid.,  p.  45. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


247 


etber  respects  to  join  in  the  petition,  did  pro- 
fess their  hearty  desire  to  have  them  removed.* 
And  if  the  rest  of  the  shires  be  esteemed  ac- 
cording to  this  proportion,  it  will  easily  appear 
that  the  greatest  number  of  the  resident,  preach- 
ing, and  fruitful  ministers  of  the  land  do  dis- 
like them.  This  may  yet  farther  appear,  by 
their  seldom  using  them  for  many  years  past, 
and  their  great  unwillingness  to  yield  to  the  use 
of  them  now.  If  they  thought  them  needful  or 
profitable,  why  do  they  neglect  them  in  their 
public  ministry,  being  commanded  by  lawful 
authority  1  Besides,  those  very  bishops  that 
have  been  most  hot  in  urging  the  ceremonies 
have  declared  that  the  Church  might  well  be 
■without  them,  and  have  wished  them  taken 
away  ;  as  Archbishop  Whitgift,  in  his  defence 
of  the  answer  to  Cartwright's  Admonition,  p. 
259  ;  Dr.  Chadderton,  bishop  of  Lincoln,  in  his 
speech  before  all  the  ministers,  convened  be- 
fore him  at  Huntingdon,  November  30th,  1604 ; 
and  others  in  ecclesiastical  dignities  have  spo- 
Icen  vehemently  against  them  as  things  that  do 
not  edify,  nor  have  any  tendency  to  promote 
decency  or  order. 

"  With  regard  to  the  surplice,  they  produce 
the  testimonials  of  the  learned  Bucer,  Peter 
Martyr,  Beza,  Cranmer,  Ridley,  Hooper,  and 
others,  for  the  expediency  of  it,  even  though 
they  submitted  to  wear  it.  Bucer  says  he  could 
be  content  to  suffer  some  grievous  loss'  or  pain 
in  his  body,  upon  condition  the  surplice  might 
be  abolished. 

"  The  like  authorities  are  brought  against  the 
cross,  and  against  kneeling  at  the  communion, 
the  former  being  a  mere  invention  of  man,  nei- 
ther taught  by  Christ  nor  his  apostles,  and  the 
latter  being  apparently  different  from  the  first 
institution,  they  receiving  it  in  a  table  posture  ; 
and  it  is  gross  hypocrisy  (say  they)  for  us  to 
pretend  more  holiness,  reverence,  and  devotion, 
in  receiving  the  sacrament,  than  the  apostles, 
who  received  it  from  the  immediate  hand  and 
person  of  Christ  himself  They  (to  be  sure) 
had  the  corporeal  presence  of  Christ,  and  yet  did 
not  kneel ;  why,  then,  should  it  be  enjoined  in 
the  Church,  when  the  corporeal  presence  of 
Chf ist  is  withdrawn  1  This  has  been  thought 
an  argument  of  great  force  by  our  chief  divines, 
as  Calvin,  Bullinger,  Beza,  Chemnitius,  Bishop 
Pilkington,  Willet,  and  others,  who  declare 
strongly  for  the  posture  of  sitting,  or  at  most 
standing,  at  the  communion. 

"  Besides,  kneeling  at  the  sacrament  is  of  very 
late  antiquity,  and  was  not  introduced  into  the 
Church  till  antichrist  was  in  his  full  height ;  the 
primitive  Christians  (according  to  Tertullian) 
thought  it  unlawful  to  kneel  at  prayer  on  the 
Xord's  Day  ;  and  the  first  Council  of  Nice,  Ann. 
3Dom.  327,  made  a  solemn  decree  that  none 
might  pray  kneeling,  but  only  standing,  on  the 
Jjord's  Day,  because  on  that  day  is  celebrated 
the  joyful  remembrance  of  our  Lord's  resurrec- 
tion. To  kneel  is  a  gesture  of  sorrow  and  humil- 
iation ;  whereas,  he  that  prays  standing  shows 
himself  thankful  for  the  obtaining  some  mercy 
or  favour.  So  that  either  the  primitive  Church 
used  a  gesture  of  greater  reverence  and  humility 
at  the  sacrament,  which  is  a  feast,  and  a  joyful 
lemembrance  of  the  death  of  Christ,  than  they 


*  Abridgment,  p.  52. 


did  at  prayer,  or  else  they  received  it  in  another 
posture.  Besides,  it  is  said*  that  the  ancient 
councils  commanded  that  'no  man  should  kneel 
down  at  the  communion,  fearing  it  should  be 
an  occasion  of  idolatry.'  Mr.  Fox,t  speaking  of 
the  usage  of  the  primitive  Church,  says  they  had 
the  communion,  not  at  an  altar,  but  at  a  plain 
table  of  boards,  when  the  whole  congregation 
together  did  communicate,  with  reverence  and 
thanksgiving  ;  not  lifting  over  the  priest's  head, 
nor  worshipping,  nor  kneeling,  nor  knocking  their 
breasts,  but  either  sitting  at  supper,  or  standing 
after  supper.  Eusebius,t  speaking  of  a  man 
that  had  been  admitted  to  the  communion,  says 
he  stood  at  the  table  and  put  forth  his  hand  to 
receive  the  holy  food.  And  Bishop  Jewel  says, 
that  in  St.  Basil's  days  [ann.  380]  the  commu- 
nion-table was  of  boards,  and  so  placed  that  men 
might  stand  round  it,  and  that  every  man  was 
bound  by  an  apostolical  tradition  to  stand  upright 
at  the  communion. 

"  Besides,  the  gesture  of  kneeling  is  contrary 
to  the  very  nature  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  which 
is  ordained  to  be  a  banquet  and  sign  of  that 
sweet  familiarity  that  is  between  the  faithful 
and  him,  and  of  that  spiritual  nourishment  we 
are  to  receive  by  feeding  on  his  body  and  blood 
by  faith  ;  and  in  what  nation  is  it  thought  de- 
cent to  kneel  at  banquets  1  Where  do  men  eat 
and  drink  upon  their  knees  1  Farther,  the  dis- 
position of  mind  at  the  Lord's  Table  is  not  so 
much  liumility  as  assurance  of  faith,  and  cheer- 
ful thankfulness  for  the  benefits  of  Christ's 
death.  For  these  reasons,  and  because  kneel- 
ing at  the  sacrament  had  an  idolatrous  original, 
and  has  a  tendency  to  lead  men  into  that  sin, 
they  think  it  unlawful,  and  to  be  laid  aside." 

The  Abridgment  concludes  with  a  short  ta- 
ble of  sundry  other  exceptions  against  the  three 
books  whereunto  they  are  required  to  subscribe, 
which  they  purpose  to  justify  and  confirm  in 
the  same  manner  as  they  have  done  in  respect 
of  those  contained  in  this  book ;  a  summary 
whereof  we  shall  meet  with  hereafter. 

The  Abridgment  was  answered  by  Bishop 
Moreton  and  Dr.  Burges,  who,  after  having  suf- 
fered himself  to  be  deprived  for  nonconformity, 
June  19,  1604,  was  persuaded  by  King  James  to 
conform,  and  write  in  defence  of  his  present 
conduct  against  his  former  arguments.  Bishop 
Moreton  endeavoiu's  to  defend  the  innocency  of 
the  three  ceremonies  from  Scripture,  antiquity, 
the  testimony  of  Protestant  divines,  and-  the 
practice  of  the  Nonconformists  themselves  in 
other  cases,  and  has  said  as  much  as  can  be 
said  in  favour  of  them  ;  though  it  is  hard  to  de- 
fend the  imposing  them  upon  those  who  esteem 
them  unlawful,  or  who  apprehend  things  indif- 
ferent ought  to  be  left  in  the  state  that  Christ 
left  them.  Dr.  Downham,  Sparkes,  Covel,  Hut- 
ton,  Rogers,  and  Ball,  wrote  for  the  ceremonies  ; 
and  w-ere  answered  by  Mr.  Bradshaw,  Mr.  Paul 
Baynes,  Dr.  Ames,  and  others. 

From  the  arguments  of  these  divines,  it  ap- 
pears that  the  Puritans  were  removing  to  a 
greater  distance  from  the  Church  ;  for  whereas, 
says  Dr.  Burges,  Mr.  Cartwright  and  his  breth- 
ren wrote  sharply  against  the  ceremonies  as  in- 
convenient, now  they  are  opposed  as  absolutely 
unlawful,  neither  to  be  imposed  nor  used.     The 

*  Abridgment,  p.  59.  t  Acts  and  Mon.,  p.  19. 

I  Hist.  Eccl.,  lib.  vii.,  cap.  viii. 


248 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


cruel  severities  of  Bancroft  and  the  high  com- 
missioners were  the  occasion  of  this  ;  for  being 
pushed  upon  one  of  these  extremes,  either  to  a 
constant  and  full  conformity,  or  to  lay  down 
their  ministry  in  the  Church,  many  of  them,  at 
one  of  their  conferences,  came  to  this  conclu- 
sion, that  if  they  could  not  enjoy  their  livings 
without  subscribing  over  again  the  three  arti- 
cles above  mentioned,  and  declaring,  at  the 
same  time,  they  did  it  willingly  and  from  their 
hearts,  it  was  their  duty  to  resign.  These  were 
called  brethren  of  the  second  separation,  who 
were  content  to  join  with  the  Church  in  her 
doctrines  and  sacraments,  though  they  appre- 
hended it  unlawful  to  declare  their  hearty  ap- 
probation of  the  ceremonies  ;  and  if  their  con- 
duct was  grounded  on  a  conviction  that  it  was 
their  duty  as  Christians  to  bear  their  testimony 
against  all  unscriptural  impositions  in  the  wor- 
ship of  God,  it  must  deserve  the  commendation 
of  all  impartial  and  consistent  Protestants.  No 
men  could  go  greater  lengths  lor  the  sake  of 
peace  than  they  were  willing  to  do  :  for  in  their 
defence  of  the  ministers'  reasons  for  refusal  of 
subscription  to  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
against  the  cavils  of  F.  Hutton,  B.D.,  Dr.  Co- 
vel,  and  Dr.  Sparkes,  published  1607,  they  be- 
gin thus :  "  We  protest  before  the  Almighty 
God,  that  we  acknowledge  the  churches  of  Eng- 
land, as  they  be  established  by  public  authority, 
to  be  true  visible  churches  of  Christ ;  that  we 
desire  the  continuance  of  our  ministry  in  them 
above  all  earthly  things,  as  that  without  which 
our  whole  life  would  be  wearisome  and  bitter 
to  us  ;  that  we  dislike  not  a  set  form  of  prayer 
to  be  used  in  our  churches ;  nor  do  we  write 
with  an  evil  mind  to  deprave  the  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer,  Ordination,  or  Book  of  Homilies  ; 
but  to  show  our  reasons  why  we  cannot  sub- 
scribe to  all  things  contained  in  them." 

These  extreme  proceedings  of  the  bishops 
strengthened  the  hands  of  the  Brownists  in 
Holland,  who  with  great  advantage  declared 
against  the  lawfulness  of  holding  communion 
with  the  Church  of  England  at  that  time,  not 
only  because  it  was  a  corrupt  church,  but  a  per- 
secuting one.  On  the  other  hand,  the  younger 
divines  in  the  Church,  who  preached  for  prefer- 
ment, painted  the  Separatists  in  the  most  odi- 
ous colours,  as  heretics,  schismatics,  fanatics, 
precisians,  enemies  to  God  and  the  king,  and 
of  unstable  minds.  The  very  same  language 
which  the  papists  had  used  against  the  first 
Reformers. 

To  remove  these  reproaches,  and  to  inform 
the  world  of  the  real  principles  of  the  Puritans 
of  these  times,  the  Reverend  M.  Bradshaw  pub- 
lished a  small  treatise,  entitled  "  English  Puri- 
tanism, containing  the  main  Opinions  of  the 
rigidest  Sort  of  those  that  went  by  that  Name 
in  the  Realm  of  England,"  which  the  learned 
Dr.  Ames  translated  into  Latin  for  the  benefit 
of  foreigners.  The  reader  will  learn  by  the  fol- 
lowing abstract  of  it  the  true  state  of  their 
case,  as  well  as  the  near  affinity  between  the 
principles  of  the  ancient  and  modern  Noncon- 
formists.* 

*  Several  things,  considered  as  remarkable  by  Dr. 
Grey,  are  omitted  by  Mr.  Neal.  But  this  doth  not 
impeach  Mr.  Neal's  fairness,  as  he  avowedly  lays 
only  an  abstract  before  his  readers ;  and  the  passa- 
ges to  which  Dr.  Grey  alludes  do  not  convey  senti- 


CHAPTER  I. 

Concerning  Religion  in  General. 

1.  "The  Puritans  hold  and  maintain  the  ab- 
solute perfection  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  both 
as  to  faith  and  worship  ;  and  that  whatsoenjr 
is  enjoined  as  a  part  of  Divine  service  that  ca»- 
not  be  warranted  by  the  said  Scriptures,  is  on- 
lawful. 

2.  "  That  all  inventions  of  men,  especially 
such  as  have  been  abused  to  idolatry,  are  to  be 
excluded  out  of  the  exercises  of  religion. 

3.  "  That  all  outward  means  instituted  to  ex- 
press and  set  forth  the  inward  worship  of  God 
are  parts  of  Divine  worship,  and  ought,  there- 
fore, evidently  to  be  prescribed  by  the  Word  of 
God. 

4.  "To  institute  and  ordain  any  mystical 
rites  or  ceremonies  of  religion,  and  to  mingfe 
the  same  with  the  Divine  rites  and  ceremonies 
of  God's  ordinance,  is  gross  superstition." 

CHAPTER  II. 

Concerning  the  Church. 

1.  "  They  hold  an  maintain  that  every  coa- 
gregation  or  assembly  of  men,  ordinarily  join- 
ing together  in  the  true  worship  of  God,  is  a 
true  visible  Church  of  Christ. 

2.  "  That  all  such  churches  are  in  all  ecclesi- 
astical matters  equal,  and  by  the  Word  of  God, 
ought  to  have  the  same  officers,  administrations, 
orders,  and  forms  of  worship. 

3.  "  That  Christ  has  not  subjected  any  church 
or  congregation  to  any  other  superior  ecclesias- 
tical jurisdiction  than  to  that  which  is  withia 
itself,  so  that  if  a  whole  church  or  congregation 
should  err  in  any  matters  of  faith  or  worship, 
no  other  churches  or  spiritual  officers  have 
power  to  censure  or  punish  them,  but  are  only 
to  counsel  and  advise  them. 

4.  "  That  every  church  ought  to  have  her 
own  spiritual  officers  and  ministers  resident 
with  her ;  and  those  such  as  are  enjoined  by 
Christ  in  the  New  Testament,  and  no  other. 

5.  "  That  every  church  ought  to  have  liberty 
to  choose  their  own  spiritual  officers. 

6.  "  That  if  particular  churches  err  in  this 
choice,  none  but  the  civil  magistrate  has  power 
to  control  them,  and  oblige  them  to  make  abet- 
ter choice. 

7.  "  That  ecclesiastical  officers  or  ministers 
in  one  church  ought  not  to  bear  any  ecclesiasti- 
cal office  in  another  ;  and  they  are  not  to  for- 
sake their  calling  without  just  cause,,  and  such, 
as  may  be  approved  by  the  congregation  :  but 
if  the  congregation  will  not  hearken  to  reason, 
they  are  then  to  appeal  to  the  civil  magistrate, 
who  is  bound  to  procure  them  justice. 

8.  "  That  a  church  having  chosen  its  spirit- 
ual governors,  ought  to  live  in  all  canonical 
obedience  to  them,  agreeably  to  the  Word  of 
God  ;  and  if  any  of  them  be  suspended,  or  un- 
justy  deprived,  by  other  ecclesiastical  officers, 
they  are  humbly  to  pray  the  magistrate  to  re- 
store them ;  and  if  theycannot  obtain  it,  they 
are  to  own  them  to  be  their  spiritual  guides  to 
the  death,  though  they  are  rigorously  deprived 
of  their  ministry  and  service. 

9.  "  That  the  laws  and  orders  of  the  churches 
warranted  by  the  Word  of  God  are  not  repug- 

ments  repugnant  to  the  principles  exhibited  in  th*- 
above  abstract. — En. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


Bant  to  civil  government,  whether  monarchical, 
aristocratical,  or  deraocratical ;  and  we  renounce 
all  jurisdiction  that  is  repugnant  or  derogatory 
to  any  of  these,  especially  to  the  monarchy  of 
this  kingdom." 

CHAPTER  III. 
Concerning  the  Ministers  of  tJie  Word. 

1.  "They  hold  that  the  pastors  of  particular 
congregations  are  the  highest  spiritual  officers 
in  the  church,  over  whom  there  is  no  superior 
pastor  by  Divine  appointment  but  Jesus  Christ. 

2.  "  That  there  are  not  by  Divine  institution, 
an  the  Word,  any  ordinary,  national,  provincial, 
or  diocesan  pastors  to  whom  the  pastors  of  par- 
ticular churches  are  to  be  subject. 

3.  "  That  no  pastor  ought  to  exercise  or  ac- 
cept of  any  civil  jurisdiction  or  authority,  but 
ought  to  be  wholly  employed  in  spiritual  offices 
and  duties  to  that  congregation  over  which  he 
is  set. 

4.  "  That  the  supreme  office  of  the  pastor  is 
to  preach  the  Word  publicly  to  the  congrega- 
tion ;  and  that  the  people  of  God  ought  not  to 
acknowledge  any  for  their  pastors  that  are  not 
able,  by  preaching,  to  interpret  and  apply  the 
Word  of  God  to  them ;  and,  consequently,  all 
ignorant  and  mere  reading  priests  are  to  be  re- 
jected. 

5.  "  That  in  public  worship  the  pastor  only  is 
to  be  the  mouth  of  the  congregation  to  God  in 
prayer ;  and  that  the  people  are  only  to  testify 
their  assent  by  the  word  Amen. 

6.  "  That  the  Church  has  no  power  to  impose 
upon  her  pastors  or  officers  any  other  ceremo- 
nies or  injunctions  than  what  Christ  has  ap- 
pointed. 

7.  "That  in  every  church  there  should  also 
be  a  doctor  to  instruct  and  catechise  the  igno- 
xant  in  the  main  principles  of  religion." 

,  CHAPTER  IV. 

Concerning  the  Elders. 

1.  "They  hold  that  by  God's  ordinance  the 
congregation  should  choose  other  officers  as  as- 
sistants to  the  ministers  in  the  government  of 
the  church,  who  are  jointly  with  the  ministers 
to  be  overseers  of  the  manners  and  conversa- 
tion of  all  the  congregation. 

2.  "  That  these  are  to  be  chosen  out  of  the 
gravest  and  most  discreet  members,  who  are 
also  of  some  note  in  the  world,  and  able,  if  pos- 
sible, to  maintain  themselves." 

CHAPTER  V. 
Of  Church  Censures. 

1.  "They  hold  that  the  spiritual  keys  of  the 
Church  are  committed  to  the  aforesaid  spiritual 
officers  and  governors,  and  to  none  others. 

2.  "  That  by  virtue  of  these  keys  they  are  not 
to  examine  and  make  inquisition  into  the  hearts 
of  men,  nor  molest  them  upon  private  suspi- 
cions or  uncertain  fame,  but  to  proceed  only 
upon  open  and  notorious  crimes.  If  the  ofTend- 
er  be  convinced,  they  ought  not  to  scorn,  de- 
Tide,  taunt,  and  revile  him  with  contumelious 
language,  nor  procure  proctors  to  make  person- 
al invectives  against  him,  nor  make  him  give 
attendance  from  term  to  term,  and  from  one 
court-day  to  another,  of  the  manner  of  our  ec- 
clesiastical courts  ;  but  to  use  him  brotherly, 
and,  if  possible,  to  move  him  to  repentance  • 

Vol.  I.— 1 1 


249 

and  if  he  repent,  they  are  not  to  proceed  to  cen 
sure,  but  to  accept  his  hearty  sorrow  and  con 
trition  as  a  sufficient  satisfaction  to  the  church 
without  imposing  any  fines,  or  taking  fees,  or 
enjoining  any  outward  mark  of  shame,  as  tho 
white  sheet,  &c. 

"  But  if  the  offender  be  obstinate,  and  show 
no  signs  of  repentance,  and  if  his  crime  be  fully- 
proved  upon  him,  and  be  of  such  a  high  nature 
as  to  deserve  a  censure  according  to  the  Word 
of  God,  then  the  ecclesiastical  officers,  with  the 
free  consent  of  the  whole  congregation  (and  not 
otherwise),  are  first  to  suspend  him  from  the 
sacrament,  praying  for  him,  at  the  same  time, 
that  God  would  give  him  repentance  to  the  ac- 
knowledgment of  his  fault ;  and  if  this  does  not 
humble  him,  they  are  then  to.  denounce  him  to 
be  as  yet  no  member  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
and  of  that  congregation,  and  so  are  to  leave 
him  to  God  and  the  king.  And  this  is  all  the 
ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  that  any  spiritual  offi- 
cers are  to  use  against  any  man  for  the  greatest 
crime  that  can  be  committed. 

"  If  the  party  offending  be  a  civil  superior, 
they  are  to  behave  towards  him  with  all  that 
reverence  and  civil  subjection  that  his  honour  or 
high  office  in  the  state  may  require.  They  are 
not  to  presume  to  convene  him  before  them, 
but  are  themselves  to  go  to  him  in  all  civil  and 
humble  manner,  to  stand  bareheaded,  to  bow,  to 
give  him  all  his  civil  titles ;  and  if  it  be  a  su- 
preme governor  or  king,  to  kneel,  and  in  most 
humble  manner  to  acquaint  him  with  his  faults ; 
and  if  such  or  any  other  offenders  will  volunta- 
rily withdraw  from  the  communion,  they  have 
no  farther  concern  with  them. 

"  They  hold  the  oath  ex  officio  on  the  imposer's 
part  to  be  most  damnable  and  tyrannous,  against 
the  very  law  of  nature,  devised  by  antichrist, 
through  the  inspiration  of  the  devil,  to  tempt 
weak  Christians  to  perjure  themselves,  or  be 
drawn  in  to  reveal  to  the  enemies  of  Christiani- 
ty those  secret  religious  acts  which,  though 
done  for  the  advancement  of  the  Gospel,  may 
bring  on  themselves  and  their  dearest  friends 
heavy  sentences  of  condemnation  from  court." 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Concerning  the  Civil  Magistrate. 

1.  "They  hold  that  the  civil  magistrate  ought 
to  have  supreme  civil*  power  over  all  the  church- 
es within  his  dominions  ;  but  that,  as  he  is  a 
Christian,  he  ought  to  be  a  member  of  some  one 
of  them  ;  which  is  not  in  the  least  derogatory 
to  his  civil  supremacy. 

2.  "  That  all  ecclesiastical  officers  are  pun- 
ishable by  the  civil  magistrate  for  the  abuse  of 
their  ecclesiastical  offices ;  and  much  more  if 
they  intrude  upon  the  rights  and  prerogatives 
of  the  civil  authority. 

3.  "  They  hold  the  pope  to  be  antichrist,  be- 
cause he  usurps  the  supremacy  over  kings  and 
princes  ;  and  therefore  all  that  defend  the  popish 
faith,  and  that  are  for  tolerating  that  religion, 
are  secret  enemies  of  the  king's  supremacy. 

4.  "  That  all  archbishops,  bishops,  deans,  of- 
ficials, &c.,  hold  their  offices  and  functions  at 
the  king's  pleasure,  merely  jure  humano ;  and 
whosoever  holdeth  that  the  king  may  not  re- 


*  Dr.  Grey  says  that  the  word  civil  is  added  by  Mr. 
Neal,  and  that  he  has  omitted,  after  "  dominions," 
the  clause  "  in  all  cases  whatsoever."— Ed. 


250 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


move  them,  and  dispose  of  them  at  his  pleasure, 
is  an  enemy  to  his  supremacy." 

Let  the  reader  now  judge  whether  there  was 
sufficient  ground  for  the  calumny  and  reproach 
that  were  cast  upon  the  Puritans  of  those  times  ; 
but  their  adversaries  having  often  charged  them 
with  denying  the  supremacy,  and  with  claiming 
a  sort  of  jurisdiction  over  the  king  himself,  they 
published  another  pamphlet  this  summer,  enti- 
tled "A  Protestation  of  the  King's  Supremacy, 
made  in  the  Name  of  the  afflicted  Ministers,  and 
opposed  to  the  shameful  Calumniations  of  the 
Prelates."  To  which  was  annexed  an  humble 
petition  for  liberty  of  conscience.  In  their  prot- 
estation, they  declare, 

1.  "  We  hold  and  maintain  the  king's  suprem- 
acy in  all  causes,  and  over  all  persons,  civil  and 
ecclesiastical,  as  it  was  granted  to  Queen  Eliz- 
abeth, and  explained  in  the  Book  of  Injunctions  ; 
nor  have  any  of  us  been  unwilling  to  subscribe 
and  swear  to  it.  We  believe  it  to  be  the  king's 
natural  right  without  a  statute  law,  and  that  ttie 
churches  within  his  dominions  would  sin  dam- 
nably if  they  did*  not  yield  it  to  him.  Nay,  we 
believe  that  the  king  cannot  alienate  it  from  his 
crown,  or  transfer  it  to  any  spiritual  potentates 
or  rulers  ;  and  that  it  is  not  tied  to  his  faith  or 
Christianity,  but  to  his  very  crown  :  so  that  if 
he  were  an  infidel,  the  supremacy  is  his  due. 

2.  "  We  hold  that  no  church  officers  have 
power  to  deprive  the  king  of  any  branch  of  his 
royal  prerogative,  much  less  of  his  supremacy, 
which  is  inseparable  from  him. 

3.  "  That  no  ecclesiastical  officers  have  pow- 
er over  the  bodies,  lives,  goods,  or  liberties  of 
any  person  within  the  king's  dominions. 

4.  "  That  the  king  may  make  laws  for  the 
good  ordering  of  the  churches  within  his  domin- 
ions ;  and  that  the  churches  ought  not  to  be  dis- 
obedient, unless  they  apprehend  them  contrary 
to  the  Word  of  God ;  and  even  in  such  case 
they  are  not  to  resist,  but  peaceably  to  forbear 
obedience,  and  submit  to  the  punishment,  if 
mercy  cannot  be  obtained. 

5.  "  That  the  king  only  hath  power  within  his 
dominions  to  convene  synods  or  general  assem- 
blies of  ministers,  and  by  his  authority  royal  to 
ratify  and  give  life  to  their  canons  and  consti- 
tutions, without  whose  ratification  no  man  can 
force  any  subject  to  yield  obedience  to  the  same. 

6.  "  That  the  king  ought  not  to  be  subject  to 
the  censures  of  any  churches,  church  officers,  or 
synods,  whatsoever ;  but  only  to  that  church, 
and  those  officers  of  his  own  court  and  house- 
hold with  whom  he  shall  voluntarily  join  in 
communion,  where  there  can  be  no  fear  of  un- 
just usage. 

7.  "  If  a  king,  after  he  has  held  communion 
with  a  Christian  church,  should  turn  apostate, 
or  live  in  a  course  of  open  defiance  to  the  laws 
of  God  and  religion,  the  church  governors  are 
to  give  over  their  spiritual  charge  and  tuition  of 
him,  which,  by  calling  from  God  and  the  king, 
they  did  undertake ;  and  more  than  this  they 
may  not  do,  for  the  king  still  retains  his  supreme 
authority  over  the  churches  as  entirely,  and  in 
as  ample  a  manner,  as  if  he  were  the  most  Chris- 
tian prince  in  the  world. 

8.  "  We  refuse  no  obedience  to  the  king,  nor 
to  any  of  the  canons  required  by  the  prelates, 
but  such  as  we  are  willing  to  take  upon  our 


consciences,  and  to  swear,  if  required,  that  we 
believe  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God.  We  deny 
no  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  to  the  king  but  that 
which  Christ  has  appropriated  to  himself,  who 
is  the  sole  doctor  and  legislator  of  his  Church. 

9.  "  We  are  so  far  from  claiming  any  suprem- 
acy to  ourselves,  that  we  exclude  from  ourselves 
all  secular  pomp  and  power,  holding  it  a  sin  to 
punish  men  in  their  bodies,  goods,  liberties,  or 
lives,  for  any  merely  spiritual  offence. 

10.  "  We  confine  all  ecclesiastical  jurisdic- 
tion within  one  congregation,  and  that  jurisdic- 
tion is  not  alone  in  the  ministers,  but  also  in  the 
elders  of  the  church  ;  and  their  jurisdiction  is 
merely  spiritual. 

"  Therefore  all  that  we  crave  of  his  majesty 
and  the  state  is,  that,  with  his  and  their  permis- 
sion, it  maybe  lawful  for  us  to  worship  God  ac- 
cording to  his  revealed  will ;  and  that  we  may 
not  be  forced  to  the  observance  of  any  human 
rites  and  ceremonies.     We  are  ready  to  make 
an  open  confession  of  our  faith  and  form  of  wor- 
ship, and  desire  that  we  may  not  be  obliged  to 
worship  God  in  corners,  but  that  our  religious 
and  civil  behaviour  may  be  open  to  the  obser- 
vation and  censure  of  the  civd  government,  to 
whom  we  profess  all  due  subjection.     So  long 
as  it  shall  please  the  king  and  Parliament  to 
maintain  the  hierarchy  or  prelacy  in  this  king- 
dom, v/e  are  content  that  they  enjoy  their  state 
and  dignity  ;  and  we  will  live  as  brethren  among 
those  ministers  that  acknowledge  spiritual  hom- 
age to  their  spiritual  lordships,  paying  to  them 
all  temporal  duties  of  tithes,  &c.,  and  joining 
with  them  in  the  service  and  worship  of  God, 
so  far  as  we  may  without  our  own  particular 
communicating  in  those  human  traditions  which 
we  judge  unlawful.     Only  we  pray  that  the  prel- 
ates and  their  ecclesiastical  officers  may  not  be 
our  judges,  but  that  we  may  both  of  us  stand  at 
the  bar  of  the  civil  magistrate  ;  and  that  if  we 
shall  be  openly  vilified  and  slandered,  it  may  be 
lawful  for  us,  without  fear  of  punishment,  to  jus- 
tify ourselves  to  the  world  ;  and  then  we  shall 
think  our  lives,  and  all  that  we  have,  too  little 
to  spend  in  the  service  of  our  king  and  country." 
Though  the  principles  of  submission  are  here 
laid  down  with  great  latitude,  and  though  the 
practice  of  the  Puritans  was  agreeable  to  them, 
yet  their  enemies  did  not  fail  to  charge  them 
with  disloyalty,  with  sedition,  and  with  disturb- 
ing the  peace  of  the  state.      Upon  which  the 
ministers  of  Devon  and  Cornwall  published  an- 
other small  treatise,  entitled  "  A  Removal  of 
certain  Imputations  laid  upon  the  Ministers," 
&c.,  in  which  they  say,  p.  21,  "Let  them  [the 
bishops]  sift  well  our  courses  since  his  majesty's 
happy  entrance  in  among  us,  and  let  them  name 
wherein  we  have  done  aught  that  may  justly  be 
said  ill  to  become  the  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Have  we  drawn  any  sword  1  have  we  raised  any 
tumult  1   have  we  used  any  threats  1  hath  the 
state  been  put  into  any  lear  or  hazard  through 
us  1    Manifold  disgraces  have  been  cast  upon  us, 
and  we  have  endured  them  ;  the  liberty  of  our 
ministry  hath  been  taken  from  us,  and  (though 
with  bleeding  hearts)  we  have  sustained  it.    We 
have  been  cast  out  of  our  houses,  and  deprived  of 
our  ordinary  maintenance,  yet  have  we  blown  no 
trumpet  of  sedition.     Tliese  things  have  gone 
very  near  us,  and  yet  did  we  never  so  much  as 
entertain  a  thought  of  violence.     The  truth  is, 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


251 


we  have  petitioned  the  king  and  state  ;  and  who 
hath  reason  to  deny  us  that  liberty  1  we  have 
craved  of  the  prelates  to  deal  with  us  according 
to  law ;  and  is  not  this  the  common  benefit  of 
every  subject]  we  have  besought  them  to  con- 
vince our  consciences  by  Scripture.   Alas  !  what 
would  they  have  us  to  do  1  will  they  have  us 
content  ourselves  with  this  only,  that  they  are 
bishops,  and  therefore,  for  their  greatness,  ought 
to  be  yielded  to  1  the  weight  of  episcopal  power 
may  oppress  us,  but  cannot  convince  us."*         j 
It  appears  from  hence,  that  the  Puritans'  were 
the  king's  faithful  subjects  ;  that  they  complied 
to  the  utmost  limit  of  their  consciences  ;  and  that 
when  they  could  not  obey,  they  were  content  to 
suffer.     Here  are  no  principles  inconsistent  with 
the  public  safety  ;  no  marks  of  heresy,  impiety, 
or  sedition  ;  no  charges  of  ignorance  or  neglect 
of  duty  ;  how  unreasonable,  then,  must  it  be  to 
silence  and  deprive  such  men  !  to  shut  them  up 
in  prison,  or  send  them  with  their  families  a  beg- 
ging, while  their  pulpit-doors  were  to  be  shut  up, 
and  there  was  a  famine  in  many  parts  of  the 
country,  not  of  bread,  but  of  the  Word  of  the 
Lord  ;t  yet  these  honest  men  were  not  only  per- 
secuted at  home,  but  restrained  from  retiring 
into  his  majesty's  dominions  abroad  ;  for  when 
the  ecclesiastical  courts  had  driven  them  from 
their  habitations  and  livelihoods,  and  were  still 
hunting  them  by  their  informers  from  one  end 
of  the  land  to  the  other,  several  families  crossed 
the  ocean  to  Virginia,  and  invited  their  friends 
to  follow ;   but  Bancroft,  being  informed  that 
great  numbers  were  preparing  to  embark,  ob- 
tained a  proclamation  prohibiting  them  to  trans- 
port themselves  to  Virginia  without  a  special  li- 
cense from  the  king ;  a  severity  hardly  to  be 
paralleled  !  nor  was  it  ever  imitated  in  this  coun- 
try except  by  Archbishop  Laud. 

The  isles  of  Guernsey  and  Jersey  having  en- 
joyed the  discipline  of  the  French  churches 
without  disturbance  all  the  reign  of  Queen  Eliz- 
abeth, upon  the  accession  of  the  present  king 
addressed  his  majesty  for  a  confirmation  of  it,t 
which  he  was  pleased  to  grant  by  a  letter  under 
the  privy  seal,  in  these  words  : 

"  Whereas  we  have  been  given  to  understand 
that  our  dear  sister,  Queen  Elizabeth,  did  permit 
and  allow,  to  the  isles  of  Jersey  and  Guernsey, 

*■  Episcoporum  auctoritas  opprimere  nos  potest,  do- 
cere  non  potest. — Ed. 

t  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  176,  185,  folio  edition. 

j  Dr.  Grey  quotes  here  Collyer's  Ecclesiastical 
History,  vol.  ii.,  p.  705,  in  contradiction  to  Mr.  Neal, 
and  to  charge  the  Puritans  as  "  addressing  King  James 
with  a  false  suggestion,  that  the  discipline  had  been 
allowed  by  Queen  Elizabeth."  Dr.  Grey's  stricture 
would  have  been  superseded,  if  he  had  attended  to 
Mr.  Neal's  state  of  the  business ;  who  says  only,  that 
"  the  discipline  of  the  French  churches  had  been  en- 
joyed without  disturbance  all  the  reign  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,"  without  asserting  whether  this  indulgence 
were  owing  to  connivance  or  to  an  express  grant. 
Heylin,  however,  says  that  the  "  Genevian  discipline 
had  been  settled  by  Queen  Elizabeth." — Hint,  of 
Presb.,  p.  395.  And  Collyer  himself  owns,  that  though 
the  queen  allowed  only  one  church  to  adopt  the  mod- 
el of  Geneva,  and  enjoined  the  use  of  the  English  lit- 
urgy in  all  others,  yet  it  was  soon  laid  aside  by  all 
the  churches,  and  the  Geneva  plan  adopted  by  the 
decree  of  synods,  held  under  the  countenance  of  the 
governors  of  Guernsey  and  the  neighbouring  isles. 
These  authorities  fully  justify  Mr.  Neal's  representa- 
tion.— Ed. 


parcels  of  the  duchy  of  Normandy,  the  use  of 
the  government  of  the  Reformed  churches  of 
the  said  duchy,  whereof  they  have  stood  pos- 
sessed till  our  coming  to  the  crown ;  for  this 
cause,  as  well  as  for  the  edification  of  the 
Church,  we  do  will  and  ordain  that  our  said 
isles  shall  quietly  enjoy  their  said  liberty  in  the 
use  of  ecclesiastical  discipline  there  now  estab- 
lished, forbidding  any  one  to  give  them  any 
trouble  or  impeachment  so  long  as  they  contain 
themselves  in  our  obedience. 

"  Given  at  Hampton  Court,  August  8th,  in 

the  first  year  of  our  reign,  1603." 
But  Bancroft,  and  some  of  his  brethren  the 
bishops,  having  possessed  the  king  with  the  ne- 
cessity of  a  general  uniformity  throughout  all 
his  dominions,  these  islands  were  to  be  inclu- 
ded ;   accordingly.  Sir  John  Peyton,  a  zealous 
churchman,  was  appointed  governor,  with  se- 
cret instructions  to  root  out  the  Geneva  disci- 
pline, and  plant  the  English  liturgy  and  ceremo- 
nies.*    This  gentleman,  taking  advantage   of 
the  synod's  appointing  a  minister  to  a  vacant 
living,  according  to  custom,  protested  against 
it  as  injurious  to  the  king's  prerogative,  and 
complained  to  court  that  the  Jersey  ministers 
had  usurped  the  patronage  of  the  benefices  of 
the  island  ;  that  they  had  admitted  men  to  liv- 
ings without  the  form  of  presentation,  which 
was  a  loss  to  the  crown  in  its  first-fruits  ;  that 
by  the  connivance  or  allowance  of  former  gov- 
ernors, they  exercised  a  kind  of  arbitrary  juris- 
diction, and  therefore  prayed  that  his  majesty 
would  settle  the  English  discipline  among  them.f 
The  Jersey  ministers  alleged  in  their  own  de- 
fence, that  the  presentation  to  livings  was   a 
branch  of  their  discipline,  and  that  the  payments 
of  first-fruits  and  tenths  had  never  been  de- 
manded since  they  were  disengaged  from  the 
see  of  Constance.     They  pleaded  his  majesty's 
royal   confirmation   of  their  discipline,  which 
was  read  publicly  in  a  synod  of  both  islands  in 
the  year  1605.     But  this  pious  king  had  very 
little   regard   to  promises,  oaths,  or  charters, 
when  they  stood  in  the  way  of  his  arbitrary  de- 
signs ;  he  ordered,  therefore,  his  ecclesiastical 
officers  to  pursue  his  instructions  in  the  most 
effectual  manner.     Accordingly,  they  took  the 
presentations  to  vacant  livings  into  their  own 
hands  without  consulting  the  presbytery ;  they 
annulled  the  oath,  whereby  all  ecclesiastical  and 
civil  officers  were  obliged  to  swear  to  the  main- 
tenance of  their  discipline ;   and  whereas  all 
who  received  the  holy  sacrament  were  requi- 
red to  subscribe  to  the  allowance  of  the  general 
form  of  church  government  in  that  island,  the 
king's  attorney-general  and  his  friends  now  re- 
fused it.    Their  elders,  likewise,  were  cited  into 
the  temporal  courts,  and  stripped  of  their  privi- 
leges ;  nor  had  they  much  better  quarter  in  the 
consistory,  for  the  governor  and  jurats  made 
the  decrees  of  that  court  ineffectual  by  reversing 
them  in  the  Town  Hall. 

Complaint  being  made  to  the  court  of  these 
innovations,  the  king  sent  them  word  that,  to 
avoid  all  disputes  for  the  future,  he  was  de- 
termined to  revive  the  office  and  authority  of  a 
dean,  and  to  establish  the  English  Common 
Prayer  Book  among  them,  which  he  did  accord- 

*  Heyl.,  Hist.  Presb.,  p.  396,  and  Collyer's  Eccles. 
Hist.,  p.  705. 

t  Heylin's  Hist.  Presb.,  p.  396. 


352 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


ingly,*  and  ordered  the  Bishop  of  Winchester, 
in  whose  diocess  they  were,  to  draw  up  some 
canons  for  the  dean's  direction  in  the  exercise 
of  his  government ;  which  being  done,  and  con- 
firmed liy  the  king,  their  former  privileges  were 
extinguished.  Whereupon  many  left  the  islands 
and  retired  into  France  and  Holland  ;  however, 
others  made  a  shift  to  support  their  discipline 
after  a  manner,  in  the  island  of  Guernsey, 
where  the  episcopal  regulations  could  not  take 
place. 

Mr.  Robert  Parker,  a  Puritan  minister  al- 
ready mentioned,  published  this  year  a  very 
learned  treatise  "  Of  the  Cross  in  Baptism."! 
But  the  bishops,  instead  of  answering  it,  per- 
suaded the  king  to  issue  a  proclamation,  with 
an  offer  of  a  reward  for  apprehending  him,  which 
obliged  him  to  abscond.  A  treacherous  servant 
of  the  family  having  informed  the  officers  where 
he  had  retired,  they  came  and  searched  the 
house,  but,  by  the  special  providence  of  God, 
he  was  preserved,  the  only  room  they  neglected 
to  search  being  that  in  which  he  was  concealed, 
from  whence  he  heard  them  quarrelling  and 
swearing  at  one  another,  one  saying  they  had 
not  searched  that  room,  and  another  confidently 
asserting  the  contrary,  and  refusing  to  suffer  it 
to  be  searched  over  again.  Had  he  been  taken, 
he  had  been  cast  into  prison,  where,  without 
doubt,  says  my  author,  he  must  have  died. 
When  he  got  into  Holland  he  would  have  been 
chosen  minister  of  the  English  church  at  Am- 
sterdam, but  the  magistrates  being  afraid  of 
disobliging  King  James,  he  went  to  Doesburgh, 
and  became  minister  of  that  garrison,  where  he 
departed  this  life,  1630. 

This  year  died  the  famous  Dr.  John  Ray- 
nolds,  king's  professor  in  Oxford.  He  was  at 
first  a  zealous  papist,  while  his  brother  William 
was  a  Protestant,  but,  by  conference  and  dispu- 
tation, the  brothers  converted  each  other,  Will- 
iam dying  an  inveterate  papist,  and  John  an 
eminent  Protestant. t  He  was  born  in  Devon- 
shire, 1549,  and  educated  in  Corpus  Christi  Col- 
lege, Oxford,  of  which  he  was  afterward  presi- 
dent. He  was  a  prodigy  for  reading,  his  mem- 
ory being  a  living  library.  Dr.  Hall  used  to 
say  that  his  memory  and  reading  were  near  a 
miracle.  He  had  turned  over  all  writers,  pro- 
fane and  ecclesiastical,  as  councils,  fathers, 
histories,  &c.  He  was  a  critic  in  the  lan- 
guages,!^  of  a  sharp  wit  and  indefatigable  indus- 
try ;  his  piety  and  sanctity  of  life  were  so  emi- 
nent and  conspicuous,  that  the  learned  Cracan- 
thorp  used  to  say,  that  to  name  Raynolds  was 
to  commend  virtue  itself  He  was  also  pos- 
sessed of  great  modesty  and  humility.  In  short, 
says  the  Oxford  historian,  nothing  can  be  spo- 
ken against  him  but  that  he  was  the  pillar  of 
Puritanism,  and  the  grand  favourer  of  noncon- 
formity. At  length,  after  a  severe  and  morti- 
fied life,  he  died  in  his  college,  May  21,  1607, 
aged  sixty-eight,  and  was  buried  with  great  fu- 
neral solemnity  in  St.  Mary's  Church. || 

*  Collyer,  vol.  ii.,  p.  706.  Heylin's  Hist.  Presb., 
p.  398,  399.  t  Pierce,  p.  171. 

t  Fuller's  Abel  Redivivus,  p.  477, 

<j  Wood's  Ath.,  vol.  i.,  p.  290. 

II  In  1604  James  appointed  Dr.  Raynolds,  on  ac- 
count of  his  uncommon  skill  in  Greek  and  Hebrew, 
to  be  one  of  the  translators  of  the  Bible,  but  he  did 
not  five  to  see  its  completion.     During  his  long  ill- 


Soon  after  died  the  famous  Mr.  Thomas  Bright- 
man,  author  of  a  commentary  upon  the  Song  of 
Solomon,  and  the  Revelations  :  he  was  born  at 
Nottingham,  and  bred  in  Queen's  College,  Cam- 
bridge, where  he  became  a  champion  for  non- 
conformity to  the  ceremonies.  He  was  after- 
ward presented  by  Sir  John  Osbourne  to  the  rec- 
tory of  Haunes  in  Bedfordshire,  where  he  spent 
the  remainder  of  his  days  in  hard  study,  and 
constant  application  to  his  charge,  as  far  as  his 
conscience  would  admit.*  His  life,  says  Mr. 
Fuller,  was  angelical,  his  learning  uncommon  ; 
he  was  a  close  student,  of  little  stature,  and 
such  a  master  of  himself,  that  he  was  never 
known  to  be  moved  with  anger.  His  daily  dis- 
course was  against  episcopal  government,  which 
he  prophesied  would  shortly  be  overthrown,t 
and  the  government  of  the  foreign  Protestant 
churches  be  erected  in  its  place.  He  died  sud- 
denly upon  the  road,  as  he  was  riding  with  Sir 
John  Osbourne  in  his  coach,  by  a  sudden  ob- 
struction of  the  liver  or  gall,  August  24,  1607, 
aged  fifty-one. 

The  king  having  given  the  reins  of  the  Church 
into  the  hands  of  the  prelates  and  their  depend- 
ants, these,  in  return,  became  zealous  champions 
for  the  prerogative,  both  in  the  pulpit  and  from 
the  press.  Two  books  were  published  this 
year,  which  maintained  the  most  extravagant 
maxims  of  arbitrary  power  :  one  written  by 
Cowel,  LL.D.,  and  vicar-general  to  the  arch- 
bishop, wherein  he  affirms,  1.  That  the  king  is 
not  bound  by  the  laws,  or  by  his  coronation 
oath.  2.  That  he  is  not  obliged  to  call  parlia- 
ments to  make  laws,  but  may  do  it  without 
them.  3.  That  it  is  a  great  favour  to  admit 
the  consent  of  the  subject  in  giving  subsidies. 
The  other,  by  Dr.  Blackwood,  a  clergyman, 
who  maintained  that  the  English  were  all  slaves 
from  the  Norman  Conquest.  The  Parliament 
would  have  brought  the  authors  to  justice,  but 
the  king  protected  them  by  proroguing  the  hous- 
es in  displeasure  ;t  and,  to  supply  his  necessi- 

ness  his  learned  associates  in  Oxford  met  at  his  lodg- 
ings once  a  week,  to  compare  their  notes.  He  was 
thus  employed  translating  the  Word  of  Life  till  he 
himself  was  translated  to  life  everlasting. — Fuller's 
Abel  Redivivus,  p.  487,  488.— C. 

*  Church  Hist,  b.  x.,  p.  50. 

t  "  How,"  asks  Bishop  Warburton,  "  would  the 
historian  have  us  understand  this  ?  As  true  prophe- 
cy to  be  fulfilled,  or  a  false  prophet  confuted  ?"  The 
reply  is,  Mr.  Neal  is  to  be  understood  as  his  author 
Mr.  Fuller,  from  whom  he  quotes.  Neither  meant 
to  ascribe  to  Mr.  Brightinan  a  prophetic  inspiration, 
but  only  to  relate  his  sentiments  and  apprehensions ; 
to  which,  however  the  bishop  may  sneer,  the  events 
of  the  next  reign  bore  a  correspondence.  The  clause, 
"and  the  government  of  the  foreign  Protestant 
churches,"  &c.,  as  Dr.  Grey  observes,  is  not  in  Ful- 
ler ;  who,  however,  says  that  Mr.  Brightman  gave 
offence  by  "  resembling  the  Church  of  England  to 
lukewarm  Laodicea,  praising  and  preferring  the  pu- 
rity of  foreign  Protestant  churches."  He  always 
carried  about  him  a  Greek  Testament,  which  he 
read  through  every  fortnight.  Cartwright  used  to. 
call  him  "  the  bright  star  in  the  Church  of  Godi' 
— C. 

t  Rapin  says,  as  Dr.  Grey  observes,  "  the  king  in- 
terposed, and  frustrated  the  Parliament's  design,  by 
publishing  a  proclamation,  to  forbid  the  reading  of 
these  books,  and  to  order  copies  to  be  delivered  to 
the  magistrates.  But  such  proclamations  are  usual- 
ly ill  obeyed,  especially  when  it  is  not  the  king's  in- 
terest to  see  them  strictly  executed."     So  that  by 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


253 


ties,  began  to  raise  money  by  monopolies  of  di- 
vers manufactures,  to  trie  unspeakable  prejudice 
of  the  trade  of  the  kingdom. 

This  year  died  the  famous  Jacobus  Arminius, 
divinity-professor  in  the  University  of  Leyden, 
who  gave  birth  to  the  famous  sect  still  called  by 
his  name.  He  was  born  at  Oudewater,  1560. 
His  parents  dying  in  his  infancy,  he  was  edu- 
cated at  the  public  expense  by  the  magistrates 
of  Amsterdam,  and  was  afterward  chosen  one 
of  the  ministers  of  that  city  in  the  year  1588. 
Being  desired  by  one  of  the  professors  of  Frane- 
quer  to  confute  a  treatise  of  Beza's  upon  the 
Supralapsarian  scheme  of  predestination,  he  fell 
himself  into  the  contrary  sentiment.  In  the  year 
1600  he  was  called  to  succeed  Junius  in  the  di;; 
vinity  chair  of  Leyden,  and  was  the  first  who 
was  solemnly  created  doctor  of  divinity  in  that 
university.  Here  his  notions  concerning  pre- 
destination and  grace,  and  the  extent  of  Christ's 
redemption,  met  with  a  powerful  opposition 
from  Gomarus  and  others.  But  though  his  dis- 
ciples increased  prodigiously  in  a  few  years,  yet 
the  troubles  he  met  with  from  his  adversaries, 
and  the  attacks  made  upon  his  character  and 
reputation,  broke  his  spirits,  so  that  he  sunk 
into  a  melancholy  disorder,  attended  with  a 
complication  of  distempers,  which  hastened  his 
end,  after  he  had  been  professor  six  years,  and 
had  lived  forty-nine.  He  is  represented  as  a 
divine  of  considerable  learning,  piety,  and  mod- 
esty, far  from  going  the  lengths  of  his  success- 
ors, Vorstius,  Episcopius,  and  Curcellaeus  ;  yet 
his  doctrines  occasioned  such  confusion  in  that 
country  as  could  not  be  terminated  without  a 
national  synod,  and  produced  great  distractions 
in  the  Church  of  England,  as  will  be  seen  here- 
after. 

In  the  Parliament  which  met  this  summer, 
the  spirit  of  English  liberty  began  to  revive ; 
one  of  the  members  made  the  following  bold 
speech  in  the  House  of  Commons,  containing  a 
particular  representation  of  the  grievances  of 
the  nation,  and  of  the  attempts  made  for  the 
redress  of  them.  "  It  begins  with  a  complaint 
against  the  bishops  in  their  ecclesiastical  courts, 
for  depriving,  disgracing,  silencing,  and  impris- 
oning such  of  God's  messengers  (being  learned 
and  godly  preachers)  as  he  has  furnished  with 
most  heavenly  graces  to  call  us  to  repentance, 
for  no  other  cause  but  for  not  conforming  them- 
selves farther,  and  otherwise  than  by  the  sub- 
scription limited  in  the  statute  of  the  13th  Eliz- 
abeth they  are  bound  to  do,  thereby  making  the 
laws  of  the  Church  and  commonwealth  to  jar ; 
which  to  reform,"  says  he,  "we  made  a  law 
for  subscription,  agreeing  to  the  intent  of  the 
aforesaid  statute,  which  would  have  established 
the  peace  both  of  Church  and  State ;  and  if  it 
had  received  the  royal  assent,  would  have  been 
an  occasion  that  many  subjects  might  be  well 
taught  the  means  of  their  salvation,  who  now 
want  sufficient  knowledge  of  the  Word  of  God 
to  ground  their  faith  upon. 

"  And  whereas,  by  the  laws  of  God  and  the 
land,  ecclesiastical  persons  should  use  only  the 
spiritual  sword,  by  exhortation,  admonition,  and 
excommunication,  which  are  the  keys  of  the 
Church,  to  exclude  impenitent  sinners,  and  leave 
the  temporal  sword  to  the  civil  magistrate, 

these  measures  the  king  screened  the  persons  of  the 
authors. — Ed.  ' 


which  was  always  so  used  in  England  till  the 
second  year  of  the  reign  of  King  Henry  IV.,  at 
which  time  the  popish  prelates  got  the  temporal 
sword  into  their  hands,  which  statute  was  since 
by  several  acts  of  Parliament  made  void,  yet, 
by  virtue  of  that  temporal  authority  once  for  a 
short  space  by  them  used,  some  ecclesiastical 
persons  do  use  both  swords,  and  with  those  two 
swords  the  oath  ex  officio,  which  began  first  in 
England  by  the  statute  of  the  second  of  King 
Henry  IV.,  being  contrary  to  the  laws  of  Eng- 
land, and,  as  I  verily  think,  contrary  to  the  laws 
of  God. 

"Wherefore,  to  reform  these  abuses,  we  made 
two  good  laws,  one  to  abridge  the  force  of  the 
ecclesiastical  commission  in  many  points,  the 
other  to  abrogate  and  take  away  the  power  of 
ecclesiastical  persons  to  administer  the  oath  ex 
officio,  being  a  very  hateful  thing,  and  unlawful. 

"  And  forasmuch  as  among  the  canons  lately 
made  by  the  clergy  of  England  in  convocation, 
it  was  thought  that  some  of  their  canons  did  ex- 
tend to  charge  the  bodies,  lands,  and  goods  of 
the  subjects  of  this  realm  farther  than  was  law- 
ful and  meet,  we  therefore  made  a  good  law  to 
make  void  such  canons,  unless  the  same  canons 
were  confirmed  by  Parliament. 

"  And  as  we  had  the  care  of  the  Church,  so 
likewise  of  the  commonwealth  ;  and,  therefore, 
after  searching  the  records  of  the  Tower,  and 
after  hearing  the  opinions  of  lawyers,  we  found 
it  clear  that  impositions  laid  upon  merchandise 
or  other  goods  of  the  subject,  by  the  king,  with- 
out consent  of  Parliament,  were  not  lawful ;  and, 
therefore,  we  passed  a  bill  declaring  that  no  im; 
position  laid  upon  goods  is  lawful  without  con- 
sent of  Parliament. 

"  But  God  has  not  permitted  these  and  sun- 
dry other  good  laws  to  take  effect  or  pass  into 
statutes,  though  we  earnestly  desired  them  ;  if 
they  had,  both  the  king  and  his  subjects  would 
have  been  more  happy  than  ever  ;  what  would 
we  not  then  have  given  to  supply  the  king's 
wants  1  But  as  things  now  stand,  and  without 
reformation  of  the  aforementioned  grievances, 
we  cannot  give  much,  because  we  have  no  cer- 
tainty of  that  which  shall  remain  to  us  after  our 
gift." 

To  put  a  stop  to  such  dangerous  speeches,  the 
king  summoned  both  houses  to  Whitehall,  and 
told  them  "  that  he  did  not  intend  to  govern  by 
the  absolute  power  of  a  king,  though  he  knew 
the  power  of  kings  was  like  the  Divine  power ; 
for,"  says  his  majesty,  "  as  God  can  create  and 
destroy,  make  and  unmake,  at  his  pleasure,  so 
kings  can  give  hfe  and  death,  judge  all,  and  be 
judged  by  none  ;  they  caii  exalt  and  abase,  and, 
like  men  at  chess,  make  a  pawn  take  a  bishop 
or  a  knight."  After  this  he  tells  the  houses, 
that  as  it  was  blasphemy  to  dispute  what  God 
might  do,  so  it  was  sedition  in  subjects  to  dis- 
pute what  a  king  might  do  in  the  height  of  his 
power.  He  commanded  them,  therefore,  not  to 
meddle  with  the  main  points  of  government, 
which  would  be  to  lessen  his  craft,  who  had 
been  thirty  years  at  his  trade  in  Scotland,  and 
served  an  apprenticeship  of  seven  years  in  Eng- 
land. 

The  Parliament,  not  terrified  with  this  high 
language,  went  on  steadily  in  asserting  theii 
rights;  May  24th,  1610,  twenty  of  the  Lowei 
House  presented  a  remonstrance,  in  which  they 


254 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


declare,  "  that  whereas  they  had  first  received  a 
message,  and  since,  by  his  majesty's  speech, 
had  been  commanded  to  refrain  from  debating 
upon  things  relating  to  the  chief  points  of  gov- 
ernment, they  do  hold  it  their  undoubted  right 
to  examine  into  the  grievances  of  the  subject, 
and  to  inquire  into  their  own  rights  and  proper- 
ties, as  well  as  his  majesty's  prerogative  ;*  and 
they  most  humbly  and  instantly  beseech  his 
gracious  majesty  that,  without  offence  to  the 
same,  they  may,  according  to  the  undoubted 
right  and  liberty  of  Parliament,  proceed  in  their 
intended  course  against  the  late  new  imposi- 
tions." 

In  another  petition,  they  beseech  his  maj- 
esty to  put  the  laws  in  execution  against  pa- 
pists ;  and  with  regard  to  the  Puritans,  they  say, 
"Whereas  divers  learned  and  painful  pastors 
that  have  long  travailed  in  the  work  of  the  min- 
istry with  good  fruit  and  blessing  of  their  la- 
bour, who  were  ever  ready  to  perform  the  le- 
gal subscription  appointed  by  the  13th  of  Eliza- 
beth, which  only  concernelh  the  profession  of 
the  true  Christian  faith  and  doctrine  of  the  sac- 
raments, yet  for  not  conforming  in  some  points 
of  ceremonies,  and  for  refusing  the  subscription 
directed  by  the  late  canons,  have  been  removed 
from  their  ecclesiastical  livings,  being  their 
freehold,  and  debarred  from  all  means  of  main- 
tenance, to  the  great  erief  of  your  majesty's 
subjects,  seeing  the  whole  people  that  want  in- 
struction lie  open  to  the  seducement  of  popish 
and  ill-affected  persons  ;  we,  therefore,  most 
humbly  beseech  your  majesty  that  such  depri- 
ved and  silenced  ministers  may,  by  license  or 
permission  of  the  reverend  fathers  in  their  sev- 
eral diocesses,  instruct  and  preach  unto  their 
people  in  such  parishes  and  places  where  they 
may  be  employed,  so  as  they  apply  themselves 
in  their  ministry  to  wholesome  doctrine  and  ex- 
hortation, and  live  quietly  and  peaceably  in  their 
caUings,  and  shall  not,  by  writing  or  preaching, 
impugn  things  established  by  public  authority. 
They  also  pray  that  dispensations  for  pluralities 
of  benefices  with  cure  of  souls  may  be  prohibit- 
ed, and  that  toleration  of  nonresidency  may  be 
restrained.  And  forasmuch  as  excommunica- 
tion is  exercised  upon  an  incredible  number  of 
the  common  people,  by  the  subordinate  officers 
of  the  jurisdiction  ecclesiastical,  for  small  caus- 
es, by  the  sole  information  of  a  base  apparitor, 
so  that  the  poor  are  driven  to  excessive  expen- 
ses for  matters  of  small  moment,  while  the  rich 
escape  that  censure  by  commutation  of  pen- 
ance ;  they  therefore  most  humbly  pray  for  a 
reformation  in  the  premises." 

In  another  petition, 'they  represent  to  his 
majesty  the  great  grievance  of  the  commission 
ecclesiastical,  and  in  all  humility  beseech  his 
majesty  to  ratify  the  law  they  had  prepared  for 
reducing  it  within  reasonable  and  convenient 
limits  ;  they  say,  "  that  the  statute  1  Eliz  ,  cap. 
i.,  by  which  the  commission  is  authorized,  has 
been  found  dangerous  and  inconvenient  on  many 
accounts : 

"  First.  Because  it  enables  the  making  such 
commission  to  one  subject  born,  as  well  as  more. 

"  Secondly.  Because,  under  colour  of  some 
words  in  the  statute,  whereby  the  commissioners 
are  authorized  to  act  according  to  the  tenour  and 
effect  of  your  highness's  letters  patent,  and  by  let 


*  Warner's  Eccles.  History,  vol.  ii.,  p.  495,  496.      1 


ters  patent  grounded  thereon,  they  do  fine  and 
imprison,  and  exercise  other  authorities  not  be- 
longing to  the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  restored 
to  the  crown  by  this  statute  ;  for  by  the  same  rule 
your  highness  may  by  your  letters  patent  author- 
ize them  to  fine  without  stint,  and  imprison  with- 
out limitation  of  time ;  as,  also,  according  to  will 
and  discretion,  without  regard  to  any  laws  spir- 
itual and  temporal ;  they  may  impose  utter  con- 
fiscation of  goods,  forfeiture  of  lands,  5'ea,  and 
the  taking  away  of  limb  and  life  itself,  and  this 
for  any  matter  appertaining  to  spiritual  jurisdic- 
tion, which  could  never  be  the  intent  of  the  law. 

"  Thirdly.  Because  the  king,  by  the  same  stat- 
ute, may  set  up  an  ecclesiastical  commission  in 
every  diocess,  county,  and  parish  of  England, 
and  thereby  all  jurisdiction  may  be  taken  from 
bishops  and  transferred  to  laymen. 

"  Fourthly.  Because  every  petty  offence  ap- 
pertaining to  spiritual  jurisdiction  is,  by  colour 
of  the  said  words  and  letters  patent,  made  sub- 
ject to  excommunication,  whereby  the  smallest 
offenders  may  be  obliged  to  travel  from  the  most 
remote  parts  of  the  kingdom  to  London,  to  their 
utter  ruin. 

"Fifthly.  Because  it  is  very  hard,  if  not  impos- 
sible, to  know  what  matters  or  offences  are  in- 
cluded within  their  commission,  as  appertaining 
to  spiritual  and  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  it  be- 
ing unknown  what  ancient  canons  or  laws  spir- 
itual are  in  force. 

"  As  for  the  commission  ecclesiastical  itself, 
grounded  on  the  statute  above  mentioned,  it  is 
a  very  great  grievance,  because, 

"1.  The  same  men  have  both  spiritual  and 
temporal  jurisdiction,  and  may  force  the  party 
by  oath  to  accuse  himself,  and  also  inquire  there- 
of by  a  jury ;  and,  lastly,  may  inflict  for  the  same 
offence,  and  at  the  same  time,  by  one  and  the 
same  sentence,  both  a  spiritual  and  temporal 
punishment. 

"2.  Whereas,  upon  sentences  of  deprivation 
or  other  spiritual  censures,  given  by  force  of  or- 
dinary jurisdiction,  an  appeal  lies  for  the  party 
grieved  :  this  is  here  excluded  by  express  words 
of  the  commission.  Also,  here  is  to  be  a  trial 
by  a  jury,  but  no  remedy  by  traverse  or  attaint. 
Nor  can  a  man  have  any  writ  of  error,  though 
judgment  be  given  against  him,  amounting  to 
the  taking  away  all  his  goods,  and  imprisoning 
him  for  life,  yea,  to  the  adjudging  him  in  the 
case  of  praemunire,  whereby  his  lands  are  for- 
feited, and  he  put  out  of  the  protection  of  the 
law. 

♦'  3.  Whereas  penal  laws,  and  offences  against 
them,  cannot  be  determined  in  other  courts,  or 
by  other  persons,  than  those  intrusted  by  Par- 
liament, yet  the  execution  of  many  such  statutes 
made  since  the  1st  Elizabeth  are  committed  to 
the  ecclesiastical  commissioners,  who  may  in- 
flict the  punishments  contained  in  the  statutes, 
being  praemunire,  and  of  other  high  nature,  and 
so  enforce  a  man  upon  his  oath  to  accuse  him- ' 
self,  or  else  inflict  other  temporal  punishments 
at  pleasure ;  and  after  this,  the  party  shall  be 
subject  in  the  courts  mentioned  in  the  acts  to 
punishments  by  the  same  acts  appointed  and  in- 
flicted. 

"  5.  The  commission  gives  authority  to  oblige 
men,  not  only  to  give  recognisance  for  their  ap- 
pearance from  time  to  time,  but  also  for  per- 
formance of  whatsoever  shall  be  by  the  com- 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


255 


missioners  ordered,  and  to  pay  such  fees  as  the 
commissioners  shall  think  fit. 

"  The  execution  of  the  commission  is  no  less 
grievous  to  the  subject  ;  for,  (1.)  Laymen  are 
punished  for  speaking  of  the  smiony  and  other 
misdemeanors  of  spiritual  men,  though  the 
thing  spoken  be  true,  and  tends  to  the  inducing 
some  condign  punishment.  (2.)  These  commis- 
sioners usually  allot  to  women  discontented  and 
unwilling  to  live  with  their  husbands  such  por- 
tions and  maintenance  as  they  think  fit,  to  the 
great  encouragement  of  wives  to  be  disobedient 
to  their  husbands.  And  (3.)  Pursuivants  and 
other  ministers  employed  in  apprehending  sus- 
pected offenders,  or  in  searching  for  supposed 
scandalous  books,  break  open  men's  houses, 
closets,  and  desks,  rifling  all  corners  and  private 
places,  as  in  cases  of  high  treason. 

"  A  farther  grievance  is  the  stay  of  writs  of 
prohibition,  habeas  corpus,  and  de  homine  replegi- 
ando,  which  are  a  considerable  relief  to  the  op- 
pressed subjects  of  the  kingdom.  His  majesty, 
in  otder  to  support  the  inferior  courts  against 
the  principal  courts  of  common  law,  had  ordered 
things  so,  that  writs  had  been  more  sparingly 
granted,  and  with  greater  caution.  They  there- 
fore pray  his  majesty  to  require  his  judges  in 
Westminster  Hall  to  grant  such  writs  in  cases 
wherein  they  lie. 

"  But  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  threaten- 
ing grievances  was  the  king's  granting  letters 
patent  for  monopolies,  as  licenses  for  wine,  ale- 
houses, selling  sea-coal,  &,c.,  which  they  pray  his 
majesty  to  forbear  for  the  future,  that  the  dis- 
ease may  be  cured,  and  others  of  like  nature 
prevented." 

The  king,  instead  of  concurring  with  his  Par- 
liament, was  so  disgusted  with  their  remon- 
strance, that  he  dissolved  them  [December  3, 
1610]  without  passing  any  one  act  this  session,* 
after  they  had  continued  about  six  years  ;  and 
was  so  out  of  humour  with  the  spirit  of  English 
liberty  that  was  growing  in  the  houses,  that  he 
resolved,  if  possible,  to  govern  without  parlia- 
ments for  the  future.  This  was  done  by  the 
advice  of  Bancroft,  and  other  servile  court  flat- 
terers, and  was  the  beginning  of  that  mischief, 
says  Wilson, t  which,  when  it  came  to  a  full 
ripeness,  made  such  a  bloody  tincture  in  both 
kingdoms  as  never  will  be  got  out  of  tiie  bishops' 
lawn  sleeves. 

From  the  time  that  King  James  came  to  the 
English  throne,  and  long  before,  if  we  may  be- 
lieve Dr.  Heylin,  his  majesty  had  projected  the 
restoring  episcopacy  in  the  Kirk  of  Scotland, 
and  reducing  the  two  kingdoms  to  one  uniform 
government  and  discipline:  for  this  purpose 
Archbishop  Bancroft  maintained  a  secret  cor- 
respondence with  him,  and  corrupted  one  Nor- 
ton, an  English  bookseller  at  Edinburgh  [in  the 
year  1589],  to  betray  the  Scots  affairs  to  him,  as 
he  confessed,  with  tears,  at  his  examination. 
The  many  curious  articles  he  employed  him  to 
search  into  are  set  down  in  Calderwood's  His- 
tory, p.  246.  In  the  month  of  January,  1591,  his 
letters  to  Mr.  Patrick  Adamson  were  intercepted, 
■wherein  he  advises  him  "to  give  the  Queen  of 
England  more  honourable  titles,  and  to  praise 
theChurch  of  England  aboveall  others.  He  mar- 
Telled  why  he  came  not  to  England,  and  assu- 

♦  Fuller's  Church  Hist.,  b.  x.,  p.  56. 
t  Hist,  of  King  James,  p.  46. 


red  him  he  would  be  well  accepted  by  my  Lord 
of  Canterbury's  grace,  and  well  rewarded  if  he 
came."*  This  Adamson  was  afterward  excom- 
municated, but,  repenting  of  what  he  had  done 
against  the  Kirk,  desired  absolution  :  part  of  his 
confession  runs  thus:  "I  grant  I  was  more 
busy  with  some  bishops  in  England,  in  preju- 
dice of  the  discipline  of  our  kirk,  partly  when  I 
was  there,  and  partly  by  intelligence  since,  than 
became  a  good  Christian,  much  less  a  faithful 
pastor  ;  neither  is  there  anything  that  more 
ashameth  me  than  my  often  deceiving  and 
abusing  the  Kirk  heretofore  by  confessions,  sub- 
scriptions, and  protestations." 

Upon  his  majesty's  arrival  in  England,  he  took 
all  occasions  to  discover  his  aversion  to  the 
Scots  Presbyterians,  taxing  them  with  sauci- 
ness,  ill-manners,  and  an  implacable  enmity  to 
kingly  power;  he  nominated  bishops  to  the 
thirteen  Scots  bishoprics  which  himself  had  for- 
merly abolished  ;  but  their  revenues  being  an- 
nexed to  the  crown,  their  dignities  were  little 
more  than  titular.  In  the  Parliament  held  at 
Perth,  in  the  year  1606,  his  majesty  obtained 
an  act  to  restore  the  bishops  to  their  temporali- 
ties, and  to  repeal  the  Act  of  Annexation ;  by 
which  they  were  restored  to  their  votes  in  Par- 
liament, and  had  the  title  of  lords  of  Parlia- 
ment, contrary  to  the  sense  both  of  clergy  and 
laity,  as  appears  by  the  following  protest  of  the 
General  Assembly : 

"In  the  nameof  Christ,  and  in  the  name  of  the 
Kirk  in  general,  whereof  the  realm  hath  reaped 
comfort  this  forty-six  years  ;  also  in  the  name 
of  our  presbyteries,  from  which  we  received 
our  commission,  and  in  our  own  names,  as  pas- 
tors and  office-bearers  within  the  same  for  the 
discharging  of  our  necessary  duty,  and  for  the 
disburdening  of  our  consciences,  we  except  and 
protest  against  the  erection,  confirmation,  or 
ratification  of  the  said  bishoprics  and  bishops 
by  this  present  Parliament,  and  humbly  pray 
that  this  our  protestation  may  be  admitted  and 
registered  among  the  records." 

In  the  Convention  at  Linlithgow,  December 
12,   consisting   of  noblemen,   statesmen,   and 
some  court  ministers,  it  was  agreed  that  the- 
bishops  should  be  perpetual  moderators  of  the 
Kirk  assemblies,  under  certain  cautions,  and- 
with  a  declaration  that  they  had  no  purpose  to 
subvert  the  discipline  of  the  Kirk,  or  to  exercise 
any   tyrannous   or  unlawful  jurisdiction   over 
their  brethren  ;  but  the  body  of  the  ininisterg- 
being  uneasy  at  this,  another  convention  was 
held  at  Linlithgow,  1608,  and  a  committee  ap- 
pointed to  compromise  the  difference;  the  com- 
mittee consisted  of  two  earls  and  two  lords,  as 
his  majesty's  commissioners  ;  five  new  bishops, 
two  university  men,  three  ministers  on  one  part, 
and  ten  for  the  other ;  they  met  at  Falkland, 
May  4,  1609,  and  debated,  (1.)  Whether  the 
moderators  of  kirk  assemblies  should  be  con 
stant  or  circular  ;  and  (2.)  Whether  the  caveats 
should  be  observed.     But  coming  to  no  agree- 
ment, they  adjourned  to  Striveling,  where  the 
bishops  with  great  difficulty  carried  their  point. 
And  to  increase  their  power,  his  majesty  was 
pleased  next  year  [in  the  month  of  February, 
1610],  contrary  to  law,  to  put  the  high  commis- 
sion into  their  hands. 

Still  they  wanted  the  sanction  of  a  general 

'  *  Pierce,  p.  166. 


256 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


assembly,  and  a  spiritual  character :  to  obtain 
the  former,  an  assembly  was  held  at  Glasgow, 
June  8,  1610,  means  having  been  used  by  the 
courtiers  to  model  it  to  their  mind.  In  that 
costly  assembly,  says  my  author,*  the  bishops 
were  declared  moderators  in  every  diocesan 
assembly,  and  they  or  their  deputies  moderators 
in  their  weekly  exercises  ;  ordination  and  dep- 
rivation of  ministers,  visitation  of  kirks,  ex- 
communication and  absolution,  with  presenta- 
tion to  benefices,  were  pinned  to  the  law^n 
sleeves  ;  and  it  was  farther  voted,  (1.)  That 
every  minister  at  his  entry  shall  swear  obedi- 
ence to  his  ordinary.  (2.)  That  no  minister 
shall  preach  or  speak  the  acts  of  this  assembly. 
(3.)  That  the  question  of  the  parity  or  imparity 
of  pastors  shall  not  be  mentioned  in  the  pulpit 
under  pain  of  deprivation.  This  was  a  vast  ad- 
vance upon  the  constitution  of  the  Kirk. 

To  obtain  a  spiritual  character  superior  to 
the  order  of  presbyters,  it  was  necessary  that 
the  bishops  elect  should  be  consecrated  by  some 
of  the  same  order ;  for  this  purpose  the  king 
sent  for  three  of  them  into  England,  viz.,  Mr. 
Spotswood,  archbishop  of  Glasgow,  Mr.  Lamb, 
bishop  of  Brechen,  and  Mr.  Hamilton,  bishop 
of  Galloway,  and  issued  a  commission  under 
the  great  seal  to  the  Bishops  of  London,  Ely, 
Bath  and  Wells,  and  Rochester,  requiring  them 
to  proceed  to  the  consecration  of  the  above-men- 
tioned bishops  according  to  the  English  ordinal : 
Andrews,  bishop  of  Ely,  was  of  opinion  that  be- 
fore the  consecration  they  ought  to  be  made 
priests,  because  they  had  not  been  ordained  by 
a  bishop.  This  the  Scots  divines  were  unwill- 
ing to  admit,  through  fear  of  the  consequences 
among  their  own  countrymen  ;  for  what  must 
they  conclude  concerning  the  ministers  of  Scot- 
land, if  their  ordination  as  presbyters  was  not 
valid  1  Bancroft,  therefore,  yielded,  that  where 
bishops  could  not  be  had,  ordination  by  presby- 
ters must  be  valid,  otherwise  the  character  of 
the  ministers  in  most  of  the  Reformed  church- 
es might  be  questioned.  Abbot,  bishop  of  Lon- 
(lon,t  and  others,  were  of  opinion  that  there 
was  no  necessity  of  passing  through  the  inferi- 
or orders  of  deacon  and  priest,  but  that  the 
episcopal  character  might  be  conveyed  at  once, 
as  appears  from  the  example  of  St.  Ambrose, 
Nectarius,  Eucherius,  and  others,  who  from 
mere  laymen  were  advanced  at  once  into  the 
episcopal  chair. t  But  whether  this  supposition 
does  not  rather  weaken  the  arguments  for  bish- 
ops being  a  distinct  order  from  presbyters,  I 
leave  with  the  reader.  However,  the  Scotch 
divines  were  consecrated  in  the  chapel  at  Lon- 
con  House  [October  21,  1610],  and  upon  their 
return  into  Scotland  conveyed  their  new  char- 
acter in  the  same  manner  to  their  brethren.^ 
Thus  the  king,  by  a  usurped  supremacy  over 
the  Kirk  of  Scotland,  and  other  violent  and  in- 
direct means,  subverted  their  ecclesiastical  con- 
stitution ;  and  contrary  to  the  genius  of  the 
people,  and  the  protestation  of  the  General  As- 
sembly, the  bishops  were  made  lords  of  council, 
lords  of  Parliament,  and  lord-commissioners  in 
causes  ecclesiastical ;  but  with  all  their  high 


*  Course  of  Scots  Conformity,  p.  53. 

t  Collyer,  as  Dr.  Grey  observes,  mentions  that  as 
Bancroft's  opinion,  which  Mr.  Neal  ascribes  to  Bishop 
Abbot.— Ed.    %  Collyer'sEccles.Hist.,vol.i.,p.  702. 

§  Calderwood,  p.  644. 


titles  they  sat  uneasy  in  their  chairs,  being  gen- 
erally hated  both  by  the  ministers  and  people. 

About  ten  days  after  this  consecration.  Dr. 
Richard  Bancroft,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
departed  this  life ;  he  was  born  at  Farnworth  in 
Lancashire,  1544,  and  educated  in  Jesus  Col- 
lege, Cambridge.    He  was  first  chaplain  to  Cox, 
bishop  of  Ely,  who  gave  him  the   rectory  of 
Teversham,  near  Cambridge.    In  the  year  1585 
he  proceeded  D.D.,  and  being  ambitious  of  pre- 
ferment, got  into  the  service  of  Sir  Christopher 
Hatton,  by  whose  recommendation  he  was  made 
prebendary  of  Westminster.     Here  he  signal- 
ized himself  by  preaching  against  the  Puritans, 
a  sure  way  to  preferment  in  those  times.     He 
also  wrote  against  their  discipline,  and  was  the 
first  in  the  Church  of  England  who  openly  main- 
tained the  Divine  right   of  the  order  of  bishops. 
While  he  sat  in  the  High  Commission,  he  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  an  uncommon  zeal  against 
the  Nonconformists,  for  which  he  was  prefer- 
red, first  to  the  bishopric  of  London,  and,  upon 
Whitgift's  decease,  to  the  see  of  Canterbury ; 
how  he  behaved  in  that  high  station  has  been 
sufficiently  related.    This  prelate  left  behind  him 
no  extraordinary  character  for  piety,  learning, 
hospitality,  or  any  other  episcopal  quality.     He 
was  of  a  rough,  inflexible  temper,  yet  a  tool  of 
the  prerogative,  and  an  enemy  to  the  laws  and 
constitution  of  his  country.     Some  have  repre- 
sented him  as  inclined  to  popery  because  he 
maintained  several  secular  priests  in  his  own 
house,  but  this  was  done,  say  his  advocates,  to 
keep  up  the  controversy  between  them  and  the 
Jesuits.     Lord  Clarendon  says*  "  that  he  un- 
derstood the  Church  excellently  well ;  that  he 
had  almost  rescued  it  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
Calvinian  party,  and  very  much  subdued  the 
unruly  spirit  of  the  Nonconformists  ;  and  that 
he  countenanced"  men  of  learning."     His  lord- 
ship might  have  added  that  he  was  covetous, t 
passionate,  ill-natured,  and  a  cruel  persecutor 
of  good  men  ;  that  he  laid  aside  the  hospitality 
becoming  a  bishop,  and  lived  without  state  or 
equipage,  which  gave  occasion  to  the  following 
satire  upon  his  death,  which  happened  Novem- 
ber 2,  1610,  aged  sixty-six  : 

Here  lies  his  grace  in  cold  clay  clad, 
Who  died  for  want  of  what  he  had. 


CHAPTER  II. 

FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  ARCHBISHOP  BANCROFT  TO 
THE  DEATH  OF  KING  JAMES  I. 

Bancroft  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  George  Ab- 
bot, bishop  of  London,  a  divine  of  a  quite  dif- 
ferent spirit  from  his  predecessor.     A  sound 

*  Vol.  i.,  p.  88,  ed.  1707. 

t  Fuller,  and  after  him  Dr.  Grey  and  Dr.  Warner, 
vindicate  the  character  of  Archbishop  Bancroft  from 
the  charges  of  cruelty  and  covetonsness,  "  which, 
when  they  are  examined  into,"  says  Dr.  Warner, 
"  appear  not  to  deserve  those  opprobrious  names  in 
the  strictest  acceptation  "  On  the  other  hand,  the 
author  of  the  Confessional  calls  him  the  fiery  Ban- 
croft, and  Dr.  Warner  sums  up  his  account  of  him  in 
a  manner  not  very  honourable  to  his  name.  "In 
short,"  says  he,  "  there  have  been  archbishops  who 
have  been  much  worse  than  Bancroft,  who  by  their 
good-humour  and  generosity  have  been  more  es- 
teemed when  living,  and  more  lamented  at  their 
death."— £cc/es.  Hist.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  497.— Ed. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


257 


Protestant,  a  thorough  Calvinist,  an  avowed 
enemy  to  popery,  and  even  suspected  of  Puri- 
tanism, because  he  relaxed  the  penal  laws, 
■whereby  he  unravelled  all  that  his  predecessor 
had  been  doing  for  many  years  ;  "  who,  if  he 
had  lived  a  little  longer,"  says  Lord  Clarendon,* 
♦'  would  have  subdued  the  unruly  spirit  of  the 
Nonconformists,  and  extinguished  that  fire  in 
England  which  had  been  kindled  at  Geneva ; 
but  Abbot,"  says  his  lordship,  "  considered  the 
Christian  religion  no  otherwise  than  as  it  ab- 
horred and  reviled  popery,  and  valued  those 
men  most  who  did  that  most  furiously.  He  in- 
quired but  little  after  the  strict  observation  of 
the  discipline  of  the  Church,  or  conformity  to 
the  articles  or  canons  established,  and  did  not 
think  so  ill  of  the  [Presbyterian]  discipline 
as  he  ought  to  have  done  ;  but  if  men  prudent- 
ly forbore  a  public  reviling  at  the  hierarchy 
and  ecclesiastical  government,  they  were  secure 
from  any  inquisition  from  him,  and  were  equal- 
ly preferred.  His  house  was  a  sanctuary  to  the 
most  eminent  of  the  factious  party,  and  he  li- 
censed their  pernicious  writings."  This  is  the 
heavy  charge  brought  by  the  noble  historian 
against  one  of  the  most  religious  and  venerable 
prelates  of  his  age,  and  a  steady  friend  of  the 
constitution  in  Church  and  State.  If  Abbot's 
moderate  measures  had  been  constantly  pur- 
sued, the  liberties  of  England  had  been  secured, 
popery  discountenanced,  and  the  Church  pre- 
vented from  running  into  those  excesses  which 
first  proved  its  reproach,  and  afterward  its 
Tuin. 

The  translation  of  the  Bible  now  m  use  was 
finished  this  year  [1611]  ;  it  was  undertaken  at 
the  request  of  the  Puritan  divines  in  the  Hamp- 
ton Court  Conference ;  and  being  the  last,  it 
may  not  be  unacceptable  to  set  before  the  read- 
er, in  one  view,  the  various  translations  of  the 
Bible  into  the  English  language. 

The  New  Testament  was  first  translated  by 
Dr.  WicklifFe  out  of  the  Vulgar  Latin,  about  the 
year  1380,  and  is  entitled  "The  New  Testa- 
ment, with  the  Lessons  taken  out  of  the  Old 
Law,  read  in  Churches  according  to  the  Use  of 
Sarum." 

The  next  translation  was  by  William  Tyndal, 
printed  at  Antwerp,  1526,  in  octavo,  without  a 
name,  and  without  either  calendar,  references 
in  the  margin,  or  table  at  the  end  ;  it  was  cor- 
rected by  the  author,  and  printed  in  the  years 
1534  and  1536,  having  passed  through  five  edi- 
tions in  Holland. 

In  the  mean  time,  Tyndal  was  translating 
several  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  as  the  Pen- 
tateuch and  the  book  of  Jonah,  printed  1531  ; 
the  books  of  Joshua,  Judges,  Ruth,  the  four 
books  of  Kings,  the  two  books  of  Chronicles, 
and  Nehemiah.  About  the  same  time,  George 
Joy,  some  time  fellow  of  Peter  College,  Cam- 
bridge, translated  the  Psalter,  the  prophecy  of 
Jeremiah,  and  the  song  of  Moses,  and  printed 
them  beyond  sea. 

In  the  year  1535  the  whole  Bible  was  printed 
the  first  time  in  folio,  adorned  with  wooden 
cuts  and  Scripture  references  ;  it  was  done  by 
several  hands,  and  dedicated  to  King  Henry 
VIII.  by  Miles  Coverdale.  In  the  last  page  it 
is  said  to  be  printed  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
1535,  and  finished  the  fourth  day  of  October. 


Vol.  L— K  k 


*  Book  i.,  p.  88. 


This  Bible  was  reprinted  in  quarto,  1550,  and 
again,  with  a  new  title,  1553. 

Two  years  after  the  Bible  was  reprinted  in 
English,  with  this  title,  "  The  Holy  Byble,  which 
is  all  the  Holy  Scripture,  in  which  are  contayn- 
ed  the  Olde  and  Newe  Testament,  truelye  and 
purelye  translated  into  English  by  [a  fictitious 
name]  Thomas  Matthew,  1.537."  It  has  a  calen- 
dar with  an  almanac,  and  an  exhortation  to  the 
study  of  the  Scripture,  signed  J.  R.  John  Ro- 
gers, a  table  of  contents  and  marriages,  margi- 
nal notes,  a  prologue,  and  in  the  Apocalypse 
some  wooden  cuts.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
prophets  are  printed  on  the  top  of  the  page,  R. 
G.,  Richard  Grafton,  and  at  the  bottom,  E.  W., 
Edward  Whitchurch,  who  were  the  printers. 
This  translation,  to  the  end  of  the  book  of 
Chronicles,  and  the  book  of  Jonah,  with  all  the 
New  Testament,  was  Tyndal's ;  the  rest  was 
Miles  Coverdale's  and  John  Rogers's. 

In  the  year  1539,  the  above-mentioned  trans- 
lation, having  been  revised  and  corrected  by 
Archbishop  Cranmer,  was  reprinted  by  Grafton 
and  Whitchurch,  "  cum  privilegio  ad  imprimen- 
dum  solum."  It  has  this  title  :  "The  Bible  in 
Englyshe,  that  is  to  say,  the  Content  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  both  of  the  Olde  and  Newe 
Testament,  truely  translated  after  the  veritie 
of  the  Hebrue  and  Greke  Texts,  by  the  diligent 
study  of  divers  excellent  learned  Men,  expert 
in  the  foresayde  Tongues."  In  this  edition 
Tyndal's  prologue  and  marginal  notes  are  omit- 
ted. It  was  reprinted  the  following  year  in  a 
large  folio,  proper  for  churches,  begun  at  Paris 
and  finished  at  London.  In  the  year  1541  it 
was  printed  again  by  Grafton,  with  a  preface  by 
Cranmer,  having  been  revised  by  Tonstal  and 
Heath,  bishops  of  Durham  and  Rochester.  But 
after  this  time,  the  popish  party  prevailing  at 
court,  there  were  no  more  editions  of  the  Bible 
in  this  reign. 

Soon  after  King  Edward's  accession  [1548-9], 
the  Bible  of  1541  had  been  reprinted,  with  Cran- 
mer's  prologue  ;  and  the  liturgy  of  the  Church 
of  England,  being  first  composed  and  establish- 
ed, the  translation  of  the  Psalter,  commonly 
called  the  old  translation,  in  use  at  this  day, 
was  taken  from  this  edition.  Next  year,  Cov- 
erdale's Testament  of  1535  was  reprinted,  with 
Erasmus's  paraphrase,  but  there  was  no  new 
translation. 

In  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary  [1555],  the  exiles 
at  Geneva  undertook  a  new  translation,  com- 
monly caUed  the  Geneva  Bible  ;  the  names  of 
the  translators  were  Coverdale,  Goodman,  Gil- 
by,  Whittingham,  Sampson,  Cole,  Knox,  Bod- 
leigh,  and  Pullain,  who  published  the  New  Tes- 
tament first  in  small  twelves,  1557,  by  Conrad 
Badius.  This  is  the  first  that  was  printed 
with  numerical  verses.  The  whole  Bible  was 
published  afterward  with  marginal  notes,  1559, 
dedicated  to  Queen  Elizabeth.  The  translators 
say  "they  had  been  employed  in  this  work 
night  and  day,  with  fear  and  trembhng;  and 
they  protest,  from  their  consciences,  that,  in 
every  point  and  word,  they  had  faithfully  ren- 
dered the  text  to  the  best  of  their  knowledge." 
But  the  marginal  notes  having  given  offence,  it 
was  not  suffered  to  be  published  in  England* 

*  Here  Mr.  Neal,  as  Dr.  Grey  observes,  appears  to 
be  mistaken ;  as  Lewis  says  "  that  the  Geneva  Bible 
was  printed  at  London,  in  foho  and  quarto,  in  1572." 


258 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


till  the  death  of  Archbishop  Parker,  when  it  was 
printed  [1576]  by  Christopher  Barker,  in  quarto, 
"  cum  privilegio,"  and  met  with  such  accept- 
ance that  it  passed  through  twenty  or  thirty 
editions  in  this  reign. 

Cranmer's  edition  of  the  Bible  had  been  re- 
printed in  the  years  1562  and  1566,  for  the  use 
of  the  churches.  But  complaint  being  made  of 
the  incorrectness  of  it,  Archbishop  Parker  pro- 
jected a  new  translation,  and  assigned  the  sev- 
eral books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  to 
about  fourteen  dignitaries  of  the  Church,  most 
of  whom  being  bishops,  it  was  from  them  called 
the  Bishops'  Bible,  and  was  printed  in  an  elegant 
and  pompous  folio,  in  the  year  1568,  with  maps 
and  cuts.  In  the  year  1572  it  was  reprinted 
with  some  alterations  and  additions,  and  several 
times  afterward  without  any  amendments. 

In  the  year  1582  the  Roman  Catholic  exiles 
translated  the  New  Testament  for  the  use  of 
their  people,  and  published  it  in  quarto,  with  this 
title :  "  The  New  Testament  of  Jesus  Christ, 
translated  faithfully  into  English  out  of  the  au- 
thentic Latin,  according  to  the  best  corrected 
copies  of  the  same,  diligently  conferred  with  the 
Greek  and  other  Editions  in  divers  Languages  ; 
with  arguments  of  Books  and  Chapters,  Annota- 
tions, and  other  necessary  Helps  for  the  better 
understanding  of  the  Text,  and  especially  for  the 
Discovery  of  the  Corruptions  of  divers  late  Trans- 
lations, and  for  clearing  the  Controversies  in  Re- 
ligion of  these  Days.  In  the  English  College  of 
Rheiins.  Printed  by  John  Fogny."  The  Old 
Testament  of  this  translation  was  first  published 
at  Doway  in  two  quarto  volumes,  the  first  in  the 
year  1609,  the  other  1610,  by  Lawrence  Kellam, 
at  the  sign  of  the  Holy  Lamb,  with  a  preface 
and  tables  ;  the  authors  are  said  to  be  Cardinal 
Allen,  some  time  principal  of  St.  Mary  Hall, 
Oxford;  Richard  Bristow,  fellow  of  Exeter  Col- 
lege ;  and  Gregory  Martyn,  of  St.  John's  Col- 
lege. The  annotations  were  made  by  Thomas 
Worthington,  B.A.,  of  Oxford  ;  all  of  them  ex 
iles  for  their  religion,  and  settled  in  popish  sem- 
inaries beyond  sea.  The  mistakes  of  this  trans- 
lation, and  the  false  glosses  put  upon  the  text, 
were  exposed  by  the  learned  Dr.  Fulke  and  Mr. 
CartwTight. 

At  the  request  of  the  Puritans  in  the  Hampton 
Court  Conference,  King  James  appointed  a  new 
translation  to  be  executed  by  the  most  learned 
men  of  both  universities,  under  the  following 
regulations  :  (1.)  That  they  keep  as  close  as  pos- 
sible to  the  Bishops'  Bible.  (2.)  That  the  names 
of  tiie  holy  writers  be  retained  according  to  vul- 
gar use.  (3.)  That  the  old  ecclesiastical  words 
be  kept,  as  church  not  to  be  translated  congrega- 
tion, &.C.  (4.)  That  when  a  word  has  divers 
significations,  that  be  kept  which  has  been  most 
commonly  used  by  the  fathers.*  (5.)  That  the 
division  of  chapters  be  not  altered. t  (6.)  No 
marginal  notes  but  for  the  explication  of  a  He- 
brew or  Greek  word.     (7.)  Marginal  references 

— Lewis's  History  of  the  Translation  of  the  Bible,  in 
8vo,  p.  204,  second  edition,  17.39. — Ed. 

*  Dr.  Grey  states  more  fully  and  accurately  these 
rules  from  Lewis  and  Fuller,  "used  by  ihe  most  em- 
inent fathers,  being  agreeable  to  the  propriety  of  the 
place,  and  the  analogic  of  faith." — Ed. 

■j-  "The  division  of  ihe  chapters  lo  be  altered  either 
not  at  all,  or  as  little  as  may  be,  if  necessity  so  re- 
quire."—i-eiui's,  p.  317.  Fuller's  Church  Hist.,  b.  X., 
p.  46.— Ed. 


may  be  set  down.  The  other  regulations  relate 
to  the  translators'  comparing  notes,  and  agree- 
ing among  themselves ;  they  were  to  consult 
the  modern  translations  of  the  French,  Dutch, 
German,*  &c.,  but  to  vary  as  little  as  possible 
from  the  Bishops'  Bible. 

The  king's  commission  bears  date  1604,  bat 
the  work  was  not  begun  till  1606,  and  finished 
1611.  Fifty-four  of  the  chief  divines  of  both, 
universities  were  originally  nominated  ;  some 
of  whom  dying  soon  after,  the  work  was  under- 
taken by  forty-seven,  who  were  divided  into  six 
companies  ;  the  first  translated  from  Genesis  to 
the  First  Book  of  Chronicles  ;  the  second  to  the 
prophecy  of  Isaiah  ;  the  third  translated  the  four 
greater  prophets,  with  the  Lamentations  and. 
twelve  smaller  prophets  ;  the  fourth  had  the 
Apocrypha ;  the  fifth  had  the  four  Gospels,  the 
Acts,  and  the  Revelations  ;  and  the  sixth  the 
canonical  epistles.  The  whole  being  finished, 
and  revised  by  learned  men  from  both  univer  • 
sities,  the  publishing  it  was  committed  to  the 
care  of  Bishop  Bilson  and  Dr.  Miles  Smith, 
which  last  wrote  the  preface  that  is  now  prefix- 
ed. It  was  printed  in  the  year  1611,  with  a  ded- 
ication to  King  James,  and  is  the  same  that  is 
still  read  in  all  the  churches. 

Upon  the  death  of  Arminius,  the  curators  of 
the  University  of  Leyden  chose  Conradus  Vors- 
tius  his  successor.  This  divine  had  published 
a  very  exceptionable  treatisef  concerning  the 
nature  and  properties  of  God,  in  which  he  main- 
tained that  God  had  a  body  ;  and  denied  his 
proper  immensity  and  omniscience,  as  they  are 
commonly  understood.  He  maintained  the  Di- 
vine Being  to  be  limited  and  restrained,  and  as- 
cribed quantity  and  magnitude  to  him.  The  cler- 
gy of  Amsterdam  remonstrated  to  the  States 
against  his  settlement  at  Leyden,  the  country- 
being  already  too  much  divided  about  the  Ar- 
minian  tenets.  To  strengthen  their  hands,  they 
applied  to  the  English  ambassador  to  represent 
the  case  to  King  James  ;  and  prevailed  with  the 
curators  to  defer  his  induction  into  the  profes- 
sorship till  his  majesty  had  read  over  his  book  ;t 
which  having  done,  he  declared  Vorstius  to  be 
an  arch  heretic,  a  pest,  a  monster  of  blasphe- 
mies ;  and  to  show  his  detestation  of  his  book, 
ordered  it  to  be  burned  publicly  in  St.  Paul's 
churchyard,  and  at  both  universities ;  in  the 
conclusion  of  his  letter  to  the  States  on  this  oc- 
casion, he  says,  "  As  God  has  honoured  us  with 
the  title  of  defender  of  the  faith,  so  (if  you  in- 
cline to  retain  Vorstius  any  longer)  we  shall  be 
obliged  not  only  to  separate  and  cut  ourselves 

*  The  translations  pointed  out  by  name,  as  Dr. 
Grey  remarks,  were  those  of  Tyndal,  Matthew,  Gov 
erdale,  Whitchurch,  and  Geneva. — Ed. 

t  It  may  be  wished  that  Mr.  Neal  had  rather  said 
"  a  treatise  against  which  great  exceptions  were  ta- 
ken." His  mode  of  expression  intimates  that  those 
exceptions  were  justly  grounded ;  this  Vorstius  him- 
self denied,  and  solemnly  declared  his  belief  of  the 
immensity  and  omniscience  of  the  Divine  Being,  and 
ascribed  the  imputations  cast  on  him  to  wresting  hia 
words  to  a  meaning  contrary  to  the  scope  and  the 
connexion  of  the  discourse.  His  abilities,  learning, 
and  virtues  were  highly  esteemed  by  those  who  dif-\ 
lered  from  him. — Prmstantium  ac  Eruditomm  Viro- 
ram  Epistolcz,  Amsterdam,  1660,  p.  350,  &C.,  and  p. 
385  ;  and  the  Abridgment  of  Brandt's  History,  vol.  ii., 
p.  727,  728.— En. 

t  Brandt's  History,  vol.  ii.,  p.  97;  or  the  Abridg 
ment,  vol.  i.,  p.  318, 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


259 


off  from  such  false  and  heretical  churches,  but 
likewise  to  call  upon  all  the  rest  of  the  Reformed 
churches  to  enter  upon  the  same  common  con- 
sultation, how  we  may  best  extinguish  and  send 
back  to  hell  these  cursed  [Arminian]  heresies 
that  have  newly  broken  forth.  And  as  for  our- 
selves, we  shall  be  necessitated  to  forbid  all  the 
youth  of  our  subjects  to  frequent  a  university 
that  is  so  infected  as  that  of  Leyden."*  His 
majesty  also  sent  over  sundry  other  memorials, 
in  which  he  styles  Vorstius  a  wicked  atheist, 
Arminius  an  enemy  to  God.  And  Bertius  hav- 
mg  written  that  the  saints  might  fall  from  grace, 
he  said  the  author  was  worthy  of  the  fire. 

At  length  [1612]  the  king  published  his  royal 
declaration,  in  several  languages,!  containing 
an  account  of  all  that  he  had  done  in  the  affair 
of  Vorstius,  with  his  reasons  ;  which  were,  his 
zeal  for  the  glory  of  God,  his  love  for  his  friends 
and  allies  [the  States],  and  fear  of  the  same 
contagion  in  his  own  kingdom ;  but  their  high 
mightinesses  did  not  like  the  King  of  England's 
intermeddling  so  far  in  their  affairs.  However, 
Vorstius  was  dismissed  to  Gouda,  where  he 
lived  privately  till  the  Synod  of  Dort,  when  he 
was  banished  the  Seven  Provinces;  he  then  re- 
tired to  Tonninghen,  in  the  dukedom  of  Holstein, 
where  he  died  a  professed  Socinian,  September 
19,  1622.i 

His  majesty  had  a  farther  opportunity  of  dis- 
covering his  zeal  against  heresy  this  year,  upon 
two  of  his  own  subjects.  One  was  Bartholomew 
Legate,  an  Arian  :()  he  vpas  a  comely  person,  of 
a  black  complexion,  and  about  forty  years  of 
age,  of  a  fluent  tongue,  excellently  well  versed 
in  the  Scriptures,  and  of  an  unblamable  con- 
versation. King  James  himself,  and  some  of 
his  bishops,  in  vain  conferred  vv'ith  him,  in  hope 
of  convincing  him  of  his  errors.  11     Having  lain 


*  Nothing  (it  is  well  observed  by  Gerard  Brandt) 
can  be  less  edifying  than  to  see  a  Protestant  prince, 
who,  not  contented  to  persecute  the  heterodox  in  his 
own  kingdom,  exhorts  the  potentates  of  the  same  re- 
ligion to  imitate  his  conduct." — Brandt  Abridged,  vol. 
i.,  p.  319.— Ed. 

t  It  was  printed  in  French,  Latin,  Dutch,  and  Eng- 
Ush ;  on  which  Dr.  Harris  well  remarks,  that  "  con- 
sequently his  monstrous  zeal,  his  unprincely  revilings, 
and  his  weak  and  pitiful  reasonings,  were  known 
throughout  Europe."  Yet  it  was  not  held  in  any 
high  reputation ;  for  Mr  Norton,  who  had  the  print- 
ing of  it  in  Latin,  swore  "  he  would  not  print  it,  un- 
less he  might  have  money  to  print  it." — Harris's  Life 
of  James  I.,  p.  120. 

J  His  sickness  was  a  short  one,  but  long  enough 
to  afford  him  an  opportunity  to  teach  his  physician 
and  other  friends  how  a  Christian  ought  to  die.  He 
was  wholly  intent  upon  prayer,  and  scarcelv  repeated 
anything  but  passages  out  of  the  Scriptures.  At  his 
request,  Acts,  ii.,  and  1  Cor.,  xv.,  as  mentioning  the 
resurrection,  were  read  to  him  ;  and  this  doctrine  was 
much  the  subject  of  his  last  discourses.  He  expired 
recommending  his  soul  to  God  and  Jesus  Christ  his 
Saviour.  And  it  is  said  that  the  piety,  holiness,  faith, 
and  resignation  which  he  showed,  and  the  fervency 
of  his  prayers,  cannot  be  well  expressed. — Brandt 
Abridged,  vol.  ii.,  P-  722,  723.— Ed. 

^  Fuller.b.  X.,  p.  63. 

II  "  One  time,"  says  Fuller,  "  the  king  had  a  de- 
sign to  surprise  him  into  a  confession  of  Christ's 
deity  (as  liis  majesty  afterward  declared),  by  asking 
him  whether  or  no  he  did  not  daily  pray  to  Jestis  Christ  ? 
which,  had  he  acknowledged,  the  king  would  have 
infallibly  inferred  that  Legate  tacitly  consented  to 
Christ's  divinity  as  searcher  of  hearts.  But  herein  his 
majesty  failed  of  his  expectation,  Legate  returning, 


a  considerable  time  in  Newgate,  he  was  at 
length  convened  before  Bishop  King,  in  his  con- 
sistory at  St.  Paul's,  who,  with  some  other  di- 
vines and  lawyers  there  assembled,  declared  him 
a  contumacious  and  obdurate  heretic,  and  certi- 
fied the  same  into  Chancery  by  a  significavit, 
delivering  him  over  to  the  secular  power ;  where- 
upon the  king  signed  a  writ*  de  herelico  com- 
burendo  to  the  sheriffs  of  London,  who  brought 
him  to  Smithfield,  March  18,  and  in  the  midst 
of  a  vast  concourse  of  people  burned  him  to 
death.  A  pardon  was  offered  him  at  the  stake 
if  he  would  recant,  but  he  refused  it. 

Next  month  Edward  Wightman,  of  Burton- 
upon-Trent,  was  convicted  of  heresy  by  Dr. 
Nede,  bishop  of  Coventry  and  Litchfield,  and 
was  burned  at  Litchfield,  April  llth.t  He  was 
charged  in  the  warrant  with  the  heresies  of  Ari- 
us,  Cerinthus,  Manichajus,  and  the  Anabaptists. t 


'  that  he  had  prayed  to  Christ  in  the  days  of  his  igno- 
rance, but  not  for  these  last  seven  years.'  Hereupon  the 
king,  in  choler,  spurned  at  him  with  his  foot,  saying, 
'  Away,  base  fellow ;  it  shall  never  be  said  that  one  stay- 
eth  in  my  presence  that  hath  never  prayed  to  our  Saviour 
for  seven  years  together.'  " — Fuller's  Ch.  History,  b.  x., 
p.  C2.— C. 

*  The  reader  will  perhaps  be  curious  to  see  the 
form  of  the  king's  writ  for  burning  Legate,  the  latter 
part  of  which  is  as  follows  : 

"Whereas  the  holy  mother-church  hath  not  far- 
ther to  do  and  to  prosecute  on  this  part ;  the  same 
reverend  father  hath  left  the  aforesaid  Bartholomew 
Legate,  as  a  blasphemous  heretic,  to  cur  secular  pow- 
er, to  be  punished  with  condign  punishment,  as  by 
the  letters  patent  of  the  same  reverend  father  in 
Christ,  the  Bishop  of  London,  in  this  behalf  above 
made,  hath  been  certified  to  us  in  our  Chancery.  We, 
therefore,  as  a  zealot  of  justice,  and  a  defender  of  the 
Catholic  faith,  and  willing  to  maintain  and  defend 
the  Holy  Church,  and  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the 
same,  and  the  Catholic  faith ;  and  such  heresies  and 
errors  everywhere  what  in  us  lieth,  to  root  out  and 
extirpate,  and  to  punish  with  condign  punishment, 
such  heretics  so  convicted,  and  deeming  that  such  a 
heretic,  in  form  aforesaid  convicted  and  condemned, 
according  to  the  laws  and  customs  of  this  our  king- 
dom of  England  in  this  part  accustomed,  ought  to  be 
burned  with  fire ;  we  do  command  you,  that  the  said 
Bartholomew  Legate,  being  in  your  custody,  you  do 
commit  publicly  to  the  fire,  before  the  people,  in  a 
public  and  open  place  in  West  Smithfield,  for  the 
cause  aforesaid;  and  that  you  cause  the  said  Bar- 
tholomew Legate  to  be  really  burned  in  the  same 
fire,  in  detestation  of  the  said  crime,  for  the  manifest 
example  of  other  Christians,  lest  they  slide  into  the 
same  fault ;  and  this  that  in  nowise  you  omit,  under 
the  peril  that  shall  follow  thereon.  Witness,"  &c.— 
— A  Narration  of  the  Burning  of  Bartholomeiu  Legate, 
&c.,  in  Truth  brought  to  Light,  1692,  as  quoted  by  Mr. 
Lindsey  in  his  Conversations  on  Christian  Idolatry,  p. 
119, 120.— Ed.  t  Fuller,  b.  x.,  p.  64. 

%  Some  of  the  opinions  imputed  to  Wightman  sa- 
voured  of  vanity  and  superstition,  or,  rather,  enthusi- 
asm ;  such  as  his  being  the  prophet  foretold  Deut., 
xviii.,  and  by  Isaiah ;  the  Elijah  to  come,  of  whom 
Malachi  speaks.  "But,"  as  Mr.  Lindsey  justly  re- 
marks, "  we  may  well  hesitate  here  whether  such 
were  the  man's  real  sentiments,  or  only  those  which 
his  adversaries  would  fix  upon  him."  These  proceed- 
ings show,  as  Brandt  observes,  it  was  high  time  to 
repeal  the  act  de  heretico  comburendo.  The  sentiments 
of  Limborch  on  them  deserve  to  be  mentioned  here  : 
"These  things,"  says  he  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Locke, 
"are  a  scandal  to  the  Reformation.  A  court  of  in- 
quisition into  men's  faith  is  alike  contrary  to  Chris 
tian  charity,  whether  it  be  erected  on  the  banks  of 
the  Tiber,  or  the  Lake  of  Geneva,  or  by  the  side  of 
the  River  Thames :  for  it  is  the  same  iniquitous  cru- 
elty, though  exercised  in  another  place,  and  on  differ- 


260 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


There  was  another  condemned  to  the  fire  for 
the  same  heresies  ;  but  the  constancy  of  the 
above-mentioned  sufferers  moving  pity  in  the 
spectators,  it  was  thought  better  to  suffer  him 
to  hnger  out  a  miserable  life  in  Newgate,  than  to 
awaken  too  far  the  compassions  of  the  people.* 

Nothing  was  minded  at  court  but  luxury  and 
diversions.  The  affairs  of  the  Church  were 
left  to  the  bishops  and  the  affairs  of  state  to 
subordinate  magistrates,  or  the  chief  ministers, 
while  the  king  himself  sunk  into  a  most  indo- 
lent and  voluptuous  life,  suffering  himself  to  be 
governed  by  a  favourite,  in  the  choice  of  whom 
he  had  no  regard  to  virtue  or  merit,  but  to 
youth,  beauty,  gracefulness  of  person,  and  fine 
clothes,  &c.  This  exposed  him  to  the  con- 
tempt of  foreign  powers,  who  from  this  time 
paid  him  very  httle  regard.  At  the  same  time, 
he  was  lavish  and  profuse  in  his  expenses  and 
grants  to  his  hungry  courtiers,  whereby  he  ex- 
hausted his  exchequer,  and  was  obliged  to  have 
recourse  to  arbitrary  and  illegal  methods  of 
raising  money  by  the  prerogative.  By  these 
means  he  lost  the  hearts  of  his  people,  which 
all  his  kingcraft  could  never  recover,  and  laid 
the  foundation  of  those  calamities  that  in  the 
next  reign  threw  Church  and  State  into  such 
convulsions  as  threatened  their  final  ruin. 

But  while  the  king  and  his  ministers  were 
wounding  the  Protestant  religion  and  the  liber- 
ties of  England,  it  pleased  Almighty  God  to  lay 
the  foundation  of  their  recovery  by  the  marriage 
of  the  king's  daughter,  Elizabeth,  to  Frederic 
v.,  elector  palatine  of  the  Rhine,  from  whom 
the  present  royal  family  is  descended.  The 
match  was  promoted  by  Archbishop  Abbot,  and 
universally  approved  by  all  the  Puritans  in  Eng- 
land, as  the  grand  security  of  the  Protestant 
succession  in  case  of  failure  of  heirs  from  the 
Icing's  son.  Mr.  Echard  says  they  foretold,  by  a 
distant  foresight,  the  succession  of  this  family 
to  the  crown ;  and  it  must  be  owned  that  they 
were  always  the  delight  of  the  T'uritans,  who 
prayed  heartily  for  them,  and  upon  all  occasions 
exerted  themselves  for  the  support  of  the  family 
in  their  lowest  circumstances. 

The  solemnity  of  these  nuptials  was  retarded 
some  months  by  the  untimely  death  of  Henry, 
prince  of  Wales,  the  king's  eldest  son,  who  died 
November  6,  1612,  and  was  buried  the  7th  of 
December  following,  being  eighteen  years  and 
eight  months  old.  Some  have  suspected  that 
the  king  his  father  caused  him  to  be  poisoned, 
though  there  is  no  sufficient  proof  of  it  ;t  the 

ent  subjects."  A  fine  observation  of  Brandt  on  this 
occasion  shall  close  this  note.  "  It  is  a  very  glorious 
thing  for  the  United  Provinces,"  says  he,  "that  the 
blood  of  no  heretic  has  been  shed  in  that  country 
ever  since  the  Reformation ;  which  ought  to  be  as- 
cribed to  the  moderation  and  great  knowledge  of  the 
States-General,  and  the  states  of  each  of  those  prov- 
inces."— Brandt  Abridged,  vol.  i.,  p.  319.  Lindsey's 
Historical  View  of  Unitarian  Doctrine,  &C.,  p.  294. 
—Ed. 

*  Dr.  Southey  ascribes  the  preservation  of  the  Span- 
ish Arian  to  the  benevolence  of  James,  but  Fuller 
more  correctly  attributes  it  to  his  poUcy.  "  Such 
burning  of  heretics  had  much  startled  common  people 
— being  unable  to  distinguish  between  constancy  and 
obstinacy,  were  ready  to  entertain  good  thoughts  even 
of  the  opinions  of  those  heretics  who  sealed  them  so 
manfullv  with  their  blood,"  &c. — Fuller's  Ch.  Hist., 
b.  X.,  p.'64.— C. 

t  These  suspicions  arose  from  the  popular  odium 


body  being  opened,  his  liver  appeared  white,  and 
his  spleen  and  diaphragm  black,  his  gall  without 
cholcr,  and  his  lungs  spotted  with  much  corrup- 
tion, and  his  head  full  of  blood  in  some  places, 
and  in  others  full  of  water.  It  is  certain  the 
king  was  jealous  of  his  son's  popularity,  and 
asked  onaday  if  he  would  bury  him  ahve  ;  and 
upon  his  death  commanded  that  no  person 
should  appear  at  court  in  mourning  for  him.* 
This  prince  was  one  of  the  most  accomplished 
persons  of  his  age,  sober,  chaste,  temperate, 
religious,  full  of  honour  and  probity,  and  never 
heard  to  swear  an  oath  ;  neither  the  example 
of  the  king  his  father,  nor  of  the  whole  court, 
was  capable  of  corrupting  him  in  these  respects. 
He  had  a  great  soul,  full  of  noble  and  elevated 
sentiments,  and  was  as  much  displeased  with " 
trifles  as  his  father  was  fond  of  them.  He  had 
frequently  said  that,  if  ever  he  mounted  the 
throne,  his  first  care  should  be  to  try  to  recon- 
cile the  Puritans  to  the  Church  of  England. 
As  this  could  not  be  done  without  each  party's 
making  some  concessions,  and  as  such  a  pro- 
ceeding was  directly  contrary  to  the  temper  of 
the  court  and  clergy,  he  was  suspected  to  coun- 
tenance Puritanism.  To  say  all  in  one  word, 
Prince  Henry  was  mild  and  affable,  though  of  a 
warlike  genius,  the  darling  of  the  Puritans,  and 
of  all  good  men  ;  and,  though  he  lived  about 
eighteen  years,  no  historian  has  taxed  him  with 
any  vice. 

To  furnish  the  exchequer  with  money,  several 
new  projects  were  set  on  foot,  as,  (1.)  His  maj- 
esty created  a  new  order  of  knights-baronets ; 
the  number  not  to  exceed  two  hundred,  and  the 
expense  of  the  patent  £1095.  (2.)  His  majesty 
sold  letters  patent  for  monopolies.  (3.)  He 
obliged  such  as  were  worth  £40  a  year  to  com- 
pound for  not  being  knights.  (4.)  He  set  to  sale 
the  highest  honours  and  dignities  of  the  nation: 
the  price  for  a  baron  was  £10,000,  for  a  vis- 
count £15,000,  and  £20,000  for  an  earl.  (5.) 
Those  who  had  defective  titles  were  obliged  to 
compound  to  set  them  right.  And  (6.)  The 
Star   Chamber   raised   their   fines   to   an   ex- 

the  king  had  incurred  from  the  behaviour  of  the 
court  at  the  time  the  prince  lay  dead,  and  from  the 
disappointment  which  the  great  expectations  of  the 
people  from  this  prince  suffered.  Thei-e  were  insin- 
uations to  this  effect  from  respectable  persons  ;  and 
Colonel  Titus  assured  Bishop  Burnet  that  he  had 
heard  King  Charles  I.  declare  that  the  prince  his 
brother  was  poisoned  by  means  of  Viscount  Roches- 
tor.  This  evidence  amounted  to  a  kind  of  proof,  yet, 
as  to  these  suggestions  were  opposed  the  opinions  of 
the  pliysicians,  and  the  appearances  of  the  body 
when  it  was  opened,  and  the  presumptive  evidence 
did  not  come  home  to  the  king,  it  is  to  be  wished 
that  Mr.  Neal  had  nsed  more  guarded  language,  for 
the  words  "no  certaui  proof"  seem  to  imply  that 
there  was  probable  proof  of  it.  Bishop  Warburton 
is  therefore  very  angry,  and  says  it  "  is  abomina- 
ble ;"  it  is,  indeed,  a  heavy  charge  to  impute  to  a 
parent  his  being  accessory  to  the  poisoning  of  a  son. 
— See  Dr.  Birch's  Life  of  Henry,  Prince  of  Wales,  p. 
404^09.  Dr.  Grey,  as  well  as  the  bishop,  also  cen- 
sures our  author,  and  refers  to  main  authorities  to 
disprove,  as  he  calls  them,  "  Mr.  Neal's  unfair  insin- 
uations." These  insinuations  did  not  originate,  it  should 
be  observed,  with  Mr.  Neal,  but  were  sanctioned  by 
the  prevailing  opinion  of  the  times,  and  were  counte- 
nanced by  the  conduct  of  James,  who  showed  him- 
self quite  unaffected  with  the  death  of  his  virtuous 
and  amiable  son. — Ed. 
*  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  181,  foUo  edit. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


261 


cessive  degree.*  But  these  projects  not  an- 
swering the  king's  necessities,  he  was  obliged, 
at  last,  to  call  a  Parliament.  When  the  houses 
met  they  proceeded  immediately  to  consider  of 
and  redress  grievances,  upon  which  the  king 
dissolved  them,  before  they  had  enacted  one 
statute,  and  committed  some  of  the  principal 
members  of  the  House  of  Commons  to  prison, 
without  admitting  them  to  bail,  resolving  again 
to  raise  money  without  the  aid  of  Parliament. 

This  year  the  articles  of  the  Church  of  Ire- 
land were  ratified  and  confirmed  ;  the  reforma- 
tion of  that  kingdom  had  made  a  very  slow  prog- 
ress in  the  late  reign,  by  reason  of  the  wars 
between  the  English  and  the  natives,  and  the 
small  proportion  of  the  former  to  the  latter. 
The  natives  had  a  strong  prejudice  against  the 
English,  as  coming  into  the  country  by  con- 
quest, and  being  bigoted  papists,  their  preju- 
dices were  inflamed  by  King  Henry  VIII.  throw- 
ing off  the  pope's  supremacy,  which  threatened 
the  loss  of  their  religion,  as  well  as  their  civil 
liberties.  In  the  reign  of  Philip  and  Mary  they 
were  more  quiet,  when  a  law  was  passed  against 
bringing  in  the  Scots  and  marrying  with  them, 
which  continued  in  force  during  the  whole  reign 
of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  was  a  great  hinderance 
to  the  progress  of  the  Protestant  religion  in  that 
country  ;  however,  a  university  was  erected  at 
Dubhn  in  the  year  1593,  and  furnished  with 
learned  professors  from  Cambridge  of  the  Cal- 
vinistical  persuasion.  James  Usher,  who  after- 
ward was  the  renowned  Archbishop  of  Armagh, 
was  the  first  student  who  entered  into  the  col- 
lege. The  discipline  of  the  Irish  Church  was 
according  to  the  model  of  the  English  ;  bishops 
were  nominated  to  the  popish  diocesses,  but 
their  revenues  being  alienated,  or  in  the  hands 
of  papists,  or  very  much  diminished  by  the 
wars,  they  were  obliged  to  throw  the  revenues 
of  several  bishoprics  together  to  make  a  toler- 
able subsistence  for  one.  The  case  was  the 
same  with  the  inferior  clergy,  40s.  a  year  being 
a  common  allowance  for  a  vicar  in  the  province 
of  Connaught,  and  sometimes  only  sixteen. 
Thus,  says  Mr.  Collyer,  the  authority  of  the 
bishops  went  off,  and  the  people  followed  their 
own  fancies  in  the  choice  of  religion. 

At  the  Hampton  Court  Conference  the  king 
proposed  sending  preachers  into  Ireland,  com- 
plaining that  he  was  but  half  monarch  of  that 
kingdom,  the  bodies  of  the  people  being  only 
subject  to  his  authority,  while  their  consciences 
were  at  the  command  of  the  pope  ;  yet  it  does 
not  appear  that  any  attempts  were  made  to  con- 
vert them  till  after  the  year  1607,  when  the  act 
of  the  third  and  fourth  of  Philip  and  Mary  be- 
ing repealed,  the  citizens  of  London  undertook 
for  the  province  of  Ulster.  These  adventurers 
built  Londonderry,  fortified  Coleraine,  and  pur- 
chased a  great  tract  of  land  in  the  adjacent 
parts.  They  sent  over  considerable  numbers 
of  planters,  but  were  at  a  loss  for  ministers ; 
'  for  the  beneficed  clergy  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, being  at  ease  in  the  enjoyment  of  their 
preferments,  would  not  engage  in  such  a  haz- 
ardous undertaking ;  it  fell,  therefore,  to  the  lot 
of  the  Scots  and  English  Puritans  ;  the  Scots, 
by  reason  of  their  vicinity  to  the  northern  parts 
of  Ireland,  transported  numerous  colonies  ;  they 
improved  the  country,  and  brought  preaching 


*  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  185. 


into  the  churches  where  they  settled ;  but  be- 
ing of  the  Presbyterian  persuasion,  they  formed 
their  churches  after  their  own  model.      The 
London  adventurers  prevailed. with  several  of 
the  English  Puritans  to  remove,  who,  being 
persecuted  at  home,  were  willing  to  go  any- 
where within  the  king's  dominions  for  the  lib- 
erty of  their  consciences,  and  more  would  have 
gone,  could  they  have  been  secure  of  a  tolera- 
tion after  they  were  settled.     But  their  chief 
resource  was  from  the  Scots  ;  the  first  minister 
of  that  persuasion  that  went  over  was  Mr.  Ed- 
ward Bryce,  who  settled  in  Broad  Island,  in  the 
county  of  Antrim,  1611  ;  after  him,  Mr.  Robert 
Cunningham,  in  Hollywood,  in  the  county  of 
Down.      At  the  same  time  came  over  three 
English  ministers,  all  Puritans  trained  up  under 
Mr.  Cartwright,  viz.,  Mr.  Ridges,  of  Antrim, 
Mr.  Henry  Calvert,  and  Mr.  Hubbard,  of  Car- 
rickfergus.     After  these,  Mr.  Robert  Blair  came 
from  Scotland  to  Bangor,  Mr.  Hamilton  to  Bel- 
lywater,  and  Mr.  Levingston  to  KiUinshy,  in 
the  county  of  Down,  with  Mr.  Welsh,  Dunbar, 
and  others.*     Mr.  Blair  was  a  zealous  Presby- 
terian, and  scrupled  episcopal  ordination,  but 
the  bishop  of  the  diocess  compromised  the  dif- 
ference, by  agreeing  that  the  other  Scots  pres- 
byters of  Mr.  Blair's  persuasion  should  join  with 
him,  and  that  such  passages  in  the  established 
form  of  ordination  as  Mr.  Blair  and  his  breth- 
ren disliked,  should  be  omitted  or  exchanged  for 
others  of  their  own  approbation.     Thus  was 
Mr.  Blair  ordained  publicly  in  the  Church  of 
Bangor ;  the  Bishop  of  Raphoe  did  the  same 
for  Mr.  Levingston  ;  and  all  the  Scots  who  were 
ordained  in  Ireland  from  this  time  to  the  year 
1642  were  ordained  after  the  same  manner; 
all  of  them  enjoyed  the  churches  and  tithes,* 
though  they  remained  Presbyterian,  and  used 
not  the   liturgy ;    nay,  the  bishops   consulted 
them  about  affairs  of  common  concernment  to 
the  Church,  and  some  of  them  were  members 
of  the  convocation  in  1634.     They  had  their 
monthly  meetings  at  Antrim,  for  the  promoting 
of  piety  and  the  extirpation  of  popery.     They 
had  also  their  quarterly  communions,  by  which 
means  great  numbers  of  the  inhabitants  were 
civilized,  and  many  became  serious  Christians. 
Mr.  Blair  preached  before  the  judges  of  assize 
on  the  Lord's  Day,  at  the  desire  of  the  Bishop 
of  Down,  and  his  curate  administered  the  sac- 
rament to  them  the  same  day ;  so  that  th6re 
was  a  sort  of  comprehension  between  the  two 
parties,  by  the  countenance  and  approbation  of 
the  great  Archbishop  Usher,  who  encouraged 
the  ministers  in  this  good  work.     And  thus 
things  continued  till  the  administration  of  Arch- 
bishop Laud,  who,  by  dividing  the  Protestants, 
weakened  them,  and  made  way  for  that  enor- 
mous growth  of  popery  which  ended  in  the 
massacre  of  almost  all  the  Protestants  in  the 
kingdom. 

It  appears,  from  hence,  that  the  Reformation 
of  Ireland  was  built  upon  a  Puritan  foundation, 
though  episcopacy  was  the  legal  establishment ; 
but  it  was  impossible  to  make  any  considerable 
progress  in  the  conversion  of  the  natives,  be- 
cause of  their  bigotry  and  prejudice  against  the 
English  nation,  whose  language  they  could  not 
be  persuaded  to  learn. 
The  Protestant  religion  being  pretty  well  es- 

*  Loyalty  PresG.,  p.  161-163. 


262 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


tablished,  it  was  thought  advisable  to  frame 
some  articles  of  their  common  faith  according 
to  the  custom  of  other  churches  :  some  moved 
in  convocation  to  adopt  the  articles  of  the  Eng- 
lish Church,  but  this  was  overruled,  as  not  so 
honourable  to  .themselves,  who  were  as  much 
a  national  church  as  England,  nor  so  consistent 
with  their  independency ;  it  was  therefore  vo- 
ted to  draw  up  a  new  confession  of  their  own  ; 
the  draught  was  referred  to  the  conduct  of  Dr. 
James  Usher,  provost  of  Dublin  College,  and 
afterward  lord-primate ;  it  afterward  passed 
both  houses  of  Convocation  and  Parliament 
with  great  unanimity,  and  being  sent  over  to 
the  English  court,  was  approved  in  council,  and 
ratified  by  the  Lord-lieutenant  Chichester  this 
year  in  liie  king's  name. 

These  articles  being  rarely  to  be  met  with,  I 
have  given  them  a  place  in  the  Appendix,*  be- 
ing in  a  manner  the  same  which  the  Puritans 
requested  at  the  Hampton  Court  Conference  : 
for,  first.  The  nine  articles  of  Lambeth  are  in- 
corporated into  this  confession.  Secondly,  The 
morality  of  the  Lord's  Day  is  strongly  asserted, 
and  the  spending  it  wholly  in  religious  exercises 
is  required  [art.  56].  Thirdly,  The  observation 
of  Lent  is  declared  not  to  be  a  religious  fast, 
but  grounded  merely  on  political  considerations, 
for  provision  of  things  tending  to  the  better 
preservation  of  the  commonwealth  [art.  50]. 
Fourthly,  All  clergymen  are  said  to  be  lawfully 
called  and  sent,  who  are  chosen  and  called  to 
this  work  by  men  who  have  public  authority 
given  them  in  the  Church  to  call  and  send  min- 
isters into  the  Lord's  vineyard  (art.  71),  which 
is  an  acknowledgment  of  the  validity  of  the  or- 
dinations of  those  churches  vphich  have  no  hish- 
'ops.  Fifthly,  The  power  of  the  keys  is  said  to 
be  only  declarative  (art.  74).  Sixthly,  The  pope 
is  declared  to  be  antichrist,  or  that  man  of  sin 
whom  the  Lord  shall  consume  with  the  spirit  of 
his  mouth,  and  abolish  with  the  brightness  of 
his  coming  (art.  80).  Seventhly,  The  conse- 
cration of  archbishops,  bishops,  &c.,  is  not  so 
much  as  mentioned,  as  if  done  on  purpose,  says 
Mr.  Collyer,  to  avoid  maintaining  the  distinction 
between  that  order  and  that  of  priests.  Lastly, 
No  power  is  ascribed  to  the  Church  in  making 
canons,  or  censuring  those  who  either  carelessly 
or  wilfully  infringe  the  same.  Upon  the  whole, 
these  articles  seem  to  be  contrived  to  compro- 
mise the  difference  between  the  Church  and  the 
Puritans  ;  and  they  had  that  effect  till  the  year 
1634,  when,  by  the  influence  of  Archbishop  Laud 
and  the  Earl  of  Strafford,  these  articles  were 
set  aside,  and  those  of  the  Church  of  England 
received  in  their  room. 

To  return  to  England.  Among  the  Puritans 
who  fled  from  the  persecution  of  Bishop  Ban- 
croft was  Mr.  Henry  Jacob,  mentioned  in  the 
year  1604.  This  divine,  having  conferred  with 
Mr.  Robinson,  pastor  of  an  English  church  at 
Leyden,  embraced  his  peculiar  sentiments  of 
church  discipline,  since  known  by  the  name  of 
Independency.  In  the  year  1619,  Mr.  Jacob  pub- 
lished at  Leyden  a  small  treatise  in  octavo,  en- 
titled "The  Divine  Beginning  and  Institution  of 
Christ's  true  Visible  and  Material  Church  ;"  and 
followed  it  next  year  with  another  from  Middle- 
burgh,  which  he  called  "An  Explication  and 
Confirmation  of  his  former  Treatise."  Some  time 

*  Appehdix,  No.  vi. 


after  he  returned  to  England,  and  having  impart- 
ed his  design  of  setting  up  a  separate  congrega- 
tion, like  those  in  Holland,  to  the  most  learned 
Puritans  of  those  times,  as  Mr.  Throgmorton, 
Wring,  Mansel,  Dod,  &c.,  it  was  not  condemn- 
ed as  unlawful,  considering  there  was  no  pros- 
pect of  a  national  reformation.  Mr.  Jacob,  there- 
fore, having  summoned  several  of  his  friends 
together,  as  Mr.  Staismore,  Mr.  Browne,  Mr. 
Prior,  Almey,  Throughton.  Allen,  Gibbet,  Farre, 
Goodal,  and  others  ;  and  having  obtained  their 
consent  to  unite  in  church-fellowship,  for  obtain- 
ing the  ordinances  of  Christ  in  the  purest  man- 
ner, they  laid  the  foundation  of  the  first  Inde- 
pendent or  Congregational  Church  in  England, 
after  the  following  manner  :  having  observed  a 
day  of  solemn  fasting  and  prayer  for  a  bless- 
ing upon  their  undertaking,  towards  the  close  of 
the  soleiunity  each  of  them  made  open  confes- 
sion of  their  faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ; 
and  then  standing  together,  they  joined  hands, 
and  solemnly  covenanted  with  each  other,  in  the 
presence  of  Almighty  God,  to  walk  together  in 
all  God's  ways  and  ordinances,  according  as  he 
had  already  revealed,  or  should  farther  make 
them  known  to  them.  Mr.  Jacob  was  then  cho- 
sen pastor  by  the  suffrage  of  the  brotherhood, 
and  others  were  appointed  to  the  office  of  dea- 
cons, with  fasting  and  prayer,  and  imposition 
of  hands.*  The  same  year  (1616)  Mr.  Jacob 
published  a  protestation  or  confession  in  the 
name  of  certain  Christians,  showing  how  far 
they  agreed  with  the  Church  of  England,  and 
"Wherein  they  differed,  with  the  reasons  of  their 
dissent  drawn  from  Scripture  ;  to  which  was 
added  a  petition  to  the  king  for  the  toleration  of 
such  Christians.  And  some  time  after  he  pub- 
lished "  A  Collection  of  sound  Reasons,  showing 
how  necessary  it  is  for  all  Christians  to  walk  in 
the  Ways  and  Ordinances  of  God  in  Purity,  and 
in  a  right  Church  Way."  Mr.  Jacob  continued 
with  his  people  about  eight  years ;  but  in  the 
year  1624,  being  desirous  to  enlarge  his  useful- 
ness, he  went,  with  their  consent,  to  Virginia, 
where  he  soon  after  died.  Thus,  according  to 
the  testimony  of  the  Oxford  historian,  and  some 
others,  Mr.  Henry  Jacob  was  the  first  Independ- 
ent minister  in  England,  and  this  the  first  Con- 
gregational Church.  Upon  the  departure  of  Mr. 
Jacob  his  church  chose  Mr.  Lathorp  their  pas- 
tor, whose  history  will  be  resumed  in  its  proper 
place. 

The  king  was  so  full  of  his  prerogative,  that 
he  apprehended  he  could  convince  his  subjects 
of  its  unlimited  extent ;  for  this  purpose  he 
turned  preacher  in  the  Star  Chamber,  and  took 
his  text.  Psalm  Ixii.,  1  :  "  Give  the  king  thy 
judgments,  0  God,  and  thy  righteousness  to  the 
king's  son."*  After  dividing  and  subdividing, 
and  giving  the  literal  and  mystical  sense  of  his 
text,  he  applied  it  to  the  judges  and  courts  of 
judicature,  telling  them  "  that  the  king  sitting 
in  the  throne  of  God,  all  judgments  centre  in 
hiin,  and  therefore  for  inferior  courts  to  deter- 
mine difficult  questions  without  consulting  him, 
was  to  encroach  upon  his  prerogative,  and  to 
limit  his  power,  which  it  was  not  lawful  for  the 
tongue  of  a  lawyer  nor  any  subject  to  dispute. 
As  it  is  atheism  and  blasphemy  to  dispute  what 


*  Wilson's  History  of  Dissenting  Churches,  voL 
i.,  p.  39.— C. 

t  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  192,  193,  and  note  (9). 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


2G3 


God  can  do,"  says  he,  "  so  it  is  presumption,  and 
a  high  contempt,  to  dispute  what  kings  can  do 
or  say  ;  it  is  to  take  away  that  mystical  rever- 
ence that  belongs  to  them  who  sit  in  the  throne 
of  God."*  Then  addressing  the  auditory,  he 
advises  them  "  not  to  meddle  with  the  king's 
prerogative  or  honour.  Plead  not,"  says  he, 
"upon  Puritanical  principles,  wl^ich  make  all 
things  popular,  but  keep  within  the  ancient  lim- 
its." 

In  speaking  of  recusants,  there  are  three 
sorts  :  (1.)  "  Some  that  come  now  and  then  to 
church  ;  these  [the  Puritans]  are  formal  to  the 
laws,  but  false  to  God.  (2.)  Others  that  have 
their  consciences  misled;  some  of  these  [the 
papists  that  swear  allegiance]  live  as  peaceable 
subjects.  (3.)  Others  are  practising  recusants, 
■who  oblige  their  servants  and  tenants  to  be  of 
their  opinion.  These  are  men  of  pride  and  pre- 
sumption. I  am  loath  to  hang  a  priest  only  for 
his  religion  and  saying  mass  ;  but  if  they  refuse 
the  oath  of  allegiance  I  leave  them  to  the  law." 
He  concludes  with  exhorting  the  judges  to  coun- 
tenance the  clergy  against  papists  and  Puritans ; 
adding,  "  God  and  the  king  will  reward  your 
zeal." 

It  is  easy  to  observe  from  hence  that  his  maj- 
esty's implacable  aversion  to  the  Puritans  was 
founded  not  merely  or  principally  on  their  refu- 
sal of  the  ceremonies,  but  on  the  principles  of 
civil  liberty  and  enmity  to  absolute  monarchy  ; 
for  all  arguments  against  the  extent  of  the  pre- 
Togative  are  said  to  be  founded  on  Puritan  prin- 
ciples. A  king  with  such  maxims  should  have 
been  frugal  of  his  revenues,  that  he  might  not 
have  stood  in  need  of  parliaments ;  but  our 
monarch  was  extravagantly  profuse,  and,  to 
supply  his  wants,  delivered  back  this  year  to 
the  Dutch  their  cautionary  towns,  which  were 
the  keys  of  their  country,  for  less  than  a  quar- 
ter part  of  the  money  that  had  been  lent  on 
them. 

This  year  [1617]  died  the  learned  and  judi- 
cious Mr.  Paul  Baynes,  born  in  London,  and  ed- 
ucated in  Christ  College,  Cambridge,  of  which 
he  was  a  fellow.  He  succeeded  Mr.  Perkins  in 
the  lecture  at  St.  Andrew's  Church,  where  he 
behaved  with  that  gravity  and  exemplary  piety 
which  rendered  him  universally  acceptable  to  all 
■who  had  any  taste  for  serious  religion,  till  Arch- 
bishop Bancroft,  sending  Dr.  Harsnet  to  visit 
the  University,  called  upon  Mr.  Baynes  to  sub- 
scribe according  to  the  canons,  which  he  refu- 
sing, the  doctor  silenced  him,  and  put  down  his 
lecture.  Mr.  Baynes  appealed  to  the  archbish- 
op, but  his  grace  stood  by  his  chaplains,  and 
threatened  to  lay  the  good  old  man  by  the  heels 
for  appearing  before  him  with  a  little  black  edg- 
ing upon  his  cuffs.  After  this,  Mr.  Baynes 
preached  only  occasionally,  as  he  could  get  op- 
portunity, and  was  reduced  to  such  poverty  and 
■want,  that  he  said  "  he  had  not  where  to  lay  his 
bead  ;"  but  at  length  death  put  an  end  to  his 
sufferings,  in  the  year  1617.  He  published  "  A 
Commentary  upon  the  Ephesians,"  "  The  Dio- 
clesian's  Trial"  against  Dr.  Downham,and  some 
ether  practical  treatises.  Dr.  Sibbes  says  "  he 
was  a  divine  of  uncommon  learning,  clear  judg- 
ment, ready  wit,  and  of  much  communion  with 
God  and  his  own  heart.     What  pity  was  it  that 

*  Mr.  Neal  abridges  Rapin,  and  gives  the  sense 
niher  than  the  exact  words. — Ed. 


such  a  divine  should  be  restrained,  and  in  a  man- 
ner starved  1"* 

The  disputes  in  Holland  between  the  Calvin- 
ists  and  Arminians,  upon  the  five  points  rela- 
ting to  election,  redemption,  original  sin,  effect- 
ual grace,  and  perseverance,  rose  to  such  a 
height  as  obliged  the  States-General  to  have  re- 
course to  a  national  synod,  which  was  convened 
at  Dort,  November  13,  1618.  Each  party  had 
loaded  the  other  with  reproaches,  and,  in  the 
warmth  of  dispute,  charged  their  opinions  with 
the  most  invidious  consequences,  insomuch  that 
all  good  neighbourhood  was  lost,  the  pulpits 
were  filled  with  unprofitable  and  angry  disputes, 
and  as  each  party  prevailed  the  other  were  turn- 
ed out  of  the  churches.  The  magistrates  were 
no  less  divided  than  the  ministers,  one  city  and 
town  being  ready  to  take  up  arms  against  an- 
other. At  length  it  grew  into  a  state  faction, 
which  endangered  the  dissolution  of  govern- 
ment. Maurice,  prince  of  Orange,  though  a  Re- 
monstrant, put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  Cal- 
vinists  [or  Contra- Remonstrants],  because  they 
were  for  a  stadtholder,  and  the  magistrates  who 
were  against  a  stadtholder  sided  with  the  [Re- 
monstrants, or]  Arminians,  among  whom  the 
advocate  of  Holland,  Oldenbarnevelt,  and  the 
pensionaries  of  Leyden  and  Rotterdam,  Hoger- 
berts  and  Grotius,  were  the  chief  Several  at- 
tempts were  made  for  an  accommodation,  or 
toleration  of  the  two  parties  -,  but  this  not  suc- 
ceeding, the  three  heads  of  the  Remonstrants 
[Arminians]  were  taken  into  custody,  and  the 
magistrates  of  several  towns  and  cities  chan- 
ged, by  authority  of  the  prince,  which  made  way 
for  the  choosing  such  a  synod  as  his  highness 
desired.  The  classes  of  the  several  towns  met 
first  in  a  provincial  synod,  and  these  sent  depu- 
ties to  the  national  one,  with  proper  instruc- 
tions. The  Remonstrants  were  averse  to  the 
calling  a  synod,  because  their  numbers  were  as 
yet  unequal  to  the  Calvinists,  and  their  leaders 

*  See  Clarke's  Lives,  annexed  to  his  General  Mar- 
tyrolog>%  p.  24,  who  tells  us  that  Mr.  Baynes,  being 
summoned  on  a  time  before  the  privy  council,  on 
pretence  of  keeping  conventicles,  and  called  on  to 
speak  for  himself,  made  such  an  excellent  speech, 
that,  in  the  mid.st  of  it,  a  nobleman  stood  up  and  said, 
"  He  speaks  more  like  an  angel  than  a  man,  and  I 
dare  not  stay  here  to  have  a  hand  in  any  sentence 
against  him.''  Upon  which  speech  he  was  dismissed, 
and  never  heard  any  more  from  them.  The  follow- 
ing anecdote  is  related  of  Mr.  Baynes,  showing  the 
warmth  of  his  natural  temper,  with  his  readiness  to 
receive  reproof,  and  to  make  a  proper  use  of  it.  A 
religious  gentleman  placed  his  son  under  his  care 
and  tuition,  and  Mr.  Baynes,  entertaining  some 
friends  at  supper,  sent  the  boy  into  the  town  for 
something  which  they  wanted.  The  boy  stayed 
longer  than  was  proper.  Mr.  Baynes  reproved  him 
with  some  sharpness,  severely  censuring  his  con- 
duct. The  boy  remained  silent ;  but  the  next  day, 
when  his  tutor  was  calm,  he  thus  addressed  him  : 
"  My  father  placed  ine  under  your  care  not  only  for 
the  benefit  of  human  learning,  but  that  by  your  pious 
counsel  and  example  I  might  be  brought  up  in  the 
fear  of  God  ;  but  you,  sir,  giving  way  to  your  passion 
the  last  night,  gave  me  a  very  evil  example,  such  as 
I  have  never  seen  in  my  father's  house."  "  Sayest 
thou  so?"  answered  Mr.  Baynes:  "go  to  my  tailor, 
and  let  him  buy  thee  a  suit  of  clothes,  and  make  them 
for  thee,  which  1  will  pay  for,  to  make  thee  amends." 
And  it  is  added,  that  Mr.  Baynes  watched  more  nar- 
rowly over  his  own  spirit  ever  after. — Brookes'a  Lives, 
&c.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  264.— C. 


264 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


being  in  custody,  it  was  easy  to  foretel  their 
approaching  fate.  They  complained  of  injus- 
tice in  their  summons  to  the  provincial  assem- 
blies, but  Trigland  says  that  where  the  Remon- 
strants [Arminians]  were  weakest  they  were 
equally  regarded  with  the  other  party ;  but  in 
truth  their  deputies  were  angry  and  dissatis- 
fied, and  in  many  places  absented  from  their 
classes,  and  so  yielded  up  their  power  into  the 
hands  of  their  adversaries,  who  condemned  their 
principles  and  deposed  several  of  their  ministers. 

The  National  Synod  of  Dort  consisted  of  thir- 
ty-eight Dutch  and  Walloon  divines,  five  pro- 
fessors of  the  universities,  and  twenty-one  lay- 
elders,  making  together  sixty-one  persons,  of 
which  not  above  three  or  four  were  Remon- 
strants. Besides  these,  there  were  twenty-eight 
foreign  divines,  from  Great  Britain,  from  the 
Palatinate,  from  Hessia,  Switzerland,  Geneva, 
Bremen,  Embden,  Nassau,  and  Wetteravia ;  the 
French  king  not  admitting  his  Protestant  divines 
to  appear.  Next  to  the  States'  deputies  sat  the 
English  divines  ;  the  second  place  was  reserved 
for  the  French  divines  ;  the  rest  sat  in  the  or- 
der recited.  Upon  the  right  and  left  hand  of 
the  chair,  next  to  the  lay-deputies,  sat  the  Neth- 
erland  professors  of  divmity,  then  the  ministers 
and  elders,  according  to  the  rank  of  their  prov- 
inces ;  the  Walloon  churches  sitting  last.  Af- 
ter the  divines,  as  well  domestic  as  foreign,  had 
produced  their  credentials,  the  Rev.  Mr.  John 
Bogerman,  ofLeewarden,  was  chosen  president, 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Jacob  Roland  and  Herman  Fauke- 
lius,  of  Amsterdam  and  Middleburgh,  assessors ; 
Heinsius  was  scribe,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Dammon 
and  Festius  Hommius,  secretaries ;  a  general 
fast  was  then  appointed,  after  which  they  pro- 
ceeded to  business. 

The  names  of  the  English  divines  were.  Dr. 
Carlton,  bishop  of  LlandafT;  Dr.  Hall,  dean  of 
Worcester,  afterward  bishop  of  Norwich ;  Dr. 
Davenant,  afterward  bishop  of  Salisbury  ;  and 
Dr.  Samuel  Ward,'  master  of  Sidney  College, 
Cambridge  ;*  but  Dr.  Hall  not  being  able  to 
bear  the  climate,t  Dr.  Goad,  prebendary  of  Can- 
terbury, was  appointed  in  his  room.  Mr.  Balcan- 
qual,  a  Scotsman,  but  no  friend  to  the  Kirk,  was 
also  commissioned  by  King  James  to  represent 
that  church.  He  was  taken  into  consultation, 
and  joined  in  suffrage  with  the  English  divines, 
so  as  to  make  one  college  ;  for  the  divines  of 
each  nation  gave  only  one  vote  in  the  synod,  as 
their  united  sense  ;  and  though  Balcanqual  did 
not  wear  the  habits  of  the  English  divines,  nor 
sit  with  them  in  the  synod,  having  a  place  by 
himself  as  representative  of  the  Scots  Kirk,  yet, 
says  the  Bishop  of  Llandaff,  his  apparel  was 
decent,  and  in  all  respects  he  gave  much  satis- 
faction. His  majesty's  instructions  to  them 
were,  (1.)  To  agree  among  themselves  about 
the  state  of  any  question,  and  how  far  it  may  be 

*  Fuller's  Worthies,  p.  159. 

■\  Before  Bishop  Hall  left  the  synod  he  delivered  a 
Latin  sermon  before  the  Assembly,  who,  by  their 
president  and  assistants,  took  a  solemn  leave  of  him ; 
and  the  deputies  of  the  States  dismissed  him  with 
honourable  rewards,  and  sent  him  a  rich  gold  medal, 
bearmg  the  portraiture  of  the  synod.  Dr.  Hall  was 
moderate  upon  the  five  points  controverted  in  that 
synod,  as  appears  by  the  treatise  which  he  soon  alter 
wrote,  and  which  is  among  his  published  works,  un- 
der the  title  of  "  Via  Media."— HaWs  Life  in  Middle- 
*on's  Biography,  vol.  iii.,  p.  355. — C. 


maintained  agreeably  to  the  Scriptures  and  the 
doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England.  (2.)  To  ad- 
.vise  the  Dutch  ministers  not  to  insist  in  their 
sermons  upon  scholastic  points,  but  to  abide  bj 
their  former  confession  of  faith,  and  those  of 
their  neighbour  Reformed  churches.  (3.)  That 
tbey  should  consult  the  king's  honour,  the  peace 
of  the  distracted  churches,  and  behave  in  all 
things  with  gravity  and  moderation. 

When  all  the  members  of  the  synod  were  as- 
sembled, they  took  the  following  oath,  in  the 
twenty-third  session,  each  person  standing  up 
in  his  place,  and  laying  his  hand  upon  his  liQart: 

"  I  promise,  before  God,  whom  I  believe  and 
worship,  as  here  present,  and  as  the  searcher  of 
the  reins  and  heart,  that  during  the  whole  course 
of  the  transactions  of  this  synod,  in  which  there 
will  be  made  an  inquiry  into,  and  judgment  and 
decision  of,  not  only  the  well-known  five  points, 
and  all  the  difficulties  resulting  from  thence,  but 
likewise  of  all  other  sorts  of  doctrine,  I  will  not 
make  use  of  any  kind  of  human  writings,  but 
only  of  the  Word  of  God,  as  a  sure  and  infallible 
rule  of  faith.  Neither  will  I  have  any  other  thing 
in  view  throughout  this  whole  discussion  but 
the  honour  of  God,  the  peace  of  the  Church,  and, 
above  all,  the  preservation  of  the  purity  of  doc- 
trine. So  help  me  my  Saviour  Jesus  Christ, 
whom  I  ardently  beseech  to  assist  me  in  this 
my  design,  by  his  Holy  Spirit."* 

This  was  all  the  oath  that  was  taken,  says 
Bishop  Hall,  as  I  hope  to  be  saved.  It  was 
therefore  an  unjust  insinuation  of  Mr.  John 
Goodwin,  who,  in  his  "Redemption Redeemed," 
p.  395,  charged  them  with  taking  a  previous 
oath  to  condemn  the  opposite  party  on  what 
terms  soever.  "  It  grieves  my  soul,"  says  the 
bishop,  "  to  see  any  learned  divine  raising  such 
imaginary  conjectures ;  but  since  I  have  seen 
it,  I  bless  my  God  that  I  yet  live  to  vindicate 
them  [1651]  by  this  my  knowing  and  clear  at- 
testation, which  I  am  ready  to  second  with  the 
solemnest  oath,  if  required." 

The  synod  continued  to  the  29th  of  May,  in 
which  time  there  were  one  hundred  and  eighty 
sessions.  In  the  hundred  and  forty-fifth  ses- 
sion, and  30th  of  April,  the  Belgic  confession  of 
faith  was  debated  and  put  to  the  question,  which 
the  English  divines  agreed  to,  except  the  articles 
relating  to  the  parity  of  ministers  and  ecclesi- 
astical discipline.  They  said  they  had  carefully 
examined  the  said  confession,  and  did  not  find 
anything  therein,  with  respect  to  faith  and  doc- 
trine, but  what  was,  in  the  main,  conformable 
to  the  Word  of  God.t  They  added,  that  they 
had  likewise  considered  the  Remonstrants'  [Ar- 
minians] exceptions  against  the  said  confession, 
and  declared  that  they  were  of  such  a  nature  as 
to  be  capable  of  being  made  against  all  the  con- 
fessions of  other  Reformed  churches.  They  did 
not  pretend  to  pass  any  judgment  upon  the  ar- 
ticles relating  to  their  church  government,  but 
only  maintained  that  their  own  church  govern- 
ment was  founded  upon  apostolic  institution. 

Mr.  John  Hales,  of  Eton,  chaplain  to  the  Eng- 
lish ambassador  Carlton,  sat  among  the  hearers 
for  some  weeks,  and  having  taken  minutes  of  the 
proceedings,  transmitted  them  twice  or  thrice  a 

*  Brandt,  vol.  iii.,  p.  G2 ;  or  the  Abridgment  of 
Brandt,  8vo,  vol.  u.,  p.  417. 

t  Brandt,  vol.  iii.,  p.  288 ;  or  Abridgment,  vol.  ii., 
p.  508,  509. 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


205 


week  to  his  excellency  at  the  Hague.  After  his 
departure,  Dr.  Balcanqual,  the  Scots  commis- 
sioner, and  Dr.  Ames,  carried  on  the  correspond- 
ence. Mr.  Hales  observes  that  the  Remon- 
strants behaved  on  several  occasions  very  im- 
prudently,* not  only  in  the  manner  of  their  de- 
bates, but  in  declining  the  authority  of  the  synod, 
though  summoned  by  the  civil  magistrate  in  the 
most  unexceptionable  manner.  The  live  points 
of  difference  between  the  Calvinists  and  Armin- 
ians,  after  a  long  hearing,  were  decided  in  fa- 
vour of  the  former.  After  which  the  Remon- 
strant ministers  were  dismissed  the  assembly, 
and  banished  the  country  within  a  limited  time, 
except  they  submitted  to  the  new  confession  ; 
on  which  occasion  some  very  hard  speeches 
were  mutually  exchanged,  and  appeals  made  to 
the  final  tribunal  of  God. 

When  the  opinion  of  the  British  divines  was 
read,  upon  the  extent  of  Christ's  redemption, 
it  was  observed  that  they  omitted  the  received 
distinction  between  the  sufficiency  and  efficacy 
of  it ;  nor  did  they  touch  upon  the  received  lim- 
itation of  those  passages  which,  speaking  of 
Christ's  dying  for  the  whole  world,  are  usually 
interpreted  of  the  world  of  the  elect,  Dr.  Dave- 
nant  and  some  of  his  brethren  inclining  to  the 
doctrine  of  universal  redemption.!  In  all  oth- 
er points  there  was  a  perfect  harmony ;  and 
even  in  this  Balcanqual  says  King  James  and 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  desired  them  to 
comply,  though  Heylin  says  their  instructions 
were  not  to  oppose  the  doctrine  of  universal  re- 
demption. But  Dr.  Davenant  and  Ward  were 
for  a  middle  way  between  the  two  extremes  : 
they  maintained  the  certainty  of  the  salvation 
of  the  elect,  and  that  offers  of  pardon  were  sent 
not  only  to  all  who  should  believe  and  repent, 
but  to  all  who  heard  the  Gospel ;  and  that  grace 
sufficient  to  convince  and  persuade  the  impeni- 
tent (so  as  to  lay  the  blame  of  their  condemna- 
tion upoti  themselves)  went  along  with  these 
offers  ;  that  the  redemption  of  Christ  and  his 
merits  were  applicable  to  these,  and,  conse- 
quently, there  was  a  possibility  of  their  salva- 
tion. However,  they  complied  with  the  synod, 
and  declared  their  confession,  in  the  main, 
agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God  ;  but  this  gave 
rise  to  a  report,  some  years  after,  that  they  had 
deserted  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England ; 
upon  which  Bishop  Hall  expressed  his  concern 
to  Doctor  Davenant  in  these  words  :  "  I  shall 
live  and  6,16  in  suffrage  of  that  Synod  of  Dort ; 
and  I  do  confidently  avoio  that  those  other  opin- 
ions [of  Arrmniiis]  cannot  stand  with  the  doctrine 
of  the  Church  of  England."  To  which  Bishop 
Davenant  replied  in  these  words  :  "  I  know  that 
no  man  can  embrace  Arminianism  in  the  doc- 
trines of  predestination  and  grace,  but  he  must 
desert  the  articles  agreed  upon  by  the  Church 
of  England  ;  nor  in  the  point  of  perseverance, 
but  he  must  vary  from  the  received  opinions 
of  our  best-approved  doctors  in  the  English 
Church."  Yet  Heylin  has  the  assurance  to 
say,  "  that  though  the  Arminian  controversy 
brought  some  trouble  for  the  present  to  the 
churches  of  Holland,  it  was  of  greater  advan- 
tage to  the  Church  of  England,  whose  doctrine 
in  those  points  had  been  so  overborne  by  the 
Calvinists,  that  it  was  almost  reckoned  for  a 

*  Hales's  Remains,  p.  507,  512,  526,  586,  587. 
t  Brandt,  p.  526. 
Vol.  I.— L  l 


heresy  to  be  sound  and  orthodox  [i.  c,  an  Armin- 
ian] according  to  the  Book  of  Articles  established 
by  law  in  the  Church  of  England."  He  adds, 
"  that  King  James  did  not  appear  for  Calvinism 
out  of  judgment,  but  for  reasons  of  state,  and 
from  a  personal  friendship  to  Prince  Maurice, 
who  had  put  himself  at  their  head.  He  there- 
fore sent  such  divines  as  had  zeal  enough  to 
condemn  the  Remonstrants,  though  it  was  well 
known  that  he  had  disapproved  the  articles  of 
Lambeth,  and  the  doctrine  of  predestination  ; 
nor  was  it  a  secret  what  advice  he  had  given 
Prince  Maurice  before  he  put  himself  at  the 
head  of  the  Calvinists."* 

When  the  synod  was  risen,  people  spake  of 
it  in  a  very  different  manner;!  the  States  of 
Holland  were  highly  satisfied  :  they  gave  high 
rewards  to  the  chief  divines,]:  and  ordered  the 
original  records  of  their  proceedings  to  be  pre- 
served among  their  archives.  The  English  di- 
vines expressed  full  satisfaction  in  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  synod.  Mr.  Baxter  says  the  Chris- 
tian world,  since  the  days  of  the  apostles,  never 
had  an  assembly  of  more  excellent  divines. 
The  learned  Jacobus  Capellus,  professor  of  Ley- 
den,  declared  that  the  equity  of  the  fathers  of 
this  synod  was  such,  that  no  instance  can  be 
given,  since  the  apostolic  age,  of  any  other  syn- 
od in  which  the  heretics  were  heard  with  more 
patience,  or  which  proceeded  with  a  better  tem- 
per or  more  sanctity.  P.  du  Moulin,  Paulus 
Servita,  and  the  author  of  the  life  of  Waleus, 
speaks  the  same  language.  But  others  poured 
contempt  upon  the  synod,  and  burlesqued  their 
proceedings  in  the  following  lines  : 

Dordrechti  synodus,  nodus  ;  chorus  integer,  aeger; 
Conventus,  ventus,  sessio,  stramen.  Amen. 

Lewis  du  Moulin,  with  all  the  favourers  of  the 
Arminian  doctrines,  as  Heylin,  Womack,  Brandt, 
&LC.,  charge  them  with  partiality  and  unjustifia- 
ble severity.  Upon  the  whole,  in  my  judgment, 
they  proceeded  with  as  much  discretion  and 
candour  as  most  assemblies,  ancient  or  modern, 
have  done,  who  have  pretended  to  establish  ar- 
ticles for  other  men's  faith  with  penal  sanctions. 
I  shall  take  leave  of  this  venerable  body  with 
this  farther  remark,  that  King  James  sending 
over  divines  to  join  this  assembly  was  on  open 
acknowledgment  of  the  validity  of  ordination 
by  mere  presbyters  ;  here  being  a  bishop  of  the 
Church  of  England  sitting  as  a  private  member 
in  a  synod  of  divines  of  which  a  mere  presby- 
ter was  the  president. 

In  the  summer  of  the  year  1617,  King  James 
made  a  progress  into  Scotland,  to  advance  the 
episcopal  cause  in  that  country  ;  the  Chapel  of 
Edinburgh  was  adorned  after  the  manner  of 
\Vhitehall,  pictures  being  carried  from  hence, 
together  with  the  statues  of  the  twelve  apostles, 
wliich  were  set  up  in  the  church.  His  majesty 
treated  his  Scots  subjects  with  a  haughty  dis- 
tance ;  telling  them,  both  in  the  Parliament  and 
General  Assembly,  "  that  it  was  a  power  innate, 
a  princely  special  prerogative  which  Christian 
kings  have,  to  order  and  dispose  external  things 

*  Hist.  Presb.,  p.  381. 

t  Brandt,  p.  307,  308 ;  or  Abridgment,  vol.  ii.,  p. 
531. 

X  Each  divme  of  the  United  Provinces  received 
four  florins  a  day.  The  synod  cost  ten  tons  of  gold, 
i.  e.,  a  million  of  florins. — Brandt  Abridged,  vol.  ii.,  p. 
531.— Ed. 


2G6 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


in  the  outward  polity  of  the  Church,  or  as  we 
with  our  bishops  shall  think  fit ;  and,  sirs,  for 
your  approving  or  disproving,  deceive  not  your- 
selves :  I  M'ill  not  have  my  reason  opposed." 
Two  acts  relating  to  the  Church  were  passed 
this  session  ;  one  concerning  the  choice  of  arch- 
bishops and  bishops,  and  another  for  the  r.esti- 
tution  of  chapters  ;  but  the  ministers  protesting 
against  both,  several  of  them  were  suspended 
and  deprived,  and  others  banished,  as,  the  Mel- 
vins,  Mr.  Forbes,  &c.,  and  as  the  famous  Mr. 
Calderwood,  author  of  the  Altare  Damascenum, 
had  been  before  ;  which  bool<,  when  one  of  the 
English  prelates  promised  to  answer,  the  king 
replied,  "  What  will  you  answer,  man  1  There 
is  nothing  here  than  Scripture,  reason,  and  fa- 
thers."* 

Next  year  a  convention  or  assembly  was 
summoned  to  meet  at  Perth,  August  25,  1618. 
It  consisted  of  some  noblemen,  statesmen,  bar- 
ons, and  burgesses,  chosen  on  purpose  to  bear 
down  the  ministers ;  and  with  what  violence 
things  were  carried,  God  and  all  indifferent 
spectators,  says  my  author,  are  witnesses.  In 
this  assembly  the  court  and  bishops  made  a 
shift  to  carry  the  following  five  articles  : 

1.  That  the  Holy  Sacrament  shall  be  received 
kneeling. 

2.  That  ministers  shall  be  obliged  to  admin- 
ister the  sacrament  in  private  houses  to  the  sick, 
if  they  desire  it. 

3.  That  ministers  may  baptize  children  pri- 
vately at  home,  in  cases  of  necessity,  only  cer- 
tifying it  to  the  congregation  the  next  Lord's 
Day. 

4.  That  ministers  shall  bring  such  children 
of  their  parish  as  can  say  their  catechism,  and 
repeat  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Creed,  and  the 
Ten  Commandments,  to  the  bishops,  to  confirm 
and  give  them  their  blessing. 

5.  That  the  festivals  of  Christmas,  Easter, 
Whitsuntide,  and  the  Ascension  of  our  Saviour, 
shall,  for  the  future,  be  commemorated  in  the 
Kirk  of  Scotland.! 

The  king  ordered  these  articles  to  be  publish- 
ed at  the  market-crosses  of  the  several  bor- 
oughs, and  the  ministers  to  read  them  in  their 
pulpits,  which  the  greatest  number  of  the  latter 
refused,  there  being  no  penalty  except  the  king's 
displeasure ;  but  the  vote  of  the  assembly  at 
Perth  not  being  sufficient  to  establish  these  ar- 
ticles into  a  law,  it  was  resolved  to  use  all  the 
interest  of  the  court  to  carry  them  through  the 
Parliament.  This  was  not  attempted  till  the 
year  1621,  when  the  Parliament  meeting  on  the 
1st  of  June,  the  ministers  had  prepared  a  sup- 
plication against  the  five  articles,  giving  reasons 
why  they  should  not  be  received  or  confirmed, 
and  came  to  Edinburgh  in  great  numbers  to 

*  This  Bishop  Warburton  understands  as  said 
ironically. — Ed. 

t  "  A  prince,"  observes  a  judicious  historian, 
"must  be  strangely  infatuated  and  strongly  preju- 
diced to  employ  his  power  and  influence  in  establish- 
ing such  matters  as  these  I  Let  rites  and  ceremo- 
nies be  deemed  ever  so  decent,  who  will  say  they 
are  fit  to  be  imposed  by  methods  of  severity  and  con- 
straint? Yet,  by  these  ways,  these  matters  were 
introduced  among  the  Scots,  to  the  disgrace  of  hu- 
manity and  the  eternal  blemish  of  a  prince  who 
boasted  of  his  learning,  and  was  forever  displaying 
his  abiUties."— Z>r.  Harris's  Life  of  James,  p.  236,  237. 
— Ed 


support  it.  Upon  this,  the  king's  commissioner, 
by  advice  of  the  bishops  and  council,  issued  a 
proclamation,  commanding  all  ministers  to  de- 
part out  of  Edinburgh  within  twenty  hours,  ex- 
cept the  settled  ministers  of  the  city,  and  such 
as  should  have  a  license  from  the  bishop.  The 
ministers  obeyed,  leaving  behind  them  a  prot- 
estation against  the  articles,  and  an  admo- 
nition to  the  members  of  Parliament  not  to  rat- 
ify them,  as  they  would  answer  it  in  the  day 
of  judgment.  They  alleged  that  the  assembly 
of  Perth  was  illegal,  and  that  the  articles  wore 
against  the  privileges  of  the  Kirk  and  the  estab- 
lished laws  of  the  kingdom.  This  bred  a  great 
deal  of  ill  blood,  and  raised  a  new  persecution 
throughout  the  kingdom,  many  of  the  Presby- 
terian ministers  being  fined,  imprisoned,  and 
banished  by  the  High  Commission,  at  a  time 
when,  by  their  interest  with  the  people,  it  was 
in  their  power  to  have  turned  their  taskmasters 
out  of  the  kingdom.* 

Thus  far  King  James  proceeded  towards  the 
restitution  of  episcopacy  in  Scotland,  but  one 
thing  was  still  wanting  to  complete  the  work, 
which  was  a  public  liturgy  or  Book  of  Common 
Prayer.  Several  consultations  were  held  upon 
this  head,  but  the  king,  being  assured  it  would 
occasion  an  insurrection  over  the  whole  king- 
dom, wisely  dropped  it.  leaving  that  unhappy 
work  to  be  finished  by  his  son,  whose  imposing  it 
upon  the  Kirk,  without  consent  of  Parliament  or 
General  Assembly,  set  fire  to  the  discontents  of 
the  people,  which  had  been  gathering  for  many 
years. 

To  return  to  England.  This  year  the  learned 
Mr.  Selden  was  summoned  before  the  High 
Commission  for  publishing  his  History  of  Tithes, 
in  which  he  proves  them  not  to  be  of  Divine, 
but  human  appointment ;  and,  after  many  threat- 
enings,  was  obliged  to  sign  the  following  recan- 
tation : 

"  My  good  lords, 

"  I  most  humbly  acknowledge  my  error  in 
publishing  the  History  of  Tithes,  and  especially 
in  that  I  have  at  all  (by  showing  any  interpre- 
tation of  Holy  Scriptures,  by  meddling  with 
councils,  fathers,  or  canons,  or  by  what  else  so- 
ever occurs  in  it)  offered  any  occasion  of  argu- 
ment against  any  right  of  maintenance,  jure  di- 
vino,  of  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel :  beseeching 
your  lordships  to  receive  this  ingenuous  and 
humble  acknowledgment,  together  with  the  un- 
feigned protestation  of  my  grief,  for  that  I  have 
so  incurred  his  majesty  and  your  lordships'  dis- 
pleasure conceived  against  me  in  behalf  of  the 
Church  of  England. 

"  January  28,  1618.  John  Selden." 

Notwithstanding  this  submission,  Mr.  Fuller 
says  it  is  certain  that  a  fiercer  storm  never  fell 
upon  all  parsonage  barnst  since  the  Reforraa- 

*  Bishop  Warburton  is  not  wilhng  to  allow  them 
the  praise  of  acting  with  this  caution  and  temper, 
"  for,"  he  remarks,  "  soon  after  they  used  their  inter- 
est to  this  purpose,  and  I  believe  they  began  to  use  it 
as  soon  as  they  got  it."  The  bishop  did  not  con- 
sider that  it  is  not  in  human  nature,  any  more  than 
it  is  consistent  with  wisdom  and  moderation,  to  pro- 
ceed, though  injured  and  provoked,  to  extremities  at 
first.  That  the  Scotch  Presbyterian  ministers  should 
have  great  interest  with  the  people,  was  the  neces- 
sary consequence  of  their  being  sufferers  for  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Kirk  and  the  nation. — Ed. 

t  Bishop  Warburton,  because  he  himself  appro- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


267 


tion  what  was  raised  by  this  treatise  ;  nor  did 
Mr.  Selden  quici<ly  forget  their  stopping  his 
mouth  after  this  manner.* 

This  year  died  tlie  Rev.  Mr.  William  Brad- 
shaw,  born  at  Bosworth,  in  Leicestershire,  1571, 
and  educated  in  Emanuel  College,  Cambridge. 
He  was  afterward  removed,  and  admitted  fellow 
of  Sidney  College,  where  he  got  an  easy  admis- 
sion into  the  ministry,  being  dispensed  with  in 
some  things  that  he  scrupled.    He  preached  first 
as  a  lecturer  at  Abingdon,  and  then  at  Steeple- 
Morton.     At  length,  by  the  recommendation  of 
Dr.  Chadderton,  he  was  settled  at  Chatham,  in 
Kent,  in  the  year  1601  ;  but  before  he  had  been 
there  a  twelvemonth  he  was  sent  for  by  the 
archbishop  to  Shorne,  a  town  situate  between 
Rochester  and  Gravesend,  and  commanded  to 
subscribe,  which  he  refusing,  was  immediately 
suspended.   Theinhabitantsof  Chatham.in  their 
petition  for  his  restoration,  say  that  his  doctrine 
was  most  wholesome,  true,  and  learned,  void  of 
faction  and  contention,  and  his  life  so  garnished 
with  unblemished  virtues  and  graces,  as  malice 
itself  could  not  reprove  him.     But  all  interces- 
sions were  to  no  purpose ;   he  therefore  remo- 
ved into  another  diocess,  where  he  obtained  a 
license,  and  at  length  was  chosen  lecturer  of 
Christ  Church,  in  London.     Here  he  published 
a  treatise  against  the  ceremonies,  for  which  he 
was  obliged  to  leave  the  city,  and  retired  to  his 
friend  Mr.  Redriche's,  at  Newhall,  in  Leicester- 
shire.    The  bishop's  chancellor  followed  him 
thither  with  an  inhibition  to  preach,  but  by  the 
mediation  of  a  couple  of  good  angels,  says  my 
author,  the  restraint  was  taken  ofF.t     In  this 
silent  and  melancholy  retirement  he  spent  the 
vigour  and  strength  of  his  days.     At  length,  as 
he  was  attending  Mrs.  Redriche  on  a  visit  to 
Chelsea,  he  was  seized  with  a  violent  fever, 
which  in  a  few  days  put  an  end  to  his  life,  in 
the  forty-eighth  year  of  his  age.     He  was  full 
of  heavenly  expressions  in  his  last  sickness,  and 
died  with  great  satisfaction  in  his  nonconform- 
ity.   Dr.  Hall,  bishop  of  Norwich,  gives  him  this 
character  :  "  That  he  was  of  a  strong  brain,  and 
of  a  free  spirit,  not  suffering  himself,  for  small 
differences  of  judgment,  to  be  alienated  from  his 
friends,  to  whom,  notwithstanding  his  seeming 
austerity,  he  was  very  pleasing  in  conversation, 
being  full  of  witty  and  harmless  urbanity ;  he 
was  very  strong  and  eager  in  arguing,  hearty  fh 
friendship,  regardless  of  the  world,  a  despiser  of 
compliments,  a  lover  of  reality,  full  of  digest- 
ed and  excellent  notions,  a  painful  labourer  in 
God's  vineyard,  and  now,  no  doubt,  gloriously 
rewarded."     Such  was  this  light,  which,  by  the 

ved  of  the  principle  of  Mr.  Selden's  book,  as  placing 
the  claim  of  tithes  "  on  the  sure  foundation  of  law  in- 
stead of  the  feeble  prop  of  an  imaginary  Divine 
right,"  carps  at  this  expression  of  Mr.  Neal,  though 
the  words  of  Fuller,  and  asks,  "Where  was  the 
storm,  except  in  the  author's  fanciful  standish  ?"  The 
answer  is,  the  storm  was  in  the  offence  Mr.  Selden's 
doctrine  gave  the  clergy,  and  the  indignation  of  the 
court  which  it  drew  on  him.  The  clergy  published 
angry  animadversions  on  it,  and  the  king  threaten- 
ed to  throw  him  into  prison  if  he  replied  in  his  own 
defence. — British  Biography,  vol.  iv.,  p.  377. — Ed. 

*  Mr.  Selden's  writings  continued  to  influence  the 
public  mind,  and  to  expose  to  merited  contempt  the 
unfounded  pretensions  and  exactions  of  the  clergy. — 
C 

t  Gataker's  Life  of  Bradshaw,  in  Clarke's  Lives, 
annexed  to  his  General  Martyrology. — 0. 


severity  of  the  times,  was  put  under  a  bush- 
el !* 

In  order  to  put  a  stop  to  the  growth  of  Puri- 
tanism, and  silence  the  objections  of  papists 
against  the  strictness  of  the  Reformed  religion, 
his  majesty  this  year  published  "  A  Declaration 
to  encourage  Recreations  and  Sports  on  the 
Lord's  Day,"  contrary  to  his  proclamation  in 
the  first  year  of  his  reign,  and  to  the  articles  of 
the  Church  of  Ireland,  ratified  under  the  great 
seal,  1615,  in  which  the  morality  of  the  Lord's 
Day  is  affirmed.  "  But,"  saysHeylin,  "  the  Puri- 
tans, by  raising  the  Sabbath,  took  occasion  to 
depress  the  festivals,  and  introduced,  by  little 
and  little,  a  general  neglect  of  the  weekly  fasts, 
the  holy  time  of  Lent,  and  the  Embering  days, 
reducing  all  acts  of  humiliation  to  solemn  and 
occasional  fasts."*  Sad  indeed!  "But  this 
was  not  all  the  mischief,"  says  the  doctor,  "  for 
several  preachers  and  justices  of  the  peace  took 
occasion  from  hence  to  forbid  all  lawful  sports 
on  the  Lord's  Day,  by  means  whereof  the  priests 
and  Jesuits  persuaded  the  people  in  the  north- 
ern counties  that  the  Reformed  religion  was  in- 
compatible with  that  Christian  liberty  which 
God  and  nature  had  indulged  to  the  sons  of 
men ;  so  that,  to  preserve  the  people  from  po- 
pery, his  majesty  was  brought  under  a  necessi- 
ty to  pubhsh  the  Book  of  Sports." 

It  was  drawn  up  by  Bishop  Moreton,  and  da- 
ted from  Greenwich,  May  24,  1618,  and  it  was 
to  this  effect :  "  That  for  his  good  people's  rec- 
reation, his  majesty's  pleasure  was  that  after  the 
end  of  Divine  service  they  should  not  be  dis- 
turbed, letted,  or  discouraged  from  any  lawful 
recreations,  such  as  dancing,  either  of  men  or 
women,  archery  for  men,  vaulting,  or  any  such 
harmless  recreations  ;  nor  having  May-games, 
Whitson-ales,  or  morrice-^ances,  or  setting  up 
of  Maypoles,  or  other  sports  therewith  used,  so 
as  the  same  may  be  had  in  due  and  convenient 
time,  without  impediment  or  let  of  Divine  ser- 
vice ;  and  that  women  should  have  leave  to 
carry  rushes  to  the  church  for  the  decorating 
of  it,  according  to  their  old  customs ;  withal 
prohibiting  all  unlawful  games  to  be  used  on 
Sundays  only,  as  bear-baiting,  bull-baiting,  in- 
terludes, and  at  all  times  (in  the  meaner  sort  of 
people  prohibited)  bowling."  Two  or  three  re- 
straints were  annexed  to  the  declaration,  which 
deserve  the  reader's  notice:  (1.)  No  recusant 
[i.  e.,  papist]  was  to  have  the  benefit  of  this  dec- 
laration. (2.)  Nor  such  as  were  not  present  at 
the  whole  of  Divine  service.  (3.)  Nor  such  as 
did  not  keep  to  their  own  parish  churches,  that 
is,  Puritans. 

This  declaration  was  ordered  to  be  read  in 
all  the  parish  churches  in  Lancashire,  which 
abounded  with  papists ;  and  Wilson  adds,  that 
it  was  to  be  read  in  all  the  churches  of  Eng- 
land ;  but  that  Archbishop  Abbot,  being  at  Croy- 
don, flatly  forbid  its  being  read  there.  It  was 
certainly  an  imprudent  project,  as  well  as  a 
grief  to  all  sober  Protestants  ;  and  had  the  king 
insisted  upon  its  being  read  throughout  all  the 
churches  at  this  time,  I  am  apt  to  think  it  would 
have  produced  the  same  convulsions  as  it  did 
about  fifteen  years  afterward. 


*  Mr.  Bradshaw's  writings  were  numerous,  and  all 
are  excellent,  especially  his  treatise  on  Justification, 
which  was  highly  praised  by  Dr.  Prideaux. — (/. 

t  Heylin's  Hist,  of  Presb.,  p.  389,  390. 


268 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


It  is  iiard  to  account  for  the  distinction  be- 
tween lawful  and  unlawful  sports  on  the  Lord's 
Day  :  if  any  sports  are  lawful,  why  ^ot  all ! 
what  reason  can  be  given  why  morrice-dances, 
revels,  May-games,  Whitson-ales,  wakes,  &c., 
should  be  more  lawful  than  interludes,  bull-bait- 
ing, or  bowls  I  It  cannot  arise  from  their  mor- 
al nature,  for  the  former  have  as  great  a  ten- 
dency to  promote  vice  as  the  latter.  But  the 
exceptions  to  the  benefit  of  this  declaration  are 
more  extraordinary  :  could  his  majesty  think 
that  the  Puritans,  who  were  present  at  part  of 
Divine  service,  though  not  at  the  whole ;  or 
that  those  who  went  to  other  parish  churches 
for  their  better  edification,  would  lay  hold  of  the 
liberty  of  his  declaration,  when  he  knew  they 
believed  the  morality  of  the  fourth  command- 
ment, and  that  no  ordinance  of  man  could  make 
void  the  law  of  God  1  farther,  his  majesty  de- 
bars recusants  [i.  e.,  papists]  from  this  liberty, 
which  their  religion  had  always  indulged  them  ; 
but  these  are  now  to  be  restrained.  The  pa- 
pist is  to  turn  Puritan,  with  regard  to  the  Sab- 
bath, being  forbid  the  use  of  lawful  recreations 
on  the  Lord's  Day ;  and  Protestants  are  to 
dance  and  revel,  and  go  to  their  May-games  on 
that  sacred  day,  to  preserve  them  from  popery  ! 
This  subject  will  return  again  in  the  next  reign. 

This  year  and  the  next  proved  fatal  to  the 
Protestant  interest  in  Germany,  by  the  loss  of 
the  Palatinate  into  the  hands  of  the  papists,  and 
the  ruin  of  the  elector  Frederic  V.,  king  of  Bo- 
hemia, who  had  married  the  king's  only  daugh- 
ter. This  being  a  remarkable  period,  relating 
to  the  ancestors  of  his  present  majesty  King 
George  II.,  it  will  be  no  useless  digression  to 
place  it  in  its  proper  light.  The  kingdom  of 
Bohemia  was  elective,  and  because  their  king 
did  not  always  reside  with  them,  a  certain  num- 
ber of  persons  were  chosen  by  the  States,  called 
defenders,  to  see  the  laws  put  in  execution. 
There  were  two  religions  established  by  law  :* 
one  was  called  sub-una,  the  other  sub-utraque ; 
the  professors  of  the  former  were  Roman  Cath- 
olics, and  communicated  under  one  kind ;  of 
the  latter,  Hussites,  and  since  the  Reformation 
Protestants,  who  communicated  under  both 
kinds.  The  Emperor  Sigismund,  in  order  to 
secure  his  election  to  this  kingdom,  granted  the 
Hussites  an  edict  in  the  year  1435,  whereby  it 
was  decreed  that  there  should  be  no  magistrate 
or  freeman  of  the  city  of  Prague  but  what  was 
of  their  religion.  This  was  religiously  observed 
till  the  year  1570,  when,  by  order  of  the  Em- 
peror Maximilian,  a  Catholic  was  made  a  citi- 
zen of  Prague,  after  which  time,  the  edict  was 
frequently   broken,  till   at  length   the   Jesuits 

*  These  are  the  words  of  Rapin ;  but  Bishop  War- 
burton  says,  "  This  is  a  mistake.  There  were  not 
two  religions,  but  one  only,  administering  a  single 
rite  differently."  This  remark  would  be  accurate, 
if  the  difference  between  the  two  parties  had  lain 
only  in  this  point ;  but  this  could  not  be  the  case  be- 
tween the  Catholics  and  Hussites ;  the  difference 
between  whom  extended  to  many  essential  heads, 
though  they  were,  with  respect  to  this  matter,  de- 
nominated from  one  single  point.  But  the  bishop 
asserts  that  "  the  fancy  of  two  established  religions 
in  one  state  is  an  absurdity."  But  absurdities  may 
exist,  and  this  very  absurdity  exists,  and  did  exist  at 
the  time  his  lordship  wrote,  in  Great  Britain  :  in  one 
part  of  which  episcopacy  is  the  established  religion, 
and  in  the  other,  Scotland,  Presbyterianism. — Ed. 


erected  a  stately  college,  and  put  the  papists  on 
a  level  with  the  Protestants.*  Matthias,  the 
present  emperor,  having  adopted  his  cousin 
Ferdinand  of  Austria,  had  a  mind  to  get  him 
the  crown  of  Bohemia ;  for  which  purpose  he 
summoned  an  assembly  of  the  States,  without 
sending,  as  usual,  to  the  Protestants  of  Silesia, 
Moravia,  and  the  Upper  and  Lower  Alsatia ; 
these,  therefore,  not  attending  (according  to  the 
emperor's  wish),  made  the  Catholics  a  majority, 
who  declared  Ferdinand  presumptive  successor 
to  Matthias ;  after  which  he  was  crowned  at 
Prague,  and  resided  at  Gratz.  The  defenders 
taking  notice  of  this  breach  of  their  constitution, 
and  perceiving  the  design  of  the  imperial  court 
to  extirpate  the  Protestant  religion,  summoned 
an  assembly  of  all  the  States,  and  among  others, 
those  of  Silesia,  Moravia,  and  Alsatia,  who 
drew  up  a  petition  to  the  emperor,  to  demand 
the  execution  of  the  laws,  and  a  reasonable  sat- 
isfaction for  the  injuries  they  had  received  ;  af- 
ter which  they  adjourned  themselves  to  the 
Monday  after  Rogation  week,  1618.  The  em- 
peror, instead  of  granting  their  requests,  order- 
ed his  lieutenant  to  hinder  the  reassembling  of 
the  States,  as  being  called  without  his  license  ; 
but  the  States  assembled  according  to  the  ad- 
journment, and  being  informed  of  the  force  that 
was  designed  against  them,  went  in  a  body  to 
the  Chancery,  and  having  seized  the  emperor's 
chief-justice,  the  secretary,  and  another  of  his 
council,  they  threw  them  out  of  the  castle- win- 
dow, and  then  drove  the  Jesuits  out  of  the  city. 
In  order  to  justify  their  proceedings,  they  pub- 
lished to  the  world  an  apology,  and  having 
signed  a  confederacy  to  stand  by  one  another 
against  all  opposers,  they  chose  twenty-four 
protectors,  empowering  them  to  raise  forces, 
and  levy  such  taxes  as  they  should  find  neces- 
sary. 

In  this  situation  of  affairs,  the  emperor,  who 
was  also  King  of  Bohemia,  died,  and  on  the 
18th  of  August,  1619,  Ferdinand  was  chosen 
his  successor  in  the  Empire ;  but  the  Bohemi- 
ans not  only  disowned  him  for  their  king,  but 
declared  the  throne  vacant,  and  on  September 
5th  chose  Frederic,  elector  palatine.  King  James's 
son-in-law,  for  their  sovereign.  Deputies  were 
immediately  sent  to  acq^uaint  him  with  the 
choice,  and  pray  him  to  repair  immediately  to 
f'rague.  Frederic  despatched  an  express  to 
England  to  desire  the  advice  of  his  father-in- 
law  ;  but  the  affair  not  admitting  of  so  long  de- 
lay, he  accepted  the  kingdom,  and  was  crown- 
ed at  Prague,  November  4th. 

All  the  Protestant  electors  rejoiced  at  this 
providence,  and  gave  him  the  title  of  King  of 
Bohemia,  as  did  most  of  the  Protestant  powers 
of  Europe,  except  the  King  of  England.  It  was 
acceptable  news  to  the  English  Puritans  to  hear 
of  a  Protestant  prince  in  Bohemia  ;  and  they 
earnestly  desired  his  majesty  to  support  him,  as 
appears  by  Archbishop  Abbot's  letter,  who  was 
known  to  speak  the  sense  of  that  whole  party. 
This  prelate  being  asked  his  opinion  as  a  privy 
counsellor,  while  he  was  confined  to  his  bed 
with  the  gout,  wrote  the  folllowing  letter  to  the 
secretary  of  state:  "That  it  was  his  opinion 
that  the  elector  should  accept  the  crown  ;  that 
England  should  support  him  openly  ;  and  that, 
as  soon  as  news  of  his  coronation  should  ar- 


Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  197,  folio  edit. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


269 


rive,  the  bells  should  be  rung,  guns  fired,  and 
bonfires  made,  to  let  all  Europe  see  that  the 
king  was  determined  to  countenance  him."* 
The  archbishop  adds,  •'  It  is  a  great  honour  to 
our  king  to  have  such  a  son  made  a  king  ;  me- 
thinks  I  foresee  in  this  the  work  of  God,  that 
by  degrees  the  kings  of  the  earth  shall  leave 
the  whore  to  desolation.  Our  striking  in  will 
comfort  the  Bohemians,  and  bring  in  the  Dutch 
and  the  Dane,  and  Hungary  will  run  the  same 
fortune.  As  for  money  and  means,  let  us  trust 
God  and  the  Parliament,  as  the  old  and  honour- 
able vvay  of  raising  money.  This  from  my  bed," 
.says  the  brave  old  prelate,  "  September  12, 
1619,  and  when  I  can  stand  I  will  do  better 
service." 

But  the  king  disliked  the  archbishop's  letter, 
as  built  upon  Puritan  principles  ;  he  had  an  ill 
opinion  of  elective  kingdoms,  and  of  the  people's 
power  to  dispose  of  crowns ;  besides,  he  was 
afraid  of  disobliging  the  Roman  Catholic  pow- 
ers, and,  in  particular,  the  King  of  Spain,  a  near 
relation  of  the  new  emperor's,  with  whom  he 
■was  in  treaty  for  a  wife  for  his  son  ;  so  that 
the  elector's  envoy,  after  long  waiting,  was 
sent  back  with  an  admonition  to  his  son-in-law 
to  refuse  the  crown  ;  but  this  being  too  late,  he 
took  it  into  his  head  to  persuade  him  to  resign 
it,  and  stood  still,  oflering  his  mediation,  and 
sending  ambassadors,  while  the  emperor  raised 
a  powerful  army,  not  only  to  reduce  the  king- 
dom of  Bohemia,  but  to  dispossess  the  elector 
of  his  hereditary  dominions.  Several  princes 
of  Europe  gave  King  James  notice  of  the  design, 
and  exhorted  him  to  support  the  Protestant  re- 
ligion in  the  empire,  but  his  majesty  was  deaf 
to  all  advice,  and  for  the  sake  of  a  Spanish  wife 
for  his  son,  suffered  his  own  daughter,  with  a 
numerous  family  of  children,  to  be  sent  a  begging, 
and  the  balance  of  Protestant  power  to  be  lost 
in  the  empire ;  for  the  next  summer  the  emperor 
and  his  allies,  having  conquered  the  Palatinate, 
entered  Bohemia,  and  about  the  middle  of  No- 
vember fought  the  decisive  battle  of  Prague, 
"Wherein  Frederic's  army  was  entirely  routed  ; 
I  his  hereditary  dominions,  which  had  been  the 
sanctuary  of  the  Protestants  in  Queen  Mary's 
reign,  were  given  to  the  Duke  of  Bavaria,  a 
papist,  the  noble  library  of  Heidelberg  was 
carried  off  to  the  Vatican  at  Rome,  and  the 
elector  himself,  with  his  wife  and  children,  for- 
ced to  fly  into  Hohand  in  a  starving  condition. 

Had  the  King  of  England  had  any  remains  of 
honour,  courage,  or  esteem  for  the  Protestant 
religion,  he  might  have  preserved  it  in  the  Pa- 
latinate, and  established  it  in  Bohemia,  by  which 
the  balance  of  power  would  have  been  on  that 
side  ;  but  this  cowardly  prince  would  not  draw 
his  sword  for  the  best  cause  in  the  world  ; 
however,  this  noble  family  was  the  care  of  Di- 
vine Providence  during  a  long  exile  of  twenty- 
eight  years,  after  which  they  were  restored  to 
their  dominions  by  the  treaty  of  Munster,  1648, 
and  declared  presumptive  heirs  of  the  crown  of 
Great  Britain  in  the  last  year  of  King  William 
III.,  of  which  they  took  possession  upon  the 
death  of  Queen  x\nne,  1714,  to  the  inexpressible 
joy  of  the  Protestant  Dissenters,  and  of  all  who 
loved  the  Reformed  religion  and  the  liberties  of 
their  country. 


*  Cabala,  b.  i.,  p.  12 ;  or  p.  18  of  the  edition  in 
1663. 


Among  the  Brownists  in  Holland,  we  have 
mentioned  the  Rev.  Mr.  John  Robinson,  of 
Leyden,  the  father  of  the  Independents,  whose 
numerous  congregations  being  on  the  decline, 
by  their  aged  members  dying  off  and  their  chil- 
dren marrying  into  Dutch  families,  they  con- 
sulted how  to  preserve  their  church  and  reli- 
gion ;  and  at  length,  after  several  solemn  ad- 
dresses to  Heaven  for  direction,  the  younger 
part  of  the  congregation  resolved  to  remove 
into  some  part  of  America,  under  the  protection 
of  the  King  of  England,  where  they  might  enjoy 
the  liberty  of  their  consciences,  and  be  capable 
of  encouraging  their  friends  and  countrymen 
to  follow  them.  Accordingly,  they  sent  over 
agents  into  England,  who,  having  obtained  a 
patent  from  the  crown,  agreed  with  several 
merchants  to  become  adventurers  in  the  un- 
dertaking. Several  of  Mr.  Robinson's  congre- 
gation sold  their  estates  and  made  a  common 
bank,  with  which  they  purchased  a  small  ship 
of  sixty  tons,  and  hired  another  of  one  hundred 
and  eighty.  The  agents  sailed  into  Holland 
with  their  own  ship,  to  take  in  as  many  of  the 
congregation  as  were  willing  to  embark,  while 
the  other  vessel  was  freighting  with  all  the  ne- 
cessaries for  the  new  plantation.  All  things 
being  ready,  Mr.  Robinson  observed  a  day  of 
fasting  and  prayer  with  his  congregation,  and 
took  his  leave  of  the  adventurers  with  the  follow- 
ing truly  generous  and  Christian  exhortation  : 

"  Brethren, 

"  We  are  now  quickly  to  part  from  one  an- 
other, and  whether  I  may  ever  live  to  see  your 
faces  on  earth  any  more  the  God  of  heaven 
only  knows  ;  but  whether  the  Lord  has  ap- 
pointed that  or  no,  I  charge  you,  before  God 
and  his  blessed  angels,  that  you  follow  me  no 
farther  than  you  have  seen  me  follow  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

"  If  God  reveal  anything  to  you,  by  any  other 
instrument  of  his,  be  as  ready  to  receive  it  as 
ever  you  were  to  receive  any  truth  by  my  min- 
istry ;  for  I  am  verily  persuaded  the  Lord  has 
more  truth  yet  to  break  forth  out  of  his  holy 
Word.  For  my  part,  I  cannot  sufficiently  be- 
wail the  condition  of  the  Reformed  churches, 
who  are  come  to  a  period  in  religion,*  and  will 
go  at  present  no  farther  than  the  instruments 
of  their  reformation.  The  Lutherans  cannot  be 
drawn  to  go  beyond  what  Luther  saw  ;  what- 
ever part  of  his  will  our  God  has  revealed  to 
Calvin,  they  will  rather  die  than  embrace  it  ; 
and  the  Calvinists,  you  see,  stick  fast  where 
they  were  left  by  that  great  man  of  God,  who 
yet  saw  not  aU  things. 

"  This  is  a  misery  much  to  be  lamented,  for 

*  The  remarks  of  Acontius  are  pertinent  here  : 
"  The  cause,"  says  he,  "  that  the  relics  of  error  and 
superstition  are  perpetuated  is,  that  as  often  as  there 
is  any  reformation  of  religion,  either  in  doctrine  or 
worship,  men  think  that  everything  is  not  to  be  im- 
mediately reformed  at  first,  but  the  most  distinguish- 
ing errors  only  are  to  be  done  away  ;  and  that,  when 
some  time  has  intervened,  the  reformation  will  be 
completed  with  less  difficulty.  But  the  event  hath  in 
man]/  places  shown,  that  it  is  more  difficult  to  remove  the 
relics  of  false  worship  and  opinions,  than  it  was  at  first 
to  subvert  fundamental  errors.  Hence  it  is  better  to 
correct  everything  at  once."  "  Sed  ex  eo  etiarn  fieri 
potest,  ut  maneant  errorum  atque  superstitionum  re- 
liquiae," &c. — Aconlii  Statagematum  Satanw,  libri  octo. 
ed.,  1652,  p.  330.— Ed. 


270 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


though  they  were  burning  and  shining  lights  in 
their  times,  yet  they  penetrated  not  into  the 
whole  counsel  of  God,  but  were  they  now  living, 
would  be  as  willing  to  embrace  farther  light  as 
that  which  they  first  received.  I  beseech  you 
remember,  it  is  an  article  of  your  church-cove- 
nant, that  you  be  ready  to  receive  whatever 
truth  shall  be  made  known  to  you  from  the 
written  Word  of  God.  Remember  that,  and 
every  other  article  of  your  sacred  covenant. 
But  I  must  here  withal  exhort  you  to  take  heed 
what  you  receive  as  truth — examine  it,  consid- 
er it,  and  compare  it  with  other  Scriptures  of 
truth,  before  you  receive  it ;  for  it  is  not  possi- 
ble the  Christian  world  should  come  so  lately 
out  of  such  thick  antichristian  darkness,  and 
that  perfection  of  knowledge  should  break  forth 
at  once. 

"  I  must  also  advise  you  to  abandon,  avoid, 
and  shake  off  the  name  of  Brownists  ;  it  is  a 
mere  nickname,  and  a  brand  for  the  making  re- 
ligion and  the  professors  of  it  odious  to  the 
Christian  world." 

On  July  1  (1620),  the  adventurers  went  from 
Leyden  to  Delfthaven,  whither  Mr.  Robinson 
and  the  ancients  of  his  congregation  accompa- 
nied them  ;  they  continued  together  all  night, 
and  next  morning,  after  mutual  embraces,  Mr. 
Robinson  kneeled  down  on  the  seashore,  and 
with  a  fervent  prayer  committed  them  to  the 
protection  and  blessing  of  Heaven.  The  adven- 
turers were  about  one  hundred  and  twenty, 
who,  having  joined  their  other  ship,  sailed  for 
New-England,  August  5  ;  but  one  of  their  ves- 
sels proving  leaky,  they  left  it,  and  embarked  in 
one  vessel,  which  arrived  at  Cape  Cod  Novem- 
ber 9,  1620.  Sad  was  the  condition  of  these 
poor  men,  who  had  the  winter  before  them,  and 
no  accommodations  at  land  for  their  entertain- 
ment ;  most  of  them  were  in  a  weak  and  sickly 
condition  with  the  voyage,  but  there  was  no  rem- 
edy ;  they  therefore  manned  their  long-boat, 
and  having  coasted  the  shore,  at  length  found  a 
tolerable  harbour,  where  they  landed  their  ef- 
fects, and  on  the  25th  of  December  began  to 
build  a  storehouse,  and  some  small  cottages  to 
preserve  them  from  the  weather.  Their  com- 
pany was  divided  into  nineteen  families,  each 
family  having  an  allotment  of  land  for  lodging 
and  gardens,  in  proportion  to  the  number  of 
persons  of  which  it  consisted  ;  and,  to  prevent 
disputes,  the  situation  of  each  family  was  deci- 
ded by  lot.  They  agreed,  likewise,  upon  some 
laws  for  their  civil  and  military  government,  and 
having  chosen  a  governor,  they  called  the  place 
of  their  settlement  by  the  name  of  New  Plym- 
outh. 

Inexpressible  were  the  hardships  these  new 
planters  underwent  the  first  winter;  a  sad  mor- 
tality raged  among  them,  occasioned  by  the  fa- 
tigues of  their  late  voyage,  by  the  severity  of  the 
weather,  and  their  want  of  necessaries.  The 
country  was  full  of  woods  and  thickets  ;  their 
poor  cottages  could  not  keep  them  warm  ;  they 
had  no  physician,  or  wholesome  food,  so  that 
within  two  or  three  months  half  their  company 
was  dead,  and  of  them  who  remained  alive, 
which  were  about  fifty,  not  above  six  or  seven 
at  a  time  were  capable  of  helping  the  rest ;  but 
as  the  spring  came  on  they  recovered,  and  hav- 
ing received  some  fresh   supplies   from  their 


friends  in  England,  they  maintained  their  sta- 
tion, and  laid  the  foundation  of  one  of  the  no- 
blest settlements  in  America,  which  from  that 
time  has  proved  an  asylum  for  the  Protestant 
Nonconformists  under  all  their  oppressions.* 

To  return  to  England  :  though  the  king  had 
so  lately  expressed  a  zeal  for  the  doctrines  of 
Calvin  at  the  Synod  of  Dort,  it  now  appeared 
that  he  had  shaken  them  off,  by  his  advancing 
the   most  zealous   Arminians,  as  Buckeridge, 
!  Neile,  Harsnet,  and  Laud,  to  some  of  the  best 
j  bishoprics  in  the  kingdom.     These  divines,  ap- 
j  prehending  their   principles   hardly  consistent 
I  with  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  fell  in  with  the 
I  prerogative,  and  covered  themselves  under  the 
i  wing  of  his  majesty's  pretensions  to  unlimited 
{  power,  which  gave  rise  to  a  new  distinction  at 
j  court  between  Church  and  Slate  Puritans.     All 
.  were  Puritans  with  King  James  who  stood  by 
the  laws  of  the  land  in  opposition  to  his  arbitra- 
ry government,  though  otherwise  never  so  good 
churchmen ;  these  were  Puritans  in  the  State, 
as  those  who  scrupled  the  ceremonies,  and  es- 
poused the  doctrines  of  Calvin,  were   in   the 
Church.     The  Church  Puritans  were  compara- 
tively few,  but  being  joined  by  those  who  stood 
by  the  Constitution,  they  became  the  majority 
of  the  nation.     To  balance  these,  the  king  pro- 
tected and   countenanced   the  Arminians  and 
papists,  who  joined  heartily  with  the  preroga- 
I  five,  and  became  a  state  faction  against  the  old 
English  Constitution.     The  parties,  being  thus 
formed,  grew  up  into  hatred  of  each  other.     All 
who  opposed  the  king's  arbitrary  measures  were 
called  at  court  by  the  name  of,  Puritans  ;  and 

*  This  colony  is  honourably  distinguished  from 
all  others  in  ancient  or  modern  times.  It  was  plant- 
ed under  the  influence  of  Christian  principles,  and 
was  designed  to  be  a  refuge  whither  the  persecuted 
in  England  might  repair  with  safety.  The  parties 
who  originated  it  were  men  of  exalted  piety  ;  and  the 
motives  which  swayed  their  conduct  were  of  the 
highest  and  purest  order  of  which  human  nature  .id- 
mits.  Other  colonies  had  been  founded  at  the  im- 
pulse of  national  glory,  or  of  commercial  enterprise  ; 
but  this  sprang  from  a  sacred  regard  to  ihe  interests 
of  religion,  whose  healthful  tone  and  vigorous  nature 
it  proclaimed  to  the  communities  of  Europe.  The 
character  of  the  colonists  gave  a  religious  complexion 
to  their  affairs,  while  their  fortitude  and  piety  revived 
the  hopes  of  their  brethren  at  home,  and  gave  promise 
of  a  belter  state  of  things  than  had  yet  been  realized. 
The  world  which  the  enterprising  genius  of  Colum- 
bus had  revealed  to  the  European  nations  was  a  thea- 
tre on  which  new  maxims  of  government  and  new 
forms  of  religion  were  to  be  subjected  to  the  test  of 
experiment  Many  of  the  seltlemenls  effected  on  its 
shores  were  conducted  by  men  of  piety,  who  were 
more  solicitous  for  the  preservation  of  Christian 
truth  than  for  the  accumulation  of  worldly  gairu 
The  experiment  was  therefore  made  under  the  hap- 
piest auspices,  and  the  rising  communities  of  the  New 
World  were  speedily  in  a  condition  to  speak  the  lan- 
guage of  freedom  to  the  enfeebled  and  decrepit  forms 
of  despotism  in  Europe.  Their  early  history  was 
distinguished  by  some  inconsistencies  flowing  from 
the  errors  they  had  imbibed  in  infancy.  The  pecu- 
liarity of  their  situation,  and  the  perplexing  and  haz- 
ardous nature  of  the  circumstances  amid  which  they 
were  required  to  act,  unhappily  led  them  to  forget  on 
some  occasions  the  tolerant  and  generous  principles 
which  the  noble  Robinson  had  inculcated.  But  his 
s])irit  revived  among  them,  and  ultimately  effected  the 
extinction  of  those  laws  and  usages  which  were  abke 
inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  Christianity  and  the 
professions  of  their  fathers. — C.     See  Price. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


271 


those  that  stood  by  the  crown  in  opposition  to 
the  Parliament  went  by  the  names  of  papists 
and  Arminians.  These  were  the  seeds  of  those 
factions  which  occasioned  all  the  disturbances 
in  the  following  reign. 

The  Palatinate  being  lost,  and  the  king's  son- 
in-law  and  daughter  forced  to  talce  sanctuary  in 
Holland,  the  whole  world  murmured  at  his  maj- 
esty's indolence,  both  as  a  father  and  a  Protest- 
ant :  these  murmurs  obliged  him,  at  length,  to 
have  recourse  to  a  Parliament,  from  whom  he 
hoped  to  squeeze  a  little  money  to  spend  upon 
his  pleasures;  at  the  opening  of  the  session, 
January  20,  1620-1,  his  majesty  told  them, 
"that  they  were  no  other  than  his  council,  to 
give  him  advice  as  to  what  he  should  ask.  It 
is  the  king,"  says  he,  "  that  makes  laws,  and  ye 
are  to  advise  him  to  make  such  as  will  be  best 
for  the  commonwealth."  With  regard  to  his 
tolerating  popery,  on  the  account  of  his  son's 
match,  he  professes  "  he  will  do  nothing  but 
what  shall  be  for  the  good  of  religion."  With 
regard  to  the  Palatinate,  he  says,  "  If  he  cannot 
get  it  restored  by  fair  means,  his  crown,  his 
blood,  and  his  son's  blood,  shall  be  spent  for  its 
recovery."  He  therefore  commands  them  not 
to  hunt  after  grievances,  but  to  be  quick  and 
speedy  in  giving  him  money.  Though  the  Par- 
liament did  not  credit  the  king's  speech,  yet  the 
occasion  was  so  reasonable,  that  the  Commons 
immediately  voted  him  two  entire  subsidies,  and 
the  clergy  three  ;  but  finding  his  majesty  awed 
by  the  Spaniard,  and  making  no  preparation  for 
war,  tiiey  began  to  inquire  into  grievances,  upon 
which  the  king  adjourned  the  houses  (a  power 
not  claimed  by  any  of  his  predecessors) ;  but 
upon  the  day  of  adjournment  the  Commons  drew 
up  a  declaration,  wherein  they  say,  "  that  being 
touched  with  a  true  sense  and  fellow-feeling  of 
the  sufferings  of  the  king's  children  and  of  the 
true  professors  of  the  same  Christian  religion 
professed  by  the  Church  of  England  in  foreign 
parts,  as  members  of  the  same  body,  they  unan- 
imously declare  that  they  will  be  ready,  to  the 
utmost  of  their  power,  both  with  their  lives  and 
fortunes,  to  assist  his  majesty,  so  as  that  he 
may  be  able  to  do  that  with  his  sword  which, 
by  a  peaceable  course,  shall  not  be  effected." 

Upon  their  reassembling  in  the  month  of  No- 
vember, finding  the  king  still  amused  by  the 
Spanish  match  while  the  Protestant  interest  in 
the  Palatinate  v/as  expiring,  the  Commons  drew 
up  a  large  remorstrance,  in  which  they  repre- 
sent the  danger  of  the  Protestant  religion  from 
the  growth  of  popery  ,  from  the  open  resort  of 
papists  to  the  ambassador's  chapels  ;  from  the 
frequent  and  numerous  conventicles  both  in  city 
and  country ;  from  the  interposing  of  foreign 
ambassadors  in  their  favour ;  from  the  com- 
pounding of  their  forfeitures  for  such  small  sums 
of  money  as  amount  to  little  less  than  a  tolera- 
tion ;  from  the  education  of  gentlemen's  children 
in  popish  seminaries,  and  the  licentious  printing 
and  publishing  popish  hooks ;  wherefore  they 
pray  his  majesty  to  take  his  sword  in  hand  for 
the  recovery  of  the  Palatinate,  to  put  the  laws 
in  execution  against  papists,  to  break  off  the 
Spanish  match,  and  to  marry  his  son  to  a  Prot- 
estant princess.  The  king,  hearing. of  this  re- 
monstrance, sent  the  speaker  a  letter  from  New- 
market to  acquaint  the  house,  "  that  he  absolute- 
ly forbid  their  meddling  with  anything  concern- 


ing his  government,  or  with  his  son's  match  ;" 
and  to  keep  them  in  awe,  his  majesty  declared, 
"that  he  thinks  himself  at  liberty  to  punish  any 
man's  misdemeanors  in  Parliament,  as  well  du- 
ring their  sitting  as  after,  which  he  means  not 
to  spare  hereafter  upon  occasion  of  any  man's  in- 
solent behaviour  in  the  house."*  In  answer  to 
this  letter,  the  Commons  drew  up  a  petition  to 
present  with  their  remonstrance,  in  which  they 
insist  upon  the  laws  of  their  country,  and  the 
freedom  of  debates  in  Parliament.  The  king 
returned  them  a  long  answer,  which  concludes 
with  denying  them  what  they  call  their  "  ancient 
and  undoubted  right  and  inheritance."  The 
Commons,  in  debate  upon  his  majesty's  answer, 
drew  up  a  protestation  in  maintenance  of  their 
claim,  and  caused  it  to  be  entered  in  their  jour- 
nal-book. Upon  this,  the  king  being  come  to 
London,  declared  in  council  the  protestation  to 
be  null,  and  with  great  indignation  tore  it  out  of 
the  book  with  his  own  hand.  A  few  days  after 
he  dissolved  the  Parliament,  and  issued  a  proc- 
lamation forbidding  his  subjects  to  talk  of  state 
affairs. t  He  also  committed  the  leading  mem- 
bers to  prison,  as  Sir  Edward  Coke,  Sir  Robert 
Philips,  Mr.  Selden,  Mr.  Pym,  and  Mr.  Mallery ; 
others  were  sent  into  Ireland,  and  the  Earls  of 
Oxford  and  Southampton  were  confined  in  the 
Tower.t 

The  king  having  parted  with  his  Parliament, 
was  at  liberty  to  gratify  the  Spaniards  by  indul- 
ging the  papists  ;  for  this  purpose  the  lord-keep- 
er Williams,  by  his  majesty's  command,  wrote 
to  all  the  judges,  "  that  in  their  several  circuits 
they  discharge  all  prisoners  for  church  recusan- 
cy ;  or  for  refusing  the  oath  of  supremacy  ;  or 
for  dispersing  popish  books  ;  or  hearing  or  say- 
ing mass  ;  or  for  any  other  point  of  recusancy 
that  concerned  religion  only."^  Accordingly,  the 
Jesuits  and  popish  recusants  of  all  sorts  were 
enlarged,  to  the  number,  says  Mr.  Prynne,  of  four 
thousand  ;||  all  prosecutions  were  stayed,  and 
the  penal  laws  suspended.  Upon  this  great 
numbers  of  Jesuits  and  other  missionaries  flock- 
ed into  England  ;  mass  was  celebrated  openly 
in  the  countries  ;  and  in  London  their  private 
assemblies  were  so  crowded,  that  at  a  meeting 
in  Blackfriars  [November  5,  1622,  N.  S.],  the 
floor  sunk  under  them,  and  killed  the  preacher 
and  ninety-three  of  the  hearers. 

While  the  papists  were  countenanced,  the 
court  and  the  new  bishops  bore  hard  upon  the 
Puritans,  filling  the  pulpits  with  men  of  arbitra- 
ry principles,  and  punishing  those  who  dared 
to  preach  for  the  rights  of  the  subject.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Knight,  of  Broadsgate  Hall,  in  a  ser- 
mon  before   the   University   of  Oxford,  on   2 

*  Rapin,  vol.  h.,  p.  208,  211,  folio  edition. 

t  Wilson,  p.  190,  191 ;  Rapin,  vol.  h.,  p.  212,  and 
note  4,  folio  edition. 

t  According  to  Tyndal,  as  observes  Dr.  Grey,  the 
Earl  of  Southampton  was  coininitted  to  the  Dean  of 
Westminster.— Ed.  <J  Fuller,  b.  x.,  p.  101. . 

II  Dr.  Grey  quotes  here  the  autliority  of  Fuller 
against  Prynne's  account,  who  says  that,  according' 
to  John  Gee's  perfect  list,  all  the  Jesuits  in  England 
did  not  amount  to  more  than  two  hundred  and  twen- 
ty-live But  Prynne's  account,  which  Mr.  Neal 
adopts,  is,  on  the  other  hand,  confirmed  by  Tyndal, 
who  informs  us,  on  the  testimony  of  Wilson,  that 
Gondaniar  used  to  boast  that  four  thousand  recusants 
had  been  released  through  his  intercession. — Rapm's 
History,  vol.  ii.,  p.  215,  note  7. — Ed. 


272 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


Kings,  xix.,  9,  advanced  this  proposition,  that 
"  subordinate  magistrates  might  lawfully  make 
use  of  force,  and  defend  themselves,  the  com- 
monwealth, and  the  true  religion,  in  the  field, 
against  the  chief  magistrate,  within  the  cases 
and  conditions  following:  1.  When  the  chief 
magistrate  turns  tyrant.  2.  When  he  forces  his 
subjects  upon  blasphemy  or  idolatry.  3.  When 
any  intolerable  burdens  or  pressures  are  laid 
upon  them.  4.  When  resistance  is  the  only  ex- 
pedient to  secure  their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and 
the  liberty  of  their  consciences."  The  court 
being  informed  of  this  sermon,  sent  for  the 
preacher,  and  asked  him  what  authority  he  had 
for  this  assertion  ;  he  answered,  Paraeus  on  Ro- 
mans, xiii.,  but  that  his  principal  authority  was 
Kng  James  himself,  who  was  sending  assist- 
ance to  the  Rochellers  against  their  natural 
prince.  Upon  this  bold  answer,  Mr.  Knight  was 
confined  in  the  Gate-house,  Parajus's  comment- 
aries were  burned  at  Oxford  and  London,  his 
assertions  were  condemned  as  false  and  sedi- 
tious, and  the  University  of  Oxford,  in  full  con- 
vocation, passed  a  decree  that  it  was  not  law- 
ful for  subjects  to  appear  offensively  in  arms 
against  their  king  on  the  score  of  religion,  or  on 
any  other  account,  according  to  the  Scripture. 
.How  this  was  reconcilable  with  the  king's  as- 
sisting the  French  Huguenots,  I  must  leave 
with  the  reader.  But  to  bind  the  nation  down 
forever  in  principles  of  slavery,  all  graduates  of 
the  University  of  Oxford  were  enjoined  to  sub- 
scribe the  above-mentioned  decree,  and  to  swear 
that  they  would  always  continue  of  the  same 
opinion.  Was  there  ever  such  an  unreasonable 
oath  1  for  a  man  to  swear  he  will  always  be  of 
the  same  mind  !  Yet  such  was  the  severity  of 
the  times : 

But  to  distress  the  Puritans  more  effectually, 
the  king  sent  the  following  directions  to  the 
archbishop,  to  be  communicated  to  all  the  cler- 
gy of  his  province,  dated  from  Windsor,  August 
10,  1622  : 

1.  "That  no  preacher,  under  a  bishop  or 
dean,  shall  make  a  set  discourse,  or  fall  into 
any  commonplace  of  divinity  in  his  sermons, 
not  comprehencJted  in  the  Thirty-nine  At-ticles.* 

2.  "  That  no  parson,  vicar,  curate,  or  lectu- 
rer shall  preach  any  sermon  hereafter  on  Sun- 
days or  holydays  in  the  afternoon,  but  expound 
the  Catechism,  Creed,  or  Ten  Commandments, t 
and  that  those  be  most  encouraged  who  cate- 
chise children  only. 

3.  "  That  no  preacher,  under  a  bishop  or  dean, 
presume  to  preach  in  any  popular  auditory  on 
the  deep  points  of  predestination,  election,  rep- 
robation ;  or  of  the  universality,  efficacy,  resisti- 
bility,  or  irresistibility  of  God's  grace. 

4.  "  That  no  preacher,  of  any  degree  soever, 
shall  henceforth  presume  in  any  auditory  to 
declare,  limit,  or  set  bounds  to  the  prerogative, 
power,  or  jurisdiction  of  sovereign  princes,  or 
meddle  with  matters  of  state. 

5.  "  That  no  preacher  shall  use  railing  speech- 
es against  papists  or  Puritans,  but  endeavour  to 
free  the  doctrine  and  discipline  of  the  Church 
in  a  grave  manner  from  the  aspersions  of  both 
adversaries. 

*  Or,  as  Dr.  Grey  would  add,  "  some  of  the  homi- 
lies of  the  Church  of  England."— Ed. 

t  Or,  as  the  same  writer  would  subjoin, "  the  Lord's 
Prayer"  (funeral  sermons  alone  excepted).— Ed. 


6.  "  That  the  archbishop  and  bishops  be 
more  wary  for  the  future  in  licensing  preach- 
ers ;  and  that  all  lecturers  throughout  the  king- 
dom be  licensed  in  the  court  of  faculties,  by 
recommendation  from  the  bishop  of  the  diocess, 
with  a  fiat  from  the  archbishop,  and  a  confirma- 
tion under  the  great  seal  of  England. 

"  Those  that  offended  against  any  of  these 
injunctions  were  to  be  suspended  ab  officio  et 
hcncficio  for  a  year  and  a  day,  till  his  majesty 
should  prescribe  some  farther  punishment,  with 
advice  of  convocation." 

Here  is  nothing  that  could  affect  papists  or 
Arminians,  but  almost  every  article  points  at 
the  Puritans.  The  king  had  assisted  in  main- 
taining these  doctrines  in  Holland,  but  will  not 
have  them  propagated  in  England.  The  Thirty- 
nine  Articles  were  established  by  law,  and  yet 
none  under  a  bishop  or  dean  may  preach  on  the 
seventeenth,  concerning  predestination.  The 
ministers  of  God's  Word  may  not  limit  the  pre- 
rogative, but  they  may  preach  concerning  its 
unlimited  extent ;  and,  though  the  second  in- 
junction admits  of  their  expounding  the  cate- 
chism. Fuller  says,  "  The  bishops'  officials  were 
so  active,  that  in  many  places  they  tied  up 
preachers  in  the  afternoon  to  the  very  letter  of 
the  catechism,  allowing  them  no  liberty  to  ex- 
pound w  enlarge  upon  any  of  the  answers."* 
The  Puritans  had  suffered  hitherto  only  for  the 
neglect  of  ceremonies,  but  now  their  very  doc- 
trine is  an  offence.  From  this  time  all  Calvin- 
ists  were  in  a  manner  excluded  from  court  pre- 
ferments. The  way  to  rise  in  the  Church  was 
to  preach  up  the  absolute  power  of  the  king,  to 
disclaim  against  the  rigours  of  Calvinism,  and  to 
speak  favourably  of  popery.  Those  who  scru- 
pled this  were  neglected,  and  distinguished  by 
the  name  of  Doctrinal  Puritans  ;  but  it  was  the 
glory  of  this  people  that  they  stood  together, 
like  a  wall,  against  the  arbitrary  proceedings  of 
the  king,  both  in  Church  and  State. 

Archbishop  Abbot  was  at  the  head  of  the 
Doctrinal  Puritans,  and  often  advised  the  king 
to  return  to  the  old  parliamentary  way  of  rais- 
ing money.  This  cost  him  his  interest  at  court, 
and  an  accident  happened  this  year  whicli  quite 
broke  his  spirits,  and  made  him  retire  from  the 
world.  Lord  Zouch  invited  his  grace  to  a 
buck-hunting  in  Bramshill  Park,  in  Hampshire, 
and  while  the  keeper  was  running^  among  the 
deer  to  bring  them  to  a  fairer  mark,  the  arch- 
bishop, sitting  on  horseback,  let  fly  a  barbed  ar- 
row, which  shot  him  under  the  armpit  and  kill- 
ed him  on  the  spot.  His  grace  was  so  dis- 
tressed in  mind  with  the  accident,  that  he  re- 
tired to  one  of  his  own  almshouses  at  Guilford  ; 
and  though  upon  examination  of  the  case  it 
was  judged  casual  homicide,  he  kept  that  day 
as  a  fast  as  long  as  he  lived,  and  allowed  the 
keeper's  widow  £20  a  year  for  her  mainte- 
nance. The  king,  also,  being  moved  with  com- 
passion, sent  for  him  to  Lambeth,  and  gave  him 
a  royal  pardon  and  dispensation  to  prevent  all 
exceptions  to  his  episcopal  character ;  but  he 
prudently  withdrew  from  the  council-board, 
where  his  advice  had  been  little  regarded  be- 
fore, as  coming  from  a  person  of  unfashionable 
principles. 

The  Puritans  lost  an  eminent  practical  writer 
and  preacher  about  this  time,  Nicholas  Byfield, 

*  Book  X.,  p.  111. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


273 


torn  m  Warwickshire,  and  educated  in  Exeter 
College,  Oxford.  After  four  years,  he  left  the 
university,  and  went  for  Ireland  ;  but  preaching 
at  Chester,  the  inhabitants  gave  him  a  unani- 
mous invitation  to  St.  Peter's  Church  in  that 
city,  where  he  resided  seven  years.  From 
thence  he  removed  to  Isleworth  in  Middlesex, 
and  remained  there  till  his  death.  He  was  a 
divine  of  a  profound  judgment,  a  strong  memo- 
ry, quick  invention,  and  unwearied  industry, 
"Which  brought  the  stone  upon  him,  which  sent 
him  to  his  grave,  in  the  forty-fifth  year  of  his  age. 
His  body  being  opened,  a  stone  was  taken  out 
of  his  bladder  that  weighed  thirty-three  ounces, 
and  was  in  measure  about  the  edge  fifteen  inch- 
es and  a  half;  about  the  length  and  breadth  thir- 
teen inches,  and  solid  like  a  flint ;  an  almost  in- 
credible relation  !  But  Dr.  William  Gouge,  who 
drew  up  this  account,  was  an  eyewitness  of  it, 
with  many  others.  Mr.  Byfield  was  a  Calvinist, 
a  nonconformist  to  the  ceremonies,  and  a  strict 
observer  of  the  Sabbath.  He  published  several 
books  in  his  lifetime  ;*  and  his  commentaries 
upon  the  Colossians  and  St.  Peter,  published  af- 
ter his  death,  show  him  to  be  a  divine  of  great 
piety,  capacity,  and  learning,  t 

The  archbishop  being  in  disgrace,  the  council 
were  unanimous,  and  met  with  no  interruption 
in  their  proceedings.  The  Puritans  retired  to 
the  new  plantations  in  America,  and  popery 
came  in  like  an  armed  man.  This  was  occa- 
sioned partly  by  the  new  promotions  at  court, 
but  chiefly  by  the  Spanish  match,  which  was 
begun  about  the  year  1617,  and  drawn  out  to  a 
length  of  seven  years,  till  the  Palatinate  was 
lost,  and  the  Protestant  religion  in  a  manner 
extirpated  out  of  the  kingdom  of  Bohemia  and 
other  parts  of  Germany ;  and  then  the  match 
itself  was  broke  off. 

To  trace  this  affair  from  its  beginning,  because 
it  was  the  source  of  the  ensuing  calamities  of 
this  and  the  following  reign.  Prince  Charles 
being  arrived  at  the  state  of  manhood,  the  king 
had  thoughts  of  marrying  him,  but  could  find  no 
Protestant  princess  of  an  equal  rank.  He  de- 
spised the  princes  of  Germany,  and  would  hear 
of  nothing  beneath  a  king's  daughter.  This 
put  him  upon  seeking  a  wife  for  him  out  of  the 
house  of  Austria,  sworn  enemies  to  the  Protest- 
ant religion  ;  for  which  purpose  he  entered  into 
a  treaty  with  Spain  for  the  infanta.  Under  col- 
our of  this  match,  Gondamar,  the  Spanish  am- 
bassador, made  the  king  do  whatever  he  pleased. 
If  he  inclined  to  assist  his  son-in-law  in  recov- 
ering the  Palatinate,  he  vs^as  told  he  must  keep 
fair  with  the  house  of  Austria,  or  the  match  was 
at  an  end.  If  he  denied  any  favours  to  the  pa- 
pists at  home,  the  court  of  Rome,  and  all  the 
Roman  Catholic  powers,  were  disobliged,  and 
then  it  could  never  take  place.  To  obviate 
these  and  other  objections,  his  majesty  prom- 
ised, upon  the  word  of  a  king,  that  no  Roman 
Catholic  should  be  proceeded  against  capitally ; 
and  though  he  could  not  at  present  repeal  the 
pecuniary  laws,  that  he  would  mitigate  them  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  Catholic  king ;  and  the 

*  Bishop  Wilkins  passes  a  high  encomium  on  his 
Sermons,  classing  them  with  the  very  best  of  the 
day.  His  works  which  still  exist,  though  very  rare, 
amount  to  fifteen. — C. 

t  Wood's  Athen.  Oxon.,  vol.  i'.,  p.  402;  Fuller's 
Worthies,  1684,  p.  833. 

Vol.  I.— M  m 


lengths  his  majesty  went  in  favour  of  papists  on 
this  occasion  will  appear  by  the  following  arti- 
cles, which  were  inserted  both  into  the  Spanish 
and  French  treaty  which  afterward  took  place. 
The  articles  of  the  intended  Spanish  match  re- 
lating to  religion  were  these  : 

Art.  6.  "  The  infanta  herself,  her  men  and 
maid  servants,  their  children  and  descendants, 
and  all  their  families,  of  what  sort  soever,  serv- 
ing her  highness,  may  freely  and  publicly  pro- 
fess themselves  Catholics.* 

Art.  5,  7,  and  8.  "  Provide  a  church,  a  chapel, 
and  an  oratory  for  hejr  highness,  with  all  popish 
ornaments,  utensils,  and  decorations. 

Art.  10,  11,  and  12.  "Allow  her  twenty-four 
priests  and  assistants,  and  over  them  a  bishop, 
with  full  authority  and  spiritual  jurisdiction. 

Art.  14.  "  Admits  the  infanta  and  her  servants 
to  procure  from  Rome  dispensations,  indulgen- 
ces, jubilees,  &c.,  and  all  graces,  as  shall  seem 
meet  to  them. 

Art.  17.  "  Provides  that  the  laws  made 
against  Roman  Catholics  in  England,  or  in  any 
of  the  king's  dominions,  shall  not  e.xtend  to  the 
children  of  this  marriage ;  nor  shall  they  lose 
their  succession  to  the  crown,  although  they  be 
Roman  Catholics. 

Art.  18  and  21.  "Authorize  the  infanta  to 
choose  nurses  for  her  children,  and  to  bring 
them  up  in  her  religion  till  they  are  ten  years 
of  age."  But  the  term  was  afterward  enlarged 
to  twelve,  and  in  the  match  with  France,  to 
thirteen. 

King  James  swore  to  the  observation  of  these 
articles,  in  the  presence  of  the  two  Spanish  am- 
bassadors, and  twenty-four  privy  counsellors 
who  set  their  hands-  to  the  treaty.  Besides 
which,  his  majesty  and  the  Prince  of  Wales 
swore  to  the  four  following  private  ones  :  "  (1.) 
That  no  laws  against  papists  should  hereafter 
be  put  in  execution.  (2.)  That  no  new  laws 
shall  be  made  against  them  ;  but  that  there  shall 
be  a  perpetual  toleration  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
religion  in  private  houses,  throughout  all  his 
majesty's  dopimions,  which  his  counsel  shall 
swear  to.  (3.)  That  he  will  never  persuade  the 
infanta  to  change  her  religion.  (4.)  That  he 
will  use  all  his  authority  and  influence  to  have 
these  conditions  ratified  by  Parliament,  that  so' 
all  penal  laws  against  papists  may  not  only  be 
suspended,  but  legally  disannulled." 

The  words  of  the  Prince  of  Wales's  oath 
were  these  :  "  I,  Charles,  prince  of  Wales,  en- 
gage myself — that  all  things  contained  m  the 
foregoing  articles,  which  concern  as  well  the 
suspension  as  abrogation  of  all  laws  made 
against  Roman  Catholics,  shall  within  three 
years  infallibly  take  effect,  and  sooner  if  possi- 
ble ;  which  we  will  have  to  lie  upon  our  con- 
science and  royal  honour  :  and  I  will  intercede 
with  my  father  that  the  ten  years  of  education 
of  the  children  that  shall  be  born  of  this  mar- 
riage, which  the  Pope  of  Rome  desires  may  be 
lengthened  to  twelve,  shall  be  prolonged  to  the 
said  term.  And  I  swear,  that  if  the  entire  pow- 
er of  disposing  this  matter  be  devolved  upon 
me,  I  will  grant  and  approve  of  the  said  term.t 
Furthermore,  as  oft  as  the  infanta  shall  desire 
that  I  should  give  ear  to  divines  and  others, 

*  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  p.  86 ;  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  217, 218, 
folio  edit. 

t  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  p.  89. 


274 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


whom  her  highness  shall  be  pleased  to  employ- 
in  matters  of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  I 
will  hearken  to  them  willingly,  without  all  diffi- 
culties, and  laying  aside  all  excuses." 

Under  these  advantages,  the  papists  appeared 
openly,  and  behaved  with  an  oflensive  inso- 
lence ;  but  the  hearts  of  all  true  Protestants 
trembled  for  themselves  and  their  posterity. 
And  Archbishop  Abbot,  though  under  a  cloud, 
ventured  to  write  to  the  king  upon  the  subject, 
beseeching  him  to  consider  "whether,  by  the 
toleration  which  his  majesty  propo-ses,  he  is  not 
setting  up  that  most  damnable  and  heretical 
doctrine  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  the  whore  of 
Babylon  1  How  hateful  must  this  be  to  God, 
and  grievous  to  your  good  subjects,"  says  he, 
"  that  your  majesty,  who  hath  learnedly  written 
against  these  wicked  heresies,  should  now  show 
yourself  a  patron  of  those  doctrines,  which  your 
pen  has  told  the  world,  and  your  conscience 
tells  yourself,  are  superstitious,  idolatrous,  and 
detestable.  Besides,  this  toleration,  which  you 
endeavour  to  set  up  by  proclamation,  cannot  be 
done  without  a  Parliament,  unless  your  majes- 
ty will  let  your  subjects  see  that  you  will  take 
a  liberty  to  throw  down  the  laws  at  your  pleas- 
ure. And,  above  all,  I  beseech  your  majesty  to 
consider,  lest  by  this  toleration  your  majesty 
do  not  draw  upon  the  kingdom  in  general,  and 
on  yourself  in  particular,  God's  heavy  wrath 
and  indignation."* 

But  this  wise  king,  instead  of  hearkening  to 
the  remonstrances  of  his  Protestant  subjects, 
put  the  peace  of  his  kingdom,  and  the  whole 
Protestant  religion,  into  the  hands  of  the  Span- 
iard, by  sending  his  son  with  the  Duke  of  Buck- 
ingham to  Madrid,  to  fetch  home  the  infanta  ; 
a  piece  of  confidence  that  the  "  Solomon  of  the 
age"  should  not  have  been  guilty  of     When 
the  prince  was  gone,  it  is  said  that  Archy,  the 
king's  fool,  clapped  his  cap  upon  the  king's 
head.     The  king  asking  him  the  reason,  he  an- 
swered, because  he  had  sent  the  prince  into 
Spain.      But,   says   his   majesty.  What  if  he 
should  come  back  safe  1     Why,  tt>en,  says  Ar- 
chy, I  will  take  my  cap  off  from  your  head,  and 
put  it  on  the  King  of  Spain's.!     The  Spaniards 
gave  out  that  the  design  of  the  prince's  journey 
was  to  reconcile  himself  to  the  Church  of  Rome. 
It  is  certain  the  pope  wrote  to  the  Bishop  of 
Conchen  to  lay  hold  of  this  opportunity  to  con- 
vert him,t  and  directed  a  most  persuasive  let- 
ter to  the  prince  himself  to  the  same  purpose, 
dated  April  20,  1623,  which  the  prince  answer- 
ed June  20,  in  a  very  obliging  manner,  giving 
the  pope  the  title  of  the  Most  Holy  Father,  and 
encouraging  him  to  expect  that,  when  he  came 
to  the  crown,  there  should  be  but  one  religion  in 
his  dominions,  seeing,  says  he,  that  both  Cath- 
•jlics   and    Protestants   believe    in    one    Jesus 
Christ.     He  was  strongly  solicited  to  change 
his  religion  by  some  of  the  first  quality,  and  by 
the  most  learned  priests  and  Jesuits,  who  ca- 
ressed his  highness  with  speeches,  dedicated 
books  to  him,  invited  him  to  their  processions, 
and  gave  him  a  view  of  their  most  magnifioent 
churclies  and  relics  ;  by  which  artifices,  though 
he  was  not  converted,  he  was  confirmed  in  his 
resolution  of  attempting  a  coalition  of  the  two 


churches  ;*  for  the  attempting  of  which  he  af- 
terward lost  both  his  crown  and  life.f  It  was 
happy,  after  all,  that  the  prince  got  safe  out  of 
the  Spanish  territories,  which,  as  Spanheim  ob- 
serves, that  politic  court  would  not  have  per- 
mitted, had  they  not  considered  that  the  Queea 
of  Bohemia,  next  heir  to  the  crown,  was  a  great- 
er eneny  to  popery  than  her  brother. J  But,  af- 
ter all,  when  this  memorable  treaty  of  marriage 
had  been  upon  the  carpet  seven  years,  and 
wanted  nothing  but  celebration,  the  portion  be- 
ing settled,  the  pope's  dispensation  obtained,  the 
marriage  articles  sworn  to  on  both  sides,  and 
the  very  day  of  celebration  by  proxy  appointed, 
it  was  broke  off  by  the  influence  of  the  Duke 
of  Buckingham  upon  the  prince,  who  ordered 
the  Earl  of  Bristol  not  to  deliver  the  proxy  till 
the  time  limited  by  the  dispensation  was  expi- 
red ;  the  King  of  Spain,  suspecting  the  design, 
in  order  to  throw  all  the  blame  upon  the  King 


*  Fuller,  b.  x.,  p.  100. 

i-  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  226,  the  note,  folio  edit. 

X  Wilson,  p.  230  ;  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  221,  folio  edit, 


*  "This,"  says  Bishop  Warburton,  "is  an  utter 
calumny ;  a  coalition  of  the  two  churches  was  never 
in  the  king's  thouglits  ;  happy  for  him  if  he  had  nev- 
er had  worse ;  what  he  aimed  at  was  arbitrary  pow- 
er."   It  is  strange  how  his  lordship  could  give  his 
pen  a  license  to  pass  this  unjust  censure  on  Mr.  Neal, 
when  the  conduct  of  Charles  1.  furnished  so  many 
proofs  of  his  wishes  and  endeavours  to  coalesce  with, 
the  Church  of  Rome.     His  letter  to  the  pope  from 
Madrid,  the  articles  of  the  marriage-treaty,  to  which, 
he  solemnly  signed  and  swore,  and  the  private  arti- 
cles to  which  he  also  swore,  are  witnesses  to  the 
truth  of  Mr.  Neal's  assertion.     If  he  had  not  aimed 
at  this,  why  did  he  disown  the  foreign  Protestants  ? 
Why  did  he  restrain  the  press  with  respect  to  books 
written  against  popery,  and  license  publications  in 
favour  of  it?    Why  was  popery  not  only  tolerated, 
but  countenanced  and  favoured  ?     See  the  facts  to 
this  purpose  fully  stated  in  Towgood's  "  Essay  to- 
wards a  true  Idea  of  the  Character  of  Charles  1.," 
chap.  ix.     So  far  did  he  carry  his  views  and  endeav- 
ours on  this  business.      Whitelocke  informs  us  a 
scheme  was  in  agitation  to  set  up  a  new  popish  hie- 
rarchy by  the  bishops  in  all  the  counties  in  England, 
by  the   authority  of  the  pope.  —  Memorials,  p.  72. 
And  the  Jesuit  Franciscus  a  Clara,  the  queen's  chap- 
lain, certainly  thought  things  were  in  a  train  for  such 
a  coalition  ;  for  in  one  of  his  publications,  he  assert- 
ed, "  that  if  any  synod  were  held  non  iiUermixtis  Pu- 
ritanis,  setting  Puritans  aside,  our  articles  and  their 
religion  would  soon  be  agreed."— Ma^'s  History  of 
the  Parliament,  p.  74.     Dr.  Grey  also  aims  to  contro- 
vert this  passage  of  Mr.  Neal,  and  with  this  view  re- 
fers us  to  Rushworth,  Frankland,  Hacket,  and  Bur- 
ned ;  but  the  quotations  he  adduces  from  these  wri- 
ters are  not  to  the  point,  and  prove  only,  as  Mr.  Neal 
allows,  that  Charles  was  not  converted  to  popery. — 
See  Dr.  Grey's   Examination  of  Neal,  vol.  ii.,  p.  71. 
— Ed. 
t  Rapin,  -vol.  ii.,  p.  226,  vide  note,  folio  edit. 
X  Dr.  Grey  '.-ensures  Mr.  Neal  for  not   quoting 
Spanheim  fairly;  and  this  writer,  as   Tyndal  and 
Welwood,  from  whom  he  borrows  the  passage,  rep- 
resent his  words,  dties  not,  it  is  true,  say  that  the 
Queen  of  Bohemia  was  a  greater  enemy  to  popery 
than  her  brother,  but  only  resolves  the  conduct  of 
the  court  of  Spain  into  the  consideration  of  her  and 
her  children  being  next  heirs  to  the  crown  of  Eng- 
land.   Mr.  Neal,  therefore,  is  to  be  understood  as 
suggesting  the  reason  why  the  consideration  of  her 
and  her  children  had  so  much  weight  with  the  court 
of  Spain.     Few  who  reflect  on  the  firm  attachment 
of  that  lady  to  the  Protestant  cause  will  suspect  Mr. 
Neal  of  mistaking  the  cause  of  the  Spanish  policy. 
It  would  have  been,  however,  more  accurate  in  him 
to  have  quoted  at  large  the  words  of  Spanheim,  and 
then  to  have  subjoined  his  own  suggestion  as  ex 
planatory  of  them. — Ed. 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


275 


of  England,  signed  a  promise  with  his  own  hand, 
and  deUvered  it  to  the  ambassador,  wherein  he 
obliged  himself  to  cause  the  Palatinate  to  be  re- 
stored to  the  elector  palatine,  in  case  the  marriage 
took  effect ;  but  his  highness  was  immovable, 
and  obliged  the  king  to  recall  his  ambassador. 

From  this  time  the  prince  and  duke  seemed 
to  turn  Puritans,  the  latter  having  taken  Dr. 
John  Preston,  one  of  their  chief  ministers,  into 
his  service,  to  consult  him  about  alienating  the 
dean  and  chapter  lands  to  the  purpose  of  preach- 
ing. They  also  advised  the  king  to  convene  a 
Parliament,  which  his  majesty  did,  and  made 
such  a  speech  to  them  as  one  would  think  im- 
possible to  come  from  the  same  lips  with  the 
former.  "  I  assure  you,"  says  he,  speaking  of 
the  Spanish  match,  "on  the  faith  of  a  Christian 
king,  that  it  is  res  Integra  presented  unto  you, 
and  that  I  stand  not  bound  nor  either  way  en- 
gaged, but  remain  free  to  follow  what  shall  be 
best  advised."  His  majesty  adds,  "  I  can  truly 
say,  and  will  avouch  it  before  the  seat  of  God 
and  angels,  that  never  did  king  govern  with  a 
purer,  sincerer,  and  more  uncorrupt  heart  than 
I  have  done,  far  from  ilZ-will  and  meaning  of 
the  least  error  and  imperfection  in  my  reign. 
It  has  been  talked  of  my  remissness  in  nfainte- 
nance  of  religion,  and  suspicion  of  a  tolera- 
tion [of  popery]  ;*  but.  as  God  shall  judge  me, 
I  never  thought  nor  meant,  nor  ever  in  word 
expressed,  anything  that  savoured  of  it.  I  nev- 
er, in  all  my  treaties,  agreed  to  anything  to 
the  overthrow  and  disannulling  of  those  laws, 
but  had  in  all  a  chief  regard  to  the  preservation 
of  that  truth  which  I  have  ever  professed."  The 
reader  will  remember  how  this  agrees  with  the 
marriage  articles  above  mentioned,  to  which  the 
king  had  sworn. 

But  the  Parliament,  taking  things  as  the  king 
had  represented  them,  advised  his  majesty  to 
break  off  the  match,  and  to  declare  war  for  the 
recovery  of  the  Palatinate  ;  and,  at  the  same 
time,  petitioned  his  majesty  that  all  Jesuits 
and  seminary  priests  might  be  commanded  to 
depart  the  realm ;  that  the  laws  might  be  put 
in  execution  against  popish  recusants  ;  that  all 
such  might  be  removed  from  court,  and  ten 
miles  from  London. t  To  which  the  king  made 
this  remarkable  answer,  which  must  strike  the 
reader  with  surprise  and  wonder  :  "  What  reli- 
gion I  am  of  my  books  declare  ;  I  wish  it  may 
be  written  in  marble,  and  remain  to  posterity  as 
a  mark  upon  me,  when  I  shall  swerve  from  my 
religion  ;  for  he  that  dissembles  with  God  is 
not  to  be  trusted  with  men.  I  protest  before 
God  that  my  heart  hath  bled  when  I  have  heard 
of  the  increase  of  popery.  God  is  my  judge,  it 
hath  been  such  a  grief  to  me,  that  it  hath  been 
as  thorns  in  my  eyes  and  pricks  in  my  sides. 
It  hath  been  my  desire  to  hinder  the  growth  of 
popery ;  and  I  could  not  be  an  honest  man  if  I  had 
done  otherwise.  I  will  order  the  laws  to  be  put 
m  execution  against  popish  recusants  as  they 
were  before  these  treaties,  for  the  laws  are  still 
in  being,  and  were  never  dispensed  with  by  me  ; 
God  is  my  judge,  they  were  never  so  intended 
by  me." 

What  solemn  appeals  to  Heaven  are  these 
against  the  clearest  and  most  undeniable  facts  ! 


*  Rapin,  vol.  h.,  p.  227,  228,  foho  edit, 
t  Rapin,  vol.  h.,  p.  229,  230,  folip  edit. ;    Rush- 
v.'orth,  p.  141-143. 


It  requires  a  good  degree  of  charity  to  believe  this 
prince  had  either  religion  or  conscience  remain- 
ing. For  though  he  assured  his  Parliament 
that  his  heart  bled  within  him  when  he  heard 
of  the  increase  of  popery,  yet  this  very  Parlia- 
ment presented  him  with  a  list  of  fifty-seven 
popish  lords  and  knights  who  were  in  public 
offices,  none  of  whom  were  displaced,  while  the 
Puritan  ministers  were  driven  out  of  the  king- 
dom, and  hardly  a  gentleman  of  that  character 
advanced  to  the  dignity  of  a  justice  of  peace. 

The  Parliament  being  prorogued,  the  king, 
instead  of  going  heartily  into  the  war,  or  mar- 
rying his  son  to  a  Protestant  princess,  entered 
into  a  ticaty  with  Louis  XIII.,  king  of  France, 
for  bis  sister,  Henrietta  Maria.*  Upon  this  oc- 
casion the  Archbishop  of  Ambrun  was  sent  into 
England,  who  told  the  king  the  best  way  to  ac- 
complish the  match  for  his  son  was  to  grant 
a  full  toleration  to  Catholics.  The  king  re- 
plied, that  he  intended  to  grant  it,  and  was  will- 
ing to  have  an  assembly  of  divines  to  compro- 
mise the  difference  between  Protestants  and 
papists,  and  promised  to  send  a  letter  to  the 
pope  to  bring  him  into  the  project.  In  this  let- 
ter, says  Monsieur  Deageant  in  his  memoirs, 
the  king  styles  the  pope  Christ's  vicar,  and 
head  of  the  Church  universal,  and  assures  him 
he  would  declare  himself  a  Catholic  as  soon  as 
he  could  provide  against  the  inconveniences 
of  such  a  declaration  ;  but  whether  this  was  so 
or  not,  it  is  certain  he  immediately  relaxed  the 
penal  laws  against  papists,  and  permitted  Am- 
brun to  administer  confirmation  to  ten  thousand 
Catholics  at  the  door  of  the  French  ambassa- 
dor's house,  in  the  presence  of  a  great  con- 
course of  people.  In  the  mean  time  the  treaty 
of  marriage  went  forward,  and  was  at  last  sign- 
ed, November  10,  1624,  in  the  thirty-three  pub- 
lic articles,  and  three  secret  ones,  wherein  the 
very  same  or  greater  advantages  were  stipula- 
ted for  the  Catholics  than  in  those  of  Madrid  ;f 
but,  before  the  dispensation  from  the  pope  could 
be  obtained,  his  majesty  fell  sick  at  Theo- 
bald's of  a  tertian  ague,  which  put  an  end  to 
his  life,  not  without  suspicion  of  poison,J  March 
27,  1625,  in  the  fifty-ninth  year  of  his  age.i) 

To  review  the  course  of  this  reign.  It  is  ev- 
ident that  both  popery  and  Puritanism  increased 
prodigiously,  while  the  friends  of  the  hierarchy 
sunk  into  contempt ;  this  was  owing  partly  to 
the  spiritual  promotions,  and  partly  to  the  arbi- 
trary maxims  of  state  that  the  king  had  advan- 
ced. In  promoting  of  bishopy  the  king  discov- 
ered a  greater  regard  to  sucli  ;'.s  would  yield  a 
servile  compliance  to  his  absolute  commands 
than  to  such  as  would  fill  their  sees  with  repu- 
tation, and  be  an  example  to  the  people  of  reli- 
gion and  Virtue,  of  which  number  were  Bishop 
Neile,  Buckeridge,  Harsnet,||  Laud,  &c.     The 

*  Rapin,  vol.  u.,  p.  231,  232,  folio  edit. 

t  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  233,  234. 

X  Those  who  wish  to  have  an  enlarged  and  accu- 
rate knowledge  of  the  reign  of  James  should  con- 
sult Jesse's  Memoirs  of  the  House  of  Stuart,  a  very 
amusing  work. — C. 

^  Rapin,  vol.  ii.  p.  235  ;  Welwood's  Memoirs,  9th 
edit.,  p.  35 ;  and  Dr.  Harris's  Life  of  James  I.,  p. 
237-242. 

II  This  prelate.  Bishop  Warburton  says,  "  was  a 
man  of  the  greatest  learning  and  parts  of  his  tune." 
This  he  might  be,  and  yet  advanced  not  on  account 
of  his  learmng,  but  because  his  courtly  dispositions 


276 


HISTORY   OF   THE   ri'RlTANS. 


fashionable  doctrines  at  court  were  such  as  the 
king  had  condemned  at  the  Synod  of  Dort,  and 
which,  in  the  opinion  of  the  old  English  clergy, 
were  subversive  of"  the  Reformation.     The  new 
bishops  admitted  the  Churcli  of  Rome  to  be  a 
true  church,  and  the  pope  the  first  bishop  of 
Christendom.    They  declared  for  the  lawfulness 
of  images  in  churches  ;  for  the  real  presence  ; 
and  that  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  was 
a  school  nicety.     They  pleaded  for  confession  to 
a  priest,  for  sacerdotal  absolution,  and  the  proper 
merit  of  good  works.     They  gave  up  the  moral- 
ity of  the  Sabbath,  and  the  five  distinguishing 
points  of  Calvinisin,  for  which  theii  predeces- 
sors had  contended.     They  claimed  an  aninter- 
rupted   succession  of  the  episcopal  character 
from  the  apostles  through  the  Church  of  Ronic, 
which  obliged  them  to  maintain  the  validity  of 
her  ordinations,  when  they  denied  the  validity 
of  those  of  the  foreign  Protestants.     Farther, 
they  began  to  imitate  the  Church  of  Rome  in 
her  gaudy  ceremonies,  in  the  rich  furniture  of 
their  chapels,  and  the  pomp  of  their  worship. 
They  complimented  the  Roman  Catholic  priests 
with  their  dignitary  titles,  and  spent  all  their 
zeal  in  studying  how  to  compromise  matters 
with  Rome,  while  they  turned  their  backs  upon 
the  old  Protestant  doctrines  of  the  Reformation, 
and  were  remarkably  negligent  in  preaching  or 
instructing  the  people  in  Christian  knowledge. 
Things  were  come  to  such  a  pass,  that  Gonda- 
mar,  tlie  Spanish  ambassador,  wrote  to  Spain 
that  there  never  were  more  hopes  of  England's 
conversion,  for  "there  are  more  prayers,"  says 
he,  "offered  to  the  Mother  than  to  the  Son  [of 
God]."*      The  priests  and  Jesuits  challenged 
the  established  clergy  to  public  disputations ; 
the  Duke  of  Buckingham's  mother  being  a  pa- 
pist, a  conference  was  held  in  her  presence  be- 
tween Fisher,  a  Jesuit,  on  the  one  part,  and  Drs. 
White,   Williams,   and  "Laud,    on   the    other. 
Each  of  them  disputed  with  the  Jesuit  a  day 
before  a  great  concourse  of  people,  but  not  to 
the  countess's  conversion,  which  was  not  at  all 
strange,  upon  their  principles.     Among  other 
popish  books  that  were  published,  one  was  en- 
titled "  A  New  Gag  for  the  Old  Gospel ;"  which 
Dr.  Montague,  rector  of  Stamford-Rivers,  an- 


recommended  hiin  to  the  royal  taste.  Fuller  speaks 
of  him  "  as  a  zealous  asserter  of  ceremonies,  using  to 
complain  of  conformable  Puritans."  So  that  the  just- 
ness of  his  claims  to  bt  considered  as  a  man  of  eru- 
dition being  admitted,  neither  the  candour  nor  veraci- 
ty of  the  historian  for  classing  him  as  he  does  is  im- 
peached by  it.  Learning  and  soundness  of  mind  are 
by  no  means  inseparable. — Ed. 

*  This  is  not  a  just  or  accurate  representation  of 
the  words.     As  Rapin  relates  it,  Gondamar,  perceiv- 
ing most  addresses  for  preferment  werb  made  first  to 
the  mother  of  the  Marquis  of  Buckingliam,  and  by 
her  conveyed  to  her  son,  who  could  deny  hbr  nothing, 
among  his  other  witty  pranks,  wrote  merrily  in  his 
despatches  to  Spain,  "  that  never  was  there  more 
hope  of  England's  conversion  to  Rome  than  now  ;  for  ' 
there  are  more  prayers  offered  here  to  the  mother  than 
to  the  son."    The  words  "of  God,"  as  Bishop  War- 
burton  and  Dr.  Grey  observe,  should  be  erased.    It 
was  a  mere  joke  of  the  Spanish  ambassador,  speak- 
ing of  court  corruption  under  the  terms  of  rehgion. 
Mr.  Neal,  by  not  referring  to  his  authority,  appears  to 
quote  it  by  recollection,  and,  indeed,  to  have  mistaken 
the  matter.     Bishop  Warbiirton  is,  however,  very  se- 
vere in  his  reflections  on  him,  caUing  his  statement  of 
it  "  a  vile  perversion  of  facts."    The  reader  will  de- 
cide on  his  lordship's  candour  here. — Ed. 


swered  in  such  a  manner  as  gave  great  ofTencc 
to  the  old  clergy,  yielding  up  all  the  points 
above  mentioned,  and  not  only  declaring  lor  Ar- 
minianism,  but  making  dangerous  advances  to- 
wards popery  itself  The  book -occasioning  a 
great  noise,  Mr.  Ward  and  Yates,  two  ministers 
at  Ipswich,  made  a  collection  of  the  popish  and 
Arminian  tenets  it  contained,  in  order  to  lay 
them  before  the  next  Parliament ;  but  the  au- 
thor, with  the  king's  leave,  took  shelter  under 
the  royal  wing,  and  prepared  for  the  press  his 
"  Apello  Cesarem,"  or  a  just  appeal  from  two 
unjust  informers  ;  which  While,  bishop  of  Car- 
lisle, licensed  in  these  words,  that  "  there  was 
nothing  contained  in  the  same  but  what  was 
agreeable  to  the  public  faith,  doctrine,  and  dis- 
cipline established  in  the  Church  of  England." 
But  before  the  book  was  published  the  king 
died. 

These  advances  of  the  court  divines  towards 
popery  made  most  of  the  people  fall  in  with  the 
Puritans,  who,  being  constant  preachers,  and 
of  exemplary  lives,  wrought  them  up  by  their 
awakening  sermons  to  an  abhorrence  of  every- 
thing that  looked  that  way.*     Many  of  the  no- 
bility and  gentry  favoured  them.     Lady  Bowes, 
afterward  Lady  Darcy,  gave  £1000  per  annum 
to  maintain  preachers  in  the  north,  where  there 
were  none,  and  all  her  preachers  were  silenced 
Nonconformists.     Almost  aU  the  famous  prac- 
tical writers  of  this  reign,  except  Bishop  An- 
drews, were  Puritans,  and  sufferers  for  non- 
conformity, as  Dr.  Willet,  Mr.  Jer,  Dyke,  Dr. 
Preston,  Sibbs,    Byfield,   Bolton,   Hildersham, 
Dod,  Ball,  Whately,  and  others,  whose  works 
have  done  great  service  to  religion.     The  char- 
acter of  these  divines  was  the  reverse  of  what 
the  learned  Seldent  gives  of  the  clergy  t  of  these 
times   in  his  "History  of  Tithes,"  where  he 
taxes  them  with  ignorance  and  laziness ;  and 
adds,  "  tliat  they  had  nothing  to  support  their 
credit  but  beard,  title,  and  habit ;  and  that  their 
learning  reached  no  farther  than  the  postils  and 
the  polyanthia."     Upon  the  whole,  if  we  may 
believe  Mr.  Coke,  the  Puritan  party  had  gather- 
ed so  much  strength,  and  was  in  such  reputation 
with  the  people,  that  they  were  more  in  number 
than  all  the  other  parties  in  the  kingdom  put 
together.  


*  Rothwell,  p.  69,  annexed  to  his  General  Martyr- 
ology.  t  In  Preface,  p.  1,  second  edition,  1C18. 

t  Bishop  Warburton  severely  censures  Mr.  Neal 
for  applying  the  words  of  Selden  as  if  spoken  of  the 
episcopal  clergy.     "  Here,"  says  he,  "  is  another  of 
the  historian's  arts ;  Selden  speaks  of  the  Puritan 
clergy."    Not  to  urge,  in  reply,  that  Selden  can  be 
understood  as  speaking  of  those  clergy  only  to  whom 
his  doctrine  of  tithes  would  be  offensive,  who  could 
not  be  the  Puritan  clergy,  it  is  fortunate  for  our  au- 
thor that  his  interpretation  of  Selden's  words  is  sanc- 
tioned by  Heylin,  who  represents  Selden's  work  as 
the  execution  of  "  a  plot  set  on  foot  to  subvert  the 
Church,  in  the  undoing  of  the  clergy.    The  author," 
he  adds,  "was  highly  magnified,  the  book  held  un- 
answerable, and  all  the  clergy  looked  on  but  as  pig- 
mies to  that  great  Goliath."    And  then,  to  show  that 
the  reproach  cast  on  the  clergy  was  not  well  found- 
ed, he  appeals  to  the  answers  given  to  Selden  by 
Nettles,  Fellow  of  Queen's  College,  Cambridge,  Dr. 
Montague,  and  Archdeacon  TiUesly.     "  By  which," 
says  Heylin,  "  ho  found  that  some  of  the  ignorant 
and  lazy  clergy  were  of  as  retired  studies  as  himself ; 
and  could  not  only  match,  but  overmatch  him,  too,  in 
his  philology."*  If  Mr.  Neal  misrepresented  Selden, 
so  did  Heylin.— ifcj/Zm's  Hist,  of  Presb.,  p.  301.— Ed 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


277 


Witli  regard  to  King  James  himself,  it  is 
liard  to  draw  his  just  character,  for  no  prince 
was  ever  so  much  flattered  who  so  Httle  de- 
served it.  He  was  of  a  middle  stature,  not 
very  corpulent,  but  stuffed  out  with  clothes, 
which  hung  so  loose,  and  being  quilted,  were 
so  thick  as  to  resist  a  dagger.  His  counte- 
nance was  homely,  and  his  tongue  too  big  for 
his  mouth,  so  that  he  could  not  speak  with  de- 
cency. While  he  was  in  Scotland  he  appeared 
sober  and  chaste,  and  acquired  a  good  degree 
of  learning,*  but,  upon  his  accession  to  the 
English  crown,  he  threw  off  the  mask,  and  by 
degrees  gave  himself  up  to  luxury  and  ease, 
and  all  kinds  of  licentiousness.  His  language 
was  obscene,  and  his  actions  very  often  lewd 
and  indecent.  He  was  a  profane  swearer,  and 
would  often  be  drunk,  and  when  he  came  to 
himself  would  weep  like  a  child,  and  say  he 
hoped  God  would  not  impute  his  infirmities  to 
him.  He  valued  himself  upon  what  he  called 
kingcraft,  which  was  nothing  else  but  deep 
hypocrisy  and  dissimulation  in  every  character 
of  life,  resulting  from  the  excessive  timorous- 
ness  of  his  nature.  If  we  consider  him  as  a 
king,  he  never  did  a  great  or  generous  action 
throughout  the  course  of  his  reign, t  but  prosti- 
tuted the  honour  of  the  English  nation  beyond 
any  of  his  predecessors.  He  stood  still  while 
the  Protestant  religion  was  suppressed  in 
France,  in  Bohemia,  in  the  Palatinate,  and 
other  parts  of  Germany.  He  surrendered  up 
the  cautionary  townsj  to  the  Dutch  for  less 

*  "  His  learning,"  observes  Dr.  Warner,  "  was  not 
that  of  a  prince,  but  a  pedant,  and  made  him  more  fit 
to  take  the  chair  in  public  schools  than  to  sit  on  the 
throne  of  kings."  He  was  one  of  those  princes 
"  who,"  as  Bishop  Shipley  expresses  it,  '•  was  so  un- 
wise as  to  write  books."  The  only  thing  that  does 
him  honour  as  an  author  is,  that  Mr.  Pope  pro- 
nounced his  version  of  the  Psalms  the  very  best  in 
the  English  language. —  Warner's  Eccles.  Hist.,  vol. 
ii.,  p.  508.— Ed. 

t  To  this  Dr.  Grey  opposes  his  bounty  to  the 
Church  of  Ripon,  in  Yorkshire,  in  which  he  founded 
a  dean  and  chapter  of  seven  prebendaries,  and  set- 
tled £247  per  annum  of  crown-lands  for  their  main- 
tenance. The  doctor  also  quotes  from  Fuller,  Wil- 
son, and  Laud,  warm  encomiums  of  his  liberaUty. 
But  it  ought  to  be  considered  whether  a  liberahty 
which  did  not,  as  Dr.  Warner  says,  "  flow  from  rea- 
son or  judgment,  but  from  whim,  or  mere  benignity 
of  humours,"  deserved  such  praises.  Besides,  Mr. 
Neal  evidently  refers  to  "  such  great  and  generous 
actions"  as  advance  the  interest  and  prosperity  of  a 
kingdom,  and  add  to  the  national  honour.  This 
cannot  be  said  of  favours  bestowed  on  parasites  and 
jovial  companions,  or  on  a  provision  made  that  a  few 
clerical  gentlemen  may  loll  in  stalls. — Ed. 

1  These  were  the  Brill  and  Flushing,  with  some 
other*places  of  less  note ;  and  Dr.  Grey,  to  screen  the 
reputation  of  James  from  Mr.  Neal's  implied  reflec- 
tion, observes  that  the  Dutch  had  pawned  these 
towns  to  Queen  Elizabeth  for  sums  of  money  which 
she  lent  them  when  they  were  distressed  by  the 
Spaniards.  The  sum  borrowed  on  this  security  was 
eight  millions  of  florins,  and  they  were  discharo^ed 
for  ten  millions  seven  hundred  and  twenty-eight 
thousand  florins,  though  eighteen  years'  interest 
was  due.  In  equity  and  by  stipulation,  the  Dutch 
had  a  right,  on  repaying  the  money,  to  reclaim  the 
towns  they  had  mortgaged.  This  Dr.  Grey  m\ist  be 
understood  as  insinuating  by  setting  up  the  fact  of 
the  mortgage  in  defence  of  James's  character.  Yet, 
in  all  just  estimation,  his  character  must  ever  suffer 
by  his  surrender  of  these  towns.    He  restored  Ihem 


than  a  fourth  part  of  the  value,  and  suffered 
them  to  dispossess  us  of  our  factories  in  the 
East  Indies.  At  home,  he  committed  the  di- 
rection of  all  affairs  in  Church  and  State  to  two 
or  three  favourites,  and  cared  not  what  they 
did  if  they  gave  him  no  trouble.  He  broke 
through  all  the  laws  of  the  land,  and  was  as 
absolute  a  tyrant  as  his  want  of  courage  would 
admit.*  He  revived  the  projects  of  monop- 
olies, loans,  benevolences,  &c.,  to  supply  his 
exchequer,  which  was  exhausted  by  his  pro- 
fuseness  towards  his  favourites,  and  laid  the 
Ibundation  of  all  the  calamities  of  his  son's 
reign.  Upon  the  whole,  though  he  was  flatter- 
ed by  hungry  courtiers  as  the  Solomon  and 
phoenix  of  his  age,  he  was,  in  the  opinion  of 
Bishop  Burnet,  "  the  scorn  of  the  age,  a  mere 
pedant,  without  true  judgment,  courage,  or 
steadiness,  his  reign  being  a  continued  course 
of  mean  practices." 

It  is  hard  to  make  any  judgment  of  his  reli- 
gion ;  for  one  while  he  was  a  Puritan,  and  then 
a  zealous  churchman  ;  at  first  a  Calvinist  and 
Presbyterian,  afterward  a  Remonstrant  or  Ar- 
minian  ;  and  at  last  a  half,  if  not  an  entire,  doc- 
trinal papist.  Sir  Ralph  Winwood,  in  his  Me- 
moirs, says  that,  as  long  ago  as  the  year  1596, 
he  sent  Mr.  Ogilby,  a  Scots  baron,  to  Spain,  to 
assure  his  Catholic  majesty  he  was  then  ready 
to  turn  papist,  and  to  propose  an  alliance  with 
that  king  and  the  pope  against  the  Queen  of 
England,  but  for  reasons  of  state  the  affair  was 
hushed,  t  Rapin  says  he  was  neither  a  sound 
Protestant  nor  a  good  Catholic,  but  had  formed 
a  plan  of  uniting  both  churches,  which  must 
effectually  have  ruined  the  Protestant  interest, 
for  which,  indeed,  he  never  expressed  any  real 
concern.  But  I  am  rather  of  opinion  that  all 
his  religion  was  his  boasted  kingcraft.  He  was 
certainly  the  meanest  prince  that  ever  sat  on 
the  British  throne. t    England  never  sunk  in  its 


without  an  equivalent,  and  without  ^'ue  advice  or 
consent  of  Parliament,  to  raise  mou'.y  to  lavish  on 
his  favourites.  And  by  this  step  he  lost  the  depend- 
ance  those  provinces  before  had  on  the  English 
crown.— See  this  matter  fully  stated  in  RapMs  His- 
tory, vol.  ii,,  p.  122,  and  191,  192  ;  and  by  Dr.  Harris 
in  his  Life  of  James  I.,  p.  162-167. — Ed. 

*  In  this  "book,  entitled  •'  The  True  Law  of  Free 
Monarchy,"  he  asserted  that  "  the  Parliament  is  no- 
thing else  but  the  head  court  of  the  king  and  his 
vassals ;  that  the  laws  are  but  craved  by  his  subjects ; 
and  that,  in  short,  he  is  above  the  law."  This  is  a 
proof  that  his  speculative  notions  of  regal  power 
were,  as  Mr.  Granger  expresses  it,  ''  as  absolute  as 
those  of  an  Eastern  monarch." — Secret  History  of 
Charles  II.,  vol.  i.,  Introduc,  p.  20.,  the  note. — Ed. 

t  A  copy  of  this  infamous  letter  to  Pope  Gregory 
XV.,  under  date  September  30,  1662,  is  to  be  found 
in  a  rare  volume  by  the  title  of  "  Cabala,  or  Myste- 
ries of  State,  in  Letters  of  the  Great  Ministers  of 
King  James  and  Charles ;  wherein  much  of  the  Pub- 
hque  Manage  of  Affaires  is  related.  Faithfully  col- 
lected by  a  Noble  hand,"  London,  1654. — C. 

t  To  Mr.  Neal's  character  of  James  Dr.  Grey  par- 
ticularly opposes  that  drawn  of  him  by  the  pen  of 
Spotswood,  who  was  preferred  by  him  to  the  arch- 
bishopric of  St.  Andrew's.  "  In  this,  Dr.  Harris," 
says  Grey,  "did  not  quite  so  right.  For  court  bish- 
ops, by  some  fate  or  other,  from  the  time  of  Constan- 
tine  down,  at  least,  to  the  death  of  James,  and  a  lit- 
tle after,  have  had  the  characters  of  flatterers,  pane- 
gyrists, and  others  of  like  import,  and,  therefore,  are 
always  to  have  great  abatements  made  in  the  ac- 
counts of  their  benefactors ;  it  being  well  known 


Zf6 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


reputation,  nor  was  so  much  exposed  to  the 
scorn  and  ridicule  of  its  neighbours,  as  in  his 
leign.  How  willing  his  majesty  was  to  unite 
with  the  papists,  the  foregoing  history  has  dis- 
covered ;  and  yet,  in  the  presence  of  many 
lords,  and  in  a  very  remarkable  manner,  he 
made  a  solemn  protestation  "  that  he  would 
spend  the  last  drop  of  blood  in  his  body  before 
he  would  do  it ;  and  prayed  that  before  any  of 
his  issue  should  maintain  any  other  religion 
than  his  own  [the  Protestant],  that  God  would 
take  them  out  of  the  world."  How  far  this  im- 
precation took  place  on  himself,  or  any  of  his 
posterity,  I  leave,  with  Mr.  Archdeacon  Echard, 
to  the  determination  of  an  Omniscient  Being.* 


CHAPTER  HI. 

FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  KING  JAMES  I.  TO  THE  DISSO- 
LUTION OF  THE  THIRD  PARLIAMENT  OF  KING 
'CHARLES    I.  IN    THE    YEAR    1628. 

Before  we  enter  upon  this  reign,  it  will  be 
proper  to  take  a  short  view  of  the  court,  and  of 
the  most  active  ministers  under  the  king  for 
the  first  fifteen  years. 

King  Charles  I.  came  to  the  crown  at  the 
age  of  twenty-five  years,  being  born  at  Dum- 
ferling,  in  Scotland,  in  the  year  1600,  and  bap- 
tized by  a  Presbyterian  minister  of  that  country. 
In  his  youth  he  was  of  a  weakly  constitution 
and  stammering  speech ;  his  legs  were  some- 
what crooked,  and  he  was  suspected  (says  Mr. 
Echard)  to  be  of  a  perverse  nature.  When  his 
father  [King  James]  came  to  the  English  crown, 
he  took  him  from  his  Scots  tutors  and  placed 
him  under  those  who  gave  him  an  early  aver- 
sion to  that  kirk  into  which  he  had  been  bap- 
tized, +  and  to  those  doctrines  of  Christianity 

that  such  fhey  endeavour  to  hand  down  to  posterity 
under  the  notion  of  saints,  as  they  always  blacken 
and  deface  th^ir  adversaries." — Life  of  James  I.,  p. 
246,  247.— Ed. 

*  The  reader  will  be  pleased  to  hear  the  senti- 
ments of  a  learned  foreigner  on  the  reign  and  char- 
acter of  King  James.  The  same  bias  will  not  be  im- 
puted to  him  as  to  Mr.  Neal.  "  In  the  year  1625  died 
James  I.,  the  bitterest  enemy  of  the  doctrine  and 
discipline  of  the  Puritans,  to  which  he  had  been  in 
his  youth  most  warmly  attached  ;  the  most  inflex- 
ible and  ardent  friend  of  the  Arminians,  in  whose 
ruin  and  condemnation  in  Holland  he  had  been  sin- 
gidarly  instrumental ;  and  the  most  zealous  defender 
of  episcopal  government,  against  which  he  had  more 
than  once  expressed  himself  in  the  strongest  terms. 
He  left  the  Constitution  of  England,  both  ecclesias- 
tical and  civil,  in  a  very  unsettled  and  fluctuating 
state,  languishing  under  intestine  disorders  of  vari- 
ous kinds." — MosheinCs  Ecclesiastical  History,  trans- 
lated by  Maclaine,  second  edition,  vol.  iv.,  p.  517, 
518.— Ed. 

t  The  expression  here,  whether  it  be  Mr.  Neal's 
own  or  that  of  any  writer  of  the  times,  is  inaccurate, 
improper,  and  proceeds  upon  a  wrong  notion  of  the 
design  of  baptism.  This  rite,  resting  solely  on  the 
authority  of  Christ,  refers  not  to  the  peculiar  senti- 
ments of  the  Church,  or  the  particular  party  of  Chris- 
tians among  whom  a  person  may  happen  to  have  it 
administered  to  him.  It  expresseth  a  profession  of 
Christianity  only,  and  refers  exclusively  to  the  au- 
thority of  its  Author,  acting  in  the  name  of  God  the 
Father,  and  having  his  ministry  sealed  by  the  gifts 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  notion  of  being  baptized 
into  the  Kirk  of  Scotland,  or  into  the  Church  of  Eng- 


which  they  held  in  the  greatest  veneration. 
As  the  court  of  King  James  leaned  towards  po- 
pery* and  arbitrary  power,  so  did  the  prince, 
especially  after  his  journey  into  Spain,  vidiere 
he  imbibed  not  only  the  pernicious  maxims  of 
that  court,  but  their  reserved  and  distant  beha- 
viour, t  He  assured  the  pope  by  letter,  in  order 
to  obtain  a  dispensation  to  marry  the  infanta. 


land,  is  entirely  repugnant  to  the  reasoning  of  Paul 
in  1  Cor.,  i.,  who,  as  Dr.  Clarke  expresses,  "  we  find 
was  very  carefid,  was  very  solicitous,  not  to  give  any 
occasion  to  have  it  thought  that  there  was  any  such 
thing  as  the  doctrine  «f  Paul,  much  less  any  such 
thing  as  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  Corinth  or 
Rome,  or  of  any  other  than  Christ  only,  in  whose 
name  only  we  were  baptized." — Clarke's  Sermons,  vol. 
iv.,  p.  95,  8vo.— Ed.  (Toulmin). 

*  Dr.  Grey  controverts  this  assertion  of  Mr.  Neal, 
and  calls  it  "  groundless ;"  with  a  view  to  confute  it, 
he  quotes  Rymer,  Clarendon,  and  Bishop  Fleetwood. 
The  first  and  last  authorities  go  to  prove  only  the 
king's  firm  adherence  to  Protestantism  and  the 
Church  of  England,  so  far  as  concerned  his  own 
personal  profession  of  religion ;  the  former  alleg:es 
that  the  attempt  of  the  court  of  Spain  to  convert  him 
to  popciy  was  inefiicient ;  the  latter  is  only  a  pulpit 
eulogium  to  the  memory  of  Charles  on  the  30th  of 
January.  The  quotation  from  Lord  Clarendon  ap- 
parently proves  more  than  these  authorities,  for  it 
asserts  "  that  no  man  was  more  averse  from  the  Ro- 
mish Church  than  he  [i.  e.,  King  Charles]  was." 
But,  to  be  consistent  with  himself,  his  lordship  must 
be  understood  with  a  limitation,  as  speaking  of  his 
remoteness  from  a  conformity  to  popery  in  his  own 
belief  and  practice,  not  of  his  disposition  towards 
that  religion  as  professed  by  others.  Dr.  Harris  has 
produced  many  proofs  that  the  king  was  not  a  pa- 
pist himself  But  he  has  also  evinced,  by  many 
authorities,  that  professed  papists  were  favoured, 
caressed,  and  preferred  at  court.  The  articles  of 
the  marriage-treaty,  to  which  he  signed  and  sol- 
emnly swore,  sanctioned  the  profession  of  that  re- 
hgion  in  his  kingdom.  The  clergy,  who  enjoyed  the 
smiles  of  the  court,  preached  in  favour  of  the  prac- 
tices and  tenets  of  popery.  And  popish  recusants 
were  not  only  tolerated,  but  protected  by  this  prince. 
—See  Harris's  Life  of  Charles  I.,  p.  198  to  204,  and 
from  p.  204  to  208.  The  facts  of  this  nature  are  also 
amply  stated  in  "  An  Essay  towards  attaining  a  true 
Idea  of  the  Character  and  Reign  of  King  Charles 
I.,"  chap.  ix.  On  these  grounds  Mr.  Neal  is  fully 
vindicated,  for  he  speaks,  it  should  be  observed,  not 
of  the  king's  being  a  papist,  but  of  his  "  leaning  to- 
wards popery."  But  it  might  be  sufficient  to  quote 
against  Dr.  Grey  even  Lord  Clarendon  only,  who 
tells  us  "that  the  papists  were  upon  the  matter  ab- 
solved from  the  severest  parts  of  the  law,  and  dis- 
pens^cd  with  for  the  gentlest.  They  were  looked 
upon  as  good  subjects  at  court,  and  as  good  neigh- 
bour.s  in  the  country,  all  the  restraints  and  reproach- 
es of  former  times  being  forgotten."  His  lordship 
expatiates  largely  on  the  favours  they  received  and 
on  the  boldness  they  assumed. —Histori/  of  the  Rebel- 
lion, vol.  i.,  p.  148,  8vo,  edit,  of  1707.— Ed.      ^ 

t  In  confutation  or  this  assertion,  Dr.  Grey  quotes 
Rushworth,  who  says,  that  at  the  court  of  Spain 
"Prince  Charles  gained  a  universal  love,  and  earned 
it,  from  first  to  last,  with  the  greatest  affability." 
The  doctor  did  not  observe  that  his  authority  was 
not  to  the  point,  for  Mr.  Neal  speaks  of  Charles's 
deportment  after  he  had  been  in  Spain,  and  of  his 
general  temper  :  Rushworth's  delineation  is  confined 
to  his  conduct  at.  court,  where  he  was  treated  with 
all  imaginable  respect,  and  when  the  object  of  his 
visit  would  of  course  animate  a  youth  to  good-hu- 
inour,  politeness,  and  gallantry.  IMr.  Neal  is  fully 
s\inported  by  many  authorities,  which  the  reader 
in-.iy  see  collected  by  Dr.  Harris,  p.  08-72,  and  "An 
Essay  towards  attaining  a  true  Idea,"  &c.,  chap.  i. 
—Ed. 


I 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


279 


••that  he  would  not  marry  any  mortal  whose 
religion  he  hated  ;  he  might  therefore  depend 
apon  it  that  he  would  always  abstain  from  such 
actions  as  might  testify  a  hatred  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion,  and  would  endeavour  that  all 
sinister  opinions  might  be  taken  away;  that  as 
we  all  profess  one  individual  Trinity,  we  may 
unanimously  grow  up  into  one  faith."  His 
majesty  began  his  reign  upon  most  arbitrary 
principles,  and  though  he  had  good  natural  abil- 
ities, was  always  under  the  direction  of  some 
favourite,  to  whose  judgment  and  conduct  he 
was  absolutely  resigned.  Nor  was  he  ever 
master  of  so  much  judgment  in  politics  as  to 
discern  his  own  and  the  nation's  true  interest, 
or  to  take  the  advice  of  those  who  did.  With 
regard  to  the  Church,  he  was  a  punctual  ob- 
server of  its  ceremonies,  and  had  the  highest 
dislike  and  prejudice  to  that  part  of  his  sub- 
jects who  were  against  the  ecclesiastical  con- 
stitution, "  looking  upon  them  as  a  very  dan- 
gerous and  seditious  people,  who  would,  under 
pretence  of  conscience,  which  kept  them  from 
submitting  to  the  spiritual  jurisdiction,  take 
the  first  opportunity  they  could  find  or  make," 
says  Lord  Clarendon,*  "  to  withdraw  them- 
selves from  his  temporal  jurisdiction  ;  and, 
therefore,  his,  majesty  caused  this  people  [the 
Puritans]  to  be  watched  and  provided  against 
with  the  utmost  vigilance." 

Upon  his  majesty's  accession,  and  before  the 
solemnity  of  his  father's  funeral,  he  married 
Henrietta  Maria,  daughter  of  Henry  IV.,  and 
sister  of  Louis  XIII.,  then  king  of  France.  The 
marriage  was  solemnized  by  proxy ;  first  at 
Paris,  with  all  the  ceremonies  of  the  Romish 
Church,  and  afterward  at  Canterbury,  according 
to  the  rites  of  the  Church  of  England  ;  and  the 
articles  being  in  a  manner  the  same  with  those 
already  mentioned  in  the  Spanish  match.  Her 
majesty  arrived  at  Dover,  June  13,  1625,  and 
brought  with  her  a  long  train  of  priests  and 
menial  servants  of  the  Romish  religion ;  for 
whose  devotion  a  chapel  was  fitted  up  in  the 
king's  house  at  St.  James's.  "  The  queen  was 
an  agreeable  and  beautiful  lady,  and  by  degrees," 
says  Lord  Clarendon,  "  obtained  a  plenitude  of 
power  over  the  king.  His  majesty  had  her  in 
perfect  adoration, t  and  would  do  nothing  with- 
out her,  but  was  inexorable  as  to  everything 
that  he  promised  her."  Bishop  Burnet  says, 
*'  The  queen  was  a  lady  of  great  vivacity,  and 
loved  intrigues  of  all  sorts,  but  was  not  secret 
in  them  as  she  ought ;  she  had  no  manner  of 
judgment,  being  bad  at  contrivance,  but  worse 
at  execution.  By  the  liveliness  of  her  dis- 
course, she  made  great  impressions  upon  the 
king ;  so  that  to  the  queen's  little  practice,  and 
the  king's  own  temper,  the  sequel  of  all  his  mis- 
fortunes was  owing."  Bishop  Kennet  adds, 
"that  the  king's  match  with  this  lady  was  a 
greater  judgment  to  the  nation  than  the  plague, 
which  then  raged  in  the  land  ;  for,  considering 
the  mahgnity  of  the  popish  religion,  the  impe- 
riousness  of  the  French  government,  the  influ- 
ence of  a  stately  queen  over  an  afl^ectionate 
Lusband,  and  the  share  she  must  needs  have  in 


"^  Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  p.  81. 

t  "  Whoever  sees  her  charming  portrait  at  Wind- 
SQ||"  says  Mr.  Granger,  "  will  cease  to  admire  at  her 
great  influence  over  the  king."— The  Biographical 
History  of  England,  vol.  ii,,  p.  96,  8vo. — Ed. 


the  education  of  her  children  [till  thirteen  years 
of  age],  it  was  then  easy  to  foresee  it  might 
prove  very  fatal  to  our  English  prince  and  peo- 
ple, and  lay  in  a  vengeance  to  future  genera- 
tions." The  queen  was  a  very  great  bigot  to 
her  religion;*  her  conscience  was  directed  by 
her  confessor,  assisted  by  the  pope's  nuncio, 
and  a  secret  cabal  of  priests  and  Jesuits. 
These  controlled  the  queen,  and  she  the  king ; 
so  that  in  effect  the  nation  was  governed  by 
popish  counsels,  till  the  Long  Parliament. 

The  prime  minister  under  the  king  was  G. 
Villiers,  duke  of  Buckingham,  a  graceful  young 
gentleman,  but  very  unfit  for  his  high  station. 
He  had  full  possession  of  the  king's  heart,  in- 
somuch that  his  majesty  broke  measures  with 
all  his  parliaments  for  his  sake.  "  Most  men," 
says  Lord  Clarendon,t  "  imputed  all  the  calami- 
ties of  the  nation  to  his  arbitrary  councils  ;  so 
that  few  were  displeased  at  the  news  of  his 
murder  by  Felton,  in  the  year  1628,  when  he 
was  not  above  tbirty-four  years  of  age." 

Upon  the  duke's  death.  Dr.  Wdliam  Laud, 
then  Bishop  of  London,  became  the  chief  minis- 
ter both  in  Church  and  State.J  He  was  born  at 
Reading,  and  educated  in  St.  John's  College, 
Oxford,  upon  the  charitable  donation  of  Mr. 
White,  founder  of  Merchant  Tailors'  School. 
Here  he  continued  till  he  was  fifty  years  of  age. 
and  behaved  in  such  a  manner  that  nobody 
knew  what  to  think  of  him.  "  I  would  I  knew," 
says  the  pious  Bishop  Hall  in  one  of  his  let- 
ters, "  where  to  find  you  :  to-day  you  are  with 
the  Romanists,  to-morrow  with  us  ;  our  adver- 
saries think  you  ours,  and  we  theirs  ;  your  con- 
science finds  you  with  both  and  neither  :  how 
long  will  you  halt  in  this  indifierencyl"  Dr. 
Abbot  says,  "  He  spent  his  time  in  picking  quar- 
rels with  the  lectures  of  public  readers,  and 
giving  advice  to  the  then  ISishop  of  Durham, 
that  he  might  fill  the  ears  of  the  king  [James  I.] 
with  prejudices  against  honest  men,  whom  he 
called  Puritans. "'5i  Heylin  confesses  it  was 
thought  dangerous  to  keep  him  company.  By 
the  interest  of  Bishop  Williams,  he  was  first 
advancedll   to    a  Welsh    bishopric,   and  from 


*  As  the  demand  to  have  the  solemnity  of  the  cor- 
onatioa  performed  by  the  bishops  of  her  own  religion 
was  refused,  and  such  was  her  bigotry  it  would  not 
permit  her  to  join  in  our  church  ceremonies,  she 
appeared,  therefore,  as  a  spectator  only  on  that  occa- 
sion.— Granger,  as  before,  vol.  ii.,  p.  96,  note. — Ed. 

t  Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  p.  837. 

i  "  As  to  his  preferments  in  the  state,"  says  Dr. 
Grey,  "1  .should  be  glad  to  know  what  they  were." 
Though  the  doctor,  who  was  ignorant  of  them,  is 
now  out  of  the  reach  of  a  reply,  for  the  information  of 
the  reader  they  shall  be  mentioned.  In  1635  he  was 
put  into  the  great  committee  of  trade ;  and  on  the 
death  of  the  Earl  of  Portland,  was  made  one  of  the 
commissioners  of  the  treasury  and  revenue ;  "  which," 
says  Lord  Clarendon,  "  he  had  reason  to  be  sorry 
for,  because  it  engaged  him  in  civil  business  and 
matters  of  si&te."—Histori/  of  the  Rebellion,  vol.  i.,  p. 
98,  8vo,  1707.  British  Biography,  vol.  iv.,  p.  269.— 
Ed.  ^  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  p.  444. 

II  To  refute  this  account  of  the  cause  of  Laud's 
preferment,  Dr.  Grey  quotes  Mr.  Wharton.  The 
circumstance  in  itself  is  of  no  importance  to  the 
credit  or  design  of  Mr.  Neal's  history.  And  the  pas- 
sage even  admits  the  fact  that  Laud  owed  his  prefer- 
ments to  Bishop  Williams's  solicitations,  on  the  au- 
thority of  Laud's  Diary  and  Bishop  Hacket,  Will- 
iams's biographer ;  but  the  drift  of  Mr.  Wharton  is 
to  exculpate  Laud  from  the  charge  of  ingratitude  to 


280 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


thence  by  degrees  to  the  highest  preferments 
in  Church  and  State.  He  was  a  little  man,  of  a 
quick  and  rough  temper,  impatient  of  contradic- 
tion even  at  the  council-table,  of  arbitrary  prin- 
ciples both  in  Church  and  State,  always  inclined 
to  methods  of  severity,  especially  against  the 
Puritans  ;  vastly  fond  of  external  pomp  and  cer- 
emony in  Divine  worship ;  and  though  he  was 
not  an  absolute  papist,  he  was  ambitious  of 
being  the  sovereign  patriarch  of  three  king- 
doms.* 

Lord-chief-justice  Finch  was  a  man  of  little 
knowledge  in  his  profession,  except  it  was  for 
making  the  laws  of  the  land  give  place  to  or- 
ders of  council.  Mr.  Attorney-general  Noyt 
was  a  man  of  affected  pride  and  morosity,  who 
valued  himself  (says  Lord  ClarendonJ)  upon 
making  that  to  be  law  which  all  other  men  be- 
lieved not  to  be  so.  Indeed,  all  the  judges 
were  of  this  stamp,  who,  instead  of  upholding 
the  law  as  the  defence  and  security  of  the  sub- 
jects' privileges,  set  it  aside  upon  every  little 
occasion,  distinguishing  between  a  rule  of  law 
and  a  rule  of  government :  so  that  those  whom 
they  could  not  convict  by  statute  law  were 
sure  to  suffer  by  the  rule  of  government,  or  a 
kind  of  political  justice.  The  judges  held  their 
places  during  the  king's  pleasure  ;  and  wTien 
the  prerogative  was  to  be  stretched  in  any  par- 
ticular instances.  Laud  would  send  for  their 
opinions  beforehand,  to  give  the  greater  sanc- 
tion to  the  proceedings  of  the  council  and  Star 
Chamber,  by  whom  they  were  often  put  in  mind, 
that  if  they  did  not  do  his  majesty's  business  to 
satisfaction,  they  would  be  removed.  Upon 
the  whole,  they  were  mercenary  men,  and  (ac- 
cording to  Lord  Clarendon)  scandalous  to  their 
profession. 

The  courts  of  "Westminster  Hall  had  little  to 
do  between  the  crown  and  the  subject ;  all  bu- 
siness of  this  kind  being  transferred  to  the 
council-table,  the  Star  Chamber,  and  the  Court 
of  High  Commission. 

The  council-table  was  the  Legislature  of  the 
kingdom,  their  proclamations  and  orders  being 
made  a  rule  of  government,  and  the  measure  of 
the  subject's  obedience.  Though  there  was 
not  one  single  law  enacted  in  twelve  years, 
there  were  no  less  than  two  hundred  and  fifty 
proclamations ;  every  one  of  which  had  the 
force  of  a  law,  and  bound  the  subject  under  the 
severest  penalties.  The  Lord-keeper  Finch, 
upon  a  demurrer  put  into  a  bill  that  had  no 
other  equity  than  an  order  of  council,  declared 
upon  the  bench,  that  while  he  was  keeper,  no 
man  should  be  so  saucy  as  to  dispute  those 
orders,  but  that  the  wisdom  of  that  board  should 
always  be  ground  good  enough  for  him  to  make 
a  decree  in  Chancery.  Judge  Berkeley,  upon  a 
like  occasion,  declared  that  there  was  a  rule  of 
law  and  a  rule  of  government,  that  many 
things  that  might  not  be  done  by  the  rule  of 


Bishop  Williams  on  this  ground  ;  that  the  latter,  in 
the  service  he  rendered  the  former,  was  not  actuated 
by  kindness,  but  by  selfish  and  interested  views. 
This  does  not  confute,  in  any  degree,  Mr.  Neal, 
who  says  nothing  about  the  motives  by  which  Bishop 
Williams  was  governed. — C. 

*  Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  p.  99. 

t  Bishop  Warbiirton  censures  Mr.  Neal  for  not 
informing  his  reader  that  Noy  was  a  great  lawyer. 

t  Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  p.  71,  73,  74. 


law,  might  be  done  by  the  rule  of  goverfi- 
ment  :*  his  lordship  added,  that  no  act  of  Par- 
liament could  bind  the  king  not  to  command 
away  his  subjects'  goods  and  monSy. 

"The  Star  Chamber,"  says  Lord  Clarendon.t 
"  was  in  a  manner  the  same  court  with  the  com> 
cil-table,  being  but  the  same  persons  in  several 
rooms  :  they  were  both  grown  into  courts  of 
law,  to  determine  right  ;  and  courts  of  rev- 
enue, to  bring  money  into  the  treasury  :  tlw 
council-table  by  proclamations  enjoining  to  the 
people  what  was  not  enjoined  by  law,  and  pro- 
hibiting that  which  was  not  prohibited  ;  and  the 
Star  Chamber  censuring  the  breach  and  disobe- 
dience to  those  proclamations,  by  very'  great 
fines  and  imprisonment ;  so  that  any  disrespect 
to  any  acts  of  state,  or  to  the  persons  of  states- 
men, was  in  no  time  more  penal,  and  those 
foundations  of  right  by  which  men  valued  their 
security,  were  never  in  more  danger  of  heiag 
destroyed. 

"  The  High  Commission  also  had  very  much 
overflowed  the  banks  that  should  have  contained 
it,  not  only  in  meddling  with  things  not  withia 
their  cognizance,  but  in  extending  their  sen- 
tences and  judgments  beyond  that  degree  that 
was  justifiable,  and  grew  to  have  so  great  a 
contempt  of  the  common  law,  and  the  profess 
sors  of  it,  that  prohibitions  from  the  suprerafi 
courts  of  law,  which  have  and  must  have  tke 
superintendency  over  all  the  inferior  courts, 
were  not  only  neglected,  but  the  judges  were 
reprehended  for  granting  them,  which,  withoat 
perjury,  they  could  not  deny. J  Besides,  from 
an  ecclesiastical  court  for  reformation  of  mais- 
ners,  it  was  grown  to  a  court  of  revenue,  and 
imposed  great  fines  upon  those  who  were  cul- 
pable before  them  ;  sometimes  above  the  de- 
gree of  the  offence,  had  the  jurisdiction  of  fining 
been  unquestionable,  which  it  was  not ;  which 
course  of  fining  was  much  more  frequent,  and 
the  fines  heavier,  after  the  king  had  granted  afl 
that  revenue  for  the  reparation  of  St.  Paul's, 
which  made  the  grievance  greater;"  and  gave 
occasion  to  an  unlucky  observation,  that  the 
church  was  built  with  the  sins  of  the  people. 
These  commissioners,  not  content  with  the  bu- 
siness that  was  brought  before  them,  sent  their 
commissaries  over  the  whole  kingdom  to  su- 
perintend the  proceedings  of  the  bishops' courts 
in  their  several  diocesses,  which  of  themselves 
made  sufficient  havoc  among  the  Puritans,  and 
were  under  a  general  odium  for  the  severe  ex- 
ercise of  their  power  :  but  if  the  bishop  or  his 
officers  were  negligent  in  their  citations,  or 
showed  any  degree  of  favour  to  the  Puritaa 
ministers,  notice  was  immediately  sent  to  Lana- 
beth,  and  the  accused  persons  were  cited  be- 
fore the  High  Commission,  to  their  utter  ruin. 
They  also  detained  men  in  prison  many  months, 
without  bringing  them  to  a  trial,  or  so  much  as 
acquainting  them  with  the  cause  of  their  cona- 
mitment.  Sir  Edward  Deering  says,  that 
"their  proceedings  were  in  some  sense  worse 
than  the  Romish  Inquisition,  because  they  do 
not  punish  men  of  their  own  religion  establish- 
ed by  law  ;  but  with  us,"  says  he,  "  how  many 
scores  of  poor  distressed  ministers,  within  a 
few  years,  have  been  suspended,  degraded,  and 
excommunicated,  though  not  guilty  of  a  breach 


*  Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  p.  74. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  68,  69. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  283. 


EngravecL  hy  &wiber  rrorru  an  OrwinaL. 


^  J<D[}^J>1    [}-]©^/7:£,  hjm . 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


281 


of  any  established  law  !"     All  which  was  so 
much  the  worse,  because  they  knew  that  the 
court  had  no  jurisdiction  of  fining  at  all;  for 
the  House  of  Commons,  in  the  third  and  sev- 
enth of  King  James  I.,  resolved  that  the  Court 
of  High  Commission's  fining  and  imprisoning 
men  for  ecclesiastical  offences  was  an  intoler- 
able grievance,  oppression,  and  vexation,  not 
warranted  by  the  statute  1  Eliz.,  chap.  i.     And 
Sir  Edward  Coke,  with  the  rest  of  the  judges, 
at  a  conference  with  the  prelates,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  King  James,  gave  it  as  their  unanimous 
opinion,  that  the  High  Commission  could  fine 
in  no  case,  and  imprison  only  in  cases  of  heresy 
and  incontinence  of  a  minister,  and  that  only 
after  conviction,  but  not  by  way  of  process  be- 
fore it,  so  that  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court  to 
fine  was  not  only  questionable,  but  null  and 
void.   Notwithstanding  which,  they  hunted  after 
their  prey  with  full  cry,  "  and  brought  in  the 
greatest  and  most  splendid  transgressors  ;  per- 
sons of  honour  and  great  quality,"  says  the  no- 
ble historian,  "  were  every  day  cited  into  the 
High  Commission,  upon  the  fame  of  their  in- 
continency  or  scandal  of  life,  and  very  heavy 
fines  were  levied  upon  them,  and  applied  to  the 
repairing  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral." 

Upon  the  accession  of  King  Charles  to  the 
throne,  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  threw  off  the 
mask,  and  shook  hands  with  his  old  friend  Dr. 
Preston,  whom  he  never  loved  any  farther  than 
as  a  tool  to  promote  his  interest  among  the  peo- 
ple.    Laud  was  his  confessor  and  privy-coun- 
sellor for  the  Church,  whose  first  care  was  to 
have  none  but  Arminian  and  anti-Puritanical 
chaplains  about  the  king :  for  this  purpose,  he 
drew  up  a  small  treatise  and  put  it  into  the 
duke's  hand,  proving  the  Arminian  doctrines  to 
be  orthodox,  and  showing,  in  ten  particulars, 
that  the  anti-Arminian  tenets  were  no  better 
than  doctrinal  Puritanism.     Agreeably  to  the 
scheme,  he  presented  the  duke  [April  9]  with  a 
list  of  divines  for  his  majesty's  chaplains,  dis- 
tinguishing their  characters  by  the  two  capital 
letters  0.  for  orthodox  [that  is,  Arminian],  and 
P.  for  Puritans  [that  is,  Calvinists].     At  the 
same  time,  he  received  orders  to  consult  Bish- 
op Andrews  how  to  manage,  with  respect  to  the 
five  distinguishing  points  of  Calvinism,  in  the 
ensuing  convocation  ;  but  the  wise  bishop  ad- 
vised his  brother  by  all  means  to  be  quiet,  and 
keep  the  controversy  out  of  the  house  :  "  for," 
says  he,  "  the  truth  in  this  point  is  not  so  gen- 
erally entertained  among  the  clergy ;   nor  is 
Archbishop  Abbot,  nor  many  of  the  prelates,  so 
inclinable  to  it  as  to  venture  the  deciding  it  in 
convocation."     It  was,  therefore,  wisely  drop- 
ped, the  majority  of  the  Lower  House  being 
zealous  Calvinists  ;  and  forty-five  of  them  (ac- 
cording to  Dr.  Leo,  who  was  one  of  the  num- 
ber) had  made  a  covenant  among  themselves  to 
oppose  everything  that  tended  towards  Pelagi- 
anism  or  semi-Pelagianism :  but  the  controversy 
was  warmly  debated  without  doors,  till  the  king 
put  a  stop  to  it  by  his  royal  declaration. 

Popery  advanced  hand  in  hand  with  Armini- 
anism,  and  began  the  disputes  between  the  king 
and  his  first  Parliament,  which  met  June  16, 
1625.  -His  majesty,  towards  the  close  of  his 
speech,  having  asked  their  assistance  for  the 
recovery  of  the  Palatinate,  assured  them  that, 
though  he  had  been  suspected  as  to  his  religion, 
Vol.  L— N  n 


he  would  let  the  world  see  that  none  shoiAd  be 
more  desirous  to  maintain  the  religion  he  pro- 
fessed than  himself.  The  houses  tiianked  the 
king  for  his  most  gracious  speech,  but,  before 
they  entered  upon  other  business,  joined  in  a 
petition  against  popish  recusants,  which  his 
majesty  promised  to  examine,  and  give  a  satis- 
factory answer  to  the  particulars. 

The  petition  sets  forth  the  causes  of  the  in- 
crease of  popery,  with  the  remedies  :  the  caus- 
es are, 

The  want  of  the  due  execution  of  the  laws 
against  them.  The  interposing  of  foreign  pow- 
ers by  their  ambassadors  and  agents  in  their 
favour.  The  great  concourse  of  papists  to  the 
city,  and  their  frequent  conferences  and  con- 
venticles there.  Their  open  resort  to  the  chap- 
els of  foreign  ambassadors.  The  education  of 
their  children  in  foreign  seminaries.  The  want 
of  sufficient  instruction  in  the  Protestant  reli- 
gion in  several  places  of  the  country.  The  li- 
centious printing  of  popish  books.  The  em- 
ployment of  men  ill  affected  to  the  Protestant 
religion  in  places  of  government.* 

They  therefore  pray  that  the  youth  of  the 
kingdom  may  be  carefully  educated  under  Prot- 
estant schoolmasters ;  which  his  majesty,  in  his 
answer  to  their  petition,  promised :   That  the 
ancient  discipline  of  the  universities  may  be  re- 
stored ;  which  his  majesty  approved  :  That  the 
preaching  of  the  Word  of  God  may  be  enlarged  ; 
and  that  to  this  purpose  the  bishops  be  advised 
to  make  use  of  the  labours  of  such  able  minis- 
ters as  have  been  formerly  silenced,  advising 
and  beseeching  them  to   behave   themselves 
peaceably  ;  and  that  pluralities,  nonresidences, 
and  commendams  may  be  moderated.    Answer. 
"  This  his  majesty  approved,  so  far  as  the  min- 
isters would  conform  to  church  government. 
But  he  apprehends   that   pluralities,  &c.,  are 
now  so  moderated  that  there  is  no  room  for 
complaint ;  and  recommends  it  to  the  Parlia- 
ment to  take  care  that  every  parish  allow  a 
competent  maintenance  for  an  able  minister." 
That  provision  might  be  made  against  trans- 
porting children  to  popish  seminaries,  and  for 
recalling  those  that  were  there.     Answ.  "  To 
this  his  majesty  agreed."     That  no  popish  re- 
cusant be  admitted  to  come  to  court  but  upon 
special  occasion,  according  to  statute  3  Jac. 
Answ.    "  This   also    his   majesty   promised." 
That  the  laws  against  papists  be  put  in  execu- 
tion, and  that  a  day  be  fixed  for  the  departure 
of  all  Jesuits  and  seminary-priests  out  of  the 
kingdom,  and  that  no  natural-born  subject,  nor 
strange  bishops,  nor  any  other  by  authority  from 
the  see  of  Rome,  confer  any  ecclesiastical  or- 
ders, or  exercise  any  ecclesiastical  function, 
upon  your  majesty's  subjects.    Answ.  "  It  shall 
be  so  published  by  proclamation."     That  your 
majesty's  learned  council  may  have  orders  to 
consider  of  all  former  grants  of  recusant  lands, 
that  such  may  be  avoided  as  are  avoidable  by 
law.     Answ.  "  It  shall  be  done  according  as  is 
desired."     That  your  majesty  give  order  to 
your  judges  and  all  officers  of  justice  to  see 
the  laws  against  popish  recusants  duly  execu- 
ted.    Answ.  "  His  inajcsty  leaves  the  laws  to 
their  course."     That  your  majesty  will  remove 
from  places  of  authority  and   government  all 
popish  recusants.     Answ.    "His  majesty  will 

*  Rushworth,  p.  183-186.  ~ 


282 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


give  order  accordingly."  That  order  be  taken 
for  disarming  ail  popish  recusants  convict  ac- 
cording to  law,  and  that  popish  recusants  l)c 
commanded  to  retire  to  their  houses,  and  be 
confined  within  five  miles  of  home.  Answ. 
"The  laws  shall  be  put  in  execution."  Tiiat 
none  of  your  majesty's  natural-born  subjects  go 
to  hear  mass  at  the  houses  or  chapels  of  foreign 
ambassadors.  Answ.  "The  king  will  give  or- 
der accordingly."  That  the  statute  of  1  Eliz., 
for  the  payment  of  twelvepence  every  Sunday 
by  such  as  absent  from  Divine  service  in  the 
church  without  a  lawful  excuse,  be  put  in  exe- 
cution. Answ.  "The  king  promises  the  pen- 
alties shall  not  be  dispensed  with."  That  your 
majesty  will  extend  your  princely  care  to  Ire- 
land, that  the  like  cour.'se  may  be  taken  there 
for  establishing  the  true  religion.  Answ.  "  His 
majesty  will  do  all  that  a  religious  king  can  do 
in  that  affair."* 

It  is  surprising  that  the  king  should  make 
these  promises  to  his  Parliament  within  six 
months  after  he  had  signed  his  marriage-arti- 
cles, in  which  he  had  agreed  to  set  all  Roman 
Catholics  at  liberty,  and  to  suffer  no  search  or 
molestation  of  them  for  their  religion,  and  had, 
in  consequence  of  it,  pardoned  twenty  Romish 
priests,  and  (in  imitation  of  his  royal  father)  giv- 
en orders  to  his  lord-keeper  to  direct  the  judg- 
es and  justices  of  peace  all  over  England  "  to 
forbear  all  manner  of  proceedings  against  his 
Roman  Catholic  subjects,  by  information,  in- 
dictment, or  otherwise  ;  it  being  his  royal  pleas- 
ure that  there  should  be  a  cessation  of  all  and 
singular  pains  and  penalties  whereunto  they 
were  liable  by  any  laws,  statutes,  or  ordinances 
of  this  realm. "t  But,  as  a  judicious  writer  ob- 
serves,t  it  seems  to  have  been  a  maxim  in  this 
and  the  last  reign  that  no  faith  is  to  be  kept 
with  parliaments.  The  papists  were  apprized 
of  the  reasons  of  state  that  obliged  the  king  to 
comply  outwardly  with  what  he  did  not  really 
intend  ;  and,  therefore,  though  his  majesty  di- 
rected a  letter  to  his  archbishop  [December  15, 
1625]  to  proceed  against  popish  recusants,  and 
a  proclamation  was  published  to  recall  the  Eng- 
lish youths  from  popish  seminaries,  little  regard 
was  paid  to  them.  The  king  himself  released 
eleven  Romish  priests  out  of  prison,  by  special 
warrant,  the  next  day  ;  the  titular  Bishop  of 
Chalcedon,  by  letters  dated  June  1,  1625,  ap- 
pointed a  popish  vicar-general  and  archdeacons 
all  over  England,^  whose  names  were  published 

*•  Rushworth,  p.  173. 

t  The  remark  of  Dr.  Warner  here  is  too  pertinent 
and  forcible,  especially  considering  from  whose  pen 
it  comes,  to  be  omitted.  "  These  gracious  answers  of 
his  majesty,"  says  he,  "  to  the  several  articles  of  the 
petition  presented  to  him  by  both  houses  of  Parlia- 
ment, wanted  nothing  but  the  performance  of  the 
promises  which  he  made,  to  gain  him  the  love  of  all 
his  Protestant  subjects.  But  if  we  may  judge  by  the 
continual  complaints  of  the  Parliament  throughout 
this  reign,  about  these  very  points  on  which  the  king 
had  given  this  satisfaction,  we  shall  find  reason  to 
think  that  his  promises  were  observed  no  better  than 
James  his  father  observed  his." — Warner's  Ecdcs. 
Hist.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  513. — Ed.  %  Rapin. 

()  Fuller  tells  us  that  this  titular  Bishop  of  Chal- 
cedon, whose  name  was  Smith,  appeared  in  his  pon- 
tificabilus  in  Lancashire,  with  his  mitre  and  crozier. 
This  was  an  evident  proof  that  the  Catholics  pre- 
sumed on  the  indulgence  and  connivance,  if  not  the 
protection,  of  the  court.    To  show  which,  the  fact 


iu  the  year  1613  ;*  and  when  the  next  Parlia- 
ment petitioned  for  the  removal  of  papists  from 
offices  of  trust,  it  appeared,  by  a  list  annexed 
to  their  petition,  that  there  were  no  less  than 
fifty-nine  of  the  nobility  and  gentry  of  that  reli- 
gion then  in  the  commission.! 

But  the  king  not  only  connived  at  the  Roman 
Catholics  at  home,  but,  unhappily,  contributed  to 
the  ruin  of  the  Protestant  religion  abroad.  Car- 
dinal Richelieu  having  formed  a  design  to  extir- 
pate the  Huguenots  of  France,  by  securing  all 
their  places  of  strength,  laid  siege  to  Rochelle, 
a  seaport  town  with  a  good  harbour  and  a  num- 
ber of  ships  sufficient  for  its  defence.  Richelieu, 
taking  advantage  of  the  king's  late  match  with 
France,  sent  to  borrow  seven  or  eight  ships, 
to  be  employed  as  the  King  of  France  should 
direct,  who  appointed  them  to  block  up  the 
harbour  of  Rochelle ;  but  when  the  honest  sail- 
ors were  told  where  they  were  going,  they 
declared  they  would  rather  be  thrown  over- 
board, or  hanged  upon  the  top  of  the  masts, 
than  fight  against  their  Protestant  brethren. 
Notwithstanding  Admiral  Pennington  and  the 
French  officers  used  all  their  rhetoric  to  per- 
suade them,  they  remained  inflexible.  The  ad- 
miral, therefore,  acquainted  the  king,  who  sent 
him  a  warrant  to  the  following  effect :  "  That 
he  should  consign  his  own  ship  immediately 
into  the  hands  of  the  French  admiral,  with  all 
her  equipage,  artillery,  &c.,and  require  the  oth- 
er seven  to  put  themselves  into  the  service  of 
our  dear  brother  the  French  king  ;  and  in  case 
of  backwardness  or  refusal,  we  command  you 
to  use  all  forcible  means,  even  to  their  sink- 
ing." In  pursuance  of  this  warrant,  the  ships 
were  delivered  into  the  hands  of  the  French, 
but  all  the  English  sailors  and  officers  desert- 
ed except  two.  The  French,  having  got  the 
ships  and  artillery,  quickly  manned  them  with 
sailors  of  their  own  religion,  and,  joining  the 
rest  of  the  French  fleet,  they  blocked  up  the 
harbour,  destroyed  the  little  fleet  of  the  Ro- 
chellers,  and  cut  off  their  communication  by 
sea  with  their  Protestant  friends,  by  which 
means  they  were  reduced  to  all  the  hardships 
of  a  most  dreadful  famine  ;  and  after  a  long 
blockade,  both  by  sea  and  land,  were  forced  to 
surrender  the  chief  bulwark  of  the  Protestant 
interest  in  France  into  the  hands  of  the  papists. 
To  return  to  the  Parliament.'  It  has  been 
remembered  that  Mr.  Richard  Montague,  a 
clergyman,  and  one  of  the  king's  chaplains,  pub- 
lished a  book  in  the  year  1623,  entitled  "  A  new 
Gag  for  an  old  Goose,"  in  answer  to  a  popish 


is  brought  forward  by  Mr.  Neal,  whose  candour  in 
this  matter  Dr.  Grey  impeaches,  because  he  does  not 
inform  his  reader  that  the  king  issued  his  proclama 
tion  for  apprehending  this  Romish  agent.  But  it 
seems  to  have  escaped  Dr.  Grey's  attention  that  a 
proclamation  not  issued  till  the  11th  of  December. 
1628,  and  not  then  till  drawn  from  him  by  a  petition 
of  both  houses  against  recusants,  can  have  little 
weight  against  the  imputation  on  the  king  which 
this  fact  is  alleged  to  support. — Rushworth's  Collec- 
tions, vol.  i.,  p.  511. — Ed. 

*  Rushworth,  p.  158,  159,  and  Fuller's  Church 
Hist,  b.  xi.,  p.  132,  133. 

t  See  Rushworth's  Collection,  vol.  i.,  p.  393,  &c. 
The  names  of  some  of  these  persons,  perhaps,  were  re- 
turned only  on  the  ground  of  suspicion,  because  their 
wives  and  children  were  of  the  Romish  communion, 
or  did  not  come  to  church.  "  Mr.  Neal,"  therefore, 
according  to  Dr.  Grey,  "  mistook  Rushworth."— Ed. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


283 


book,  entitled  "  A  Gag  for  the  new  Gospel."* 
The  book  containing  sundry  propositions  tend- 
ing to  the  public  disturbance,  was  complained 
of  in  the  House  of  Commons,  who,  after  having 
examined  the  author  at  their  bar,  referred  him 
to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who  dismiss- 
ed him  with  an  express  prohibition  to  write  no 
more  about  such  matters.  But  Montague,  be- 
ing encouraged  from  court,  went  on  and  pub- 
lished •'  An  Appeal  to  Ca?sar,"  designing  it  for 
King  James  ;  but  he  being  dead  before  it  was 
ready,  it  was  dedicated  to  King  Charles,  and 
recommended  at  first  by  several  court-bishops, 
who,  upon  better  consideration,  artfully  with- 
drew their  names  from  before  it,  and  left  Dr. 
Francis  White  to  appear  by  himself,  as  he  com- 
plained publicly.  The  appeal  was  calculated  to 
promote  Arminianism,  to  attempt  a  reconcilia- 
tion with  Rome,  and  to  advance  the  king's  pre- 
rogative above  law.  The  House  appointed  a 
committee  to  examine  into  its  errors  ;  after 
which  they  voted  it  to  be  contrary  to  the  Arti- 
cles of  the  Church  of  England,  and  bound  the 
author  in  a  recognisance  of  £2000  for  his  ap- 
pearance. 

Bishop  Laud,  apprehending  this  to  be  an  in- 
vasion of  the  prerogative,  and  a  dangerous  pre- 
cedent, joined  with  two  other  bishops  in  a  let- 
ter to  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  to  engage  his 
majesty  to  take  the  cause  into  his  own  hands  : 
the  letter  says.t  "  that  the  Church  of  England, 
"when  it  was  reformed,  would  not  be  too  busy 
with  school-points  of  divinity ;  now  the  points 
for  which  Mr.  Montague  is  brought  into  trouble 
are  of  this  kind :  some  are  the  resolved  doc- 
trines of  the  Church  of  England,  which  he  is 
bound  to  maintain ;  and  others  are  fit  only  for 
schools,  wherein  men  may  abound  in  their  own 
sense.  To  make  men  subscribe  school-opin- 
ions is  hard,  and  was  one  great  fault  of  the 
Council  of  Trent.  Besides,  disputes  about  doc- 
trines in  religion  ought  to  be  determined  in  a 
national  synod  or  convocation,  with  the  king's 
lincense,  and  not  in  Parliament ;  if  we  submit 
to  any  other  judge,  we  shall  depart  from  the 
ordinance  of  Christ,  we  shall  derogate  from  the 
honour  of  the  late  king,  who  saw  and  approved 
of  all  the  opinions  in  that  book ;  as  well  as 
from  his  present  majesty's  royal  prerogative, 
who  has  power  and  right  to  take  this  matter 
under  his  own  care,  and  refer  it  in  a  right 
course  to  church  consideration.  Some  of  the 
opinions  which  are  opposite  to  Mr.  Montague's 
will  prove  fatal  to  the  government,  if  publicly 
taught  and  maintained  :  when  they  had  been 
concluded  upon  at  Lambeth,  Queen  Elizabeth 
caused  them  to  be  suppressed,  and  so  they  con- 
tinued, till  of  late  some  of  them  received  coun- 
tenance from  the  Synod  of  Dort  ;  a  synod 
whose  conclusions  have  no  authority  in  this 
country,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  never  will." 
Signed,  Jo.  RofTensis,  Jo.  Oxon,  and  Gulielmus 
Menevensis,  August  2,  1625. 

This  letter  had  its  effect,  and  procured  Mon- 
tague his  quietus  at  present.  The  king  decla- 
red he  would  bring  the  cause  before  the  coun- 
cil, it  being  a  branch  of  his  supremacy  to  de- 
termine matters  of  religion.  He  expressed  his 
displeasure  against  the  Commons  for  calling 


*  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  p.  177. 
t  Cabala,  p.  105;   Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  p.  180,  181, 
or  110,  111,  of  the  edition  in  1663. 


his  chaplain  to  their  bar,  and  for  alarming  the 
nation  with  the  danger  of  popery.  But  these  af- 
fairs, with  the  king's  assisting  at  the  siege  of 
Rochelle,  made  such  a  noise  at  Oxford,  where 
the  Parliament  was  reassembled  because  of  the 
plague  at  London,  that  the  king  was  obliged  to 
dissolve  them  [August  12]  before  they  had 
granted  the  supplies  necessary  for  carrying  on 
the  war.  Nor  did  his  majesty  pass  any  act 
relating  to  religion,  except  one,  which  was  soon 
after  suspended  by  his  royal  declaration ;  it 
was  to  prevent  unlawful  pastimes  on  the  Lord's 
Day.  The  preamble  sets  forth  that  the  holy 
keeping  of  the  Lord's  Day  is  a  principal  part  of 
the  true  service  of  God :  "  Therefore  it  is  en- 
acted that  there  shall  be  no  assemblies  of  peo- 
ple out  of  their  own  parishes  for  any  sports  or 
pastimes  whatsoever ;  nor  any  bear-baiting, 
bull-baiting,  interludes,  common  plays,  or  any 
other  unlawful  exercises  or  pastimes,  within 
their  own  parishes,  on  forfeiture  of  three  shill- 
ings and  sixpence  for  every  such  offence  to  the 
poor."  However,  this  law  was  never  put  in 
execution.  Men  were  reproached  and  censu- 
red for  too  strict  an  observation  of  the  Lord's 
Day,  but  none  that  I  have  met  with  for  the 
profanation  of  it. 

His  majesty  having  dismissed  his  Parliament 
before  they  had  given  him  the  necessary  sup- 
plies for  the  war  with  Spain,  resolved  to  try  his 
credit  in  borrowing  money,  by  way  of  loan,  of 
such  persons  as  were  best  able  to  lend  ;  for 
this  purpose  gentlemen  were  taxed  at  a  certain 
sum,  and  had  promissory  letters  under  the  privy 
seal  to  be  repayed  in  eighteen  months.*  With 
this  money  the  king  fitted  out  a  fleet  against 
Spain,  which,  after  it  had  waited  about  two 
months  for  the  Plate  fleet,  returned  without  do- 
ing any  action  worth  remembrance. 

The  ceremony  of  the  king's  coronation,! 
which  was  not  performed  till  the  beginning  of 
February,  was  another  expense  which  his  maj- 
esty thought  fit  to  provide  for  by  issuing  out  a 
proclamation  that  all  such  as  had  £40  a  year 
or  more,  and  were  not  yet  knights,  should  come 
and  receive  the  order  of  knighthood,  or  com- 
pound for  ii.X  This  was  a  new  grievance  loud- 
ly complained  of  in  the  following  Parliaments. 
The  coronation  was  performed  by  Archbishop 
Abbot,  assisted  by  Bishop  Laud  as  Dean  of 
Westminster,"^  who,  besides  the  old  regaha 
which  were  in  his  custody,  that  is,  the  crown, 

*  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  p.  196,  197. 

t  Senhouse,  bishop  of  Carlisle,  who  had  been  his 
chaplain  when  Prince  of  Wales,  was  selected  to 
preach  his  coronation  sermon.    The  bishop  took  for 
his  text  Rev.,  ii.,  10,  "  Be  thou  faithful  unto  death,  and 
I  will  give  thee  a  crown  of  life,"  a  passage  which 
was  considered  by  the  superstitious  as  far  more  suit 
able  for  his  funeral  sermon  than  as  adapted  to  the 
brilliant  occasion  on  which  it  was  delivered.   Charles, 
contrary  to  the  custom  of  his  ancestors,  had  select 
ed  a  robe  of  white,  instead  of  purple,  as  his  corona 
tion  dress.    There  were  various  portents  of  ill  augu 
ry  which  identified  themselves  with  the  inaugura 
tion  of  the  ill-fated  monarch. — Court  of  the  Stuarts 
by  Jesse,  vol.  ii.,  p.  59,  60. — C. 

J  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  235,  236,  folio  ed. 

1^  Dr.  Grey  properly  corrects  Mr.  Neal  here :  Laud 
officiated  in  the  place  of  the  Dean  of  Westminster, 
the  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  with  whom  the  king  was  so 
displeased,  that  he  would  not  permit  him  to  perform 
any  part  of  the  coronation  service. — Fuller's  Church 
Hist.,  b.  X,,  p.  121.— Ed. 


284 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


the  sceptre,  the  spurs,  &c.,  of  King  Edward  the 
Confessor,  brought  forth  an  old  crucifix,  and 
placed  it  upon  the  altar.  As  soon  as  the  arch- 
bishop had  put  the  crown  upon  the  king's  head, 
and  performed  the  other  usual  ceremonies,*  his 
majesty  being  seated  on  the  throne,  ready  to 
receive  the  homage  of  the  lords,  Bisliop  Laud 
came  up  to  him,  ami  read  the  following  extra- 
ordinary passage,  which  is  not  to  be  found  in 
former  coronations  :  "  Stand,  and  hold  fast 
from  henceforth  the  place  to  which  you  have 
been  heir  by  the  succession  of  your  forefathers, 
being  now  delivered  to  you  by  the  authority  of 
Almighty  God,  and  by  the  hands  of  us,  and  all 
the  bishops  and  servants  of  God.  And  as  you 
see  the  clergy  to  come  nearer  to  the  altar  than 
others,  so  remember  that  in  all  places  conveni- 
ent you  give  them  greater  honour,  that  the  Me- 
diator of  God  and  man  may  establish  you  in 
the  kingly  throne,  to  be  a  mediator  between  tlie 
»  clergy  and  the  laity,  and  that  you  may  reign 
forever  with  Jesus  Christ,  the  King  of  kings, 
and  Lord  of  lords. "t  This  and  sundry  other 
alterations  were  objected  to  the  archbishop  at 
his  trial,  which  we  shall  mention  hereafter. 

The  king's  treasury  being  exhausted,  and  the 
war  continuing  with  Spain,  his  majesty  was 
obliged  to  call  a  new  Parliament ;  but  to  avoid 
the  choice  of  such  members  as  had  exclaimed 
against  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  and  insisted 
upon  redress  of  grievances,  the  court  pricked 
them  down  for  sheriffs,  which  disqualified  them 
from  being  rechosen  members  of  Parliament ; 
of  this  number  were  Sir  Edward  Coke,  Sir  Rob- 
ert Philips,  and  Sir  Thomas  Wentworth,  after- 
ward Lord  Strafford.  The  houses  met  Febru- 
ary 6,  1626,  and  fell  immediately  upon  grievan- 
ces. A  committee  for  religion  was  appointed, 
of  which  Mr.  Pym  was  chairman,  who  examin- 
ed Mr.  Montague's  writings,  viz.,  his  "  Gag," 
his  "  Appeal,"  and  his  treatise  of  the  "  Invoca- 
tion of  the  Saints  ;"  out  of  which  they  collected 
several  opinions  contrary  to  the  Book  of  Homi- 
lies and  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  which  they 
reported  to  the  House  ;  as, 

1.  "  That  he  maintained  the  Church  of  Rome 
is,  and  ever  was,  a  true  church,  contrary  to 
the  sixteenth  homily  of  the  Church  of  England. 

2.  "  That  the  said  Church  had  ever  remain- 
ed firm  upon  the  same  foundation  of  sacraments 
and  doctrine  instituted  by  God. 

3.  "  That  speaking  of  the  doctrines  of  faith, 
hope,  and  charity,  he  affirmed  that  none  of 
these  are  controverted  between  the  papists  and 
Protestants ;  but  that  the  controverted  pojnts 
are  of  a  lesser  and  inferior  nature,  of  whicli  a 
man  may  be  ignorant  without  any  danger  of  his 
soul. 

4.  "  That  he  maintained  the  use  of  images, 
for  instruction  of  the  ignorant,  and  exciting  de- 
votion. 

5.  "  That  in  his  treatise  of  the  '  Invocation 
of  Saints,'  he  affirmed  that  some  saints  have  a 
peculiar  patronage,  custody,  protection,  and 
power  (as  angels  have)  over  certain  persons 
and  countries. 


*  The  ceremonial  of  the  coronation  is  given  at 
length  by  Fuller,  b.  xi.,  p.  121,  &c.— Ed. 

t  "  The  manuscript  coronation-book,  which  the 
king  held  in  his  hand,  and  which  is  still  in  being," 
says  Dr.  Grey,  "  proves  that  the  words  were  not 
spoken  by  Laud,  but  by  the  archbishop."— Ed. 


6.  "  That  in  his  '  Appeal '  he  maintained 
that  men  justified  may  fall  away  from  grace, 
and  may  recover  again,  but  not  certainly  nor 
necessarily. 

7.  "  That  the  said  R.  Montague  has  endeav- 
oured to  raise  factions  among  the  king's  sub- 
jects, by  casting  the  odious  and  scandalous 
name  of  Puritans  upon  those  who  conform  to 
the  doctrine  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church. 
That  he  scoffed  at  preaching,  at  lectures,  and 
all  shows  of  religion ;  and  that  the  design  of 
his  book  was  apparently  to  reconcile  the  Church 
of  England  with  the  See  of  Rome."* 

In  what  manner  the  Commons  designed  to 
prosecute  this  impeachment  is  uncertain,  for 
Montague  was  not  brought  to  his  defence,  the 
king  having  intimated  again  to'the  House  that 
their  proceeding  against  him  without  his  leave 
was  displeasing  to  him ;  that  as  to  their  hold- 
ing him  to  bail,  he  thought  his  servants  might 
have  the  same  protection  as  an  ordinary  bur- 
gess, and,  therefore,  he  would  take  the  cause 
into  his  own  hands ;  and  soon  after  dissolved 
the  Parliament.! 

Though  the  Arminian  controversy  was  thus 
wrested  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Parliament,  it 
was  warmly  debated  without  doors  ;  Montague 
was  attacked  in  print  by  Dr.  Carleton,  bishop 
of  Chichester  ;  Dr.  Sutcliffe,  dean  of  Exeter  ; 
Dr.  Featly,  Dr.  Goad,  Mr.  Ward,  Burton,  Yates, 
Wotton,  Pi^ynne,  and   Fran.  Rouse,  Esq.,  &c. 
Conferences  were  appointed  to  debate  the  point 
of  the  possibility  of  the  elects'  falling   from 
grace. t     One  was  at  York  House,  February 
11,  1625-6,  before  the  Duke  of  Buckingham, 
Earl  of  Warwick,  and  other  lords  ;  Dr.  Bucke- 
ridge,  bishop  of  Rochester,  and  Dr.  White,  dean 
of  Carlisle,  being  on  one  side,  and  Dr.  Moreton, 
bishop  of  Coventry,  and  Dr.  Preston,  on  the 
other.     The  success  of  the  dispute  is  variously 
related ;  but  the  Earl  of  Pembroke  said  that 
none  went  from  thence  Arminians,  save  those 
who  came   thither   with   the   same   opinions. 
Soon  after,  February  17,  there  was  a  second 
conference  in  the  same  place,  Dr.  White  and 
Mr.  Montague  on  one  side,  and  Dr.  Moreton  and 
Preston  on  the  other  ;§  Dr.  Preston  carried  it 
clear  at  first,  by  dividing  his  adversaries,  who 
quickly  perceiving  their  error,  united  their  for- 
ces, says  my  author,  in  a  joint  opposition  to 
him  ;  but,  upon  the  whole,  these  conferences 
served  rather  to  increase  the  differences  than 
abate  them.     The  king,  therefore,  issued  out  a 
proclamation,   containing   very   express   com- 
mands not  to  preach  or  dispute  upon  the  con- 
troverted points  of  Arminianism.     It  was  dated 
January  24,  1626,  and  sets  forth  "  that  the  king 
will  admit  of  no  innovation  in  the  doctrine,  dis- 


*  Ru.shvvorth,  vol.  1.,  p.  213-215, 

t  Dr.  Grey  adds  here,  "yet  the  king  thought  fit 
to  call  his  book  in."  The  doctor  says  this  on  the 
authority  of  Rushworth,  whose  farther  account  of 
the  proceeding  should  be  laid  before  the  reader. 
"Ere  this  proclamation  was  published,"  says  he, 
"  the  books  were  for  the  most  part  vented  and  out 
of  danger  of  seizure,  and  the  suiipressing  of  all  wri- 
ting and  preaching  in  answer  thereunto  was  (it  seems 
by  some)  the  thing  mainly  intended  ;  lor  the  several 
answers  were  all  suppressed,  and  divers  of  the  print- 
ers questioned  by  the  High  Commission."— jKasA- 
ivorih,  vol.  ii ,  p.  647. — Ed. 

t  Prynne's  Cant.  Doom.,  p.  158,  159;  Fuller,  b. 
ix.,  p.  124.  ^  Fuller,  b.  xi.,  p.  12a. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


285 


cipline,  or  government  of  the  Church,  and, 
therefore,  charges  all  his  subjects,  and  especi- 
ally the  clergy,  not  to  publish,  or  maintain  in 
preaching  or  writing,  any  new  inventions  or 
opinions  contrary  to  the  said  doctrine  and  dis- 
cipline established  by  law,  assuring  them  that 
his  majesty  will  proceed  against  all  offenders 
agahist  this  order  with  all  that  severity  their 
contempt  shall  deserve,  that  by  the  exemplary 
punishment  of  a  few,  others  may  be  warned 
against  falling  under  the  just  indignation  of 
their  sovereign."* 

One  would  have  thought  this  proclamation  to 
be  in  favour  of  Calvinism,  but  the  execution  of 
it  being  in  the  hands  of  Laud  and  the  bishops 
of  his  party,  the  edge  was  turned  against  the 
Puritans,  and  it  became,  says  Rush  worth,  t  the 
stopping  of  their  mouths,  and  gave  an  uncon- 
trolled liberty  to  the  tongues  and  pens  of  the 
Arminian  party.     Others  were  of  opinion  that 
Laud  and  Neile  procured  this  injunction,  in  or- 
der to  have  an  opportunity  to  oppress  the  Cal- 
vinists  who  should  venture  to  break  it,  while 
the  disobedience  of  the  contrary  party  should 
be  winked  at.   The  Puritans  thought  they  might 
still  write  in  defence  of  the  Thirty-nine  Arti- 
cles ;  but  the  press  being  in  the  hands  of  their 
adversaries,  some  of  their  books  were  suppress- 
ed, some  were  castrated,  and  others  that  got 
abroad  were  called  in, J  and  the  authors  and 
publishers  questioned  in  the  Star  Chamber  and 
High  Commission  for  engaging  in  a  controversy 
prohibited  by  the  government.     By  these  meth- 
ods effectual  care  was  taken  that  the  Puritan 
and  Calvinian  writers  should  do  their  adversa- 
ries no  harm  ;  Bishop  Laud,  with  two  or  three 
of  his  chaplains,  undertaking  to  judge  of  truth 
and  error,  civility  and  good  manners,  for  all  the 
wise  and  great  men  of  the  nation  ;  in  doing  of 
which  they  were   so   shamefully  partial,  that 
learning  and  industry  were  discouraged,  men 
of  gravity  and  great  experience  not  being  able 
to  persuade  themselves  to  submit  their  labours 
to   be  mangled   and  torn  in  pieces  by  a  few 
younger  divines,  who  were  both  judges   and 
parlies  in  the  affair.     At  length,  the  booksellers 
being  almost  ruined,  preferred  a  petition  to  the 
next  Parliament<S>  [1628],  complaining  that  the 
writings  of  their  best  authors  were  stilled  in  the 
press,  while  the  books  of  their  adversaries  [pa- 
pists and  Armimans]  were  published  and  spread 
over  the  whole  kingdom.   Thus  Cheney's  "  Col- 
lectiones  Theologicsp,,"  an  Arminian  and  popish 
performance,  was  licensed,  when  the  learned 
Dr.  Twisse's  answer  to  Arminius,  though  writ- 
ten in  liatin,  was  stopped  in  the  press.  II     Mr. 
Montague's  book,  entitled  '  God's  Love  to  Man- 
kind," was  licensed  and  published,  when  Dr. 
Twisse's  reply  to  the  same  book  was  suppress- 
ed.    Many  affidavits  of  this  kmd  were  made 
against  Laud  at  his  trial  by  the  most  famous 
Calvinistical  writers,  as  will  be  seen  hereafter. 
The  case  was  just  the  same  with  regard  to 
books  against  popery ;  the  queen  and  the  Ro- 
man Catholics  must  not  be  insulted,  and,  there- 
fore, all  offensive  passages,  such  as  calling  the 
pope  antichrist,  the  Church  of  Rome  no  true 

*  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  p.  416,  Bib.  Regia. 
+  Rushworth,  p.  417.     Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  258,  folio 
ed.  t  Prynne,  p.  158,  159. 

^  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  p.  667. 
II  Prynne,  p.  l'66,  167,  &c 


church,  and  everything  tending  to  expose  ima- 
ges in  churches,  crucifixes,  penance,  auricular 
confession,  and  popish  absolution,  must  be  ex- 
punged. Sir  Edward  Deering  compares  the  li- 
censers of  the  press  to  the  managers  of  the  in- 
dex expurgator-ins  among  the  papists,  "  who  clip 
the  tongues  of  such  witnesses  whose  evidences 
they  do  not  like ;  in  like  manner,"  says  he, 
"  our  licensers  suppress  the  truth,  while  popish 
pamphlets  fly  abroad  cum  privilegio ;  nay,  they 
are  so  bold  as  to  deface  the  most  learned  la- 
bours of  our  ancient  and  best  divines.  But 
herein  the  Roman  i7idex  is  better  than  ours,  that 
they  approve  of  their  own  established  doctrines ; 
but  our  innovators  alter  our  settled  doctrines, 
and  superinduce  points  repugnant  and  contrary. 
This  I  do  affirm,  and  can  take  upon  myself  to 
prove," 

Terrible  were  the  triumphs  of  arbitrary  pow- 
er over  the  liberty  and  property  of  the  subject, 
in  the  intervals  between  this  and  the  succeed- 
ing Parliament ;  gentlemen  of  birth  and  char- 
acter, who  refused  to  lend  what  money  the 
council  was  pleased  to  assess  them,  were  taken 
out  of  their  houses  and  imprisoned  at  a  great 
distance  from  their  habitations  ;*  among  these 
were  Sir  Thomas  Wentworth,  Sir  Walter  Earle, 
Sir  John  Strangeways,  Sir  Thomas  Grantham, 
Sir  Harbottle  Grimstone,  John  Hampden,  Esq., 
and  others  ;  some  were  confined  in  the  Fleet,  the 
Marshalsea,  the  Gate-house,  and  other  prisons 
about  London,  as  Sir  John  Elliot,  Mr.  Selden, 
&c. 

Upon  the  whole,  there  were  imprisoned  by 
order  of  council  nineteen  knights,  thirteen  es- 
quires, and  four  gentlemen  in  the  county  jails  ; 
three  knights,  one  esquire,  and  four  wealthy 
citizens  in  the  Fleet,  besides  great  numbers  in 
other  places.  Those  of  the  lower  sort  who  re- 
fused to  lend  were  pressed  for  the  army,  or 
had  soldiers  quartered  on  them,  who,  by  their 
insolent  behaviour,  disturbed  the  peace  of  fam- 
ilies, and  committed  frequent  felonies,  burgla- 
ries, rapines,  murders,  and  other  barbarous 
cruelties,  insomuch  that  the  highways  were 
dangerous  to  travel,  and  the  markets  unfre- 
quented. The  king  would  have  borrowed 
£100,000  of  the  city  of  London,  but  they  ex- 
cused themselves.  However,  his  majesty  got 
a  round  sum  of  money  from  the  papists,  by  is- 
suing a  commission  to  the  Archbishop  of  York 
to  compound  with  them  for  all  their  forfeitures 
that  had  been  due  for  recusancy  since  the  tenth 
of  King  James  I.,  or  that  should  be  due  hereaf- 
ter. By  this  fatal  policy  (says  the  noble  histo- 
rian) men  well  affected  to  the  hierarchy,  though 
enemies  to  arbitrary  power,  were  obliged  to  side 
with  the  Puritans  to  save  the  nation,  and  ena- 
ble them  to  oppose  the  designs  of  the  court. 

To  convince  the  people  that  it  was  their  duty 
to  submit  to  the  loan,  the  clergy  were  employed 
to  preach  up  the  doctrines  of  passive  obedience 
and  nonresistance,  and  to  prove  that  the  abso- 
lute submission  of  subjects  to  the  royal  will  and 
pleasure  was  the  doctrine  of  Holy  Scripture;! 
among  those  was  Dr.  Sibthorp,  a  man  of  mean 
parts,  but  of  sordid  a.mbition,  who,  in  his  ser- 
mon at  the  Lent  assizes  at  Northampton,  from 
Romans,  xiii.,  7,  told  the  people,  "  that  if  prin- 
ces commanded  anything  which  subjects  might 

*  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  p.  426,  432,  435,  495. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  426,  440. 


286 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


not  perform,  because  it  is  against  the  laws  of 
God  or  of  Nature,  or  impossible,  yet  subjects 
are  bound  to  undergo  the  punishment,  without 
resisting,  or  railing,  or  reviling  ;  and  so  to  yield 
a  passive  obedience  where  they  cannot  yield  an 
active  one."  Dr.  Manwaring  went  farther,  in 
two  sermons  preached  before  the  king  at  Oat- 
lands,  and  published  under  the  title  of  "  Reli- 
gion and  Allegiance."  He  says,  '"The king  is 
not  bound  to  observe  the  laws  of  the  realm 
concerning  the  subjects'  rights  and  liberties,  but 
that  his  royal  will  and  pleasure,  in  imposing 
taxes  without  consent  of  Parliament,  doth 
oblige  the  subjects'  conscience  on  pain  of  dam- 
nation ;  and  that  those  who  refuse  obedience 
transgress  the  laws  of  God,  insult  the  king's 
supreme  authority,  and  are  guilty  of  impiety, 
disloyalty,  and  rebellion.  That  the  authority 
of  both  houses  of  Parliament  is  not  necessary 
for  the  raising  aids  and  subsidies,  as  not  suita- 
ble to  the  exigencies  of  the  state."  These 
were  the  doctrines  of  the  court  ;  "  which," 
says  the  noble  historian,  "  were  very  unfit  for 
the  place  and  very  scandalous  for  the  persons, 
who  presumed  often  to  determine  things  out  of 
the  verge  of  their  own  profession,  and  in  ordine 
ad  spirilualia,  gave  unto  Caesar  that  which  did 
not  belong  to  him." 

Sibthorp  dedicated  his  sermon  to  the  king, 
and  carried  it  to  Archbishop  Abbot  to  be  li- 
censed, which  the  honest  old  prelate  refused, 
for  which  he  was  -suspended  from  all  archiepis- 
copal  functions,  and  ordered  to  retire  to  Can- 
terbury or  Ford,  a  moorish,  unhealthy  place, 
five  miles  beyond  Canterbury.  •  The  sermon 
was  then  carried  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  who 
licensed  and  recommended  it  as  a  sermon 
learnedly  and  discreetly  preached,  agreeable  to 
the  ancient  doctrine  of  the  primitive  Church, 
both  for  faith  and  good  manners,  and  to  the  es- 
tablished doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England. 

Archbishop   Abbot  had  been   out  of  favour 
for  some  time,  because  he  would  not  give  up 
the  laws  and  liberties  of  his  country,  nor  treat 
the  great  Duke  of  Buckingham  with  that  servile 
submission   that  he   expected.*     Heylin  says 
the  king  was  displeased  with  him  for  being  too 
favourable  to  the  Puritans  and  too  remiss  in  his 
government ;  and  that,  for  this  reason,  he  seiz- 
ed his  jurisdiction,  and  put  it  into  hands  more 
disposed  to  act  with  severity.      Fuller  sayst 
that  a  commission  was  granted  to  five  bishops, 
whereof  Laud  was  one,  to  suspend  hina  for  cas- 
ual homicide  that  he  had  committed  seven  years 
before,  and  of  which  he  had  been  cleared  by 
commissioners  appointed  to  examine  into  the 
fact  in  the  reign  of  King  James ;  besides,  his 
grace  had  a  royal  dispensation  to  shelter  him 
from  the  canons,  and  had  ever  since  exercised 
his  jurisdiction  without  interruption,  even   to 
the  consecrating  of  Laud  himself  to  a  bishopric. 
But  the  commission  mentions  no  cause  of  his 
suspension,  and  only  takes  notice  that  the  arch- 
bishop cannot  at  present,  in  his  own  person,  at- 
tend the  services  which  are  otherwise  proper 
for  his  cognizance  and  jurisdiction.     But  why 
could  he  not  attend  them"!     Because  his  maj- 
esty had  commanded  him  to  retire,  for  refu- 
sing to  license  Sibthorp's  sermon.     The  blame 
of  this  severity  fell  upon  Laud,  as  if,  not  having 


*  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  p.  61,  435.     CoUyer,  p.  742. 
t  Church  History,  b.  xi.,  p.  127. 


patience  to  wait  for  the  reverend  old  prelate's 
death,  he  was  desirous  to  step  into  the  archi- 
episcopal  chair  while  he  was  yet  alive  ;  for  no 
sooner  was  Abbot  suspended,  than  his  jurisdic- 
tion was  put  into  the  hands  of  five  bishops  by 
commission,  of  whom  Laud  was  the  chief 

There  was   another  prelate   that   gave   the 
court  some  uneasiness,  viz..  Dr.  Williams,  bish- 
op of  Lincoln,  late  lord-keeper  of  the  great  seal, 
who,  being  in  disgrace,  retired  to  his  diocess, 
and  became  very  popular  among  his  clergy.* 
He  declared  against  the  loan,  and  fell  in  with 
the  Puritans  and  country  party,  insomuch  that 
Sir  John  Lamb  and  Dr.  Sibthorp  informed  the 
council  that  they  were  grieved  to  sec  the  Bish- 
op of  Lincoln  give  place  to  unconformable  min- 
isters, when  he  turned  his  back  upon  those  who 
were  conformable  ;  that  the  Puritans  ruled  all 
with  him  ;  and  that  divers  of  them  in  Leices- 
tershire being  convened  before  the  commissa- 
ries, his  lordship  would  not  admit  proceedings 
to  be  had  against  them.     That  they  [the  com- 
missaries for  the  High  Commission]  had  inform- 
ed the  bishop,  then  at  Bugden,  of  several  of  the 
factious  Puritans  in  his  diocess  who  would  not 
come  up  to  the  table  to  receive  the  communion 
kneeling ;  of  their  keeping  unlawful  fasts  and 
meetings  ;  that  one  fast  held  from  eight  in  the 
morning  till  nine  at  night ;  and  that  collections 
for  money  were  made  without  authority,  upon 
pretence  for   the  Palatinate  ;    that,  therefore, 
they  had  desired  leave  from,  the  bishop  to  pro- 
ceed against  them  ex  officio;  but  the  bishop  re- 
plied that  he  would  not  meddle  against  the  Pu- 
ritans ;  that,  for  his  part,  he  expected  not  anoth- 
er bishopric  ;  they  might  complain  of  them  if 
they  would  to  the  council-table,  for  he  was  un- 
der a  cloud  already.    He  had  the  Duke  of  Buck- 
ingham for  his  enemy,  and,  therefore,  would 
not  draw  the  Puritans  upon  him,  for  he  was 
sure  they  would  carry  all  things  at  last.     Be- 
sides, he  said,  the  king,  in  the  first  year  of  his 
reign,  had  given  answer  to  a  petition  of  the 
Lower  House,  at  Oxford,  in  favour  of  the  Puri- 
tans. 

It  appeared  by  the  information  of  others,  that 
Lamb  and  Sibthorp  pressed  the  bishop  again  to 
proceed  against  the  Puritans  of  Leicestershire  ; 
that  the  bishop  then  asked  them,  What  sort  of 
people  they  were,  and  of  what  condition  1  To 
which  Sir  John  Lamb  replied,  in  the  presence 
of  Dr.  Sibthorp,  •'  that  they  see^ned  to  the  world 
to  be  such  as  would  not  swear,  whore,  nor  be 
drunk,  but  vet  they  would  lie,  cozen,  and  de- 
ceive ;  that  they  would  frequently  hear  two 
sermons  a  day,  and  repeat  the  same  again,  too, 
and  afterward  pray,  and  that  sometimes  they 
would  fast  all  day  long."  Then  the  bishop 
asked  whether  the  places  where  those  Puritans 
were  did  lend  money  freely  upon  the  collection 
for  the  loan.  To  which  Sir  John  Lamb  and  Dr. 
Sibthorp  replied  that  they  did.  Then  said  the 
bishop,  No  man  of  discretion  can  say  that  that 
place  is  a  place  of  Puritans :  for  my  part  (said 
the  bishop),  I  am  not  satisfied  to  give  way  to 
proceedings  against  them:  at  which  Sibthorp 
was  much  discontented,  and  said  he  was  troub- 
led to  see  that  the  Church  was  no  better  re- 
garded. This  information  being  transmitted  to 
the  council,  was  sealed  up  for  the  present,  but 
was  afterward,  with  some  other  matters,  pro- 

.  »  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  p.  424,  425. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS.. 


287 


duced  against  his  lordship  in  the  Star  Chamber, 
as  will  be  seen  hereafter. 

Though  the  king  was  at  war  with  Spain,  and 
with  the  house  of  Austria,  and  (if  I  may  be  al- 
lowed to  say  it)  with  his  own  subjects;  though 
he  had  no  money  m  his  exchequer,  and  was  at 
the  greatest  loss  how  to  raise  any  ;  yet  he  suf- 
fered himself  to  be  prevailed  with  to  enter  into 
a  new  war  with  France,  under  the  colour  of 
maintaining  the  Protestant  rehgion  in  that 
country,  without  so  much  as  thinking  of  ways 
and  means  to  support  it.  But  when  one  con- 
siders the  character  of  this  king  and  his  minis- 
try, it  is  hard  to  believe  that  this  could  be  the 
real  motive  of  the  war,  for  his  majesty  and  the 
whole  court  had  a  mortal  aversion  to  the  French 
Huguenots.*  Buckingham  had  no  religion  at 
all ;  Weston  and  Conway  were  Catholics  ;  Laud 
and  Netle  thought  there  loas  no  salvation  for 
Protestants  out  of  the  Church  of  England ;  how, 
then,  can  it  be  supposed  that  they  should  make 
war  in  defence  of  a  religion  for  which  they  had 
the  utmost  contempt?  Lord  Clarendon  says 
the  war  was  owing  to  Buckingham's  disap- 
pointment in  his  amours  at  the  French  court  ;t 
but  it  is  more  likely  he  advised  it  to  keep  up 
the  misunderstandings  between  the  king  and 
his  parliaments,  by  continuing  the  necessity  of 
raising  money  by  extraordinary  methods,  upon 
which  his  credit  and  reputation  depended.  War 
being  declared,  the  queen's  domestics  were  sent 
home,  and  a  fleet  was  fitted  out,  which  made  a 
fruitless  descent  upon  the  Isle  of  Rhee,  under 
the  conduct  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  with 
the  loss  of  five  thousand  men.  This  raised  a 
world  of  complaints  and  murmurs  agamst  the 
duke,  and  obliged  the  weak  and  unhappy  king 
to  try  the  experiment  of  another  Parliament, 
which  was  appointed  to  meet  March  17,  1627-8. 

As  soon  as  this  resolution  was  taken  in  coun- 
cil, orders  were  despatched  to  all  parts  of  the 
kingdom  to  release  the  gentlemen  imprisoned 
for  the  loan,  to  the  number  of  seventy-eight, 
most  of  whom  were  chosen  members  for  the 
ensuing  Parliament.  In  the  mean  time,  his 
majesty  went  on  with  raising  money  by  excise  ; 
and  instead  of  palliating  and  softening  the  mis- 
takes of  liis  government,  put  on  an  air  of  high 
sovereignty,  and  told  his  Parliament,  that  if  they 
did  not  provide  for  the  necessities  of  the  state, 
he  should  use  those  other  means  that  God  had 
put  into  his  hands,  to  save  that  which  the  folhes 
of  other  men  would  hazard.  "  Take  not  this," 
says  his  majesty,  "  as  a  threatening,  for  I  scorn 
to  threaten  my  inferiors,}  but  as  an  admonition 
from  him,  who  by  nature  and  duty  has  most 
care  for  your  preservation  and  prosperity.  "(J 

*  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  260,  foUo  ed. 

t  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,p.  38,39. 

X  "  Any  but  equals." — Rv^hworth.  Dr.  Grey,  who 
gives  this  correction,  quotes  other  passages  from  the 
king's  speech  with  a  view  to  soften  Mr.  Neal's 
representation  of  it;  but  with  httle  propriety ;  for 
though  he  expresses  "a  hope  of  being  laid  under 
such  obligations  as  would  tie  him  by  way  of  thank- 
fulness to  meet  them  often,"  the  whole  wears  the 
same  air  of  sovereignty  as  the  passage  above.  It  is 
more  in  the  tone  of  an  angry  monarch  to  his  offend- 
ing subjects,  than  of  a  constitutional  king  of  Eng- 
land to  his  parliament. — Ed. 

<^  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  p.  480.  The  leaders  of  the 
popular  party  were  unmoved  by  this  silly  tirade. 
They  were  aware  of  the  crisis  which  had  arrived. 


But  the  Parliament  not  being  awed  by  this 
language,  began  with  grievances ;  and  though 
they  voted  five  subsidies,  they  refused  to  carry 
the  bill  through  the  House  till  they  had  obtain- 
ed the  royal  assent  to  their  petition  of  right, 
which  asserted,  among  others,  the  following 
claims  contained  in  Magna  Charta  : 

1.  That  no  freeman  shall  be  detained  in  pris- 
on by  the  king  and  privy  council  without  the 
cause  of  commitment  be  expressed  for  which 
by  law  he  ought  to  be  detained. 

2.  That  a  habeas  corpus  ought  not  to  be  de- 
nied where  the  law  allows  it. 

3.  That  no  tax,  loan,  or  benevolence  shall 
be  imposed  without  act  of  Parliament. 

4.  That  no  man  shall  be  forejudged  of  life  or 
limb,  or  be  exiled  or  destroyed,  but  by  the  judg- 
ment of  his  peers,  according  to  the  laws  of  the 
land,  or  by  act  of  Parliament. 

The  king  gave  the  royal  assent  to  this  bill  in 
the  most  ample  manner,  which  I  mention  that 
the  reader  may  remember  what  regard  his  maj- 
esty paid  to  it  in  the  twelve  succeeding  years 
of  his  reign. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  House  of  Lords*  went 
upon  Manwaring's  sermons,  already  mentioned, 
and  passed  the  following  sentence  upon  the  au- 
thor :  "  That  he  be  imprisoned  during  pleasure, 
and  be  fined  one  thousand  pounds  ;  that  he 
make  his  submission  at  the  bar  of  the  House, 
and  he  suspended  from  his  ministry  for  three 
years ;  that  he  be  disabled  forever  from  preach- 
ing at  court,  be  incapable  of  any  ecclesiastical 
or  secular  preferment,  and  that  his  sermons  be 
burned  in  London  and  both  universities."!   Pur- 

and  were  admirably  qualified  to  meet  it.  I  beg  the 
reader  to  examine  the  character  of  the  leaders  of  the 
party ;  their  intellectual  endowments  were  of  the 
highest  order,  and  their  moral  standing  gave  weight 
and  influence  to  their  opinions.  Look  at  Sir  Edward 
Coke,  yet  regarded  as  the  oracle  of  English  law; 
John  Selden,  the  most  learned  man  of  his  time  ;  Sir 
John  Eliot,  one  of  the  purest  of  patriots;  and  John 
Hampden,  the  glory  of  the  land.  Lingard  says,  the 
leaders  of  the  country  party  conducted  their  pro- 
ceedings with  the  most  consummate  address.  They 
advanced  step  by  step,  first  resolving  to  grant  a  sup- 
ply, then  fixing  it  at  the  tempting  amount  of  five 
subsidies.  But  no  art,  no  entreaty  could  prevail  on 
them  to  pass  their  resolution  in  the  shape  of  a  bill. 
It  was  held  out  as  a  lure  to  the  king,  it  was  gradual- 
ly brought  nearer  and  nearer  to  his  grasp,  but  they 
still  refused  to  surrender  their  hold ;  they  required, 
as  a  previous  condition,  that  he  should  give  his  as- 
sent to  those  liberties  which  they  claimed  as  the 
birthright  of  Englishmen. — C. 

*  A  declaration  against  Manwaring  was  presented 
to  the  Lords  by  Pym,  supported  in  one  of  those 
lucid  and  masterly  expositions  of  constitutional  law 
which  rendered  him  so  formidable  an  opponent  to 
the  court.  "The  circumstances  of  aggravation  an- 
nexed to  this  case,"  said  Pym,  "  are  these.  The 
first,  from  the  place  where  those  sermons  were 
preached  ;  the  court,  the  king's  own  family,  where 
such  doctrine  was  before  so  well  believed  that  no 
man  needed  to  be  converted,  &c.  The  second  was 
from  the  consideration  of  his  holy  functions  :  he  is 
a  preacher  of  God's  Holy  Word,  and  yet  he  had  en- 
deavoured to  make  that,  which  was  the  only  rule  of 
justice  and  goodness,  to  be  the  warrant  for  violence 
and  oppression.  He  is  a  messenger  of  peace,  but  he 
had  endeavoured  to  sow  strife  and  dissension,  not 
only  among  private  persons,  but  even  between  the 
king  and  his  people,  to  the  disturbance  and  danger 
of  the  whole  state." — C. 

t  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  p.  601,  612,  613. 


288 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


suant  to  this  sentence,  Manwaring  appeared 
upon  his  knees  at  the  har  of  the  House,  June  23 
[1628],  and  made  ample  aclvnowledgment  and 
submission,  craving  pardon  of  God,  the  king, 
the  Parhament,  and  the  whole  commonwealth, 
in  words  draw-n  up  hy  a  committee ;  but  the 
Houses  were  no  sooner  risen  than  his  fine  was 
remitted  and  liimself  preferred,  first  to  the  liv- 
ing of  Stamford-Rivers,  with  a  dispensation  to 
hold  St.  Giles's-in-the-fields,  then  to  the  dean- 
ery of  Worcester,  and  after  some  time  to  the 
bishopric  of  St.  David's.* 

Within  a  month  after  this  [August  22]  Mon- 
tague was  promoted  to  the  bishopric  of  Chi- 
chester, while  he  lay  under  the  censure  of  Par- 
liament. At  his  consecration  at  Bow  Church, 
Mr.  Jones,  a  stationer  of  London,  stood  up  and 
excepted  against  his  qualification  for  a  bishop- 
ric, because  the  Parliament  had  voted  him  in- 
capable of  any  preferment  in  the  Church  ;  but 
his  exceptions  were  overruled,  not  being  deliv- 
ered in  by  a  proctor,  though  Jones  averred  that 
he  could  not  prevail  with  any  one  to  appear  for 
him,  though  he  offered  them  their  fees  ;  so  the 
consecration  proceeded. 

Sibthorp,  the  other  incendiary,  was  made 
prebendary  of  Peterborough,  and  rector  of  Bur- 
ton-Latimer,  in  Wiltshire,  though  the  Oxford 
historiant  confesseth  he  had  nothing  to  recom- 
mend him  but  forwardness  and  servile  flattery. 

While  the  money  bill  was  going  through  the 
House  of  Lords,  the  Commons  were  busy  in 
drawing  up  a  remonstrance  of  the  grievances 
of  the  nation,  with  a  petition  for  redress  ;  but 
as  soon  as  the  king  had  obtained  his  money  he 
came  to  the  House,  June  26th,  and  prorogued 
the  Parliament,  first  to  the  20th  of  October,  and 
then  to  the  26th  of  January.  The  Commons 
being  disappointed  of  presenting  tlieir  remon- 
strance, dispersed  it  through  the  nation,  but 
the  king  called  it  in,  and  after  some  time  pub- 
lished an  answer  drawn  up  by  Bishop  Laud,  as 
was  proved  against  him  at  his  trial. 

The  remonstrance  was  dated  June  11,  and 
besides  the  civil  grievances  of  billeting  soldiers, 
&c.,  complains  with  regard  to  religion. 

1.  Of  the  great  increase  of  popery  by  the 
laws  not  being  put  in  execution  ;  by  conferring 
honours  and  places  of  command  upon  papists  ; 
by  issuing  out  commissions  to  compound  for 
their  recusancy,  and  by  permitting  mass  to 
be  said  openly  at  Denmark  House  and  other 
places. 

The  answer  denies  any  noted  increase  of 
popery,  or  that  there  is  any  cause  to  fear  it. 
As  for  compositions,  they  are  for  the  increase 
of  his  majesty's  profit,  and  for  returning  that 
into  his  purse  which  the  connivance  of  inferior 
officers  might  perhaps  divert  another  way. 

2.  The  remonstrance  complains  of  the  dis- 
countenancing orthodox  and  painful  ministers, 
though  conformable  and  peaceable  in  their  be- 
haviour, insomuch  that  they  are  hardly  permit- 

*  in  this  manner  did  Charles  express  his  con- 
tempt for  Parliament,  and  purchase  the  services  of 
an  unprincipled  priesthood  to  his  purposes  of  tyran- 
ny. And  yet  there  are  American  citizens  who  see  no 
flaw  in  Charles,  no  blemish  in  Laud !  We  under- 
stand their  position,  however,  when  we  find  them, 
like  that  persecuting  prelate,  groping  about  amid 
the  fooleries  of  popery.  To  escape  from  the  testi- 
mony of  history,  they  term  it  "  a  tissue  of  lies!"— C 

+  Athenae  Oxon.,  vol.  i.,  p.  180. 


ted  to  lecture  where  there  is  no  constant  preach- 
ing. That  their  books  are  prohibited,  whea 
those  of  their  adversaries  are  licensed  and  pub- 
lished. That  the  Bishops  Neile  and  Laud  are 
justly  suspected  of  Arminianism  and  popish  er- 
rors ;  and  that  this  being  the  way  to  church 
j)refcrmcnt,  many  scholars  bend  the  course  of 
their  studies  to  maintain  them. 

The  answer  denies  the  distressing  or  dis- 
countenancing good  preachers,  if  they  be,  as 
tliey  are  called,  good  ;  but  aflirms  that  it  was 
necessary  to  prohibit  their  books,  because  some 
whom  the  remonstrance  calls  orthodox  had  as- 
sumed an  insufferable  license  in  printing.  That 
great  wrong  was  done  to  the  two  eminent  prel- 
ates mentioned  without  any  proof;  for  should 
they  or  any  others  attempt  innovations  of  reli- 
gion, says  his  majesty,  we  should  quickly  take 
order  with  them,  without  staying  for  the  re- 
monstrance ;  and  as  for  church  preferments, 
we  will  always  bestow  them  as  the  reward  of 
merit,  but,  as  the  preferments  are  ours,  we 
will  be  judge,  and  not  be  taught  by  a  remon- 
strance. 

3.  The  remonstrance  complains  of  the  growth 
of  Arminianism,  as  a  cunning  way  to  bring  in 
popery. 

The  answer  says,  this  is  a  great  wrong  to 
ourself  and  government,  for  our  people  must 
not  be  taught  by  a  parliamentary  remonstrance, 
or  any  other  way,  that  we  are  so  ignorant  of 
truth,  or  so  careless  of  the  profession  of  it,  that 
any  opinion  or  faction  should  thrust  itself  so 
fast  into  our  dominions  without  our  knowledge. 
This  is  a  mere  dream,  and  would  make  our 
loyal  people  believe  we  are  asleep. 

But  the  following  letter,  written  at  this  time 
by  a  Jesuit  in  England  to  the  rector  of  the 
college  at  Brussels,  sufficiently  supports  the 
Parliament's  charge,  and  shows  how  Arminian- 
ism and  popery,  which  have  no  natural  con- 
nexion, came  to  be  united  at  this  time  against 
the  Protestant  religion  and  the  liberties  of  Eng- 
land. 

"  Let  not  the  damp  of  astonishment  seize 
upon  your  ardent  and  zealous  soul,"  says  the 
Jesuit,  "  in  apprehending  the  unexpected  call- 
ing of  a  Parliament ;  we  [the  papists]  have  not 
opposed,  but  rather  furthered  it. 

"  You  must  know  the  council  is  engaged  to 
assist  the  king  by  way  of  prerogative,  in  case 
the  Parliament  fail.  You  shall  see  this  Parlia- 
ment will  resemble  the  pelican,  which  takes 
pleasure  to  dig  out  with  her  beak  her  own  bow- 
els. 

"  The  elections  have  been  in  such  confusion 
of  apparent  faction,  as  that  which  we  were 
wont  to  procure  with  much  art  and  industry, 
when  the  Spanish  match  was  in  treaty. 

"  We  have  now  many  strings  to  our  bow,  and 
have  strongly  fortified  our  faction,  and  have 
added  two  bulwarks  more ;  for  when  King 
James  lived,  he  was  very  violent  against  Ar- 
minianism, and  interrupted  our  strong  designs 
in  Holland. 

"  Now  we  have  planted  that  sovereign  drug, 
Arminianism,  which  we  hope  will  purge  the 
Protestants  from  their  heresy,  and  it  flourishes 
and  bears  fruit  in  due  season. 

"  The  materials  that  build  up  our  bulwark 
are  the  projectors  and  beggars  of  all  ranks  and 
qualities  ;  however,  both  these  factions  co-op- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


289 


erate  to  destroy  the  Parliament,  and  to  intro- 
duce a  new  species  and  form  of  government, 
■which  is  oligarchy. 

"  These  serve  as  mediums  and  instruments 
to  our  end,  which  is  the  universal  Catholic  mon- 
archy ;  our  foundation  must  be  mutation,  and 
mutation  will  cause  a  relaxation. 

"  We  proceed  now  by  counsel  and  mature 
deliberation,  how  and  when  to  work  upon  the 
duke's  [Buckingham's]  jealousy  and  revenge  ; 
and  in  this  we  give  the  honour  to  those  that 
merit  it,  which  are  the  church  Catholics. 

"  There  is  another  matter  of  consequence 
which  we  must  take  much  into  our  considera- 
tion and  tender  care,  which  is,  to  stave  off  Pu- 
TJtans,  that  they  hang  not  in  the  duke's  ears  : 
they  are  impudent,  subtle  people,  and  it  is  to 
be  feared  lest  they  should  negotiate  a  reconcili- 
ation between  the  duke  and  the  Parliament  at 
Oxford  and  Westminster  ;  but  now  we  assure 
ourselves  that  we  have  so  handled  the  matter 
that  both  the  duke  and  Parliament  are  irrecon- 
cilable. 

"  For  the  better  prevention  of  the  Puritans, 
the  Arminians  have  already  locked  up  the  duke's 
ears,  and  we  have  those  of  our  own  religion 
that  stand  continually  at  the  duke's  chamber, 
to  see  who  goes  in  and  out.  We  cannot  be  too 
circumspect  and  careful  in  this  regard.  I  can- 
not choose  but  laugh  to  see  how  some  of  our 
own  coat  have  accoutred  themselves  ;  and  it  is 
admirable  how  in  speech  and  gesture  they  act 
the  Puritans.  The  Cambridge  scholars,  to  their 
■woful  experience,  shall  see  we  can  act  the  Puri- 
tan a  little  better  than  they  have  done  the  Jes- 
uits. They  have  abused  our  sacred  patron  in 
jest,  but  we  will  make  them  smart  for  it  in  ear- 
nest. 

"  But  to  return  to  the  main  fabric,  our  found- 
ation is  Arminianism;  the  Arminians  and  pro- 
jectors affect  mutation  ;  this  we  second  and  en- 
force by  probable  arguments.  We  show  how 
the  king  may  free  himself  of  his  ward,  and  raise 
a  vast  revenue  without  being  beholden  to  his 
subjects,  which  is  by  way  of  excise.  Then  our  j 
church  Catholics  show  the  means  how  to  settle 
the  excise,  which  must  be  by  a  mercenary  army  | 
of  foreigners  and  Germans  ;  their  horse  will  eat 
up  the  country  where  they  come,  though  they 
be  well  paid  ;  much  more  if  they  be  not  paid. 
The  army  is  to  consist  of  twenty  thousand  foot, 
and  two  thousand  horse  ;  so  that  if  the  country 
rise  upon  settling  the  excise,  as  probably  they 
will,  the  army  will  conquer  them,  and  pay  them- 
selves out  of  the  confiscation.  Our  design  is 
to  work  the  Protestants  as  well  as  the  Catho- 
lics to  welcome  in  a  conqueror.  We  hope  to 
dissolve  trade,  to  hinder  the  building  of  ship- 
ping, and  to  take  away  the  merchant-ships,  that 
they  may  not  easily  light  upon  the  West  India 
fleet,"  &c. 

It  appears  from  this  letter  that  Puritanism 
was  the  only  bulwark  of  the  Constitution,  and 
of  the  Protestant  religion,  against  the  inroads 
of  popery  and  arbitrary  power.* 


*  Here  Dr.  Grey  asks,  "  Whence  does  this  appear? 
not  from  those  words  in  the  same  letter,  which  show 
that  the  Puritans  were  the  tools  which  the  .lesuits 
designed  to  make  use  of,  in  order  to  subvert  the  con- 
stitution in  the  Church  and  State?"  The  reply  to 
the  doctor  is,  that  the  truth  of  Mr.  Neal's  remark  ap- 
pears from  those  paragraphs  of  the  letter  in  which 

Vol.  I.— O  0 


4.  To  go  on  with  the  Parliament's  remon 
strance,  v,-hich  complains  farther  of  the  misera 
ble  condition  of  Ireland,  where  the  popish  reli- 
gion is  openly  professed,  and  their  ecclesiasti- 
cal discipline  avowed,  monasteries,  nunneries, 
and  other  religious  houses  re-edified,  and  filled 
with  men  and  women  of  several  orders,  even  in 
the  city  of  Dublin  itself 

The  answer  says  that  the  Protestant  religion 
is  not  in  a  worse  condition  than  Queen  Eliza- 
beth left  it ;  and  adds,  that  it  is  a  disparagement 
to  the  king's  government  to  report  the  building 
of  religious  houses  in  Dublin,  and  other  places, 
when  the  king  himself  had  no  account  of  it. 

But  it  seems  the  Parliament  knew  more  of 
the  affairs  of  Ireland  than  Bishop  Laud ;  the 
agents  for  that  kingdom  had  represented  the 
Protestant  religion  in  great  danger,  by  the  sus- 
pending all  proceedings  against  the  papists  ever 
since  the  king  came  to  the  crown  ;  by  this 
means  they  were  become  so  bold,  that  when 
Lord  Falkland  summoned  their  chiefs  to  meet 
at  Dublin,  1626,  in  order  to  a  general  contribu- 
tion for  defence  of  the  kingdom  against  a  for- 
eign invasion,  they  declared  roundly  that  they 
would  contribute  nothing  without  a  toleration, 
and  liberty  to  build  religious  houses  ;  upon 
which  the  assembly  was  dismissed.  This  awa- 
kened the  Protestant  bishops,  who  met  togeth- 
er and  signed  the  following  protestation,  No- 
vember 26,  1626. 

"  The  religion  of  papists  is  superstitious  and 
idolatrous,  and  their  Church  anti-apostolical ; 
to  give  them,  therefore  a  toleration  is  a  griev- 
ous sin,  because  it  makes  ourselves  accessory 
to  all  the  abominations  of  popery,*  and  to  the 
perdition  of  those  souls  that  perish  thereby  ;  and 
because  granting  a  toleration  in  respect  of  any 
money  to  be  given,  or  contribution  to  be  made 


are  expressed  strong  apprehensions  that  impediments 
and  obstructions  to  the  views  and  schemes  it  unfolds 
would  arise  from  the  Puritans.    Nay,  the  justness 
of  the  remark  appears  from  the  words  which  Dr. 
Grey  produces  as  refuting  it.   For,  if  the  Jesuits  acted 
the  Puritan,  could  it  be  with  a  smcere  desire  to  ad- 
vance tire  influence  of  the  Puritans,  and  promote 
their  wishes  '.  could  it  be  with  any  other  design  than 
to  turn  against  them  the  confidence  into  which  by 
this  means  they  insinuated  themselves,  and  to  under- 
mine the  Reformation  by  increasing  divisions  and  fo- 
menting prejudices  against  it  1  of  this  the  collection 
of  papers  called  "  Foxes  and  Firebrands"  furnishes 
evident  proofs.     Of  this  two  curious  letters,  given  by 
Dr.  Grey  from  the  MS.  of  Sir  Robert  Cotton,  fur- 
nish convincing  proofs.     Yet  the  doctor  again  asks, , 
"  Can  Mr.  Neal,  after  all,  be  so  weak  as  to  imagine 
that  the  Jesuits  would  have  put  on  the  Puritan  guise, 
in  order  to  have  ruined  the  Constitution,  had  the  Pu-, 
ritans  been  the  only  bulwark  of  the  Constitution?" 
Weak  as  it  might  be  in  Mr.  Neal  to  imagine  it,  it  is 
a  fact,  that  they  did  assume  the  character  of  the  Pu- 
ritans in  order  to  carry  those  purposes  to  which  the 
Puritans  were  inimical.    Dr.  Grey,  probably,  would 
not  have  thought  this  so  weak  a  policy  as  he  repre- 
sents it,  had  he  recollected  what  is  said  of  the  false 
teachers  in  the  primitive  Church,  who  "  transformed 
themselves  into  the  apostles  of  Christ."  Had  he  rec- 
ollected that  it  is  said  of  Satan,  that  "he  transform- 
ed himself  into  an  angel  of  light,"  and  this  to  over 
turn  those  interests  of  truth  and  virtue,  of  which  the 
former  knew  that  the  latter  were  the  bulwark. — Ed. 
*  "  From  so  silly  a  sophism,  so  gravely  dehvered, 
I  conclude,"  says  Bishop  Warburton,  "  Usher  was 
not  that   great  man  he  has  been  represented." — 
Ed. 


290 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


by  them,  is  to  set  religion  to  sale,  and  with  it 
the  souls  that  Christ  has  redeemed  with  his 
"blood  ;  we  therefore  beseech  the  God  of  truth 
to  make  those  wiio  are  in  authority, zealous  for 
God's  glory,  and  resolute  against  all  popery,  su- 
perstition, and  idolatry."  Signed  by  Archbish- 
op Usher  and  eleven  of  his  brethren. 

But,  notwithstanding  this  protestation,  the 
papists  gained  their  point,  and  in  the  fourth 
year  of  the  king's  reign  had  a  toleration  granted 
them  in  consideration  of  the  sum  of  £120,000, 
to  he  paid  in  three  years* 

With  regard  to  the  building  religious  houses, 
it  is  wonderful  that  neither  the  king  nor  his 
prime  minister  should  know  anything  of  it, 
when  the  Lord-deputy  Falkland  had  this  very 
summer  issued  out  a  proclamation  with  this 
preamble  :  "  Forasmuch  as  we  cannot  but  lake 
notice  that  the  late  intermission  of  the  legal 
proceeding  against  popish  pretended  or  titular 
archbishops,  bishops,  abbots,  deans,  vicars-gen- 
eral, and  others  of  that  sort,  that  derive  their 
authority  and  orders  from  Rome,  hath  bred  such 
an  extraordinary  insolence  and  presumption  in 
them  as  that  they  have  dared  of  late  not  only 
to  assemble  themselves  in  public  places,  but 
also  have  erected  houses  and  buildings  called 
public  oratories,  colleges,  mass-houses,  and  con- 
vents of  friars,  monks,  and  nuns,  in  the  eye  and 
open  view  of  the  state  and  elsewhere,  and  do 
frequently  exercise  jurisdiction  against  his  maj- 
esty's subjects,  by  authority  derived  from  Rome, 
and,  by  colour  of  teaching  schools  in  their  pre- 
tended monasteries,  to  train  up  youth  in  their 
superstitious  religion,  contrary  to  the  laws  and 
ecclesiastical  government  of  this  kingdom  :  we, 
therefore,  will  and  require  them  to  forbear  to 
exercise  their  jurisdiction  within  this  kingdom, 
and  to  relinquish  and  break  up  their  convents 
and  religious  houses,"  &c.  Could  such  a  proc- 
lamation be  printed  and  dispersed  over  the  king- 
dom of  Ireland  without  being  known  to  the 
English  court  1 

But  farther,  to  show  that  Bishop  Laud  liim- 
self  was  not  long  ignorant  of  the  dangerous  in- 
crease of  popery  in  Ireland,  the  Bishop  of  Kil- 
more  and  Ardagh,  Dr.  Bedell,  sent  him  the  fol- 
lowing account  soon  afterward  ;  it  was  dated 
April  1,  1630.  "The  popish  clergy  are  more 
numerous  than  those  of  the  Church  of  England  ; 
they  have  their  officials  and  vicars-general  for 
ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  and  are  so  hardy  as 
to  excommunicate  those  who  appear  at  the 
courts  of  the  Protestant  bishops.  Almost  every 
parish  has  a  priest  of  the  Romish  communion  ; 
masses  are  sometimes  said  in  churches,  and, 
excepting  a  few  British  planters,  not  amounting 


*  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  Mr.  Neal  did  not  refer 
to  his  authority  for  this  assertion.  Dr.  Grey  quotes 
against  it  CoUyer,  vol.  ii.,  p.  739,  who  says,  that  the 
protestation  of  the  bishops  ^'  prevailed  with  the  gov- 
ernment to  waive  the  thoughts  of  a  toleration,  and 
pitch  upon  some  other  expedients."  Thedoctor  might 
have  added,  from  Fuller,  that  the  motion  was  crushed 
by  the  bishops,  and  chiefly  by  Bishop  Dovvnham's  ser- 
rnon  in  Dublin,  on  Luke,  i.,  47. — Church  Hisfurt/,  b. 
xi.,  p.  128.  Though  we  cannot  ascertain  the  author- 
ity on  which  Mr.  Neal  speaks,  the  reader  will  observe 
that  he  is  not  contradicted  by  Collyer  and  Fuller,  for 
they  speak  of  the  immediate  effect  of  the  opposition 
of  the  bishops  to  the  toleration  of  the  Irish  Catholics, 
and  he  writes  of  a  measure  adopted  in  repugnance  to 
it,  two  years  afterward. — Ed. 


to  the  tenth  part  of  the  people,  the  rest  iare  all 
declared  recusants.  In  each  diocess  there  are 
about  seven  or  eight  of  the  Reformed  clergy 
well  qualified,  but  these  not  understanding  the 
language  of  the  natives,  cannot  perform  Divine 
service,  nor  converse  with  their  parishioners 
with  advantage,  and,  consequently,  are  in  no 
capacity  to  put  a  stop  to  superstition."* 

Let  the  reader  now  judge  whether  the  an- 
swer to  the  remonstrance  be  not  very  evasive. 
Could  this  great  statesman  be  ignorant  of  so 
many  notorious  facts  1  was  the  growth  of  Ar- 
minianism  and  arbitrary  power  a  dream?  was 
any  wrong  done  to  himself,  or  his  brother  of 
Winchester,  by  saying  they  countenanced  the.se 
principles  1  was  not  the  increase  of  popery  both 
in  England  and  Ireland  notorious,  by  suspend- 
ing the  penal  laws,  ever  since  the  king  came  to 
the  crown,  and  granting  the  papists  a  toleration 
for  a  sum  of  money  1  where,  then,  was  the  pol- 
icy of  lulling  the  nation  asleep,  while  the  ene- 
my were  increasing  their  numbers,  and  whet- 
ting their  swords  for  a  general  massacre  of  the 
Protestants,  which  they  accomplished  in  Ire- 
land about  twelve  years  afterward  1 

The  bishop  observes  in  his  diary,  that  this 
Parliament  laboured  his  ruin,  because  they 
charged  him  with  unsoundnessof  opinion  ;  but 
his  lordship  had  such  an  influence  over  the 
king  as  rendered  all  their  attempts  fruitless  ; 
for  the  See  of  London  becoming  vacant  this 


*  "  Here,"  says  Dr.  Grey,  "  we  have  a  long  train 
of  mistakes."  There  are,  it  is  true,  several.  Dr.  Be- 
dell is  called  Dr.  Beadle,  and  bishop  elect  of  Kil- 
more,  whereas  he  had  the  contiguous  sees  of  Kil- 
more  and  Ardagh,  and  was  the  actual  bishop  of  both 
when  this  letter  was  written,  April  1,  1C30,  having- 
been  consecrated  13th  September,  1629.  These  mis- 
takes are  imputed  to  Mr.  Neal,  but  Dr.  Grey  should 
have  possessed  the  candour  to  have  informed  his 
readers  that  they  belong  to  Mr.  Collyer,  from  ivhom. 
the  whole  paragraph  is  taken.  This  he  could  not  but 
have  observed,  for  he  immediately  refers  himself  ta 
Collyer,  to  blame  Mr.  Neal  for  not  mentioning  a  re- 
mark of  that  author,  viz.,  that  HmImp  Bedell's  ac- 
count related  to  his  own  two  diocesses  only.  This 
the  reader  would  of  course  understand  to  be  the 
case,  and,  even  with  this  limitation,  it  is  a  proof  of 
the  increase  of  popery  in  Ireland,  though  it  should 
not  be  presumed  to  be  a  specimen  of  the  state  of 
things  in  other  diocesses.  The  bishop's  letter  was 
written,  as  we  have  said,  in  April,  1630,  and  Mr.  Neai 
introduces  it  as  sent  aliout  that  time  of  which  he 
was  writing,  i.  e.,  about  June,  1628.  This  is  charged 
against  him  as  an  anachronism,  but  it  is  a  small  mis- 
take, and  even  a  blunder.  But  in  a  matter  of  this 
nature,  where  the  existing  state  of  things  must  have 
been  the  result  of  causes  that  had  been  some  time 
operating,  and  shows  a  settled  complexion  of  men 
and  manners,  it  may  admit  a  question  whether  the 
space  of  a  year  and  nine  months  can  be  deemed  an 
anachronism.  The  bishop's  account  certainly  indi- 
cates what  had  been  the  growing  state  of  thuigs  for 
many  months. 

Mr.  Neal,  by  quoting  Collyer  in  the  above  para- 
graph, has  missed  the  most  striking  clause  in  Bishop 
Bedell's  letter.  He  concudes  by  saying,  "His  maj- 
esj:y  is  now  with  the  greatest  part  of  this  country,  as 
to  their  hearts  and  consciences,  king,  but  at  the 
pope's  discretion."  Though  it  is  not  to  the  design 
of  these  notes,  the  editor  is  tempted  here  to  give  a 
trait  in  the  character  of  this  prelate's  lady,  who,  it  is 
said,  "  was  singular  in  many  excellent  qualities,  par- 
ticularly in  a  very  extraordinary  reverence  she  paid 
to  her  husband." — Bishop  Burnet's  Lfe  of  Bedell,  p. 
47,  230.— Eo. 


HISTORY    OF   THE   PURITANS. 


291 


summer,  Laud  was  translated  to  it  July  15  ;* 
and  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  being  stabbed  at 
Portsmouth  by  Felton,  August  23  following, 
this  ambitious  prelate  became  prime  minister 
in  all  affairs  both  of  Church  and  State. 

One  of  the  bishop's  first  enterprises,  after 
his  translation  to  London,  was  to  stifle  the  pre- 
destinarian  controversy,  for  which  purpose  he 
procured  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  to  be  reprint- 
ed, with  the  following  declaration  at  the  head 
of  them  :t 

By  the  King. 

"  Being  by  God's  ordinance,  and  our  just  ti- 
tle, defender  of  the  faith,  &c.,  within  these  do- 
minions, we  hold  it  agreeable  to  our  kingly  of- 
fice, for  the  preservation  of  unity  and  peace,  not 
to  suffer  any  unnecessary  disputations  which 
may  nourish  faction  in  the  Church  or  common- 
wealth ;  we,  therefore,  with  the  advice  of  our 
bishops,  declare  that  the  Articles  of  the  Church 
of  England  which  the  clergy  generally  have 
subscribed  do  contain  the  true  doctrine  of  the 
Church  of  England,  agreeable  to  God's  Word, 
vwhich  we  do  therefore  ratify  and  confirm,  re- 
quiring all  our  loving  subjects  to  continue  in 
the  uniform  profession  thereof;  and  prohibiting 
the  least  difference  from  the  said  articles.  We 
take  comfort  in  this,  that  all  clergymen  within 
our  realm  have  always  most  willingly  subscribed 
the  Articles,  which  is  an  argument  that  they  all 
agree  in  the  true  usual  literal  meaning  of  them ; 
and  that  in  those  curious  points  in  which  the 
present  differences  lie,  men  of  all  sorts  take  the 
Articles  to  be  for  them,  which  is  an  argument 
again,  that  none  of  them  intend  any  desertion 
of  the  Articles  established  :  wherefore  we  will 
that  all  curious  search  into  these  things  be  laid 
aside,  and  these  disputes  be  shut  up  in  God's 
promises,  as  they  be  generally  set  forth  to  us 
in  Holy  Scriptures,  and  the  general  meaning  of 
the  Articles  according  to  them ;  and  that  no 
man  hereafter  preach  or  print  to  draw  the  arti- 
cle aside  any  way,  but  shall  submit  to  it,  in 
the  plain  and  full  manner  thereof,  and  shall  not 
put  his  own  sense  or  comment  to  the  meaning 
of  the  article,  but  shall  take  it  in  the  literal  and 
grammatical  sense ;  that  if  any  public  reader 
in  the  universities,  or  any  other  person,  shall 
affix  any  new  sense  to  any  article,  or  shall  pub- 
licly read,  or  hold  disputation  on  either  side ; 
or  if  any  divine  in  the  universities  shall  preach 
or  print  anything  either  way,  they  shall  be  lia- 
ble to  censure  in  the  ecclesiastical  commission, 
and  we  will  see  there  shall  be  due  execution 
upon  them."t 

*  Bib.  Reg.,  sect,  iii..  No.  4;  or  Heylin's  Life  of 
Laud,  p.  188. 

+  Mr.  Neal  does  not  give  the  declaration  at  full 
length,  but  has  omitted  some  clauses,  and  even  two 
•paragraphs ;  but  in  my  opinion,  without  affecting  the 
sense  and  tenour  of  it ;  though  Dr.  Grey  says,  "  he 
has  by  this  altered  and  curtailed  the  sense  of  it,  and 
then  charged  it  with  blunders,  which  are  of  his  own 
making." — Ed. 

X  This  declaration,  Dr.  Harris  observes,  has  been 
produced  and  canvassed  in  the  famous  Bangorian 
and  Trinitarian  controversies,  which  engaged  the  at- 
tention of  the  pubhc  for  a  great  number  of  years. 
—Life  of  Charles  /.,  p.  183-190.  Dr.  Blackburn  has 
at  large  discussed  the  validity  of  it,  and  is  disposed 
to  consider  James  I.  as  the  first  publisher  of  it.  He 
shows  that  it  has  been  corrupted  by  the  insertion  of 
the  word  nowj  as,  "  we  wdl  not  endure  any  varying, 


Surely  there  never  was  such  a  confused,  un- 
intelligible declaration  printed  before  ;  but  the 
Calvinist  divines  understood  the  king's  inten- 
tion, and  complained  in  a  petition  of  "the  re- 
straints they  were  laid  under  by  his  majesty's 
forbidding  them  to  preach  the  saving  doctrines 
of  God's  free  grace  in  election  and  predestina- 
tion to  eternal  life,  according  to  the  seventeenth 
article  of  the  Church.  That  this  had  brought 
them  under  a  very  uncomfortable  dilemma, 
either  of  falling  under  the  Divine  displeasure, 
if  they  did  not  execute  their  commission,  in  de-  - 
daring  the  whole  counsel  of  God,  or  of  being 
censured  for  opposition  to  his  majesty's  author- 
ity, in  case  they  preached  the  received  doctrines 
ol  the  Church,  and  attacked  the  Pelagian  and 
Arminian  heresies  boldly  published  from  the 
pulpit  and  the  press,  though  censured  by  King 
James  as  arrogant  and  atheistical ;  and  those 
who  avow  them  to  be  agreeable  to  the  Church 
of  England  are  called  gross  liars.  Therefore, 
they  humbly  entreat  that  his  majesty  would  be 
pleased  to  take  the  forementioned  evils  and 
grievances  into  his  princely  consideration,  and, 
as  a  wise  physician,  apply  such  speedy  reme- 
dies as  may  both  cure  the  present  distemper, 
and  preserve  the  Church  and  State  from  those 
plagues  with  which  their  neighbours  had  not 
been  a  little  distressed."  But  this  address  was 
stopped  in  its  progress,  and  never  reached  the 
king's  ears. 

In  pursuance  of  his  majesty's  declaration,  all 
books  relating  to  the  Arminian  controversy 
were  called  in  by  proclamation  and  suppressed, 
and  among  others,  Montague's  and  Manwar- 
ing's,  which  was  only  a  feint  to  cover  a  more 
deadly  blow  to  be  reached  at  the  Puritans  ;  for, 
at  the  same  time,  Montague  and  Manwaring 
received  the  royal  pardon,  and  were  preferred 
to  some  of  the  best  livings  in  the  kingdom  (as 
has  been  observed),  while  the  answer  to  their 
books,  by  Dr.  Featly,  Dr.  Goad,  Mr.  Burton, 
Ward,  Yates,  and  Rouse,  were  not  only  sup- 
pressed, but  the  publishers  questioned  in  the 
Star  Chamber. 

The  king  put  on  the  same  thin  disguise  with 
regard  to  papists ;  a  proclamation  was  issued 
out  against  priests  and  Jesuits,  and  particularly 
against  the  Bishop  of  Chalcedon  ;  orders  were 
also  sent  to  the  Lord-mayor  of  London  to  make 
search  after  them,  and  commit  them  to  prison, 
but,  at  the  same  time,  his  majesty  appointed 
commissioners  to  compound  with  them  for  their 
recusancy  :  so  that,  instead  of  being  suppressed, 
they  became  a  branch  of  the  revenue,  and  Sir 
Richard  Weston,  a  notorious  papist,  was  crea- 
ted Earl  of  Portland,  and  made  lord-high- treas- 
urer of  England. 

When  the  Parliament  met  according  to  pro- 
rogation, January  20,  they  began  again  with 
grievances  of  religion  ;  Oliver  Cromwell,  Esq., 
being  of  the  committee,  reported  to  the  House 
the  countenance  that  was  given  by  Dr.  Neile, 
bishop  of  Winchester,  to  divines  who  preached 
Arminian  and  popish  doctrine ;  he  mentioned 
the  favours  that  had  been  bestowed  upon  Mon- 
tague and  Manwaring,  who  had  been  censured 
the  last  sessions  of  Parliament  ;   and  added. 


or  departing,  m  the  least  degree,  from  the  doctrine 
and  discipline  of  the  Church  of  England  now  estab- 
lished ;"  a  language,  he  justly  observes,  inconsistent 
with  the  principles  of  our  present  constitution. — Con 
fessional,  p.  131-143,  3d  edit. — Ed, 


292 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


"  If  this  be  the  way  to  church  preferment,  what 
may  we  expect  1"  Upon  debating  the  king's 
late  declaration,  the  House  voted  "that  the 
main  end  of  tliat  declaration  was  to  suppress 
the  Puritan  party,  and  to  give  liberty  to  the 
contrary  side."  Several  warm  and  angry 
speeches  were  likewise  made  against  the  new 
ceremonies  that  began  now  to  be  introduced 
into  the  Church,  as  images  of  saints  and  angels, 
crucifixes,  altars,  lighted  candles,  &c. 

Mr.  Rouse  stood  up  and  said,  "  I  desire  it 
may  be  considered  what  new  paintings  have 
been  laid  upon  the  old  face  of  the  whore  of 
Babylon,  to  make  her  show  more  lovely.  I  de- 
sire it  may  be  considered  how  the  See  of  Rome 
doth  eat  into  our  religion,  and  fret  into  the  very 
banks  and  walls  of  it,  the  laws  and  statutes  of 
this  realm.  I  desire  we  may  consider  the  in- 
crease of  Arminianism  an  error  that  makes  the 
grace  of  God  lackey  after  the  will  of  man.  I 
desire  we  may  look  into  the  belly  and  bowels 
of  this  Trojan  horse,  to  see  if  there  be  not  men 
in  it  ready  to  open  the  gates  to  Romish  tyran- 
ny, for  an  Arminian  is  the  spawn  of  a  papist, 
and,  if  the  warmth  of  favour  come  upon  him, 
you  shall  see  him  turn  into  one  of  those  frogs 
that  rose  out  of  the  bottomless  pit ;  these  men 
having  kindled  a  fire  in  our  neighbour-country, 
are  now  endeavouring  to  set  this  kingdom  in  a 
flame."* 

Mr.  Pym  said,  "  that,  by  the  articles  set  forth 
1562,  by  the  catechism  set  forth  in  King  Ed- 
ward VI.'s  days,  by  the  writings  of  Martin  Bu- 
cer  and  Peter  Martyr,  by  the  constant  profes- 
sions sealed  with  the  blood  of  many  martyrs, 
as  Cranmer,  Ridley,  and  others,  by  the  Thirty- 
six  Articles  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  by  the  ar- 
ticles agreed  upon  at  Lambeth,  as  the  doctrine 
of  the  Church  of  England,  which  King  James 
sent  to  Dort  and  to  Ireland,  it  appears  evident- 
ly what  is  the  established  religion  of  the  realm. 
Let  us,  therefore,  show  wherein  these  late  opin- 
ions differ  from  those  truths ;  and  what  men 
have  been  since  preferred  who  have  professed 
the  contrary  heresies ;  what  pardons  they  have 
had  for  false  doctrine  ;  what  prohibiting  of  books 
and  writings  against  their  doctrine,  and  permit- 
ting of  such  books  as  have  been  for  them.    Let 
us  inquire  after  the  abetters,  and  after  the  par- 
dons granted  to  them  that  preach  the  contrary 
truth  before  his  majesty.     It  belongs  to  parlia- 
ments to  establish  true  religion  and  to  punish 
false.     We  must  know  what  parliaments  have 
done  formerly   in  religion.      Our  parliaments 
have  confirmed  general  councils.     In  the  time 
of  King  Henry  VIII.,  the  Earl  of  Essex  was 
condemned  [by  Parliament]  for  countenancing 
books  of  heresy.    The  convocation  is  but  a  pro- 
vincial synod  of  Canterbury,  and  cannot  bind 
the  whole  kingdom.     As  for  York,  it  is  distant, 
and  cannot  bind  us  or  the  laws  ;  and  as  for  the 
High  Commission,  it   is  derived  from  Parlia- 
ment."! 

Sir  John  Eliot  said,  "  If  there  be  any  differ- 
ence in  opinion  concerning  the  interpretation 
of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  it  is  said  the  bish- 
ops and  clergy  in  convocation  have  power  to 
dispute  it,  and  to  order  which  way  they  please. 
A  slight  thing,  that  the  power  of  religion  should 
be  left  to  these  men  !     I  honour  their  profcs- 

*  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  p.  657-G68. 
t  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  659. 


sion  ;  there  are  among  our  bishops  such  as 
are  fit  to  be  made  examples  for  all  ages,  who 
shine  in  virtue,  and  are  firm  for  religion  ;  but 
the  contrary  faction  I  like  not.  I  remember  a 
character  I  have  seen  in  a  diary  of  King  Ed- 
ward VI.,  where  he  says  of  the  bishops,  that 
'  some  for  age,  some  for  ignorance,  some  for 
luxury,  and  some  for  popery,  were  unfit  for  dis- 
cipline and  governincnt.'  We  see  there  arc 
some  among  our  bishops  that  are  not  orthodox, 
nor  sound  in  religion  as  they  should  be ;  wit- 
ness the  two  bishops  complained  of  the  last 
meeting  of  this  Parliament ;  should  we  be  in 
their  power,  I  fear  our  religion  would  be  over- 
thrown. Some  of  these  are  masters  of  cere- 
monies, and  labour  to  introduce  new  ceremo- 
nies into  the  Church.  Let  us  go  to  the  ground 
of  our  religion,  and  lay  down  a  rule  on  which 
all  others  may  rest,  and  then  inquire  after  of- 
fenders."* 

Mr.  Secretary  Cook  said,  "that  the  fathers 
of  the  Church  were  asleep ;  but,  a  little  to  awa- 
ken their  zeal,  it  is  fit,"  says  he,  "  that  they 
take  notice  of  that  hierarchy  that  is  already  es- 
tablished, in  competition  with  their  lordships, 
for  they  [the  papists]  have  a  bishop  consecrated 
by  the  pope  ;  this  bishop  has  his  subaltern  offi- 
cers of  all  kinds,  as  vicars-general,  archdeacons, 
rural  deans,  apparitors,  &c.  ;  neither  are  these 
nominal  or  titular  officers  only,  but  they  all  ex- 
ecute their  jurisdictions,  and  make  their  ordi- 
nary visitations  throughout  the  kingdom,  keep 
courts,  and  determine  ecclesiastical  causes ; 
and,  which  is  an  argument  of  more  conse- 
quence, they  keep  ordinary  intelligence  by  their 
agents  in  Rome,  and  hold  correspondence  with 
the  nuncios  and  cardinals  both  at  Brussels  and 
France.  Neither  are  the  seculars  alone  grown 
to  this  height,  but  the  regulars  are  more  active 
and  dangerous.  Even  at  this  time  they  intend 
to  hold  a  concurrent  assembly  with  this  Parlia- 
ment." After  some  other  speeches  of  this  kind, 
the  House  of  Commons  entered  into  the  follow- 
ing vow  : 

"  We,  the  Commons,  in  Parliament  assem- 
bled, do  claim,  protest,  and  avow  for  truth,  the 
sense  of  the  Articles  of  Religion  which  were 
established  by  Parliament  in  the  thirteenth  year 
of  our  late  Queen  Elizabeth,  which,  by  the  pub- 
lic act  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  by  the 
general  and  current  exposition  of  the  writers 
of  our  Church,  have  been  delivered  unto  us. 
And  we  reject  the  sense  of  the  Jesuits  and  Ar- 
minians,  and  all  others  that  differ  from  us."t 

Bishop  Laud,  in  his  answer  to  this  protesta- 
tion, has  several  remarks.  "  Is  there  by  this 
act,"  says  his  lordship,  "  any  interpretation  of 
the  Articles  or  not  1  If  none,  to  what  end  is 
the  actl  If  a  sense  or  interpretation  be  de- 
clared, what  authority  have  laymen  to  make  if! 
for  interpretation  of  an  article  belongs  to  them- 
only  that  have  power  to  make  it."     To  which 


*  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  p.  C60,  661. 

t  "This  protestation,"  Dr.  Blackburne  remarks, 
"  is  equivalent  at  least  to  any  other  resolution  of  the 
House.  It  is  found  among  the  most  authentic  records 
of  Parliament.  And  whatever  force  or  operation  it 
had  the  moment  it  was  published,  the  same  it  has 
to  this  hour ;  being  never  revoked  or  repealed  in  any 
succeeding  Parliament,  nor  containing  any  one  par- 
ticular which  is  not  in  perfect  agreement  with  every 
part  of  our  present  Constitution,  civil  and  reUgious." 
— Confessional,  d.  142. 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS. 


293 


it  might  be  answered,  that  the  Commons  made 
no  new  interpretation  of  the  Articles,  but  avow- 
ed for  truth  the  current  sense  of  expositors  be- 
fore that  time,  in  opposition  to  the  modern  inter- 
pretation of  Jesuits  and  Arminians.  But  what 
authority  have  laymen  to  make  itl  Answer. 
The  same  that  they  had  in  the  13th  of  Elizabeth 
to  establish  them  as  the  doctrine  of  the  Church 
of  England ;  unless  we  will  say,  with  Mr.  CoU- 
yer,  that  neither  the  sense  of  the  Articles,  nor 
the  Articles  themselves,  were  established  in  that 
Parliament,  or  in  any  other.*  If  so,  they  are 
no  part  of  the  legal  Constitution,  and  men  may 
subscribe  the  words  without  putting  any  sense 
upon  them  at  all :  an  adnyrable  way  to  prevent 
diversity  of  opinions  in  matters  of  laith  !  But 
his  lordship  adds,  "  that  it  is  against  the  king's 
declaration,  which  says,  we  must  take  the  gen- 
eral meaning  of  them,  and  not  draw  aside  any 
way,  but  take  them  in  the  literal  and  grammat- 
ical sense. "t  Has  the  king,  then,  a  power,  with- 
out convocation  or  Parliament,  to  interpret  and 
determine  the  sense  of  the  Articles  for  the  whole 
body  of  the  clergy  1  By  the  general  meaning 
of  the  Articles,  the  declaration  seems  to  under- 
stand no  one  determined  sense  at  all.  Strange ! 
that  so  learned  and  wise  a  body  of  clergy  and 
laity,  in  convocation  and  Parliament,  should 
establish  a  number  of  articles  with  this  title, 
"For  the  avoiding  of  diversity  of  opinions,  and 
for  the  establishing  of  consent  touching  true  re- 
ligion," without  any  one  determined  sense  ! 
The  bishop  goes  on,  and  excepts  against  the 
current  sense  of  expositors,  "because  they  may, 
and  perhaps  do,  go  against  the  literal  sense." 
Will  his  lordship,  then,  abide  by  the  literal  and 
grammatical  sense !  No ;  but  "  if  an  article  bear 
more  senses  than  one,  a  man  may  choose  what 
sense  his  judgment  directs  him  to,  provided  it 
be  a  sense  according  to  the  analogy  of  faith, 
till  the  Church  determine  a  [particular]  sense ; 
but  it  is  the  wisdom  of  the  Church  to  require 
consent  to  articles  in  general  as  much  as  may 
be,  and  not  require  assent  to  particulars."  His 
lordship  had  better  have  spoken  out,  and  said 
that  it  would  be  the  wisdom  of  the  Church  to 
require  no  subscriptions  at  all.  To  what  straits 
are  men  given  to  comply  with  the  laws,  when 
their  sentiments  dilTer  from  the  literal  and  gram- 
matical sense  of  the  Articles  of  the  Church ! 
Mr.  Collyer  says  they  have  no  established  sense ; 
King  Charles,  in  his  declaration,  that  they  are 
to  be  understood  in  a  general  sense,  but  not  to 
be  drawn  aside  to  a  particular  determined  sense ; 
Bishop  Laud  thinks  that  if  the  words  will  bear 
more  senses  than  one,  a  man  may  choose  what 
sense  his  judgment  directs  him  to,  provided  it 
be  a  sense  according  to  the  analogy  of  faith, 
and  all  this  for  avoiding  diversity  of  opinions  ! 
But  I  am  afraid  this  reasoning  is  too  wonderful 
for  the  reader. 

While  the  Parliament  were  expressing  their 
zeal  against  Arminianism  and  popery,  a  new 
controversy  arose,  which  provoked  his  majesty 
to  dissolve  them,  and  to  resolve  to  govern  with- 
out parliaments  for  the  future  ;  for,  though  the 
king  had  so  lately  signed  the  petition  of  right  in 
full  Parliament,  he  went  on  with  levying  money 
by  his  royal  prerogative.  A  bill  was  depending 
in  the  House  to  grant  his  majesty  the  duties  of' 


*  Eccles.  Hist.,  p.  747. 

t  Prynne,  Cant.  Doom,  p.  164. 


tonnage  and  poundage  ;  but  before  it  was  pass- 
ed, the  custom-house  officers  seized  the  goods 
of  three  eminent  merchants,  viz.,  Mr.  Rolls,  Mr. 
Chambers,  and  Mr.  Vassal,  for  non-payment.  Mr. 
Chambers  was  fined  £2000,  besides  the  loss  of 
his  goods,  and  suffered  six  years  imprisonment : 
Mr.  RoUs's  warehouses  were  locked  up,  and  him- 
self taken  out  of  the  House  of  Commons  and  im- 
prisoned. This  occasioned  some  warm  speeches 
against  the  custom-house  officers  and  farmers  of 
the  revenues  ;  but  the  king  took  all  the  blame  on 
himself,  and  sent  the  House  word,  that  what  the 
officers  had  done  was  by  his  special  direction 
and  command,  and  that  it  was  not  so  much 
their  act  as  his  own.  This  was  a  new  way  of 
covering  the  unwarrantable  proceedings  of  cor- 
rupt ministers,  and  was  said  to  be  the  advice  of 
the  Bishops  Laud  and  Neile  ;  a  contrivance  that 
laid  the  foundation  of  his  majesty's  ruin.  It  is 
a  maxim  in  law,  that  the  king  can  do  no  wrong, 
and  that  all  maladministrations  are  chargeable 
upon  his  ministers  ;  yet  now,  in  order  to  screen 
his  servants,  his  majesty  will  make  himself  an- 
swerable for  their  conduct.  So  that  if  the  Par- 
liament will  defend  their  rights  and  properties, 
they  must  charge  the  king  personally,  who  in  - 
his  own  opinion  was  above  law,  and  accounta- 
ble for  his  actions  to  none  but  God.  It  was 
moved  in  the  House  that,  notwithstanding  the 
king's  answer,  the  officers  of  the  customs  should 
be  proceeded  against,  by  separating  their  inter- 
ests from  the  king's  ;  but  when  the  speaker,  Sir 
John  Finch,  was  desired  to  put  the  question,  he 
refused,  saying  the  king  had  commanded  the 
contrary.*  Upon  which  the  House  immediately 
adjourned  to  January  25,  and  were  then  adjourn- 
ed by  the  king's  order  to  March  2,  when  meet- 
ing again,  and  requiring  the  speaker  to  put  the 
former  question,  he  again  refused,  and  said  he 
had  the  king's  order  to  adjourn  them  to  March 
16  ;  but  they  detained  him  in  the  chair,  not  with- 
out some  tumult  and  confusion,  till  they  made 
the  following  protestation  : 

1.  "Whosoever  shall,  by  favour  or  counte- 
nance, seem  to  extend  or  introduce  popery  or 
Arminianism,  shall  be  reputed  a  capital  enemy 
of  the  kingdom. 

2.  "  Whosoever  shall  advise  the  levying  the 
subsidies  of  tonnage  and  poundage,  not  being 
granted  by  Parliament,  shall  be  reputed  a  capi- 
tal enemy. 

3.  "  If  any  merchant  shall  voluntarily  pay 
those  duties,  he  shall  be  reputed  a  betrayer  of 
the  liberties  of  England,  and  an  enemy  to  the 
same."t 

The  next  day  warrants  were  directed  to  Den- 
zil   Hollis,   Sir  John  Eliot,t  William  Coriton, 


*  Wliitelocke's  Memorial,  p.  12.  Rushworth,  voL 
i.,  p.  669.  t  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  p.  670. 

%  The  subsequent  history  of  Sir  John  Eliot  pos- 
sesses all  the  interest  of  a  romance.  It  is  not  ex- 
ceeded, in  the  developments  of  high  principle  and 
heroic  fortitude,  by  any  tale  in  ancient  or  modern 
times.  He  had  evidently  contemplated,  from  'the 
commencement  of  this  reign,  the  probability  of  such 
a  termination  of  his  patriotic  life.  He  had  read  the 
character  of  Charles  from  the  first,  and  knew  tliat 
there  was  neither  generosity  nor  justice  in  his  heart. 
Laud  he  had  uniformly  opposed,  as  the  despoiler  of 
religion  and  the  enemy  of  his  country ;  and  the 
pseudo-patriotism  of  Wentwortli,  now  a  baron  of  the 
realm  and  president  of  the  North,  had  always  been 
regarded  by  him  with  more  than  suspicion.    From 


294 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


Benjamin  Valentine,  John  Selden,  Esqrs.,  and 
four  more  of  the  principal  members  of  the  House, 
so  appear  before  the  council  on  the  morrow  : 

such  a  monarch,  aided  by  such  counsellors,  Eliot 
had  nothing  to  expect.  Yet  he  spurned  with  virtu- 
ous indignation  the  freedom  which  was  proffered 
him  on  condition  of  his  tendering  an  aclinowledg- 
ment  of  guilt.  He  was  removed  from  one  apartment 
of  the  Tower  to  another,  and  the  rigour  of  his  im- 
prisonment was  steadily  increased.  At  length  his 
health  rapidly  declined;  but  his  brutal  oppressors, 
instead  of  being  moved  to  pity,  were  solicitous  to 
hasten  the  deadly  nulady  which  preyed  on  his  frame. 
His  friends  were  prohibited  from  visiting  him;  and 
though  he  was  sinking  in  a  consumption,  and  the 
season  was  winlery,  and  his  prison  damp,  he  was 
scarcely  allowed  the  comfort  of  a  fire. 

Tliis  description  of  Eliot's  treatment  is  fully  borne 
out  by  the  following  letter  of  the  dying  patriot  to  his 
friend  John  Hampden,  bearing  the  date  Dec.  26, 1631. 
"  That  I  write  not  to  you  anything  of  intelligence 
will  be  excused,  when  I  do  let  you  know  that  I  am 
under  a  new  restraint  by  warrant  from  the  kmg,  for  a 
supposed  abuse  of  liberty  in  admitting  a  free  resort 
ofvisitants,  and  under  that  colour,  holding  consulta- 
tions with  my  friends.     My  lodgings  are  removed, 
and  I  am  now  where  candle-light  may  be  suffered, 
but  scarce  fire.     I  hope  you  will  think  that  this  ex- 
change of  places  makes  not  a  change  of  mind.    The 
same  protection  is  still  with  me,  and  the  same  confi- 
dence ;  and  these  things  can  have  end  by  Him  that 
gives  them  being.     N one  but  my  servants,  hardly  my 
son.  may  have  admittance  to  me.    My  friends  I  must 
desire,  for  their  own  sakes,  to  forbear  coming  to  the 
Tower.    You  among  them  are  chief,  and  have  the 
first  place  in  this  intelligence." — Forsters  Eliot,  p. 
115.    Towards  the  close  of  1632,  a  motion  was  made 
to  the  judges  of  the  King's  Bench,  that  as  his  physi- 
cians were  of  opinion  he  could  never  recover  from 
his  consumption,  unless  he  breathed  purer  air,  "  they 
could  for  some  certain  time  grant  him  his  enlarge- 
ment for  the  purpose."    Richardson,  the  chief-jus- 
tice, however,  replied,   "that   although    Sir  John 
were  brought  low  in  body,  yet  was  he  as  high  and 
lofty  in  mind  as  ever,  for  he  would  neither  submit  to 
the  king  nor  to  the  justice  of  that  court."    He  was, 
therefore,  referred  to  the  monarch ;  but,  knowing  that 
it  was  hopeless  to  petition  without  a  confession  of 
guilt,  EUot  resumed  the  occupation  with  which  he 
had  long  sought  to  relieve  the  dreariness  of  his  pris- 
on.   This  was  the  composition  of  a  philosophical 
treatise,    entitled    "The    Monarchy   of   Man,"   in 
*   which  the  independence  of  his  mind,  and  its  control 
over  the  passions  and  infirmities  of  his  nature,  are 
exhibited  with  an  admirable  combination  of  philo- 
sophical acuteness  and  strong  practical  sense.    Hav- 
ing concluded  this  treatise,  his  health  sank  rapidly, 
when  the  importunity  of  friends  prevailed  with  him 
to  petition  the  king.    Mr.  Forster  has  given  the  fol- 
lowing account  of  his  applications  in  a  letter  from 
Pory  to  Sir  Thomas  Puckering :  "  He  first,"  says 
the  letter-writer,  "  presented  a  petition  to  his  majes- 
ty, by  the  hand  of  the  lieutenant  his  keeper,  to  this 
effect :    '  Sir,  your  judges  have  committed  me  to 
prison  here,  in  your  Tower  of  London,  where,  by 
reason  of  the  quality  of  the  air,  I  am  fallen  into  a 
dangerous  disease.    I  humbly  beseech  your  majesty 
you  will  command  your  judges  to  set  me  at  liberty, 
that  for  recovery  of  my  health  I  may  take  some  fresh 
air,'  &c.    Whereunto  his  majesty's  answer  was,  '  It 
was  not  humble  enough.'    Then  Sir  John  sent  an- 
other petition,  by  his  own  son,  to  the  effect  follow- 
ing: '  Sir,  I  am  heartily  sorry  I  have  displeased  your 
majesty,  and,  having  so  said,  do  humbly  beseech 
you  once  again  to  command  your  judges  to  set  me 
at  liberty,  that  when  I  have  recovered  my  health,  I 
may  return  back  to  my  prison,  there  to  undergo  such 
punishment  as  God  has  allotted  unto  me,'  &c.    Upon 
this  the  heutenant  came  and  expostulated  with  him, 
saymg,  It  was  proper  to  him,  and  common  to  none 


four  of  them  appeared  accordingly,  viz.,  Mr. 
Hollis,  Eliot,  Coriton,  and  Valentine  ;  who,  re- 
fusing to  answer  out  of  Parliament  for  what 


else,  to  do  that  office  of  delivering  petitions  for  his 
prisoners. 

"And  if  Sir  John,  in  a  third  petition,  would  hum- 
ble himself  to  his  majesty,  in  acknowledging  his 
fault,  and  craving  pardon,  he  would  willingly  deUver 
it,  and  made  no  doubt  but  he  should  obtain  his  hb- 
erty.  Unto  this  Sir  John's  answer  was,  'I  thank 
you,  sir,  for  your  friendly  advice  ;  but  my  spirits  are 
grown  feeble  and  faint,  which  when  it  shall  please 
God  to  restore  unto  their  former  vigour,  I  will  take 
it  farther  into  my  consideration.; " — Life  of  John 
Eliot,  119.  ^ 

The  following  letter,  addressed  to  Hampden,  was 
probably  the  last  which  Eliot  wrote.  It  is  too  char- 
acteristic of  the  man,  and  of  his  friend,  to  be  omit- 
ted. It  reveals  the  secret  of  their  character  by 
disclosing  the  religious  impulse  under  which  they 
acted. 

"  Besides  the  acknowledgment  of  your  favour, 
that  have  so  much  compassion  on  your  friend,  I  have 
little  to  return  you  from  him  that  has  nothing  wor- 
thy of  your  acceptance,  but  the  contestation  that  1 
have  between  an  ill  body  and  the  air,  that  quarrel 
and  are  friends,  as  the  summer  winds  affect  them. 
I  have  these  three  days  been  abroad,  and  as  often 
brought  in  new  impressions  of  the  cold  ;  yet,  in  body, 
and  strength,  and  appetite,  I  find  myself  bettered  by 
the  motion.  Cold  at  first  was  the  occasion  of  my 
sickness ;  heat  and  tenderness,  by  close  keeping  in 
my  chamber,  have  since  increased  my  weakness.  Air 
and  exercise  are  thought  most  proper  to  repair  it. 
which  are  the  prescriptions  of  my  doctors,  though 
no  physic.  I  thank  God,  other  medicines  I  now  take 
not  but  those  catholicons,  and  do  hope  I  shall  not 
need ;  as  children  learn  to  go,  I  shall  get  acquaint- 
ed with  the  air ;  practice  and  use  will  compass  it ; 
and  now  and  then  a  fall  is  an  instruction  for  the  fu- 
ture. These  varieties  He  doth  try  us  with,  that  will 
have  us  perfect  at  all  parts ;  and,  as  he  gives  the 
trial,  he  likewise  gives  the  ability  that  will  be  neces- 
sary for  the  work;  he  will  supply  that  doth  com- 
mand the  labour ;  whose  delivering  from  the  lion  and 
the  bear,  has  the  Phihstines  also  at  the  dispensation 
of  his  will,  and  those  that  trust  him,  under  his  pro- 
tection and  defence.  O  infinite  mercy  of  our  Mas- 
ter, dear  friend,  how  it  abounds  to  us  that  are  unwor 
thy  of  his  service !  How  broken,  how  imperfect, 
how  perverse  and  crooked  are  our  ways  in  obedience 
to  him!  How  exactly  straight  is  the  line  of  his 
providences  to  us,  drawn  out  through  all  the  occur 
rants  and  particulars  to  the  whole  length  and  meas- 
ure of  our  time ;  how  fearful  is  his  hand,  that  has 
given  his  Son  unto  us,  and  with  him  hath  promised 
likewise  to  give  us  all  things,  relieving  our  wants, 
sanctifying  our  necessities,  preventing  our  dangers, 
frepi'ig  us  from  all  extremities,  and  died  himself  for 
us !  What  can  we  render?  what  retribution  can  we 
make  worthy  so  great  a  majesty,  worthy  such  love 
and  favour  ?  We  have  nothing  but  ourselves,  who 
are  unworthy  above  all ;  and  yet  that,  as  all  other 
things,  is  his ;  for  us  to  offer  up  that,  is  but  to  give 
him  his  own,  and  that  in  far  worse  condition  than 
we  at  first  received  it,  which  yet  (for  infinite  is  his 
goodness  for  the  merits  of  his  Son)  he  is  contented 
to  accept.  This,  dear  friend,  must  be  the  comfort 
of  his  children ;  this  is  the  physic  we  must  use  in  all 
our  sickness  and  extremities;  this  is  the  strength- 
ening of  the  weak,  the  enriching  of  the  poor,  the  lib- 
erty of  the  captive,  the  health  of  the  diseased,  the 
life  of  those  that  die  the  death  of  that  wicked  life, 
sin ;  and  this  happiness  have  his  saints.  The  con- 
templation of  this  happiness  has  led  me  almost  be- 
yond the  compass  of  a  letter ;  but  the  haste  I  use 
unto  my  friends,  and  the  affection  that  does  move  it, 
will,  I  hope,  excuse  me.  Friends  should  commu 
nicate  their  joys ;  this,  as  the  greatest,  therefore,  ' 
could  not  but  impart  unto  rny  friends,  being  therein 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


205 


was  said  in  the  House,  were  committed  close 
prisoners  to  tiie  Tower.  The  studies  of  the 
rest  were  ordered  to  be  sealed  up,  and  a  proc- 
lamation issued  for  apprehending  them  ;  though 
•  the  Parliament  not  being  dissolved,  they  were 
actually  members  of  the  House.  On  the  10th 
of  March,  the  king  came  to  the  House  of  Lords, 
and  without  sending  for  the  Commons,  or  pass- 
ing one  single  act,  dissolved  the  Parliament, 
with  a  very  angry  speech  against  the  leading 
members  of  the  Lower  House,  whom  he  called 
vipers,  that  cast  a  mist  of  undutifulness  over 
most  of  their  eyes ;  "  and  as  those  vipers," 
says  his  majesty,  "  must  look  for  their  reward 
of  punishment,  so  you,  my  lords,  must  justly 
expect  from  me  that  favour  that  a  good  king 
oweth  to  his  loving  and  faithful  nobihty."* 

The  undutifulness  of  the  Commons  was  only 
their  keeping  the  speaker  in  the  chair  after  he 
had  signified  that  the  king  had  adjourned  them, 
which  his  majesty  had  no  power  of  doing ;  and 
no  king  before  King  James  I.  pretended  to  ad- 
journ Parliaments  ;  and  when  he  claimed  that 
power,  it  was  complained  of  as  a  breach  of 
privilege.  It  is  one  thing  to  prorogue  or  dis- 
solve a  Parliament,  and  another  to  adjourn  it, 
the  latter  being  the  act  of  the  House  itself,  and 
the  consequence  of  vesting  such  a  power  in  the 
crown  might  be  very  fatal ;  for  if  the  king  may 
adjourn  the  House  in  the  midst  of  their  debates, 
or  forbid  the  speaker  to  put  a  question  when 
required,  it  is  easy  to  foresee  the  whole  busi- 
ness of  Parliament  must  be  under  his  direc- 
tion.! The  members  above  mentioned  were 
sentenced  to  be  imprisoned  during  the  king's 
pleasure  ;  and  were  accordingly  kept  under 
close  confinement  many  years,  where  Sir  John 
Eliot  died  a  martyr  to  the  liberties  of  his  coun- 
try.$     Mr.  Hollis  was  fined  a  thousand  marks, 

moved  by  the  present  expectation  of  your  letters, 
which  always  have  the  grace  of  much  intelligence, 
and  are  happiness  to  him  that  is  truly  yours,  J.  E." 
— Vaughan's  Stuart  Memorials,  417. 

Ehot  was  released  from  his  sufferings  and  impris- 
onment on  the  27th  of  November,  1632.  His  son 
requested  permission  to  carry  his  body  into  Corn- 
wall, his  native  county ;  but  the  king  replied,  with 
his  accustomed  want  of  true  nobility  of  feeling,  •'  Let 
Sir  John  EUot's  body  be  buried  in  the  church  of 
that  parish  where  he  died."  Such  was  the  end  of 
one  of  the  purest,  most  enlightened,  and  devout  of 
English  patriots.  His  character  has  risen  in  the  es- 
timation of  his  countrymen  in  exact  proportion  as 
his  actions  and  the  tenour  of  his  life  have  become 
known.  His  fame  has  survived  the  slanders  which 
the  malevolence  of  party  writers  has  invented,  and 
is  now  regarded  as  the  property  of  the  nation,  and 
the  honour  of  his  age.  His  sufferings  were  not  fruit- 
less, nor  was  tho  triumph  of  his  enemies  forgotten. 
"Faithful  and  brave  hearts,"  says  his  biographer, 
*'  were  left  to  remember  this ;  and  the  sufferings  of 
Ehot  were  not  undergone  in  vain.  They  bore  their 
psut  in  the  heat  and  burden  of  the  after  struggle. 
His  name  was  one  of  its  watchwords,  and  it  had 
none  more  glorious." — Forster's  Life  of  Eliot,  223, 
and  Price^s  Nonconformity,  vol.  ii.,  p.  44.  Mr.  Fors- 
ter  has  vindicated  Eliot  from  the  base  charges  pre- 
ferred against  him  by  Echard,  the  archdeacon,  and 
retailed  with  such  industrious  malice  by  Mr.  D'ls- 
laeli.— Life,  p.  2-6. — C.      *  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  672. 

t  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  279,  foho  edit. 

t  "  An  affecting  portrait  of  this  gentleman  is  now 
in  the  possession  of  Lord  Eliot.  He  is  drawn  pale, 
languishing,  and  emaciated ;  but  disdaining  to  make 
the  abject  submission  required  of  him  by  the  tyrant, 
he  expired  under  the  excessive  rigours  of  his  con- 


Sir  John   Eliot   £2000,   Valentine   £500,  and 
Long  two  thousand  marks. 

Great  were  the  murmurings  of  the  people  upon 
this  occasion  ;  libels  were  dispersed  against 
the  Prime  Minister  Laud;  one  of  which  says, 
"  Laud,  look  to  thyself;  be  assured  thy  life  is 
sought.  As  thou  art  the  fountain  of  wicked- 
ness, repent  of  thy  monstrous  sins  before  thou 
be  taken  out  of  this  world  ;  and  assure  thyself, 
neither  God  nor  the  world  can  endure  such  a 
vile  counsellor  or  whisperer  to  live."*  But  to 
justify  these  proceedings  to  the  world,  his  maj- 
esty published  "  A  Declaration  of  the  Causes  of 
dissolving  the  last  Parliament." 

The  declaration  vindicates  the  king's  taking 
the  duties  of  tonnage  and  poundage  from  the 
examples  of  some  of  his  predecessors,  and  as 
agreeable  to  his  kingly  honour.  It  justifies  the 
silencing  the  predestinarian  controversy,  and 
lays  the  blame  of  not  executing  the  laws  against 
papists  upon  subordinate  officers  and  ministers 
in  the  country :  "  We  profess,"  says  his  maj- 
esty, "  that  as  it  is  our  duty,  so  it  shall  be  our 
care,  to  command  and  direct  well ;  but  it  is  the 
part  of  the  others  to  perform  the  ministerial  of- 
fice ;  and  when  we  have  done  our  office,  we 
shall  account  ourself,  and  all  charitable  men 
will  account  us,  innocent,  both  to  God  and 
men  ;  and  those  that  are  negligent,  we  will  es- 
teem culpable,  both  to  God  and  us."  The  dec- 
laration concludes  with  a  profession  that  "  the 
king  will  maintain  the  true  religion  of  the 
Church  of  England,  without  conniving  at  po- 
pery or  schism  ;  that  he  will  maintain  the 
rights  and  liberties  of  his  subjects,  provided 
they  do  not  misuse  their  liberty,  by  turning  it 
to  licentiousness,  wantonly  and  frowardly  re- 
sisting our  lawful  and  necessary  authority  ;  for 
we  do  expect  our  subjects  should  yield  as  much 
submission  to  our  royal  prerogative,  and  as 
ready  obedience  to  our  authority  and  command- 
ments, as  has  been  performed  to  the  greatest 
of  our  predecessors.  We  will  not  have  our 
ministers  terrified  by  harsh  proceedings  against 
t4iem ;  for  as  we  expect  our  ministers  should 
obey  us,  they  shall  assure  themselves  we  will 
protect  them."t 

This  declaration  not  quieting  the  people,  was 
followed  by  a  proclamation,  which  put  an  end 
to  all  prospects  of  recovering  the  Constitution 
for  the  future.  The  proclamation  declares  his 
majesty's  royal  pleasure  "  that  spreaders  of 
false  reports  shall  be  severely  punished ;  that 
such  as  cheerfully  go  on  with  their  trades  shall 
have  all  good  encouragement ;  that  he  will  not 
overcharge  his  subjects  with  any  new  burdens, 
but  will  satisfy  himself  with  the  duties  received 
by  his  royal  father,  which  he  neither  can  nor 
will  dispense  with.  And  whereas,  for  several 
ill  ends,  the  calling  of  another  Parliament  is  di- 
vulged, his  majesty  declares  that  the  late  abuse 
having,  for  the  present,  driven  his  majesty  un- 
willingly out  of  that  course,  he  shall  account  it 

finement,  leaving  the  portrait  as  a  legacy  and  me- 
mento to  his  posterity,  and  to  mankind ;  who,  in  the 
contemplation  of  such  enormities,  have  reason  to 
rejoice 

'  When  vengeance  in  the  lucid  air 
Lifts  her  red  arm  exposed  and  bare.' " 

— Belsham's  Memoirs  of  the  House  of  Brunswick  Lu- 
nenburgh,  vol.  i.,  p.  185,  note. — Ed. 

*  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  p.  672. 

t  Rushworth,  vol.  u.,  Appen.,  p.  3-10. 


296 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS. 


presumption  for  any  to  prescribe  any  time  to 
his  majesty  for  parliaments,  the  calling,  con- 
tinuing, and  dissolving  of  which  is  always  in 
the  king's  own  power."*  Here  was  aq  end  of 
the  old  English  Constitution  for  twelve  years. 
England  was  now  an  absolute  monarchy :  the 
king's  proclamations  and  orders  of  council  were 
the  laws  of  the  land  ;  the  ministers  of  state 
sported  themselves  in  the  most  wanton  acts  of 
power ;  and  the  religion,  laws,  and  liberties  of 
this  country  lay  prostrate  and  overwhelmed  by 
an  inundation  of  popery  and  oppression. 

This  year  died  the  Reverend  Dr.  John  Pres- 
ton, descended  of  thej'amily  of  the  Prestons  in 
Lancashire.  He  was  born  at  Heyford,  in  North- 
amptonshire, in  the  parish  of  Bugbrook,  1587, 
and  was  admitted  of  King's  College,  Cambridge, 
1604,  from  whence  he  was  afterward  removed 
to  Queen's  College,  and  admitted  fellow  in  the 
year  1609. t  He  was  an  ambitious  and  aspiring 
youth,  till,  having  received  some  religious  im- 
pressions from  Mr.  Cotton,  in  a  sermon  preach- 
ed by  him  at  St.  Mary's  Church,  he  became  re- 
markably serious,  and  bent  all  his  studies  to 
the  service  of  Christ  in  the  ministry.  When 
the  king  came  to  Cambridge,  Mr.  Preston  was 
appointed  to  dispute  before  him  :  the  question 
was,  Whether  brutes  had  reason,  or  could 
make  syllogisms  1  Mr.  Preston  maintained  the 
affirmative ;  and  instanced  in  a  hound,  who, 
coming  to  a  place  where  three  ways  meet, 
smells  one  way  and  the  other,  but  not  finding 
the  scent,  runs  down  the  third  with  full  cry, 
concluding  that  the  hare,  not  being  gone  either 
of  the  first  two  ways,  must  necessarily  be  gone 
the  third.  The  argument  had  a  wonderful  ef- 
fect on  the  audience,  and  would  have  opened  a 
door  for  Mr.  Preston's  preferment,  had  not  his 
inclinations  to  Puritanism  been  a  bar  in  the 
way.  He  therefore  resolved  upon  an  academ- 
ical life,  and  took  upon  him  the  care  of  pupils, 
for  which  he  was  qualified  beyond  most  in  the 
University.  Many  gentlemen's  sons  were  com- 
mitted to  his  care,  who  trained  them  up  in  the 
sentiments  of  the  first  Reformers,  for  he  af- 
fected the  very  style  and  language  of  Calvin. 
When  it  came  to  his  turn  to  be  catechist,  he 
went  through  a  whole  body  of  divinity  with 
such  general  acceptance,  that  the  outward  chap- 
el was  usually  crowded  with  strangers  before 

*  Rushworth,  vol.  ii.,  p.  3. 

t  Clarke's  Lil'e  of  Dr.  Preston,  annexed  to  his  Gen- 
eral Martyrology,  p.  75.  Sir  Fulke  Greville,  after- 
ward Lord  Brook,  was  such  an  admirer  of  Dr.  Pres- 
ton, that  he  settled  fifty  pounds  a  year  upon  him. 
Lord  Brook  was  a  zealous  patriot  and  an  open  advo- 
cate for  liberty.  On  account  of  the  arbitrary  meas- 
ures of  Charles  I.,  he  determined  to  seek  freedom  in 
New-England  ;  and  he  and  Lord  Say  actually  de- 
termined to  transport  themselves  to  Massachusetts  ; 
but,  upon  the  meeting  of  the  Long  Parliament,  and 
the  sudden  change  of  public  affairs,  they  were  hin- 
dered in  the  project.  He  was  afterward  commander 
in  the  Parliamentary  army,  and  having  reduced  War- 
wickshire, he  advanced  into  Staffordshire,  on  the 
festival  of  St.  Chad,  to  whom  the  Cathedral  of  Litch- 
field is  dedicated  ;  he  ordered  his  men  to  storm  ihe 
idjoining  close,  to  which  Lord  Chesterfield  had  re- 
vi:ed  with  a  body  of  the  king's  forces.  But  before 
flis  orders  could  be  put  in  execution,  he  received  a 
.Tiusket-shot  in  the  eye,  of  which  he  instantly  ex- 
pired, in  the  year  1G43.  It  was  the  opinion  of  the 
papists  that  St.  Chad  directed  the  bullet.  Archbish- 
op Laud  made  a  particular  memorial  of  this  in  his 
diaiy. — Prynne's  Breviate  of  Laud,  p.  27. — C. 


the  fellows  came  in,  which  created  him  envy. 
Ctmiplaint  was  made  to  the  vice-chancellor  of 
this  unusual  way  of  catechising,  and  that  it  was 
not  safe  to  suffer  Dr.  Preston  to  be  thus  adored, 
unless  they  had  a  mind  to  set  up  Puritanism 
and  pull  down  the  hierarchy  ;  it  was  therefore 
agreed  in  the  convocation-house  that  no  stran- 
ger, neither  townsman  nor  scholar,  should, 
upon  any  pretervce,  come  to  those  lectures, 
which  were  only  designed  for  the  members  of 
the  college. 

There  was  little  preaching  in  the  University 
at  this  time,  except  at  St.  Mary's,  the  lectures 
at  Trinity  and  St.  Andrew's  being  prohibited ; 
Mr.  Preston,  therefore,  at  the  request  of  the 
townsmen  and  scholars  of  other  colleges,  at- 
tempted to  set  up  an  evening  sermon  at  St.  Bo- 
tolph's,  belonging  to  Queen's  College  ;  but 
when  Dr.  Newcomb,  commissary  to  the  Bishop 
of  Ely,  heard  of  it,  he  came  to  the  church  and 
forbade  it,  commanding  that  evening  prayers 
only  should  be  read ;  there  was  a  vast  crowd, 
and  earnest  entreaty  that  Mr.  Preston  might 
preach  at  least  for  that  time  ;  but  the  commis- 
sary was  inexorable,  and,  to  prevent  farther 
importunities,  went  home  with  his  family ;  af^ 
ter  he  was  gone,  Mr.  Preston  was  prevailed 
with  to  preach,  and  because  much  time  had 
been  spent  in  debates,  they  adventured  for  once 
to  omit  the  service,  that  the  scholars  might  be 
present  at  their  college  prayers.  Next  day  the 
commissary  went  to  Newmarket,  and  complain- 
ed both  to  the  bishop  and  king  ;  he  represented 
the  danger  of  the  hierarchy,  and  the  progress 
of  nonconformity  among  the  scholars,  and  as- 
sured them  that  Mr.  Preston  was  m  such  higb 
esteem,  that  he  would  carry  all  before  him  if 
he  was  not  thoroughly  dealt  with.  Being  call- 
ed before  his  superiors,  he  gave  a  plain  narra- 
tive of  the  fact ;  and  added,  that  he  had  no  de- 
sign to  affront  the  bishop  or  his  commissary. 
The  bishop  said  the  king  was  informed  that  he 
was  an  enemy  to  forms  of  prayer,  which  Mr. 
Preston  denying,  he  was  ordered  to  declare  his 
judgment  upon  that  head,  in  a  sermon  at  SL 
Botolph's  Church,  and  so  was  dismissed. 

Some  time  after.  King  James  being  at  New- 
market, Mr.  Preston  was  appointed  to  preach 
before  him,  which  he  performed  with  great  ap- 
plause, having  a  fluent  speech,  a  commanding 
voice,  and  a  strong  memory,  to  deliver  what  he 
had  prepared  without  the  assistance  of  notes. 
The  king  spoke  familiarly  to  him  ;  and,  though 
his  majesty  expressed  a  dislike  to  some  of  his 
Puritan  notions,  he  commended  his  opposing 
the  Arminians.  And  the  Duke  of  Buckingham, 
not  knowing  what  friends  he  might  want  among 
the  populace,  persuaded  the  king  to  admit  him 
one  of  the  prmce's  chaplains  in  ordinary,  and  to 
wait  two  months  in  the  year,  which  he  did. 
Soon  after  this  he  was  chosen  preacher  of  Lin- 
coln's Inn,  and,  upon  the  resignation  of  Dr. 
Chadderton,  master  of  Emanuel  College,  in  the 
year  1022,  at  which  time  he  took  his  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Divinity.  The  doctor  was  a  fine 
gentleman,  a  complete  courtier,  and  in  high  es- 
teem with  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  who 
thought  by  his  means  to  ingratiate  himself 
with  the  Puritans,*  whose  power  was  growing 

^'  "  But  Preston,  who  was  as  great  a  politician  a» 
the  duke,"  says  Mr.  Granger,  "  was  not  to  be  over 
reached."— Ed. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


297 


very  formidable  in  Parliament.  The  duke  of- 
fered him  the  bishopric  of  Gloucester,  but  the 
doctor  refused,  and  ehose  rather  the  lecture- 
ship of  Trinity  Church,  which  he  kept  till  his 
death.  By  his  interest  in  the  duke  and  prince 
he  did  considerable  service  for  many  silenced 
ministers;  he  was  in  waiting  when  King  James 
died,  and  came  up  with  the  young  king  and 
duke  in  a  close  coach  to  London.  But  some 
time  after,  the  duke,  having  changed  measures, 
and  finding  that  he  could  neither  gain  over  the 
Puritans  to  his  arbitrary  designs  nor  separate 
the  doctor  from  their  interests,  he  resolved  to 
shake  hands  with  his  chaplain.  The  doctor, 
foreseeing  the  storm,  was  content  to  retire  qui- 
etly to  his  college,  where,  it  is  apprehended,  he 
would  have  felt  some  farther  effects  of  the 
duke's  displeasure,  if  God,  in  his  providence, 
had  not  cut  him  out  work  of  a  different  nature, 
which  engaged  all  his  thoughts  to  the  time  of 
his  death. 

Dr.  Preston  lived  a  single  life,  being  never 
married  ;  nor  had  he  any  cure  of  souls.  He  had 
a  strong  constitution,  which  he  wore  out  in  his 
study  and  in  the  pulpit.  His  distemper  was  a 
consumption  in  the  lungs,  for  which,  by  the  ad- 
vice of  physicians,  he  changed  the  air  several 
times  ;  but  the  failure  of  his  appetite,  with  oth- 
er symptoms  of  a  general  decay,  prevailed  with 
him  at  length  to  leave  off  all  medicine,  and  re- 
sign himself  to  the  will  of  God.  And  being  de- 
sirous of  dying^n  his  native  country,  and  among 
his  old  friends,  he  retired  into  Northampton- 
shire, where  he  departed  this  life  in  a  most  pi- 
ous and  devout  manner,*  in  the  fifty-first  year 
of  his  age,  and  was  buried  in  Fawsley  Church, 
old  Mr.  Dod,  minister  of  the  place,  preaching 
his  funeral  sermon  to  a  numerous  auditory, 
July  20.  1628.  Mr.  FuUert  says,  "  He  was  an 
excellent  preacher,  a  subtle  disputant,  a  great 
politician  ;  so  that  his  foes  must  confess  that 
(if  not  having  too  httle  of  the  dove)  he  had 
enough  of  the  serpent.  Some  will  not  stick  to 
say  he  had  parts  sufficient  to  manage  the  broad- 
seal,  which  was  offered  him,  but  the  conditions 
did  not  please.  He  might  have  been  the  duke's 
right  hand,  but  his  grace  finding  that  he  could 
not  bring  him  nor  his  party  off  to  his  side,  he 
would  use  him  no  longer,"  which  shows  him  to 
be  an  honest  man.  His  practical  works  and 
sermons  were  printed  by  his  own  order,  after 
his  decease. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

TROM  THE  DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  THIRD  P.^RLI.i- 
MENT  OF  KING  CHARLES  I.  TO  THE  DEATH  OF 
ARCHBISHOP    ABBOT. 

The  ancient  and  legal  government  of  Eng- 

*  As  he  felt  the  symptoms  of  death  coming  upon 
him,  he  said,  "  I  shall  not  change  my  company,  for  I 
shall  still  converse  with  God  and  saints."  A  few 
hours  previous  to  his  departure,  being  told  it  was  the 
Lord's  Day,  he  said,  "  A  fit  day  to  be  sacrificed  on  ! 
I  have  accompanied  saints  on  earth,  now  I  shall  ac- 
company angels  in  heaven.  My  dissolution  is  at 
hand.  Let  me  go  to  my  home,  and  to  Jesus  Christ, 
who  hath  bought  me  with  his  precious  blood."  He 
soon  added,  "  I  feel  death  coming  to  my  heart ;  my 
pain  shall  now  be  turned  into  joy." — Clarke's  Lives, 
p.  113.  Echard  styles  Dr.  Preston  "the  most  cele- 
brated of  the  Puritans,  an  exquisite  preacher,  a  no- 
ble disputant,  and  a  deep  politician." — C. 

t  Book  xi.,  p.  131. 

Vol.  I— Pp 


land,  by  king,  lords,  and  commons,  being  nov/ 
suspended  by  the  royal  will  and  pleasure,  his 
majesty  resolved  to  supply  the  necessities  of  the 
state  by  such  other  methods  as  his  council  should 
advise,  who  gave  a  loose  to  their  actions,  being 
no  longer  afraid  of  a  parliamentary  inquiry,  and 
above  the  reach  of  ordinary  justice.  Instead 
of  the  authority  of  king  and  Parliament,  all  pub- 
lic affairs  were  directed  by  proclamations  of  the 
king  and  council,  which  had  the  force  of  so 
many  laws,  and  were  bound  upon  the  subject 
under  the  severest  penalties.  They  levied  the 
duties  of  tonnage  and  poundage,  and  laid  what 
other  imposts  they  thought  proper  upon  mer- 
chandise, which  they  let  out  to  farm  to  private 
persons  ;  the  number  of  monopolies  was  in- 
credible ;  there  was  no  branch  of  the  subject's 
property  that  the  ministry  could  dispose  of 
but  was  bought  and  sold.  They  raised  above 
£1,000,000  a  year  by  taxes  on  soap,  salt,  can- 
dles, wine,  cards,  pins,  leather,  coals,  &c.,  even 
to  the'sole  gathering  of  rags.  Grants  were  giv- 
en out  for  weighing  hay  and  straw  within  three 
miles  of  London,  for  gauging  red-herring-bar- 
rels and  butter-casks,  for  marking  iron  and  seal- 
ing lace,*  with  a  great  many  others,  which,  be- 
ing purchased  of  the  crown,  must  be  paid  for  by 
the  subject.  His  majesty  claimed  a  right,  in  ca- 
ses of  necessity  (of  which  necessity  himself  was 
the  sole  judge),  to  raise  money  by  ship- writs,  or 
royal  mandates,  directed  to  the  sheriffs  of  the 
several  counties  to  levy  on  the  subject  the  sev- 
eral sums  of  money  therein  demanded,  for  the 
maintenance  and  support  of  the  royal  navy.  The 
like  was  demanded  for  the  royal  army,  by  the 
name  of  coat  and  conduct  money,  when  they 
were  to  march,  and  when  they  were  in  quarters 
the  men  were  billeted  upon  private  houses.  Many 
were  put  to  death  by  martial  law  who  ought  to 
have  been  tried  by  the  laws  of  the  land,  and  oth- 
ers, by  the  same  martial  law,  were  exempted 
from  the  punishment  which  by  law  they  deserv- 
ed. Large  sums  of  money  were  raised  by  com- 
missions under  the  great  seal,  to  compound  for 
depopulations,  for  nuisances  in  building  be- 
tween high  and  low  water  mark,  for  pretended 
encroachments  on  the  forests,  &c.,  besides  the 
exorbitant  fines  of  the  Star  Chamber  and  High 
Commission  Court,  and  the  extraordinary  proj- 
ects of  loans,  benevolence.s,  and  free  gifts.  Such 
was  the  calamity  of  the  times,  that  no  man 
could  call  anything  his  own  longer  than  the 
king  pleased,  or  might  speak  or  write  against 
these  proceedings  without  the  utmost  hazard 
of  his  liberty  and  estate. 

The  Church  was  governed  by  the  like  arbi- 
trary and  illegal  methods ;  Dr.  Laud,  bishop  of 
London,  being  prime  minister,  pursued  his  wild 
scheme  of  uniting  the  two  Churches  of  England 
and  Rome,t  without  the  least  regard  to  the 


*  Stevens's  Historical  Account  of  all  Taxes,  p. 
183,  184,  2d  edit. 

t  Dr.  Grey  is  much  displeased  with  Mr.  Neal  for 
this  representation  of  Laud's  views;  but,  without 
bringing  any  du'ect  evidence  to  refute  it,  he  appeals  to 
the  answer  of  Fisher,  and  the  testimonies  of  Sir  Ed- 
ward Deering  and  Limborch,  to  show  that  the  arch- 
bishop was  not  a  papist.  This  may  be  admitted,  and 
the  proofs  of  it  are  also  adduced  by  Dr.  Harris  [Life 
of  Charles  I.,  p.  207].  yet  it  will  not  be  so  easy  to  ac- 
quit Laud  of  a  partiality  for  the  Church,  though  not 
the  court,  of  Rome,  according  to  the  distinction  May 
makes  in  his  "  Parliamentary  History."     It  will  not 


298 


HISTORY    OF   THE    PURITANS. 


rights  of  conscience,  or  the  laws  of  the  land, 
and  very  seldom  to  the  canons  of  the  Church, 
bearing  down  all  who  opposed  iiim  with  unre- 
lenting severity  and  rigour.  To  make  way  for 
this  union,  the  churches  were  not  only  to  be 
repaired,  but  ornamented  witir  pictures,  paint- 
ings, images,  altar-pieces,  &c.,  the  forms  of 
public  worship  were  to  be  decorated  with  a 
number  of  pompous  rites  and  ceremonies,  in 
imitation  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  the  Pu- 
ritans, who  were  tlie  professed  enemies  of  eve- 
rything tliat  looked  like  popery,  were  to  be 
suppressed  or  driven  out  of  the  land.  To  ac- 
complish the  latter,  his  lordship  presented  the 
king  with  certain  considerations  for  settling  the 
Church,  which  were  soon  after  published,  with 
some  little  variation,  under  the  title  of  "  In- 
structions to  the  two  Arclibishops,  concerning 
certain  Orders  to  be  observed  and  put  in  exe- 
cution by  the  several  Bishops." 

Here  his  majesty  commands  them  to  see  that 
his  declaration  for  silencing  the  predestinarian 
controversy  be  strictly  observed  ;  and  that  spe- 
cial care  be  taken- of  the  lectures  and  afternoon 
sermons,  in  their  several  diocesses,  concerning 
which  he  is  pleased  to  give  the  following  in- 
structions :* 

1.  "  That  in  all  parishes  the  afternoon  ser- 
mons be  turned  into  catechising  by  question 
and  answer,  where  there  is  not  some  great 
cause  to  break  this  ancient  and  profitable  order. 

2.  "  That  every  lecturer  read  Divine  service 
before  lectures  in  surplice  and  hood. 

3.  "  That  where  there  are  lectures  in  market 
towns,  they  be  read  by  grave  and  orthodox  di- 
vines, and  that  they  preach  in  gowns,  and  not 
in  cloaks,  as  too  many  do  use. 

4.  "Tliat  no  lecturer  be  admitted  that  is  not 
ready  and  willing  to  take  upon  him  a  living  with 
cure  of  souls. 

5.  "  That  the  bishops  take  order  that  the  ser- 
mons of  the  lecturers  be  observed. 

6.  "  That  none  under  noblemen,  and  men 
qualified  by  lavf,  keep  a  private  chaplain. 

7.  "  That  care  be  taken  that  the  prayers  and 
catechisings  be  frequented,  as  well  as  sermons." 
Of  all  which  his  majesty  i-equires  an  account 
once  a  year. 

By  virtue  of  these  instructions,  the  Bishop  of 
London  summoned  before  him  all  ministers  and 
lecturers  in  and  about  the  city,  and  in  a  solemn 
speech  insisted  on  their  obedience.  He  also 
sent  letters  to  his  archdeacons,  requiring  them 
to  send  him  lists  of  the  several  lecturers  within 
their  archdeaconries,  as  well  in  places  exempt 
as   not  exempt,  with  the  places  where  they 

be  so  easy  to  clear  him  of  the  charge  of  symbol- 
izing with  the  Church  of  Rome  in  its  two  leading 
features  superstition  and  intolerance.  Under  his 
primacy  the  Church  of  England,  it  is  plain,  assumed 
a  very  popish  appearance.  "  Not  only  the  pomps  of 
ceremonies  were  daily  increased,  and  innovations  of 
great  scandal  brought  into  the  Church,  but,  in  point 
of  doctrine,  many  fair  approaches  made  towards 
Rome.  Even  Heylin  says,  the  doctrines  are  altered 
in  many  things ;  as,  for  example,  the  pope  not  anti- 
christ, pictures,  free-will,  &c. ;  the  Thirty-nhie  Arti- 
cles seeming  impatient,  if  not  ambitious  also,  of  some 
Catholic  sense." — May^s  Parliamentary  History,  p.  22, 
23,  and  Heylin' s  Life  of  Laud,  p.  152.— En. 

*  A  liberal  mind  will  reprobate  these  instructions 
as  evading  argument,  preventing  discussion  and  in- 
quiry, breathing  the  spirit  of  intolerance  and  perse- 
cution, and  indicating  timidity. — Ed. 


preached,  and  their  quality  or  degree  ;  as  also 
the  names  of  such  gentlemen  who,  not  being 
qualified,  kept  chaplains  in  their  own  houses. 
His  lordship  required  them,  farther,  to  leave  a 
copy  of  the  king's  instructions  concerning  lec- 
turers with  the  parson  of  every  parish,  and  to 
see  that  they  were  duly  observed. 

These  lecturers  were  chiefly  Puritans,  who. 
not  being  satisfied  with  a  full  conformity  so  as 
to  take  upon  them  a  cure  of  souls,  only  preach- 
ed in  the  afternoon,  being  chosen  and  maintain- 
ed by  the  people.  They  were  strict  Calvinists, 
warm  and  affectionate  preachers,  and  distin- 
guished themselves  by  a  religious  observance 
of  the  Lord's  Day,  by  a  bold  opposition  to  po- 
pery and  the  new  ceremonies,  and  by  an  un- 
common severity  of  life.  Their  manner  of 
preaching  gave  the  bishop  a  distaste  to  ser- 
mons, who  was  already  of  opinion  that  they 
did  more  harm  than  good,  insomuch  that  on  a 
fast-day  for  the  plague,  then  in  London,  prayers 
were  ordered  to  be  read  in  all  churches,  but  ftot 
a  sermon  to  be  preached,  lest  the  people  should 
wander  from  their  own  parishes.  The  lectu- 
rers had  very  popular  talents,  and  drew  great 
numbers  of  people  after  them.  Bishop  Laud 
would  often  say  "they  were  the  most  danger- 
ous enemies  of  the  state,  because  by  theii 
prayers  and  sermons  they  awakened  the  peo- 
ple's disaffection,  and,  therefore,  must  be  sup- 
pressed." 

Good  old  Archbishop  Abbot  was  of  another 
spirit,  but  the  reins  were  taken  out  of  his  hands. 
He  had  a  good  opinion  of  the  lecturers,  as  men 
who  had  the  Protestant  religion  at  heart,  and 
would  fortify  their  hearers  against  the  return  of 
popery.*  When  Mr.  Palmer,  lecturer  of  St. 
Aiphage,  in  Canterbury,  was  commanded  to 
desist  from  preaching  by  the  archdeacon,  be- 
cause he  drew  great  numbers  of  factious  peo- 
ple after  him  and  did  not  wear  the  surplice,  the 
archbishop  authorized  him  to  continue :  the 
like  he  did  by  Mr.  Udnay,  of  Ashford,  for  which 
he  was  complained  of  as  not  enforcing  the 
king's  instructions,  whereby  the  commission- 
ers, as  they  say,  were  made  a  scorn  to  the  fac- 
tious, and  the  archdeacon's  jurisdiction  inhibit- 
ed. But  in  the  diocess  of  London  Bishop  Laud 
proceeded  with  the  utmost  severity.  Many 
lecturers  were  put  down,  and  such  as  preached 
against  Arminianism,  or  the  new  ceremonies, 
were  suspended  and  silenced  ;  among  whom 
were  the  Reverend  Mr.  John  Rogers,  of  Ded- 
ham,  Mr.  Daniel  Rogers,  of  Wethersfield,  Mr. 
Hooker,  of  Chelmsford,  Mr.  White,  of  Kniglits- 
bridge,  Mr.  Archer,  Mr.  William  Martin,  Mr. 
Edwards,  Mr.  Jones,  Mr.  Dod,  Mr.  Hildersham, 
Mr.  Ward,  Mr.  Saunders,  Mr.  James  Gardiner, 
Mr.  Foxley,  and  many  others. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Bernard,  lecturer  of  St.  Sepul- 
chre's, London,  having  used  this  expression  in 
his  prayer^ before  sermon,  "Lord,  open  the  eyes 
of  the  que'en's  majesty,  that  she  may  see  Jesus 
Christ,  whom  she  has  pierced  with  her  infidel- 
ity, superstition,  and  idolatry,"!  was  summon- 
ed before  the  High  Commission,  January  28, 
and  upon  his  humble  submission  was  dismiss- 
ed ;  but  some  time  after,  in  his  sermon  at  St. 
Mary's,  in  Cambridge,  speaking  offensive  words 

*  Prynne's  Introd.,  p.  94,  361,  373. 
t  Rushworth,  vol.  ii.,  p.  32,  140.    Prynne,  p.  365, 
367 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


299 


against  Arminianism  and  the  new  ceremonies, 
Bishop  Laud  sent  for  a  copy  of  his  sermon,  and 
having  cited  him  before  the  High  Commission, 
required  him  to  make  an  open  recantation  of 
what  he  had  said,  which  his  conscience  not  suf- 
fering him  to,  he  was  suspended  from  his  min- 
istry, excommunicated,  fined  £1000,  condemn- 
ed in  costs  of  suit,  and  committed  to  New 
Prison,  where  he  lay  several  months,  being 
cruelly  used,  and  almost  starved  for  want  of 
necessaries,  of  which  he  complained  to  the 
bishop  in  sundry  letters,  but  could  get  no  relief 
unless  he  would  recant.  Mr.  Bernard  offered 
to  confess  his  sorrow  and  penitence  for  any 
oversights  or  unbecoming  expressions  in  his 
sermons,  which  could  not  be  accepted,  so  that 
in  conclusion  he  was  utterly  ruined. 

Mr.  Charles  Chauncey,  minister  of  Ware,  hav- 
ing said  in  a  sermon  "  that  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  would  be  suppressed,  and  that  there 
was  much  atheism,  popery,  Arminianism,  and 
heresy  crept  into  the  Church,"  was  questioned 
for  it  in  the  High  Commission,  and  not  dismiss- 
ed till  he  had  made  an  open  recantation,  which 
we  shall  meet  with  hereafter. 

Mr.  Peter  Smart,  one  of  the  prebendaries  of 
Durham,  and  minister  of  that  city,  was  impris- 
oned by  the  High  Commission  of  York  this 
summer,  for  a  sermon  preached  from  these 
words,  "  I  hate  all  those  that  love  superstitious 
vanities,  but  thy  law  do  I  love,"  in  which  he 
took  occasion  to  speak  against  images  and  pic- 
tures, and  the  late  pompous  innovations.  He 
was  confined  four  months  before  the  commis- 
sioners exhibited  any  articles  against  him,  and 
five  more  before  any  proctor  was  allowed  him. 
From  York  he  was  carried  up  to  Lambeth,  and 
from  thence  back  again  to  York,  and  at  length 
was  deprived  of  his  prebend,  degraded,  excom- 
municated, fined  £500,  and  committed  close 
prisoner,  where  he  continued  eleven  years,  till 
he  was  set  at  liberty  by  the  Long  Parliament  in 
1640.  He  was  a  person  of  a  grave  and  rever- 
end aspect,*  but  died  soon  after  his  release, 
the  severity  of  a  long  imprisonment  having  con- 
tributed to  the  impairing  his  constitution.! 


*  Fuller's  Church  History,  b.  ii.,  p.  173. 

t  "  Here  the  historian,"  remarks  Bishop  Warbur- 
ton,  "  was  much  at  a  loss  for  his  confessor's  good 
qualities,  while  he  is  forced  to  take  up  with  his  grave 
and  reverend  aspect."  It  might  have  screened  this 
passage  from  his  lordship's  sneer  and  sarcasm,  that 
these  are  the  words  of  Fuller,  whose  history  furnish- 
ed the  whole  paragraph,  and  whose  description  of 
Mr.  Smart  goes  into  no  other  particulars.  His  lord- 
ship certainly  did  not  wish  Nr.  Neal  to  have  drawn 
a  character  from  his  own  invention ;  not  to  urge  that 
the  countenance  is  the  index  of  the  mind.  It  ap- 
pears, as  Dr.  Grey  observes,  that  the  proceedings 
against  Smart  commenced  in  the  High  Commission 
Court  in  Durham. —  See  WoocTs  Athenae  Oxon.,  vol. 
ii.,  p.  11.  The  doctor,  and  Nelson  in  his  Collec- 
tions, vol.  i.,  p.  518,  519,  produce  some  paragraphs 
from  Smart's  sermon  to  show  the  strain  and  spirit  of 
it.  There  was  printed  a  virulent  tract  at  Durham, 
1736,  entitled  "  An  Illustration  of  Mr.  Neal's  Histo- 
ly  of  the  Puritans.,  in  the  Article  of  Peter  Smart, 
A.M."  It  is  a  detail  of  the  proceedings  against 
Smart,  and  of  subsequent  proceedings  in  Parliament 
against  Dr.  Cosins  upon  the  complaint  of  Smart, 
whom  the  author  aims  to  represent  in  a  very  unfa- 
vourable point  of  view ;  but  without  necessity,  as 
the  very  persecution  of  him  shows  that  he  must  have 
been  very  offensive  to  those  who  were  admirers  of 
the  superstitions  and  ceremonies  against  which  he 


The  king's  instructions  and  the  violent  meas- 
ures of  the  prime  minister  brought  a  great  deal 
of  business  into  the  spiritual  courts  ;  one  or 
other  of  the  Puritan  ministers  was  every  week 
suspended  or  deprived,  and  their  families  driven 
to  distress  ;  nor  was  there  any  prospect  of  re- 
hef,  the  clouds  gathering  every  day  thicker  over 
their  heads,  and  threatening  a  violent  storm 
This  put  them  upon  projecting  a  farther  settle- 
ment in  New-England,  where  they  might  be 
delivered  Irom  the  hands'  of  their  oppressors, 
and  enjoy  the  free  liberty  of  their  consciences  ; 
which  gave  birth  to  a  second  grand  colony  in 
North  America,  commonly  known  by  the  name 
of  the  Massachusetts  Bay.  Several  persons  of 
quality  and  substance  about  the  city  of  London 
engaging  in  the  design,  obtained  a  charter  dated 
March  4,  1623-9,  wherein  the  gentlemen  and 
merchants  therein  named,  and  all  who  should 
thereafter  join  them,  were  constituted  a  body 
corporate  and  politic,  by  the  name  of  the  Gov- 
ernor and  Company  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  in 
New-England.  They  were  empowered  to  elect 
their  own  governor,  deputy-governor,  and  ma- 
gistrates, and  to  make  such  laws  as  they  should 
think  fit  for  the  good  of  the  plantation,  not  re- 
pugnant to  the  laws  of  England.  Free  liberty 
of  conscience  was  likewise  granted  to  all  who 
should  settle  in  those  parts,  to  worship  God  in 
their  own  way.*  The  new  planters  being  all 
Puritans,  made  their  application  to  the  Rever- 
end Mr.  Higginson,  a  silenced  minister  in  Lei- 
cestershire, and  to  Mr.  Skelton,  another  silen- 
ced minister  of  Lincolnshire,  to  be  their  chap- 
lains, desiring  them  to  engage  as  many  of  their 
friends  as  were  willing  to  embark  with  them. 
The  little  fleet  that  went  upon  this  expedition 
consisted  of  six  sail  of  transports,  from  four  to 
twenty  guns,  with  about  three  hundred  and 
fifty  passengers,  men,  women,  and  children. 
They  carried  with  them  one  hundred  and  fif- 
teen head  of  cattle,  as  horses,  mares,  cows,  &c., 
forty-one  goats,  six  pieces  of  cannon  for  a  fort, 
with  muskets,  pikes,  drums,  colours,  and  a  large 
quantity  of  ammunition  and  provisions.  The 
fleet  sailed  May  11,  1629,  and  arrived  the  24th 
of  June  following,  at  a  place  called  by  the  na- 
tives Neumkeak,  but  by  the  new  planters  Sa- 
lem, which  in  the  Hebrew  language  signifies 
peace. 

Religion  being  the  chief  motive  of  their  retreat- 
ing into  these  parts,f  that  teas  settled  in  the  first 
place.  August  the  6th  being  appointed  for  the 
solemnity  of  forming  themselves  into  a  religious 
society,  the  day  was  spent  in  fasting  and  prayer ; 

inveighed.  He  was  afterward  not  only  set  at  liber- 
ty, but  by  the  order  of  the  Lords,  in  1642,  was  resto- 
red to  his  prebend  m  Durham,  and  was  presented  to 
the  Vicarage  of  Ayclifi'  in  the  same  diocess  —Nel- 
son's Collections,  vol.  ii.,  p.  406.  The  Puritans,  by 
whom  he  was  esteemed  a  protomartyr,  it  is  said, 
raised  £400  a  year  for  him  by  subscription.— Gmn- 
ger's  History  of  England,  vol.  ii.,  p.  177.— Ed. 

*  This  is  a  mistake :  the  charter  did  not  once 
mention  hberty  of  conscience  or  toleration. — See 
Gordon's  History  of  the  American  War,  vol.  i.,  p.  19. 
—Ed. 

t  What  a  commentary  upon  this  statement  does 
the  history  of  Salem  afford  !  It  is  probable  that  no 
community  on  the  globe,  of  the  same  population,  can 
exhibit  a  finer  harvest  resulting  from  the  cultivation 
of  Gospel  principles.  The  churches  and  the  schools 
of  Salem  are  demonstrations  that,  as  men  sow,  they 
shall  also  reap  ! — C. 


300 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


and  thirty  persons  who  desired  to  be  of  the 
communion,  severally,  in  the  presence  of  the 
whole  congregation,  declared  their  consent  to 
a  confession  of  faith  which  Mr.  Higginson  had 
drawn  up,  and  signed  the  following  covenant 
with  their  hands  : 

"  We  covenant  with  our  Lord,  and  one  an- 
other. We  bind  ourselves,  in  the  presence  of 
God,  to  walk  together  in  all  his  ways,  according 
as  he  is  pleased  to  reveal  himself  to  us  in  his 
blessed  Word  of  truth,  and  do  profess  to  walk 
as  follows,  through  the  power  and  grace  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.* 

"We  avouch  the  Lord  to  be  our  God,  and 
ourselves  to  be  his  people,  in  the  truth  and  sim- 
plicity of  our  spirits. 

"  We  give  ourselves  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  to  the  Word  of  his  grace,  for  the  teaching, 
ruling,  and  sanctifying  us  in  matters  of  wor- 
ship and  conversation,  resolving  to  reject  all 
canons  and  constitutions  of  men  in  worship. 

"  We  promise  to  walk  with  our  brethren  with 
all  watchfulness  and  tenderness,  avoiding  jeal- 
ousies, suspicions,  backbitings,  censurings,  pro- 
vokings,  secret  risings  of  spirit  against  them  ; 
but  in  all  offences  to  follow  the  rule  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  to  bear  and  forbear,  give  and 
forgive,  as  he  hath  taught  us. 

"  In  public  and  private  we  will  willingly  do 
nothing  to  the  offence  of  the  Church,  but  will 
be  willing  to  take  advice  for  ourselves  and  ours, 
as  occasion  shall  be  presented. 

"  We  will  not  in  the  congregation  be  forward, 
either  to  show  our  own  gifts  and  parts  in  speak- 
ing, or  scrupling,  or  in  discovering  the  weak- 
nesses or  failings  of  our  brethren  ;  but  attend 
an  ordinary  call  thereunto,  knowing  how  much 
the  Lord  may  be  dishonoured,  and  his  Gospel, 
and  the  profession  of  it,  slighted  by  our  distem- 
pers and  weaknesses  in  public. 

"  We  bind  ourselves  to  study  the  advance- 
ment of  the  Gospel  in  all  truth  and  peace,  both 
in  regard  of  those  that  are  within  or  without, 
no  way  slighting  our  sister  churches,  but  using 
their  counsel  as  need  shall  be ;  not  laying  a 
stumbling-block  before  any,  no,  not  the  Indians, 
whose  good  we  desire  to  promote,  and  so  to 
converse  as  we  may  avoid  the  very  appearance 
of  evil. 

"  We  do  hereby  promise  to  carry  ourselves  in 
all  lawful  obedience  to  those  that  are  over  us 
in  Church  and  commonwealth,  knowing  how 
well-pleasing  it  wdl  be  to  the  Lord,  that  they 
should  have  encouragement  in  their  places  by 
our  not  grieving  their  spirits  by  our  irregulari- 
ties. 

"  We  resolve  to  approve  ourselves  to  the 
Lord  in  our  particular  callings,  shunning  idle- 
ness, as  the  bane  of  any  state  ;  nor  will  we  deal 
hardly  or  oppressingly  with  any,  wherein  we 
are  the  Lord's  stewards. 

"  Promising,  also,  to  the  best  of  our  ability, 
to  teach  our  children  and  servants  the  knowl- 
edge of  God,  and  of  his  will,  that  they  may 
serve  him  also.  ■  And  all  this  not  by  any  strength 
of  our  own,  but  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whose 
blood  we  desire  may  sprinkle  this  our  covenant 
made  in  his  name." 

After  this,  they  chose  Mr.  Skelton  their  pastor, 
Mr.  Higginson  their  teacher,  and  Mr.  Houghton 
their  ruling  elder,  who  were  separated  to  their 

»  Neal's  History  of  New-England,  p.  126. 


several  offices  by  the  imposition  of  the  hands 
of  some  of  the  brethren  appointed  by  the  Church 
to  that  service.*  The  first  winter  proved  a 
fatal  one  to  the  colony,  carrying  off  above  one 
hundred  of  their  company,  and  among  the  rest 
Mr.  Houghton,  their  elder,  and  Mr.  Higginson, 
their  teacher  ;  the  latter  of  whom,  not  being 
capable  of  undergoing  the  fatigues  of  a  new  set- 
tlement, fell  into  a  hectic,  and  died  in  the  forty- 
third  year  of  his  age.  Mr.  Higginson  had  been 
educated  in  Emanuel  College,  Cambridge,  pro- 
ceeding M.A.,  being  afterward  parson  of  one  of 
the  five  churches  in  Leicester,  where  he  con- 
tinued for  some  years,  till  he  was  deprived  for 
nonconformity ;  but  such  were  his  talents  for 
the  pulpit,  that  after  his  suspension,  the  town 
obtained  liberty  from  Bishop  Williams  to  choose 
him  for  their  lecturer,  and  maintained  him  by 
their  voluntary  contributions,  till  Laud,  being 
at  the  head  of  the  Church  affairs,  he  was  arti- 
cled against  in  the  High  Commission,  and  ex- 
pected every  hour  a  sentence  of  perpetual  im- 
prisonment ;  this  induced  him  to  accept  of  an 
invitation  to  remove  to  New-England,  which 
cost  him  his  life.  Mr.  Skelton,  the  other  min- 
ister, was  a  Lincolnshire  divine,  who,  being  si- 
lenced for  nonconformity,  accepted  of  a  like,  in- 
vitation, and  died  of  the  hardships  of  the  coun- 
try, August  2,  1634.  From  this  small  beginning 
is  the  Massachusetts  province  grown  to  the 
figure  it  now  makes  in  the  American  world. 

Next  summer  the  governor  went  over  with  a 
fresh  recruit  of  two  hundred  ministers,  and 
others,  who  were  forced  out  of  their  native 
country  by  the  heat  of  the  Laudean  persecution. 
Upon  embarcation  they  left  behind  them  a  pa- 
per, which  was  soon  after  published,  entitled, 
"  The  Humble  Request  of  his  Majesty's  Loyal 
Subjects,  the  Governor  and  Company  lately  gone 
for  New-England,to  the  rest  of  their  Brethren  in 
and  of  the  Church  of  England,  for  the  obtaining 
of  their  Prayers,  and  removal  of  Suspicions  and 
Misconstructions  of  their  Intentions."  Where- 
in they  entreated  the  reverend  fathers  and  breth- 
ren of  the  Church  of  England  to  recommend 
them  to  the  mercies  of  God  in  their  constant 
prayers,  as  a  new  church  now  springing  out  of 
their  bowels  :  "  for  you  are  not  ignorant,"  say 
they,  "that  the  Spirit  of  God  stirred  up  the 
Apostle  Paul  to  make  a  continued  mention  of 
the  Church  of  Philippi,  which  was  a  colony  from 
Rome.  Let  the  same  Spirit,  we  beseech  y 
put  you  in  mind,  that  are  the  Lord's  rem 
brancers,'to  pray  for  us  without  ceasing;  i.-  - 
what  goodness  shall  extend  to  us,  in  this  or  any 
other  Christian  kindness,  we,  your  brethren  in 
Christ,  shall  labour  to  repay  in  what  duty  we 
are  or  shall  be  able  to  perform  ;  promising,  so 
far  as  God  shall  enable  us,  to  give  him  no  rest 
on  your  behalf,  wishing  our  heads  and  hearts 
may  be  fountains  of  tears  for  your  everlasting 
welfare,  when  we  shall  be  in  our  poor  cottages 
in  the  wilderness,  overshadowed  with  the  spirit 
of  supplication,  through  the  manifold  necessities 
and  tribulations  which  may  not  altogether  un- 
expectedly, nor,  we  hope,  unprofitably  befall  us." 

When  it  appeared  that  the  planters  could. 
subsist  in  their  new  settlement,  great  numbers 
of  their  friends,  with  their  families,  flocked  after 
them  every  summer.  In  the  succeeding  twelve 
years    of   Archbishop    Laud's    administration, 


Mather's  Hist;  of  New-England,  b.  iii.,  p.  74, 76. 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


301 


there  went  over  about  four  thousand  planters,* 
who  laid  the  foundation  of  several  little  towns 
and  villages  up  and  down  the  country,  carrying 
over  with  them,  in  materials,  money,  and  cat- 
tle, &c.,  not  less  than  to  the  value  of  £192,000, 
besides  the  merchandise  intended  for  traffic 
with  the  Indians.  Upon  the  whole,  it  has  been 
computed  that  the  four  settlements  of  New- 
England,  viz.,  Plymouth,  the  Massachusetts  Bay, 
Connecticut,  and  New-Haven,  all  which  were 
accomplished  before  the  beginning  of  the  civil 
wars,  drained  England  of  four  or  five  hundred 
thousand  pounds  in  money  (a  very  great  sum  in 
those  days) ;  and  if  the  persecution  of  the  Puri- 
tans had  continued  twelve  years  longer,  it  is 
thought  that  a  fourth  part  of  the  riches  of  the 
kingdom  would  have  passed  out  of  it  through 
this  channel. 

The  chief  leaders  of  the  people  into  these 
parts  were  the  Puritan  ministers,  who,  being 
hunted  from  one  diocess  to  another,  at  last 
chose  this  wilderness  for  their  retreat,  which 
has  proved  (through  the  overruling  providence 
of  God)  a  great  accession  to  the  strength  and 
commerce  of  these  kingdoms.  I  have  before 
me  a  list  of  seventy-seven  divines,  who  became 
pastors  of  sundry  little  churches  and  congrega- 
tions in  that  country  before  the  year  1640,  all 
of  whom  were  in  orders  in  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. The  reader  will  meet  with  an  account 
of  some  of  them  in  the  course  of  this  history  ; 
and  I  must  say,  though  they  were  not  all  of  the 
first  rank  for  deep  and  extensive  learning,  yet 
they  had  a  better  share  of  it  than  most  of  the 
neighbouring  clergy  ;  and,  which  is  of  more 
consequence,  they  were  men  of  strict  sobriety 
and  virtue  ;  plain,  serious,  affectionate  preach- 
ers, exactly  conformable  in  sentiment  to  the 
doctrinal  articles  of  the  Church  of  England,  and 
took  a  great  deal  of  pains  to  promote  Christian 
knowledge,  and  a  reformation  of  manners  in 
their  several  parishes. 

To  return  to  England.  Though  Mr.  Dave- 
nant,  the  learned  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  had  de- 
clared for  tlie  doctrine  of  universal  redemption 
at  the  Synod  of  Dort,  he  was  this  year  brought 
into  trouble  for  touching  upon  the  point  of  pre- 
destination,! in  his  Lent  sermon  before  the 
king,  on  Romans,  vi.,  23,  "  The  gift  of  God  is 
eternal  life,  through  Jfesus  Christ  our  Lord." 
This  was  construed  as  a  contempt  of  the  king's 
injunctions,  for  which  his  lordship  was  two 
days  after  summoned  before  the  privy  council, 
where  he  presented  himself  upon  his  knees,  and 
so  had  continued,  for  any  favour  he  received 
from  any  of  his  own  function  then  present ;  but 
the  temporal  lords  bade  him  rise  and  stand  to 
his  defence.  The  accusation  was  managed  by 
Dr.  Harsnet,  archbishop  of  York  ;  Laud  walk- 
ing by  all  the  while  in  silence,  without  speak- 
ing a  word.  Harsnet  put  him  in  mind  of  his 
obligations  to  King  James  ;  of  the  piety  of  his 
present  majesty's  instructions,  and  then  aggra- 
vated his  contempt  of  them  with  great  vehe- 
mence and  acrimony.  Bishop  Davenant  re- 
plied, with  mddness,  that  he  was  sorry  that  an 
•established  doctrine  of  the  Church  should  be  so 
distasted  ;  that  he  had  preached  nothing  but 
what  was  expressly  contained  in  the  seven- 
teenth article,  and  was  ready  to  justify  the  truth 


of  it.  It  was  replied  that  the  doctrine  was  not 
gainsaid,  but  the  king  had  commanded  these 
questions  should  not  be  debated,  and,  therefore, 
his  majesty  took  it  more  offensively  that  any 
should  do  it  in  his  own  hearing.  The  bishop 
replied  that  he  never  understood  that  his  maj- 
esty had  forbidden  the  handling  any  doctrine 
comprised  in  the  Articles  of  the  Church,  but 
only  the  raising  new  questions,  or  putting  a 
new  sense  upon  them,  which  he  never  should 
do  ;  that  in  the  king's  declaration  all  the  Thir- 
ty-nine Articles  are  confirmed,  among  which 
the  seventeenth,  of  predestination,  is  one  ;  that 
all  ministers  are  obliged  to  subscribe  to  the 
truth  of  this  article,  and  to  continue  in  the  true 
profession  of  that  as  well  as  the  rest ;  the  bish- 
op desired  it  might  be  shown  wherein  he  had 
transgressed  his  majesty's  commands,  when  he 
had  kept  himself  within  the  bounds  of  the  arti- 
cle, and  had  moved  no  new  or  curious  ques- 
tions. To  which  it  was  replied  that  it  was  the 
king's  pleasure  that,  for  the  peace  of  the  Church, 
these  high  questions  might  be  forborne.  The 
bishop  then  said  he  was  very  sorry  he  under- 
stood not  his  majesty's  intention,  and  that  for 
the  time  to  come  he  would  conform  to  his  com- 
mands.* Upon  this  he  was  dismissed  without 
farther  trouble,  and  was  after  some  time  admit- 
ted to  kiss  the  king's  hand,  who  did  not  fail  to 
remind  him  that  the  doctrine  of  predestination 
was  too  big  for  the  people's  understanding,  and, 
therefore,  he  was  resolved  not  to  give  leave  for 
discussing  that  controversy  in  the  pulpit.  Here- 
upon the  bishop  retired,  and  was  never  after- 
ward in  favour  at  court. 

Soon  after,  Mr.  Madye,  lecturer  of  Christ 
Church,  London,  was  cited  before  the  High 
Commission,  and  [March  10,  1630]  was,  by  act 
of  court,  prohibited  to  preach  any  more  within 
the  diocess  of  London,  because  he  had  disobey- 
ed the  king's  declaration,  by  preaching  on  pre- 
destination. Dr.  Cornelius  Burges,  Mr.  White, 
the  famous  Dr.  Prideaux,  Mr.  Hobbes,  of  Trin- 
ity College,  and  Mr.  Cook,  of  Brazen-nose,  with 
others,  suffered  on  tlie  same  account. 

But  Dr.  Alexander  Leighton,  a  Scots  divine, 
and  father  of  the  worthy  and  celebrated  prelate 
of  that  name,  so  highly  commended  by  Bishop 
Burnet  in  the  "  History  of  his  Life  and  Times," 
met  with  severe  usage  in  the  Star  Chamber, 
for  venturing  to  write  against  the  hierarchy  of 
the  Church. t  This  divine  had  published,  du- 
ring the  last  session  of  Parliament,  an  "  Appeal 
to  the  Parliament  ;  or,  Zion's  Plea  against 
Prelacy,"t  wherein  he  speaks  not  only  with 


*  Mather's  Hist.  N.  E.,  b.  i.,  p.  17,  23. 
t  Fuller,  b.  xi.,  p.  138. 


*  Prynne,  p.  173,876. 

t  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  p.  55-57. 

i  Dr.  Harris,  who  had  read  by  far  the  greatest 
part  of  this  piece,  says  that  "it  was  written  with 
spirit,  and  more  sense  and  learning  than  the  writers 
of  that  stamp  usually  showed  in  their  productions ;" 
and  adds,  "  1  cannot  for  my  life  see  anything  in  it  de- 
serving so  heavy  a  censure." — Life  of  Ckarle.s  I.,  p. 
225.  His  calling  the  queen  "  a  daughter  of  Heth," 
as  Mr.  Pierce  observes,  meant  no  more  than  that  she 
was  a  papist.  Bishop  Tillotson  afterward  used  a 
not  much  better  expression  concerning  foreign  popish 
princes,  without  giving  any  umbrage,  in  styling 
them  "  the  people  of  these  abominations."  Such 
language  had  much  countenance  from  the  taste  and 
spirit  of  the  age.  Whitelocke,  as  well  as  Heyhn, 
represents  Dr.  Leighton  as  charged  with  exciting  the 
Parliament  to  kill  all  the  bishops,  and  smite  them 
under  the  fifth  rib ;  and  other  writers  have  repeated 


302 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


freedom,  but  with  very  great  rudeness  and  in- 
decency against  bishops ;  calling  them  "  men 
of  blood,"  and  saying  "  that  we  do  not  read  of 
a  greater  persecution   and  higher  indignities 
done  towards  God's  people  in  any  nation  than 
in  this,  since  the  death  of  Queen  Elizabeth." 
He  calls  the  prelacy  of  the  Church  "  anti-Chris- 
tian."    He   declaims  vehemently  against   the 
canons  and  ceremonies;  and  adds,  that  "the 
Church  has  her  laws  from  the  Scripture,  and 
that  no  king  may  make   laws  for  the  house 
of  God."     He  styles  the  queen  a  daughter  of 
Heth,  and  concludes  with  saying  what  a  pity  it 
is  that  so  ingenious  and  tractable  a  king  should 
be  so  monstrously  abused  by  the  bishops,  to 
the  undoing  of  himself  and  his  subjects.     Now, 
though  the  warmth  of  these  expressions  can  no 
ways  be  justified,  yet  let  the  reader  consider 
whether  they  bear  any  proportion  to  the  sen- 
tence of  the  court.     The  cause  was  tried  June 
4,  1630.     The  defendant,  in  his  answer,  owned 
the  writing  of  the  book,  denying  any  ill  inten- 
tion, his  design  being  only  to  lay  these  things 
before  the  next  Parliament  for  their  considera- 
tion.    Nevertheless,  the  court  adjudged  unan- 
imously that  for  this  offence  "  the  doctor  should 
be  committed  to  the  prison  of  the  Fleet  for  life, 
and  pay  a  fine  of  £10,000  ;  that  the  High  Com- 
mission should  degrade  him  from  his  ministry  ; 
and  that  then  he  should  be  brought  to  the  pil- 
lory at  Westminster,  while  the  court  was  sit- 
ting, and  be  whipped  ;  after  whipping,  be  set 
upon  the  pillory  a  convenient  time,  and  have 
one  of  his  ears  cut  off,  one  side  of  his  nose  slit, 
and  .be  branded  in  the  face  with  a  double  S.  S. 
for  a  sower  of  sedition  :  that  then  he  should 
be  carried  back  to  prison,  and  after  a  few  days 
be  pilloried  a  second  time  in  Cheapside,  and  be 
there  likewise  whipped,  and  have  the  other 
side  of  his  nose  slit,  and  his  other  ear  cut  off, 
and  then  be  shut  up  in  close  prison  for  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life."     Bishop  Laud  pulled  off  his 
cap  while  this  merciless  sentence  was  pronouncing, 
and  gave  God  thanks  for  it  ! 

Between  passing  the  sentence  and  execution, 
the  doctor  made  his  escape  from  prison,  but 
was  retaken  in  Bedfordshire,  and  brought  back 
to  the  Fleet.  On  Friday,  November  6,  part  of 
the  sentence  was  executed  upon  him,  says  Bish- 
op Laud  in  his  diary,  after  this  manner :  "  He 
was  severely  whipped  before  he  was  put  in  the 
pillory.  2.  Being  set  in  the  pillory,  he  had  one 
of  his  ears  cut  off.  3.  One  side  of  his  nose  slit. 
4.  Branded  on  the  cheek  with  a  redhot  iron  with 
the  letters  S.  S.  On  that  day  sevennight,  his 
sores  upon  his  back,  ear,  nose,  and  face  being 


the  accusation ;  a  circumstance  not  noticed  by  Mr. 
Neal.  It  appears  to  be  ungrounded,  for  Mr.  Pierce 
could  not  find  it  in  the  books,  but  only  a  call  on  the 
Parliament  utterly  to  root  out  the  hierarchy.  Nor  did 
it  form  any  one  of  the  articles  of  information  against 
Dr.  Leigh  ton  in  the  Star  Chamber. — Pierce's  Vitidi- 
cation,  p.  177  ;  and  Rushwnrth,  vol.  i.,  p.  55.  It  great- 
ly aggravated  the  injustice  and  cruelty  of  the  sen- 
tence passed  on  him,  that  his  book  was  printed  for 
the  use  of  the  Parliament  only,  and  not  in  England, 
but  in  Holland.  The  heads  were  previously  sanc- 
tioned by  the  approbation  of  five  hundred  persons  un- 
der their  hands,  whereof  some  were  members  of  Par- 
liament. And  when  the  Parliament  was  dissolved 
he  returned,  without  bringing  any  copies  of  it  into 
the  land,  hut  made  it  his  special  care  to  suppress 
them.— yl  T.elter  from  General  Ludlow  to  Dr.  Holling 
vxnrtk,  printed  at  Amsterdam,  1692,  p.  23.— Ed. 


not  yet  cured,  he  was  whipped  again  at  the  pil- 
lory in  Cheapside,  and  had  the  remainder  of  his 
sentence  executed  upon  him,  by  cutting  off  the 
other  ear,  slitting  the  other  side  of  the  nose,  and 
branding  the  other  cheek."*  He  was  then  car- 
ried back  to  prison,  where  he  continued  in  close 
confinement  for  ten  years,  till  he  was  released 
by  the  Long  Parliament.!  The  doctor  was  be- 
tween forty  and  fifty  years  of  age,  of  a  low  stat- 
ure, a  fair  complexion,  and  well  known  for  his 
learning  and  other  abilities :  but  his  long  and 
close  confinement  had  so  impaired  his  health, 
that  when  he  was  released  he  could  hardly 
walk,  see,  or  hear.  The  sufferings  of  this  learn- 
ed man  moved  the  people's  compassion  ;  and,  I 
believe,  the  records  of  the  Inquisition  can  hard- 
ly furnish  an  example  of  equal  severity. 

To  make  the  distance  between  the  Church  and 
the  Puritans  yet  wider,  and  the  terms  of  con- 
formity more  difl[icult.  Bishop  Laud  introduced 
sundry  pompous  innovations  in  imitation  of 
popery,  that  had  no  foundation  in  the  laws  of 
the  realm  or  the  canons  of  the  Church.  These 
were  enforced  both  upon  clergy  and  laity,  with 
all  the  terrors  of  the  High  Commission,  to  the 
ruin  of  many  families,  and  the  raising  very  great 
disturbances  in  all  parts  of  the  kingdom. 

St.  Katherine  Creed  Church,  in  the  city  of 
London,  having  been  lately  repaired,  was  sus- 
pended from  all  Divine  service  till  it  was  again 
consecrated  ;  the  formality  of  which  being  very 
extraordinar3^  may  give  us  an  idea  of  the  super- 
stition^f  this  prelate.     On  Sunday,  January  16, 
1630,  Bishop  Laud  came  thither  about  nine  in 
the  morning,  attended  with  several  of  the  High 
Commission,  and  some  civilians. J     At  his  ap- 
proach to  the  west  door  of  the  church,  which 
was  shut  and  guarded  by  halberdiers,  some,  who 
were  appointed  for  that  purpose,  cried  with  a 
loud  voice,  "  Open,  open,  ye  everlasting  doors, 
that  the  King  of  glory  may  come  in ;"  and  pres- 
ently, the  doors  being  opened,  the  bishop,  with 
some  doctors  and  principal  men,  entered.     As 
soon  as  they  were  come  within  the  place,  his 
lordship  fell  down  upon  his  knees,  and  with  eyes 
lifted  up,  and  his  arms   spread  abroad,  said, 
"  This  place  is  holy;  the  ground  is  holy  :  in  the 
name  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  I 
pronounce  it  holy."    Then  walking  up  the  mid- 
dle aisle  towards  the  chancel,  he  took  up  some 
of  the  dust,  and  threw  it  into  the  air  several 
times.     When  he  approached  near  the  rail  of 
the  communion  table,  he  bowed  towards  it  five 
or  six  times,  and  returning,  went  round  the 
church  with  his  attendants  in  procession,  saying 
first  the  hundredth,  and  then  the  nineteenth 
Psalm,  as  prescribed  by  the  Roman  pontificate. 
He  then  read  several  collects,  in  one  of  which 
he  prays  God  to  accept  of  that  beautiful  build- 
ing, and  concludes  thus :  "  We  consecrate  this 
church,  and  separate  it  unto  thee  as  holy  ground, 
not  to  be  profaned  any  more  to  common  use." 
In  another  he  prays  "  that  all  that  should  here- 
after be  buried  within  the  circuit  of  this  holy 
and  sacred  place  may  rest  in  their  sepulchres 
in  peace,  till  Christ's  coming  to  judgment,  and 
may  then  rise  to  eternal  life  and  happincss."<J 
After  this,  the  bishop,  sitting  under  a  cloth  of 


*  Rushworth's  Collections,  vol.  i.,  p.  57,  58. 

t  Pierce,  p.  179-181. 

t  Rushwortb,  vol.  i.,  p.  77. 

^  Prynne's  Complete  History,  p.  114. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


303 


state  in  the  aisle  of  the  chancel,  near  the  com- 
munion-table, took  a  written  book  in  his  hand, 
and  pronounced  curses  upon  those  who  should 
thereafter  profane  that  holy  place  by  musters  of 
soldiers,  or  keeping  profane  law-courts,  or  car- 
rying burdens  through  it,  and  at  the  end  of  every 
curse  he  bowed  to  the  east,  and  said,  "  Let  all 
the  people  say,  Amen."  When  the  curses  were 
ended,  which  were  about  twenty,  he  pronounced 
a  like  number  of  blessings  upon  all  who  had  any 
hand  in  framing  and  building  of  that  sacred  and 
beautiful  edifice,  and  on  those  who  had  given, 
or  should  hereafter  give,  any  chalices,  plate,  or- 
naments, or  other  utensils  ;  and  at  the  end  of 
every  blessing  he  bowed  to  the  east,  and  said, 
"  Let  all  the  people  say.  Amen."  After  this 
followed  the  sermon,  and  then  the  sacrament, 
which  the  bishop  consecrated,  and  administered 
after  the  following  manner  : 

As  he  approached  the  altar,  he  made  five  or 
six  low  bows,  and  coming  up  to  the  side  of  it, 
where  the  bread  and  wine  were  covered,  he 
bowed  seven  times  ;  then,  after  reading  many 
prayers,  he  came  near  the  bread,  and  gently 
lifting  up  the  corner  of  the  napkin,  beheld  it, 
and  immediately  letting  fall  the  napkin,  retreat- 
ed hastily  a  step  or  two,  and  made  three  low 
obeisances.  His  lordship  then  advanced,  and 
having  uncovered  the  bread,  bowed  three  times 
as  before  ;  then  laid  his  hand  on  the  cup,  which 
was  full  of  wine,  with  a  cover  upon  it,  which 
having  let  go,  he  stepped  back,  and  bowed  three 
times  towards  it ;  then  came  near  again,  and 
lifting  up  the  cover  of  the  cup,  looked  into  it, 
and  seeing  the  wine,  he  let  fall  the  cover  again, 
retired  back,  and  bowed  as  before  :  after  which 
the  elements  were  consecrated,  and  the  bishop, 
having  first  received,  gave  it  to  some  principal 
men  in  their  surplices,  hoods,  and  tippets  ;  to- 
wards the  conclusion,  many  prayers  being  said, 
the  solemnity  of  the  consecration  ended. 

He  consecrated  St.  Giles's  Church  in  the 
same  manner,  which  had  been  repaired,  and 
part  of  it  new  built  in  his  predecessor's  (Bishop 
Mountam)  time.*  Divine  service  had  been  per- 
formed, and  the  sacrament  administered  in  it 
for  three  or  four  years  since  that  tinie  without 
exception  ;  but  as  soon  as  liaud  was  advanced 
to  the  bishopric  of  London,  he  interdicted  the 
church,  and  prohibited  Divine  service  therein, 
till  it  should  be  reconsecrated,  which  is  more 
than  even  the  canon  law  requires.  Sundry 
other  chapels  and  churches,  which  had  been 
built  long  since,  were,  by  the  bishop's  direction, 
likewise  shut  up  till  they  were  consecrated  in 
this  manner— as  Immanuel  Chapel,  in  Cam- 
bridge, built  1584  Sidney  College  Chapel,  built 
1596,  and  sev*al  others. 

This  method  of  consecrating  churches  was 
new  to  the  people  of  England,  and  in  the  opin- 
ion of  the  first  Reformers,  superstitious  and 
absurd  ;  for  though  it  is  reasonable  there  should 
be  public  buildings  reserved  and  set  apart  for 
public  worship,  and  that  at  the  first  opening  of 
them  prayers  should  be  offered  for  a  Divine 
blessing  on  the  ordinances  of  Christ  that  may 
at  any  time  be  administered  in  them,  yet  have 
we  not  the  least  ground  to  believe  that  bisph- 
ops  or  other  dignitaries  of  the  Church  can,  by 
their  declaration  or  form  of  prayer,  hallow  the 
building,  or  make  the  ground  holy,  or  intro- 

*  Prynne,  Cant.  Doom,  p.  117. 


duce  a  Divine  presence  or  glory  into  the  place, 
as  was  in  the  temple  of  old  :  where  is  their 
commission  1  or  what  example  have  we  of  this 
kind  in  the  New  Testament  !  The  synagogues 
of  the  Jews  were  not  consecrated  in  this  man- 
ner ;  nor  was  the  temple  of  Solomon  consecra- 
ted by  a  priest,  but  by  a  king.  Our  Saviour 
tells  his  disciples,  "  that  wheresoever  two  or 
three  of  them  should  be  gathered  together  in 
his  name,  he  would  be  in  the  midst  of  them  ;" 
and  the  woman  of  Samaria,  "  that  the  hour  was 
coming,  when  neither  at  that  mountain,  nor  at 
Jerusalem,  they  should  worship  the  Father." 
Besides,  the  changes  made  by  time  and  various 
accidents  in  towns  and  cities  render  it  impos- 
sible to  prevent  the  alienation  or  profanation  of 
holy  ground  :  for,  to  look  no  farther  than  the 
city  of  London,  would  it  not  be  very  hard  if  all 
the  curses  that  Bishop  Laud  pronounced  in 
Creed  Churcjr  should  rest  upon  those  who  live 
in  houses  built  by  act  of  Parliament,  in  places 
where  there  were  consecrated  churches  or 
churchyards  before  the  fire  of  London  ]  Arch- 
bishop Parker,  therefore,  in  his  "  Antiquitates 
Ecclesiae  Britan.,"  p.  85, 86,  condemns  this  prac- 
tice as  superstitious  ;  nor  was  there  any  form  for 
it  in  the  public  offices  of  the  Church.  But  this 
being  objected  to  Archbishop  Laud  at  his  trial, 
as  an  evidence  of  his  inclination  to  popery,  we 
shall  there  see  his  grace's  defence,  whh  the 
learned  reply  of  the  House  of  Commons,  con- 
cerning the  antiquity  of  consecrating  churches. 

A  proclamation  had  been  published  last  year, 
"  commanding  the  archbishops  and  bishops  to 
take  special  care  that  the  parish  churches  in 
their  several  diocesses,  being  places  consecra- 
ted to  the  worship  of  God,  be  kept  in  decent 
repair,  and  to  make  use  of  the  power  of  the  ec- 
clesiastical court  to  oblige  the  parishioners  to 
this  part  of  their  duty."*  The  judges  were  also 
required  not  to  interrupt  this  good  work  by 
too  easily  granting  prohibitions  from  the  spirit- 
ual courts.  It  seems  sundry  churches  since 
the  Reformation  were  fallen  to  decay  ;  and 
some  that  had  been  defaced  by  the  pulling  down 
of  images,  and  other  popish  relics,  had  not  been 
decently  repaired,  the  expense  being  too  heavy 
for  the  poorer  country  parishes  ;  it  was  there- 
fore thought  necessary  to  oblige  them  to  their 
duty ;  and  under  colour  of  this  proclamation, 
Laud  introduced  many  of  the  trappings  and  dec- 
orations of  popery,  and  punished  those  minis- 
ters in  ^the  High  Commission  Court  that  ven- 
tured to  write  or  preach  against  them. 

His  lordship  began  with  his  own  Cathedral 
of  St.  Paul's,  for  repairing  and  beautifymg  of 
which  a  subscription  and  contribution  were  ap- 
pointed over  the  whole  kingdom.  Several  hous- 
es and  shops  adjoining  the  Cathedral  were,  by 
injunction  of  council,  ordered  to  be  pulled  down 
and  the  owners  to  accept  a  reasonable  satisfac- 
tion ;  but  if  they  would  not  comply,  the  sheriflT 
of  London  was  required  to  see  them  demolished. 
The  Church  of  St.  Gregory  was  pulled  down, 
and  the  inhabitants  assigned  to  Christ  Church, 
wliere  they  were  to  assemble  for  the  future. 
The  bishop's  heart  was  in  this  work,  and  to 
support  the  expense,  he  gave  way  to  many  op- 
pressions and  unjustifiable  methods  of  raising 
money,  by  compositions  with  recusants,  com- 
mutation of  penance,  exorbitant  fines  in  the 

*  Uushworlh,  vol.  i.,  p,  28. 


304 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


Star  Chamber  and  High  Commission,  insomuch 
that  it  became  a  proverb  that  St.  Paul's  was  re- 
paired with  the  sins  of  the  people.  Before  the 
year  1040,  above  £11 3,000  were  expended  there- 
on, with  which  the  body  of  the  church  was  fin- 
ished, and  the  steeple  scaffolded.  There  was 
also  a  stately  portico  built  at  the  west  end,  sup- 
ported with  pillars  of  the  Corinthian  order,  and 
embellished  with  the  statues  of  King  James  and 
King  Charles  ;  but  the  rebuilding  the  spire  and 
the  inside  decorations  miscarried  by  the  break- 
ing out  of  the  civil  war.* 

What  these  decorations  and  ornaments  of 
paintings,  carvings,  altars,  crucifixes,  candle- 
sticks, images,  vestments,  &c.,  would  have 
been,  can  only  be  guessed  by  the  fashion  of  the 
times,  and  by  the  scheme  that  was  now  formed 
to  recover  and  repair  the  broken  relics  of  su- 
perstition and  idolatry  which  the  Reformation 
had  left,  or  to  set  up  others  in  imitation  of 
them  ;  for  though  the  Reformation  of  Queen 
Elizabeth  had  destroyed  a  great  many  monu- 
ments of  this  kind,  yet  some  were  left  entire, 
and  others  very  little  defaced.!  In  the  Cathe- 
dral of  Canterbury,  over  the  door  of  the  choir, 
remained  thirteen  images,  or  statues  of  stone, 
twelve  of  them  representing  the  twelve  apos- 
tles, and  the  thirteenth,  in  the  middle  of  them, 
our  Saviour  Christ.  Over  these  were  twelve 
other  images  of  popish  saints.  In  the  several 
windows  of  the  Cathedral  were  painted  the  pic- 
ture of  St.  Austin  the  monk,  the  first  bishop  of 
that  see,  and  seven  large  pictures  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  with  angels  lifting  her  up  to  heaven,  with 
this  inscription  :  "  Gaude  Maria,  sponsa  Dei." 
Under  the  Virgin  Mary's  feet  were  the  sun, 
moon,  and  stars,  and  in  the  bottom  of  the 
■window  this  inscription  :  "  In  laudem  &  honor- 
em  beatissimae  Virginis."  Besides  these  were 
many  pictures  of  God  the  Father,  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  of  our  Saviour  lying  in  a  man- 
ger, and  a  large  image  of  Thomas  Becket,  and 
others,  all  which  were  taken  away  by  the  Long 
Parliament. 

In  the  Cathedral  of  Durham  there  was  an  al- 
tar of  marble  stone  set  upon  columns  decorated 
with  cherubim,  pictures,  and  images,  which 
cost  above  £2000.  There  were  three  statues 
of  stone  in  the  church  ;  one  standing  in  the 
midst,  representing  Christ  with  a  golden  beard, 
a  blue  cap,  and  sun-rays  upon  his  head,  as  the 
record  of  Parliament  says,  though  Dr.  Cosins, 
in  his  vindication,  says  it  was  mistaken  for  the 
top  of  Bishop  Hatfield's  tomb.  There  was  also 
an  image  of  God  the  Father,  and  many  other 
carved  images,  pictures,  &c.,  which  the  pres- 
ent dignitaries  of  the  Cathedral  held  in  profound 
admiration  ;  and,  to  keep  up  the  pomp,  they 
bought  copes  of  mass  priests,  with  crucifixes 
and  images  of  the  Trinity  embroidered  upon 
them.  They  had  consecrated  knives  to  cut  the 
sacramental  bread,  and  great  numbers  of  light- 
ed candles  upon  the  altars  on  Sundays  and 
saints'  days.  On  Candlemas  Day  there  were 
no  less  than  two  hundred,  whereof  sixty  were 
upon  and  about  the  altar,t  all  which  were  reck- 

*  Collyer's  Eccles.  Hist.,  p.  751. 

t  Pari.  Chron.,  p.  101. 

X  The  Puseyites  of  England,  the  glorifiers  of 
Laud,  are  faithfully  treading  in  his  steps,  and  there 
are  now  to  be  seen,  in  many  of  the  churches,  can- 
dles at  the  altar. — C. 


oned  among  the  beauties  of  the  sanctuary.  "  But 
these  fopperies,"  says  Bishop  Kennet,  "did  not, 
perhaps,  gain  over  one  papist,  but  lost  both  the 
king  and  bishops  the  hearts  and  affections  of 
the  Protestant  part  of  the  nation,  and  were  (as 
his  lordship  observes)  contrary  to  Queen  Eliz- 
abeth's injunctions,  15.59,  which  appoint  that 
all  candlesticks,  trentals,  rolls  of  wax,  pictures, 
paintings,  &c.,  be  removed  out  of  churches."* 

However,  Bishop  Laud  was  mightily  enam- 
oured with  them,  and  as  soon  as  he  was  trans- 
lated to  Lambeth,  repaired  the  painting  in  the 
windows  of  that  chapel,  in  one  pane  of  which 
had  been  the  picture  of  Christ  crucified,  with  a 
scull  and  dead  men's  bones  under  it,  a  basket 
full  of  tools  and  nails,  with  the  high-priest  and 
his  officers  on  horseback,  and  the  two  thieves 
on  foot.  In  the  next  were  the  two  thieves  on 
crosses,  Abraham  offering  up  his  son  Isaac, 
and  the  brazen  serpent  on  a  pole.  In  other 
panes  were  the  pictures  of  Christ  rising  out  of 
the  grave  and  ascending  up  into  heaven,  with 
his  disciples  kneeling  about  him — the  descent 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  upon  the  apostles  in  the 
shape  of  cloven  tongues — God,  giving  the  law 
upon  Mount  Sinai ;  his  coming  down  from 
heaven  at  the  prayer  of  Elisha  —  Christ  and 
his  twelve  apostles  sitting  in  judgment  on  the 
M'orld.  In  other  parts  of  the  church  were  paint- 
ed the  Virgin  Mary,  with  the  babe  Christ  suck- 
ing at  her  breast — the  wise  men  of  the  East 
coming  to  adore  him — the  history  of  the  An- 
nunciation, with  the  picture  of  the  Virgin  Mary, 
and  of  the  Holy  Ghost  overshadowing  her,  to- 
gether with  the  birth  of  Christ.  All  which  hav- 
ing been  defaced  at  the  Reformation,  were  now 
restored,  according  to  the  Roman  missal,  and 
beautified  at  the  archbishop's  cost.  The  like 
reparations  of  paintings,  pictures,  and  crucifix- 
es were  made  in  the  king's  chapel  at  White- 
hall, Westminster  Abbey,  and  both  the  univer- 
sities, as  was  objected  to  the  archbishop  at  his 
trial,  where  the  reader  will  meet  with  his 
grace's  defence  of  their  lawfulness  and  anti- 
quity. The  Puritans  apprehended  these  deco- 
rations of  churches  tended  to  image-worship, 
and  were  directly  contrary  to  the  homily  of  the 
peril  of  idolatry ;  their  ministers,  therefore, 
preached  and  wrote  against  them,  and  in  some 
places  removed  them,  for  .which  they  were  se- 
verely handled  in  the  High  Commission. 

Bishop  Laud  had  been  chosen  Chancellor  of 
Oxford  last  year  (April  12th,  1630),  where  the 
Puritans  soon  gave  him  some  disturbance.  Mr. 
Hill,  of  Hart  Hall,  Mr.  Ford,  of  Magdalen  Hall, 
Mr.  Giles  Thorne,  of  Baliol  College,  and  Mr. 
Giles  Hodges,  of  Exeter  College,  were  charged 
with  preaching  against  Arminiaeism  and  the 
new  ceremonies,  in  their  sermons  at  St.  Mary's. 
Hill  made  a  public  recantation,  and  was  quick- 
ly released  ;  but  the  very  texts  of  the  others, 
says  Mr.  Fuller, t  gave  offence  :  one  preached 
on  Numbers,  xiv.,  4,  "  Let  us  make  us  a  cap- 
tain, and  let  us  return  into  Egypt ;"  and  anoth- 
er on  1  Kings,  xiii.,  2,  "  And  he  cried  against 
the  altar  in  the  word  of  the  Lord,  and  said,  0 
altar,  altar,"  &c.  These  divines  being  con- 
vened before  the  vice-chancellor,  Dr.  Smith,  as 
offenders  against  the  king's  instructions,  ap- 
pealed from  the  vice-chancellor  to  the  proctors, 

*  Cant.  Doom,  p.  59-6L 

+  Church  Hist.,  b.  xi.,  p.  141. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS> 


303 


v/ho  received  their  appeal.  Upon  this  the 
chancellor  complained  to  the  king,  and  procured 
the  cause  to  be  heard  before  his  majesty  at 
"Woodstock,  August  23,  when  the  following 
sentence  was  passed  upon  them  :  "  That  Mr. 
Ford,  Thorne,  and  Hodges  be  expelled  the 
University  ;  that  both  the  proctors  be  deprived 
of  their  places  for  accepting  the  appeal ;  and 
that  Dr.  Prideaux,  rector  of  Exeter  College, 
and  Dr.  Wilkinson,  principal  of  Magdalen  Hall, 
receive  a  sharp  admonition  for  their  misbeha- 
viour in  this  business."*  Mr.  Thorne  and 
Hodges,  after  a  year's  deprivation,  desiring  to  be 
restored,  preached  a  recantation  sermon,  and 
read  a  written  submission  in  the  convocation- 
house  on  their  bended  knees,  before  the  doc- 
tors and  regents  ;t  but  Mr.  Ford,  making  no 
address  to  be  restored,  returned  to  his  friends 
in  Devonshire ;  and  being  like  to  be  chosen 
lecturer  or  vicar  of  Plymouth,  the  inhabitants 
were  required  not  to  choose  him,  upon  pain  of 
his  majesty's  high  displeasure  ;  and,  in  case  he 
"was  chosen,  the  Bishop  of  Exeter  was  com- 
manded not  to  admit  him. 

Mr.  Crowder,  vicar  of  Veil,  near  Nonsuch, 
was  about  this  time  committed  close  prisoner 
to  Newgate  for  sixteen  weeks,  and  then  depri- 
ved by  the  High  Commission,  without  any  ar- 
ticles exhibited  against  him,  or  any  proof  of  a 
crime.  It  was  pretended  that  matters  against 
him  were  so  foul,  that  they  were  not  fit  to  be 
read  in  court ;  but  then  they  ought  to  have  been 
certified  to  him,  that  he  might  have  had  an  op- 
portunity to  disprove  or  confess  them,  which 
could  not  be  obtained.  Mr.  Crowder  was  a  pi- 
ous man,  and  preached  twice  a  day,  which  was 
an  unpardonable  crime  so  near  the  court. 

Sundry  eminent  divines  removed  to  New- 
England  this  year  ;  and,  among  others,  the  fa- 
mous Dr.  Eliot,  the  apostle  of  the  Indians,  who, 
not  being  allowed  to  teach  school  in  his  native 
country,  retired  to  America,  and  spent  a  long 
and  useful  life  in  converting  the  natives,  and, 
with  indefatigable  pains,  translated  the  Bible 
into  the  Indian  language. t 

Two  very  considerable  Puritan  divines  were 
also  removed  into  the  other  world  by  death, 
viz.,  Mr.  Arthur  Hildersham,  born  at  Stech- 
worth,  Cambridgeshire,  October  6th,  1363,  and 
educated  in  Christ's  College,  Cambridge,  of  an 
ancient  and  honourable  family  ;  his  mother, 
Anne  Poole,  being  niece  to  the  cardinal  of  that 
name.  His  father  educated  him  in  the  popish 
religion,  and  because  he  would  not  go  to  Rome 
at  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  of  age,  disinherited 
him  :  but  the  Earl  of  Huntingdon,  his  near  kins- 
man, provided  for  him,  sending  him  to  Cam- 
bridge, where  he  proceeded  M.A.,  and  entered 
into  holy  orders.  In  the  year  1587  he  was 
placed  by  his  honourable  kinsman  above  men- 
tioned at  Ashby-de-la-Zouch,  in  Leicestershire, 

*  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  part  ii.,  p.  110. 

t  Prynne,  Cant.  Doom,  p.  175. 

j  For  the  interesting  details  connected  with  the 
labours  of  this  apostolic  minister  of  Christ,  I  would 
refer  to  his  life  in  my  friend  Dr.  Sparks's  admirable 
series  of  American  Biography,  and  to  a  memoir  in  the 
'Lives  of  Eminent  Missionaries,  by  John  Came,  Esq." 
Eliot's  Bible  is  now  become  exceedingly  rare  ;  few 
perfect  copies  are  to  be  met  with.  A  fine  copy  was 
sold  at  the  auction  of  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Thaddeus 
Mason  Harris's  library,  for  thirty-nine  dollars,  to  Mr. 
Wjnthrop,  of  Boston. — C. 

Vol.  I.— Q  q 


and  inducted  into  that  living  soon  after.*  But 
here  he  was  silenced  for  nonconformit)',  as  in 
the  year  1.590,  in  the  year  1605,  and  again  in 
the  year  1611,  under  which  last  suspension  he 
continued  many  years.  In  the  year  1613  he 
was  enjoined  by  the  High  Commission  not  to 
preach,  or  exercise  any  part  of  the  ministerial 
function,  till  he  should  be  restored.  In  the 
year  1615  he  was  committed  to  the  Fleet  by 
the  High  Commission  for  refusing  the  oath  ex 
officio,  where  he  continued  three  months,  and 
was  then  released  upon  bond.  In  November, 
1616,  the  High  Commission  proceeded  against 
him,  and  pronounced  him  refractory  and  diso- 
bedient to  the  orders,  rites,  and  ceremonies  of 
the  Church  ;  and  because  he  refused  to  con- 
form, declared  him  a  schismatic,  fined  him 
£3000,  excommunicated  him,  and  ordered  him 
to  be  attached  and  committed  to  prison,  that 
he  might  be  degraded  of  his  ministry  ;  but 
Mr.  Hildersham  wisely  absconded,  and  kept  out 
of  the  way.  In  the  year  1625  he  was  restored 
to  his  living  ;  but  when  Laud  had  the  ascend- 
ant, he  was  silenced  again  for  not  reading  Di- 
vine service  in  the  surplice  and  hood,  and  was 
not  restored  till  a  few  months  before  his  death. 
Though  he  was  a  Nonconformist  in  principle, 
as  appears  by  his  last  will  and  testament,  yet 
he  was  a  person  of  great  temper  and  modera- 
tion:! he  loved  and- respected  all  good  men, 
and  opposed  the  separation  of  the  Brownists, 
and  the  semi-separation  of  Mr.  Jacob.  His  lec- 
tures on  the  fifty-first  Psalm,  and  his  other  print- 
ed works,  as  well  as  the  encomiums  of  Dr.  Wil- 
let  and  Dr.  Preston,  show  him  to  have  been  a 
most  excellent  divine  :  what  a  pity  was  it  that 
his  usefulness  in  the  Church  should  be  so  long 
interrupted !  He  died,  March  4,  1631,  in  the 
sixty-ninth  year  of  his  age,  having  been  minis- 
ter of  Ashby-de-Ia-Zouch,  as  the  times  would 
suffer  him,  above  forty-three  years. 

]\fr.  Robert  Bolton  was  born  at  Blackburn, 
in  Lancashire,  1572,  educated  first  in  Lincoln 
College,  and  afterward  in  Brazennose  College, 
Oxford,  of  which  he  was  a  fellow.  Here  he 
became  famous  for  his  lectures  in  moral  and 
natural  philosophy,  being  an  excellent  Grecian,} 
and  well  versed  in  school  divinity,  while  he 
continued  a  profane,  wicked  man.  During  his 
residence  at  college  he  contracted  an  acquaint- 
ance with  one  Anderton,  a  popish  priest,  who, 
taking  advantage  of  his  mean  circumstances, 
would  have  persuaded  him  to  reconcile  himself 
to  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  go  over  to  one  of 
the  popish  seminaries  in  Flanders.  Mr.  Bol- 
ton accepted  the  motion,  and  appointed  a  place 
of  meeting  to  conclude  the  affair  ;  but  Ander- 
ton disappointing  him,  he  returned  to  the  col- 
lege, and  fell  under  strong  convictions  for  his 
former  misspent  life,  so  that  he  could  neither 
eat  nor  sleep,  nor  enjoy  any  peace  of  mind  for 
several  months,  till  at  length,  by  prayer  and 
humiliation,  he  received  comfort.     Upon  this 


■*  Clarke's  Life  of  Hildersham,  annexed  to  his 
General  Martyrology,  p.  114 

t  "  He  dissented  not  from  the  Church  in  any  arti- 
cle of  faith,  but  only  about  wearing  the  surphce,  bap- 
tizing wilh  the  cross,  and  kneeling  at  the  sacra- 
ment."—  Graiiger^s  History  of  England,  vol.  i.,  p.  371, 
8vo.— Ed. 

}  The  Greek  language  was  so  familiar  to  him,  that 
he  could  speak  it  with  almost  as  much  facility  as  his 
mother  tongue. — Ed. 


306 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


he  resolved  to  enter  upon  the  ministry,  in  the 
thirty-fifih  year  of  this  age.  About  two  years 
after  he  was  presented  to  the  living  of  Brough- 
ton,  in  Northamptonshire,  wliere  lie  continued 
till  his  death.  He  was  a  nnost  awakening  and 
authoritative  preacher,  having  the  most  strong, 
masculine,  and  oratorical  style  of  any  of  the 
age  in  which  he  lived.  He  preached  twice 
every  Lord's  Day,  besides  catechising.  Upon 
every  holyday,  and  every  Friday,  before  the 
sacrament,  he  expounded  a  chapter :  his  con- 
stant course  was  to  pray  six  times  a  day,  twice 
in  secret,  twice  with  his  family,  and  twice 
with  his  wife,  besides  many  days  of  private  hu- 
miliation that  he  observed  for  the  Protestant 
churches  in  Germany.  He  was  of  comely, 
grave  presence,  which  commanded  respect  in 
all  companies  ;  zealous  in  the  cause  of  religion, 
and  yet  so  prudent  as  to  escape  being  called  in 
question  all  the  time  he  lived  in  Northampton- 
shire. At  length  he  was  seized  with  a  tertian 
ague,  which,  after  fifteen  weeks,  put  a  period  to 
his  valuable  and  useful  life,  December  17,  1631, 
in  the  sixtieth  year  of  his  age.  He  made  a 
most  devout  and  exemplary  end,  praying  heart- 
ily for  all  his  friends  that  came  to  see  him  ; 
bidding  them  make  sure  of  heaven,  and  bear  in 
mind  what  he  had  formerly  told  them  in  his 
ministry,  protesting  that  what  he  had  preached 
to  them  for  twenty  years  was  the  truth  of  God, 
as  he  should  answer  it  at  the  tribunal  of  Christ. 
He  then  retired  within  himself,  and  said,  Hold 
out  faith  and  patience,  your  work  will  speedily 
be  at  an  end.  The  Oxford  historian*  calls  him 
a  most  religious  and  learned  Puritan,  a  painful 
and  constant  preacher,  a  person  of  great  zeal 
towards  God,  charitable  and  bountiful,  but, 
above  all,  an  excellent  casuist  for  afflicted  con- 
sciences ;  his  eloquent  and  excellent  writings 
will  recommend  his  memory  to  the  latest  pos- 
terity. + 

About  the  year  1627  there  was  a  scheme 
formed  by  several  gentlemen  and  ministers  to 
promote  preaching  in  the  country  by  setting  up 
lectures  in  the  several  market  towns  of  Eng- 
land, and  to  defray  the  expense  a  sum  of  money 
was  raised  by  voluntary  contribution  for  the 
purchasing  such  impropriations  as  were  in  the 
hands  of  the  laity,  the  profits  of  which  were  to 
be  parcelled  out  into  salaries  of  £40  or  £50 
per  annum  for  the  subsistence  of  their  lectu- 
rers ;  the  money  was  deposited  in  the  hands  of 
the  following  ministers  and  gentlemen,  in  trust 
for  the  aforesaid  purposes,  under  the  name  and 
character  of  feoffees,  viz..  Dr.  William  Gouge, 
Dr.  Sibbs,  Dr.  Offspring,  and  Mr.  Davenport,  of 
the  clergy  ;  Ralph  Eyre  and  Simon  Brown, 
Esqrs.,  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  and  C.  Sherman,  of 
Gray's  Inn,  and  John  White,  of  the  Middle 
Temple,  Esqrs,  lawyers;  Mr.  John  Gearing, 
Mr.  Richard  Davis,  Mr.  G.  Harwood,  and  Mr. 
Francis  Bridges,  citizens  of  London.  There 
were  at  this  time  three  thousand  eight  hundred 

*  Athenaj  Oxen.,  vol.  i.,  p.  479  ;  see  also  Fuller's 
Abel  Redivivus,  p.  58G. 

t  When  he  lay  at  the  point  of  death,  one  of  his 
friends,  taking  him  by  the  hfind,  asked  him  if  he 
was  not  in  great  i)ain  :  "  Truly, "'said  he,  "  the  great- 
est pain  1  feel  is  your  cold  hand,"  and  inslantly  ex- 
jiireil.      His  book  "On  Happiness"  was   the   most 


and  forty-five  parish  churches  appropriated  to 
cathedrals,  or  to  colleges,  or  impropriated  as 
lay  fees  to  private  persons,  having  formerly  be- 
longed to  abbeys.  The  gentlemen  above  men- 
tioned dealt  only  in  the  latter,  and  had  already 
bought  in  thirteen  impropriations,  which  cost 
between  £5000  and  £0000.  Most  people  thought 
this  a  very  laudable  design,  and  wished  the  feof- 
fees good  success  ;  but  Bishop  Laud  looked  on 
them  with  an  evil  eye,  and  represented  them  to 
the  king  a&  in  a  conspiracy  against  the  Church, 
because,  instead  of  restoring  the  impropriations 
they  purchased  to  the  several  livings,  they  kept 
them  in  their  own  hands  for  the  encouragement 
of  factious  and  seditious  lecturers,  who  were  to 
depend  upon  their  patrons  as  being  liable  to  be 
turned  out  if  they  neglected  their  duty.*  He 
added,  farther,  that  the  feoffees  preferred  chief- 
ly Nonconformist  ministers,  and  placed  them  in 
the  most  popular  market  towns,  where  they  did  a 
great  deal  of  mischief  to  the  hierarchy.  For  these 
reasons  an  information  was  brought  against 
them  in  the  exchequer  by  Mr.  Attorney-general 
Noy,  as  an  illicit  society  formed  into  a  body 
corporate  without  a  grant  from  the  king,  for 
the  purchasing  rectories,  tithes,  prebendaries, 
&c.,  which  were  registered  in  a  book,  and  the 
profits  not  employed  according  to  law. 

The  defendants  appeared,  and  in  their  an- 
swer declared  that  they  apprehended  impro- 
priations in  the  hands  of  laymen,  and  not  em- 
ployed for  the  maintenance  of  preachers,  were 
a  damage  to  the  Church  ;  that  the  purchas- 
ing of  them  for  the  purposes  of  religion  was  a 
pious  work,  and  not  contrary  to  law,  it  being 
notorious  that  impropriations  are  frequently 
bought  and  sold  by  private  persons ;  that  the 
donors  of  this  money  gave  it  for  this  and  such 
other  good  uses  as  the  defendants  should  think 
meet,  and  not  for  the  endowment  of  perpetual 
vicars  ;  that  they  had  not  converted  any  of  the 
money  to  their  own  use,  nor  erected  themselves 
into  a  body  corporate  ;  and  that  to  their  knowl- 
edge they  had  never  presented  any  to  a  church, 
or  a  place  in  their  disposal,  who  was  not  con- 
f(>rmable  to  the  doctrine  and  discipline  of  the 
Church  of  England,  and  approved  of.  by  the  or- 
dinary of  the  place.  But,  notwithstanding  all 
they  could  say,  the  court  was  of  opinion  that 
their  proceedings  were  contrary  to  law,  and  de- 
creed that  their  feoffment  should  be  cancelled  ; 
that  the  impropriations  they  had  purchased 
should  be  confiscated  to  the  king,  and  the  feof- 
fees themselves  fined  in  the  Star  Chamber ; 
however,  the  prosecution  was  dropped  as  too  in- 
vidious, it  appearing  in  court,  by  the  receipts 
and  disbursements,  that  the  feoffees  were  out  of 
pocket  already  £1000.  The  odium  of  this  pros- 
ecution fell  upon  Laud,  whose  chancellor  told 
him  upon  this  occasion,  that  he  was  miserably 
censured  by  the  Separatists  ;  upon  which  he 
made  this  reflection  in  his  diary,  "  Pray  God 
give  me  patience,  and  forgive  them." 

But  his  lordship  had  very  little  patience  with 
those  who  opposed  his  proceedings.  We  have 
seen  his  zeal  for  pictures  and  paintings  in 
churches,  which  some  of  the  Puritans  ventu- 
ring to  censure  in  their  sermons  and  writings, 
wore  exposed   to  the   severest   punishments: 


*  Fuller's  Church  History,  b.  xi.,  p.  136  Appeal^ 
p.  13.  Prynne,  p.  379,  385.  Rushvvorth,  vol.  j.,  part 
li.,  p.  ISO. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


307 


among  these  was  the  Rev.  Mr.  John  Hayden,    fected  to  the- discipline  of  the  Church,  he,  with 


of  Devonshire,  who,  being  forced  to  abscond, 
was  apprehended  in  the  diocess  of  Norwich  by 
Bishop  Harsnet,  who,  after  he  had  taken  from 
him  his  horse  and  money,  and  all  his  papers, 
caused  him  to  be  shut  up  in  close  prison  for 
thirteen  weeks,*  after  which,  when  the  justices 
would  have  admitted  him  to  bail  at  the  quarter- 
sessions,  his  lordship  sent  him  up  to  the  High 
Commission,  who  deprived  him  of  his  ministry 
and  orders,  and  set  a  fine  upon  him  for  preach- 
ing against  decorations  and  images  in  churches. 
In  the  year  1634,  Mr.  Hayden   venturing  to 
preach  occasionally  without  being  restored,  was 
apprehended  again,  and  sent  to  the  Gate-house 
by  Archbishop  Laud,  and  from  thence  to  Bride- 
well, where  he  was  whipped  and  kept  to  hard 
labour ;  here  he  was  confined  in  a  cold,  dark 
dungeon  during  a  whole  winter,  being  chained 
to  a  post  in  the  middle  of  the  room,  with  irons 
on  his  hands  and  feet,  havijig  no  other  food  but 
bread  and  water,  and  a  pad  of  straw  to  lie  on. 
Before  his  release,  he  was  obliged  to  take  an 
oath,  and  give  bond,  that  he  would  preach  no 
more,  but  depart  the  kingdom  in  a  month,  and 
not  returij.     Bishop  Harsnet  did  not  live  to  see 
the  execution  of  this  part  of  the  sentence, t 
though  for  his  zeal  against  the  Puritans  he  was 
promoted   to   the   archbishopric  of  York,  and 
made  a  privy-councillor.     Some  time  before  his 
decease  he  not  only  persecuted  the  Noncon- 
formists, but  complained  of  the  conformable  Pu- 
ritans, as  he  called  them,  because  they  complied 
out  of  policy  and  not  in  judgment.    How  hard  is 
the  case  when  men  shall  be  punished  for  not  con- 
forming, and  be  complained  of  if  they  conform  ! 
Queen  Elizabeth  used  to  say  she  would  never 
trouble  herself  about   the  consciences  of  her 
subjects  if  they  did  but  outwardly  comply  with 
the  laws,  whereas  this  prelate  would  ransack 
the  very  heart. 

Henry  Sherfield,  Esq.,  a  bencher  of  Lincoln's 
Inn,  and  recorder  of  the  city  of  Sarum,  was 
tried  in  the'  Star  Chamber,  May  20,  \6:32,t  for 
taking  down  some  painted  glass  out  of  one  of 
the  windows  of  St.  Edmund's  Church,  in  Salis- 
bury, in  which  were  seven  pictures  of  God  the 
Father  in  form  of  a  little  old  man  in  a  blue  and 
red  coat,  with  a  pouch  by  his  side :  one  repre- 
sents him  creating  the  sun  and  moon  with  a 
pair  of  compasses,  others  as  working  on  the 
business  of  the  six  days'  creation,  and  at  last 
he  sits  in  an  elbow-chair  at  rest.ij  Many  sim- 
ple people,  at  their  going  in  and  out  of  church, 
did  reverence  to  this  window  (as  they  say),  be- 
cause the  Lord  their  God  was  there.  This  gave 
such  offence  to  the  recorder,  who  was  also  a 
justice  of  peace,  that  he  moved  the  parish  at  a 
vestry  for  leave  to  take  it  down,  and  set  up  a 
new  window  of  white  glass  in  the  place,  which 
was  accordingly  granted,  six  justices  of  the 
peace  being  present.  Some  time  after,  Mr. 
Sherfield  broke  with  his  staff  the  pictures  of 
God  the  Father,  in  order  to  new  glaze  the  win- 
dow, an  account  of  which  being  transmitted  to 
London,  an  information  was  exhibited  against 
him  in  the  Star  Chamber,  February  8,  1632-3. 
The  information  sets  forth,  "that  being  evil  af- 


*  Usurpation  of  Prelates,  p.  161,  162. 
t  Fuller's  Church  History,  b.  xi.,  p.  144. 
t  Rushworlh,  part  ii.,  vol.  i.,  p.  153-156. 
^  Prynne's  Cant.  Doom,  p.  102. 


certain  confederates,  without  consent  of  the 
bishops,  had  defaced  and  pulled  down  a  fair  and 
costly  window  in  the  church,  containing  the 
history  of  the  creation,  which  had  stood  there 
some  hundred  years,  and  was  a  great  ornament 
to  it,  which  profane  act  might  give  encourage- 
ment to  other  schismatical  persons  to  commit 
the  like  outrages." 

Mr.  Sherfield,  in  his  defence,  says  that  the 
Church  of  St.  Edmund's  was  a  lay  fee,  and  ex- 
empted from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  bishop  of 
the  diocess,  and  the  defendant,  with  the  rest  of 
the  parishioners,  had  lawful  power  to  take  down 
the  glass  ;  and  that  it  was  agreed  by  a  vestry 
that  the  glass  should  be  changed,  and  the  win- 
dow made  new,  and  that  accordingly  he  took 
down  a  quarry  or  two  in  a  quiet  and  peaceable 
manner ;  but  he  avers  that  the  true  history  of 
the  creation  was  not  contained  in  that  window, 
but  a  false  and  impious  one  :  God  the  Father 
was  painted  like  an  old  man  with  a  blue  coat, 
and  a  pair  of  compasses,  to  signify  his  compass- 
ing the  heavens  and  earth.     In  the  fourth  day's 
work  there  were  fowls  of  the  air  flying  up  from 
God  their  maker,  which  should  have  been  the 
fifth  day.     In  the  fifth  day's  work  a  naked  man 
is  lying  upon  the  earth  asleep,  with  so  much  of 
a  naked  woman  as   from   the  knees   upward 
growing  out  of  his  side,  which  should   have 
been  the  sixth  day  ;  so  that  the  history  is  false. 
Farther,  this  defendant  holds  it  to  be  impious 
to  make  an  image  or  picture  of  God  the  Father, 
which  he  undertakes  to  prove  from  Scripture, 
from  canons  and  councils,  from  the  mandates 
and  decrees  of  sundry  emperors,  from  the  opin- 
ions of  ancient  doctors  of  the  Church,  and  of 
our  most  judicious  divines  since  the  Reforma- 
tion.  He  adds,  that  his  belief  is  agreeable  to  the 
doctrine. of  the  Church  of  England  and  to  the 
homilies,  which  say  that  pictures  of  God  are 
monuments  of  superstition,  and  ought  to  be  de- 
stroyed ;  and  to  Queen  Elizabeth's  injunctions, 
which  command  that  all  pictures  and  monu- 
ments of  idolatry  should  be  removed  out  of 
churches,  that  no  memory  of  them  might  remain 
in  walls,  glass  windows,  or  elsewhere ;  which  in- 
junction is  confirmed  by  the  canons  of  the  I3th  of 
Elizabeth.     Mr.  Sherfield  concludes  his  defence 
with  denying  that  he  was  disaffected  to  the 
discipline  of  the  Church  of  England,  or  had  en- 
couraged any  to  oppose  the  government  of  it 
under  the  reverend  bishops. 

Though  it  is  hard  to  make  a  tolerable  reply 
to  this  defence,  yet  Bishop  Laud  stood  up  and 
spake  in  excuse  of  the  painter,  saying,  God  the 
Father  was  called  in  Scripture  the  Ancient  of 
Days  ;  adding,  however,  that  for  his  own  part 
he  did  not  so  well  approve  of  pictures  of  things 
invisible  ;  but  be  the  paintings  better  or  worse, 
he  insisted  strongly  that  Mr.  Sherfield  had 
taken  them  down  in  contempt  of  the  episcopal 
authority,  for  which  he  moved  that  he  might 
be  fined  £1000  and  removed  from  his  recorder- 
ship  of  the  city  of  Sarum;  that  he  be  com 
mitted  close  prisoner  to  the  Fleet  till  he  pay 
his  fine,  and  then  be  bound  to  his  good  beha- 
viour. To  all  which  the  court  agreed,  except 
to  the  fine,  which  was  mitigated  to  £500. 

The  Reverend  Mr,  John  Workman,  lecturer 
of  St.  Stephen's  Church,  Gloucester,  in  one  of 
his  sermons,  asserted  that  pictures  or  ima<^e3 


308 


HISTORY    OF  THE   PURITANS. 


were  no  ornaments  to  churches ;  that  it  was 
unlawful  to  set  up  images  of  Christ  or  saints 
in  our  houses,  because  it  tended  to  idolatry,  ac- 
cording to  the  homily.*  For  this  he  was  sus- 
pended by  the  High  Commission,  excommuni- 
cated, and  obliged  to  an  open  recantation  in  the 
court  at  Lambeth,  in  the  Cathedral  of  Glouces- 
ter, and  in  the  Church  of  St.  Michael's ;  he 
was  also  condemned  in  costs  of  suit,  and  im- 
prisoned. Mr.  Workman  was  a  man  of  great 
piety,  wisdom,  and  moderation,  and  had  served 
the  Church  of  St.  Stephen's  fifteen  years ;  in 
consideration  whereof,  and  of  his  numerous 
family,  the  city  of  Gloucester  had  given  him  an 
annuity  of  £20  per  annum,  under  their  common 
seal,  a  little  before  his  troubles,  but  for  this  act 
of  charity  the  mayor,  town-clerk,  and  several 
of  the  aldermen  were  cited  before  the  High 
Commission  and  put  to  £100  charges,  and  the 
annuity  was  cancelled.  After  this  Mr.  Work- 
man set  up  a  little  school,  of  which  Archbishop 
Laud  being  informed,  inhibited  him,  as  he  would 
answer  the  contrary  at  his  peril.  He  then  fell 
upon  the  practice  of  physic,  which  the  arch- 
bishop likewise  absolutely  forbid ;  so  that,  be- 
ing deprived  of  all  methods  of  subsistence,  he 
fell  into  a  melancholy  disorder  and  died. 

Our  bishop  was  no  less  watchful  over  the 
press  than  the  pulpit,  commanding  his  chap- 
lains to  expunge  out  of  all  books  that  came  to 
be  licensed  such  passages  as  disallowed  of 
paintings,  carvings,  drawings,  gildings ;  erect- 
ing, bowing,  or  praying  before  images  and  pic- 
tures, as  appeared  by  the  evidence  of  Dr.  Feat- 
ly  and  others  at  his  trial. 

This  great  prelate  would  have  stretched  out 
his  arm  not  only  against  the  Puritans  in  Eng- 
land, but  even  to  reach  the  factories  beyond 
sea,  had  it  been  in  his  power.     The  English 
church  at  Hamburgh  managed  their  affairs  ac- 
cording to  the  Geneva  discipUne,  by  elders  and 
deacons.     In  Holland  they  conformed  to  the 
discipline  of  the  States,  and  met  them  in  their 
synods   and   assemblies  with   the  consent  of 
King  James  and  of  his  present  majesty,  till  Sec- 
retary Widebank,  at  the  instance  of  this  prel- 
ate, offered  some  proposals  to  the  privy  council 
for  their  better  regulation  ;t  the  proposals  con- 
sisted of  ten  articles  :  "  1.  That  all  chaplains 
of  English  regiments   in   the  Low  Countries 
shall  be  exactly  conformable  to  the  Church  of 
England.    2.  That  the  merchants  residing  there 
shall  admit  of  no  minister  to  preach  among 
them  but  one  qualified  as  before.     3.  That  if 
any  one,  after  his  settlement  among  them,  prove 
a  Nonconformist,  he  shall  be  discharged  in  three 
months.     4.  That  the  Scots  factories  shall  be 
obliged  to  the  same  conformity.     5.  That  no 
minister  abroad  shall  speak,  preach,  or  print 
anything  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  English 
discipline  and  ceremonies.     6.  That  no  Con- 
formist minister  shall  substitute  a  Nonconform- 
ist to  preach  for  him  in  the  factories.     7.  That 
the  king's  agents  shall  see  the  service  of  the 
Church  of  England  exactly  performed  in  the 
factories.     The  last  articles  forbid  the  English 
ministers  in  Holland  to  hold  any  classical  as- 
semWies,  and,  especially,  not  to  ordain  minis- 
ters, because  by  so  doing  they  would  maintain 

*  Prynne,  p.  107,  109. 
t  Collyer's  Eccles.  Hist.,  p.  752,  753. 
Cant.  Doom,  p.  389. 


a    standing 


nursery  for  Nonconformity  and 
schism."  These  proposals  were  despatched  to 
the  factories,  and  the  bishop  wrote  in  particular 
to  Delft,  that  it  was  his  majesty's  express 
command  that  their  ministers  should  conform 
themselves  in  ail  things  to  the  doctrine  and 
discipline  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  to  all 
the  orders  prescribed  in  the  canons,  rubric,  and 
liturgy,  and  that  the  names  of  such  as  were  re- 
fractory should  be  sent  over  to  him.  But  it 
was  not  possible  to  succeed  in  the  attempt,  be- 
cause most  of  the  English  congregations,  being 
supported  by  the  States,  must,  by  so  doing, 
have  run  the  hazard  of  losing  their  mainte- 
nance and  of  being  dissolved,  as  was  represent- 
ed to  the  king  by  a  petition  in  the  name  of  all 
the  English  ministers  in  the  Low  Countries. 
However,  though  the  bishop  could  not  accom- 
plish his  designs  abroad,  we  shall  find  him 
liereafter  retaliating  his  disappointment  upon 
the  French  and  Dutch  churches  at  home. 

His  lordship  met  with  better  success  in  Scot- 
land for  the  present,  as  being  part  of  his  majes- 
ty's own  dominions.     He  had  possessed  the 
king  with  vast  notions  of  glory  in  bringing  the 
Kirk  of  Scotland  to  an  exact  conformity  with 
England  ;  a  work  which  his  father  had  attempt- 
ed, but  left  imperfect.     The  king  readily  fell  in 
with  the  bishop's  motion,  and  determined  to 
run  all  hazards  for  accomplishing  this  important 
design,  having  no  less  veneration  for  the  cere- 
monies of  the  Church  of  England  than  the  bishop 
himself     There  had  been  bishops  in  Scotland 
for  some  years,  but  they  had  little  more  than 
the  name,  being  subject  to  an  assembly  that  was 
purely  Presbyterian.     To  advance  their  juris- 
diction, the  king  had  already  renewed  the  High 
Commission,  and  aboli.shed  all  general  assem- 
blies of  the  Kirk,  not  one  having  been  held  in 
his  reign  ;   yet   still,  says  the  noble  historian, 
there  was  no  form  of  religion,  no  liturgy,  nor 
the  least  appearance  of  any  beauty  of  holiness. 
To  redress  these  grievances,  as  well  as  to  show 
the  Scots  nation  the  pomp  and  grandeur  of  the 
English  hierarchy,  his  majesty  resolves  upon  a 
progress  into  his  native  country  to  be  crowned, 
and,  accordingly,  set  out  from  London,  May  13, 
attended  by  several  noblemen  and  persons  of 
quality,  and,  among  others,  by  Bishop   Laud. 
June   18  [1633]  his  majesty  was  crowned  at 
Edinburgh,  the  ceremony  being  managed  by  the 
direction  of  his  favourite  bishop,  who  thrust 
away  the  Bishop  of  Glasgow  from  his  place 
because  he  appeared  without  the  coat  of  his 
order,  which,  being  an  embroidered  one,  he  scru- 
pled to  wear,  being  a  moderate  churchman.* 

On  the  20th  of  June  the  Parliament  met,  and 
voted  the  king  a  large  sum  of  money.  After 
which  his  majesty  proposed  to  them  two  acts 
relating  to  religion  ;  one  was  concerning  his 
royal  prerogative,  and  the  apparel  of  kirkmen  ; 
the  other,  a  bill  for  the  ratification  of  former 

*  Rushworth,  part  ii.,  vol.  i.,  p.  182.  "  It  was  pro- 
posed that,  during  the  ceremony,  the  king  should 
be  supported  on  each  side  by  the  Archbishops  of 
StAndrew's  and  Glasgow.  The  latter  prelate  being 
inclined  to  the  tenets  of  the  Puritans,  appeared  in 
the  procession  without  his  episcopal  robes.  The 
high  churchman.  Laud,  actually  thrust  him  from 
the  king's  side.  '  Are  you  a  churchman,'  he  said, 
'  and  want  the  coat  of  your  order  ?'  " — Jesse's  Court 
Prynne's  of  the  Stuarts,  vol.  ii.,  p.  381.  See,  also,  Clarendon, 
vol.  i.,  p.  81.— C. 


HISTORY  OF   THE    PURITANS. 


309 


acts  touching  religion.  It  being  the  custom  in 
Scotland  for  kings,  Lords,  and  Commons  to  sit 
in  one  house,  when  the  question  was  put  for 
the  first  bill,  his  majesty  took  a  paper  out  of  his 
pocket  and  said,  "  Gentlemen,  I  bave  all  your 
names  here,  and  I  will  know  who  will  do  me 
service,  and  who  will  not,  this  day."  Never- 
theless, it  was  carried  in  the  negative ;  thirteen 
lords,  and  the  majority  of  the  Commons,  voting 
against  it.  The  Lords  said  they  agreed  to  the 
act  as  far  as  related  to  his  majesty's  preroga- 
tive, but  dissented  from  that  part  of  it  which 
referred  to  the  apparel  of  kirkmen,  fearing  that 
under  that  cover  the  surplice  might  be  intro- 
duced. But  his  majesty  said  he  would  have  no 
distinction,  and  commanded  them  to  say  yes  or 
no  to  the  whole  bill.  The  king  marked  every 
man's  vote,  and  upon  casting  them  up  the  clerk 
declared  it  was  carried  in  the  affiraiative ;  which 
some  of  the  members  denying,  his  majesty  said 
the  clerk's  declaration  must  stand,  unless  any 
would  go  to  the  bar  and  accuse  him  of  falsify- 
ing the  record  of  Parliament,  at  the  peril  of  his 
life.* 

This  manner  of  treating  the  whole  repre- 
sentative body  of  the  nation  disgusted  all  ranks 
and  orders  of  his  subjects.  A  writing  was  im- 
mediately dispersed  abroad,  setting  forth  how 
grievous  it  was  for  a  king  to  overawe  and 
threaten  his  Parliament  in  that  manner ;  and 
that  the  same  was  a  breach  of  privilege;  that 
Parliaments  were  a  mere  pageantry  if  the  clerk 
might  declare  the  votes  as  he  pleased,  and  no 
scrutiny  allowed.  Lord  Balraerino,  in  whose 
custody  this  libel  was  found,  was  condemned  to 
lose  his  head  for  it,  but  was  afterward  par- 
doned. 

After  eight  days  the  Parliament  was  dissolv- 
ed, but  the  king  would  not  look  upon  the  dis- 
senting lords,  or  admit  them  to  kiss  his  hand. 
The  act  concerning  the  apparel  of  ministers 
says,  that  "  Whereas  it  was  agreed  in  the  Par- 
liament of  1606,  that  what  order  soever  his  maj- 
esty's father,  of  blessed  memory,  should  pre- 
scribe for  the  apparel  of  kirkmen,  and  send  in 
writ  to  his  clerk  of  register,  should  be  a  suffi- 
cient warrant  for  inserting  the  same  in  the 
books  of  Parliament,  to  have  the  strength  of  any 
act  thereof ;  the  present  Parliament  agrees  that 
the  same  power  shall  remain  with  our  sovereign 
lord  that  now  is,  and  his  successors."  The  bill 
touching  religion  ratifies  and  approves  all  acts 
and  statutes  made  before  about  the  liberty  and 
freedom  of  the  true  Kirk  of  God,  and  the  reli- 
gion at  present  professed  within  this  kingdom, 
and  ordains  the  same  to  stand  in  full  force  as 
if  they  were  particularly  mentioned. 

The  king  left  his  native  country  July  16,  hav- 
ing lost  a  great  deal  of  ground  in  the  affections 
of  his  people,!  by  the  contempt  he  poured  upon 

*  Rushworth,  p.  183. 

t  Dr.  Grey  confronts  Mr.  Neal  here  with  a  passage 
from  Lord  Clarendon,  to  show  that  his  account  of 
the  king's  reception  in  Scotland  differs  widely  from 
this  of  our  author.  "  The  great  civihty  of  that  peo- 
ple," says  his  lordsliip,  "being  so  notorious  and 
universal,  that  they  would  not  appear  unconformable 
to  his  majesty's  wish  in  any  particular."  But  this 
quotation  has  little  or  no  force  against  Mr.  Neal, 
who  is  not  representing  the  reception  the  king  met 
with,  but  the  impression  left  on  the  minds  of  the 
people  by  the  time  of  his  departure.  The  king's  en- 
try and  coronation.  Bishop  Burnet  says,  was  man- 


the  Scots  clergy,  and  his  high  behaviour  in  fa- 
vour of  the  English  ceremonies.  His  majesty 
was  attended  throughout  his  whole  progress  by 
Laud,  bishop  of  London,  which  service  his  lord- 
ship was  not  obliged  to,  and  no  doubt  would 
have  been  excused  from,  if  the  design  of  intro- 
ducing the  English  liturgy  into  Scotland  had  not 
been  m  view.*  He  preached  before  the  king  in 
the  royal  chapel  at  Edinburgh,  which  scarce  any 
Englishman  had  ever  done  before,  and  insisted 
principally  upon  the  benefit  of  the  ceremonies 
of  the  Church,  which  he  himself  observed  to 
the  height.  It  went  against  him  to  own  the 
Scots  presbyters  for  ministers  of  Christ ;  taking 
all  occasions  to  affront  their  character,  which 
created  a  high  disgust  in  that  nation,  and  laid 
the  foundation  of  those  resentments  that  they 
expressed  against  him  under  his  sufferings. 

When  the  king  left  Scotland,  he  erected  a 
new  bishopric  at  Edinburgh ;  and,  about  two 
months  after.  Laud,  being  then  newly  advanced 
to  the  province  of  Canterbury,  framed  articles 
for  the  reformation  of  his  majesty's  royal  chapel 
in  that  city,  which  were  sent  into  Scotland  un- 
der his  majesty's  own  hand,  with  a  declaration 
that  they  were  intended  as  a  pattern  for  all  ca- 
thedrals, chapels,  and  parish  churches  in  that 
kingdom.!  The  articles  appoint,  "  that  prayers 
be  read  twice  a  day  in  the  choir,  according  to 
the  English  liturgy,  till  some  course  be  taken  to 
make  one  that  may  fit  the  custom  and  constitu- 
tion of  that  church.  That  all  that  receive  the 
sacrament  in  the  chapel  do  it  kneeling.  That 
the  dean  of  the  chapel  always  come  to  church 
in  his  whites,  and  preach  in  them.  That  the 
copes  which  are  consecrated  to  our  use  be  care- 
fully kept,  and  used  at  the  celebration  of  the 
sacrament ;  and  that  all  his  majesty's  officers 
and  ministers  of  state  be  obliged,  at  least  once 
a  year,  to  receive  the  sacrament  at  the  royal 
chapel,  kneeling,  for  an  example  to  the  rest  of 
the,  people."  Thus  were  the  liberties  of  the 
Kirk  of  Scotland  invaded  by  an  English  bishop, 
under  the  wing  of  the  supremacy,  without  con- 
sent of  Parliament  or  General  Assembly.  The 
Scots  ministers  in  their  pulpits  preached  against 
the  English  hierarchy,  and  warned  the  people 
against  surrendering  up  the  liberties  of  their 
kuk  into  the  hands  of  a  neigjibouring  nation, 
that  was  undermining  their  discipline  ;  so  that 


aged  with  such  magnificence  that  all  was  entertain- 
ment and  show  :  yet  he  adds,  "  that  the  king  left 
Scotland  much  discontented."  The  proceedings  on 
the  bill  concerning  the  royal  prerogative,  &c.,  show 
that  every  proposal  from  the  court  was  not  pleasing. 
Whitelocke  (Memoirs,  p.  18)  tells  us,  that  though 
the  king  was  crowned  with  all  show  of  affection  and 
duty,  and  gratified  many  with  new  honours,  yet,  be- 
fore he  left  Scotland,  some  began  to  murmur,  and 
afterward  to  mutiny  ;  and  he  was  in  some  danger 
passing  over  Dumfrith.  And  such,  in  particular,  was 
the  effect  of  the  prosecution  of  Lord  Balmerino  on 
the  public  mind,  that  the  ruin  of  the  king's  affairs  in 
Scotland  was  in  a  great  measure  owing  to  it.  Dr. 
Grey  refers  to  the  preambles  to  some  acts  passed  in 
the  Scotch  Parliament,  as  proving  the  high  degree 
of  esteem  the  king  was  then  in  among  them  ;  as  if 
an  argument  were  to  be  drawn  from  formularies 
drawn  up  according  to  the  routine  of  the  occasion, 
and  composed,  probably,  by  a  court  lawyer :  as  if 
such  formularies  were  proof  against  matter  of  fact. 
— Burnet's  History  of  his  Own  Times,  vol.  i.,  24-31. 
12mo.— Ed.  *  Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  p.  81,  82, 

t  Rushworth,  part  ii.,  vol,  ii.,  p.  205,  206. 


310 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


when  the  new  liturgy  came  to  be  introduced 
about  four  years  after,  all  the  people  as  one  man 
rose  up  against  it. 

The  king  was  no  sooner  returned  from  Scot- 
land than  Dr.  Abbot,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
died.  He  was  born  at  Guilford,  in  Surrey,  1562, 
and  educated  in  Baliol  College,  Oxford,  where 
he  was  a  celebrated  preacher.  In  the  year 
1597  he  proceeded  doctor  in  divinity,  and  was 
elected  master  of  University  College  :  two  years 
after  he  was  made  Dean  of  Winchester,  and 
was  one  of  those  divines  appointed  by  King 
James  to  translate  the  New  Testament  into 
English.  In  the  year  1609  he  was  consecrated 
Bishop  of  Litchfield  and  Coventry  ;  from  thence 
he  was  translated  to  London,  and  upon  the 
death  of  Archbishop  Bancroft,  to  Canterbury, 
April  9,  1611,  having  never  been  rector,  vicar, 
or  incumbent  in  any  parish  church  in  England. 
Lord  Clarendon*  has  lessened  the  character  of 
this  excellent  prelate,  contrary  to  almost  all 
other  historians,  by  saying  that  "  he  was  a  man 
of  very  morose,  manners,  and  of  a  very  sour  as- 
pect, which  in  that  time  was  called  gravity  ; 
that  he  neither  understood  nor  regarded  the 
constitution  of  the  Church  ;  that  he  knew  very 
little  of  ancient  divinity,  but  adhered  stiffly  to 
the  doctrine  of  Calvin,  and  did  not  think  so  ill 
of  his  discipline  as  he  ought  to  have  done  ;  but 
if  men  prudently  forbore  a  public  reviling  and 
railing  at  the  hierarchy,  let  their  private  prac- 
tice be  as  it  vv'ould,  he  would  give  them  no  dis- 
turbance ;  that  his  house  was  a  sanctuary  to 
disaffected  persons,  and  that  he  licensed  their 
writings,  by  which  means  his  successor  [Laud] 
had  a  very  difficult  task  to  reduce  things  to  or- 
der." The  Oxford  historian, t  who  was  no 
friend  to  our  archbishop's  principles,  confesses 
that  he  was  a  pious,  grave  person,  exemplary  in 
his  life  and  conversation,  a  plausible  preacher, 
and  that  the  many  things  he  has  written  show 
him  to  be  a  man  of  parts,  learning,  and  vigi- 
lance ;  an  able  statesman,  and  of  unwearied 
study,  though  overwhelmed  with  business. 
FullerJ  says  he  was  an  excellent  preacher,  and 
that  his  severity  towards  the  clergy  was  only 
to  prevent  their  being  punished  by  lay  judges  to 
their  greater  shame.  Mr.  Coke  and  Dr.  Wel- 
woodi^  add,  that  he  was  a  prelate  of  primi- 
tive sanctity,  who  followed  the  true  interests 
of  his  country,  and  of  the  Reformed  churches  at 
home  and  abroad  ;  that  he  was  a  divine  of  good 
learning,  great  hospitality,  and  wonderful  mod- 
eration, showing  upon  all  occasions  an  unwill- 
ingness to  stretch  the  king's  prerogative  or  the 
Act  of  Uniformity  beyond  what  was  consistent 
with  law  or  necessary  for  the  peace  of  the 
Church  ;  this  brought  him  into  all  his  troubles, 
and  has  provoked  the  writers  for  the  preroga- 
tive to  leave  a  blot  upon  his  memory,  which 
on  this  account  will  be  reverenced  by  all  true 
lovers  of  the  Protestant  religion  and  the  liber- 
ties of  their  country  ;  and  if  the  court  had  fol- 
lowed his  wise  and  prudent  counsels,  the  mis- 
chiefs that  befell  the  crown  and  Church  some 
years  after  his  death  would  have  been  prevent- 
ed. We  have  mentioned  his  casual  homicide 
in  the  year  1621,  which  occasioned  his  keeping 

*  Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  p.  88,  89. 

t  AtherioB  Oxon.,  vol.  i.,  p.  499. 

t  Church  History,  b.  xi.,  p.  123. 

ij  Welwood's  Memoirs,  p.  36,  edit.  1718. 


an  annual  fast  as  long  as  he  lived,  and  main- 
taining the  widow.  Notwithstanding  this  mis- 
fortune, if  he  would  have  betrayed  the  Protest- 
ant religion  and  been  the  dupe  of  the  preroga- 
tive, he  might  have  continued  in  high  favour 
with  his  prince  ;  but  for  his  steady  opposition 
to  the  arbitrary  measures  of  Buckingham  and 
Laud,  and  for  not  licensing  Sibthorp's  sermon, 
he  was  suspended  from  his  archiepiscopal  juris- 
diction [1628],*  whereupon  he  retired  to  Croy- 
don, having  no  more  interest  at  court,  or  influ- 
ence in  the  government  of  the  Church  :  here  he 
died  in  his  archiepiscopal  palace,  August  4, 
1633,  aged  seventy-one,  and  was  buried  in 
Trinity  Church,  in  Guilford,  the  place  of  his  na- 
tivity, where  he  had  erected  and  endowed  a 
hospital  for  men  and  women.  There  is  a  fine 
monument  over  his  grave,  with  his  effigies  in 
full  proportion,  supported  by  six  pillars  of  the 
Doric  order  of  black  marble,  standing  on  six 
pedestals  of  piled  books,  with  a  large  inscrip- 
tion thereon  to  his  memory.t 


CHAPTER  V 

FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  ARCHBISHOP  ABBOT  TO  THE 
BEGINNING  OF  THE  COMMOTIONS  IN  SCOTLAND, 
IN  THE  YEAR  1637. 

Dr.  Laud  was  now  at  the  pinnacle  of  prefer- 
ment, being  translated  to  the  see  of  Canterbury 
two  days  after  Archbishop  Abbot's  death.  His 
grace  was  likewise  chancellor  of  the  Universi- 
ties of  Oxford  and  Dublin,  privy-councillor  for 
England  and  Scotland,  first  commissioner  of  the 

*  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  p.  435. 

t  In  addition  to  our  author's  character  of  Arch- 
bishop Abbot,  it  may  be  observed  that  Dr.  Warner 
has  entered  largely  into  the  description  of  it,  "not 
only,"  he  says,  "  in  conformity  to  the  rule  he  pre- 
scribed to  himself  in  his  work,  but,"  he  adds,  "  to 
rescue  the  memory  of  this  prelate  from  the  injury 
done  to  it  by  Lord  Clarendon,  with  so  notorious  a 
partiality  as  does  no  honour  to  his  history."  The 
doctor  sums  up  his  view  of  Archbishop  Abbot's  char- 
acter by  saying,  "  that  he  was  a  man  of  good  parts 
and  learning  as  a  divine ;  that  he  was  a  prelate  of  a 
very  pious,  exemplary  conversation ;  and  an  arch- 
bishop who  understood  the  constitution  of  his  coun- 
try in  Church  and  State,  to  which  he  steadfastly  ad- 
hered, without  any  regard  to  the  favour  or  the 
frow  lis  of  princes."  The  learned  translator  of  Mo- 
sheim  also  censures  Lord  Clarendon's  account  of 
this  eminent  prelate  as  most  unjust  and  partial,  and 
in  a  long  note  ably  and  judiciously  appreciates  the 
archbishop's  merit  and  excellence.  It  was,  he 
shows,  by  the  zeal  and  dexterity  of  Abbot  that 
things  were  put  into  such  a  situation  in  Scotland  as 
afterward  produced  the  entire  establishment  of  the 
episcopal  order  in  that  nation.  It  was  by  the  mild 
and  prudent  counsels  of  Abbot,  when  he  was  chap- 
lain to  the  Lord-high-treasurer  Dunbar,  that  there 
was  passed  a  famous  act  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
Scotland,  which  gave  the  king  the  authority  of  call- 
ing all  general  assemblies,  and  investing  the  bishops, 
or  their  deputies,  with  various  powers  of  interference 
and  influence  over  the  Scotch  ministers.  These 
facts  confute  the  charge  of  his  disregarding  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Church.  It  deserves  to  be  mention- 
ed, that  this  prelate  had  a  considerable  hand  in  the 
translation  of  the  New  Testament  now  in  use. — Mo- 
shcim'!!  Ecclesiastical  History,  vol.  iv.,  p.  513,  and 
note  {{.),  17C8.  Warner's  Eccles.  History,  vol.  ii.,  p 
522-524.  Granger's  Biogr.  History  of  England,  vol. 
i.,  p.  341,  8vo.— Ed. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


311 


exchequer,  and  one  of  the  committee  for  trade 
and  for  the  king's  revenues  :  he  was  also  offer- 
ed a  cardinal's  cap  [August  17],  which  he  de- 
clined, as  he  says,  because  there  was  some- 
thing dwelt  within  him  which  would  not  suffer 
it  till  Rome  was  otherwise  than  it  was.*  We 
are  now  to  see  how  he  moved  in  this  high 
sphere.  Lord  Clarendon  admits  '■  that  the  arch- 
bishop had  all  his  life  eminently  opposed  Cal- 
Tin's  doctrine,  for  which  reason  he  was  called 
a  papist ;  and  it  may  be,"  says  his  lordship, 
"  the  Puritans  found  the  more  severe  and  rig- 
orous usage  for  propagating  the  calumny.  .  He 
also  intended  that  the  discipline  of  the  Church 
should  be  felt  as  well  as  spoken  of"  The 
truth  of  this  observation  has  appeared  in  part 
already,  and  will  receive  stronger  evidence  from 
the  seven  ensuing  years  of  his  government. 

The  archbishop's  antipathy  to  Calvinism,  and 
zeal  for  the  external  beauty  of  the  Church,  car- 
Tied  him  to  some  very  imprudent  and  unjustifia- 
ble extremes  ;  for  if  the  Puritans  were  too  strict 
in  keeping  holy  the  Sabbath,  his  grace  was  too 
lax  in  his  indulgence,  by  encouraging  revels, 
May-games,  and  sports  on  that  sacred  day. 

Complaint  having  been  made  to  the  Lord- 
chief-justice  Richardson  and  Baron  Denham, 
in  their  western  circuit,  of  great  inconveniences 
arising  from  revels,  church-ales,  and  clerk-ales, 
on  the  Lord's  Day,  the  two  judges  made  an  or- 
der at  the  assizes  for  suppressing  them,  and  ap- 
pointed the  clerk  to  leave  copies  of  the  order 
■with  every  parish  minister,  who  was  to  give  a 
note  under  his  hand  to  publish  it  in  his  church 
yearly,  the  first  Sunday  in  February  and  the 
two  Sundays  before  Easter. t  Upon  the  return 
of  the  circuit,  the  judges  required  an  account  of 
the  execution  of  their  order,  and  punished  some 
persons  for  the  breach  of  it ;  whereupon  the 
archbishop  complained  to  the  king  of  their  in- 
vading the  episcopab  jurisdiction,  and  prevail- 
ed with  his  majesty  to  summon  them  before 
the  council.  When  they  appeared,  Richardson 
pleaded  that  the  order  was  made  at  the  request 
of  the  justices  of  the  peace,  and  with  the  unani- 
mous consent  of  the  whole  bench,  and  justified  it 
from  the  following  precedents:  September- 10, 
Eliz.  38th,  the  justices  assembled  at  Bridgewa- 
ter  ordered  that  no  church-ale,  clerk-ale,  or  bid- 
ale  be  suffered  ;  signed  by  Popham,  lord-chief- 
justice,  and  ten  others.  The  same  order  was 
repeated  1599,  and  41st  of  Eliz.,  and  again  at 
Exeter,  1615,  and  13th  of  Jac,  and  even  in  the 
present  king's  reign,  1627,  with  an  order  for  the 
minister  of  every  parish  church  to  publish  it 
yearly.     But  notwithstanding  all  the  chief-jus- 


*  Arthur  Wilson,  in  his  life  of  himself,  speaks  of 
an  interview  he  had  with  Dr.  Weston,  a  Catholic, 
at  Bruges,  the  particulars  of  which  are  interesting. 
"The  little  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,"  he  says, 
"Weston  could  not  endure.  I  pulled  a  book  out 
of  my  pocket,  written  by  the  provincial  of  the  Eng- 
lish friars,  which  tended  to  reconcile  the  Church 
of  England  and  the  Church  of  Rome.  'I  know 
the  man,'  said  Weston  :  '  he  is  one  of  Canterbury's 
trencher  flies,  and  eats  perpetually  at  his  table  ; 
a  creature  of  his  making.'  '  Then,'  said  I,  '  you 
should  better  approve  of  my  Lord  of  Canterbury's 
actions,  seeing  he  tends  so  much  to  your  way.' 
'  No,'  replied  he:  '  he  is  too  subtle  to  be  yoked,  too  am- 
bitious to  have  a  superior.  He  will  never  submit  to 
Rome.  He  means  to  frame  a  motley  religion  of  his 
own,  and  be  lord  of  it  himself  " — Desid.  Curiosa,  lib- 
iii.,  p.  22.— C,  t  Prynne's  Cant.  Doom,  p.  153. 


tice  could  allege,  he  received  a  sharp  reprimand, 
and  a  peremptory  injunction  to  revoke  his  or- 
der at  the  next  assizes,  which  he  did  in  such  a 
manner  as  lost  him  his  credit  at  court  for  the 
future  ;  for  he  then  declared  to  the  justices 
"that  he  thought  he  had  done  God,  the  king, 
and  his  country  good  service  by  that  good  or- 
der that  he  and  his  brother  Denham  had  made 
for  suppressing  unruly  wakes  and  revels,  but 
that  it  had  been  misreported  to  his  majesty, 
who  had  expressly  charged  him  to  reverse  it ; 
accordingly,"  says  he,  "  I  do,  as  much  a,s  in  me 
lies,  reverse  it,  declaring  the  same  to  be  null 
and  void,  and  that  all  persons  may  use  their 
recreations  at  such  meetings  as  before."  This 
reprimand  and  injunction  almost  broke  the 
judge's  heart,  for  when  he  came  out  of  the 
council-chamber  he  told  the  Earl  of  Dorset, 
with  tears  in  his  eyes,  that  he  had  been  miser- 
ably shaken  by  the  archbishop,  and  was  like  to 
be  choked  with  his  lawn-sleeves. 

Laud  having  thus  humbled  the  judge,  and 
recovered  his  episcopal  authority  from  neglect, 
took  the  affair  into  his  own  hand,  and  wrote  to 
the  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  October  4  [1663], 
for  fuller  information.  In  his  letter  he  takes 
notice  that  there  had  been  of  late  some  noise  in 
Somersetshire  about  the  wakes  ;  that  the  judges 
had  prohibited  them  under  pretence  of  some 
disorders,  by  which  argument,  says  he,  any- 
thing that  is  abused  may  be  quite  taken  away ; 
but  that  his  majesty  was  displeased  with  Rich- 
ardson's behaviour  at  the  last  two  assizes,  and 
especially  the  last ;  being  of  opinion  that  the 
feasts  ought  to  be  kept  for  the  recreation  of  the 
people,  of  which  he  would  not  have  them  de- 
barred under  any  frivolous  pretences,  to  the 
gratifying  of  the  humorists,  who  were  very 
numerous  in  those  parts,  and  united  in  crying 
down  the  feasts ;  his  grace,  therefore,  requires 
the  bishop  to  give  him  a  speedy  account  how 
these  feasts  had  been  ordered. 

Pierce,  bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  in  answer 
to  this  letter,  acquaints  the  archbishop  "  that 
the  late  suppression  of  the  revels  was  very  un- 
acceptable, and  that  the  restitution  of  them 
would  be  very  grateful  to  the  gentry,  clergy, 
and  common  people  ;*  for  proof  of  which  he 
had  procured  the  hands  of  seventy-two  of  the 
clergy,  in  whose  parishes  these  feasts  are  kept, 
and  he  believes  that  if  he  had  sent  for  a  hun- 
dred more  he  should  have  had  the  same  answer 
from  th'em  all ;  but  these  seventy- two,"  says 
his  lordship,  "  are  like  the  seventy-two  inter- 
preters that  agreed  so  soon  in  the  translation 
of  the  Old  Testament  in  the  Greek."  He  then 
proceeds  to  explain  the  nature  of  these  feasts  ; 
"  There  are,"  says  he,  "  in  Somersetshire,  not 
only  feasts  of  dedication  [or  revel  days],  but 
also  church-ales,  clerk-ales,  and  bid-ales." 

"  The  feasts  of  dedication  are  in  memory  of 
the  dedication  of  the  several  churches ;  those 
churches  dedicated  to  the  Holy  Trinity  have 
their  feasts  on  Trinity  Sunday  ;  and  so  all  the 
feasts  are  kept  upon  the  Sunday  before  or  after 
the  saint's  day  to  whom  the  churches  are  ded- 
icated, because  the  people  have  not  leisure  to 
observe  them  on  the  week  days  ;  this,"  says 
his  lordship,  "  is  acceptable  to  the  people,  who 
otherwise  go  into  tippling-houses,  or  else  to 
conventicles. 


*  Cant.  Doom,  p.  142. 


312 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


"  Church-ales  are  when  the  people  go  from 
afternoon  prayers  on  Sundays,  to  their  lawful 
sports  and  pastimes  in  the  churchyard,  or  in 
the  neighbourhood,  in  some  public-house,  where 
they  drink  and  make  merry.  By  the  benevo- 
lence of  the  people  at  these  pastimes  many 
poor  parishes  have  cast  their  bells,  and  beauti- 
fied their  churches,  and  raised  slocks  for  the 
poor,  and  there  had  not  been  observed  so  much 
disorder  at  them  as  is  commonly  at  fairs  or 
markets. 

"  Clerks-ales  [or  lesser  church-ales]  are  so 
called  because  they  were  for  the  better  mainte- 
nance of  the  parish  clerk ;  and  there  is  great 
reason  for  them,"  says  his  lordship,  "  for  in 
poor  parishes,  where  the  wages  of  the  clerk  are 
but  small,  the  people,  thinking  it  unfit  that  the 
clerk  should  duly  attend  at  church  and  gain  by 
his  office,  send  him  in  provision,  and  then 
come  on  Sundays  and  feast  with  him,  by  which 
means  he  sells  more  ale,  and  tastes  more  of  the 
liberality  of  the  people  than  their  quarterly  pay- 
ment would  amount  to  in  many  years  ;  and 
since  these  have  been  put  down,  many  minis- 
ters have  complained  to  me,"  says  his  lordship, 
"  that  they  are  afraid  they  shall  have  no  parish 
clerks. 

"  A  bid-ale  is  when  a  poor  man,  decayed  in 
his  substance,  is  set  up  again  by  the  liberal  be- 
nevolence and  contribution  of  his  friends  at  a 
Sunday's  feast." 

The  people  were  fond  of  these  recreations, 
and  the  bishop  recommends  them  as  bringing 
the  people  more  willingly  to  church ;  as  tend- 
ing to  civilize  them,  and  to  compose  differences 
among  them  ;  and  as  serving  to  increase  love 
and  unity,  forasmuch  as  they  were  in  the  na- 
ture of  feasts  of  charity,  the  richer  sort  keep- 
ing in  a  manner  open  house ;  for  which,  and 
some  other  reasons,  his  lordship  thinks  them 
fit  to  be  retained. 

But  the  justices  of  peace  were  of  another 
mind,  and  signed  an  humble  petition  to  the 
king,  in  which  they  declare  that  these  revels 
had  not  only  introduced  a  great  profanation  of 
the  Lord's  Day,  but  riotous  tippling,  contempt 
of  authority,  quarrels,  murders,  &,c.,  and  were 
very  prejudicial  to  the  peace,  plenty,  and  good 
government  of  the  country,  and,  therefore,  they 
pray  that  they  be  suppressed.  Here  we  ob- 
serve the  laity  petitioning  for  the  religious  ob- 
servation of  the  Lord's  Day,  and  the  bishop, 
with  his  clergy,  pleading  for  the  profanation 
of  it. 

To  encourage  these  disorderly  assemblies 
more  effectually.  Archbishop  Laud  put  the  king 
upon  republishing  his  father's  declaration  of 
the  year  1618,  concerning  lawful  sports  to  be 
used  on  Sundays  after  l3ivine  service,  which 
was  done  accordingly,  October  18,  with  this 
remarkable  addition.  After  a  recital  of  the 
words  of  King  James's  declaration,  his  majesty 
adds,  "  Out  of  a  like  pious  care  for  the  service 
of  God,  and  for  suppressing  of  those  humours 
that  oppose  truth,  and  for  the  ease,  comfort, 
and  recreation  of  his  majesty's  well-deserving 
people,  he  doth  ratify  his  blessed  father's  decla- 
ration, the  rather,  because  of  late,  in  some  of 
the  counties  of  the  kingdom,  his  majesty  finds 
that,  under  the  pretence  of  taking  away  an 
abuse,  there  hath  been  a  general  forbidding, 
not  only  of  ordinary  meetings,  but  of  the  feasts 


of  the  dedication  of  churches,  commonly  called 

wakes ;  it  is  therefore  his  will  and  pleasure 
that  these  feasts,  with  others,  shall  be  observed, 
and  that  all  neighbourhood  and  freedom  wittj 
manlike  and  lawful  exercises  be  used,  and  the 
justices  of  the  peace  are  commanded  not  to 
molest  any  in  their  recreations,  having  first 
done  their  duty  to  God  and  continued  in  obedi- 
ence to  his  majesty's  laws."  And  he  does  far 
ther  will  "that  publication  of  this  his  command 
he  made  by  order  from  the  bishops,  through  all 
the  parish  churches  of  their  several  diocesses 
respectively."    - 

The  declaration  revived  the  controversy  of 
the  morality  of  the  Sabbath,  which  had  slept  for 
many  years ;  Mr.  Theophilus  Bradbourne,  a  Suf- 
folk minister,  had  published,  in  the  year  1628, 
"  A  Defence  of  the  most  Ancient  and  Sacred 
Ordinance  of  God,  the  Sabbath  Day,"  and  dedi- 
cated it  to  the  king.  But  Mr.  Fuller*  observes, 
"  that  the  poor  man  fell  into  the  ambush  of  the 
High  Commission,  whose  w^ll-tempered  sever- 
ity so  prevailed  with  him,  that  he  became  a. 
convert,  and  conformed  quietly  to  the  Church 
of  England."  Francis  White,  bishop  of  Ely, 
was  commanded  by  the  king  to  confute  Brad- 
bourne  ;  and  alter  him  appeared  Dr.  Pockling- 
ton,  with  his  "  Sunday  no  Sabbath  ;"  and  after 
him  Heylin  the  archbishop's  chaplain,  and  oth- 
ers. These  divines,  instead  of  softening  some 
rigours  in  Bradbourne's  Sabbatarian  strinctness, 
ran  into  the  contrary  extreme,  denying  all  man- 
ner of  Divine  right  or  moral  obligation  to  the 
observance  of  the  whole  or  any  part  of  the  Lord's 
Day,  making  it  depend  entirely  upon  ecclesias- 
tical authority,  and  to  oblige  no  farther  than  to 
the  few  hours  of  public  service  ;  and  that  in  the 
intervals,  not  only  walking  (which  the  Sabbata- 
rians admitted),  but  mixed  dancing,  masks,  in- 
terludes, revels,  &c.,  were  lawful  and  expedienL 

Instead  of  convincing  the  sober  part  of  the 
nation,  it  struck  them  with  a  kind  of  horror,  to 
see  themselves  invited,  by  the  authority  of  the 
king  and  Church,  to  that  which  looked  so  like 
a  contradiction  to  the  command  of  God.  It  was 
certainly  out  of  character  for  bishops  and  cler- 
gymen, who  should  be  the  supports  of  religion, 
to  draw  men  off  from  exercises  of  devotion  in 
their  families  and  closets,  by  enticing  them  to 
public  recreations.  People  are  forward  enough 
of  themselves  to  indulge  these  liberties,  and 
need  a  check  rather  than  a  spur ;  but  the  wis- 
dom of  these  times  was  different.  The  court 
had  their  balls,  masquerades,  and  plays  on  the 
Sunday  evenings,  while  the  youth  of  the  coun- 
try were  at  their  morrice-dances.  May-games, 
church  and  clerk  ales,  and  all  such  kinds  of 
revelling.! 

The  revival  of  this  declaration  was  charged 
upon  Archbishop  Laud  at  his  trial,  but  his  grace 
would  not  admit  the  charge,  though  he  confess- 
ed his  judgment  was  in  favour  of  it.  It  was 
to  be  published  in  all  parish  churches,  either  by 
the  minister  or  any  other  person,  at  the  discre- 
tion of  the  bishop,  and  therefore  the  putting 
this  hardship  on  the  clergy  was  their  act  and 
deed;  but  Laud  knew  it  would  distress  the 
Puritans,  and  purge  the  Church  of  a  set  of  men 
for  wiiom  he  had  a  perfect  aversion.  The  rea- 
son given  for  obliging  them  to  this  service  was, 


*  Rook  xi.,  p.  144. 

t  Dr.  Warner  adops  these  remarks. 


-Ed. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


313 


because  the  two  judges  had  enjoined  the  min- 
isters to  read  their  order  against  revels  in  the 
churches  ;  and,  therefore,  it  was  proper  to  have 
it  reversed  by  the  same  persons  and  in  the  same 
place.* 

The  severe  pressing  this  declaration  made 
sad  havoc  among  the  Puritans  for  seven  years. 
Many  poor  clergymen  strained  their  consciences 
in  submission  to  their  superiors.  Some,  after 
publishing  it,  immediately  read  the  fourth  com- 
mandment to  the  people,  "  Remember  the  Sab- 
bath Day  to  keep  it  holy;"  adding,  "This  is 
the  law  of  God ;  the  other  the  injunction  of 
man."  Some  put  it  upon  their  curates,  while 
great  numbers  refused  to  comply  upon  any 
terms  whatsoever.  Fullert  says,  "  that  the  arch- 
bishop's moderation  in  his  own  diocess  was  re- 
markable, silencing  but  three,  in  whom  also 
was  a  concurrence  of  other  nonconformities ; 
but  that  his  adversaries  imputed  it  not  to  his 
charity,  but  policy,  foxlike,  preying  farthest 
from  his  own  den,  and  instigating  other  bishops 
to  do  more  than  he  would  appear  in  himself." 
Sir  Nath.  Brent,  his  grace's  vicar-general,  at- 
tested upon  oath  at  the  archbishop's  trial,  that 
he  gave  him  a  special  charge  to  convene  all 
ministers  before  him  who  would  not  read  the 
Book  of  Sports  on  the  Lord's  Day,  and  to  sus- 
pend them  for  it ;  and  that  he  gave  particular 
order  to  suspend  the  three  following  Kentish 
ministers  by  name,  viz.,  Mr.  Player,  Mr.  Hieron, 
and  Mr.  Culmer.J  Whereupon  he  did,  against 
his  judgment,  suspend  them  all  ab  officio  et  bene- 
ficio,  though  the  king's  declaration,  as  has  been 
observed,  does  not  oblige  the  minister  to  read 
it,  nor  authorize  the  bishops  to  inflict  any  pun- 
ishment on  the  refusers.  When  the  suspended 
ministers  repaired  to  Lambeth,  and  petitioned  to 
be  restored,  the  archbishop  told  them,  if  they 
did  not  know  how  to  obey,  he  did  not  know  how 
to  grant  their  petition.  So  their  suspension 
continued  till  the  beginning  of  the  commotions 
in  Scotland,  to  the  ruin  of  their  poor  families, 
Mr.  Culmer  having  a  wife  and  seven  children 
to  provide  for.fj 

Several  clergymen  of  other  diocesses  were 
also  silenced,  and  deprived  on  the  same  ac- 
count ;  as^  Mr.  Thomas  Wilson,  of  Otham,  who 
being  sent  for  to  Lambeth,  and  asked  whether 
he  had  read  the  Book  of  Sports  in  his  church, 
answered.  No ;  whereupon  the  archbishop  re- 
plied immediately,  "  I  suspend  you  forever  from 
your  office  and  benefice  till  you  read  it ;"  and 
so  he  continued  four  years,  being  cited  into  the 


*  Fuller's  Church  History,  b.  xi.,  p.  148. 

t  Ibid.  t  Prynne's  Cant.  Doom,  p.  149. 

^  Dr.  Grey  introduces  here  a  long  quotation  from 
Anthony  Wood,  and  refers  to  a  bad  character  of  Mr. 
Culmer  drawn  by  Mr.  Lewis  in  Dr.  Calamy's  con- 
tinuation of  ejected  ministers,  to  show  what  small 
reason  Mr.  Neal  had  to  defend  him.  It  should  seem, 
from  those  authorities,  that  he  was  a  man  of  warm 
and  violenf.  temper,  and  some  heavy  charges  are 
brought  against  him.  But  not  to  say  that  prejudice 
appears  to  have  drawn  his  picture,  admitting  the 
truth  of  everything  alleged  against  him,  it  is  irrele- 
vant to  the  vindication  of  Archbishop  Laud,  whose 
severity  against  Mr.  Culmer  had  not  for  its  object  his 
general  deportment,  or  any  immorahty,  but  his  not 
reading  the  Book  of  Sports,  i.e.,  a  royal  invitation  to 
men  to  give  themselves  up  to  dissipating,  riotous, 
and  intemperate  diversions  on  a  day  sacred  to  sobri- 
ety.— See,  on  Mr.  Culmer's  character,  Palmer's  Non- 
conformist's Memorial,  vol.  U.,  p.  77. — Ed. 
Vol.  I.— R  r 


High  Commission  and  articled  against  for  thf 
same  crime.  Mr.  Wrath  and  Mr.  Erbery  were 
brought  up  from  Wales,  Mr.  William  Jones  from 
Gloucestershire,  with  divers  others,  and  cen- 
sured by  the  High  Commission  (of  which  the 
archbishop  was  chief)  for  not  reading  the  dec- 
laration, and  not  bowing  his  body  at  the  blessed 
name  of  Jesus,  &:c.*  To  these  may  be  added, 
Mr.  Whitfield,  of  Ockley,  Mr.  Garth,  of  Woversh, 
Mr.  Ward,  of  Pepper-Harrow,  Mr.  Farrol,  of 
Purbright,  and  Mr.  Pegges,  of  Wexford,  to  whom 
the  archbishop  said  that  he  suspended  him  ex 
7iunc.  prout  ex  tunc,  in  case  he  did  not  read  the 
king's  declaration  for  sports  on  the  Sunday 
se'nnight  following. 

The  reverend  and  learned  Mr.  Lawrence 
Snelling,  rector  of  Paul's-Cray,  was  not  only 
suspended  by  the  High  Commission  at  Lam- 
beth for  four  years,  but  deprived  and  excommu- 
nicated, for  not  reading  the  declaration,  &c.t 
He  pleaded  in  his  own  defence  the  laws  of  God 
and  of  the  realm,  and  the  authority  of  councils 
and  fathers  ;  he  added,  that  the  king's  declara- 
tion did  not  enjoin  ministers  to  read  it,  nor  au- 
thorize the  bishops  or  High  Commissioners  to 
suspend  or  punish  ministers  for  not  reading  it ; 
that  it  being  merely  a  civil,  not  an  ecclesiasti- 
cal declaration  enjoined  by  any  canons  or  au- 
thority of  the  Church,  no  ecclesiastical  court 
could  take  cognizance  of  it.  All  which  Mr. 
Snelling  offered  to  the  commissioners  in  wri- 
ting, but  the  archbishop  would  not  admit  it,  say- 
ing, in  open  court,  that  "  whosoever  should 
make  such  a  defence,  it  should  be  burned  be- 
fore his  face,  and  he  laid  by  the  heels."  Upon 
this  he  was  personally  and  judicially  admonish- 
ed to  read  the  declaration  within  three  weeks^ 
which  he  refusing,  was  suspended  ab  officio  et 
heneficio.  About  four  months  after  he  was  ju- 
dicially admonished  again,  and  refusing  to  com- 
ply, was  excommunicated,  and  told  that  unless 
he  conformed  before  the  second  day  of  next 
term  he  should  be  deprived,  which  was  accord- 
ingly done,  and  he  continued  under  the  sen- 
tence many  years,  to  his  unspeakable  damage. 

"  It  were  endless  to  go  into  more  particulars ; 
how  many  hundred  godly  ministers  in  this  and 
other  diocesses,"  says  Mr.  Prynne,t  "  have  been 
suspended  from  their  ministry,  sequestered, 
driven  from  their  livings,  excommunicated, 
prosecuted  in  the  High  Commission,  and  for- 
ced to  leave  the  kingdom  for  not  publishing 
this  declaration,  is  experimentally  known  to  all 
men."  Dr.  Wren,  bishop  of  Norwich,  says  that 
great  numbers  in  his  diocess  had  declined  it, 
and  were  suspended  ;  that  some  had  since  com- 
plied, but  that  still  there  were  thirty  who  per- 
emptorily refused,  and  were  excommunicated. 

*  Prynne's  Cant.  Doom,  p.  151. 

t  Dr.  Grey,  to  impeach  the  fairness  of  Mr.  Neal, 
quotes  here  Rushworth  to  show  that  sentence  was 
passed  on  Mr.  SneUing  for  omitting  to  "  read  the  lit- 
any and  wear  the  surplice,  and  for  not  bowing,  or 
making  any  corporeal  obeisance  at  hearing  or  read- 
in,'^  the  name  of  Jesus."  It  is  true,  that  on  these 
premises  also  the  sentence  of  deprivation  was  pass- 
ed ;  but  it  appears  from  Rushworth  tliat  he  had  been 
previously  suspended  ab  officio  et  beneficio,  and  ex- 
communicated, solely  on  the  ground  of  refusing  to 
read  the  Book  of  Sports ;  and  that  this  offence  was 
the  primary  cause  of  the  deprivation. — RushwortK's 
Collections,  vol.  ii.,  part  h.,  p.  460,  461. — Ed. 

J  Cant.  Doom,  p.  153. 


314 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


This  the  bishop  thinks  a  small  number,  although, 
if  there  were  as  many  in  other  cliocesses,  the 
whole  would  amount  to  near  eight  hundred. 

To  render  the  Common   Prayer  Book  more 
unexceptionable  to  the  papists,  and  more  dis- 
tant from  Puritanism,  the  archbishop  made  sun- 
dry alterations*  in  the  later  editions,  without 
the  sanction  of  convocation  or  Parliament.     In 
the  collect  for  the  royal  family,  the  Princess 
Elizabeth  and  her  children  were  left  out,t  and 
these  words  were  expunged,  "  0  God,  who  art 
the  Father  of  thine  elect  and  of  their  seed,"  as 
tending  towards  particular  election  or  predesti- 
nation J     In  the  prayer  for  the  5th  of  Novem- 
ber were  these  words :   "  Root  out  that  anti- 
christian  and  Babylonish 'sect  which  say  of  Je- 
rusalem, Down  with  it  even  to  the  ground.    Cut 
off  those  workers  of  iniquity,  whose  religion  is 
rebellion,  whose  faith  is  faction,  whose  prac- 
tice is  murdering  both  soul  and  body;"  which 
in  the  last  edition  are  thus  changed:   "Root 
out  the  antichristian  and  Babylonish  sect  of 
them,  which  say  of  Jerusalem,  Down  with  it. 
Cut  off  those  workers  of  iniquity,  who  turn  reli- 
gion into  rebellion,"  &c.     The  design  of  which 
alteration  was  to  relieve  the  papists,  and  to 
turn   the  prayer   against   the   Puritans,  upon 
whom  the  popish  plot  was  to  have  been  father-  [ 
ed.     In  the  epistle  for  Palm-Sunday,  instead  of 
"m  the  name  of  Jesus,"  as  it  was  heretofore, 
it  is  now,  according  to  the  last  translation,  •'  at 
the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  shall  bow."    But 
it  was  certainly  very  liigh  presumption  for  a 
single  clergyman,  or  any  number  of  them,  to 
altar  a  service-book  established  by  act  of  Par- 
liament, and  impose  those  alterations  upon  the 
whole  body  of  the  clergy. 

The  Puritans  always  excepted  against  bow- 
ing at  the  name  of  Jesus  ;  it  appeared  to  them 
very  superstitious,  as  if  worship  was  to  be  paid 
to  a  name,  or  to  the  name  of  Jesus,  more  than 
to  that  of  Christ  or  Immanuel.  Nevertheless, 
it  was  enjoined  by  the  eighteenth  canon,  and  in 
compliance  vyith  that  injunction  our  last  trans- 
lators inserted  it  into  their  text  by  rendering  kv 
rCi  dvofiari,  "  in  the  name  of  Jesus,"  as  it  was 
before,  both  in  the  Bible  and  Common  Prayer 
Book,  '-at  the  name  of  Jesus,"  as  it  now 
stands ;  however,  no  penalty  was  annexed  to 
the  neglect  of  this  ceremony,  nor  did  any  suf- 
fer for  it,  till  Bishop  Laud  was  at  the  head  of 
the  Church,  who  pressed  it  equally  with  the 
rest,  and  caused  above  twenty  ministers  to  be 
lined,  censured,  and  put  by  their  livings,  for  not 
bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus,  or  for  preaching 
against  it.ij 

On  the  3d  of  November  was  debated,  be- 
fore his  majesty  in  council,  the  question  of  re- 
moving the  communion-table  at  St.  Gregory's 
Church,  near  St.  Paul's,  from  the  middle  of  the 
chancel  to  the  upper  end  of  it,  and  placing  it 
there  in  form  of  an  altar.  This  being  enjoined 
upon  the  church-wardens  by  the  dean  and  chap- 

*  Dr.  Grey  says  that,  the  archbishop  cleared  him- 
self in  this  particular  by  informing  us  [Troubles  and 
Trial,  p.  357]  "  that  the  alterations  were  made  ei- 
ther by  the  king  himself,  or  some  other  about  him, 
when  he  was  not  at  court."— Ed. 

t  The  Queen  of  Bohemia,  a  thorough  Protestant, 
and  on  whose  children  the  hopes  of  the  nation  had 
rested,  till  the  birth  of  Charles's  son.— 0. 

t  Cant.  Doom,  p.  Ill,  112. 

^  Usurpation  of  Prelates,  p.  165. 


ter  of  St.  Paul's  without  the  consent  of  tRc  pa- 
rishioners, they  opposed  it,  and  appealed  to  the 
Court  of  .A.rches,  alleging  that  tiie  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer,  and  eighty-second  canon,  gave 
liberty  to  place  the  communion-table  where  it 
might  stand  with  most  convenience.  His  maj- 
esty being  informed  of  the  appeal,  and  acquaint- 
ed by  the  archbishop  that  it  would  be  a  leading 
case  all  over  England,  was  pleased  to  order  it 
to  be  debated  before  himself  in  council,  and,  af- 
ter hearing  the  arguments  on  both  sides,  de- 
clared that  the  liberty  given  by  the  eighty-sec- 
ond canon  was  not  to  be  understood  so,  as  if  it 
were  to  be  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  parish, 
much  less  to  the  fancies  of  a  few  humorous 
persons,  but  to  the  judgment  of  the  ordinary 
[or  bishop],  to  whose  place  it  properly  belonged 
to  determine  these  points  ;  he  therefore  con- 
firmed the  act  of  the  ordinary,  and  gave  com- 
mandment that  if  the  parishioners  went  on  with 
their  appeal,  the  dean  of  the  Arches,  who  was 
then  attending  at  the  hearing  of  the  cause, 
should  confirm  the  order  of  the  dean  and  chap- 
ter.* This  was  a  sovereign  manner  of  putting 
an  end  to  a  controversy,  very  agreeable  to  the 
archbishop. 

When  the  sacrament  was  administered  in 
parish  churches  the  contimunion-table  was  usu- 
ally placed  in  the  middle  of  the  chancel,  and 
the  people  received  round  it,  or  in  their  several 
places  thereabout ;  but  now  all  communion- 
tables were  ordered  to  be  fixed  under  the  east 
wall  of  the  chancel  with  the  ends  north  and 
south  in  form  of  an  altar  ;  they  were  to  be  rais- 
ed two  or  three  steps  above  the  floor,  and  en- 
compassed with  rails.  Archbishop  Laud  order- 
ed his  vicar-general  to  see  this  alteration  made 
in  all  the  churches  and  chapels  of  his  province  ; 
to  accomplish  which,  it  was  necessary  to  take 
down  the  galleries  in  some  churches,  and  tore- 
move  ancient  monuments.  This  was  resented 
by  some  considerable  families,  and  complained 
of  as  an  injury  to  the  dead,  and  such  an  expense 
to  the  living  as  some  country  parishes  could 
not  bear ;  yet  those  who  refused  to  pay  the 
rates  imposed  by  the  archbishop  for  this  pur- 
pose were  fined  in  the  spiritual  courts  contrary 
to  law.t  It  is  almost  incredible  what  a  fer- 
ment the  making  this  alteration  at  once  raised 
among  the  common  people  all  over  England. 
Many  ministers  and  church-wardens  were  ex- 
communicated, fined,  and  obliged  to  do  penance, 
for  neglecting  the  bishop's  injunctions.  Great 
numbers  refused  to  come  up  to  the  rails  and 
receive  the  sacrament,  for  which  some  were 
fined,  and  others  excommunicated,  to  the  num- 
ber of  some  hundreds,  say  the  committee  of  the 
House  of  Commons  at  the  archbishop's  trial. 

Books  were  written  for  and  against  this  new 
practice,  with  the  same  earnestness  and  con- 
tention for  victory  as  if  the  life  of  religion  liad 
been  at  stake.  Dr.  Williams,  bishop  of  Lin- 
coln, published  two  treatises  against  it,  one  en- 
titled "A  Letter  to  the  Vicar  of  Grantham:" 
the  other,  "The  Holy  Table,  Name,  and 
Thing ;"  filled  with  so  much  learning,  and  that 
learning  so  closely  and  solidly  applied,  says 
Lord  Clarendon,  as  showed  he  had  sppnt  his 
time  in  his  retirement  with  his  books  very 
profitably.     Dr.  Heylin,  who  answered  the  bish- 

*  Rush  worth,  vol.  ii.,  part  ii.,  p.  207. 
t  Pryime's  Cant.  Doom,  p.  100,  101. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


3I£ 


op,  argued  from  the  words  of  Queen  Elizabeth's 
injunctions,  1559  ;  from  the  orders  and  adver- 
tisements of  1562  and  1565 ;  from  the  practice 
of  the   king's   chapels   and  cathedrals ;    and, 
finally,  from  the  present  king's  declaration,  rec- 
ommending a  confurmity  of  the  parish  church- 
es to  their  cathedrals.     The  bishop,  and  with 
him  all  the  Puritans,  insisted  upon  the  practice 
of  primitive  antiquity,  and  upon  the  eighty-sec- 
ond canon  of  1603,  which  says,  "We  appoint, 
that  the  table  for  the  celebration  of  the  holy 
communion  shall  be  covered  with  a  fair  linen 
cloth  at  the  time  of  administration,  and  shall 
then  be  placed  in  so  good  sort  within  the  church 
or  chancel,  as  thereby  the  minister  may  more 
conveniently  be  heard  of  the  communicants  in 
his  prayer,  and  the  communicants  may  more 
conveniently  and  in  more  numbers  communi- 
cate."    They  urged  the  rubric  in  the  Common 
Prayer  Book ;   that  altars  in  churches  were  a 
popish  invention,  of  no  greater  antiquity  in  the 
Christian  Church  than  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass  ; 
and  insisted  strenuously  on  the  discontinuance 
of  them  since  the. Reformation.     But  the  arch- 
bishop, being  determined   to  carry  his  point, 
prosecuted  the  affair  with  unjustifiable  rigour 
over  all  the  kingdom,  punishing  those  who  op- 
posed him,  without  regard  to  the  laws  of  the 
land.     This  occasioned  a  sort  of  schism  among 
the  bishops,  and  a  great  deal  of  uncharitable- 
ness  among  the  inferior  clergy  ;  for  those  bish- 
ops who  had  not  been  beholden  to  Laud  for 
their  preferments,  nor  had  any  farther  expect- 
ation, were  very  cool  in  the  affair,  while  the 
archbishop's  creatures,  in  many  places,  took 
upon  them  to  make  these  alterations  by  their 
own  authority,  without  the  injunctions  or  direc- 
tions of  their  diocesans,  which  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  many  lawsuits.     Those  who  opposed 
the  alterations  were  called  Doctrinal  Puritans, 
and  the  promoters  of  them  Doctrinal  Papists. 

The  court-clergy  were  of  the  latter  sort,  and 
were  vehemently  suspected  of  an  inclination  to 
popery,  because  of  their  superstitious  bowing  to 
the  altar,  not  only  in  time  of  Divine  service,  but 
at  their  going  in  and  out  of  church.*  This  was 
a  practice  unknown  to  the  laity  of  the  Church 
of  England  before  this  time,  but  Archbishop 
Laud  introduced  it  into  the  royal  chapel  at 
Whitehall,  and  recommended  it  to  all  the  cler- 
gy by  his  example ;  for  when  he  went  in  and 
out  of  chapel,  a  lane  was  always  made  for  him 
to  see  the  altar,  and  do  reverence  towards  it. 
All  his  majesty's  chaplains,  and  even  the  com- 
mon people,  were  enjoined  the  same  practice. 
In  the  new  body  of  statutes  for  the  Cathedral  of 
Canterbury,  drawn  up  by  his  grace,  and  confirm- 
ed under  the  great  seal,  the  dean  and  prebenda- 
ries are  obliged  by  oath  to  bow  to  the  altar  at 
coming  in  and  going  out  of  the  church  ;  which 
could  arise  from  no  principle  but  a  belief  of  the 
real  presence  of  Christ  in  the  sacrament  or  al- 
tar, or  from,  a  superstitious  imitation  of  the 
pagans  worshipping  towards  the  east.t 

To  make  the  adoration  more  significant,  the 
altars  in  cathedrals  were  adorned  with  the 
most  pompous  furniture,  and  all  the  vessels 
underwent  a  solemn  consecration.  The  Cathe- 
dral of  Canterbury  was  furnished  according  to 


*  This,  too,  is  now  adopted  in  many  of  the  English 
churches,  and  has  its  imitators  in  the  United  States. 
— C.  t  Collyer's  Ecclesiastical  History,  p.  762. 


Bishop  Andrew's  model,  who  took  it  from  the 
Roman  Missal,  with  two  candlesticks  and  ta- 
pers, a  basin  for  oblations,  a  cushion  for  the 
service-book,  a  silver-gilt  canister  for  the  wa- 
fers, like  a  wicker-basket  lined  with  cambric 
lace,  the  tonne  on  a  cradle  ;  a  chalice  with  the 
image  of  Christ  and  the  lost  sheep,  and  of  the 
wise  men  and  star,  engraven  on  the  sides  and 
on  the  cover.  The  chalice  was  covered  with  a 
linen  napkin,  called  the  aire,  embroidered  with 
coloured  silk  ;  two  patins,  the  tricanale  being  a 
round  ball  with  a  screw  cover,  out  of  which  is- 
sued three  pipes  for  the  water  of  mixture ;  a 
credentia  or  side-table,  with  a  basin  and  ewer 
on  napkins,  and  a  towel  to  wash  before  the  con- 
secration ;  three  kneeling  stools  covered  and 
stuffed,  the  foot-pace,  with  three  ascents,  cov- 
ered with  a  Turkey  carpet ;  three  chairs  used 
at  ordinations,  and  the  septum  or  rail  with  two 
ascents.  Upon  some  altars  was  a  pot  called 
the  incense-pot,  and  a  knife  to  cut  the  sacra- 
mental bread. 

The  consecration  of  this  furniture  was  after 
this  manner :  the  archbishop  in  his  cope,  at- 
tended by  two  chaplains  in  their  surplices,  hav- 
ing bowed  several  times  towards  the  altar,  read 
a  portion  of  Scripture  ;  then  the  vessels  to  be 
consecrated  were  delivered  into  the  hands  of 
the  archbishop,  who,  after  he  had  placed  them 
upon  the  altar,  read  a  form  of  prayer  desiring 
God  to  bless  and  accept  of  these  vessels,  which 
he  severally  touched  and  elevated,  offering  them 
up  to  God,  after  which  they  were  not  to  be 
put  to  common  use.     We  have  seen  already 
the  manner  of  his  grace's  consecrating  the  sac- 
ramental elements  at  Creed  Church  ;  there  was 
a  little  more  ceremony  in  cathedrals,  where  the 
wafers  and  wine  being  first  placed  with  great 
solemnity  on  the  credentia  or  side-table,  were 
to  be  removed  from  thence  by  one  of  the  arch- 
bishop's chaplains,  who,  as  soon  as  he  turns 
about  his  face  to  the  altar  with  the  elements  in 
his  hands,  bows  three  times,  and  again  when 
he  comes  to  the  foot  of  it,  where  he  presents 
them  upon  his  knees,  and  lays  them  upon  the 
altar  for  consecration.     How  far  the  bringing 
these  inventions  of  men  into  the  worship  of 
God  is  chargeable  with  superstition,  and  with 
a  departing  from  the  simplicity  of  the  Christian 
institution,  I  leave  with  the  reader  ;  but  surely 
the  imposing  them  upon  others  under  severe 
penalties,  without  the  sanction  of  convocation. 
Parliament,  or  royal  mandate,  was  not  to  be 
justified. 

The  lecturers,  or  afternoon  preachers,  giving 
his  grace  some  disturbance,  notwithstanding 
the  attempts  already  made  to  suppress  them, 
the  king  sent  the  following  injunctions  to  the 
bishops  of  his  province  :*  1.  "  That  they  ordain 
no  clergyman  without  a  presentation  to  some 
living.  Or,  2.  Without  a  certificate  that  he  is 
provided  of  some  void  church.  Or,  3.  Without 
some  place  in  a  cathedral  or  collegiate  church. 
Or,  4.  Unless  he  be  a  fellow  of  some  college. 
Or,  5.  A  master  of  arts  of  five  years'  standing, 
living  at  his  own  charge.  Or,  6.  Without  the 
intention  of  the  bishop  to  provide  for  him."t 


*  Rushworth,  vol.  ii.,  part  ii.,  p".  214. 

t  Dr.  Grey  truly  observes,  that  none  of  these  in- 
junctions were  new,  but  only  an  enforcement  of  the 
thirty-third  canon  of  1603.  He  refers  the  reader  to 
Bishop  Gibson's  Codex,  p.  162,  and  might  have  re- 


316 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


By  virtue  of  these  injunctions  no  chaplainship 
to  a  nobleman's  family,  or  any  invitation  to  a 
lecture,  could  qualify  a  person  for  ordination 
without  a  living. 

In  the  annual  account  the  archbishop  gave 
the  king  of  the  state  of  his  province  this  year, 
we  may  observe  how  much  the  suppressing  of 
these  popular  preachers  lay  upon  his  mind. 
"The  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,"  says  his 
grace,  "  has  taken  a  great  deal  of  pains  in 
his  late  visitations  to  have  all  the  king's  in- 
structions observed,  and  particularly  he  has 
put  down  several  lecturers  in  market  towns, 
who  were  beneficed  in  other  diocesscs,  because 
he  found,  when  they  had  preached  factious  ser- 
mons, they  retired  without  the  reach  of  his 
jurisdiction. 

"  And  whereas  his  majesty's  instructions  re- 
quire that  lecturers  should  turn  their  afternoon 
sermons  into  catechisings,  some  parsons  or 
vicars  object  against  their  being  included,  be- 
cause lecturers  are  only  mentioned  ;  but  the 
bishops  will  take  care  to  clear  their  doubts  and 
settle  their  practice. 

"  The  Bishop  of  Peterborough*  had  suppress- 
ed a  seditious  lecture  at  Repon,  and  put  down 
several  monthly  lectures  kept  with  a  fast,  and 
managed  by  a  moderator.  He  had  also  sup- 
pressed a  meeting  called  the  running  lecture, 
because  the  lecturer  went  from  village  to  vil- 
lage. 

"  The  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph  says  that  his  dio- 
cess  is,  without  exception,  abating  the  increase 
of  Romish  recusants  in  some  places,  by  their 
superstitious  concourse  to  St.  Winifred's  Well. 

"The  Bishop  of  LandafT certifies  that  he  has 
not  one  stubborn  Nonconformist,  or  schismat- 
ical  minister,  within  his  diocess,  and  but  two 
lecturers. 

"  All  the  bishops  declare  that  they  take  spe- 
cial care  of  that  branch  of  his  majesty's  instruc- 
tions relating  to  Calvinism,  or  preaching  upon 
the  predestinarian  points ;  and  the  archbishop 
prays  his  majesty  that  no  layman  whatsoever, 
and  least  of  all  the  companies  of  the  city  of 
London,  or  corporations,  should,  under  any  pre- 
tence, have  power  to  put  in  or  turn  outtany 
lecturer  or  other  minister." 

In  this  account  the  reader  will  observe  very 
little  complaint  of  the  growth  of  popery,  which 
we  shall  see  presently  was  at  a  prodigious 
height ;  but  all  the  archbishop's  artillery  is 
pointed  against  the  Puritan  clergy,  who  were 
the  most  determined  and  resolved  Protestants 
in  the  nation. 

Towards  the  close  of  this  year  came  on  the 

ferred  to  his  own  work,  entitled  "A  System  of  Eng- 
lish Ecclesiastical  Law,"  extracted  from  the  Codex, 
p.  43,  44.  But  though  these  injunclions  were  not 
formed  for  the  occasion,  the  application  of  them  at 
that  time  was  particularly  directed  against  the  lec- 
turers, who  were  pointed  at  in  ihe  king's  letter  which 
accompanied  the  injunctions,  as  persons  "  wander- 
ing up  and  down  to  the  scandal  of  iheir  calling, 
and  to  get  a  maintenance  falling  upon  such  courses 
as  were  most  unfit  for  them,  both  by  humouring  their 
auditors  and  olherways  altogether  unsufferable."  It 
is  easy  to  perceive  what  dictated  this  representation. 
"By  reason  of  these  strict  rules,"  says  Rushwortli, 
"no  lecture  whatsoever  was  admitted  to  be  a  canon- 
ical title."— Ed. 

*  It  should  be  of  Litchfield  and  Coventry,  says 
Dr.  Grey,  from  Laud's  Trials  and  Troubles,  p.  527. 
— Ed. 


famous  trial  pf  William  Prynne,  Esq.,  barrister 
at  law,  and  member  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  for  his 
Histriomasti.\,*  a  book  written  against  plays, 
masks,  dancing,  &c.  The  information  sets 
forth,  that  though  the  author  knew  that  the 
queen  and  lords  of  council  were  frequently  pres- 
ent at  those  diversions,  yet  he  had  railed  against 
these  and  several  others,  as  Maypoles,  Christ- 
mas keeping,  dressing  houses  with  ivy,  festi- 
vals, &c.  ;  that  he  had  aspersed  the  queen,  and 
commended  factious  persons  ;  which  things  are 
of  dangerous  consequence  to  the  realm  and 
state. t  The  cause  was  heard  in  the  Star  Cham- 
ber, February  7,  1633.  The  counsel  for  Mr. 
Prynne  were  Mr.  Atkyns,  afterward  a  judge 
of  the  Common  Pleas,  Mr.  Jenkins,  Holbourne, 
Heme,  and  Lightfoot.  For  the  king  was  Mr. 
Attorney-general  Noy.  The  counsel  for  the 
defendant  pleaded  that  he  had  handled  the  ar- 
gument of  stage-plays  in  a  learned  manner, 
without  designing  to  reflect  on  his  superiors  ;i 
that  the  book  had  been  licensed  according  to 
law ;  and  that  if  any  passages  may  be  con- 
strued to  reflect  on  his  majesty,  or  any  branch 


*  This  book  is  a  thick  quarto,  containing  one 
thousand  and  six  pages.  It  abounded  with  learning, 
and  had  some  curious  quotations,  but  it  was  a  very 
tedious  and  heavy  performance  ;  so  that  it  was  not 
calculated  to  invite  many  to  read  it.  This  circum- 
stance exposes  the  weakness,  as  the  severity  of  the 
sentence  against  him  does  the  wickedness,  of  those 
who  pursued  the  author  with  such  barbarity.  He 
was  a  man  of  sour  and  austere  principles,  of  great 
reading,  and  most  assiduous  application  to  study.  It 
was  supposed  that,  from  the  time  of  his  arrival  at 
man's  estate,  he  wrote  a  sheet  for  every  day  of  his 
life.  "  His  custom,"  Mr.  Wood  informs  us,  "  was, 
when  he  studied,  to  put  on  a  long  quilted  cap,  which 
came  an  inch  over  his  eyes,  serving  as  an  unbrella  to 
defend  them  from  too  much  light;  and  seldom  eat 
ing  a  dinner,  would  every  three  hours  or  more  be 
maunching  a  roll  of  bread,  and  now  and  then  refresh 
his  exhausted  spirits  with  ale."  To  this  Butler  seems 
to  allude  in  his  address  to  his  muse : 

Thou  that  with  ale  or  viler  liquors 
Didst  inspire  Withers,  Prynne,  and  Vicars  ; 
And  teach  them,  though  it  were  in  spite 
Of  nature  and  their  stars,  to  write. 

His  works  amounted  to  forty  volumes,  folio  and 
quarto.  The  most  valuable,  and  a  very  useful  per- 
formance, is  his  "  Collection  of  Records,"  in  four  large 
volumes. — Harris's  Life  of  Charles  I.,  p.  226,  227. 
Wood's  Athena  Oxon.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  315;  and  Granger's 
Biog.  Hist.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  230,  8vo.  The  prosecution  of 
Mr." Prynne  originated  with  Archbishop  Laud,  who 
on  a  Sunday  morning  went  to  Noy,  the  attorney-gen- 
eral, with  the  charges  against  him.  Prynne  had  in- 
stigated the  resentment  of  Laud  and  other  prelates 
by  his  writings  against  Arminianism  and  the  juris- 
diction of  the  bishops,  and  by  some  prohibitions  he 
had  moved  and  got  to  the  High  Commission  Court. 
"  Tantisne  animiscoslestibus  ira3." — Whiielocke's^Me- 
7noirs,  p.  18.  A  fine  copy  of  Histriomastix  is  in  the 
library  of  Yale  College.— C. 

t  Rushvvorth,  vol.  ii.,  part  ii.,  p.  221. 

X  A  passage  quoted  by  Dr.  Grey  from  Lord  Cot- 
tington's  speech,  at  the  trial  of  Mr.  Prynne,  will  af- 
ford a  specimen  of  the  spirit  and  style  of  the  Histrio- 
mastix :  "  Our  English  ladies,"  he  writes,  "  shorn 
and  frizzled  madams,  have  lost  their  modesty  ;  that 
the  devil  is  only  honoured  in  dancing ;  that  they  that 
frequent  plays  are  damned  ;  and  so  are  all  that  do 
not  concur  with  him,  in  his  Opinion,  whores,  panders, 
foul,  incarnate  devils,  Judases  to  their  Lord  and  Mas- 
ter." But  this  way  of  speaking  was  in  the  taste  of 
the  times;  and  the  speech  of  Lord  Dorset,  given 
above,  shows  that  a  nobleman  did  not  come  behind 
liim  in  severe  and  foul  language  — En. 


HISTORY  OF  THE    PURITANS. 


317 


•of  his  government,  he  humbly  begs  pardon. 
But  Mr.  Attorney  aggravated  the  charge  in  very 
severe  language,  and  pronounced  it  a  malicious 
and  dangerous  libel.  After  a  full  hearing,  he 
vi^as  sentenced  to  have  his  book  burned  by  the 
hands  of  the  common  hangman,  to  be  put  from 
the  bar,  and  to  be  forever  incapaiile  of  his  pro- 
fession, to  be  turned  out  of  the  society  of  Lin- 
■coln's  Inn,  to  be  degraded  at  Oxford,  to  stand 
in  th'e  pillory  at  Westminster  and  Gheapside, 
to  lose  both  his  ears,  one  in  each  place,  to  pay 
a  fine  of  £5000,  and  to  suffer  perpetual  impris- 
onment. Remarkable  was  the  speech  of  the 
Earl  of  Dorset  on  this  occasion:  "Mr.  Prynne," 
■says  he,  "  I  declare  you  to  be  a  schism-maker 
in  the  Church,  a  sedition-sower  in  the  common- 
wealth, a  wolf  in  sheep's  clothing  ;  in  a  word, 
omnium  malorum  nequissimus .  I  shall  fine  him 
£10,000,  which  is  more  than  he  is  worth,  yet 
less  than  he  deserves.  I  will  not  set  him  at 
liberty,  no  more  than  a  plagued  man  or  mad 
dog,  who,  though  he  can't  bite,  will  foam  :  he 
is  so  far  from  being  a  social  soul,  that  he  is  not  a 
rational  soul.  He  is  fit  to  live  in  dens  with  such 
beasts  of  prey  as  wolves  and  tigers,  like  himself; 
therefore  I  condemn  him  to  perpetual  imprison- 
ment ;  and  for  corporeal  punishment  I  would 
have  him  branded  in  the  forehead,  slit  in  the 
nose,  and  have  his  ears  chopped  off."*  A 
speech  more  fit  for  an  American  savage  than 
an  English  nobleman  ! 

A  few  months  after.  Dr.  Bastwick,  a  physi- 
cian at  Colchester,  having  published  a  book  en- 
titled "Elenchus  ReligionisPapisticae,"  with  an 
appendix  called  "  Flagellum  Pontificis  et  Epis- 
coporum  Latialium,"  which  gave  offence  to  the 
English  bishops,  because  it  denied  the  Divine 
right  of  the  order  of  bishops  above  presbyters, 
was  cited  before  the  High  Commission,  who  dis- 
carded him  from  his  profession  [1634],  excom- 
municated him,  fined  him  £1000,  and  imprison- 
ed him  till  he  recanted. t 

Mr.  Burton,  B.D.,  minister  of  Friday-street, 
having  published  two  exceptionable  sermons, 
from  Prov.,  xxiv.,  21,  22,  entitled,  "For  God 
and  the  King,"  against  the  late  innovations,  had 
his  house  and  study  broken  open  by  a  sergeant- 
at-arms,  and  himself  committed  close  prisoner 
to  the  Gate-house,  where  he  was  confined  sev- 
eral years. 

These  terrible  proceedingsj  of  the  commis- 
sioners made  many  conscientious  Nonconform- 
ists retire  with  their  families  to  Holland  and 


*  Rushworth,  vol.  ii.,  part  ii.,  p.  233,  240. 

t  Dr.  Grey's  remark  here,  as  doing  credit  to  him- 
self, deserves  to  be  quoted:  "The  severity  of  the 
sentence,"  says  the  doctor,  "  I  am  far  from  iustifv- 
ing."— Ed.  •■        ^ 

%  "  The  punishment  of  these  men,  who  were  of 
three  great  professions,"  says  Mr.  Granger,  "  was  ig- 
nominious and  severe :  though  they  were  never  ob- 
jects of  esteem,  they  soon  became  objects  of  pity. 
The  indignity  and  severity  of  their  punishment  gave 
general  offence,  and  they  were  no  longer  regarded  as 
criminals,  but  confessors."  While  these  persecutions 
were  carried  on  with  unrelenting  severity,  Chowney, 
a  fierce  papist,  who  wrote  a  book  in  defence  of  the 
popish  religion  and  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  averring 
it  to  be  the  true  Church,  was  not  only  not  punished, 
or  even  questioned  for  his  performance,  but  was  per- 
mitted to  dedicate  it  to  the  archbishop,  and  it  was 
favoured  with  his  patronage. — Granger's  Biogr.  Hist., 
vol.  ii.,  p.  192;  and  Whitelocke's  Memoirs,  p.  211. 
— Ed. 


New-England,  for  fear  of  falling  into  the  hands 
of  men  whose  tender  mercies  were  cruelty.* 

Among  others  who  went  over  this  year  was 
the  reverend  and  learned  Mr.  John  Cotton,  B.D., 
fellow  of  Emanuel  College,  Cambridge,  and  min- 
ister of  Boston,  in  Lincolnshire,  where  he  was 
in  such  repute  that  Dr.  Preston  and  others  from 
Cambridge  frequently  visited  him  ;  he  was  an 
admired  preacher,  and  of  a  most  meek  and  gen- 
tle disposition  ;  he  became  a  Nonconformist 
upon  this  principle.  That  no  church  had  power 
to  impose  indifferent  ceremonies,  not  command- 
ed by  Christ,  on  the  consciences  of  men.t  He 
therefore  omitted  some  of  the  ceremonies,  and 
administered  the  sacrament  to  such  as  de- 
sired it  without  kneeling,  for  which  he  was  in- 
formed against  in  the  High  Commission,  and 
Laud  being  now  at  the  head  of  affairs,  the  Bish- 
op of  Lincoln,  his  diocesan,  could  not  protect 
him.  Mr.  Cotton  applied  to  the  Earl  of  Dorset 
for  his  interest  with  the  archbishop,  but  the 
earl  sent  him  word  that  "if  he  had  been  guilty 
of  drunkenness,  uncleanness,  or  any  such  less- 
er fault,  he  could  have  got  his  pardon  ;  but  the 
sin  of  Puritanism  and  Nonconformity,"  says  his 
lordship,  "is  unpardonable,  and,  therefore,  you 
must  fly  for  your  safety."  Upon  this  he  travel- 
led to  London  in  disguise,  and  took  passage  for 
New-England,  where  he  arrived  September  3, 
1633,  and  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days,  to 
the  year  1652. 

Mr.  John  Davenport,  B.D.,  and  vicar  of  Cole- 
raan-street,  London,  resigned  his  living  and  re- 
tired to  Holland  this  summer,  1633. t  He  had 
fallen  under  the  resentments  of  his  diocesan, 
Bishop  Laud,  for  being  concerned  in  the  feoff- 
ments, which,  together  with  some  notices  he 
received  of  being  prosecuted  for  nonconformity, 
induced  him  to  embark  for  Amsterdam,  where 
he  continued  about  three  years,  and  then  re- 
turning to  England,  he  shipped  himself,  with 
some  other  families,  for  New-England,  where 
he  began  the  settlement  of  New-Haven,  in  the 
year  1637.  He  was  a  good  scholar  and  an  ad- 
mired preacher,  but  underwent  great  hardships 
in  the  mfant  colony,  with  whom  he  continued 
till  about  the  year  1670,  when  he  died. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Thomas  Hooker,  fellow  of 
Emanuel  College,  Cambridge,  and  lecturer  of 
Chelmsford,  in  Essex,  after  four  years'  exer- 
cise of  his  ministry,  was  obliged  to  lay  it  down 
for  nonconformity,  though  twenty-seven  con- 
formable ministers  in  the  neighbourhood  sub- 
scribed a  petition  to  the  bishop  [Laud],  in  which 
they  declare  that  Mr.  Hooker  was,  for  doctrine, 
orthodox ;  for  life  and  conversation,  honest ; 
for  disposition,  peaceable  ;  and  in  no  wise  tur- 
bulent or  factious.*)  Notwithstanding  which, 
he  was  silenced  by  the  spiritual  court,  1630,  and 
bound  in  a  recognisance  of  £50  to  appear  be- 
fore the  High  Commission  ;  but  by  the  advice 
of  his  friends  he  forfeited  his  recognisance  and 
fled  to  Holland  ;  here  he  continued  about  two 


*  Is  it  any  matter  of  surprise  that  our  pilgrim  fa- 
thers in  New-England  had  "  prejudices  against  epis- 
copacy," after  they  witnessed  these  prelatical  pranks 
from  the  head  of  the  Church  ?  Ought  not  their  pos- 
terity to  be  alarmed  when  ministers  of  the  Episco- 
pal Church,  in  New-England  at  the  present  time, 
eulogize  this  tormentor-general  ? — C. 

t  Mather's  Hist.  N.  E.,  b.  iii.,  p.  18,  &c. 

X  Ibid.,  b.  iii.,  p.  52,  ^  Ibid.,  b.  iii.,  p.  60. 


318 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


years  fellow-labourer  with  old  Mr.  Forbes,  a 
Scotsman,  at  Delft,  from  whence  he  was  called 
to  assist  Dr.  Ames  at  Rotteriiarn,  upon  whose 
death  he  returned  to  England,  and  being  pur- 
sued by  the  bishop's  officers  from  place  to  place, 
he  embarked  this  summer  for  New-England, 
and  settled  with  his  friends  upon  the  banks  of 
the  Connecticut  River,  where  he  died  in  the 
year  1647.  He  was  an  awakening  preacher, 
and  a  considerable  practical  writer,  as  appears 
by  his  books  of  Preparation  for  Christ,  Contri- 
tion, Humiliation,  d:c. 

The  reverend  and  learned  Dr.  William  Ames, 
educated  at  Cambridge,  under  the  famous  Mr. 
Perkins,  fled  from  the  persecution  of  Archbish- 
op Bancroft,  and  became  minister  of  the  Eng- 
lish church  at  the  Hague,  from  whence  he  was 
invited  by  the  states  of  Friesland  to  the  divini- 
ty-chair in  the  University  of  Franeker,  which 
he  filled  with  universal  reputation  for  twelve 
years.  He  was  in  the  Synod  of  Dort,  and  in- 
formed King  James's  ambassador  at  the  Hague, 
from  time  to  time,  of  the  debates  of  that  ven- 
erable assembly.  He  wrote  several  treatises 
in  Latin  against  the  Arminians,  which,  for 
their  conciseness  and  perspicuity,  were  not 
equalled  by  any  of  his  time.  His  other  works 
are  Manuductio  Logica,  Medulla  Theologiee, 
Cases  of  Conscience,  Analysis  on  the  Book  of 
Psalms,  Notes  on  the  First  and  Second  Epistles 
of  Peter,  and  upon  the  Catechistical  Heads. 
After  twelve  years  Dr.  Ames  resigned  his  pro- 
fessorship, and  accepted  of  an  invitation  to  the 
English  congregation  at  Rotterdam,  the  air  of 
Franeker  being  too  sharp  for  him,  he  being 
troubled  with  such  a  difficulty  of  breathing  that 
he  concluded  every  winter  would  be  his  last ; 
besides,  he  had  a  desire  to  be  employed  in  the 
delightful  work  of  preaching  to  his  own  coun- 
trymen, which  he  had  disused  for  many  years. 
Upon  his  removal  to  Rotterdam  he  wrote  his 
"  Fresh  Suit  against  Ceremonies ;"  but  his 
constitution  was  so  shattered  that  the  air  of 
Holland  did  him  no  service  ;  upon  which  he 
determined  to  remove  to  New-England,  but  his 
asthma  returning  at  the  beginning  of  the  win- 
ter before  he  sailed,  put  an  end  to  his  life  at 
Rotterdam,  where  he  was  buried  November  14, 
N.S.,  1633.  Next  spring  his  wife  and  children 
embarked  for  New-England,  and  carried  with 
them  his  valuable  library  of  books,  which  was 
a  rich  treasure  to  the  country  at  that  time. 
The  doctor  was  a  very  learned  divine,  a  strict 
Calvinist  in  doctrine,  and  of  the  persuasion  of 
the  Independents,  with  regard  to  the  subordi- 
nation and  power  of  classes  and  synods.* 

Archbishop  Laud,  being  now  cliancellor  of 
the  University  of  Dublin,  and  having  a  new 
vice-chancellor  [Wentworth]  disposed  to  serve 
the  purposes  of  the  prerogative,  turned  his 
thoughts  against  the  Calvinists  of  that  king- 

*  He  filled  the  divinity-chair  with  admirable  abili- 
ties. His  fame  was  so  great  that  many  came  from 
remote  nations  to  be  educated  under  him.  In  "  An 
Historical  and  Critical  Account  of  Hugh  Peters," 
London,  1751,  is  a  quotation  from  a  piece  of  his  in 
these  words  :  "  Learned  Amesius  breathed  his  last 
breath  into  my  bosom,  who  left  his  professorship  in 
Friezland  to  live  with  me,  because  of  my  church's 
independency  at  Rotterdam.  He  was  my  colleague. 
and  chosen  brother  to  the  church,  wlere  1  was  an 
unworthy  pastor."— Gra/ie'r's  History  of  England, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  198,  199,  8vo.— Ed. 


dom,  resolving  to  bring  the  Church  of  Ireland 
to  adopt  the  articles  of  the  Church  of  England. 
Archbishop  Usher,  and  some  of  his  brethren, 
being  informed  of  his  design,  moved  in  convo- 
cation that  their  own  articles,  ratified  by  King 
James  in  the  year  1615,  might  be  confirmed  ; 
but  the  motion  was  rejected,  because  it  was 
said  they  were  already  fortified  with  all  the  au- 
thority the  Church  could  give  them,  and  that  a 
farther  confirmation  would  imply  a  defect.  It 
was  then  moved  on  the  other  side,  that  for 
silencing  the  popish  objections  of  a  disagree- 
ment among  Protestants,  a  canon  should  be 
passed  for  approving  the  articles  of  the  Church 
of  England,  which  was  done  only  with  one 
dissenting  voice  ;  one  Calvinist,  says  Mr.  Coll- 
yer,  having  looked  deeper  into  the  matter  than 
the  rest. 

The  canon  was  in  these  words  :  "  For  the 
manifestation  of  our  agreement  with  the  Church 
of  England,  in  the  confession  of  the  same 
Christian  faith  and  doctrine  of  the  sacrament, 
we  do  receive  and  approve  the  book  of  articles 
of  religion  agreed  upon  by  the  archbishops  and 
bishops,  &c.,  in  the  year  1562,  for  the  avoiding 
diversity  of  opinions,  and  for  establishing  con- 
sent touching  true  religion  ;  and,  therefore,  if 
any  hereafter  shall  affirm  that  any  of  these  ar- 
ticles are  in  any  part  superstitious  or  erroneous, 
or  such  as  he  may  not  with  a  good  conscience 
subscribe  unto,  let  him  he  excommunicated."* 

The  Irish  bishops  thought  they  had  lost  no- 
thing by  this  canon,  because  they  had  saved 
their  own  articles,  but  Laud  took  advantage  of 
it  during  the  time  of  his  chancellorship ;  for 
hereby  the  Church  of  Ireland  denounced  the 
sentence  of  excommunication  against  all  that 
affirmed  any  of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  to  be 
superstitious  or  erroneous,  that  is,  against  the 
whole  body  of  the  Puritans  ;  and  Fullert  adds, 
that  their  own  articles,  which  condemned  Ar- 
minianism,  and  maintained  the  morality  of  the 
Sabbath,  were  utterly  excluded. 

This  summer  the  R,everend  Mr.  Thomas 
Sheppard,t  A.M.,  fled  to  New-England.  He  had 
been  lecturer  at  Earl's-Coln,  in  Essex,  several 
years,  but  when  Laud  became  Bishop  of  London 
his  lecture  was  put  down,  and  himself  silenced; 
he  then  retired  into  the  family  of  a  private  gen- 
tleman, but  the  bishop's  officers  following  him 
thither,  he  travelled  into  Yorkshire,  where 
Neile,  archbishop  of  that  province,  commanded 
him  to  subscribe  or  depart  the  country ;  upon 
this  he  went  to  Hedon,  in  Northumberland, 
where  his  labours  were  prospered  to  the  con- 
version of  some  souls,  but  the  Bishop  of  Dur- 
ham, by  the  direction  of  Archbishop  Laud,  for- 
bade his  preaching  in  any  part  of  his  diocess, 
which  obliged  him  to  take  shipping  at  Yar- 
mouth for  New-England,  where  he  continued 
pastor  of  the  church  at  Cambridge  till  his  death, 
which  happened  August  25,  1649,  in  the  forty- 
fourth  year  of  his  age  ^  He  was  a  hard  stu- 
dent, exemplary  Christian,  and  an  eminent  prac- 
tical writer,  as  appears  by  his  "  Sincere  Con- 
vert," and  other  practical  works  that  go  under 
his  name. II 


*  Bib.  Keg.,  ^  xiii.,  p.  13. 

■\  Church  History,  b.  xi...  p.  149. 

i  The  family  papers  give  the  name  Shepard.—C 

<)  Mather's  Hist.  New-England,  b.  lii.,  p.  8G,  &c. 

II  When  the  Anlinomian  and  Famiiistic  errors 


HISTOK.Y    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


319 


The  Reverend  Mr.  John  Norton  went  over  in 
the  same  ship  with  Mr.  Sheppard,*  being  driven 
out  of  Hertfordshire  by  the  severity  of  the 
times.  He  settled  at  Ipswich,  in  New-Eng- 
land, and  was  afterward  removed  to  Boston, 
where  he  died  in  the  year  1665. t  Mr.  Fuller 
says  he  was  a  divine  of  no  less  learning  than 
modesty,  as  appears  sufficiently  by  his  numer- 
ous writings. 

His  grace  of  Canterbury,  having  made  some 
powerful  efforts  to  bring  the  churches  of  Scot- 
land and  Ireland  to  a  uniformity  with  England, 
resolved,  in  his  metropolitan  visitation  this  sum- 
mer, to  reduce  the  Dutch  and  French  churches 
(which  were  ten  in  flumber,  having  between 
five  and  six  thousand  communicants)  to  the 
same  conformity  ;  for  this  purpose  he  tendered 
them  these  three  articles  of  inquiry. 

1.  "  Whether  do  you  use  the  Dutch  or  French 
liturgy  1 

2.  •'  Of  how  many  descents  are  you  since  you 
came  into  England  ! 

3.  "  Do  such  as  are  born  here  in  England 
conform  to  the  English  ceremonies'!" 

The  ministers  and  elders  demurred  upon 
these  questions,  and  insisted  upon  their  charter 
of  privileges  granted  by  King  Edward  VI.,  and 
confirmed  no  less  than  five  times  m  the  reign 
of  King  James,  and  twice  by  King  Charles  him- 
self, by  virtue  of  which  they  had  been  exempt 
from  all  archiepiscopal  and  episcopal  jurisdic- 

broke  out  in  Boston  and  its  vicinity,  Mr.  Shepard, 
by  his  exertions,  was  the  happy  means  of  stopping 
this  infectious  malady.  He  was  an  e.xcellent  preach- 
er, and  took  great  pains  in  his  preparations  for  the 
pulpit.  He  used  to  say,  "  God  will  cur.se  that  man's 
labo-us  who  goes  idly  up  and  down  all  the  week,  and 
thei.  goes  into  his  study  on  a  Saturday  afternoon. 
God  knows  that  we  have  not  too  much  time  to  pray 
in,  and  weep  in,  and  get  our  hearts  into  a  fit  frame 
for  the  duties  of  the  Sabbath."  His  most  celebrated 
production  is  on  the  "  Parable  of  the  Ten  Virgins," 
which  contains  a  rich  fund  of  experimental  and  prac- 
tical divinity.  Fuller  gives  Mr.  Shepard  a  place 
among  the  learned  writers  v.'ho  were  fellows  of 
Emanuel  College,  Cambridge.  His  son  and  grand- 
son were,  in  succession,  pastors  of  the  church  at 
Charlestown. — C. 

*  Mather's  Hist,  of  New-England,  p.  34. 

t  Mr.  Norton  and  Simon  Bradstreet,  Esq.,  were 
sent  to  England  as  agents  of  the  colony,  on  the  res- 
toration of  Charles  If,  with  an  a'ddress  to  his  majes- 
ty soliciting  the  continuance  of  their  privileges.  This 
address  contains  the  following  passage  :  "  To  enjoy 
our  liberty,  and  to  walk  according  lo  the  faith  and 
order  of  the  Gospel,  was  the  caiise  of  us  transplantincr 
ourselves,  with  our  wives,  our  little  ones,  and  oul- 
substance ;  choosing  the  pure  Scripture  worship, 
with  a  good  conscience,  in  this  remote  wilderness' 
rather  than  the  pleasures  of  England,  with  submis- 
sion to  the  impositions  of  the  hierarchy,  to  which 
we  could  not  yield  without  an  evil  conscience.  We 
are  not  seditious  to  the  interests  of  C«sar,  nor 
schismatical  in  matters  of  religion.  We  distinonish 
between  churches  and  their  impurities.  We  could 
not  live  without  the  pulilic  worship  of  God,  but  were 
not  allowed  to  observe  it  without  such  a  yoke  of  su- 
perstition and  conformity  as  we  could  not  consent  to 
with')Ut  sin." — ■  Massachuselts  Papers,  p.  345-371.  [ 
hope  the  reader  will  compare  this  serious  statement, 
at  the  foot  of  the  throne,  with  ihefla'^rant  misrepre- 
sejUatinns  and  dfliberalK  perversions  of  kistnry  to  be 
found  on  pages  337-8-9  of  the  "  Double  Witness  of 
the  Church,"  by  the  Rev.  W.  I.  Kipp,  1843,  than 
which,  a  more  specious  yet  audacious  attack  on  the 
large  majority  of  professing  Christians  in  this  coun- 
try^  has  never  appeared. — C. 


tion  till  this  time ;  yet  Laud,  without  any  re- 
gard to  their  charter,  sent  them  the  two  follow- 
ing injunctions  by  his  vicar-general  : 

1.  "That  all  that  were  horn  in  England  of 
the  Dutch  and  Walloon  congregations  should 
repair  to  their  parish  churches. 

2.  "  That  those  who  were  not  natives,  but 
came  from  abroad,  while  they  remained  stran- 
gers, might  use  their  own  discipline  as  for- 
merly." 

In  this  emergency  the  Dutch  and  Walloon 
churches  petitioned  for  a  toleration,  and  show- 
ed the  inconveniences  that  would  arise  from 
the  archbishop's  injunctions  ;  as,  that  if  all  their 
children  born  in  England  were  taken  from  their 
communion,  their  churches  must  break  up  and 
return  home  ;  for  as  they  came  into  England 
for  the  liberty  of  their  consciences,  they  would 
not  continue  here  after  it  was  taken  from  them.* 
They  desired,  therefore,  it  might  be  considered 
what  damages  would  arise  to  the  kingdom  by 
driving  away  the  foreigners  with  their  manu- 
factures, and  discouraging  others  from  settling 
in  their  room.  The  mayor  and  corporation  of 
Canterbury  assured  his  grace  that  above  twelve 
hundred  of  their  poor  were  maintained  by  the 
foreigners,  and  others  interceded  with  the  king 
in  their  favour ;  but  his  majesty  answered,  "  We 
must  believe  our  Archbishop  of  Canterbury," 
who  used  their  deputies  very  roughly,  calling 
them  a  nest  of  schismatics,  and  telling  them  it 
were  better  to  have  no  foreign  churches  than 
to  indulge  their  nonconformity.  In  conclusion, 
he  assured  them,  by  a  letter  dated  August  19, 
1635,  that  his  majesty  was  resolved  his  injunc- 
tions should  be  observed,  viz.,  That  all  their 
children  of  the  second  descent,  born  in  England, 
should  resort  to  their  parish  churches  ;t  "  and," 
says  his  grace,  "  I  do  expect  all  obedience  and 
conformity  from  you,  and  if  you  refuse,  I  shall 
proceed  against  the  natives  according  to  the 
laws  and  canons  ecclesiastical."  Accordingly, 
some  of  their  churches  were  interdicted,  others 
shut  up  and  the  assemblies  dissolved;  their 
ministers  being  suspended,  many  of  their  peo- 
ple left  the  kingdom,  especially  in  the  diocess 
of  Norwich,  where  Bishop  Wren  drove  away 
three  thousand  manufacturers  in  wool,  cloth, 
&c.,  some  of  whom  employed  a  hundred  poor 
people  at  work,  to  the  unspeakable  damage  of 
the  kingdom. 

As  a  farther  mark  of  disregard  to  the  foreign 
Protestants,  the  king's  ambassador  in  France 
was  forbidden  to  frequent  their  religious  assem- 
blies. "  It  had  been  customary,"  says  Lord 
Clarendon,  "  for  the  ambassadors  employed  in 
any  parts  where  the  reformed  religion  was  ex- 
ercised, to  frequent  their  churches,  and  to  hold 
correspondence  with  the  most  powerful  persons 
of  that  religion,  particularly  the  English  ambas- 
sadors at  Paris  constantly  frequented  the  church 
at  Charenton  ;  but  the  contrary  to  this  was  now- 
practised,  and  some  advertisements,  if  not  in- 
structions, given  to  the  ambassador,  to  forbear 
any  commerce  with  the  men  of  that  religion. 

*  It  is  said  that  Richelieu  made  the  following 
speech  on  this  exacted  conformity  :  "  If  a  king  of 
England,  who  is  a  Protestant,  will  not  permit  two 
disciplines  in  his  kingdom,  why  should  a  kmg  of 
France,  who  is  a  papist,  admit  two  religions  ?" — 
Mrs.  Macaulay's  History  of  England,  vol.  if,  p.  145, 
note,  8vo. — En. 

t  Rushworth,  vol.  ii.,  part  11.,  p.  273. 


320 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


Lord  Scudamore,  who  was  the  last  ambassador 
before  the  beginning  of  the  Long  Parliament, 
instead  of  going  to  Charenton,  furnished  his 
chapel  after  the  new  fashion,  with  candles  upon 
the  altar,  &c.,  and  took  care  to  publish,  upon 
all  occasions,  that  the  Church  of  England  look- 
ed not  on  the  Huguenots  as  a  part  of  their  com- 
munion, which  was  lilcewise  industriously  dis- 
coursed at  home.  This  made  a  great  many  for- 
eign Protestants  leave  the  kingdom,  and  trans- 
port themselves  into  foreign  parts."  The  Church 
of  England  by  this  means  lost  the  esteem  of  the 
Keformed  churches  abroad,  who  could  hardly 
pity  her,  when  a  few  years  after  she  sunk  down 
into  the  deepest  distress. 

To  give  another  instance  of  the  archbishop's 
disaffection  to  the  foreign  Protestants,  the  Queen 
of  Bohemia,  the  king's  sister,  solicited  the  king, 
in  the  most  pressing  manner,  to  admit  of  a  pub- 
lic collection  over  England  for  the  poor  perse- 
cuted ministers  of  the  Palatinate,  who  were  ban- 
ished their  country  for  their  religion.  Accord- 
ingly, the  king  granted  them  a  brief  to  go  through 
the  kingdom  ;  but  when  it  was  brought  to  the 
archbishop  he  excepted  against  the  following 
clause  :*  "  Whose  cases  are  the  more  to  be  de- 
plored, because  this  extremity  has  fallen  upon 
them  for  their  sincerity  and  constancy  in  the 
true  religion,  which  we  together  with  them  pro- 
fessed, and  which  we  are  all  bound  in  con- 
science to  maintain  to  the  utmost  of  our  powers. 
Whereas  these  religious  and  godly  persons,  be- 
ing involved  among  others  their  countrymen, 
might  have  enjoyed  their  estates  and  fortunes, 
if  with  other  backsliders  in  the  times  of  trial 
they  would  have  submitted  themselves  to  the 
anti-Christian  yoke,  and  have  renounced  or  dis- 
sembled the  profession  of  their  religion."  His 
grace  had  two  exceptions  to  this  passage:  1. 
The  religion  of  the  Palatine  churches  is  affirm- 
ed to  be  the  same  with  ours,  which  he  denied, 
because  they  were  Calvinists,  and  because  their 
ministers  had  not  episcopal  ordination.  2.  He 
objected  to  the  Church  of  Rome's  being  called 
an  anti-Christian  yoke,  because  it  would  then 
follow  that  she  was  in  no  capacity  to  convey 
sacerdotal  power  in  ordinations,  and,  conse- 
quently, the  benefit  of  the  priesthood,  and  the 
force  of^  holy  ministrations,  would  be  lost  in  the 
English  Church,  forasmuch  as  she  has  no  or- 
ders but  what  she  derives  from  the  Church  of 
Rome.  Laud  having  acquainted  the  king  with 
his  exceptions,  they  were  expunged  in  another 
draught.  But  the  collection  not  succeeding  in 
this  way,  Dr.  Sibbes,  Gouge,  and  other  divines 
of  the  Puritan  party,  signed  a  private  recom- 
mendatory letter,  desiring  their  friends  to  en- 
large their  charity,  as  to  men  of  the  same  faith 
and  profession  with  themselves,  and  promising 
to  see  to  the  right  distribution  of  the  money  ; 
but  as  soon  as  Laud  heard  of  it,  he  cited  the 
divines  before  the  High  Commission,  and  put  a 
stop  to  the  collection. 

This  year  [1634]  put  an  end  to  the  life  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Hugh  Clarke,  born  at  Burton-upon- 
Trent,  1563,  and  educated  partly  at  Cambridge 
and  partly  at  Oxford.  He  was  first  minister 
of  Oundle,  in  Northamptonshire,  and  then  of 
Woolston,  in  Warwickshire,  from  whence  he 
was  suspended,  and  afterward  excommunicated 
for  expounding  upon  the  catechism.    At  length 


he  was  indicted  for  high  treason,  because  he 
had  prayed  "  that  God  would  forgive  the  queen 
[Elizabeth]  her  sins,"*  but  was  acquitted.  He 
was  an  awakening  preacher,  of  a  warm  spirit, 
and  a  robust  constitution,  which  he  wore  out 
with  preaching  twice  every  Lord's  Day,  and 
frequently  on  the  week  days.  His  ministry 
met  with  great  success  even  to  his  death,  which 
happened  November  6,  1634,  in  the  seventy- 
second  year  of  his  age.t 

About  the  same  time  died  the  reverend  and 
pious  Mr.  John  Carter,  a  man  that  feared  God 
from  his  youth,  and  was  always  employed  in 
acts  of  devotion  and  charity.  He  was  born  in 
Kent,  1554,  and  educated  in  Clare  Hall,  Cam- 
bridge. He  was  first  minister  of  Bramford,  in 
Suffolk,  for  thirty-four  years,  and  then  rector 
of  Bedstead,  in  the  same  county ;  and  though 
often  in  trouble  for  his  nonconformity,  he  made 
a  shift,  by  the  assistance  of  friends,  to  maintain 
his  lib.erty  without  any  sinful  compliance. t  He 
was  mighty  in  prayer,  frequent  and  fervent  in 
preaching,  and  a  resolute  champion  against 
popery,  Arminianism,  and  the  new  ceremonies. 
He  lived  to  a  good  old  age,  and  died  suddenly, 
as  he  was  lying  down  to  sleep,  in  the  eightieth 
year  of  his  age,  greatly  lamented  by  all  who 


*  Gyp.  Ang.,  CoUyer,  vol.  ii.,  p.  764,  765. 


t  Here  Bishop  Warburton  censures  Mr.  Neal  as 
guilty  of  "an  unfair  representation."  His  lordship 
adds,  "  that  they  were  the  sins  of  persecuting  the 
holy  discipline  which  he  prayed  for  the  remission  of ; 
and  that  reflecting  on  her  administration  was  the 
thing  which  gave  offence."  The  bishop  is  certainly 
right  in  this  construction  of  Mr.  Clarke's  prayer  ;  but 
there  is  no  occasion,  methinks,  for  tlw  charge  he 
brings  against  Mr.  Neal,  who  does  not  refer  the  ex- 
pression, or  insinuate  that  it  was  to  be  referred,  to 
the  personal  vices  of  the  queen,  but  rather  the  con- 
trary, for  he  speaks  of  it  as  the  ground  on  which  Mr. 
Clarke  was  indicted  for  high  treason.  He  might  as 
well  suppose  that  his  reader  would  understand  the 
language  as  pointing  to  the  oppressions  of  her  gov- 
ernment, and  the  severities  which  the  Puritans  suf- 
fered under  it.  This  would  have  been  perfectly  clear, 
had  Mr.  Neal  added  from  his  author,  that  this  prayer, 
though  in  modest  expressions,  was  offered  up  when 
the  persecution  of  the  Nonconformists  was  becoming 
hot. — Ed. 

t  Clarke's  Lives  annexed  to  his  General  Martyr- 
ology,  p.  127.  He  was  the  father  of  Rev.  Samuel 
Clarke,  of  Bennet  Fink,  the  author  of  the  General 
Martyrology,  and  the  biographer  of  the  Puritans. 
Almost  all  we  know*of  some  of  the  best  men  of  that 
age  we  have  received  from  his  voluminous  biogra- 
phies.    He  has  great  claims  on  our  gratitude. — C. 

t  Mr.  Carter's  chief  trials  proceeded  from  Bishop 
Wren,  who  was  successively  Bishop  of  Hereford, 
Norwich,  and  Ely,  a  prelate  of  most  intolerant  prin- 
ciples, and  too  much  inclined  to  the  oppressions  and 
superstitions  of  popery.  While  he  sat  in  the  chair 
of  Norwich,  he  proceeded,  according  to  Clarendon, 
"  so  warmly  and  passionately  against  the  dissenting 
congregations,  that  many  left  the  kingdom,''  to  the 
unspeakable  injury  of  the  manufactories  of  this  coun- 
try. His  portrait  was  published  and  prefixed  to  a 
book  entitled  "  Wren's  Anatomy,  discovering  his  no- 
torious Pranks,  &c.,  printed  in  the  year  when  Wren 
ceased  to  domineer,"  1641.  In  this  portrait  the 
bishop  is  represented  sitting  at  a  table,  with  two  la- 
bels proceeding  from  his  mouth,  one  of  which  is  in- 
scribed "  Canonical  Prayers,"  the  other,  "  No  Af 
ternoon  Sermons."  On  one  side  stand  several  cler- 
gymen, over  whose  heads  is  written  "  Altar  Crin- 
ging Priests."  On  the  other  side,  two  men  in  lay  hab- 
its, above  whom  is  this  inscription,  "  Church-war- 
dens for  Articles."— Pryrane's  Cant.  Doom,  p.  531. 
Clarendon's  Hist. ,  vol.  ii. ,  p.  74.  Granger's  Biog.  Hist. , 
vol.  ii.,  p.  157.— C. 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


321 


had  a  taste  for  practical  religion  and  undissem- 
bled  piety.*  His  funeral  sermon  was  preached 
•jefore  a  vast  concourse  of  people,  from  these 
tvords,  "  My  father,  my  father,  the  chariots  of 
Israel,  and  the  horsemen  thereof!" 

Conformity  to  the  new  ceremonies  and  the 
king's  injunctions  was  now  pressed  with  the 
utmost  rigour.  Tiie  Rev.  Mr.  Crook,  of  Brazen- 
nose  College,  and  Mr.  Hobbes,  of  Trinity  Col- 
lege, Oxford,  were  enjoined  a  public  recantation 
for  reflecting  upon  the  Arminians. 

Mr.  Samuel  Ward,  of  Ipswich,  having  preach- 
ed against  the  Book  of  Sports,  and  bowing  at 
the  name  of  Jesus,  added,  that  the  Church  of 
England  was  ready  to  ring  changes  in  religion  ; 
and  that  the  Gospel  stood  a  tiptoe,  ready  to  be 
gone  to  America  ;t  for  which  he  was  suspended, 
and  enjoined  a  public  recantation.  Another 
underwent  the  same  censure  for  saying  it  was 
suspicious  that  the  night  was  approaching,  be- 
cause the  shadows  were  so  much  longer  than 
the  body,  and  ceremonies  more  enforced  than 
the  power  of  godliness. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Chauncey,  late  minister  of 
Ware,  but  now  of  Marston  Lawrence,  in  the 
diocess  of  Peterborough,  was  imprisoned,  con- 
demned in  cost  of  suit,  and  obliged  to  read  the 
following  recantation  for  opposing  the  railing 
in  the  communion-table : 

"  Whereas  I,  Charles  Chauncey,  clerk,  late 
Vicar  of  Ware,  stand  convicted  for  opposing 
the  setting  up  a  rail  round  |the  communion-ta- 
ble, and  for  saying  it  was  an  innovation,  a  snare 
to  men's  consciences,  a  breach  of  the  "second 
commandment,  an  addition  to  God's  worship, 
and  that  which  drove  me  from  the  place,  I  do 
now,  before  this  honourable  court,  acknowledge 
iny  great  offence,  and  protest  I  am  ready  to  de- 
clare upon  oath,  that  I  am  now  persuaded  in 
my  conscience,  that  kneeling  at  the  communion 
is  a  lawful  and  commendable  gesture  ;  that  the 
rail  is  a  decent  and  convenient  ornament,  and 
that  I  was  much  to  blame  for  opposing  it ;  and 
do  promise  from  henceforth,  never  by  word  or 
deed  to  oppose  that,  or  any  other  laudable  rites 
and  ceremonies  used  in  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land."t 

After  this  he  was  judicially  admonished  and 
discharged  ;  but  the  recantation  went  so  much 
against  his  conscience,  that  he  could  enjoy  no 
peace  till  he  had  quitted  the  Church  of  England, 
and  retired  to  New-England,  where  he  made 
an  open  acknowledgment  of  his  sin. 

The  church-wardens  of  Beckington,  in  Som- 
ersetshire, were  excommunicated  by  the  Bishop 
of  Bath  and  Wells,  for  refusing  to  remove  the 
communion-table  from  the  middle  of  the  chancel 
to  the  east  end,  and  not  pulling  down  the  seats 
to  make  room  for  it.  They  produced  a  certifi- 
cate that  their  communion-table  had  stood  time 
out  of  mind  in  the  midst  of  the  chancel ;  that 
the  ground  on  which  it  was  placed  was  raised 
a  foot,  and  enclosed  with  a  decent  wainscot  bor- 
der, and  that  none  went  within  it  but  the  min- 
ister, and  such  as  he  required.  This  not  avail- 
ing, they  appealed  to  the  Arches,  and  at  last  to 
the  king  ;  but  their  appeal  was  rejected.   After 


*  Ut  supra,  p.  132. 

t  llushworth,  vol.  ii.,  part  ii.,  p.  285.    Prynne,  p. 

t  Prynne,  p.  95,  97, 100.    Rushworth,  vol.  ii.,  part 
ii.,  p.  301,  316. 
Vol.  I.— S  s 


they  had  remained  excommunicated  for  a  year, 
they  were  cast  into  the  common  jail,  where  they 
continued  till  the  year  1637,  and  were  then  obli- 
ged to  do  public  penance  in  the  parish  church  of 
Beckington,  and  two  otliers,  the  shame  of  which 
broke  their  hearts  ;  one  of  them  declaring  upon 
his  death-bed  soon  after,  that  the  penance  and 
submission,  so  much  against  his  conscience, 
had  sunk  his  spirits,  and  was  one  principal  cause 
of  his  death.* 

In  the  archbishop's  metropolitical  visitation 
this  summer,  Mr.  Lee,  one  of  the  prebendaries 
of  Litchfield,  was  suspended  for  churching  re- 
fractory women  in  private,  for  being  averse  to 
the  good  orders  of  the  Church,  and  for  ordering 
the  bellman  to  give  notice  in  open  market  of  a 
sermon. t,  Mr.  Randal,  of  Tuddington,  near 
Hampton  Court,  Middlesex,  was  suspended  for 
preaching  a  sermon  above  an  hour  long  on  Sun- 
day in  the  afternoon,  though  it  was  a  farewell 
sermon  to  the  exercise  of  catechising.  His 
grace's  account  of  his  province  this  year  gives 
a  farther  relation  of  the  sufferings  of  the  Puri- 
tans 4  he  acquaints  his  majesty  that  the  French 
and  Dutch  churches  had  not  as  yet  thoroughly 
complied  with  his  injunctions.  That  in  the  dio- 
cess  of  London,  Dr.  Houghton,  rector  of  Alder- 
manbury,  Mr.  Simpson,  curate  and  lecturer  of 
St.  Margaret,  Fish-street,  Mr.  John  Goodwin, 
vicar  of  Coleman-street,  and  Mr.  Viner  of  St. 
Lawrence,  Old  Jewry,  had  been  convened  for 
breach  of  canons,  and  had  'submitted ;  to  whom 
his  grace  might  have  added,  Dr.  Sibbes,  Dr. 
Taylor,  Dr.  Gouge,  Mr.  White,  of  Dorsetshire, 
and  about  twenty  more  ;  some  of  whom  fled 
into  Holland,  and  others  retired  into  New-Eng- 
land. The  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells  certified 
that  he  had  not  one  single  lecture  in  any  corpo- 
ration town,  and  that  all  afternoon  sermons 
were  turned  into  catechisings  in  all  parishes. 
In  the  diocess  of  Norwich  vwre  many  Puritans, 
but  that  Mr.  Ward  of  Yarmouth  was  in  the 
High  Commission.  From  the  diocess  of  Laln- 
dafT,  Mr.  Wroth  and  Mr.  Erbury,  two  noted 
schismatics,  were  brought  before  the  High  Com- 
mission. And  that  in  the  diocess  of  Glouces- 
ter were  several  popular  and  factious  minis- 
ters. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  the  zeal  of  the  Pu- 
ritans was  not  always  well  regulated,  nor  were 
their  ministers  so  much  on  their  guard  in  the 
pulpit  or  conversation  as  they  ought,  consider- 
ing the  number  of  informers  that  entered  all 
their  churches,  that  insinuated  themselves  into 
all  public  conversation,  and,  like  so  many  lo- 
custs, covered  the  land.  These  were  so  nu- 
merous and  corrupt  that  the  king  was  obliged 
to  bring  them  under  certain  regulations  ;  for  no 
man  was  safe  in  public  company,  nor  even  in 
conversing  with  his  friends  and  neighbours. 
Many  broke  up  housekeeping,  that  they  might 
breathe  in  a  freer  air,  which  the  council  being 
informed  of,  a  proclamation  was  published  [July 
21,  1635J,  forbidding  all  persons  except  soldiers, 
mariners,  merchants  and  their  factors,  to  depart 
the  kingdom  without  his  majesty's  license. 

But,  notwithstanding  this  prohibition,  num- 
bers went  to  New-England  this  summer,  and 
among  others  the  Rev.  Mr.  Peter  Bulkley,  B.D., 


*  Rushworth,  vol.  ii.,  part  ii.,  p.  300. 

t  Prynne,  p.  381. 

i  Collyer's  Eccles.  Hist.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  763. 


322 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


and  fellow  of  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge. 
He  was  son  of  Dr.  Edward  Bulkley,  of  Bcdlbrd- 
shire,  and  succeeded  liin>  at  Woodliill,  or  Ode!, 
in  that  county.  Here  he  continued  above  twen- 
ty years,  the  Bisliop  of  Lint-oln  conniving  at 
his  nonconformity  :  but  when  Dr.  Laud  was  at 
the  helm  of  the  Churcii,  and  llie  Bishop  of  Lin- 
coln in  disgrace,  Bulkley  was  silenced  i)y  the 
vicar-general.  Sir  Nathaniel  Brent,  upon  w'hich 
he  sold  a  very  plentiful  estate,  and  transported 
himself  and  his  effects  to  New-England,  where 
he  died  in  the  year  1658-9,  and  the  seventy- 
seventh  of  his  age.  He  was  a  thundering 
preacher,  and  a  judicious  divine,  as  appears  by 
his  treatise  "  Of  the  Covenant,"  which  passed 
through  several  editions,  and  was  one  of  the 
first  books  published  in  that  country.* 

Mr.  Richard  Mather,  educated  in  Brazen-nose 
College,  O.xon,  and  minister  of  Toxteih,  near 
Liverpool,  for  about  fifteen  years,  a  diligent  and 
successful  preacher,  was  suspended  for  non- 
conformity in  the  year  1633,  but  by  the  inter- 
cession of  friends,  after  six  months  he  was  re- 
stored. Next  summer,  the  Archbishop  of  York 
sending  his  visiters  into  Lancashire,  this  good 
man  was  again  suspended  by  Dr.  Cosins,  upon 
an  information  that  he  had  not  worn  the  sur- 
plice for  fifteen  years.  After  this  no  interces- 
sion could  obtain  the  liberty  of  his  ministry  ; 
upon  which  he  took  shipping  at  Bristol,  and  ar- 
rived at  Boston,  in  New-England,  August  17, 
1635.  He  settled  air  Dorchester,  and  continued 
with  his  people,  a  plain  and  profitable  preacher, 
to  the  year  1660,  when  he  died.  This  was  the 
grandfather  of  the  famous  Dr.  Cotton  Mather. 

In  Scotland  the  fire  was  kindling  apace  which 
in  three  years'  time  set  both  kingdoms  in  a 
llame.  The  restoring  episcopacy,  by  the  vio- 
lent methods  already  mentioned,  did  not  sit 
easy  upon  the  people;  the  new  Scots  bishops 
were  of  Bishop  Laud's  principles ;  they  spoke 
very  favourably  of  popery  in  their  sermons,  and 
cast  some  invidious  reflections  on  the  Reldrm- 
ers :  they  declared  openly  for  the  doctrines  of 
Arminius,  for  sports  on  the  Sabbath,  and  for  the 
liturgy  of  the  English  Church,  which  was  ima- 
gined to  be  little  better  than  the  mass.t  This 
lost  them  their  esteem  with  the  people,  who 
had  been  trained  up  in  the  doctrines  and  disci- 
pline of  Calvin,  and  in  the  strict  observation  of 
the  Lord's  Day.  But  the  king,  to  support  them, 
cherished  them  with  expressions  of  the  great- 
est respect  and  confidence  ;  he  made  eleven  of 
them  privy-councillors  ;  the  Archbishop  of  St. 
Andrew's  was  lord-chancellor,  and  the  Bishop 
of  Ross  was  in  nomination  to  be  lord-high-treas- 
urer ;  divers  of  them  were  of  the  exchequer, 
and  had  engrossed  the  best  secular  prefer- 
ments, which  made  them  the  envy  of  the  no- 
bility and  gentry  of  that  nation.  The  bishops 
were  so  sensible  of  this,  that  they  advised  the 
king  not  to  trust  the  intended  alterations  in  re- 
ligion to  parliaments  or  general  assemblies,  but 
to  introduce  them  l)y  his  regal  authority. 

When  the  king  was  last  in  Scotland,  it  was 
taken  notice  of  as  a  great  blemish  in  the  Kirk, 
that  it  had  no  liturgy  or  book  of  canons.  To 
supply  this  defect,  the  king  gave  orders  to  the 


*  Rajjin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  .394,  folio  edit.  Mr.  Bulkley 
made  uiidiUons  lo  Fox's  Acts  and  .Monuments  ol  the 
Martyrs.— See  vol.  iii.,  p.  861-b()J.— C. 

t  Burnet's  Memoirs  of  D.  Hamilton,  p.  29,  30. 


new  bishops  to  prepare  draughts  of  both,  and  re- 
mit them  to  London,  to  be  revised  by  the  Bish- 
ops Lauil,  Juxon,and  Wren.  The  book  of  canons 
being  first  finished,  was  presented  to  the  king, 
and  by  him  delivered  to  Laud  and  Juxon  to  ex- 
amine, alter,  and  reform  at  pleasure,  and  to 
bring  it  as  near  as  possible  to  a  conformity  with 
the  English  canons.  The  bishops  having  exe- 
cuted their  commission,  and  prepared  it  for 
press,  the  king  confirmed  it  under  the  great 
seal  by  letters  patent,  dated  at  Greenwich,  May 
23,  1635.  The  instrument  sets  forth,  "  that  his 
majesty,  by  his  royal  and  supreme  authority  in 
causes  ecclesiastical,  ralifit^s  and  confirms  the 
said  canons,  orders,  and  constitutions,  and  all 
and  everything  in  them  contained,  and  strictly 
commands  all  archbishops,  bishops,  and  others 
exercising  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  to  see 
them  punctually  observed." 

To  give  the  reader  a  specimen  of  these  can- 
ons, which  were  subversive  of  the  whole  Scots 
constitution  both  in  Kirk  and  State  : 

1.  "  The  first  canon  excommunicates  all 
those  who  affirm  the  power  and  prerogative  of 
the  king  not  to  be  equal  with  the  Jewish  kings, 
that  is,  absolute  and  unlimited. 

2.  "  The  second  excommunicates  those  who 
shall  aflirm  the  worship  contained  in  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer  [which  was  not  yet  pub- 
lished], or  the  government  of  the  Kirk  by  arch- 
bishops, bishops,  &c.,  to  be  corrupt,  supersti- 
tious, or  unlawful. 

3.  "  The  third  restrains  ordinations  to  the 
qualuor-icmporay  that  is,  the  fiist  weeks  of  March, 
June,  September,  and  December. 

5.  "  The  fifth  obliges  all  presbyters  to  read, 
or  cause  to  be  read.  Divine  service,  according 
to  the  form  of  the  Book  of  the  Scottish  Com- 
mon Prayer,  and  to  conform  lo  all  the  offices, 
parts,  and  rubrics  of  it  [though  not  yet  pub- 
lished."] 

The  book  decrees  farther,  "  that  no  assem- 
bly of  the  clergy  shall  be  called  but  by  the  king. 

'•That  none  shall  receive  the  sacrament  but 
upon  their  knees. 

'.'That  every  ecclesiastical  persop  dying  with- 
out children  shall  give  part  of  his  estate  to  the 
Church. 

"  That  the  clergy  shall  have  no  private  meet- 
ings for  expounding  Scripture. 

"  That  no  clergyinan  shall  conceive  prayer, 
but  pray  (inly  by  the  printed  form,  to  be  pre- 
scribed in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 

"  That  no  man  shall  teach  school  without  a 
license  fn  m  the  bishop  ;  nor  any  censures  oi 
the  Church  be  pronounced  but  by  the  approba- 
tion of  the  bishop. 

"  That  no  presbyter  shall  reveal  anything  ia 
confession,  except  his  own  life  should  by  the 
concealment  be  forfeited." 

After  sundry  other  canons  of  this  nature,  as 
appointing  fonts  fiir  baptism,  church  ornaments, 
communion-tables,  or  altars,  &,c.,  the  book  de- 
crees, that  no  person  shall  be  admitted  to  holy 
orders,  or  to  preach,  or  adininister  the  sacra- 
ments, without  first  subscribing  the  foremen- 
lioned  canons. 

This  book  was  no  sooner  published  than  the 
Scots  presbyters  declared  pcrenipiorily  against 
ii  ;*  the  r  objections  were  of  two  sorts:  they 
disliked  the  matter  of  the  canons,  as  inconsist- 

*  Collyer's  Eccles.  Hist.,  p.  764. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


323 


ent  with  their  kirk  government,  and  severer  in 
Bome  particulars  than  those  of  the  Church  of 
England  :  they  protested  also  against  the  man- 
ner of  imposing  them,  without  consent  of  Par- 
liament or  General  Assembly.  It  was  thought 
intolerable  vassalage,  by  a  people  who  had  as- 
serted the  independent  power  of  the  Church  to 
convene  assemblies  of  the  clergy,  and  who  had 
maintained  that  their  decrees  were  binding 
without  the  confirmation  of  the  crown,  to  have 
the  king  and  a  few  foreign  bishops  dictate  can- 
ons to  them,  without  so  much  as  asking  their 
advice  and  consent.  Such  a  high  display  of 
the  supremacy  could  not  fail  of  bemg  higiily  re- 
sented by  a  church  that  had  never  yielded  it  to 
the  king  in  the  latitude  in  which  it  had  been 
claimed  and  exercised  in  England.  Besides, 
it  was  very  preposterous  to  publish  the  book  of 
canons  before  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
and  to  require  submission  and  subscription  to 
things  that  had  no  existence ;  for  who  could 
foretel  what  might  be  inserted  in  the  Com- 
mon Prayer  Book "?  or  what  kind  of  service 
might  be  imposed  upon  the  Kirk'!  This  looked 
too  much  like  pinning  the  faith  of  a  whole  na- 
tion on  the  lawn  sleeves. 

To  return  to  England.  Towards  the  end  of 
this  year  it  pleased  God  to  remove  out  of  this 
world  the  Reverend  Dr.  Richard  Sibbes,  one  of 
the  most  celebrated  preachers  of  his  time.  He 
was  born  at  Sudbury,  1579,  and  educated  in  St. 
John's  College,  Cambridge,  where  he  went 
through  all  the  degrees.  Having  entered  into 
the  ministry,  he  was  first  chosen  lecturer  of 
Trinity  Church,  in  Cambridge,  where  his  min- 
istry was  very  successful  to  the  conversion  and 
reformation  of  his  hearers.  About  the  year 
1618  he  was  appointed  preacher  to  the  honour- 
ible  society  of  Gray's  Inn,  London,  in  which 
itation  he  became  so  famous,  that,  besides  the 
lawyers  of  the  house,  many  of  the  nobility  and 
gentry  frequented  his  sermons.  In  the  year 
1625  he  was  chosen  master  of  Katiierine  Hall, 
in  the  University  of  Cambridge,  the  government 
of  which  he  made  a  shift  to  continue  to  his  death, 
though  lie  was  turned  out  of  his  fellowship  and 
lecture  in  the  university  for  nonconformity,  and 
often  cited  before  the  High  Commission.  He 
was  a  divine  of  good  learning,  thoroughly  ac- 
quainted with  the  Scriptures,  a  burning  and 
shining  light,  and  of  a  most  humble  and  chari- 
table disposition  ;  but  all  these  talents  could 
not  screen  him  from  the  fury  of  the  times. 
His  works*,  discover  him  to  have  been  of  a 
heavenly,  evangelical  spirit,  the  comforts  of 
which  he  enjoyed  at  his  death,  which  happened 
the  latter  end  of  this  summer,  in  the  fifty-ninth 
year  of  his  age.t 

To  aggrandize  the  Church  yet  farther,  the 
archbishop  resolved  to  bring  part  of  the  busi- 
ness of  Westminster  Hall  into  the  ecclesiastical 

*  Of  these,  the  most  noted  was  his  "  Bruised 
Reed,"  to  which,  Mr.  Baxter  tells  us,  he  in  a  great 
measure  owed  his  conversion.  This  circumstance 
alone,  observes  Mr.  Granger,  would  have  rendered 
his  name  memorable. — History  of  Enirland,  vol.  ii. 
p.  I  7(i,  8vo.  SytvesCer's  Life  of  Baxter,  part  i.,  p.  4. 
This  interesting  memoir  was  one  of  the  favour- 
ite volumes  of  Coleridge,  who  always  kept  it  by 
him.  No  minister  should  lose  an  opportunity  to  ob- 
tain this  very  scarce  and  valuable  work. — C. 

t  Clarke's  Lives,  annexed  to  his  General  Martyr- 
ology,  p.  143. 


courts.  The  civilians  had  boldly  and  unwar- 
rantably opposed  and  protested  against  prohi- 
biiions  and  other  proceedings  at  law,  in  re- 
straint of  their  spiritual  courts,  and  had  pro- 
cured some  privileges  and  orders  from  the  king 
in  favour  of  the  ecclesiastical  courts,  which  had 
greatly  offended  the  gentlemen  of  the  law. 
But  the  archbishop  now  went  a  step  farther,  and 
prevailed  with  the  king  to  direct  that  half  the 
masters  in  chancery  should  always  be  civil 
lawyers;  and  to  declare  that  no  others,  of  what 
condition  soever,  should  serve  him  as  masters 
of  request ;  these  were  more  akin  to  the  Church 
than  the  common  lawyers,  their  places  being  in 
the  bishop's  disposal  (as  chancellors,  commis- 
saries, &c.),  and,  therefore,  it  was  supposed 
their  persons  would  be  so  too ;  but  this  was 
false  policy,  says  the  noble  historian,*  because 
it  disgusted  a  whole  learned  profession,  who 
were  more  capable  of  disserving  the  Church 
in  their  estates,  inheritances,  and  stewardships, 
than  the  Church  could  hurt  them  in  their  prac- 
tice. Besides,  it  was  wrong  in  itself;  for  I  have 
never  yet  spoken  with  one  clergyman,  says  his 
lordship,  who  hath  had  experience  of  both  liti- 
gations, that  has  not  ingenuously  confessed, 
that  he  had  rather,  in  respect  of  his  trouble, 
charge,  and  satisfaction  to  his  understanding, 
have  three  suits  depending  in  Westminster  Hall 
than  one  in  the  Arches,  or  any  ecclesiastical 
court. 

As  a  farther  step  towards  the  sovereign  pow- 
er of  the  Church,  his  grace  prevailed  with  the 
king  to  allow  the  bishops  to  hold  their  ecclesi- 
astical courts  in  their  own  names,  and  by  their 
own  seals,  without  the  king's  letters  patent  un- 
der the  great  seal  ;  the  judges  having  given  it 
as  their  opinion  that  a  patent  under  the  great 
seal  was  not  necessary  for  examinations,  sus- 
pensions, and  other  church  censures.    This  was 
undoubtedly  contrary  to  law,  for  by  the  statute 
1  Edw.  VI.,  cap  ii.,  it  is  declared  "that  all  ec- 
clesiastical jurisdiction  is  immediately  from  the 
crown,  and  that  all  persons  exercising  such  ju- 
risdiction shall  have  in  their  seal  the  king's 
arms,  and  shall  use  no  other  seal  of  jurisdic- 
tion on  pain  of  imprisonment. "t     This  statute 
being  repealed,  ]  Maria;,  cap.  ii.,  was  again  re- 
vived by  1  Jac,  cap.  xxv.,  as  has  been  observ- 
ed.t     Hereupon,  in  the  Parliaments  of  the  3d 
and  7th  of  King  James  I.,  the  bishops  were 
proceeded  against,  and  two  of  them,  in  a  man- 
ner, attainted  in  a  premunire  by  the  House  of 
Cominons,  for  making  citations  and  processes 
in  their  own  names,  and  using  their  own  seals, 
contrary  to  this  statute  and  to  the  common 
law,  and  in  derogation  of  the  prerogative.     So 
that  by  this  concession  the  king  dispensed  with 
the  laws,  and  yielded  away  the  ancient  and  un- 
doubted right  of  his  crown,  and  the  bishops 
were  brought  under  a  premunire  for  exercising 
spiritual  jurisdiction  without  any  special  com- 
mission, patent,  or  grant  from,  by,  or  under 
his  majesty,  whereas   all  jurisdiction  of  this 
kind  ought  to  have  been  exercised  in  the  king's 
name,  and  by  virtue  of  his  authority  only,  sig- 
nified by  letters  patent  under  his  majesty's  seal. 
The  archbishop  was  no  less  intent  upon  en- 
larging his  own  jurisdiction,  claiming  a  right  to 

*  Clarendon,  vol.  ii.,  p.  305,  306. 
t  Rushworth,  vol.  ii.,  part  li.,  p.  450. 
t  Usurpation  of  Prelates,  p.  02,  115. 


^24 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS 


visit  the  two  universities /urc  melropolitico,  which 
being  referred  to  the  king  and  council,  his  maj- 
esty was  pleased  to  give  judgment  against 
himself.  As  chancellor  of  Oxford,  his  grace 
caused  a  new  body  of  statutes  to  be  drawn  up 
for  that  university,  with  a  preface,  in  which  are 
some  severe  reflections  on  good  King  Edward 
and  his  government ;  it  says  that  the  discipline 
of  the  university  was  discomposed  and  troubled 
by  that  king's  injunctions  and  the  flattering 
novelty  of  the  age.  It  then  commends  the 
reign  of  his  sister,  the  bloody  Queen  Mary,  and 
says  that  the  discipline  of  the  Church  revived 
and  flourished  again  in  her  days  under  Cardinal 
Pole,  when,  by  the  much-desired  felicity  of 
those  times,  an  inbred  candour  supplied  the  de- 
fect of  statutes.*  Was  this  spoken  like  a  Prot- 
estant prelate,  whose  predecessors  in  the  sees 
of  London  and  Canterbury  were  burned  at  Ox- 
ford by  Queen  Mary,  in  a  most  barbarous  man- 
ner 1  Or,  rather,  like  one  who  was  aiming  at 
the  return  of  those  happy  times  1 

The  last  and  most  extravagant  stretch  of 
episcopal  power  that  I  shall  mention  was  the 
bishops  framing  new  articles  of  visitation  in 
their  own  names,  without  the  king's  seal  and 
authority,  and  administering  an  oath  of  inquiry 
to  the  church-wardens  concerning  them.f  This 
was  an  outrage  upon  the  laws,  contrary  to  the 
Act  of  Submission,  25  Hen.  VIII.,  cap.  xxv., 
and  even  to  the  twelfth  canon  of  1603,  which 
says,  "  that  whosoever  shall  affirm  it  lawful  for 
any  sort  of  ministers  or  lay  persons  to  assem- 
ble together  and  make  rules,  orders,  and  con- 
stitutions, in  causes  ecclesiastical,  without  the 
king's  authority,  and  shall  submit  themselves 
to  be  ruled  and  governed  by  them,  let  him  be 
excommunicated  ;"  which  includes  the  framers 
of  the  orders  as  well  as  those  who  act  under 
them.  The  administering  an  oath  to  church- 
wardens, without  a  royal  commission,  had  no 
foundation  in  law,  for  by  the  common  law  no 
ecclesiastical  judge  can  administer  an  oath  (ex- 
cept in  cases  of  matrimony  and  testaments) 
without  letters  patent,  or  a  special  commission 
under  the  great  seal.  It  was  also  declared  con- 
trary to  the  laws  and  statutes  of  the  land,  by 
Sir  Edward  Coke  and  the  rest  of  the  judges, 
3  James,  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Wharton,  who,  be- 
ing church-warden  of  Blackfriars,  London,  was 
excommunicated  and  imprisoned  on  a  capias 
cxcommunicatum,  for  refusing  to  take  an  oath  to 
present  upon  visitation  articles  ;  but  bringing 
his  habeas  corpus,  he  was  discharged  by  the 
whole  court,  both  from  his  imprisonment  and 
excommunication,  for  this  reason,  because  the 
oath  and  articles  were  against  the  laws  and 
statutes  of  this  realm,  and  so  might  and  ought 
to  be  refused.  Upon  the  whole,  the  making 
the  mitre  thus  independent  of  the  crown,  and 


*  An  answer  to  Mr.  Neal,  it  is  urged  by  Dr.  Grey, 
may  be  supplied  from  Frankland's  Annals  of  King 
Charles  I.,  according  to  whom,  what  is  applied  above 
to  Queen  Mary's  time  only,  relates  to  all  former 
times  as  well  as  hers,  during  which  the  uncertainty 
of  the  statutes  lasted,  and  put  the  university  to  an  in- 
convenience ;  and  who  asserts  that  the  preface  men- 
tioned by  Mr.  Neal  was  written  by  Dr.  Peter  Turner, 
of  Merton  College,  a  doctor  of  civil  law.  The  read- 
er, however,  will  probably  apprehend  that  it  express- 
ed the  sentiments  of  Archbishop  Laud,  and  was  vir- 
tually his. — En. 

t  Usurpation  of  Prelates,  p.  229,  240. 


not  subject  to  a  prohibition  from  the  courts  of 
Westminster  Hall,  was  setting  up  impcnum  in 
impcrio,  and  going  a  great  way  towards  re-es- 
tablishing one  of  the  heaviest  grievances  of  the 
papacy ;  but  the  bishops  presumed  upon  the  fe- 
licity of  the  times  and  the  indulgence  of  the 
crown,  which  at  another  time  might  have  in- 
volved them  in  a  premunire. 

The  articles  of  visitation  difl^ered  in  the  sev- 
eral diocesses ;  the  church- wardens'  oath  was 
generally  the  same,  viz. : 

"  You  shall  swear,  that  you,  and  every  of 
you,  shall  duly  consider  and  diligently  inquire 
of  all  and  every  of  these  articles  given  you  in 
charge;  and  that  all  affection,  favour,  hope  of 
reward  and  gain,  or  fear  of  displeasure,  or  mal- 
ice set  aside,  you  shall  present  all  and  every  such 
person  that  now  is,  or  of  late  was,  within  your 
parish,  or  hath  committed  any  offence,  or  made 
any  default  mentioned  in  any  of  these  articles, 
or  which  are  vehemently  suspected,  or  defamed 
of  any  such  offence  or  default,  wherein  you 
shall  deal  uprightly  and  fully,  neither  present- 
ing nor  daring  to  present  any  contrary  to  truth, 
having  in  this  action  God  before  your  eyes,  with 
an  earnest  zeal  to  maintain  truth,  and  to  sup- 
press vice.  So  help  you  God,  and  the  holy  con- 
tents of  this  book." 

By  virtue  of  this  oath,  some,  out  of  conscience, 
thought  themselves  obliged  to  present'their  min- 
isters, their  neighbours,  and  their  near  rela- 
tions, not  for  immorality  or  neglect  of  the  wor- 
ship of  God,  but  for  omitting  some  supersti- 
tious injunctions.  Others  acted  from  revenge, 
having  an  opportunity  put  into  their  hands  to 
ruin  their  conscientious  neighbours.  Many 
church-wardens  refused  to  take  the  oath,  and 
were  imprisoned,  and  forced  to  do  penance. 
But,  to  prevent  this  for  the  future,  it  was  de- 
clared, "  that  if  any  man  affirmed  it  was  not 
lawful  to  lake  the  oath  of  a  church-warden,  or 
that  it  was  not  lawfully  administered,  or  that 
the  oath  did  not  bind,  or  that  the  church-ward- 
ens need  not  inquire,  or,  after  inquiry,  need  not 
answer,  or  might  leave  out  part  of  their  an- 
swers,"* such  persons  should  be  presented  and 
punished. 

Several  of  the  bishops  published  their  pri- 
mary articles  of  visitation  about  this  time,  as 
the  Archbishop  of  York,  the  Bishops  of  Win- 
chester, and  IBath  and  Wells  ;  but  the  most 
remarkable  and  curious  were  Dr.  Wren's,  bish- 
op of  Norwich,  entitled,  "  Articles  to  be  in- 
quired of  within  the  Dtocess  of  Norwich,  in  the 
first  Visitation  of  Matthew,  Lord-bishop  of  Nor- 
wich."! The  book  contains  one  hundred  and 
thirty-nine  articles,  in  which  are  eight  hundred 
and  ninety-seven  questions,  some  very  insignifi- 
cant, others  highly  superstitious,  and  several 
impossible  to  be  answered.  To  give  the  reader 
a  specimen  of  them :  Have  you  the  book  of 
constitutions  or  canons  ecclesiastical,  and  a 
parchment  register  book,  Book  of  Common  Pray- 
er, and  a  book  of  homilies  1  Is  your  commu- 
nion-table so  placed  within  the  chancel  as  the 
canon  directs!  Doth  your  minister  read  the 
canons  once  every  year  1  Doth  he  pray  for  the 
king  with  his  whole  title"!  Doth  he  pray  for 
the  archbishops  and  bishops  1    Doth  he  observe 

*  Visit.  Art.,  chap,  vi.,  ()  9. 

t  Rushworth,  vol.  ii.,  part  ii.,  p.  186",  187.  Prynne, 
p.  374.     Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  289,  290,  folio  edit. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS 


325 


all  the  orders,  rites,  and  ceremonies  prescribed 
in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  adminis- 
tering the  sacrament  1  Doth  he  receive  the 
sacrament  kneehng  himself,  and  administer  to 
none  but  such  as  kneel  ]  Doth  he  admit  to  the 
sacrament  any  notorious  offenders  or  schismat- 
ics 1  Do  the  strangers  of  other  parishes  come 
often,  or  frequently  to  your  church  1  Doth  your 
minister  baptize  with  the  sign  of  the  cross  !  Is 
your  minister  licensed,  and  by  whoml  Doth 
he  wear  the  surplice  while  he  is  reading  pray- 
ers and  administering  the  sacrament  1  Doth  he 
catechise  and  instruct  the  youth  in  the  Ten 
Commandments  1  Doth  he  solemnize,  marriage 
without  the  bans  1  Doth  he,  in  Rogation-days, 
use  the  perambulation  round  the  parish  1  Doth 
he  every  six  months  denounce  in  the  parish  [or 
publicly  declare  the  names  of]  all  such  as  per- 
severe in  the  sentence  of  excommunication,  not 
seeking  to  be  absolved  1  Doth  he  admit  any 
excommunicate  persons  into  the  church  with- 
out a  certificate  of  absolution  ?  Is  your  minis- 
ter a  favourer  of  recusants  1  Is  he  noted  to  be 
an  incontinent  person;  a  frequenter  of  taverns, 
alehouses  ;  a  common  gamester,  or  a  player  at 
dicel  Hath  your  minister  read  the  Book  of 
Sports  in  his  church  or  chapel  1  Doth  he  read 
the  second  service  at  the  communion-table  1 
Doth  he  use  conceived  prayers  before  or  after 
sermon  1  With  regard  to  churchyards,  are  they 
consecrated  1  Are  the  graves  dug  east  and 
west,  and  the  bodies  buried  with  their  heads  to 
the  west  1  Do  your  parishioners,  at  going  in 
and  out  of  the  church,  do  reverence  towards 
the  chancel  1  Do  they  kneel  at  confession, 
stand  up  at  the  creed,  and  bow  at  the  glorious 
name  of  Jesus  1*  &c.,  with  divers  articles  of  the 
like  nature.! 

The  weight  of  these  inquiries  fell  chiefly  upon 
the  Puritans,  for  within  the  compass  of  two 
years  and  four  months  no  less  than  fifty  able 
and  pious  ministers  were  suspended,  silenced, 
and  otherwise  censured,  to  the  ruin  of  their  poor 
families,  for  not  obeying  one  or  other  of  these 
articles  ;  among  whom  were  the  Rev.  Mr.  John 
Allen,  Mr.  John  Ward,  Mr.  William  Powell,  Mr. 
John  Carter,  Mr.  Ashe,  Mr.  William  Bridges, 
Mr.  Jeremiah  Burroughs,  Mr.  Greenhill,  Mr.  Ed- 
mund Calamy,  Mr.  Hudson,  Peck,  Raymond, 
Green,  Mott,  Kent,  Allen,  Scott,  Beard,  Moth, 
Manning,  Warren,  Kirrington,  and  others,  in 
the  diocess  of  Norwich.  In  other  diocesses 
were  Mr.  Jonathan  Burre,  Mr.  William  Leigh, 
Mr.  Matthew  Brownrigge,  Mr.  G.  Huntley,  Vic- 
ars, Proud,  Workman,  Crowder,  Snelling,  &c., 
some  of  whom  spent  their  days  in  silence,  oth- 
ers departed  their  country  into  parts  beyond 
sea,  and  none  were  released  without  a  promise 
to  conform  to  the  bishops'  injunctions  cditis  et 
edendis,  i.  e.,  already  published,  or  hereafter  to 
be  published. 

♦  Cant.  Doom,  p.  96. 

t  One  article,  which  Mr.  Neal  has  omitted,  requi- 
red "  that  the  church-wardens  in  every  parish  of  his 
diocess  should  inquire  whether  any  persons  presumed 
to  talk  of  religion  at  their  tables  and  in  their  families." 
Not  to  say  the  gross  ignorance  which  this  restraint 
would  cause,  it  showed  the  e.xtreme  of  jealousy  and 
intolerance,  was  subversive  of  the  influence  and  en- 
dearments of  domestic  life,  and  converted  each  pri- 
vate house  into  a  court  of  inquisition. — Pillars  of 
Priestcraft  and  Orthodoxy  Shaken,  17G8,  vol.  iii.,  p. 
307,308.— Ed. 


Bishop  Montague,  who  succeeded  Wren  in 
the  diocess  of  Norwich,  1638,  imitated  his  suc- 
cessor in  his  visitation-articles ;  it  being  now 
fashionable  for  every  new  bishop  to  frame  sep- 
arate articles  of  inquiry  for  the  visitation  of  his 
Qwn  diocess.  Montague  pointed  his  inquiries 
against  the  Puritan  lecturers,  of  which  he  ob- 
serves three  sorts.* 

"  1.  Such  as  were  superinducted  into  another 
man's  cure  ;  concerning  which  he  enjoins  his 
visiters  to  inquire.  Whether  the  lecturer's  ser- 
mons in  the  afternoons  are  popular  or  cate- 
chistical  !  Whether  he  be  admitted  with  con- 
sent of  the  incumbent  and  bishop  1  Whether 
he  read  prayers  in  his  surplice  and  hood  1  Of 
what  length  his  sermons  are,  and  upon  what 
subject !  Whether  he  bids  prayer,  according  to 
the  fifty-fifth  canon  1 

"  2.  The  second  sort  of  lecturers  are  those  of 
combination,  when  the  neighbouring  ministers 
agreed  to  preach  by  turns  at  an  adjoining  mar- 
ket town  on  market  days ;  inquire  who  the 
combiners  are,  and  whether  they  conform  as 
above  1 

"  3.  A  third  sort  are  running  lecturers,  when 
neighbouring  Christians  agree  upon  such  a  day 
to  meet  at  a  certain  church  in  some  country 
town  or  village,  and  after  sermon  and  dinner  to 
meet  at  the  house  of  one  of  their  disciples  to 
repeat,  censure,  and  explain  the  sermon ;  then 
to  discourse  of  some  points  proposed  at  a  fore- 
going meeting  by  the  moderator  of  the  assem- 
bly, derogatory  to  the  doctrine  or  discipline  of 
the  Church  ;  and,  in  conclusion,  to  appoint  an- 
other place  for  their  next  meeting.  If  you  have 
any  such  lecturers,  present  them." 

Dr.  Pierce,  bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  sup- 
pressed all  lecturers  in  market  towns,  and  else- 
where throughout  his  diocess,  alleging  that  he 
saw  no  such  need  of  preaching  now,  as  was  in 
the  apostles'  days.  He  suspended  Mi.  Deven- 
ish,  minister  of  Bridgewater,  for  preaching  a 
lecture  in  his  own  church  on  a  market  day, 
which  had  continued  ever  since  the  days  of 
Queen  Elizabeth  ;  and  afterward,  when  he  ab- 
solved him  upon  his  promise  to  preach  it  no 
more,  he  said  to  him,  "  Go  thy  way,  sin  no 
more,  lest  a  worse  thing  befall  thee."t  His 
lordship  put  down  all  afternoon  sermons  on 
Lord's  Days,  and  suspended  Mr.  Cornish  for 
preaching  a  funeral  sermon  in  the  evening.  And 
whereas  some  ministers  used  to  explain  the 
questions  and  answers  in  the  catechism,  and 
make  a  short  prayer  before  and  after,  the  bishop 
reproved  them  sharply  for  it,  saying  that  was 
as  bad  as  preaching,  and  charged  them  to  ask 
no  questions,  nor  receive  any  answers  but  such 
as  were  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  ;  and 
for  not  complying  with  this  injunction,  Mr. 
Barret,  rector  of  Berwick,  and  some  others, 
were  enjoined  public  penance.  The  Bishop  of 
Peterborough,  and  all  the  new  bishops,  went  in 
the  same  track  ;  and  some  of  them  upon  this 
sad  principle,  That  afternoon  sermons  on  Sun- 
days were  an  impediment  to  the  revels  in  the 
evening. 

The  Church  was  now  in  the  height  of  its  tri- 
umphs, and  grasped  not  only  at  all  spiritual  ju- 
risdiction, but  at  the  capital  preferments  of  state. 
This  year  Dr.  Juxon,  bishop  of  London,  was 
declared  Lord-high-treasurer  of  England,  which 


*  Prynne,  p.  376. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  377. 


326 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


is  the  first  office  of  profit  and  power  in  the 
kingdom,  and  has  precedence  next  to  the  arch- 
bisliop.  .Iiixon's  name  had  hardly  been  known 
at  court  above  two  years  ;*  till  then  he  was  no 
more  than  a  private  chaplain  to  the  king,  and 
head  of  a  poor  college  at  Oxford.  Besides,  no 
churchman  had  held  this  post  since  the  darkest 
times  of  popery,  in  the  reign  of  King  Henry 
VII.;  but  I.aud  valued  himself  upon  this  nomina- 
tion :  "  Now,"  says  he,  in  his  diary,  "  if  the 
Church  will  not  hold  up  themselves,  under  God, 
I  can  do  no  more."t  When  the  staff  of  treas- 
urer was  put  into  the  hands  of  Juxon,  Lord 
Clarendon  observes,  "  that  the  nobility  were  in- 
flamed, and  began  to  look  upon  the  Church  as 
a  gulf  ready  to  swallow  all  the  great  offices  of 
state,  there  being  other  churchmen  in  view 
who  were  ambitious  enough  to  expect  the  rest. 
The  inferior  clergy  took  advantage  of  this  situ- 
ation of  their  affairs,  and  did  not  live  towards 
their  neighbours  of  quality,  or  patrons,  with  that 
civility  and  good  manners  as  they  used  to  do, 
which  disposed  others  to  withdraw  their  counte- 
nance and  good  neighbourhood  from  them,  espe- 
cially after  they  were  put  into  the  commissions 
of  peace  in  most  counties  of  England."  One  of 
the  members  of  the  House  of  Commons  said, 
*'  That  the  clergy  were  so  exalted  that  a  gentle- 
man might  not  come  near  the  tail  of  their  mules ; 
and  that  one  of  them  had  declared  openly,  that 
he  hoped  to  see  the  day  when  a  clergyman  should 
be  as  good  a  man  as  any  upstart  Jack  gentleman 
in  the  kingdom."  It  is  certain  the  favourable 
aspect  of  the  coui;t  had  very  much  exalted  their 
behaviour,  and  their  new  notions  had  made 
them  conceive  themselves  an  order  of  men 
above  the  rank  of  the  laity,  forasmuch  as  they 
had  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  at  their 

»■  Dr.  Juxon,  having  been  elected  to  the  See  of 
Hereford  before  he  was  consecrated,  was  translated 
on  the  19th  of  September,  1633,  to  that  of  London. 
His  first  preferment  was,  in  1627,  to  the  Deanery  of 
Worcester ;  but  his  constant  connexion  with  the 
court  was  not  formed  till  the  lOlh  of  July,  1632,  when 
he  was,  at  the  suit  of  Archbishop  Laud,  sworn  clerk 
of  his  majesty's  closet,  two  yemrs  and  eight  months 
before  he  was  declared  loid-hightreasurer.  So  that 
Mr.  Neal's  expression,  that  his  name  had  hardly 
been  known  at  court  above  two  years,  at  which  Dr. 
Grey  carps,  does  not  greatly  deviate  from  the  exact 
fact.  The  doctor  quotes,  also,  many  testimonies  to 
the  amiable  temper  and  virtues  of  Bishop  Juxon.  But, 
though  they  justly  reflect  honour  on  his  memory,  the 
peisonal  virtues  of  the  bishop  did  not  render  the  in- 
vesting a  clergyman  with  the  high  office  to  which  he 
was  exalted  a  measure  more  politic  in  itself,  or  less 
obnoxious  to  the  people.  And  the  shorter  was  the 
time  during  which  he  had  been  known  at  court,  the 
fewer  opportunities  he  had  enjoyed  to  display  his  vir- 
tues, and  the  more  probable  it  was  that  he  owed  his 
dignity,  not  to  the  excellence  of  his  own  character, 
but  to  the  influence  and  views  of  Laud.  This  cir- 
cumstance, together  with  the  vast  power  connected 
with  the  office,  and  the  exaltation  supposed  to  be 
thus  given  to  the  clerical  order,  created  jealousy  and 
gave  offence.  In  this  light  Mr.  Neal  places  the  mat- 
ter, without  impeaching  the  merit  of  Bishop  Juxon. 
—Ed. 

t  Bishop  Warburton's  remarks  here  deserve  atten- 
tion: "Had  he  been  content,"  says  his  lordship, 
"  to  do  nothing,  the  Church  had  stood.  Suppose  him 
to  have  been  an  honest  man  and  sincere,  which  I 
think  must  be  granted,  it  would  follow  that  he  knew 
nothing  of  the  constitution  either  of  civil  or  religious  soci- 
ety, and  was  as  poor  a  churchman  as  he  was  a  politician." 
-Ed. 


girdle,  and  upon  their  priestly  character  depend- 
ed the  efficacy  of  all  Gospel  institutions.  This 
made  some  of  them  remarkably  negligent  of 
their  cures  up  and  down  the  country  ;  others 
lost  the  little  learning  they  had  acquired  at  the 
university,  and  many  became  very  scandalous 
in  their  lives  ;  thougii  Lord-Clarendon*  says  that 
there  was  not  one  churchman  in  any  degree  of 
favour  or  acceptance  [at  court]  of  a  scandalous 
insufficiency  in  learning,  or  of  a  more  scanda- 
lous condition  of  life ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  most 
of  them  of  confessed  eminent  parts  in  knowl- 
edge, and  of  virtuous  and  unblemished  lives. 

Great  numbers  of  the  most  useful  and  labo- 
rious preachers  in  all  parts  of  the  country  were 
buried  in  silence,  and  forced  to  abscond  from 
the  fury  of  the  High  Commission ;  among  whom 
were  the  famous  Mr.  John  Dod,  Mr.  Whatley, 
Cr.  Harris,  Mr.  Capel,  and  Mr.  John  Rogers,  of 
Dedham,  one  of  the  most  awakening  preachers 
of  his  age,  of  whom  Bishop  Brownrigge  used 
to  say,  "  that  he  did  more  good  with  his  wild 
notes  than  we  [the  bishops]  with  our  set  mu- 
sic." Yet  his  great  usefulness  could  not  screen 
him  from  those  suspensions  and  deprivations 
which  were  the  portion  of  the  Puritans  in  these 
times.t  His  resolutions  about  subscribing  I 
will  relate  in  his  own  words  :  "  If  I  come  fnto 
trouble  for  nonconformity,  I  resolve,  by  God's 
assistance,  to  come  away  with  a  clear  con- 
science ;  for,  though  the  liberty  of  my  ministry 
be  dear  to  me,  I  dare  not  buy  it  at  such  a  rate. 
I  am  troubled  at  my  former  subscription,  but  I 
saw  men  of  good  gifts,  and  of  good  hearts  (as  I 
thought),  go  before  me  ;  and  I  could  not  prove 
that  there  was  anything  contrary  to  the  Word 
of  God,  though  I  disliked  the  ceremonies,  and 
knew  them  to  be  unprofitable  burdens  to  the 
Church  of  God  ;  but  if  I  am  urged  again  I  will 
never  yield  ;  it  was  my  weakness  before,  as 
I  now  conceive,  which  I  beseech  God  to  par- 
don. Written  in  the  year  1627."  But  after 
this  the  good  man  was  overtaken  again,  and 
yielded,  which  almost  broke  his  heart ;  he  adds, 
"  For  this  I  smarted,  1631.  If  I  had  read  over 
this  [my  former  resolution],  it  may  be  I  had  not 
done  what  I  did."  How  severe  are  such  trials 
to  a  poor  inan  with  a  numerous  family  of  chil- 
dren !  And  how  sore  the  distresses  of  a  wound- 
ed conscience ! 

Others  continued  to  leave  their  country,  ac- 
cording to  our  blessed  Saviour's  advice.  Matt., 
x.,  23,  "When  they  persecute  you  in  this  city, 
flee  ye  into  another."  Among  these  were  Mr. 
Nathaniel  Rogers,  son  of  Mr.  John  Rogers,  of 
Dedham,  educated  in  Emanuel  College,  Cam- 
bridge, and  settled  at  Assington  in  Suffolk,  where 
he  continued  five  years  ;  but  seeing  the  storm 
that  had  driven  his  neighbours  from  their  an- 


*  Vol.  i.,  p.  77. 

t  Mr.  Rogers  was  a  thorough  Puritan,  but  of  an 
humble  and  peaceable  behaviour.  He  loved  all  whc 
loved  Christ,  and  was  greatly  beloved  by  them 
When  Laud  suppressed  his  lecture,  he  said,  "  Le» 
them  take  me,  and  hang  me  up  by  the  neck  if  the> 
will,  but  remove  those  stumbling-blocks  out  of  the- 
Church."  Mr.  Giles  Firmin,  one  of  the  ejected  Non  • 
conformists,  was  converted,  when  a  boy  at  school, 
under  his  ministry.  His  works  are  valuable,  and  the 
chief  that  are  extant  are,  The  Doctrine  of  Faith,  1627 ; 
Exposition  on  First  Epistle  of  Peter,  1659;  A  Trea- 
tise on  Love ;  and  Sixty  Memorials  of  a  Godly  Life. 
— C. 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


327 


chor,  and  being  fearful  of  his  own  steadfastness 
in  the  hour  of  temptation,  he  resigned  his  living 
into  the  hands  of  his  patron,  and  forsaking  the 
neighbourhood  of  his  father,  and  all  prospects 
of  worldly  advantage,  cast  himself  and  his  fam- 
ily upon  the  providence  of  God,  and  embarked 
for  New-England,  where  he*  arrived  about  the 
middle  of  November,  1636,  and  settled  with  Mr. 
Norton,  at  Ipswich,  with  whom  he  continued 
to  his  death,  which  happened  in  the  year  1655.* 

About  the  same  time  went  over  Mr.  Lambert 
Whiteing,  M.  A.,  a  Lincolnshire  divine,  who  con- 
tinued it  Shirbeck,  near  Boston,  unmolested, 
till  Bishop  Williams's  disgrace,  after  which  he 
Avas  silenced  by  the  spiritual  courts,  and  forced 
into  New-England,  where  he  arrived  with  his 
family  this  summer,  and  continued  a  useful 
preacher  to  a  little  flock  at  Lynn  till  the  year 
1679,  when  he  died,  in  the  eighty-third  year  of 
his  age. 

The  Star  Chamber  and  High  Commission  ex- 
ceeded all  the  bounds,  not  only.of  law  and  equi- 
ty, but  even  of  humanity  itself  t  We  have  re- 
lated the  sufferings  of  Mr.  Prynne,  Burton,  and 
Bastwick,  in  the  year  1633.  These  gentlemen, 
being  shut  up  in  prison,  were  supposed  to  em- 
ploy their  time  in  writing  against  the  bishops 
and  their  spiritual  courts  ;  Bastwick  was  char- 
ged with  a  book,  published  1636,  entitled  "Apolo- 
gelicus  ad  praesules  Anglicanos  ;"  and  with  a 
pamphlet  called  "TheNew  Litany :"  the  others, 
with  two  anonymous  books,  one  entitled  "  A 
Divine  Tragedy,  containing  a  Catalogue  of  God's 
Judgments  against  Sabbath  Breakers  ;"  tiie  oth- 
er, "News  from  Ipswich;"  which  last  was  a 
satire  upon  the  severe  proceedings  of  Dr.  Wren, 
■bishop  of  that  diocess.  For  these  they  were 
cited  a  second  time  into  the  Star  Chamber,  by 
virtue  of  an  information  laid  against  them  by 
the  attorney-general,  for  writing  and  publishing 
seditious,  schismatical,  and  libellous  books 
against  the  hierarchy  of  the  Church,  and  to  the 
scandal  of  the  government.  When  the  defend- 
ants had  prepared  their  answers,  they  could  not 
get  counsel  to  sign  them  ;  upon  which  they  pe- 
titioned the  court  to  receive  them  from  them- 
selves, which  would  not  be  admitted  ;  however, 
Prynne  and  Bastwick,  having  no  other  remedy, 
left  their  answers  at  the  ofSce,  signed  with  their 
own  hands,  but  were  nevertheless  proceeded 
against  pro  confesso.  Burton  prevailed  with  Mr. 
Holt,  a  bencher  of  Gray's  Inn,  to  sign  his  an- 
swer ;  but  the  court  ordered  the  two  chief-jus- 
tices to  expunge  what  they  thought  unfit  to  be 
brought  into  court,  and  they  struck  out  the 
■whole  answer,  except  six  lines  at  the  beginning, 
and  three  or  four  at  the  end  ;  and  because  Mr. 
Burton  would  not  acknowledge  it  thus  purged, 
he  was  also  taken  -pro  confesso. 

In  Bastwick's  answer  the  prelates  are  called 
"  invaders  of  the  king's  prerogative,  contemners 
and  despisers  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  advancers 
of  popery,  superstition,  idolatry,  and  profane- 
ness;  they  are  charged  with  oppressing  the 
king's  loyal  subjects,  and  with  great  cruelty,  tyr- 

*  He  was  an  eminently  holy  man,  an  admirable 
preacher,  and  an  incomparable  master  of  the  Latin 
tongue.  "I  shall  do  an  injury  to  his  memory,"  says 
Cotton  Mather.  "  if  1  do  not  declare  that  he  was  one 
of  the  greatest  men,  and  one  of  the  best  ministers, 
that  ever  set  his  foot  on  the  American  shore." — His- 
tory of  New-England,  b.  ili.,  p.  106-108.— C. 

t  Rushworth,  vol.  ii.,  part  ii.,  p.  380,  &c. 


anny,  and  injustice."  Mr.  Prynne's  answer  re- 
flected upon  the  hierarchy,  though  in  more  mod- 
erate and  cautious  terms.  All  the  defendants 
offered  to  maintain  their  several  answers  at  the 
peril  of  their  lives ;  but  the  court  finding  them  not 
filed  upon  record,  would  not  receive  them.  The 
prisoners  at  the  bar  cried  aloud  for  justice,  and 
that  their  answers  might  be  read  ;  but  it  was 
peremptorily  denied,  and  the  following  sentence 
passed  upon  them  :  that  "  Mr.  Burton  be  de- 
prived of  his  living,  and  degraded  from  his  min- 
istry, as  Prynne  and  Bastwick  had  been  from 
their  professions  of  law  and  physic  ;  that  each 
of  them  be  fined  £5000  ;  that  they  stand  in  the 
pillory  at  Westminster,  and  have  their  ears  cut 
off;  and  because  iMr.  Prynne  had  already  lost 
his  ears  by  sentence  of  the  court,  1633,  it  was 
ordered  that  the  remainder  of  his  stumps  should 
be  cut  off,  and  that  he  should  be  stigmatized  on 
both  cheeks  with  the  letters  S.  L.,  and  then  all 
three  were  to  suffer  perpetual  imprisonment  in 
the  remotest  prisons  of  the  kingdom."  This 
sentence  was  executed  upon  them  June  30, 1637, 
the  hangman  rather  sawing  the  remainder  of 
Prynne's  ears  than  cutting  them  off;  after  which 
they  were  sent,  under  a  strong  guard,  one  to 
the  Castle  of  Launceston,  in  Cornwall,  another 
to  the  Castle  of  Lancaster,  and  a  third  to  Car- 
narvon Castle,  in  Wales  ;*  but  these  prisoners 
not  being  thought  distant  enough,  they  were  af- 
terward removed  to  the  islands  of  Scilly,  Guern- 
sey, and  Jersey,  where  they  were  kept  without 
the  use  of  pen,  ink,  or  paper,  or  the  access  of 
friends,  till  they  were  released  by  the  Long 
Parliament. 

At  passing  this  sentence.  Archbishop  Laud 
made  a  laboured  speech  to  clear  himself  from 
the  charge  of  innovations  with  which  the  Puri- 
tans loaded  him.  He  begins  with  retorting  the 
crime  upon  the  Puritans,  who  were  for  set- 
ting aside  the  order  of  bishops,  whereas -in  all 
ages  since  the  apostles'  time  the  Church  had 
been  governed  by  bishops,  whose  calling  and 
order,  in  his  grace's  opinion,  was  by  Divine 
right,  the  office  of  lay-elders  having  never  been 
heard  of  before  Calvin.  He  then  vindicates 
the  particular  innovations  complained  of,  as, 
1.  Bowing  towards  the  altar,  or  at  coming  into 
the  church.  This,  he  says,  was  the  practice  in 
Jewish  times  :  Psalm  xcv.,  6,  "  0  come,  let  us 
worship  and  bow  down,  let  us  kneel  before  the 
Lord  our  maker ;"  and  yet  the  government  is 
so  moderate  that  no  man  is  forced  to  it,  but 
only  religiously  called  upon.  "  For  my  own 
part,"  says  his  grace,  "I  shall  always  think 
myself  bound  to  worship  God  with  my  body  as 
well  as  soul,  in  what  consecrated  place  soever 
I  come  to  pray.  You,  my  honoured  lords  of 
the  Garter,  do  reverence  towards  the  altar  as 
the  greatest   place  of  God's  residence   upon 


*  The  archbishop's  revenge,  not  glutted  by  the  se- 
vere sentence  obtained  against  Mr.  Prynne,  pursued 
those  who,  at  Chester  and  other  |ilaces,  as  he  was 
carrying  to  prison,  showed  him  civilities.  For,  though 
his  keepers  were  not  forbidden  to  let  any  visit 
hini,  some  were  fined  £500,  some  £300,  and  others 
£250.^RusImorlh  Abridged,  vol.  ii.,  p.  295,  &c.,  as 
quoted  in  the  Pillars  of  Priestcraft  and  Orthodoxy, 
vol.  iii.,  p.  272.  And  the  servant  of  Mr.  Prynne  was 
proceeded  against  in  the  High  Commission,  and  sent 
from  prison  to  prison,  only  for  refusing  to  accuse  his 
master. — Id.,  p.  273.  Neither  fidelity  nor  humanity 
had  merit  with  this  prelate.— Ed. 


328 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


earth  ;  greater  than  the  puli)it,  for  there  is  only 
the  Word  of  God,  but  upon  the  altar  is  his 
body  ;  and  a  greater  reverence  is  due  to  the 
body  than  to  the  Word  of  the  Lord  ;  and  this  is 
no  innovation,  for  you  are  bound  to  it  by  your 
order,  which  is  no  new  thing." 

His  grace  proceeds  to  consider  the  altera- 
tions in  the  collects  and  prayers,  which  he  says 
the  archbishops  and  bishops,  to  whom  the  or- 
dering of  the  fast-book  was  committed,  had 
power  under  the  king  to  make,  provided  nothing 
was  inserted  contrary  to  the  doctrine  or  dis- 
cipline of  the  Church  of  England  ;  he  then  jus- 
tifies the  several  amendments,  and  concludes 
most  of  his  articles  with  showing  that  there  is 
no  connexion  between  the  charge  and  the  pop- 
ular clamour  raised  against  him,  of  an  intent  to 
bring  in  popery.  But  the  several  innovations 
here  mentioned  being  objected  to  the  arch- 
bishop at  his  trial,  we  shall  defer  our  remarks 
to  that  place. 

His  grace  concludes  with  a  protestation  that 
he  had  no  design  to  alter  the  religion  estab- 
lished by  law,  but  that  his  care  to  reduce  the 
Church  to  order,  to  uphold  the  external  decency 
of  it,  and  to  settle  it  to  the  rules  of  the  first  Ref- 
ormation, had  brought  upon  him  and  his  breth- 
ren all  that  malicious  storm  that  had  lowered 
so  black  over  their  heads.  He  then  thanks  the 
court  for  their  just  and  honourable  censure  of 
these  men,  and  for  their  defence  of  the  Church  ; 
but  because  the  business  had  some  reference 
to  himself,  he  forbears  to  censure  them,  leaving 
them  to  God's  mercy  and  the  king's  justice. 

Notwithstanding  this  plausible  speech,  which 
the  king  ordered  to  be  prmted,  the  barbarous 
sentence  passed  upon  these  gentlemen  moved 
the  compassion  of  the  whole  nation.  The  three 
learned  faculties  of  law,  physic,  and  divinity 
took  it  to  heart,  as  thinking  their  educations  and 
professions  might  have  secured  them  from  such 
infamous  punishment,*  proper  enough  for  the 
poorest  and  most  mechanic  malefactors,  who 
could  make  no  other  satisfaction  to  the  public 
for  their  offences,  but  very  improper  for  persons 
of  education,  degrees,  or  quality.  Nay,  the  re- 
port of  this  censure,  and  the  smart  execution 
of  it,  flew  into  Scotland,  and  the  discourse  was 
there  that  they  must  also  expect  a  Star  Cham- 
ber to  strengthen  the  hands  of  their  bishops,  as 
well  as  a  High  Commission :  "  No  doubt,"  says 
Archbishop  Laud,  "  but  there  is  a  concurrence 
between  them  and  the  Puritan  party  in  England, 
to  destroy  me  in  the  king's  opinion."! 

Cruel  as  this  sentence  was,  Dr.  Williams, 
bishop  of  Lincoln,  and  the  Reverend  Mr.  Os- 
baldeston,  chief  master  of  Westminster  School, 
met  with  no  less  hardship.t  The  bishop  had 
been  Laud's  very  good  friend  in  persuading 
King  James  to  advance  him  to  a  bishopric  ;ij  but 

*  Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  p.  94. 

t  Rushworth,  p.  385. 

t  Clarendon,  vol.  ii.,  part  ii.,  p.  81. 

(j  The  insight  of  King  James  inlo  Laud's  charac- 
ter is  remarkable,  and  does  credit  to  the  penetration 
of  that  monarch.  When  pressed  by  Buckingham 
and  Bishop  Williams  to  consent  to  Laud's  advance- 
ment, "Laud,"  he  said,  "is  a  restless  spirit,  to  be 
kept  back  from  all  places  of  authority,  for  he  can- 
not see  when  matters  are  well,  hut  loves  to  toss  and 
change,  and  bring  things  to  a  reformation  floating  in 
his  own  bram."  Phillips  tells  us,  in  his  Life  of  Lord- 
keeper  Williams,  that  the  king  having  been  wearied 


upon  the  acccession  of  King  Charles  he  turned 
upon  his  benefactor,  and  got  him  removed  from 
all  his  preferments  at  court;  upon  which  Bish- 
op Williams  retired  to  his  diocess,*  and  spent 
his  time  in  reading  and  the  good  government 
of  his  diocess  ;  here  he  became  popular,  enter- 
taining the  clergy  at  his  table,  and  discoursing 
freely  about  affans  of  Church  and  State.!  He 
spoke  with  some  smartness  against  the  new 
ceremonies,  and  said  once,  in  conversation, 
"  that  the  Puritans  were  the  king's  best  sub- 
jects, and  he  was  sure  would  carry  all  at  last ; 
and  that  the  king  had  told  him  that  he  would 
treat  the  Puritans  more  mildly  lor  the  future." 
Laud,  being  informed  of  this  expression,  caused 
an  information  to  be  lodged  against  him  in  the 
Star  Chamber  for  revealing  the  king's  secrets; 
but  the  charge  not  being  well  supported,  a  new 
bill  was  exhibited  againist  him  /or  tampering 
with  the  king's  witnesses,  and,  though  there 
was  very  little  ground  for  the  charge,  his  lord- 
ship was  suspended  in  the  High  Commission 
Court  from  all  his  offices  and  benefices  ;  he 
was  fined  £10,000  to  the  king,  £1000  to  Sir 
John  Mounson,  and  to  be  imprisoned  in  the 
Tower  during  the  king's  pleasure.  The  bishop 
was  accordingly  sent  from  the  bar  to  the  Tow- 
er ;t  all  his  rich  goods  and  chattels,  to  an  im- 
mense value,  were  plundered  and  sold  to  pay 
the  fine  ;  his  library  seized,  and  all  his  papers 
and  letters  examined.  Among  his  papers  were 
found  two  or  three  letters,  written  to  him  by 
Mr.  Osbaldeston  about  five  years  before,  ia 
which  were  some  dark  and  obscure  expres- 
sions, which  the  jealous  archbishop  interpreted 
against  himself  and  the  Lord-treasurer  Westoa. 
Upon  the  foot  of  these  letters  a  new  bill  was 
exhibited  against  the  bishop  for  divulging  scaa 
dalous  libels  against  the  king's  privy  council- 
lors. His  lordship  replied  that  he  did  not  re- 
member his  having  received  the  letters,  and 
was  sure  he  had  never  divulged  them,  because 

into  a  compliance,  exclaimed  passionately,  as  he  quit- 
ted the  apartment, "  Then  takehim  toyou,but,  onmy 
soul,  you  will  repent  it." — Jesse^s  Court  of  the  Stuarts, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  394.— C. 

*  The  remarks  of  Bishop  Warburton  on  the  pro- 
ceedings against  Dr.  Williams  are  just,  though  severe, 
and,  by  their  impartiality  and  spirit,  do  honour  to  hi« 
lordship.  "  This  prosecution,"  says  he,  "  must  needs 
give  every  one  a  bad  idea  of  Laud's  heart  and  temper. 
You  might  resolve  his  high  acts  of  power  in  the 
state  into  reverence  and  gratitude  to  his  master; 
his  tyranny  in  the  Church,  to  his  zeal  for  and  love  of 
what  he  called  religion ;  but  the  outrageous  prose- 
cution of  these  two  men  can  be  resolved  into  nothins 
but  envi/  and  revenge ;  and  actions  like  these  they 
were  which  occasioned  all  that  bitter,  but,  indeed, 
just  exclamation  against  the  bishops  in  the  speeches 
of  Lord  Falkland  and  Lord  Digby." — Ed. 

t  Rushworth,  p.  417. 

i  Here  he  was  kept  in  close  imprisonment  about 
four  years.  During  his  confinement,  in  order  to  de- 
prive him  of  his  bishopric,  he  was  examined  upon  a 
book  of  articles  of  twenty-four  sheets.  Among  which 
were  s\ich  frivolous  charges  as  these,  viz.,  that  he 
had  called  a  book,  entitled  "A  Coal  from  the  .\llar,'' 
a  pamphlet ;  that  he  had  said  that  all  tiesh  in  Frng- 
land  had  corrupted  their  ways  ;  that  he  had  wicked 
ly  jested  on  St.  Martin's  hood.  What  must  be 
thought  of  the  temper  of  those  who  could  think  ot 
depriving  a  bishop  of  his  see  on  such  grounds  !  The. 
bishop  was,  however,  so  wary  in  his  answers,  that 
they  could  take  no  advantage  against  him.— Fuller'$ 
Church  History,  b.  xi.,  p.  157.— Ed. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


329- 


they  were  still  among  his  private  papers  ;  but, 
notwithstanding  all  he  could  say,  he  was  con- 
demned in  a  fine  of  £8000,  £5000  to  the  king 
and  £3000  to  the  archbishop,  for  the  nonpay- 
ment of  which  he  was  kept  close  prisoner  in 
the  Tower  till  the  meeting  of  the  Long  Parlia- 
menl. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Osbaldeston  was  charged  with 
plotting  with  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  to  divulge 
false  news,  and  to  breed  a  difference  between  the 
Lord-treasurer  Weston  and  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  as  long  ago  as  the  year  1634.*  The 
information  was  grounded  upon  the  two  letters 
already  mentioned,  in  which  he  reports  a  mis- 
understanding between  the  great  leviathan  and 
the  little  urchin.  And  though  the  counsel  for 
the  defendant  absolutely  denied  any  reference 
to  the  archbishop,  and  named  the  persons  meant 
in  the  letter,  yet  "  the  court  fined  him  £5000 
to  the  king  and  £5000  to  the  archbishop,  to  be 
deprived  of  all  his  spiritual  dignities  and  promo- 
tions, to  be  imprisoned  during  the  king's  pleas- 
ure, and  to  stand  in  the  pillory  in  the  dean's  yard 
before  his  own  school,  and  have  his  ears  nailed  to 
it."  Mr.  Osbaldeston  being  among  the  crowd  in 
the  court  when  this  sentence  was  pronounced, 
immediately  went  home  to  his  study  at  West- 
minster School,  and,  having  burned  some  pa- 
pers, absconded,  leaving  a  note  upon  his  desk 
with  these  words  :  "  If  the  archbishop  inquire 
after  me,  tell  him  I  am  gone  beyond  Canterbu- 
ry." The  messengers  were  soon  at  his  house, 
and  finding  this  note,  sent  immediately  to  the 
seaports  to  apprehend  him  ;  but  he  lay  hid  in  a 
private  house  in  Drury  Lane  till  the  search  was 
over,  and  then  concealed  himself  till  the  meet- 
ing of  the  Long  Parliament ;  however,  all  his 
goods  and  chattels  were  seized  and  confisca- 
ted. This  Mr.  Osbaldeston  was  M.A.  of  Christ 
Church  College,  Oxford,  and  Prebendary  of 
Westminster ;  he  was  an  admirable  master, 
and  had  eighty  doctors  in  the  two  universities 
that  had  been  his  scholars  before  the  year 
1640  ;+  he  was  afterward  restored  by  the  Long 
Parliament ;  but  when  he  apprehended  they 
went  beyond  the  bounds  of  their  duty  and  alle- 
giance, he  laid  down  his  school  and  favoured 
the  royal  cause. 

Mr.  Lilburne,  afterward  a  colonel  in  the  ar- 
my, for  refusing  to  take  an  oath  to  answer  all 
interrogatories  concerning  his  importing  and 
publishing  seditious  libels,  was  fined  £500,  and 
to  be  whipped  through  the  streets  from  the 
Fleet  to  the  pillory  before  Westminster  Hall 
gate,  April  8,  1638.  While  he  was  in  the  pillo- 
ry he  uttered  many  bold  and  passionate  speeches 
against  the  tyranny  of  the  bishops  ;  whereupon 
the  Court  of  Star  Chamber,  then  sitting,  order- 
ed him  to  be  gagged,  which  was  done  accord- 
ingly, and  that,  when  he  was  carried  back  to 
prison,  he  should  be  laid  alone,  with  irons  on  his 
hands  and  legs,  in  the  wards  of  the  Fleet,  where 
the  basest  of  the  prisoners  used  to  be  put,  and 
that  no  person  should  be  admitted  to  see  him. 
Here  he  continued,  in  a  most  forlorn  and  mis- 
erable condition,  till  the  meeting  of  the  Long 
Parliament. 

In  the  midst  of  all  these  dangers  the  Puritan 
clergy  spoke  freely  agamst  their  oppressors. J 

'     *  Rushvvorth,  vol,  ii.,  part  ii.,  p.  803-817. 

t  Athenae  Oxon.,  vol.  i.,  p.  833. 

i  Wood's  Athenae  Oxon.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  235. 
Vol.  I.— T  t 


Dr.  Cornelius  Burges,  in  a  Latin  sermon  before- 
the  clergy  of  London,  preached  against  the  se- 
verities of  the  bishops,  and,  refusing  to  give  his 
diocesan  a  copy  of  his  sermon,  was  put  into  the 
High  Commission.  Mr.  M^harton,  of  Ess^x, 
preached  with  the  same  freedom  at  Chelmsford, 
for  which,  it  is  said,  he  made  his  submission. 
Several  pamphlets  were  dispersed  against  the 
proceedings  of  the  ecclesiastical  courts,  which 
the  Bishop  of  London  declared  he  had  reason 
to  believe  were  written  or  countenanced  by  the 
clergy  of  his  own  diocess.  Many  private  gen- 
tlemen in  Suffolk  mamtained  lecturers  at  their 
own  expense,  without  consulting  the  bishop, 
who  complained  that  they  were  factious,  and 
did  not  govern  themselves  according  to  the 
canons  ;  but,  says  his  lordship  [Wren],  "  What 
shall  I  do  with  such  scholars,  some  in  orders 
and  others  not,  which  gentlemen  of  figure  en- 
tertain in  their  houses  under  pretence  of  teach- 
ing their  children  1  and  with  those  beneficed  di- 
vines who  take  shelter  in  the  houses  of  the 
rich  laity,  and  do  not  live  upon  their  cures'!"* 
Here  was  the  Puritans'  last  retreat ;  those  who 
were  not  willing  to  go  abroad  found  entertain- 
ment in  gentlemen's  families,  and  from  thence 
annoyed  the  enemy  with  their  pamphlets.  Even 
the  populace,  who  were  not  capable  of  writing, 
expressed  their  resentments  against  the  arch- 
bishop by  dispersing  libels  about  the  town,  in 
which  they  threatened  his  destruction.  His 
grace  has  entered  some  of  them  in  his  diary. 

"Wednesday,  August  23.  My  lord-mayor 
sent  me  a  libel  found  by  the  watch  at  the  south 
gate  of  St.  Paul's,  that  the  devil  had  left  that 
house  to  me. 

"  Aug.  25.  Another  libel  was  brought  me  by 
an  officer  of  the  High  Commission,  fastened  to 
the  north  gate  of  St.  Paul's,  that  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Church  of  England  is  a  candle  in  a 
snuff,  going  out  in  a  stench. 

"The  same  night  the  lord-mayor  sent  me 
another  libel,  hanged  upon  the  standard  in 
Cheapside,  which  was  my  speech  in  the  Star 
Chamber  set  in  the  pillory. 

"  A  few  days  after,  another  short  libel  was 
sent  me  in  verse." 

Yet  none  of  these  things  abated  his  zeal  or 
relaxed  his  rigour  against  those  who  censured 
his  arbitrary  proceedings. 

It  was  impossible  to  debate  things  fairly  in 
public,  because  the  press  was  absolutely  at  his 
grace's  disposal,  according  to  a  new  decree  of 
the  Star  Chamber,  made  this  summer,  which 
ordains  that  "no  book  be  printed  unless  it  be 
first  licensed,  with  all  its  titles,  epistles,  and 
prefaces,  by  the  archbishop,  or  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don for  the  time  being,  or  by  their  appointment ; 
and  within  the  limits  of  the  university,  by  the 
chancellor  or  vice-chancellor,  on  pain  of  the 
printer's  being  disabled  from  his  profession  for 
the  future,  and  to  suffer  such  other  punishment 
as  the  High  Commission  shall  think  fit.  That 
before  any  books  imported  from  abroad  be  sold, 
a  catalogue  of  them  shall  be  delivered  to  the 
archbishop,  or  Bishop  of  London,  to  be  perused 
by  themselves  or  their  chaplains.  And  if  there 
be  any  schismatical  or  offensive  books,  they 
shall  be  delivered  up  to  the  bishop,  or  to  the 
High  Commission,  that  the  offenders  may  be 
punished.     It  was  farther  ordained  that  no  per- 

*  Rushworth,  p.  467.  ~~ 


330 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


son  shall  print  beyond  sea  any  English  book  or 
books  whereof  the  greatest  part  is  English, 
whether  formerly  printed  or  not ;  nor  shall  any 
book  be  reprinted,  though  formerly  licensed, 
without  a  new  license.  And,  finally,  if  any 
person  that  is  not  an  allowed  printer  shall  set 
up  a  printing-press,  he  shall  be  set  in  the  pillo- 
ry, and  be  whipped  through  the  streets  of  Lon- 
don." 

These  terrible  proceedings,  instead  of  serving 
the  interests  of  the  Church  or  State,  awakened 
the  resentments  of  all  ranks  and  professions  of 
men  against  those  in  power  :  the  laity  were  as 
uneasy  as  the  clergy,  many  of  whom  sold  their 
effects,  and  removed  with  their  families  and 
trades  into  Holland  or  New-England.  This 
alarmed  the  king  and  council,  who  issued  out  a 
proclamation,  April  30th,  1637,  to  the  following 
purpose  :*  "  The  king  being  informed  that  great 
numbers  of  his  subjects  were  yearly  transport- 
ed into  New-England,  with  their  families  and 
whole  estates,  that  they  might  be  out  of  the 
reach  of  ecclesiastical  authority,  his  majesty 
therefore  commands  that  his  officers  of  the  sev- 
eral ports  should  suffer  none  to  pass  without 
license  from  the  commissioners  of  the  planta- 
tions, and  a  testimonial  from  their  minister  of 
their  conformity  to  the  orders  and  discipline  of 
the  Church."  And  to  bar  the  ministers,  the 
following  order  of  council  was  published  : 

"Whereas  it  is  observed  that  such  ministers 
who  are  not  conformable  to  the  discipline  and 
ceremonies  of  the  Church  do  frequently  trans- 
port themselves  to  the  plantations,  where  they 
take  liberty  to  nourish  their  factious  and  schis- 
matical  humours,  to  the  hinderance  of  the  good 
conformity  and  unity  of  the  Church,  we  there- 
fore expressly  command  you,  in  his  majesty's 
name,  to  sufTer  no  clergyman  to  transport  him- 
self without  a  testimonial  from  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury  and  Bishop  of  London. "+ 

This  was  a  degree  of  severity  hardly  to  be 
paralleled  in  the  Christian  world.  When  the 
edict  of  Nantes  was  revoked,  the  French  king 
allowed  his  Protestant  subjects  a  convenient 
time  to  dispose  of  their  effects  and  depart  the 
kingdom  ;  but  our  Protestant  archbishop  will 
neither  let  the  Puritans  live  peaceably  at  home, 
nor  take  sanctuary  in  foreign  countries ;  a  conduct 
hardly  consistent  with  the  laws  of  humanity, 
much  less  with  the  character  of  a  C/iristian 
iishop  ;  but  while  his  grace  was  running  things 
to  these  extremities,  the  people  (as  has  been 
observed)  took  a  general  disgust,  and  almost  all 
England  became  Puritan. 

The  bishops  and  courtiers  being  not  insensi- 
ble of  the  number  and  weight  of  their  enemies 
among  the  more  resolved  Protestants,  deter- 
mined to  balance  their  power  by  joining  the  pa- 
pists ;  for  which  purpose  the  differences  be- 
tween the  two  Churches  were  said  to  be  tri- 
fling, and  the  peculiar  doctrines  of  popery  printed 
and  preached  up  as  proper  to  be  received  by  the 
Church  of  England.  Bishop  Montague,  speak- 
ing of  the  points  of  faith  and  morality,  affirmed 
that  none  of  these  are  controverted  between  us, 
but  that  ''the  points  in  dispute  were  of  a  lesser 
nature,  of  which  a  man  might  be  ignorant 
without  any  danger  of  salvation. "t  Francis- 
ens  de  Clara,  an  eminent  Franciscan  friar,  pub- 


lished a  book,  wherein  be  endeavoured  to  a&- 
commodate  the  articles  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land to  the  sense  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  so 
that  both  parties  might  subscribe  them.  The 
book  was  dedicated  to  the  king,  and  the  friar 
admitted  to  an  acquaintance  with  the  arch- 
bishop.* 

Great  stress  was  laid  upon  the  uninterrupted 
succession  of  the  epi.scbpal  character  through 
the  Church  of  Rome ;  for  "  miserable  were  we," 
says  Dr.  Pocklington,  "  if  he  that  now  sits  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  could  not  derive  his  suc- 
cession from  St.  Austin,  St.  Austin  from  St. 
Gregory,  and  St.  Gregory  from  St.  Peter."  Dr. 
Heylin,  in  his  moderate  answer  to  Mr.  Burton, 
has  these  words :  "  That  my  Lord  of  Canter- 
bury that  now  is,  is  lineally  descended  from  St. 
Peter  in  a  most  fair  and  constant  tenour  of  suc- 
cession, you  shall  easily  find  if  you  consult  the 
learned  labours  of  Mason,  '  De  Ministerio  An- 
glicano.'  " 

Bishop  Montague  published  a  treatise,  "  Of 
the  Invocation  of  Saints,"  in  which  he  says 
that  "  departed  saints  have  not  only  a  memory, 
but  a  more  peculiar  charge  of  their  friends ; 
and  that  some  saints  have  a  peculiar  patronage, 
custody,  protection,  and  power,  as  angels  have 
also,  over  certain  persons  and  countries  by  spe- 
cial deputation  ;  and  that  it  is  not  impiety  so  to 
believe."!  Dr.  Cosins  says,  in  one  of  his  ser- 
mons, that  "  when  our  Reformers  took  away  the 
mass,  they  marred  all  religion  ;  but  that  the  mass 
was  not  taken  aioay,  inasmuch  as  the  real  pres- 
ence of  Christ  remained  still,  otherwise  it  were 
not  a  reformed,  but  a  deformed  religion.^'  And 
in  order  to  persuade  a  papist  to  come  to  church, 
he  told  him  that  the  body  of  Christ  was  suhslan- 
tially  and  realh/  in  the  sacramcnt-X  This  divine 
printed  a  collection  of  private  devotions,  in  im- 
itation of  the  Roman  Horary.  The  frontispiece 
had  three  capital  letters,  J.  H.  S.  ;  upon  these 
there  was  a  cross  encircled  with  the  sun,  sup- 
ported by  two  angels,  with  two  devout  women 
praying  towards  it.  The  book  contains  the 
Apostles'  Creed,  the  Lord's  Prayer  divided  into 
seven  petitions,  the  precepts  of  charity,  the  sev- 
en sacraments,  the  three  theological  virtues, 
the  eight  beatitudes,  the  seven  deadly  sins, 
with  forms  of  prayer  for  the  first,  third,  sixth, 
and  ninth  hours,  and  for  the  vespers  and  com- 
pline, formerly  called  the  canonical  hours  ;  then 


*  Rusbworth,  vol.  ii.,  part  ii.,  p.  409.      f  lb.,  p.  410. 
t  lb.,  part  i.,  p.  214. 


*  Grey  quotes  a  passage  from  the  trial  of  Laud, 
by  which  it  appears  that  he  denied  having  given  any 
encouragement  to  the  publication  of  this  book,  and 
had  absolutely  prohibited  its  being  printed  in  Eng- 
land ;  that  Clara  was  never  with  him  till  the  book 
was  ready  for  the  press,  nor  afterward  above  twice 
or  thrice  at  most,  when  he  made  great  friends  to  ob- 
tain the  archbishop's  sanction  to  his  printing  another 
book,  to  prove  that  bishops  are  by  Divine  right ;  and 
his  request  was  again  refused.  For  the  archbishop 
replied,  "that  he  did  not  like  the  way  which  the 
Church  of  Rome  went  in  the  case  of  episcopacy, 
would  never  consent  to  the  printing  of  any  such 
book  here  from  the  pen  of  a  Romanist,  and  that  the 
bishops  of  England  were  able  to  defend  tlieir  own 
cause  without  calling  in  the  aid  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,  and  would  in  due  time." — Ed. 

t  Rvishwortb,  vol.  i.,  p.  214. 

%  Collyer's  Eccles.  Hist.,  p.  742.  This  divine,  of 
course,  is  in  high  esteem  with  the  Oxford  Tractari- 
ans.  It  is  tolerably  clear  that  our  Puritan  fathers 
took  precisely  the  same  views  of  truth  as  those  now 
entertained  by  the  opposers  of  Puseyism  in  1843. — 0. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


331 


followed  the  litany,  with  prayers  for  the  sacra- 
ment, in  time  of  sickness,  and  at  the  approach 
of  death.  This  book  was  Ucenscd  by  the  Bishop 
of  London,  and  puhliciy  sold  when  the  books  of 
the  most  resolved  ProUslatils  were  suppressed. 

Mr.  Adams,  in  a  sermon  at  St.  Mary's,  in 
Cambridge,  asserted  the  expedience  of  auricu- 
lar confession,  saying  it  was  as  necessary  to 
salvation  as  meat  is  to  the  body.*  Others 
preached  up  the  doctrine  of  penance,  and  of  au- 
thoritative priestly  absolution  from  sin.  Some 
maintained  the  proper  merit  of  good  works,  in 
opposition  to  the  received  doctrine  of  justifica- 
tion by  faith  alone.  Others,  that  in  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord's  Supper  there  was  a  full  and 
proper  sacrifice  for  sin.  Some  declared  for 
images,  crucifixes,  and  pictures  in  churches,  for 
purgatory,  and  for  preserving,  reverencing,  and 
even  praying  to,  the  relics  of  saints.  The  au- 
thor of  the  English  Pope,  printed  1643,  says 
that  Sparrow  paved  the  way  for  auricular  con- 
fession, Watts  for  penance,  Heylin  for  altar 
worship,  Montague  for  saint  worship,  and  Laud 
for  the  mass. 

It  was  a  very  just  observation  of  a  Venitian 
gentleman,  in  his  travels  to  England  about  this 
time,t  "  that  the  universities,  bishops,  and  di- 
vines of  England  daily  embraced  Catholic  doc- 
trines, though  they  professed  ihcm  not  with  open 
mouth  :  they  held  that  the  Church  of  Rome 
was  a  true  church  ;  that  the  pope  was  superior 
to  all  bishops ;  that  to  him  it  pertained  to  call 
general  councils  ;  that  it  was  lawful  to  pray  for 
souls  departed  ;  and  that  altars  ought  to  be 
erected  in  all  churches  :  in  sum,  they  believed 
all  that  was  taught  by  the  Church  of  Rome,  but 
not  by  the  court  of  Rome. ^^  Remarkable  are  the 
words  of  Heylin  to  the  same  purpose  :%  "  The 
greatest  part  of  the  controversy  between  us 
and  the  Church  of  Rome,"  says  he,  "  not  being 
in  fundamentals,  or  in  any  essential  points  of 
the  Christian  religion,  I  cannot  otherwise  look 
upon  it  but  as  a  most  Christian  and  pious  work  to 
endeavour  an  agreement  in  the  superstructure  ; 
as  to  the  lawfulness  of  it,  I  could  never  see  any 
reason  produced  against  it :  against  the  impossi- 
bility of  it,  it  has  been  objected  that  the  Church 
of  Rome  will  yield  nothing  ;  if,  therefore,  there 
be  an  agreement,  it  must  not  be  their  meeting 
us,  but  our  going  to  them ;  but  that  all  in  the 
Church  of  Rome  are  not  so  stiff,  appears  from 
the  testimony  of  the  Archbishop  of  Spalato, 
who  acknowledged  that  the  articles  of  the 
Church  of  England  were  not  heretical,  and  by 
the  treatise  of  Franciscus  de  Clara.^    Now,  if, 

*  Rushworth,  p.  137.    Prynne,  p.  195,  &c. 

+  May's  Hist,  of  Pari.,  p.  25. 

i  Fuller's  Appeal,  part  iii.,  p.  63,  65. 

^  His  real  name  was  Christopher  Davenport.  He 
was  the  son  of  an  alderman  of  Coventry,  and,  with 
nis  brother  John,  was  sent  to  Merton  College,  in 
Oxford,  in  the  year  1613.  John  became  afterward  a 
noted  Puritan,  and  then  an  Independent.  Christo- 
pher, by  the  invitation  of  some  Romish  priests  living 
in  or  near  Oxford,  went  to  study  at  Douay  in  1616. 
He  afterward  spent  some  time  in  the  University  of 
Salamanca,  from  whence  he  returned  to  Douay,  and 
read  first  philosophy  and  then  divinity  there.  At 
length  he  became  a  missionary  into  England,  and  a 
chaplain  to  Queen  Henrietta  Maria,  under  the  name 
of  Franciscus  a  Sancta  Clara.  Among  many  learned 
works  of  which  he  was  the  author,  was  ''  An  Expo- 
sition of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  in  the  most  favour- 
able Sense."    "But,"  says  Bishop  Warburton,  "it 


without  prejudice  to  truth,  the  controversies 
might  be  composed,  it  is  most  probable  that 
other  Protestant  churches  would  have  sued  to 
be  included  in  the  peace  ;  if  not,  the  Church  of 
England  will  lose  nothing  by  it,  as  being  hated 
by  the  Calvinists,  and  not  loved  by  the  Luther- 
ans." This  was  the  ridiculous  court  scheme 
which  Archbishop  Laud  used  all  his  interest  to 
accomplish  ;  and  it  is  no  impertinent  story  to 
our  present  purpose,  because  it  is  well  attested, 
that  a  certain  countess  (whose  husband's  father 
the  archbishop  had  married,  and  thereby  brought 
himself  into  trouble)  having  turned  papist,  was 
asked  by  the  archbishop  the  cause  of  her  chan- 
ging, to  whom  she  replied,  it  was  because  she 
always  hated  to  go  in  a  crowd.  Being  asked 
again  the  reason  of  that  expression,  she  an- 
swered, that  she  perceived  his  grace  and  many 
others  were  making  haste  to  Rome,  and,  there- 
fore, to  prevent  going  in  a  press,  she  had  gone 
before  them.* 

It  is  certain  the  papists  were  in  high  reputa- 
tion at  court;  the  kingcounted  them  his  best  sub- 
jects, and  relaxed  his  penal  laws,  on  pretence 
that  hereby  foreign  Catholic  princes  might  be 
induced  to  show  favour  to  their  subjects  of 
the  Reformed  religion.  Within  the  compass  of 
four  years,  seventy-four  letters  of  grace  were 
signed  by  the  king's  own  hand ;  sixty -four  priests 
were  dismissed  from  the  Gate-house,  and  twen-' 
ty-nine  by  warrant  from  the  secretary  of  state, 
at  the  instance  of  the  queen,  the  queen-mother, 
or  some  foreign  ambassador.  Protections  were 
frequently  granted,  to  put  a  stop  to  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  court  of  justice  against  them.t  I 
have  before  me  a  list  of  popish  recusants,  con- 
victed in  the  twenty-nine  English  counties  of 
the  southern  division,  from  the  first  of  King 
Charles  to  the  sixteenth,  which  amounts  to  no 
less  than  eleven  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
seventyt  (as  the  account  was  brought  into  the 
Long  Parliament  by  Mr.  John  Pulford,  employed 
in  their  prosecution  by  the  king  himself),  all  of 
whom  were  released  and  pardoned.  And  if 
their  numbers  were  so  great  in  the  south,  how 
must  they  abound  in  the  northern  and  Welsh 
counties,  where  they  are  computed  three  to  one ! 

Many  of  them  were  promoted  to  places  of  the 
highest  honour  and  trust ;  Sir  Richard  Weston 
was  lord-high-treasurer,  Sir  Francis  Winde- 
bank  secretary  of  state,  Lord  Cottington  was 
chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  and  Mr.  Porter  of 
the  bedchamber ;  besides  these,  there  were 
Lord  Conway,  Sir  Kenelm  Digby,  Sir  Toby 
Mathews,  Mr.  Montague,  Jr.,  the  Duchess  of 
Montague,  the  Countess  of  Newport,  and  many 
others^  all  papists,  who  were  in  high  favcur,^ 
and  had  the  king  and  queen's  ear  whensoever 
they  pleased.     The  pope  had  a  nuncio  in  Eng- 

pleased  neither  party."  The  Spanish  Inquisition  put 
it  into  the  Index  Expurgatorius;  and  it  would  have 
been  condemned  at  Rome  had  not  the  king  and 
Archbishop  Laud  pressed  Penzani,  the  pope's  agent 
at  London,  to  stop  the  prosecution.  He  died  the 
31st  of  May,  1680. —  Warbu7-ton's  supplemental  volume, 
p.  483  ;  and  Wood's  Athena  Oxon.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  415, 
&c.— Ed. 

*  Fuller's  Appeal,  p.  61.  It  was  the  daughter  of 
WiUiam,  earl  of  Devonshire. — Jesse's  Court  of  the 
Stuarts,  vol.  ii.,  p.  385.— C. 

t  Rushworth,  vol.  ii.,  part  ii.,  p.  284. 

j  Foxes  and  Firebrands,  part  hi.,  p.  75. 

\  Coliyer's  Eccles.  Hist.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  780. 


332 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


land,  and  the  queen  an  agent  at  Rome  ;  Cardi- 
nal Barberini  was  made  protector  of  tlie  Eng- 
lisli  nation,  and  a  society  was  erected  under  the 
title  of  "The Congregation  for  Propagating  the 
Faith."*  Richard  Smith,  tutelar  bishop  of  Chal- 
cedon,  exercised  episcopal  jurisdiction  over  the 
English  Catholics  by  commission  from  the  pope ; 
he  conferred  orders,  and  appeared  in  Lincoln- 
shire with  his  mitre  and  crosier  ;t  Seignior  Con 
or  Cuna;us,  tiie  pope's  legate,  gained  over  sev- 
eral of  the  gentry,  and  attempted  the  king  him- 
self by  presents  of  little  popish  toys  and  pic- 
tures, with  which  his  majesty  was  wonderfully 
delighted. t  The  papists  had  a  common  purse, <J 
with  which  they  purchased  several  monopolies, 
and  bestowed  the  profits  upon  their  best  friends ; 
several  of  their  military  men  were  put  into 
commission,  and  great  numbers  were  listed  in 
his  majesty's  armies  against  the  Scots. || 

But  let  the  reader  form  his  judgment  of  the 
number  and  strength  of  the  Roman  Catholics 
from  Lord  Clarendon, "Tf  who  says,  "  The  pa- 
pists had  for  many  years  enjoyed  a  great 'calm, 
heing  on  the  matter  absolved  from  the  severest 
parts  of  the  law,  and  dispensed  with  for  the 
gentlest.  They  were  grown  to  be  a  part  of  the 
revenue,  without  any  probable  danger  of  being 


*  Fuller's  Church  History,  b.  xi.,  p.  137.  Prynne, 
p.  198.  t  Foxes  and  Firebrands,  part  iii.,  p.  121. 

t  Mr.  Neal  here  goes  beyond  his  author,  who  says, 
"  which  yet  could  prevail  nothing  with  the  king." 
But  then  he  remarks  in  the  margin,  that  it  "  was 
strange  that  the  king  did  not  send  Cunasus  packing, 
when  he  thus  tempted  and  assaulted  him."  On  the 
iruth  an.fl  force  of  this  remark,  it  may  be  presumed  that 
Mr.  Neal  grounded  his  representation  of  the  king's 
behig  delighted  with  the  legate's  presents  ;  for,  in- 
stead of  dismissing  him,  he  often  received  him  at 
Hampton  Court,  and  solicited  his  services  for  the 
Palatinate,  which  certainly  indicated  no  displeasure 
at  his  gifts.— Ed. 

(j  Foxes  and  Firebrands,  part  iii.,  p.  134. 

11  Dr.  Crey  properly  observes,  that  the  place  in 
Collyer  to  which  Mr.  Neal  here  refers  mentions  not 
one  syllable  of  this.  The  truth  is,  that  Collyer  is  al- 
leged only  to  prove  the  influence  which  the  papists 
had  at  court.  I  have  therefore  annexed  the  refer- 
ence to  a  preceding  senience.  The  doctor  adds, 
"Nor  do  I  believe  that  he  (i.  e.,  Mr.  Neal)  can  produce 
ihe  least  authority  for  his  assertion,  that  great  num- 
bers of  papists  were  listed  in  his  majesty's  armies 
against  the  Scots."  It  is  to  be  wished  that  Mr.  Neal 
had  referred  here  exactly  to  his  authority.  But  to 
."^upply  this  omission,  it  may  be  observed  that  the 
queen  employed  Sir  Kenelin  Digby  and  Mr.  Walter 
Montague  to  raise  liberal  contributions  for  the  war 
from  the  papists,  whose  clergy  vied  with  the  English 
on  this  occasion  ;  on  this  ground  some  styled  the  for- 
ces raised  the  popish  army.  The  circumstance  ren- 
ders it,  to  say  the  least,  exceedingly  probable  that 
papi.sts  were  enlisted.  It  was  aftfcrvvard  charged  on 
the  king  that  he  employed  them  in  his  armies ;  the 
Earl  of  Newcastle  did  not  deny  it ;  and  the  Parlia- 
ment produced  lists  of  popish  officers  in  the  king's 
service,  with  their  names,  quality,  and  employs.  It 
was  also  urged  against  the  Parliament,  that  there 
were  great  numbers  of  papists,  both  commandors  and 
others,  in  their  army.  Dr.  Grey  quotes  Dugdaie  to 
prove  this.  Ilapin  observes  on  this  charge,  that  not 
a  single  Catholic  was  named  by  those  who  brought 
the  charge,  nor  were  the  muster-rolls  to  which  the 
appeal  was  made  ever  published. —  Whitelockc's  Me- 
moirs, p.  31.  Mrs.  Macaulei/s  History,  vol.  ii.,  p. 
270,  8vo.  Rapiti,  vol.  n.,  p.  402,  46^,  folio.  An  Es- 
say towards  a  True  Idea  of  the  Character  and  Reign  of 
Charles  I.,  p.  69  ;  and  Dugdale's  Short  View  of  the 
Troubles,  &,c.,  p.  105,  56i,— Ed.        <^  Vol.  i.,  p.  148. 


made  a  sacrifice  to  the  law.     They  were  looked 
upon  as  good  subjects  at  court,  and  good  neigh- 
bours in  the  country,  all  the  restraints  and  re- 
proaches of  former  times  being  forgotten  :  but 
they  were  not  prudent  managers  of  their  pros- 
perity, being  elated  with  the  connivance  and 
protection  they  received  ;  and  though  I  am  per- 
suaded their  numbers  increased  not,  their  pomp 
and  boldness  did  to  that  degree,  that,  as  if  they 
affected  to  be  thought  dangerous  to  the  state, 
they  appeared  more  publicly,  entertained   and 
urged  conferences  more  avowedly,  than  had  be- 
fore been  known.     They  resorted  at  common 
hours  to  mass  to  Somerset  House,  and  returned 
thence  in  great  multitudes  with  the  same  hare- 
facedness  as  others  come  from  the  Savoy,  or 
other  neighbouring  churches.    They  attempted, 
and  sometimes  gained  proselytes,  of  weak,  un- 
informed ladies,  with  such   circumstances  as 
provoked  the  rage,  and  destroyed  the  charity, 
of  great  and  powerful  families,  which  longed 
for  their  suppression  ;  they  grew  not  only  secret 
contrivers,  but  public  professed  promoters  of, 
and  ministers  in,  the  most   odious  and  most 
grievous  projects,  as  in  that  of  soap,  formed, 
framed,  and  executed  by  almost  a  corporation 
of  that  religion,  which  under  that  license  and 
notion  might  be,  and  were  suspected  to  be,  qual- 
ified for  other  agitations.    The  priests  ami  such 
as  were  in  orders  (orders  that  in  themselves 
were  punishable  with  death)  were  departed  from 
their  former  modesty  and  fear,  and  were  as  will- 
ing to  be  known  as  to  be  hearkened  to  ;  inso- 
much that  a  Jesuit  at  Paris,  who  was  coming 
for  England,  had  the  boldness  to  visit  the  am- 
bassador there,  who  knew  him  to  be  such,  and 
offered  him  his  service,  acquainted  him  with 
his  journey,  as  if  there  had  been  no  laws  there 
for  his  reception  ;  and  for  the  most  invidious 
protection  and  countenance  of  that  v/hole  party, 
a  public  agent   from   Rome  (first   Mr.  Con,  a 
Scottish  man,  and  after  him  the  Count  of  Ro- 
setti,  an  Italian)  resided  in  London  in  great 
pomp,  publicly  visited  the  court,  and  was  avow- 
edly resorted  to  by  the  Catholics  of  all  condi- 
tions, over  whom  he  assumed  a  particular  ju- 
risdiction, and  was  caressed  and  presented  mag- 
nificently by  the  ladies  of  honour  who  inclined 
to  that  profession.     They  had  likewise,  with 
more  noise  and  vanity  than  prudence  would 
have  admitted,  made  public  collections  of  mon- 
ey to  a  considerable  sum,  upon  some  recom- 
mendations from  the  queen,  and  to  be  by  her 
majesty  presented,  as  a  free-will  offering  from 
his  Roman  Catholic  subjects  to  the  king,  for  the 
carrying  on  the  war  against  the  Scots  ;  which 
drew  upon  them  the  rage  of  that  nation,  with 
little  devotion  and  reverence  to  the  queen  her- 
self, as  if  she  desired  to  surpress  the  Protestant 
religion  in  one  kingdom  as  well  as  the  other,  by 
the  arms  of  the  Roman  Catholics." 

From  this  account,  compared  with  the  fore- 
going relation,  it  is  evident  there  never  was  a 
stronger  combination  in  favour  of  popery,  nor 
was  the  Protestant  religion  at  any  time  in  a 
more  dangerous  crisis,  being  deserted  by  its 
pretended  friends,  while  it  was  secretly  under- 
mining by  its  most  powerful  enemies. 

The  case  was  the  same  with  the  civil  liber- 
ties and  properties  of  the  people  :  no  man  had 
anything  that  he  could  call  his  own  any  longer 
than  the  king  pleased ;  for  in  the  famous  trial  of 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


333 


Mr.  Hampden,  of  Buckinghamshire,  in  the  case 
of  ship-money,  all  the  judges  of  England,  except 
, Crook  and  Hutton,*  gave  it  for  law  "that  the 
king  might  levy  ta.xes  on  the  subject  by  writ 
under  the  great  seal,  without  grant  of  Parlia- 
ment, in  cases  of  necessity ;  or  when  the  king- 
dom was  in  danger,  of  which  danger  and  neces- 
sity his  majesty  was  the  sole  and  final  judge  ; 
and  that  by  law  his  majesty  might  compel  the 
doing  thereof  in  case  of  rel'usal  or  refractori- 
ness." This  determination  was  entered  in  all 
the  courts  of  Westminster  Hall,  and  the  judges 
were  commanded  to  declare  it  in  their  circuits 
throughout  the  kingdom,  to  the  end  that  no  man 
might  plead  ignorance.  "  The  damage  and 
mischief  cannot  be  expressed,"  says  Lord  Clar- 
endon,! "  that  the  crown  sustained  by  the  de- 
Served  reproach  and  infamy  that  attended  this 
behaviour  of  the  judges,  who,  out  of  their  court- 
ship, submitted  the  grand  questions  of  law  to 
be  measured  by  what  they  call  the  standard  of 
general  reason  and  necessity."  While  these 
extraordinary  methods  of  raising  money  were 
built  only  upon  the  prerogative,  people  were 
more  patient,  hoping  that  some  time  or  other 
the  law  would  recover  its  power ;  but  when  they 
were  declared  by  all  the  judges  to  be  the  very 
law  itself,  and  a  rule  for  determining  suits  be- 
tween the  king  and  subject,  they  were  struck 
with  despair,  and  concluded,  very  justly,  that 
Magna  Charta  and  the  old  English  Constitution 
were  at  an  end. 

Let  the  reader  now  recollect  himself,  and 
then  judge  of  the  candour  o{  the  noble  historian, 
who,  notwithstanding  the  cruel  persecutions 
and  oppressions  already  mentioned,  celebrates 
the  felicity  of  these  times  in  the  following 
words  :  "  Now,  after  all  this,  I  must  be  so  just 
as  to  say,  that  from  the  dissolution  of  the  Par- 
liament in  the  fourth  year  of  the  king,  to  the 
beginning  of  the  Long  Parliament,  which  was 
about  twelve  years,  this  kingdom,  and  all  his 
majesty's  dominions,  enjoyed  the  greatest  calm, 
and  the  fullest  measure  of  felicity,  that  any 
people,  in  any  age,  for  so  long  time  together, 
have  been  blessed  with,  to  the  wonder  and  envy 
of  all  other  parts  of  Christendom :  the  court 
was  in  great  plenty,  or,  rather,  excess  and  lux- 
ury ;  the  country  rich  and  full,  enjoying  the 
pleasure  of  its  own  wealth  ;  the  Church  flour- 
ished with  learned  and  extraordinary  men  ;  and 
the  Protestant  religion  was  more  advanced 
against  the  Church  of  Rome  by  the  writings 
of  Archbishop  Laud  and  Chillingworth  than  it 
had  been  since  the  Reformation.  Trade  in- 
creased to  that  degree  that  we  were  the  ex- 
change of  Christendom,  foreign  merchants  look- 
ing upon  nothing  so  much  their  own  as  what 
they  had  laid  up  in  the  warehouses  of  this  king- 
dom. The  reputation  of  the  greatness  and 
power  of  the  king  with  foreign  princes  was 
much  more  than  any  of  his  progenitors.  And 
lastly,  for  a  complement  of  all  these  blessings, 
they  were  enjoyed  under  the  protection  of  a 
king  of  the  most  harmless  disposition,  the  most 
exemplary  piety,  and  the  greatest  sobriety,  chas- 
tity, and  mercy  that  any  prince  had  been  en- 
dowed with,  and  who  might  have  said  that 
which  Pericles  was  proud  of  upon  his  death- 
bed, concerning  liis  citizens,  '  that  no  English- 


*  Rapin,  vol.  ii.  p.  295," 296,  folio  edit. 
t  Vol.  i.,  p.  70. 


man  had  worn  a  mourning-gown  through  his 
occasion.'  In  a  word,  many  wise  men  thought 
it  a  time  wherein  those  two  adjuncts,  impcrium 
and  libertas,  were  as  well  reconciled  as  pos- 
sible."* 

Not  a  line  of  this  panegyric  will  bear  exami- 
nation. When  his  lordship  says  "  that  no  peo- 
ple in  any  age  had  been  blessed  with  so  great 
a  calm,  and  such  a  full  measure  of  felicity  for 
so  long  a  time  together  [twelve  years],"  he 
seems  to  have  undervalued  the  long  and  pacific 
reign  of  his  majesty's  royal  father,  King  .Tames, 
who  was  distinguished  by  the  title  of  Blessed. 
But  where  was  the  liberty  or  safety  of  the  sub- 
ject, when  Magna  Charta  and  the  Petition  of 
Right,  which  the  king  had  signed  in  full  Parlia- 
ment, were  swallowed  up  in  the  gulf  of  arbi- 
trary power  1  and  the  statute  laws  of  the  land 
were  exchanged  for  a  rule  of  government  de- 
pending upon  the  soverign  will  and  pleasure  of 
the  crown  1  If  the  court  was  in  excess  and 
luxury,  it  was  with  the  plunder  of  the  people, 
arising  from  loans,  benevolences,  ship-inoney, 
monopolies,  and  other  illegal  ta.xes  on  mer- 
chandise. The  country  was  so  far  from  grow- 
ing rich  and  wealthy,  that  it  was  every  year 
draining  off  its  inhabitants  and  substance,  as 
appears  not  only  by  the  loss  of  the  foreign 
manufacturers,  but  by  his  majesty's  proclama- 
tions, forbidding  any  of  his  subjects  to  trans- 
port themselves  and  their  effects  to  New-Eng- 
land without  his  special  license.  Was  it  pos- 
sible that  trade  could  flourish  when  almost 
every  branch  of  it  was  engrossed,  and  sold  by 
the  crown  for  large  sums  of  money,  and  when 
the  property  of  the  subject  was  so  precarious 
that  the  king  might  call  for  it  upon  any  occasion, 
and,  in  case  of  refusal,  ruin  the  proprietor  by  ex- 
orbitant fines  and  imprisonment  1  Did  no  Eng- 
lishman wear  a  mourning-gown  in  these  times, 
when  the  Seldens,  the  Hollises,  the  Elliots,  the 
Strouds,  the  Hobarts,  the  Valentines,  the  Cori- 
tons,  and  other  patriots  were  taken  out  of  the 
Parliament  House  and  shut  up  for  many  years 
in  close  prisons,  where  some  of  them  perished  1 
How  many  of  the  nobility  and  gentry  were 
punished  with  exorbitant  fines  in  the  Star 
Chamber?  How  many  hundred  ministers  and 
others  were  ruined  in  the  High  Commission,  or 
forced  from  their  native  country  into  banish- 
ment, contrary  to  lawl  The  jails  in  the  several 
counties  were  never  free  from  State  or  Church 
prisoners  during  the  past  twelve  years  of  his 
majesty's  reign,  and  yet  it  seems  no  English- 
man wore  a  mourning  gown  through  his  occa- 
sion 1  Is  it  possible  to  believe  that  the  reputa- 
tion of  the  greatness  and  power  of  King  Charles 
I.  with  foreign  princes  (however  harmless,  pi- 
ous, sober,  chaste,  and  merciful  he  might  be) 
was  equal  to  that  of  Queen  Elizabeth  or  King 
Henry  VITI.  1  What  service  did  he  do  by  his 
arms  or  counsels  for  the  Protestant  religion,  or 
for  the  liberties  or  tranquillity  of  Europe! 
When  his  majesty's  affairs  were  in  the  great- 
est distress,  what  credit  had  he  abroad  1  or 
where  was  the  foreign  prince  (except  his  own 
son-in-law)  that  would  lend  him  either  men  or 
money'?  If  the  Protestant  religion  was  ad- 
vanced in  speculation  by  the  writings  of  Arch- 
bishop Laud  and  Chillingworth,  is  it  not  suffi- 


*  Lord  Clarendon's  Representation  of  the  Times, 
vol.  i.,  p.  74,  76. 


334 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PUKITANS. 


cienfly  evident  that  the  Roman  Catholics  were 
prodigiously  increased  in  numbers,  reputation, 
and  influence  1  Upon  the  whole,  the  people  of 
Enghind  were  so  far  from  enjoying  a  full  meas- 
ure of  felicity,  that  they  groaned  under  a  yoke 
of  the  heaviest  oppression,  and  were  prepared 
to  lay  hold  of  any  opportunity  to  assert  their 
liberties;  so  that  to  make  his  lordship's  repre- 
sentation of  tlie  times  consistent  with  truth, 
or  with  his  own  behaviour  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Long  Parliament,  one  is  almost  tempted 
to  suspect  it  must  have  received  some  amend- 
ments or  colourings  from  the  hands  of  his  ed- 
itors. This  was  the  state  of  affairs  at  the  end 
of  the  pacific  part  of  his  reign,  and  forward  to 
the  beginning  of  the  Long  Parliament. 


CHAPTER  VL 

FROM  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  COMMOTIONS  IN 
SCOTLAND  TO  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT  IN  THE 
YEAR  1640. 

We  are  now  entering  upon  a  scene  of  ca- 
lamity which  opened  in  the  north,  and  in  a  few 
years,  like  a  rising  tempest,  overspread  both 
kingdoms,  and  involved  them  in  all  the  mis- 
eries of  a  civil  war.  If  Archbishop  Laud  could 
have  been  content  with  being  metropolitan  of 
the  Church  of  England  alone,  he  might  have 
gone  to  his  grave  in  peace  ;  but  grasping  at 
the  jurisdiction  of  another  church,  founded  upon 
different  principles,  he  pulled  both  down  upon 
his  head,  and  was  buried  in  the  ruins. 

We  have  mentioned  the  preposterous  pub- 
lishing the  Scots  book  of  canons  a  year  before 
their  liturgy,  which  was  not  finished  till  the 
month  of  October,  1636.  His  majesty's  rea- 
sons for  compiling  it  were,  that "  his  royal  father 
had  intended  it,  and  made  a  considerable  prog- 
ress in  the  work,  in  order  to  curb  such  of  his  sub- 
jects in  Scotland  as  were  inclined  to  Puritan- 
ism ;  that  his  present  majesty  resolved  to  pur- 
sue the  same  design,  and  therefore  consented  to 
the  publication  of  this  book,  which  was  in  sub- 
stance the  same  with  the  English  liturgy,  that 
the  Roman  party  might  not  upbraid  us  with 
any  material  differences,  and  yet  was  so  far 
distinct  that  it  might  be  truly  reputed  a  book 
of  that  Church's  composing,  and  established  by 
his  royal  authority  as  King  of  Scotland."* 

The  compilers  of  this  liturgy  were  chiefly 
Dr.  Wederburne,  a  Scots  divine,  beneficed  in 
England,  hut  now  Bishop  of  Dunblain,  and  Dr. 
Ma.xwell,  bishop  of  Ross.  Their  instructions 
from  England  were  to  keep  such  Catholic  saints 
in  their  calendar  as  were  in  the  English,  and 
that  such  new  saints  as  were  added  should  be 
the  most  approved,  hut  in  no  case  to  omit  St. 
George  and  St.  Patrick  ;  that  in  the  book  of  or- 
ders those  words  in  the  Englis'i  book  he  not 
changed,  "  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost ;"  and 
that  sundry  lessons  out  of  the  Apocrypha  be 
inserted  ;  besides  these,  the  word  presbyter  be 
inserted  instead  of  priest ;  and  the  water  in  the 
font  for  baptism  was  to  be  consecrated.  There 
was  a  benediction  or  thanksgiving  for  departed 
saints  ;  some  passages  in  the  communion  were 
altered  in  favour  of  the  real  presence  ;  the  ru- 
brics contained  instructions  to  the  people  when 

»  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  part  ii.,  p.  386. 


to  stand,  and  when  to  sit  or  kneel :  to  all  which 
the  Scots  had  hitherto  been  strangers.  The 
main  parts  of  tlie  liturgy  were  the  same  with 
the  English,  that  there  might  be  an  appearance 
of  uniformity ;  it  was  revised,  corrected,  and 
altered  by  Archi)ishop  Laud  and  Bishop  Wren, 
as  appeared  by  the  original  found  in  the  arch- 
bishop's chamber  in  the  Tower,  in  which  the 
alterations  were  inserted  villi  his  own  hand. 

The  liturgy,  thus  modelled,  was  sent  into 
Scotland,  with  a  royal  proclamation,  dated  De- 
cember 20,  1636,  commanding  all  his  majesty's 
loving  subjects  of  that  kingdom  to  receive  it 
with  reverence,  as  the  only  form  his  majesty 
thinks  fit  to  be  used  in  that  Kirk,  without  so 
much  as  laying  it  before  a  convocation,  synod, 
general  assembly,  or  Parliament  of  that  nation. 
It  was  appointed  to  be  read  first  on  Easter  Sun- 
day, 1637,  against  which  time  all  parishes  were 
to  be  provided  with  two  books  at  least ;  but  the 
outcries  of  the  people  against  it  were  so  vehe- 
ment, that  it  was  thought  advisable  to  delay  it 
to  the  23d  of  July,  that  the  lords  of  the  session 
[or  judges]  might  see  the  success  of  it  before 
the  end  of  the  term,  which  always  ends  the  1st 
of  August,  in  order  to  report  in  their  several 
counties  the  peaceable  receiving  the  book  at 
Edinburgh  and  parts  adjacent.  The  Archbish- 
op of  St.  Andrew's,  with  some  of  his  more  pru- 
dent brethren,  foreseeing  the  disorders  that 
would  arise,  advised  the  deferring  it  yet  long- 
er; but  Archbishop  Laud  was  so  sanguine  of 
success,  that  he  procured  a  warrant  from  the 
king,  commanding  the  Scots  bishops  to  go  for- 
ward at  all  events,  threatening  that  if  they  mo- 
ved heavily,  or  threw  in  unnecessary  delays, 
the  king  would  remove  them,  and  fill  their  sees 
with  churchmen  of  more  zeal  and  resolution.* 

In  obedience,  therefore,  to  the  royal  com- 
mand, notice  having  been  given  in  all  the  pul- 
pits of  Edinburgh  that  the  Sunday  following 
[July  23,  1037J  the  new  service-book  would  he 
read  in  all  the  churches,  there  was  a  vast  con- 
course of  people  at  St.  Giles's,  or  the  great 
church,  where  both  the  archbishops  and  divers 
bishops,  together  with  the  lords  of  the  session, 
the  magistrates  of  Edinburgh,  and  many  of  the 
council  were  assembled ;  but  as  soon  as  the 
dean  began  to  read,  the  service  was  interrupted 
by  clapping  of  hands,  and  a  hideous  noise  among 
the  meaner  sort  of  people  at  the  lower  end  of 
the  church;  which  the  Bishopof  Edinburgh  ob- 
serving, stepped  into  the  pulpit  and  endeavoured 
to  quiet  them,  but  the  disturbance  increasing, 
a  stool  was  thrown  towards  the  desk;  upon 
which  the  provost  and  bailiffs  of  the  city  came 
from   their  places,  and    with   much   difficulty 

*  "This,"  says  Dr.  Grey,  "is  not  very  likely  ;  and 
as  he  [i.  e.,  Mr.  Neal]  produces  no  vouchers  for  what 
he  says,  he  cannot  reasonably  take  it  amiss  if  we  do 
not  readily  assent  to  it."  To  this  it  is  suflrcient  to 
reply,  that  the  fact  is  stated  by  Collyer  in  his  Eccle- 
siastical History,  vol.  ii.,  p.  770,  whose  words  Mr. 
.Neal  uses.  The  eagerness  of  Laud  to  carry  this 
point  was  stimulated  by  the  Earl  of  Truquair,  who 
carried  a  letter  to  him  from  some  of  the  lately-pre- 
ferred Scotch  bishops,  who  had  an  overbalance  of 
heat  and  spirits,  urging  execution  and  despatch  in 
the  business.  In  this  instance  the  archbishop  was 
the  dupe  of  the  msidious  policy  of  the  Earl  of  Tra- 
quair,  whose  aim  was,  by  pushing  things  to  exiremi- 
tv,  to  ruin  the  <ilder  Scotch  bishops,  who.  as  he 
thought,  stood  in  the  -way  of  his  ambitious  views, 
and  '•  might  grow  too  big  for  his  interest."— Ed. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    PURITANS. 


335 


thrust  out  the  populace,  and  shut  the  church 
doors ;  yet  such  were  the  clamours  from  with- 
out, rapping  at  the  doors,  and  tlirowing'  stones 
at  the  windows,  that  it  was  with  much  difficul- 
ty that  the  dean  went  through  the  service  ;  and 
when  he  and  the  bishop  came  out  of  church  in 
their  habits,  they  were  in  danger  of  being  torn 
in  pieces  by  the  mob,  who  followed  them,  cry- 
ing out,  "  Pull  them  down  ;  a  pape,  a  pape,  an- 
tichrist," &,c. 

Between  the  two  sermons  the  magistrates 
took  proper  measures  for  keeping  the  peace  in 
the  afternoon,  but  after  evening  prayer  the  tu- 
mult was  greater  than  in  the  morning ;  for  the 
Earl  of  Roxburgh,  returning  to  his  lodgings 
with  the  bishop  in  his  coach,  was  so  pelted 
with  stones  and  pressed  upon  by  the  multitude, 
that  both  were  in  danger  of  their  lives.  'J"he 
clergy  who  read  the  liturgy  in  the  other  church- 
es met  with  the  like  usage,  insomuch  that  the 
whole  city  was  in  an  uproar,  though  it  did  not 
yet  appear  that  any  besides  the  meaner  people 
were  concerned  in  it  ;*  however,  the  lords  of 
the  council  thought  proper  to  dispense  with 
reading  the  service  next  Sunday,  till  their  ex- 
press returned  from  England  with  farther  in- 
structions, which  Laud  despatched  with  all  ex- 
pedition, telling  Ihem  it  was  the  king's  firm  res- 
olution that  they  should  go  on  with  their  work, 
and  blaming  them  highly  for  suspending  it. 

Among  the  ministers  who  opposed  reading 
the  liturgy  were  the  Rev,  Mr.  Ramsay,  Mr.  Rol- 
lock,  Mr.  Henderson,  Mr.  Hamilton,  and  Mr. 
Bruce,  who  were  charged  with  letters  of  horn- 
ing for  their  disobedience.  But  they  stood  by 
what  they  had  done,  and  in  their  petition  to  the 
council  gave  the  following  reasons  for  their 
conduct:  "(1.)  Because  the  service-book  had 
not  been  warranted  by  a  general  assembly, 
which  is  the  representative  body  of  the  Kirk, 
nor  by  any  act  of  Parliament.  (2.)  Because 
the  liberties  of  the  Scots  Kirk,  and  the  form  of 
worship  received  at  the  Reformation,  and  uni- 
versally practised,  stood  still  warranted  by  acts 
of  theGeneral  Assembly  and  acts  of  Parliament. 
(3.)  Because  the  Kirk  of  Scotland  is  a  free  and 
independent  Kirk,  and,  therefore,  her  own  pas- 
tors are  the  proper  judges  what  is  most  for  her 
benefit.  (4.)  Some  of  the  ceremonies  contained 
in  this  book  have  occasioned  great  divisions  in 
the  Kirk,  forasmuch  as  they  are  inconsistent 
with  the  form  of  worship  practised  in  it,  and 
symbolize  with  the  Kirk  of  Rome,  which  is 
antichristian.  (5  )  Because  the  people,  having 
been  otherwise  taught,  are  unwilling  to  receive 
the  new  book  till  they  are  better  convinced." 
These  reasons  were  of  weight  with  ttie  coun- 
cil, but  they  durst  not  show  favour  to  the  pris- 
oners without  allowance  from  England,  which 
could  not  be  obtained  ;  the  zealous  archbishop 
stopping  his  ears  against  all  gentle  methods  of 
accommodation,  hoping  to  bear  down  all  oppo- 
sition with  the  royal  authority. 

While  the  country  people  were  busy  at  har- 
vest things  were  pretty  quiet,  but  when  that 
was  over  they  came  to  Edinburgh  in  great  num- 
bers, and  raised  new  disturbances,  upon  which 
the  council  issued  out  three  proclamations :  one, 
for  the  people  that  came  out  of  the  country  to 
return  home  ;  a  second,  for  removing  the  ses- 
sion or  term   from  Eilmbiirgh  to  Linlithgow; 

*  Rushworlh's  Collection,  vol.  ii.,  p.  388. 


and  a  third,  for  calling  in  and  burning  a  sedi 
tious  pamphlet,  called  a  "  Discourse  against  the 
Engli5h  Popish  Ceremonies,  obtruded  on  the 
Kirk  of  Scotland  ;"*  all  dated  October  17,  1637. 
Tliese  proclamations  inflamed  the  people  to  such 
a  degree,  that  the  very  next  day  the  Bishop  of 
Galloway  would  have  been  torn  in  pieces  by  the 
mob,  as  he  was  going  to  the  council-house,  if 
he  had  not  been  rescued  by  Mr.  Steward  ;  but, 
missing  of  his  lordship,  they  beset  the  council- 
house,  and  threatened  to  break  open  the  door, 
insomuch  that  the  lords  who  were  assembled 
were  obliged  to  send  for  some  of  the  popular 
nobility  in  town  to  their  relief;  however,  the 
people  would  not  disperse  till  the  council  had 
promised  to  join  with  the  other  lords  in  peti- 
tioning the  king  against  the  service-book,  and 
to  restore  the  silenced  ministers. 

Soon  after  this,  two  petitions  were  presented 
to  the  lord-chancellor  and  council  against  the 
liturgy  and  canons  ;  one  in  the  name  of  all  the 
men,  women,  children,  and  servants  of  Edin- 
burgh, and  the  other  in  the  name  of  the  noble- 
men, barons,  gentry,  ministers,  and  burgesses. 
Their  objections  against  them  were  the  same 
with  those  already  mentioned.  The  petitions 
were  transmitted  to  the  king,  who,  instead  of 
returning  a  soft  answer,  ordered  a  proclamation 
to  be  published  from  Stirling  [Feb.  19,  1637] 
against  the  late  disorderly  tumults,  in  which, 
alter  having  declared  his  abhorrence  of  all  su- 
perstition and  popery,  he  expressed  his  displeas- 
ure against  the  petitioners  ;  and,  to  prevent  any 
farther  riots,  his  majesty  ordered  the  term  or 
session  to  be  removed  from  Linlithgow  to  Stir- 
ling,! twenty-four  miles  from  Edinburgh,  with 
a  strict  injunction  that  no  stranger  should  re 
sort  thither  without  special  license.  His  maj- 
esty also  forbade  all  assemblies  or  convocations 
of  people  to  frame  or  sign  petitions  upon  pain  ot 
high  treason, t  and  yet  declared,  at  the  same 
time,  that  he  would  not  shut  his  ears  against 
them,  if  neither  the  form  nor  matter  were  preju- 
dicial to  his  royal  authority. 

Upon  publishing  this  proclamation,  sundry  no- 
blemen, barons,  ministers,  and  burghers  met 
together,  and  signed  the  following  protest  :  "  1. 
That  it  is  the  undoubted  right  of  the  subjects 
of  Scotland  to  have  immediate  recourse  to  the 
king  by  petition.  2.  That  archbishops  and  bish- 
ops ought  not  to  sit  in  any  judicatory  in  this 


*  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  part  ii.,  p.  400. 

t  "  There  is  no  order  given  in  this  proclamation 
(I  will  take  upon  me  to  say,  having  perused  it  care- 
fully) for  the  removal  of  the  session  or  term  from 
Linlithgow  to  Stirling,  as  Mr.  Neal  affirms,"  says 
Dr.  Grey.  This  is  true;  and  Mr.  Neal's  inaccuracy 
here  lies  in  representing  the  removal  of  the  sessioa 
from  Linlithgow  to  Stirling,  as  directed  by  this  proc- 
lamation ;  whereas  it  was  the  act  of  the  council, 
after  the  Earl  of  Ro.xburgh  arrived  in  Scotland  with 
certain  instructions  (rom  the  king  to  the  council, 
who  were  to  meet  at  Dalkeith,  to  consider  of  the  dis- 
ordered affairs  of  the  kingdom.  It  should  seem  that 
this  removal  was  in  consequence  of  those  instruc- 
tions ;  especially  as  the  proclamation  expressly  inhib- 
ited the  resort  of  the  people  to  Stirling,  "  where,'" 
says  his  majesty,  "  our  council  sits,"  without  a  war- 
rant.— Rimhworth,  vol  ii.,  part  ii.,  p.  730.  Gutliry,  a.'a 
quoted  by  Dr.  Harris,  expressly  says  that  the  king's 
proclamation  ordained  that  the  council  and  sessions 
should  remove  from  Edinburgh,  iirst  to  Liihgow, 
and  allerwaid  to  Stirling. — Life,  <^c.,  cf  Charles  I., 
p.  282.  — Ki). 

X  Rushworth,  vol.  ii.,  part  ii.,  p.  731,  732. 


336 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


kingdom,  civil  or  ecclesiastical,  till  they  have 
purged  themselves  of  those  crimes  which  arc 
ready  to  be  proved  against  them.  3.  That  no 
proclamation  of  council,  in  presence  of  the  arcli- 
bishops  and  bishops,  shall  be  prejudicial  to  any 
of  our  proceedings.  4.  That  neither  we,  nor  any 
that  adhere  to  us,  shall  incur  any  damages  for 
not  observing  the  liturgy  or  book  of  canons,  as 
long  as  it  is  not  established  by  General  Assem- 
bly or  act  of  Parliament.  5.  That  if  any  incon- 
venience fall  out  (whicli  God  prevent)  upon 
pressing  the  late  innovations,  we  declare  the 
same  is  not  to  be  imputed  to  us.  6.  That  all 
our  proceedings  in  this  affair  have  no  other 
tendency  but  the  preservation  of  the  true  Re- 
formed religion,  and  the  laws  and  liberties  of 
the  kingdom." 

The  council,  being  apprehensive  of  danger 
from  these  large  assemblies  and  combinations 
of  people,  agreed  that,  if  they  would  return 
peaceably  to  their  houses,  they  might  appoint 
some  of  their  number  of  all  ranks  and  orders  to 
represent  the  rest,  till  his  majesty's  pleasure  con- 
cerning their  protest  should  be  farther  known.* 
Accordingly,  four  tables,  as  they  were  called, 
were  erected  at  Edinburgh  ;  one  of  the  nobility, 
another  of  the  gentry,  a  third  of  the  burroughs, 
and  a  fourth  of  the  ministers.  These  prepared 
and  digested  matters  for  the  general  table, 
formed  of  commissioners  from  the  other  four, 
where  the  last  and  binding  resolutions  were 
taken. 

One  of  the  first  things  concluded  upon  by  the 
tables  was  the  renewing  their  confession  of 
faith,  and  the  solemn  league  and  covenant  sub- 
scribed by  King  James  and  his  royal  household, 
March  2,  1580-1,  and  by  the  whole  Scots  nation 
in  the  year  1590,  with  a  general  band  for  main- 
tenance of  true  religion  and  the  king's  person. 
To  this  covenant  was  now  added  a  narrative  of 
sundry  acts  of  Parliament,  by  which  the  Re- 
formed religion  had  been  ratified  since  that 
time,  with  an  admonition  wherein  the  late  in- 
novations were  renounced,  and  a  band  of  de- 
fence for  adhering  to  each  other  in  the  present 
cause. t 

In  their  covenant  they  declare,  in  the  most 
solemn  manner,  "  that  they  believe  with  their 
hearts,  confess  with  their  mouths,  and  sub- 
scribe with  their  hands,  that  the  confession  of 
faith  then  established  by  act  of  Parliament  is 
the  true  Christian  faith  and  religion,  and  the  only 
ground  of  their  salvation.  They  farther  declare 
their  abhorrence  of  all  kinds  of  papistry  in  gen- 
eral, and  then  enumerate  sundry  particulars  of 
popish  doctrine,  discipline,  and  ceremonies,  as 
the  pope's  pretended  primacy  over  the  Christian 
Church  ;  his  five  bastard  sacraments,  the  doc- 
trine of  transubstantiation,  the  mass,  purgatory, 
prayers  for  the  dead,  and  in  an  unknown  lan- 
guage, justification  by  works,  auricular  confes- 
sion, crosses,  images,  altars,  dedicating  of  kirks, 
with  all  other  rites,  signs,  and  traditions  brought 
into  the  Kirk  without  or  contrary  to  the  Word 
of  6od.  All  which  they  promise  to  oppose  to 
the  utmost  of  their  power,  and  to  defend  the 
ancient  doctrine  and  discipline  of  their  Kirk  all 
the  days  of  their  lives,  under  the  pains  contain- 
ed in  the  law,  and  danger  both  of  body  and  soul 
in  the  day  of  God's  fearful  judgment,  protesting 


*  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  part  ii.,  p. 
t  Nalson'.s  Collection,  p.  20. 


734. 


and  calling  the  Searcher  of  all  hearts  to  wit- 
ness that  their  minds  and  hearts  do  fully  agree 
with  this  their  confession,  promises,  oath,  and 
subscriptions.  They  protest  and  promise,  un- 
der the  same  oath,  handwriting,  and  pains,  to 
defend  the  king's  royal  person  and  authority 
with  their  goods,  bodies,  and  lives,  in  defence 
of  Christ's  Gospel,  the  liberties  of  their  country, 
the  administration  of  justice,  the  punishment 
of  iniquity,  against  all  his  enemies  within  the 
realm  and  without ;  and  this  they  do  from  their 
very  hearts,  as  they  hope  God  will  be  their  de- 
fence in  the  day  of  death,  and  the  coming  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  To  whom,  with  the  Fa- 
ther and  Holy  Spirit,  be  all  honour  and  glory 
eternally." 

Then  follows  a  recital  of  the  acts  of  Parlia- 
ment by  which  the  Reformed  religion  was  es- 
tablished among  them.  But  instead  of  the 
band  of  defence  annexed  to  the  covenant  of 
1580,  they  framed  a  new  one  suited  to  the  pres- 
ent time,  in  which,  after  reciting  the  king's 
coronation  oath,  they  declare  "  that,  as  they 
will  defend  the  king's  royal  person  and  author- 
ity, they  will  also  support  the  authority  of  par- 
liaments, upon  which  the  security  of  the  lands, 
livings,  rights,  and  properties  depend,  and  with- 
out which  neither  any  law  or  lawful  judicatory 
can  be  estabhshed.  They  declare  the  late  in- 
novations brought  into  the  Kirk  to  he  contrary 
to  the  covenant  above  mentioned,  and,  there- 
fore, they  will  forbear  the  practice  of  them  till 
they  are  tried  and  allowed  in  a  free  assembly, 
and  in  Parliament ;  and  not  only  so,  but  they 
promise  and  swear,  by  the  great  name  of  God, 
to  resist  all  these  errors  and  corruptions  to  the 
utmost  of  their  power  all  the  days  of  their  lives. 
They  then  promise  and  swear  over  again  to  de- 
fend the  king's  person  and  authority  in  the 
preservation  of  the  aforesaid  true  religion,  laws, 
and  liberties  of  the  kingdom,  and  to  assist  and 
stand  by  one  another  at  all  adventures,  with- 
out suffering  themselves  to  be  divided  by  any 
allurement  or  terror  from  this  blessed  and  loyal 
conjunction,  and  without  being  afraid  of  the 
odious  aspersions  of  rebellion  or  combination 
which  their  adversaries  may  cast  upon  them. 
And  they  conclude  with  calling  the  Searcher  of 
hearts  to  witness  to  their  sincerity,  as  they 
shall  answer  it  to  Christ  in  the  day  of  account, 
and  under  pain  of  the  loss  of  all  honours  and 
respect  in  this  world,  and  God's  everlasting 
wrath  in  the  next."  All  this  was  sworn  to  and 
subscribed  with  great  seriousness  and  devotion, 
first  at  Edinburgh,  in  the  month  of  February, 
1C37-B,  and  afterward  in  the  several  counties 
and  shires,  where  it  was  received  by  the  com- 
mon people  as  a  sacred  oracle,  and  subscribed 
by  all  such  as  were  thought  to  have  any  zeal 
for  the  Protestant  religion  and  the  liberties  of 
their  country.  The  privy  counsellors,  the 
judges,  the  bishops,  and  the  friends  of  arbi- 
trary power,  were  the  principal  persons  who 
refused.  The  Universities  of  St.  Andrew's  and 
Aberdeen  were  said  to  oppose  it,. and  those  of 
Glasgow  did  not  subscribe  without  some  limit- 
ations. 

There  cannot  be  a  more  solemn  and  awful 
engagement  to  God  and  each  other  than  this ! 
what  the  reasons  were  that  induced  King  James 
and  the  whole  Scots  nation  to  enter  into  it  in 
the  years  1580  and  1590,  are  not  necessary  to 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


337 


be  determined  ;  but  certainly  such  a  combina- 
tion of  subjects  without  the  consent  of  their 
sovereign,  in  a  well-settled  government,  is  un- 
warrantable, especially  when  it  is  confirmed  by 
an  oath,  as  no  oath  ought  to  be  administered 
but  by  commission  from  the  chief  magistrate. 
The  only  foundation,  therefore,  upon  which  this 
covevant  can  be  vindicated  is,  that  the  Scots 
apprehended  that  their  legal  church  establish- 
ment had  been  broken  in  pieces  by  the  king's 
assummg  the  supremacy,  by  his  erecting  a  High 
Commission,  and  by  his  imposing  upon  them  a 
book  of  canons  and  liturgy  without  consent  of 
Parliament  or  General  Assembly. 

The  council  sent  advice  of  the  proceedings 
of  the  covenanters  from  time  to  time,  and  ac- 
quainted his  majesty  that  the  cause  of  all  the 
commotions  was  the  fear  of  innovations  in  the 
doctrine  and  discipline  of  the  Kirk,  by  introdu- 
cing tiie  liturgy,  canons,  and  High  Commission ; 
that  it  was,  therelbre,  their  humble  opinion, 
that  the  reading  the  sei'vice-book  should  not  be 
urged  at  present.  Upon  this  the  king  sent  the 
Marquis  of  Hamilton,  his  high  commissioner, 
into  Scotland,  with  instriictions  to  consent  to 
the  suspending  the  use  of  the  service-book  for 
the  present,  but  at  the  same  time  to  dissolve 
the  tables,  and  to  require  the  covenant  to  be 
delivered  up  within  six  weeks.  His  majesty 
adds,  "  that  if  there  be  not  sufficient  strength 
in  the  kingdom  to  oblige  the  covenanters  to 
return  to  their  duty,  he  will  come  in  person 
from  England  at  the  head  of  a  sufficient  power 
to  force  them  ;"  and,  in  the  mean  time,  the 
marquis  is  empowered  to  use  all  hostile  acts 
against  them  as  a  rebellious  people. 

Upon  the  marquis's  arrival  at  Holyrood  House, 
he  was  welcomed  by  great  numbers  of  the  cov- 
enanters of  all  ranks  and  qualities,  in  hopes  that 
he  would  call  a  General  Assembly  and  a  free 
Parliament ;  but  when  he  told  them  this  was 
not  in  his  instructions,  they  went  home  full  of 
resentments.  The  people  nailed  up  the  organ- 
loft  in  the  church,  and  admonished  the  marquis 
not  to  read  the  liturgy.  The  ministers  caution- 
ed their  hearers  agamst  consenting  to  ensnaring 
propositions  ;  and  a  letter  was  sent  to  the  mar- 
quis and  council,  exhorting  them  to  subscribe 
the  covenant.  His  lordship  sent  advice  of  these 
things  to  court,  and  moved  his  majesty  either 
to  yield  to  the  people  or  hasten  his  royal  arms. 
The  king  replied  that  he  would  rather  die  than 
yield  to  their  impertinent  and  damnable  de- 
mands, but  admitted  of  the  marquis's  flattering 
them  to  gain  time,*  provided  he  did  not  consent 
to  the  calling  a  General  Assembly  or  Parliament 
till  they  had  disavowed  or  given  up  the  cove- 
nant.! When  this  was  known,  both  ministers 
and  people  declared  with  one  voice  that  they 
would  as  soon  renounce  their  baptism  as  their 
covenant ;  but  withal  avowed  their  duty  and 
allegiance  to  the  king,  and  their  resolutions  to 
stand  by  his  majesty,  in  defence  of  the  true  re- 
hgion,  laws,  and  liberties  of  tiie  kingdom.  The 
marquis,  not  being  able  to  make  any  impression 
on  the  covenanters,  returned  to  England  with 
an  account  of  the  melancholy  state  of  affiiirs  in 
that  kingdom,  which  surprised  the  English  court, 


*  Dr.  Grey  would  supply  from  the  original,  "  by 
all  the  honest  means  you  can,  without  forsaking  your 
ground." — Ed. 

t  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  part  u.,  p.  753,  762. 

Vol.  I.— U  u 


and  reflected  some  disgrace  upon  the  archbish- 
op ;  for,  as  his  grace  was  going  to  council,  Archi- 
bald, the  king's  jester,  said  to  him,  "  Whae's 
feule  now  1  Does  not  your  grace  hear  the  news 
from  Striveling  about  the  liturgy  !"*  His  grace 
complaining  of  this  usage  to  the  council,  Archi- 
bald Armstrong,  the  king's  fool,  was  ordered  to 
have  his  coat  pulled  over  his  ears,  to  be  dis- 
charged the  king's  service,  and  banished  the 
court. 

After  sometime  Hamilton  was  sent  back,  with 
instructions  (if  necessity  required)  to  revoke  the 
liturgy,  the  canons,  the  High  Commission,  and 
the  five  articles  of  Perth  ;  and  with  authority 
to  subscribe  the  confession  of  faith  of  1580,  with 
the  band  thereunto  annexed,  and  to  take  orders 
that  all  his  majesty's  subjects  subscribed  the 
same.t  He  might  also  promise  the  cahing  a 
General  Assembly  and  Parliament  within  a  com- 
petent time,  but  was  to  endeavour  to  exclude 
the  laity  from  the  assembly.  The  design  of 
subscribing  the  band  of  the  old  covenant  of  1580 
was  to  secure  the  continuance  of  episcopacy, 
because  that  band  obliges  them  to  maintain  the 
religion  at  that  time  professed,  which  the  king 
would  interpret  of  prelatical  government,  as  be- 
ing not  then  legally  discharged  by  Parliament, 
and  because  it  contained  no  promise  of  mutual 
defence  and  assistance  against  all  persons  what- 
soever, which  might  include  the  king  himself. 
However,  the  covenanters  did  not  think  fit  to 
subscribe  over  again,  and  therefore  only  thank- 
ed the  king  for  discharging  the  hturgy,  the  can- 
ons, and  High  Commission. 

At  length  the  marquis  published  a  proclama- 
tion for  a  General  Assembly  to  meet  at  Glasgow, 
November  21  [1638].  The  choice  of  members 
went  everywhere  in  favour  of  the  covenanters  ; 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Henderson,  one  of  the  silenced 
ministers,  was  chosen  moderator,  and  Mr.  John- 
ston clerk-registrar  ;t  but  the  bishops  presented 
a  declinator,  "  declaring  the  assembly  to  be  un- 
lawful, and  the  members  of  it  not  qualified  to 
represent  the  clergy^of  the  nation:  (1.)  Because 
they  were  chosen  before  the  presbyteries  had 
received  the  royal  mandate  to  make  election. 
(2.)  Because  most  of  them  had  not  subscribed 
the  Articles  of  religion,  nor  sworn  to  the  king's 
supremacy  in  presence  of  the  bishops,  for  neg- 
lect of  which  they  were  ipso  facto  deprived. 
(3.)  Because  they  had  excluded  the  bishops, 
who,  by  the  act  of  Assembly  at  Glasgow,  1610, 
were  to  be  perpetual  moderators.  (4.)  Because 
there  were  lay-elders  among  them  who  had  no 
right  to  be  there,  nor  had  ordinarily  sat  in  pres- 
byteries for  above  forty  years.  (5.)  Because 
they  apprehended  it  absurd,  as  well  as  contrary 
to  the  practice  of  the  Christian  Church,  that 
archbishops  and  bishops  should  be  judged  by  a 
mixed  assembly  of  clergy  and  laics."  Signed 
by  the  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrew's,  the  Bishops 

*  On  the  stool  being  throwu  at  the  dean's  head, 
who  first  read  it  in  the  cathedral  at  Edinburgh,  Archy 
said  it  was  "  the  stool  of  repentance." .  He  had  a 
particular  spleen  against  Bishop  Laud,  and  the  grav- 
ity of  history  will  be  relidved  by  another  stroke  of 
his  humour  pointed  at  this  prelate.  Once,  when  the 
bishop  was  present,  he  asked  leave  to  say  grace, 
which  being  granted  him,  he  said,  "  Great  praise  be 
given  to  God,  and  little  Laud  to  the  devil." — Gran 
gcr's  Biog.  History,  vol.  ii.,  p.  400. — Ed. 

t  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  part  ii.,  p.  767,  &c. 

X  Rushworth,  p.  865-867. 


338 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


of  Glasgow,  Edinburgh,  Galloway,  Ross,  and 
Brechin. 

The  force  of  these  objections,  how  strong 
soever  in  themselves,  was  taken  off  by  the 
king's  owning  the  Assembly,  and  sitting  in  it  by 
his  commissioner  seven  days,  though  at  the 
dissolution  he  declared  their  proceedings  to  be 
utterly  destructive  of  the  name  and  nature  of  a 
free  assembly. 

The  bishops'  declinator  being  read,  was  unan- 
imously rejected,  and  a  committee  appointed  to 
draw  up  an  answer.  In  the  mean  time  the 
Assemibly  was  busy  in  examining  elections,  in 
which  the  covenanters  carried  everything  before 
them  ;  the  marquis,  therefore,  despairing  of  any 
good  issue,  determined,  according  to  his  mstruc- 
tions,  to  dissolve  them  ;  and  accordingly  went 
to  the  great  church  where  they  sat,  and  read 
over  his  majesty's  concessions  ;  as,  (I.)  "That 
his  majesty  was  willing  to  discharge  the  ser- 
vice-book and  the  book  of  canons.  (2.)  To  dis- 
solve the  High  Commission.  (3.)  That  the  ar- 
ticles of  Perth  should  not  be  urged.  (4.)  That 
no  oath  should  be  required  of  any  minister  at 
his  entrance  into  the  ministry  but  what  is  re- 
quired by  act  of  Parliament.  (5.)  That  for  the 
future  there  should  be  general  assemblies  as  oft- 
en as  the  affairs  of  the  Kirk  shall  require  ;  and 
that  the  bishops  should  be  censurable  by  the 
Assembly,  according  to  their  merits.  (6.)  That 
the  confession  of  faith  of  1580  should  be  sub- 
scribed by  all  his  majesty's  subjects  of  Scot- 
land." These,  although  very  considerable  abate- 
ments, did  not  reach  the  requirements  of  the 
covenanters,  which  were,  the  dissolution  of  the 
order  of  the  bishops,  and  of  the  above-mention- 
ed grievances,  by  a  statute  law.  The  marquis 
went  on,  and  in  a  long  speech  declaimed  against 
lay-elders,  "an  office,"  as  he  said,  "unknown 
in  the  Church  for  fifteen  hundred  years,  such 
persons  being  very  unfit  to  judge  of  the  high 
mysteries  of  predestination,  effectual  grace,  ante 
and  post  lapsarian  doctrines,  or  to  pass  sentence 
upon  their  superiors  in  learning  and  office." 
He  therefore  advised  thefn  to  break  up  and 
choose  another  assembly  of  all  clergymen  ;  but 
his  motion  striking  at  the  very  being  and  law- 
fulness of  their  present  constitution,  was  unan- 
imously rejected  ;  whereupon  the  marquis  dis- 
solved them,  after  they  had  sat  only  seven  days, 
forbidding  them  to  continue  their  sessions  upon 
pain  of  high  treason  ;  and  next  morning  the 
dissolution  was  published  by  proclamation  at  the 
market-cross. 

But  the  Assembly,  instead  of  submitting  to 
the  royal  command,  continued  sitting,  and  the 
very  next  day  [November  29]  published  a  prot- 
estation to  justify  their  proceedings,  wherein 
they  affirm,  "  1.  That  ruling  elders  have  con- 
stantly sat  in  their  assemblies  before  the  late 
times  of  corruption.  2.  That  his  majesty's 
presence  in  their  assemblies,  either  in  his  own 
person  or  by  his  commissioners,  is  not  for  vo- 
ting, but  as  princes  and  emperors  of  old,  in  a 
princely  manner,  to  countenance  their  meet- 
ings, and  preside  in  Uiem  for  external  order. 
3.  That  it  is  clear,  by  the  doctrine  and  disci- 
pline of  the  Kirk,  contained  in  the  book  of  poli- 
cy, and  registered  in  the  book  of  the  Assembly, 
and  subscribed  by  the  presbyteries  of  this  Kirk, 
that  it  is  unlawful  in  itself,  and  prejudicial  to 
the  privileges  that  Christ  has  left  his  Church, 


for  the  king  to  dissolve  or  break  up  the  assem- 
bly of  this  Kirk,  or  to  stay  their  proceedings,  for 
then  it  would  follow  that  religion  and  church 
government  should  depend  absolutely  upon  the 
pleasure  of  the  prince.  4.  That  there  is  no 
pretence  by  act  of  Assembly,  or  Parliament,  or 
any  preceding  practice,  whereby  the  king's  maj- 
esty, or  his  commissioner,  may  lawfully  dis- 
solve the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland  without  their  consent.  5.  That  the 
assemblies  of  the  Kirk  have  continued  sitting, 
notwithstanding  any  contramand,  as  it  is  evi- 
dent by  all  the  records  thereof ;  and  in  particu- 
lar, by  the  General  Assembly  of  1582.  And, 
lastly,  to  dissolve  the  Assembly  before  any  griev- 
ances are  redressed,  is  to  throw  back  the  whole 
nation  into  confusion,  and  to  make  every  maa 
despair  hereafter  ever  to  see  innovations  re- 
moved, the  subjects'  complaints  regarded,  or 
offenders  punished.  For  these  reasons  they 
declare  it  lawful  and  necessary  to  continue  the 
present  Assembly  till  they  have  tried  and  cen- 
sured all  the  bygone  evils,  and  the  introductors 
of  them,  and  have  provided  a  solid  course  for 
continuing  God's  truth  in  this  land  with  purity 
and  liberty  ;  they  declare,  farther,  that  the  said. 
Assembly  is  and  shall  be  esteemed  and  obeyed 
as  a  most  lawful,  full,  and  free  General  Assem- 
bly of  this  kingdom,  and  that  the  acts,  senten- 
ces, censures,  and  proceedings  of  it  shall  be 
obeyed  and  observed  by  all  the  subjects  of  this 
kingdom."* 

Archbishop  Laud  was  vexed  at  these  bold 
and  desperate  proceedings  of  the  Assembly,  and 
thought  of  nothing  but  dispersing  them  by  arms. 
"  I  will  be  bold  to  say,"  says  his  grace,  "  never 
were  there  more  gross  absurdities,  nor  half  so 
many,  in  so  short  a  time,  committed  in  any 
public  meeting  ;  and  for  a  national  assembly, 
never  did  the  Church  of  Christ  see  the  like." 
"  I  am  as  sorry  as  your  grace  [the  Marquis  of 
Hamilton]  can  be  that  the  king's  preparations 
can  make  no  more  haste ;  I  hope  you  think  I 
have  called  upon  his  majesty,  and  by  his  com- 
mand upon  some  others,  to  hasten  all  that  may 
be,  and  more  than  this  I  cannot  do ;  I  have 
done,  and  do  daily  call  upon  his  majesty  for  his 
preparations  ;  he  protests  he  makes  all  the  haste 
he  can,  and  I  believe  him,  but  the  jealousies  of 
giving  the  covenanters  umbrage  too  soon  have 
made  preparations  here  so  late." 

The  Assembly,  according  to  their  resolu- 
tion, continued  sitting  several  weeks,  till  they 
had  passed  the  following  acts:  an  act  for  dis- 
annulling six  late  assemblies  therein  mentioned, 
held  in  the  years  1606,  1608,  1610,  1616,  1617, 
1618,  with  the  reasons  ;  an  act  for  abjuring  and 
abolishing  episcopacy ;  an  act  for  condemning 
the  five  articles  of  Perth  ;  an  act  for  condemn- 
ing the  service-book,  book  of  canons,  book 
of  ordination,  and  the  High  Commission  ;  an 
act  for  condemning  archdeacons,  chapters,  and 
preaching  deacons  ;  an  act  for  restoring  pres- 
byteries, provincial  and  national  assemblies,  to 
their  constitution  of  ministers  and  elders,  and 
to  their  power  and  jurisdiction  contained  in  the 
book  of  policy,!  with  many  others  of  the  like 
nature.  They  then  pronounced  sentence  of 
deposition  against  the  bishops,  eight  of  whom 
were  excommunicated,  four  excluded  from  the 


*  Rushworlh,  vol.  i.,  part  ii.,  p.  863-865. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  873. 


HISTORY    OF    THE   PURITANS. 


339 


ministerial  function,  and  two  only  allowed  to 
officiate  as  pastors  or  presbyters.  Upon  this, 
Dr.  Spotswood,  bishop  of  St.  Andrew's,  and  lord- 
high-chancellor  of  Scotland,  retired  to  London, 
where  he  died  the  next  year.  Most  of  his 
brethren  the  bishops  took  the  same  method  ; 
only  four  remained  in  the  country,  three  of 
whom  renounced  their  episcopal  orders,  viz., 
Alexander  Ramsey,  bishop  of  Dunkeld,  George 
Graham,  bishop  of  Orkney,  and  James  Fairby, 
bishop  of  Argyle  ;  but  the  fourth,  George  Guth- 
rey,  bishop  of  Murray,  kept  his  ground  and 
weathered  the  storm.  At  the  close  of  the  ses- 
sion, the  Assembly  drew  up  a  letter  to  the  king, 
complaining  of  his  majesty's  commissioner,  who 
had  proclaimed  them  traitors,  and  forbade  the 
people  to  pay  any  regard  to  their  acts,  and  praying 
the  king  to  look  upon  them  still  as  his  good  and 
faithful  subjects.  They  also  published  another 
declaration  to  the  good  people  of  England,  in 
vindication  of  their  proceedings,  which  his  maj- 
esty took  care  to  suppress,  and  issued  out  a 
proclamation  against  the  seditious  behaviour  of 
the  covenanters,  which  he  commanded  to  be 
read  in  all  the  churches  in  England.* 

It  was  easy  to  fpresee  that  these  warm  pro-' 
ceedings  must  issue  in  a  war,  especially  when  it 
IS  remembered  that  his  majesty  consulted  with 
none  but  the  declared  enemies  of  their  Kirk, 
viz..  Laud,  Hamilton,  and  Wentworth.  On  the 
26th  of  January  the  king  published  his  resolu- 
tion to  go  in  person  against  the  Scots  Covenant- 
ers at  the  head  of  an  army ;  for  this  purpose 
the  nobility  were  summoned  to  attend  his  maj- 
esty, and  all  the  wheels  of  the  prerogative 
were  put  in  motion  to  raise  men  and  money,  t 
Dr.  Pierce,  bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  in  his 
letter  to  his  clergy,  calls  it  "helium  episcopale," 
a  war  for  the  support  of  episcopacy,  that  they 
should  therefore  stir  up  their  clergy  to  a  liberal 
contribution  after  the  rate  of  three  shillings  and 
tenpence  in  the  pound,  according  to  the  valua- 
tion of  their  livings  in  the  king's  books.  The 
archbishop  also  wrote  to  his  commissary.  Sir 
John  Lamb,  for  a  contribution  in  the  civil  courts 
of  Doctors'  Commons,  requiring  him  to  send 
the  names  of  such  as  refused  to  himself  at 
Lambeth.  The  queen  and  her  friends  under- 
took for  the  Roman  Catholics  ;  the  courtiers 
and  the  country  gentlemen  v^-ere  applied  to  to 
lend  money  on  this  occasion,  which  the  former 
readily  complied  with,  but  of  the  latter  forty  only 
contributed  together  about  £1400.  With  these, 
and  some  other  assistances,  the  king  fitted  out 
a  fleet  of  sixteen  men-of-war,  and  raised  a 
splendid  army  of  twenty-one  thousand  horse 
and  foot. 

The  Scots,  being  informed  of  the  prepara- 
tions that  were  making  against  them  in  Eng- 
land, secured  the  important  castles  of  Edin- 
burgh, Dumbritton,  and  Frith,  and  raised  an 
army  of  such  volunteers  as  had  the  cause  of 
the  Kirk  at  heart,  and  were  determined  to 
sacrifice  their  lives  in  defence  of  it  ;  they  sent 
lor  their  old  general,  Lesley,  from  Germany, 
who  upon  this  occasion  quitted  the  emper- 
or's service,  and  brought  over  with  him  sev- 
eral experienced  officers.  But  their  greatest 
distress  was  the  want  of  firearms,  ammuni- 

*  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  part  ii.,  p.  876. 
t  Prynne's  Introd.,  177,  178,  196.      Rushworth, 
vol.  i,  part  ii.,  p.  791. 


tion,  and  money,  there  not  being  above  three 
thousand  arms  to  be  found  in  the  whole  king- 
dom ;  and  having  no  money,  their  soldiers  made 
such  a  ragged  appearance,  that  when  the  king 
saw  them,  he  said,  "  they  would  certainly  fight 
the  English  if  it  were  only  to  get  their  fine 
clothes."  But  the  success  of  this  war  will  fall 
within  the  compass  of  the  next  year. 

To  return  to  England  :  the  Star  Chamber  and 
High  Commission  went  on  with  their  oppres- 
sions as  if  they  were  under  no  apprehensions 
from  the  storm  that  was  gathering  in  the  North. 
Many  ministers  were  suspended  and  shut  up  in 
prison,  as  Mr.  Henry  Wilkinson,  B.D.,  of  Mag- 
dalen College,  Oxford ;  Mr.  George  Walker, 
Mr.  Smith,  Mr.  Small,  Mr.  Cooper,  Mr.  Brewer, 
a  Baptist  preacher,*  who  lay  in  prison  fourteen 
years  ;  Mr.  Foxley,  of  St.  Martin's  in  the  Fields, 
who  was  confined  in  a  chamber  in  the  Gate- 
house not  four  yards  square  for  twenty  months, 
without  pen,  ink,  or  paper,  or  the  access  of 
any  friends,  even  in  his  extreme  sickness  ;  and 
all  this  without  knowing  his  crime,  or  so  much 
as  guessing  at  it,  unless  it  was  for  speaking  in 
favour  of  the  feoffees,  t 

Great  numbers  of  Puritans  continued  to  flock 
into  New-England,  notwithstanding  the  pro- 
hibition of  the  council  last  year,  insomuch  that 
the  Massachusetts  Bay  began  to  be  too  strait 
for  them ;  in  the  latter  end  of  the  year  1636 
about  one  hundred  families  travelled  farther 
into  the  country,  and  settled  on  the  banks  of 
the  River  Connecticut,  with  the  Reverend  Mr. 
Hooker  at  their  head  ;  another  detachment 
went  from  Dorchester,  a  third  from  Water- 
town,  and  a  fourth  from  Roxbury,  and  built 


*  It  does  not  appear  whether  he  was  ever  bene- 
ficed in  the  Estabhshed  Church.    The  first  account 
of  him  we  meet  with  is,  that  in  the  year  1626  he  was 
a  preacher  among  the  Separatists  in  and  about  Ath- 
ford,  in  Kent.    In  that  year,  through  the  instigation 
of  Laud,  he  was  prosecuted  and  censured  in  the 
High  Commission  Court,  and  committed  to  prison, 
where  he  remained  no  less  than  fourteen  years. 
The  archbishop,  afterward  speaking  of  the  mischief 
done  by  the  nonconformity  of  Mr.  Brewer  and  Mr. 
Turner,  says,  "  The  hurt  which  they  have  done  is 
so  deeply  rooted  that  it  is  impossible  to  be  plucked 
up  on  a  sudden,  but  I  must  crave  time  to  work  it  off 
by  little  and  little."    His  grace,  however,  fixed  upon 
the  most  direct  and  effectual  method  of  doing  this  ; 
for  in  his  account  of  his  province,  addressed  to  the 
king  in  the  year  1637,  he  says,  "I  must  give  your 
majesty  to  understand,  that  at  and  about  Athford, 
in  Kent,   the    Separatists  continue  to  hold    their 
conventicles,  notwithstanding  the  excommunication 
of  so  many  of  them  as  have  been  discovered.    Two 
or  three  of  their  principal  ringleaders.  Brewer,  Fen- 
ner,  and  Turner,  have  long  been  kept  in  prison,  and 
it  was  once  thought  fit  to  proceed  against  them  by 
the  statute  of  abjuration.    Not  long  since  Brewer 
slipped  out  of  prison,  and  went  to  Rochester  and 
other  parts  of  Kent,  and  held  conventicles,  and  put 
a  great  many  people  into  great  distemper  against  the 
Church.     He  is  taken  again,  and  was  called  before 
the  High  Commission,  where  he  stood  silent,  but  in 
such  a  jeering,  scornful  manner  as  I  scarcely  ever 
saw  the  like.     So  in  prison  he  remains."    This  was 
a  short  and  certain  method  of  stopping  their  mouths. 
Mr.  Brewer  having  been  confined  in  prison  fourteen 
years,  even  till  the  meeting  of  the  Long  Parliament, 
he  was  then  set  at  liberty  by  an  order  from  the 
House  of  Commons,  November  23,  1640,  upon  his 
promise  to  be  forthcoming  when  called,  and  this  is 
all  we  know  oi  him.— -Nalson's  C'ollec,  vol.  i.,  p.  570. 
— C.  t  Pryr/ie,  p.  388 


340 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


the  towns  of  Hartford,  Windsor,  Wethersfield, 
and  Springfield,  in  that  colony.  Next  year 
[1637]  the  passengers  from  England  were  so 
numerous  that  they  projected  a  new  settlement 
on  the  southwest  part  of  Connecticut  River,  in 
a  large  bay  near  the  confines  of  New- York  ; 
the  leaders  of  this  colony  were  Theophilus 
Eaton,  Esq.,  and  the  Reverend  Mr.  Davenport, 
who  came  from  England  with  a  large  retinue 
of  acquaintance  and  followers  ;  they  spread 
along  the  coast,  and  first  built  the  town  of  New- 
Haven,  which  gives  name  to  the  colony  ;  and. 
after  some  time,  the  towns  of  Guilford,  Milford, 
Stamford,  Brentford,  &c.  Notwithstanding 
these  detachments,  the  Massachusetts  Bay 
had  such  frequent  recruits  from  England,  that 
they  were  continually  building  new  towns  or 
enlarging  their  settlements  in  the  neighbour- 
hood. 

Among  the  divines  who  went  over  this  sum- 
mer was   the   Reverend  Mr.  Ezekiel  Rogers, 
M.A.,  some  time  chaplain  in  the  family  of  Sir 
Francis  Barrington,  of  Hatfield  Broad  Oak,  in 
Essex,  and  afterward  vicar  of  Rowley,  in  York- 
shire, where  he  continued  a  successful  preach- 
er to  a  numerous  congregation  almost  twenty 
years.*     The  archbishop  of  that  diocess  [Dr. 
Matthews]  being  a  moderate  divine,  permitted 
the  use  of  those  lectures  or  prophesyings  which 
Queen  Elizabeth  had  put  down  ;  the  ministers 
within  certain  districts  had  their  monthly  ex- 
ercises, in  which  one  or  two  preached,  and  oth- 
ers prayed,  before  a  numerous  and  attentive 
audience.     One  of  the  hearers  that  bore  an  ill- 
will  to  the  exercises  told  the  archbishop  that 
the  ministers  prayed  against  him  ;  but  his  grace, 
instead  of  giving  credit  to  the  informer,  answer- 
ed, with  a  smile,  that  he  could  hardly  believe 
him,  because  "those  good  men  know,"  says  he, 
"  that  if  I  were  gone  to  heaven,  their  exercises 
would  soon  be  put  down  ;"  which  came  to  pass 
accordingly,  for  no  sooner  was  his  successor 
[Mr.  NeileJ  in  his  chair,  but  he  put  a  period  to 
them,  and  urged  subscription  with  so  much  se- 
verity that  many  of  the  clergy  were  suspended 
and  silenced,  among  whom  was  Mr.  Rogers, 
who,  having  no  farther  prospect  of  usefulness 
in  his  own  country,  embarked  with  several  of 
his  Yorkshire  friends  for  New-England,  where 
he  arrived  in  the  summer  of  the  year  1638, 
and  settled  at  a  place  which  he  called  Rowley. 
Here  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days,  amid 
a  variety  of  afflictions  and  sorrows  till  the  year 
1660,  when  he  died,  in  the  seventieth  year  of 
his  age. 

Mr.  Samuel  Newman,  author  of  that  concord- 
ance of  the  Bible  that  bears  his  name,  was 
born  at  Banbury,  educated  at  Oxford,  and  hav- 
ing finished  his  studies,  entered  into  holy  or- 
ders, and  became  minister  of  a  small  living  in 
that  county  ;  but  the  severe  prosecutions  of  the 
spiritual  courts  obliged  him  to  no  less  than  sev- 
en removals,  till  at  length  he  resolved  to  get 
out  of  their  reach,  and  remove  with  their  friends 
to  New-England,  where  he  arrived  this  summer, 
and  settled  at  Rehoboth,  in  the  colony  of  New- 
Plymouth,  where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his 
days  to  the  year  1663,  when  he  died,  in  the 
sixty-third  year  of  his  age.t     He  was  a  hard 

*  Mather's  History  of  New-England,  b.  iii.,  p.  101. 
t  Mather's  Hist.,  p.  113. 


student,  a  lively  preacher,  and  of  a  heavenly 
conversation.* 

Mr.  Charles  Chauncey,t  B.D.,  educated  in 
Cambridge,  and  Greek  lecturer  of  his  own  col- 
lege in  that  university.  He  was  afterward  set- 
tled at  Ware,  and  was  an  admired  and  useful 
preacher,  till  he  was  driven  from  tlience,  as  has 
been  related.  When  the  Book  of  Sports  was 
published,  and  the  drums  beat  about  the  town 
to  summon  the  people  to  their  dances  and  rev- 
els on  the  Lord's  Day  evening,  he  preached 
against  it,  for  which  he  was  suspended,  and 
soon  after  totally  silenced.}  Few  suffered  more 
for  nonconformity,  says  my  author,  by  fines,  by 
imprisonment,  and  by  necessities,  than  Mr. 
Chauncey  :  at  length  he  determined  to  remove 
to  New-England,  where  he  arrived  in  the  year 
1638,  and  became  president  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege, in  Cambridge.  Here  he  continued  a  most 
learned,  laborious,  and  useful  governor,  till  the 
year  1671,  when  he  died,  in  the  eighty-second 
year  of  his  age  ;  he  left  behind  him  six  sons, 
the  eldest  of  which  was  Dr.  Isaac  Chauncey, 
well  known  heretofore  among  the  Nonconform- 
ist ministers  of  London. 

I  pass  over  the  lives  of  many  other  divines 
and  substantial  gentlemen  who  deserted  their 
native  country  for  the  peace  of  their  conscien- 
ces ;  but  it  deserves  a  particular  notice  that 
there  were  eight  sail  of  ships  at  once  this  spring 
in  the  River  Thames  bound  for  New-England, 
and  filled  with  Puritan  families,  among  whom 
(if  we  may  believe  Dr.  George  Bates  and  Mr. 
Dugdale,  two  famous  royalists)  were,  Oliver 
Cromwell,  afterward  protector  of  the  Common- 
wealth of  England,  John  Hampden,  Esq.,  and 
Mr.  Arthur  Haselrigge,  who,  seeing  no  end  of 
the  oppressions  of  their  native  country,  deter- 
mined to  spend  the  remainder  of  their  days  in 
America ;  but  the  council,  being  informed  of 
their  design,  issued  out  an  order,  dated  May  1, 

*  Mr.  Newman  arrived  in  1638,  and  spent  one  year 
and  a  half  at  Dorchester,  five  years  at  Weymouth, 
and  nineteen  at  Rehoboth. — C. 

t  He  received  his  grammar  education  at  Westmin- 
ster School,  and  was  at  school  at  the  time  the  Gun- 
powder Plot  was  to  have  taken  eifect,  and  must  have 
perished  if  it  had  succeeded.  He  was  an  accurate 
Hebrecian  and  Grecian,  and  admirably  skilled  in  all 
the  learned  languages.  Latin  and  Greek  verses  of 
his  appeared  in  the  collections  of  poetical  compli- 
ments of  condolence  or  congratulation  offered  by  the 
university  on  different  occasions  to  the  courts  of 
James  I.  and  Charles  I.  He  was  at  Boston  in  order 
to  take  passage  for  England,  in  consequence  of  an 
invitation  to  settle  again  with  his  old  people  at  Ware, 
when  the  importunities  of  the  overseers  of  Harvard 
College  prevailed  with  him  to  accept  the  president- 
ship of  that  seminary,  in  which  place  he  continued, 
highly  honoured  for  his  learning  and  piety.  A  grand- 
son of  his  son  Isaac,  also  named  Charles,  minister  of 
the  first  church  in  Boston,  died  the  10th  of  February, 
1787,  in  the  eighty-third  year  of  his  age  ;  having  been 
an  ornament  to  his  profession,  distinguished  by  his 
extensive  benevolence  and  invincible  integrity,  a 
warm  and  virtuous  patriot,  for  nearly  six  years  the 
able,  faithful  instructer  and  friend  of  his  flock,  and 
the  author  of  many  works,  which  remain  monu- 
ments of  his  abilities,  application,  and  excellent  tem- 
per. The  most  valuable  and  laboured  were,  "  The 
Salvation  of  all  Men,"  a  treatise  ;  "  Five  Disserta- 
tions on  the  Fall  and  its  Consequences ;"  and  a  tract 
on  the  "  Benevolence  of  the  Deity,"  all  published  in 
London. — See  Dr.  Chey,  and  Clarke's  Funeral  Sermon 
for  Dr.  Charles  Chauncey,  1787.— Ed. 

X  Mather's  History  of  New-England,  p.  134. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    PURITANS. 


341 


1638,  to  make  stay  of  those  ships,  and  to  put  on 
shore  all  the  provisions  intended  for  the  voyage. 
And  to  prevent  the  like  for  the  future,  his  maj- 
esty prohibited  all  masters  and  owners  of  ships 
to  set  forth  any  ships  for  New-England  with 
passengers  without  special  license  from  the 
privy  council ;  and  gives  this  remarkable  reason 
for  It,  "  Because  the  people  of  New-England 
were  factious,  and  unworthy  of  any  support  from 
hence,  in  regard  of  the  great  disorders  and  want 
of  government  among  them,  whereby  many  that 
have  been  well  affected  to  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land have  been  prejudiced  in  their  estates  by 
them."* 

When  the  Puritans  might  not  transport  them- 
selves to  New-England,  they  removed  with  their 
families  into  the  Low  Countries ;  among  the  di- 
vines who  went  thither  about  this  time  were  Dr. 
Thomas  Goodwin,  educated  in  Cambridge,  and 
a  great  admirer  of  Dr.  Preston.  In  the  year 
1628  he  was  chosen  to  preach  the  lecture  in 
Trinity  Church,  and  held  it  till  the  year  1634, 
when  he  left  the  university  and  all  his  prefer- 
ments, through  dissatisfaction  with  the  terms 
of  conformity  ;  having  lived  in  retirement  till 
this  time,  he  withdrew  with  some  select  friends 
to  Holland,  and  settled  at  Arnheim,  in  Gelder- 
land,  where  he  continued  till  the  beginning  of 
the  Long  Parliament. 

Philip  Nye,  M.A.,  educated  in  Magdalen  Hall, 
Oxon,  and  a  popular  preacher  at  St.  Bartholo- 
mew Exchange,  London. 

Mr.  Jeremiah  Bufroughs,  a  most  candid  and 
moderate  divine,!  educated  in  Cambridge,  and 
afterward  a  famous  preacher  to  two  of  the  lar- 
gest congregations  about  London,  viz.,  Stepney 
and  Cripplegate. 

Mr.  William  Bridge,  M.A.,  and  fellow  of 
Emanuel  College,  Cambridge ;  he  was  first  min- 
ister in  Essex,  and  afterward  settled  in  the  city 
of  Norwich,  in  the  parish  of  St.  George  Tom- 
bland,  where  he  continued  till  he  was  silenced 
for  nonconformity  by  Bishop  Wren,  in  the  year 
1637,  and  excommunicated. 

Mr.  Sydrach  Sympson,  educated  in  Cam- 
bridge, and  afterward  a  celebrated  preacher  in 
London.  These  were  afterward  the  five  pillars 
of  the  Independent  or  Congregational  party,  and 
were  distinguished  by  the  name  of  the  Dissent- 
ing Brethren  in  the  assembly  of  divines. 

Several  gentlemen  and  merchants  of  figure 
disposed  of  their  effects,  and  went  after  them 
into  exile,  as  Sir  Matthew  Poynton,  Sir  William 
Constable,  Sir  Richard  Saltington,  Mr.  Law- 
rence, afterward  lord-president  of  the  council, 
Mr.  Andrews,  afterward  lord-mayor  of  London, 
Mr.  Aske,  since  a  judge,  Mr.  Bouchier,  Mr. 
James,  Mr.  White,  and  others.  The  States  re- 
ceived them  with  great  humanity,  granting 
them  the   use  of  their  churches  at  different 


*  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  part  ii.,  p.  409. 

t  He  steered  a  middle  course  between  Presbyte- 
rianism  and  Brownism,  and  seems  to  have  been  much 
of  an  Independent,  or  Congregationalist  of  the  pres- 
ent day. — Biog.  Bntan.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  620.  Mr.  Baxter, 
who  knew  his  great  worth,  said,  "  If  all  the  Episco- 
pahans  hnd  been  hke  Archbishop  Usher,  all  the  Pres- 
byterians like  Stephen  Marshall,  and  all  the  Inde- 
pendents like  Jeremiah  Burroughs,  the  breaches  of 
the  Church  would  have  been  sooner  healed."  Mr. 
Burroughs's  Exposition  of  Hosea,  in  four  quarto  vol- 
umes, will  perpetuate  his  reputation  as  one  of  the 
ablest  divines  and  soundest  expositors  of  the  age. — C. 


hours  of  the  day,  with  the  liberty  of  ringing  a 
bell  for  public  worship,  though  they  did  not  ap- 
prove of  the  Dutch  discipline,  or  join  in  com- 
munion with  their  churches. 

Great  was  the  damage  the  nation  sustained 
by  these  removals  :  Heylin  observes,*  "  The 
severe  pressing  of  the  ceremonies  made  the 
people  in  many  trading  towns  tremble  at  a  vis- 
itation ;  but  when  they  found  their  striving  in 
vain,  and  that  they  had  lost  the  comfort  of  the 
lecturers,  who  were  turned  out  for  not  reading 
the  second  service  at  the  communion-table  in 
their  hoods  and  surplices,  and  for  using  other 
prayers  besides  that  of  the  fifty-fifth  canon,  it 
was  no  hard  matter  for  those  ministers  to  per- 
suade them  to  transport  themselves  into  for- 
eign parts  :  '  The  sun,'  said  they,  '  shines  as 
comfortably  in  other  places,  and  the  Sun  of 
righteousness  much  brighter  ;  it  is  better  to  go 
and  dwell  in  Goshen,  find  it  where  we  can,  than 
tarry  in  the  midst  of  such  Egyptian  bondage  as 
is  among  us  ;  the  sinful  corruptions  of  the 
Church  are  now  grown  so  general  that  there  is 
no  place  free  from  the  contagion  ;  therefore, 
"  go  out  of  her,  my  people,  and  be  not  partakers 
of  her  sins."  '  "  And  hereunto  they  were  en- 
couraged by  the  Dutch,  who  chose  rather  to 
carry  their  manufactures  home  than  be  obliged 
to  resort  to  their  parish  churches,  as,  by  the 
archbishop's  injunctions,  they  were  obliged. 

The  eyes  of  all  England  were  now  towards 
the  North,  whither  the  king  went,  March  27,  to 
put  himself  at  the  head  of  his  army  raised 
against  the  Scots,  the  Earls  of  Arundel,  Essex, 
and  Holland  being  the  chief  commanding  offi- 
cers under  his  majesty.  The  Scots,  under  the 
command  of  General  Lesley,  received  them 
upon  the  borders ;  but  when  the  two  armies 
had  faced  each  other  for  some  time,  the  king, 
perceiving  that  his  Protestant  nobility  and  sol- 
diers were  not  hearty  in  his  cause,  gave  way  to 
a  treaty  at  the  petition  of  the  Scots,  which 
ended  in  a  pacification,  June  17,  by  which  all 
points  of  difference  were  referred  to  a  General 
Assembly,  to  be  held  at  Edinburgh,  August  12, 
and  to  a  Parliament  which  was  to  meet  about 
a  fortnight  after.  In  the  mean  time  both  ar- 
mies were  to  be  disbanded, t  the  tables  to  be 
broken  up,  and  no  meetings  held  except  such 
as  are  warranted  by  act  of  Parliament.  Ac- 
cordingly, the  king  dismissed  his  army,  but  with 
very  disobliging  circumstances,  not  giving  the 
nobility  and  gentry  so  much  as  thanks  for 
their  affection,  loyalty,  and  personal  attend- 
ance, which  they  resented  so  highly  that  few 
or  none  of  them  appeared  upon  the  next  sum- 
mons ;  the  Scots  delivered  back  the  king's  forts 
and  castles  into  his  majesty's  hands,  and  dis- 


*  Life  of  Laud,  p.  367. 

t  Dr.  Grey  quotes  Lord  Clarendon  as  stating  "  that 
the  king's  army,  by  the  very  words  of  the  agreement, 
was  not  to  be  disbanded  until  all  should  be  executed 
on  the  part  of  the  Scots."  But  not  to  say  that  the 
accounts  of  this  treaty  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Mar- 
quis of  Hamilton,  p.  142,  and  in  Guthry,  as  quoted 
by  Dr.  Harris,  p.  288,  mention  no  such  limitation. 
Lord  Clarendon  himself  undermines  his  own  author- 
ity on  this  matter,  by  telling  his  reader  that  "no  two 
who  were  present  at  the  treaty  agreed  in  the  same 
relation  of  what  was  said  and  done;  and,  which  was 
worse,  not  in  the  same  interpretation  of  the  meaning 
of  what  was  comprehended  in  the  writing." — Clcen- 
don's  History,  vol.  i.,  p.  123.— En. 


342 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


banded  the  soldiery,  wisely  keeping  their  offi- 
cers in  pay  till  they  saw  the  effect  of  the  pacifi- 
cation.* 

The  General  Assembly  met  at  Edinburgh  ac- 
cording to  the  treaty,  but  being  of  the  same 
constitution  with  the  last,  the  bishops  present- 
ed another  declinator  to  his  majesty's  commis- 
sioner [the  Earl  of  Traquair],  and  were  excused 
giving  their  attendance  by  express  letter  from 
the  king,  his  majesty,  in  his  instructions  to  his 
commissioner,  having  yielded  them  the  point  of 
lay-elders.  The  Assembly,  therefore,  without 
any  opposition,  confirmed  the  proceedings  of 
that  at  Glasgow,  which  was  of  very  dubious 
authority.  They  appointed  the  covenant  to  be 
taken  throughout  the  kingdom,  and  explained 
the  bond  of  mutual  defence  to  a  consistency 
with  their  late  conduct.  They  voted  away  the 
new  service-book,  the  book  of  canons,  the  five 
articles  of  Perth,  the  High  Commission,  and 
with  one  consent  determined  that  diocesan 
episcopacy  was  unlawful,  and  not  to  be  allowed 
in  their  Kirk.t  This  the  Earl  of  Traquair  did 
not  apprehend  inconsistent  with  his  private  in- 
structions from  the  king,  which  were  these  : 
"  We  allow  episcopacy  to  be  abolished  for  the 
reasons  contained  in  the  articles,  and  that  the 
covenant  of  1580,  for  satisfaction  of  our  people, 
be  subscribed.  Again,  if  they  require  episcopacy 
to  be  abjured,  as  contrary  to  the  constitution  of 
the  Church  of  Scotland,  you  are  to^give  way  to 
it,  but  not  as  a  point  of  popery,  or  as  contrary  to 
God's  law  or  the  Protestant  religion.  Again,  in 
giving  way  to  the  abolishing  episcopacy,  be  care- 
ful it  be  done  without  the  appearing  of  any  war- 
rant from  the  bishops  in  prejudice  of  episcopacy 
as  unlawful,  but  only  in  satisfaction  to  the  people 
for  settling  the  present  disorders,  and  such  other 
reasons  of  state  ;  but  herein  you  must  be  care- 
ful that  our  intentions  appear  not  to  any."  It 
is  evident  from  hence  that  his  majesty's  usage 
of  the  Scots  was  neither  frank  nor  sincere  ;  he 
had  no  design  to  abolish  episcopacy,  and  only 
consented  to  suspend  it  because  he  was  told 
that  the  bishops  being  one  of  the  three  estates 
of  Parliament,  no  law  made  in  their  absence 
could  be  of  force,  much  less  an  act  for  abolish- 
ing their  whole  order,  after  they  had  entered 
their  protest  in  form.  When  his  majesty  gave 
way  to  the  subscribing  the  covenant,  it  was 
with  another  reserve,  "as  far  as  may  stand 
with  our  future  intentions  well  known  to  you. 
For  though  we  have  discharged  the  service- 
book  and  canons,  we  will  never  consent  that 
they  be  condemned  as  popish  and  supersti- 
tious ;t  nor  will  we  acknowledge  that  the  High 
Commission  was  without  law,  nor  that  the  five 
articles  of  Perth  be  condemned  as  contrary  to 
the  confession  of  faith  ;  it  is  enough  that  they 
be  laid  aside."  His  majesty's  instructions  con- 
clude, "  that  if  anything  be  yielded  in  the  pres- 
ent Assembly  prejudicial  to  his  majesty's  ser- 
vice, his  commissioner  shall   protest,  that  his 


*  Mrs.  Macaulay,  in  her  detail  of  this  treaty,  men- 
tions as  a  memorable  circumstance,  unnoticed  by 
historians,  and  very  expressive  of  the  pacific  disposi- 
tion of  the  Scots,  that  they  told  the  king,  that  if  he 
would  give  them  leave  to  enjoy  their  religion  and 
their  laws,  they  would,  at  their  own  expense,  trans- 
port their  army  to  assist  the  recovery  of  the  Palati- 
nate.— History  of  England,  vol.  ii.,  p.  283,  note,  8vo 
edit.-  Ed.  +  Nalson's  Collection,  p.  246,  247. 

IMalson's  Collection,  p.  254,  255. 


majesty  may  be  heard  for  redress  thereof  in  his 
own  time  and  place." 

The  Scots  Parliament  met  August  31  [1639], 
and  having  first  subscribed  the  solemn  league 
and  covenant  with  the  king's  consent,  they  con- 
firmed all  the  acts  of  the  General  Assembly, 
concluding  with  the  utter  extirpation  of  episco- 
pacy as  unlawful.*  But  the  king  having  by 
letter  to  his  commissioner  forbidden  him  to  con- 
sent to  the  word  unlawful,  lest  it  should  be  in- 
terpreted absolutely,  though  it  seems  to  have  a 
reference  only  to  the  Kirk  of  Scotland,  his  lord- 
ship prorogued  the  Parliament,  first  for  fourteen 
days,  and  then,  by  the  king's  express  command,t 
for  nine  months,  without  ratifying  any  of  their 
acts.  The  Earl  of  Dunfermlin  and  Lord  Lou- 
don were  despatched  to  London,  to  beseech  his 
majesty  to  consent  to  their  ratification  ;  but 
they  were  sent  back  with  a  reprimand  for  their 
misbehaviour,  being  hardly  admitted  into  the 
king's  presence.  It  seems  too  apparent  that 
his  majesty  meant  little  or  nothing  by  his  con- 
cessions but  to  gain  time  ;  for  in  his  declaration 
before  the  next  war,  about  six  months  forward, 
he  says,  "  Concerning  our  promise  of  a  free 
Parliament,  no  man  can  imagine  we  intended 
it  should  be  so  free  as  not  to  be  limited  by  the 
enjoyment  of  their  religion  and  liberties,  accord- 
ing to  the  ecclesiastical  and  civil  laws  of  that 
kingdom  ;  but  if  they  pass  these  bounds,  we  are 
disobliged,  and  they  left  at  'liberty  to  fly  at  our  mo- 
narchical government  without  control,  to  wrest 
the  sceptre  out  of  our  hanSs,  and  to  rob  the 
crown  of  the  fairest  flower  belonging  to  it. "I 
The  king,  therefore,  did  not  really  intend  the 
alteration  of  any  of  the  civil  or  ecclesiastical 
laws  of  that  kingdom,  and  by  his  majesty's  not 
ratifying  any  of  their  acts,  it  was  evident  that 
the  English  court  had  resumed  their  courage, 
and  were  determined  once  more  to  try  the  for- 
tune of  war. 

In  the  mean  time,  to  balance  the  declara- 
tion of  the  Scots  Assembly,  Bishop  Hall,  at  the 
request  of  Laud,  composed  a  treatise  of  the 
"  Divine  Right  of  Episcopacy,"  which  the  arch- 
bishop revised.  The  propositions  which  he  ad- 
vances are  these:  (L)  That  form  of  government 
which  is  of  apostoh.al  institution  ought  to  be 
esteemed  of  Divine  right.  (2.)  That  form  whicli 
was  practised  and  recommended  by  the  apos- 
tles, though  not  expressly  commanded,  is  of 
apostolical  institution.  (3.)  The  government  set 
up  by  the  apostles  was  designed  for  perpetuity. 
(4.)  The  universal  practice  of  the  primitive 
Church  is  the  best  rule  to  judge  of  the  apostoli- 
cal practice.  (5.)  We  ought  not  to  suppose  the 
primitive  fathers  would  change  the  form  of  gov- 
ernment they  had  received  from  the  apostles. 
(6.)  The  accession  of  privilege  and  honourable 
titles  does  not  affect  the  substance  of  the  epis- 
copal function.  (7.)  The  Presbyterian  govern- 
ment, though  challenging  the  glorious  title  of 
Christ's  kingdom  and  ordinance,  had  no  found- 
ation in  Scripture,  or  in  the  practice  of  the 
Church  for  fifteen  hundred  years,  and  is  alto- 
gether incongruous  and  unjustifiable. 

The  bishop's  book  was  altered  in  many  pla- 
ces, contrary  to  his   own  inclinations,  by  the 

^  Nalson's  Collection,  p.  256. 

t  The  term  of  prorogation,  as  Mr.  Grey  points  i' 
out,  is  expressed  in  Nalson  thus:  "till  the  nest 
spring."— Ed.  %  Nalson's  Collection,  p.  273 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


343 


archbishop,  and  particularly  in  those  wherein 
he  had  called  the  pope  antichrist,  or  spoke  too 
favourably  of  the  morality  of  the  Sabbath,  and 
said  that  presbytery  was  of  use  where  episco- 
pacy could  not  be  obtained.  His  grace  disap- 
proved of  his  lordship's  waiving  the  question 
"whether  episcopacy  was  a  distinct  order,  or  only 
a  higher  degree  of  the  same  order  ;  and  of  his 
advancing  the  Divine  right  of  episcopacy  no 
higher  than  the  apostles,  whereas  he  would  have 
it  derived  from  Christ  himself.  Upon  the  whole, 
his  lordship's  book  was  so  modelled  by  his  met- 
xopolitan,  that,  in  the  debate  hereafter  mention- 
ed, he  could  hardly  go  the  lengths  of  his  own 
performance. 

The  bishops  still  kept  a  strict  hand  over  the 
Puritans  :  not  a  sermon  was  to  be  heard  on  the 
distinguishing  points  of  Calvinism  all  over  Eng- 
land. In  some  diocesses  great  complaints  were 
made  of  Puritan  justices  of  peace  for  being  too 
strict  in  putting  the  laws  in  execution  against 
profaneness.  At  Ashford,  in  Kent,  the  arch- 
bishop said  he  must  have  recourse  to  the  stat- 
utes of  abjuration,  and  call  in  the  assistance  of 
the  temporal  courts  to  reduce  the  Separatists, 
the  censures  of  the  Church  not  being  sufficient. 
Upon  the  whole,  there  was  no  abatement  of  the 
height  of  conformity,  even  to  the  end  of  this  year, 
though  the  flames  that  were  kindled  in  Scotland 
began  to  disturb  the  tranquillity  of  the  Church. 

Mr.  Bagshaw,  a  lawyer  of  some  standing  in 
the  Middle  Temple,  being  chosen  reader-in  that 
house  for  the  Lent  vacation,  began  to  attack 
the  power  of  the  bishops.  In  his  lectures  on 
the  25th  Edw.  III.,  cap.  vii.,  he  maintained  that 
acts  of  Parliament  were  valid  without  the  as- 
sent of  the  lords  spiritual.  2.  That  no  bene- 
iiced  clerk  was  capable  of  temporal  jurisdiction 
at  the  making  that  law.  And,  3.  That  no  bish- 
op, without  calling  a  synod,  had  power  as  a  di- 
ocesan to  convict  a  heretic.  Laud,  being  in- 
♦formed  of  these  positions,  told  the  king  that 
Bagshaw  had  justified  the  Scots  covenanters 
in  decrying  the  temporal  jurisdiction  of  church- 
men, and  the  undoubted  right  of  the  bishops  to 
their  seats  in  Parliament ;  upon  which  he  was 
immediately  interdicted  all  farther  reading  on 
those  points  ;  and  though  Bagshaw  humbly  pe- 
titioned the  lord-keeper  and  the  archbishop  for 
hberty  to  proceed,  he  could  get  no  other  an- 
swer, after  long  attendance,  than  that  it  had 
been  better  for  him  not  to  have  meddled  with 
that  argument,  which  should  stick  closer  to  him 
than  he  was  aware  of.*  Whereupon  he  retired 
into  the  country. 

The  resolution  of  the  English  court  to  renew 
the  war  with  Scotland  was  owmg  to  the  Lord- 
deputy  Wentworth,  whom  Archbishop  Laud 
had  sent  for  from  Ireland  for  this  purpose. 
This  nobleman,  from  being  an  eminent  patriot, 
was  become  a  petty  tyrant,  and  had  governed 
Ireland  in  a  most  arbitrary  and  sovereign  man- 
ner for  about  seven  years,  discountenancing  the 
Protestants  because  they  were  Calvinists,  and 
inclined  to  Puritanism,  and  giving  all  imagin- 
able encouragement  to  the  Roman  Catholics  as 
friends  to  the  prerogative,  whereby  he  suffered 
the  balance  of  power  in  that  kingdom  to  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  papists.  Wentworth,  being 
come  to  court,  was  immediately  created  Earl  of 
Strafford  and  knight  of  the  Garter,  and,  in  concert 

*  Heyhn's  Life  of  Laud,  p.  407. 


with  Laud,  advised  the  king  to  set  aside  the 
pacification,  and  to  push  the  Scots  war  with 
vigour,  offering  his  majesty  eight  thousand  Irish 
and  a  large  sum  of  money  for  his  assistance; 
but  this  not  being  sufficient,  the  war  was 
thought  so  reasonable  and  necessary  to  the 
king's  honour  that  it  might  be  ventured  with 
an  English  Parliament,  which  being  laid  before 
the  council,  was  cheerfully  agreed  to,  and,  after 
twelve  years'  interval,  a  Parliament  was  sum- 
moned to  meet  April  13,  1640. 

The  Scots,  foreseeing  the  impending  storm, 
consulted  where  to  fly  for  succour  ;  some  were 
for  throwing  themselves  into  the  hands  of  the 
French,  and,  accordingly,  wrote  a  very  submis- 
sive letter  to  that  monarch,  signed  by  the  hands 
of  seven  Scots  peers,  but  never  sent ;  for,  upon 
application  to  their  friends  at  London,  they  were 
assured,  by  a  letter  drawn  up  by  Lord  Saville, 
and  signed  by  himself,  with  the  names  of  Bed- 
ford, Essex,  Brook,  Warwick,  Say  and  Seal, 
and  Mandeville  (who  agreed  to  the  letter,  though 
they  were  so  cautious  as  not  to  write  their  own 
names),  "  that  the  hearts  of  the  people  of  Eng- 
land were  with  them ;  that  they  were  convin- 
ced the  liberties  of  both  nations  were  at  stake, 
and,  therefore,  they  might  depend  upon  their 
assistance  as  soon  as  a  fair  opportunity  offer- 
ed." Upon  this  encouragement  the  Scots  laid 
aside  their  design  of  applying  to  France,  and 
resolved  to  raise  another  army  from  among 
themselves,  and  march  into  England. 

"  The  Parliament  that  met  at  Westminster," 
says  the  noble  historian,*  "was  made  up  cf 
sober  and  dispassionate  men,  exceedingly  dis- 
posed to  do  the  king  service  ;"  and  yet  his  maj- 
esty would  not  condescend  to  speak  to  them 
from  the  throne,t  ordering  the  Lord-keeper 
Finch  to  acquaint  them  with  the  undutiful  be- 
haviour of  the  Scots,  whom  he  was  determined 
to  reduce,  and  therefore  would  not  admit  of  the 
mediation  of  the  two  houses,  but  expected  their 
immediate  assistance,  after  which  he  would 
give  them  time  to  consider  of  any  just  griev- 
ance to  be  redressed.  But  the  Commons,  in- 
stead of  beginning  with  the  supply,  appointed 
committees  for  religion  and  grievances,  which 
disobliged  the  king  so  much,  that,  after  several 
fruitless  attempts  to  persuade  them  to  begin 
with  the  Subsidy  Bill,  he  dissolved  them  in  an- 
ger, without  passing  a  single  act,  after  they 
had  sat  about  three  weeks.     The  blame  of  this 

*  Clarendon's  Hist.,  vol.  i.,  p.  139. 

t  Lord  Clarendon  says,  "  After  the  king  had 
shortly  mentioned  his  desire  to  be  again  acquainted 
with  Parliaments  after  so  long  an  intermission,"  &c., 
he  referred  the  cause  to  be  enlarged  on  by  the  speak- 
er. "  It  is  plain  from  hence,"  Dr.  Grey  adds,  "  that 
his  majesty  did  condescend  to  speak  to  them  from 
the  throne."  This  is  observed  to  impeach  Mr.  Neal's 
veracity.  But  when  the  reader  has  laid  before  him 
the  short  speech  delivered  from  the  throne,  he  will 
judge  whether  Mr.  Ncal  stands  charged  with  more 
than  an  inaccuracy.  It  is  given  us  by  Nalson,  vol.  i.. 
p.  306. 

"  My  Lords  and  Gentlemen, 

"  There  never  was  a  king  that  had  a  more  great 
and  weighty  cause  to  call  his  people  together  than 
myself;  I  will  not  trouble  you  with  the  particulars; 
I  have  informed  my  lord-keeper,  and  command  him 
to  speak,  and  to  desire  your  attention."  This  was 
not  properly  a  speech  from  the  throne,  but,  as  Mrs. 
Macaulay  calls  it,  "  a  short  preface"  to  the  lord- 
keeper's  speech. — Ed. 


344 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


hasty  dissolution  was  by  some  cast  upon  Laud, 
by  others  on  Sir  Harry  Vane,  while  the  king 
laid  it  on  the  misbehaviour  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  who  would  not  take  his  royal  word  for 
redress  of  grievances,  after  they  had  voted  the 
necessary  supplies ;  he  therefore  sent  the  leading 
members  of  the  House  into  custody,  and  commit- 
ted them  prisoners  to  the  Fleet  and  other  prisons. 

His  majesty  having  failed  of  a  parliamentary 
supply  at  the  time  he  demanded  it,  was  told 
by  Lord  Strafford,  and  others  of  the  council, 
that  he  was  now  absolved  from  all  rules  of  gov- 
ernment, and  might  take  what  his  necessities 
required,  and  his  power  could  obtain.  This, 
indeed,  was  no  more  than  his  majesty  had  been 
doing  for  twelve  years  before  ;  but  some  people 
drew  an  unhappy  conclusion  from  this  maxim, 
viz.,  that  if  the  king  was  absolved  from  all  rules 
of  governnment,  the  people  were  absolved  from 
all  rules  of  obedience. 

However,  all  the  engines  of  arbitrary  power 
were  set  at  work  to  raise  money  for  the  war, 
as  loans,  benevolences,  ship-money,  coat  and 
conduct  money,  knighthood,  monopolies,  and 
other  springs  of  the  prerogative,  some  of  which, 
says  Lord  Clarendon,  were  ridiculous,  and  oth- 
ers scandalous,  but  all  very  grievous  to  the 
subject.  Those  who  refused  payment  were 
fined  and  imprisoned  by  the  Star  Chamber  or 
council-table,  among  whom  were  some  of  the 
aldermen  of  London,  and  sheriffs  of  several  of 
the  counties.  The  courtiers  advanced  £300,000 
in  three  weeks,  the  clergy  in  convocation  gave 
six  subsidies,  the  papists  were  very  generous  ; 
Strafford  went  over  to  Ireland,  and  obtained  four 
subsidies  of  the  Parliament  of  that  kingdom ; 
soldiers  were  pressed  into  the  service  in  all 
counties,  few  listing  themselves  voluntarily  ex- 
cept papists,  many  of  whom  had  commissions 
in  the  army,  which  gave  rise  to  a  common  say- 
ing among  the  people,  that  the  queen's  army  of 
papists  were  going  to  establish  the  Protestant 
religion  in  Scotland. 

The  people  groaned  under  these  oppressions, 
the  odium  whereof  fell  upon  Laud  and  Strafford, 
who  were  libelled,  and  threatened  with  the  fury 
of  the  populace.  May  9,  1640,  a  paper  was  fixed 
upon  the  old  Exchange,  animating  the  appren- 
tices to  pull  the  archl)ishop  out  of  his  palace  at 
Lambeth  ;  upon  this  the  trained  bands  were  or- 
dered into  St.  George's  Fields  ;  nevertheless, 
the  mob  rose  and  broke  his  windows,  for  which 
one  of  them,  being  apprehended,  suffered  death 
as  a  traitor,  though  he  could  not  be  guilty  of 
more  than  a  breach  of  the  peace.  From  Lam- 
beth the  mob  went  to  the  house  of  the  pope's 
agent,  where  they  were  dispersed  by  the  king's 
guards,  and  some  of  them  sent  to  the  White  Lion 
prison  ;  but  the  fallowing  week  [May  15]  they 
rose  again,  and  rescued  their  friends.  The  coun- 
try was  in  the  same  mutinous  posture,  there 
being  frequent  skirmishes  between  them  and 
the  new-raised  soldiers,  even  to  bloodshed.  The 
city  train-bands  were  in  arms  all  the  summer, 
but  the  campaign  proving  unsuccessful,  there 
was  no  keeping  the  people  within  bounds  after- 
ward ;  for  while  the  High  Commission  was  sit- 
ting at  St.  Paul's,  October  22,  near  two  thou- 
sand Brownists,  as  the  archbishop  calls  them, 
raised  a  disturbance,  and  broke  up  the  court, 
crying  out,  "No  bishops— no  High  Commis- 
6ian."    Such  were  the  distempers  of  the  times. 


The  convocation  that  sat  with  this  Parlia* 
ment  was  opened  April  14,  with  more  splendour 
and  magnificence  than  the  situation  of  affairs 
required.  The  sermon  was  preached  by  Dr. 
Turner,  canon  residentiary  of  St.  Paul's,  from 
St.  Matt.,  xvi.,  16,  "  Behold,  I  send  you  forth  as 
sheep  among  wolves."  After  which  they  ad- 
journed to  the  Chapter-house,  where  the  king's 
writ  of  summons  being  read,  the  archbishop,  in 
a  Latin  speech,  recommended  to  the  Lower 
House  the  choosing  a  prolocutor,  to  be  present- 
ed to  himself  or  his  commissary  in  the  chapel  of 
Henry  VII.  on  Friday  following,  to  which  time 
and  place  the  convocation  was  adjourned. 

On  the  17th  of  April,  after  Divine  service,  Dr. 
Steward,  dean  of  Chichester  and  clerk  of  the 
closet,  was  presented  to  the  archbishop  as  pro- 
locutor in  the  chapel  of  Henry  VII.,  whom  his 
grace  approved,  and  then  produced  his  majes- 
ty's commission  under  the  great  seal,  authori- 
zing them  "  to  make  and  ordain  certain  canons 
and  constitutions  for  the  established  true  reli- 
gion, and  the  profit  of  the  state  of  the  Church 
of  England."*  The  commission  was  to  remaia 
in  force  during  the  present  session  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  no  longer;  and  by  a  remarkable 
clause,  "  nothing  was  to  be  concluded  without 
the  archbishop's  being  a  party  in  the  consulta- 
tion." It  was  intended  also  to  draw  up  an  Eng- 
lish pontifical,  which  was  to  contain  the  forna 
and  manner  of  royal  coronations  ;  a  form  for 
consecrating  churches,  churchyards,  and  chap- 
els ;  a  form  for  reconcihng  penitents  and  apos- 
tates ;  a  book  of  articles,  to  be  used  by  all  bislt- 
ops  at  their  visitation  ;  and  a  short  form  of 
prayer  for  before  sermon,  comprehending  the 
substance  of  the  fifty-fifth  canon.  But  most  of 
these  projects  were  interrupted  by  the  suddea 
dissolution  of  the  Parliament. 

The  convocation,  according  to  ancient  cus- 
tom, should  have  broken  up  at  the  same  time; 
but  one  of  the  Lower  House  having  acquainted  ^ 
the  archbishop  with  a  precedent  in  the  27th  year 
of  Queen  Elizabeth,  of  the  clergy's  granting  a 
subsidy  or  benevolence  of  two  shillings  in  the 
pound,  to  be  raised  upon  all  the  clergy,  after 
the  Parliament  was  risen,  and  levying  it  by 
their  own  synodical  act  only,  under  the  penalty 
of  ecclesiastical  censures,  it  was  concluded  from 
thence  that  the  convocation  might  sit  independ- 
ent of  the  Parliament,  and  therefore,  instead 
of  dissolving,  they  only  adjourned  for  a  fevir 
days  to  take  farther  advice.t 

The  zealous  archbishop,  relying  upon  this 
single  precedent,  applied  to  the  king  for  a  com- 
mission to  continue  the  convocation  during  his 
majesty's  pleasure,  in  order  to  finish  the  canons 
and  constitutions,  and  to  grant  the  subsidies  al- 
ready voted.  The  case  being  referred  to  the 
judges,  the  majority  gave  it  as  their  opinion, 
"  that  the  convocation  being  called  by  the  king's 
writ  under  the  great  seal,  doth  continue  till  it 
be  dissolved  by  writ  or  commission  under  the 
great  s*al,  notwithstanding  the  Parliament  be 
dissolved." 

Signed,  May  14, 1640,  by 

John  Finch,  Custos,  M.  S. 
H.  Manchester,  John  Bramston, 

Ralph  Whitfield,  Rob.  Heath, 

Edw.  Littleton,  John  Banks. 

*  Collyer's  Eccles.  Hist.,  p.  793.  Heylin's  Life  of 
Laud,  p.  423.  t  Fuller's  Appeal,  p.  67,  69. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


345 


Upon  this,  a  commission  under  the  great  seal 
was  granted,  and  the  convocation  reassembled  ; 
however,  notwithstanding  the  opinion  of  these 
gentlemen  of  the  long  robe.  Dr.  Hacket,  Brown- 
xigge,  Holdisworth,  and  others,  to  the  number 
of  thirty-six,  protested  earnestly  against  it, 
though,  because  the  session  was  warranted  by 
so  many  considerable  persons,  they  did  not 
withdraw,  nor  enter  their  protest  in  form  of  law, 
as  they  ought  to  have  done.*  They  were  far- 
ther so  influenced  by  his  majesty's  message, 
sent  by  Sir  H.  Vane,  secretary  of  state,  to  ac- 
quaint them  "  that  it  was  his  royal  pleasure 
that  none  of  the  prelates  or  clergy  should  with- 
draw from  the  synod  or  convocation  till  the 
affairs  they  had  in  command  from  the  king  were 
perfected  and  finished." 

Upon  this  dubious  foundation  the  convocation 
■was  continued,  and  a  committee  of  twenty-six 
appointed  to  prepare  matters  for  the  debate  of 
the  House  ;  but  the  mob  being  so  inflamed  as  to 
threaten  to  pull  down  the  Convocation-house, 
the  king  appointed  them  a  guard  of  the  militia 
of  Middlesex,  commanded  by  Endymion  Porter, 
groom  of  the  bedchamber,  a  papist,  under  whose 
protection  the  synod  was  continued  till  the  can- 
ons were  perfected,  and  six  subsidies  granted 
by  way  of  supply  for  the  exigence  of  his  majes- 
ty's affairs,  to  be  collected  in  six  years,  after 
the  rate  of  four  shillings  in  the  pound,  amount- 
ing to  about  £120,000,  after  which  it  was  dis- 
solved [May  29]  by  a  special  mandate  or  writ 
from  his  majesty,  after  it  had  continued  twenty- 
five  sessions.  The  canons  having  been  appro- 
ved by  the  privy-council,  were  subscribed  by  as 
many  of  both  houses  of  convocation  as  were 
I  present,  and  then  transmitted  to  the  provincial 
I;  Synod  of  York,  by  whom  they  were  subscribed 
.  at  once,  without  so  much  as  debating  either 
matter  or  form.  Dr.  John  Williams,  bishop  of 
Lincoln,  was  in  the  Tower,  and  had  no  concern 
with  the  canons.  Dr.  Goodman,  bishop  of  Glou- 
cester, a  concealed  papist,  was  the  only  prelate 
who  declined  the  subscription,  till  the  archbish- 
op threatened  him  with  deprivation,  and  the 
rest  of  the  brethren  pressing  him  to  comply,  he 
was  persuaded  to  put  his  name  to  the  book  ; 
but  several  of  the  members  of  the  lower  House 
avoided  the  test  by  withdrawing  before  the  day 
of  subscription  ;  for,  out  of  above  one  hundred 
and  sixty,  of  which  both  houses  of  ponvocation 
consisted,  there  were  not  many  more  than  one 
hundred  names  to  the  book. 

The  unreasonableness  of  continuing  the  syn- 
od after  the  dissolution  of  Parliament  appears 
from  hence,  that  the  convocation,  consisting  of 
bishops,  deans,  archdeacons,  and  clerks,  the 
three  former  act  in  their  personal  capacities 
only,  and  may  give  for  themselves  what  subsi- 
dies they  please  ;  but  the  clerks  being  chosen 
for  their  respective  cathedrals  and  dioccsses, 
legally  to  sit  as  long  as  the  Parliament  contin- 
ues, desist  from  being  public  persons  as  soon  as 
it  is  dissolved,  and  lose  the  character  of  repre- 
sentatives ;  they  are  then  no  more  than  private 
clergymen,  who,  though  they  may  give  the  king 
what  sums  of  money  they  please  for  themselves, 
cannot  vote  away  the  estates  of  their  brethren, 
unless  they  are  re-elected.  Besides,  it  was 
contrary  to  all  law  and  custom,  both  before  and 
since  the  act  of  submission  of  the  clergy  to  King 

♦  Fuller's  Church  History,  b.  ix.,  p.  168. 
Vol.  I.— X  X 


Henry  VIII.,  except  in  the  single  instance  of 
Queen  Elizabeth. 

The  canons  of  this  synod,  consisting  of  sev- 
enteen articles,  were  published  June  30,  and 
entitled  "  Constitutions  and  Canons  Ecclesiasti- 
cal, treated  upon  by  the  Archbishops  of  Canter- 
bury and  York,  Presidents  of  the  Convocation 
for  their  respective  Provinces,  and  the  rest  of 
the  Bishops  and  Clergy  of  those  Provinces,  and 
agreed  upon  with  the  King's  Majesty's  License, 
in  their  several  Synods  begun  at  London  and 
York,  1640."* 

Canon  1. — Concerning  the  Regal  Power. 

"  We  ordain  and  decree  that  every  parson, 
vicar,  curate,  or  preacher,  upon  one  Sunday  in 
every  quarter  of  the  year,  in  the  place  where  he 
serves,  shall  read  the  following  explanation  of 
the  regal  power : 

"  That  the  most  high  and  sacred  order  of 
kings  is  of  Divine  right,  being  the  ordinance  of 
God  himself,  founded  in  the  prime  laws  of  na- 
ture and  revelation,  by  which  the  supreme  pow- 
er over  all  persons  civil  and  ecclesiastical  is 
given  to  them. 

"  That  they  have  the  care  of  God's  Church, 
and  the  power  of  calling  and  dissolving  councils, 
both  national  and  provincial. 

"  That  for  any  person  to  set  up  in  the  king's 
realms  any  independent  coercive  power,  either 
papal  or  popular,  is  treasonable  against  God 
and  the  king.  And  for  subjects  to  bear  arms 
against  their  king,  either  offensive  or  defensive, 
upon  any  pretence  whatsoever,  is  at  least  to  re- 
sist the  powers  ordained  of  God  ;  and  though 
they  do  not  invade,  but  only  resist,  St.  Paul 
says,  they  shall  receive  damnation. 

"  And  though  tribute  and  custom,  aid  and  sub- 
sidy, be  due  to  the  king  by  the  law  of  God,  na- 
ture, and  nations,  yet  subjects  have  a  right  and 
property  in  their  goods  and  estates ;  and  these 
two  are  so  far  from  crossing  one  another,  that 
they  mutually  go  together  for  the  honourable 
and  comfortable  support  of  both. 

"  If  any  clergyman  shall  voluntarily  and  care- 
lessly neglect  to  publish  these  explications,  he 
shall  be  suspended  ;  or  if,  in  any  sermon  or  pub- 
lic lecture,  he  shall  maintain  any  position  con- 
trary hereunto,  he  shall  be  forthwith  excommu- 
nicated and  suspended  for  two  years  ;  and  if 
he  offend  a  second  time,  he  shall  be  deprived." 

Canon  2. — For  the  better  observing  the  Day  of  his 
Majesty's  Inauguration. 

"  The  synod  decrees  and  ordains  that  all  per- 
sons shall  come  to  Church  the  morning  of  the 
said  day,  and  continue  there  till  prayers  and 
preaching  are  ended,  upon  pain  of  such  punish- 
ment as  the  law  inflicts  on  those  who  wilfully 
absent  themselves  from  church  on  holydays." 

Canon  3. — For  suppressing  the  Growth  of  Popery. 

"  All  ecclesiastical  persons,  within  their  sev- 
eral parishes  or  jurisdictions,  shall  confer  pri- 
vately with  popish  recusants  ;  but  if  private  con- 
ference prevail  not,  the  Church  must  and  shall 
come  to  her  censures  ;  and  to  make  way  for 
them,  such  persons  shall  be  presented  at  the 
next  visitation  who  came  not  to  church,  and 
refuse  to  receive  the  holy  Eucharist,  or  vvho 
either  say  or  hear  mass  ;  and  if  they  remain 


*  Nalson's  Collection,  p.  545. 


346 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


obstinate  after  citation,  they  shall  be  excom- 
municated. 

"  But  if  neither  conference  nor  censure  pre- 
vail, the  Church  shall  then  complain  of  them  to 
the  civil  power ;  and  this  sacred  synod  does 
earnestly  entreat  the  reverend  justices  of  as- 
size to  be  careful  in  executing  the  laws,  as  they 
will  answer  it  to  God.  And  every  bishop  shall 
once  a  year  send  into  the  Court  of  Chancery  a 
significavit  of  the  names  of  those  who  have  stood 
excommunicated  beyond  the  time  limited  by 
law,  and  shall  desire  that  a  writ  dc  excommuni- 
cato capiendo  may  be  at  once  sent  out  against 
them  all. 

"  Care  is  likewise  to  be  taken  that  no  person 
be  admitted  to  teach  school  but  who  has  sub- 
scribed to  the  Church  as  the  law  directs ;  and 
that  no  excommunicate  person  be  absolved  by 
any  appeal,  unless  he  first  take  the  oath  de  pa- 
reiido  juri  et  stando  mandaiis  ecclesicB." 

Canon  4. — Against  Socinianism. 

"  It  is  decreed  that  no  persons  shall  import, 
print,  or  disperse  any  of  their  books,  on  pain  of 
excommunication,  and  of  being  farther  punished 
in  the  Star  Chamber.  No  minister  shall  preach 
any  such  doctrines  in  his  sermons,  nor  student 
have  any  such  books  in  his  study,  except  he  be 
a  graduate  in  divinity  ;*  and  if  any  layman  em- 
brace their  opinions,  he  shall  be  excommunica- 
ted, and  not  absolved  without  repentance  and 
abjuration." 

[N.B.  None  of  the  doctrines  of  Socinus,  nor 
any  of  his  peculiar  sentiments,  are  men- 
tioned in  this  canon.] 

Canon  5. — Against  Sectaries. 

"The  synod  decrees  that  the  canon  above 
mentioned  against  papists  shall  be  in  full  force 
against  all  Anabaptists,  Brownists,  Separatists, 
and  other  sectaries,  as  far  as  they  are  applica- 
ble ;  and  farther,  the  clause  against  the  books 
of  Socinians  above  mentioned  shall  be  in  force 
against  all  books  written  against  the  discipline 
and  government  of  the  Church  of  England. 

"  It  is  also  ordained,  that  such  persons  who 
resort  to  their  parish  churches  to  hear  the 
sermon,  but  do  not  join  in  the  public  prayers, 
shall  be  subject  to  the  same  penalties  with  oth- 
er sectaries  and  recusants." 

Canon  6. — An  Oath  for  preventing  Innovations 
in  Doctrine  and  Government. 
"  The  synod  decrees  that  all  archbishops, 
bishops,  priests,  and  deacons  shall,  before  the 
2d  of  November  next,  take  the  following  oath, 
which  shall  be  tendered  by  the  bishop  in  person, 
or  some  grave  divine  deputed  by  him,  and  shall 
be  taken  in  presence  of  a  public  notary." 

THE    OATH. 

"  I,  A.  B.,  do  swear  that  I  do  approve  the 
doctrine,  discipline,  and  government  establish- 
ed in  the  Church  of  England,  as  containing  all 
things  necessary  to  salvation ;  and  that  I  will 
not  endeavour,  by  myself  or  any  other,  directly 
or  indirectly,  to  bring  in  any  popisht  doctrine 


*  Dr.  Grey  supplies  here,  from  Nalson,  "  or  such 
as  have  episcopal  or  archidiaconal  ordination,  or  any 
doctor  of  laws  in  order  as  aforesaid." — Ed. 

t  In  his  majesty's  duplicate  of  this  canon,  sent  by 
the  archbishop  to  the  Bishop  of  Ely,  the  word  popish 


contrary  to  that  which  is  so  established  ;  nor 
will  I  ever  consent  to  alter  the  government  of 
this  Church  by  archbishops,  bishops,  deans,  and 
archdeacons,  &c.,  as  it  stands  now  established, 
and  as  by  right  it  ought  to  stand,  nor  yet  ever 
to  subject  it  to  the  usurpations  and  supersti- 
tions of  the  See  of  Rome.  And  all  these  things 
I  do  plainly  and  sincerely  acknowledge  and 
swear,  according  to  the  plain  and  common 
sense  understanding  of  the  same  words,  without 
any  equivocation,  or  mental  evasion,  or  secret 
reservation  whatsoever  ;  and  this  I  do  heartily, 
willingly,  and  truly,  upon  the  faith  of  a  Chris- 
tian.    So  help  me  God  in  Jesus  Christ." 

"  If  any  beneficed  person  in  the  Church  shall 
refuse  this  oath,  he  shall,  after  one  month,*  be 
suspended  ab  ojfic.io ;  after  a  second  month,  he 
shall  be  suspended  ah  officio  et  beneficio;  and  af- 
ter a  third  month, t  if  he  continue  to  refuse,  he 
shall  be  deprived. 

"  It  is  likewise  ordained,  that  all  that  are  in- 
corporated in  either  of  the  universities,  or  take 
any  degree,  whether  lawyers,  divines,  or  phy- 
sicians, shall  take  the  same  oath  \X  and  all  gov- 
ernors of  halls  and  colleges  in  the  universities  ; 
all  schoolmasters,  and,  in  general,  all  that  enter 
into  holy  orders,  or  have  license  to  preach." 

Canon  7. — A  Declaration  concerning  some  Rites 
and  Ceremonies. 

"  The  synod  declares  that  the  standing  of 
the  communion-table  sideways,  under  the  east 
window  of  the  chancel  or  chapel,  is  in  its  own 
nature  indifferent ;  but  forasmuch  as  Queen 
Elizabeth's  injunctions  order  it  to  be  placed 
where  the  altar  was,  we  therefore  judge  it  prop- 
er that  all  churches  and  chapels  do  conform 
themselves  to  the  cathedral  or  mother-church- 
es. And  we  declare  that  the  situation  of  the 
holy  table  does  not  imply  that  it  is  or  ought  to 
be  esteemed  a  true  and  proper  altar,  whereon 
Christ  is  again  sacrificed  ;  but  it  may  be  called 
an  altar  in  the  sense  of  the  primitive  Church  ; 
and  because  it  has  been  observed  that  some 
people  in  time  of  Divine  service  have  irrever- 
ently leaned,  cast  their  hats,  or  sat  upon  or  un- 
der the  communion-table,  therefore  the  synod 
thinks  meet  that  the  table  be  railed  round. 

"  It  is  farther  recommended  to  all  good  peo- 
ple, that  they  do  reverence  at  their  entering  in 
and  going  out  of  the  church  ;  and  that  all  com- 
municants do  approach  the  holy  table  to  receive 
the  communion  at  the  rails.ij  which  has  hereto- 
fore been  unfitly  carried  up  and  down  by  the 
minister,  unless  the  bishop  shall  dispense  with 
it." 

Canon  8. — Of  Preaching  for  Conformity. 

"  All  public  preachers  shall  twice  a  year 
preach  positively  and  plainly,  that  the  rites  and 
ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  England  are  law- 
ful, and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  all  people  to  con- 
form to  them." 


is  omitted,  as  it  is  in  the  duplicate  sent  to  the  Vice- 
chancellor  of  Cambridge,  and  several  others.  . 

*  Allowed  "  to  inform  himself" 

t  "  For  his  better  information." 

X  The  sons  of  noblemen  are  expressly  excepted. — 
Dr.  Grey. 

()  "  At  the  rails"  is  not  in  the  original,  but  appears 
to  be  implied  by  the  order  to  rail  round  the  commu- 
nion-table.— Ed. 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


CiNpN  9. — A  Book  of  Articles  for  Parochial  Vis- 
itation. 
"  No  other  book  of  articles  of  inquiry  shall 
be  used  in  parochial  visitation  but  that  which 
is  drawn  up  by  the  synod." 

Canon  10. — Of  the  Conversation  of  the  Clergy. 

"  The  clergy  are  enjoined  to  avoid  all  excess- 
es and  disorders,  and  by  their  Christian  conver- 
sation to  adorn  their  holy  profession." 

Canon  11. —  Chancellors''  Patents. 

"  No  bishop  shall  grant  any  patent  to  any 
chancellor,  or  official,  for  any  longer  term  than 
the  life  of  the  grantees,  and  the  bishop  shall 
keep  in  his  own  hands  the  power  of  instituting 
to  benefices  and  of  licensing  to  preach." 

Canon  12. —  Chancellors^  Censures. 
"No  chancellor,  commissary,  or  official,  not 
being  in  holy  orders,  shall  inflict  any  censure 
on  the  clergy  in  criminal  causes,  other  than  for 
neglect  of  appearing  ;  but  all  such  causes  shall 
be  heard  by  the  bishop,  or  some  dignified  cler- 
gyman with  the  chancellor." 

Canon  13. — Excommunication  and  Absolution. 
"  No  sentence  of  excommunication  or  abso- 
lution shall  be  pronounced  but  by  a  priest,  and 
in  open  consistory,  or  at  least  in  the  church  or 
chapel,  having  first  received  it  under  the  seal 
of  an  ecclesiastical  judge,  from  whom  it  comes." 

Canon  14. — Of  Commutations. 
"  No  commutation  of  penance  to  be  admitted 
without  consent  of  the  bishop,  and  the  money 
to  be  disposed  of  to  charitable  uses." 

Canon  15.— 0/  Jurisdictions. 
"  No  executor  shall  be  cited  into  any  court 
or  office  for  the  space  of  ten  days  after  the  death 
of  the  testator,  though  the  executor  may  prove 
the  will  within  such  time." 

Canon  16. — Of  Licenses  to  Marry. 
•'  No  license  to  marry  shall  be  granted  to  any 
party,  unless  one  of  the  parties  have  been  com- 
morant  in  the  jurisdiction  of  the  ordinary  to 
whom  he  applies  for  the  space  of  one  month 
before  the  said  license  be  desired.  The  archi- 
episcopal  prerogative  is  excepted." 

Canon  17.— Against  vexatious  Citations. 
"No  citation  into   any  ecclesiastical  court 
shall  be  issued  out  but  under  the  hand  and  seal 
of  one  of  the  judges  of  those  courts,  and  within 
thirty  days  after  committing  the  crime  ;  and  un- 
less the  party  be  convicted  by  two  witnesses 
he  shall  be  allowed  to  purge  himself  by  oath' 
without  paying  any  fee  ;  provided  that  this  can- 
on extend  not  to  any  grievous  crime,  as  schism 
incontinence,  misbehaviour  in  the  church  in  the 
time  of  Divine  service,  obstinate  inconformitv 
or  the  like."  •" 

When  these  canons  were  made  public,  they 
were  generally  disliked ;  several  pamphlets' were 
printed  against  them,  and  dispersed  amont^  the 
people;  as,  "England's  Complaint  to  Jesus 
Christ  against  the  Bishops'  Canons  ;  wherein 
the  Nakedness  of  them  is  exposed  in'  a  solemn 
Application  to  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Saviour'of 
his  Church  ;"  "  Queries  relating  to  the  several 
Articles  and  Determinations  of  the  late  Synod," 


347 

&c.    All  who  loved  the  old  English  Constitution 
were  dissatisfied  with  the  first  canon,  because  it 
declares  for  the  absolute  power  of  kings,  and 
for  the  unlawfulness  of  defensive  arms  on  any 
pretence  whatsoever.     The  Puritans  disappro- 
ved the  fifth,  sixth,  seventh,  and  eigiith  canons  ; 
but  the  whole  body  of  the  clergy  were  nearly 
concerned  in  the  sixth,  being  obliged  by  the  2d 
of  November  to  take  the  oath  therein  mention- 
ed, on  pain  of  suspension  and  deprivation.    The 
London  clergy,  among  whom  were  Dr.  West- 
field,  Downham,  Burges,  Mr.  Calamy,  Jackson. 
John  Goodwin,  Offspring,  and  others,  drew  up 
a  petition  against  it  to  the  privy  council  ;  and, 
to  give  it  the  more  weight,  procured  a  great 
many  hands.      The  ministers,  schoolmasters, 
and  physicians  in  Kent,  Devonshire,  Dorset- 
shire, Northamptonshire,  and  in  most  counties 
of  England,  took  the  same  method  ;  some  ob- 
jecting to  the  oath,  as  contrary  to  the  oath  of 
supremacy  ;  some  complaining  of  the  et  ccetera 
in  the  middle.     Others  objected  to  the  power  of 
the  synod  to  impose  an  oath,  and  many  con- 
fessed that  they  wished  some  things  in  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  Church  might  be  altered,  and, 
therefore,  could  not  swear  never  to  attempt  it 
in  a  proper  way.     Some  of  the  bishops  endeav- 
oured to  satisfy  their  clergy  by  giving  the  most 
favourable  interpretation  to  the  oath.     Bishop 
Hall  told  them  that  it  meant  no  more  than  this, 
"  That  I  do  so  far  approve  of  the  discipline  and 
doctrine  of  the  Church,  as  that  I  do  believe  there 
is  nothing  in  any  other  pretended  discipline  or 
doctrine  necessary  to  salvation   besides   that 
which  is  contained  in  the  doctrine  and  disci- 
pline of  the  Church  of  England.     And  as  I  do 
allow  the  government  by  archbishops,  bishops, 
deans,  archdeacons,  so  I  will  not,  upon  the  sug- 
gestion of  any  factious  persons,  go  about  to 
altar  the  same  as  it  now  stands,  and  as  by  due 
right  (being  so  estabhshed)  it  ought  to  stand  in 
the  Church  of  England."*     But  most  of  the 
bishops  pressed  the  oath  absolutely  on  their  cler- 
gy, and  to   my  certain   knowledge,  says  Mr. 
Fuller,!  obliged  them  to  take  it  kneeling,  a  cer- 
emony never  required  in  taking  the  oath  of  al- 
legiance and  supremacy  :  to  such  extravagance 
of  power  did  these  prelates  aspire  upon  the  wing" 
of  the  prerogative  ! 

The  archbishop  was  advised  of  these  difficul- 
ties by  Dr.  Sanderson,  afterward  Bishop  of  Lin- 
coln, who  assured  his  grace,  by  letter,t  "that 
multitudes  of  churchmen,  not  only  of  the  pre- 
ciser  sort,  but  of  such  as  were  regular  and  con- 
formable, would  utterly  refuse  to  take  the  oath, 
or  be  brought  to  it  with  much  difficulty  and  reluc- 
tance, so  that,  unless  by  his  majesty's  special 
direction,  the  pressing  the  oath  may  be  for- 
borne for  a  time,  or  that  a  short  explanation  of 
some  passages  in  it  most  liable  to  exception  be 
sent  to  the  several  persons  who  are  to  admin- 
ister the  same,  to  be  publicly  read  before  the 
tender  of  the  said  oath,  the  peace  of  this  Church 
is  apparently  in  danger  to  be  more  disquieted 
by  this  one  occasion  than  by  anything  that 
has  happened  within  our  memories."  However, 
this  resolute  prelate,  as  if  he  had  been  deter- 
mined to  ruin  his  own  and  his  majesty's  affairs, 
would  relax  nothing  to  the  times,  but  would 
have  broken  the  king's  interest  among  the  con- 

*  Nalson's  Collection,  p.  496,  498. 

t  Book  xi.,  p.  17J.  X  Nalson,  p.  497. 


348 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


formable  clergy,  if  the  nobility  and  gentry,  with 
the  liing  at  York,  had  not  prevailed  with  his 
majesty  to  lay  him  under  a  restraint  by  the  fol- 
lowing letter,  under  the  hand  of  the  principal 
secretary  of  state  : 

"  May  it  please  your  grace, 

"  I  am,  by  his  majesty's  command,  to  let  you 
know,  tbat,  upon  several  petitions  presented  by 
divers  churchmen,  as  well  in  the  diocess  of 
Canterbury  as  York,  to  which  many  hands  are 
subscribed,  as  Ibe  mode  of  petitions  now  are, 
against  the  oath  in  the  canons  made  in  the  last 
synod,  his  majesty's  pleasure  is,  that  as  he 
took  order,  before  his  coming  into  these  parts, 
that  the  execution  of  neither  should  be  pressed 
on  those  that  were  already  beneficed  in  the 
Church,  which  was  ordered  at  the  council-board 
in  your  grace's  presence,  but  that  it  should  be 
administered  to  those  who  were  to  receive  or- 
ders and  to  be  admitted,  it  is  his  majesty's 
pleasure  that  those  should  be  dispensed  with 
also,  and  that  there  be  no  prosecution  thereof 
till  the  meeting  of  the  convocation. 

"York,  Sept.  30,  1640.  H.  Vane."* 

We  have  mentioned  the  secret  correspond- 
ence between  the  English  and  Scots  nobility  to 
recover  the  liberties  of  both  kingdoms,  which 
encouraged  the  Scots  to  march  a  second  time 
to  their  border,  where  the  king  met  them  with 
his  army,  commanded  by  the  Earls  of  Nor- 
thumberland and  Strafford  ;  but  it  soon  appeared 
that  the  English  nobility  were  not  for  conquer- 
ing the  Scots,  nor  had  the  Protestant  soldiers 
any  zeal  in  his  majesty's  cause,  so  that  after 
a  small  skirmish  the  Scots  army  passed  the 
Tweed,  August  21,  and  on  the  30th  took  pos- 
session of  the  important  town  of  Newcastle,  the 
royal  army  retreating  before  them  as  far  as  York, 
and  leaving  them  masters  of  the  three  northern 
counties  of  Northumberland,  Cumberland,  and 
Durham,  where  they  subsisted  their  army  and 
raised  what  contributions  they  pleased.  As 
soon  as  the  Scots  entered  Newcastle,  they  sent 
an  express  to  the  lord-mayor  and  aldermen  of 
London  to  assure  them  they  would  not  inter- 
rupt the  trade  between  tbat  town  and  the  city 
of  London,  but  would  cultivate  all  manner  of 
friendship  and  brotherly  correspondence.  They 
also  sent  messengers  to  the  king,  with  an  hum- 
ble petition  that  his  majesty  would  please  "  to 
confirm  their  late  acts  of  Parliament,  restore 
their  ships  and  merchandise,  recall  his  procla- 
mation which  styles  them  rebels,  and  call  an 
English  Parliament  to  settle  the  peace  between 
both  kingdoms."  This  was  followed  by  another, 
signed  by  twelve  peers,  with  his  majesty,  at 
York,  and  by  a  third  from  the  city  of  London. 
The  king,- finding  it  impossible  to  carry  on  the 
war,  appointed  commissioners  to  treat  with  the 
Scots  at  Rippon,  who  agreed  to  a  cessation  of 
arms  for  two  months  from  the  26lh  of  October, 
the  Scots  to  have  £850  a  day  for  maintenance 
of  their  army,  and  the  treaty  to  be  adjourned  to 
London,  where  a  free  Parliament  was  immedi- 
•  ately  to  be  convened.  The  calling  an  English 
Parliament  was  the  grand  affair  that  had  been 
concerted  with  the  Scots  bcUne  their  coming 
into  England,  and  it  was  high  lime,  because,  to 
all  appearance,  this  was  the  last  crisis  for  sa- 
ving the  Constitution.    If  the  Irish  and  English 

*  Nalson,  p.  500. 


armies  were  raised  to  reduce  Scotland  under 
the  arbitrary  power  of  the  prerogative  (as  Lord 
Clarendon  confesses),  what  could  be  expected 
but  that  afterward  they  should  march  back 
into  England  and  establish  the  same  despotic 
power  here,  with  a  standing  army,  beyond  all 
recovery  1 

Sad  and  melancholy  was  the  condition  of  the 
prime  ministers  when  they  saw  themselves  re- 
duced to  the  necessity  of  submitting  their  con- 
duct to  the  examination  of  an  English  Parlia- 
ment, supported  by  an  army  from  Scotland,  and 
the  general  discontents  of  the  people  !  Several 
of  the  courtiers  began  to  shift  for  themselves  ; 
some  withdrew  from  the  storm,  and  others, 
having  been  concerned  in  various  illegal  proj- 
ects, deserted  their  masters,  and  made  their 
peace  by  discovering  the  king's  councils  to  the 
leading  members  of  Parliament,  which  disabled 
the  junto  from  making  any  considerable  efforts 
for  their  safety.  All  men  had  a  veneration  for 
the  person  of  the  king,  though  his  majesty  had 
lost  ground  in  their  affections  by  his  ill  usage  of 
Parliaments,  and  by  taking  the  faults  of  his 
ministers  upon  himself  But  the  queen  was  in 
no  manner  of  esteem  with  any  who  had  the 
Protestant  religion  and  the  liberties  of  their 
country  at  heart.  The  bishops  had  sunk  their 
character  by  their  behaviour  in  the  spiritual 
courts,  so  that  they  had  nothing  to  expect  but 
that  their  wings  should  be  clipped.  And  the 
judges  were  despised  and  hated  for  betraying^ 
the  laws  of  their  country,  and  giving  a  sanction 
to  the  illegal  proceedings  of  the  council  and 
Star  phamber.  As  his  majesty  had  few  friends 
of  credit  or  interest  among  the  people  at  home, 
so  he  had  nothing  to  expect  from  abroad ; 
France  and  Spain  were  pleased  with  his  dis- 
tress ;  the  foreign  Protestants  wished  well  to 
the  oppressed  people  of  England  ;  they  publish- 
their  resentments  against  the  bishops  for  their 
hard  usage  of  the  Dutch  and  French  congrega- 
tions, and  gave  it  as  their  opinion  that  a  Prot- 
estant king  who  countenanced  papists,  and  at 
the  same  time  drove  his  Protestant  subjects  out 
of  the  kingdom,  was  not  worthy  the  assistance 
of  the  Reformed  churches,  especially  after  he 
had  renounced  communion  with  them,  and  de- 
clared openly  that  the  religion  of  the  Church  of 
England  was  not  the  same  with  that  of  the  for- 
eign Protestants. 

Three  considerable  divines  of  a  very  different 
character  died  about  this  time  :  Mr.  John  Ball, 
educated  in  Brazen-nose  College,  Oxon,  and  af- 
terward minister  of  Whitmore,  a  small  village 
near  Newcastle  in  Staffordshire,  where  he  lived 
upon  £20  a  year,  and  the  profits  of  a  little 
school.  He  was  a  learned  and  pious  man,  de- 
serving as  high  esteem,  says  Mr.  Baxter,  as  the 
best  bishop  in  England,  though  he  was  content 
with  a  poor  house,  a  mean  habit,  and  a  small 
maintenance.  Being  dissatisfied  with  the  terms 
of  conformity,  it  was  some  time  before  he  could 
meet  with  an  opportunity  to  be  ordained  with- 
out subscription,  but  at  last  he  obtained  it  from 
the  hands  of  an  Irish  bishop,  then  occasionally 
in  London  ;  though  he  lived  and  died  a  Non- 
conformist, he  was  an  enemy  to  a  separation, 
and  wrote  against  Mr.  Can  and  Mr.  Robinson 
on  that  head.  His  last  work,  entitled  "  A  Stay 
against  Straying,"  was  subscribed  by  five  most 
noted  Presbyterian  divines,  who  all  testified  that 


1 


HISTORY    OF   THE    PURITANS. 


349 


he  died  abundantly  satisfied  in  the  cause  of  Non- 
conformity, vvliich  he  distinguished  from  separ- 
ation. His  other  works  were  very  numerous, 
and  of  great  reputation  in  those  times.*  He 
died  October  20,  1640,  in  tlie  fifty-sixth  year  of 
,   his  age.t 

Dr.  Lawrence  Chadderton,  born  in  Lanca- 
shire, 1.546,  of  popish  parents,  who,  when  they 
heard  their  son  had  changed  his  rehgion,  disin- 
herited him  ;  he  was  first  fellow  of  Christ's  Col- 
lege, and  afterward  minister  of  Emanuel  Col- 
lege, Cambridge.  King  James  nominated  him 
one  of  the  four  representatives  of  the  Puritans 
in  the  Hampton  Court  Conference,  and  after- 
ward one  of  the  translators  of  the  Bible,  t  He 
commenced  D.D.  1612,  and  governed  his  col- 
lege with  great  reputation  many  years,  being 
remarkable  for  gravity,  learning,  and  piety  ;  he 
had  a  plain  but  effectual  way  of  preaching,  says 
Fuller,!^*  having  a  strict  regard  for  the  Sabbath, 
and  a  great  aversion  to  Arminianism.  He  was 
a  fine,  grayheaded  old  gentleman,  and  could 
read  without  spectacles  to  his  death,  which 
happened  in  the  hundred  and  third  year  of  his 
age.  Being  advanced  in  years,  and  afraid  of 
being  succeeded  by  an  Arminian  divine,  he  re- 
signed his  mastership  to  Dr.  Preston,  whom  he 
survived,  and  saw  Dr.  Sancroft,  and  after  him 
Dr.  Holdisworth,  succeed  him,  which  last  at- 
tended his  funeral,  at  St.  Andrew's  Church,  and 
^ave  him  a  large  and  deserved  commendation 
in  a  funeral  sermon. II 

Dr.  Richard  Neile,  archbishop  of  York,  born 
in  King-street,  Westminster,  of  mean  parents, 
his  father  being  a  tallow-chandler.  He  was  ed- 
ucated in  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge,  and 
passed  through  all  the  degrees  and  orders  of 
preferment  m  the  Church  of  England,  having 
been  a  schoolmaster,  curate,  vicar,  parson,  chap- 
lain, master  of  the  Savoy,  Dean  of  Westminster, 
clerk  of  the  closet  to  two  kings.  Bishop  of  Roch- 
ester, Litchfield,  Lincoln,  Durham,  Winchester, 
and,  lastly.  Archbishop  of  York.  The  Oxford 
historian  says  he  was  an  affectionate  subject  to 
his  prince,  an  indulgent?  father  to  his  clergy,  a 
bountiful  patron  to  his  chaplains,  and  a  true 
friend  to  aU  that  relied  upon  him.  Dr.  Heylin 
confesses  that  he  was  not  very  eminent  either 
for  parts  or  learning  ;  Mr.  Prynne  says  he  was 
a  popish  Arminian  prelate,  and  a  persecutor  of 
all  orthodox  and  godly  ministers.  It  is  certain 
he  had  few  or  none  of  the  qualifications  of  a 
primitive  bishop  ;  he  hardly  preached  a  sermon 
in  twelve  years,  and  gained  his  preferments  by 
flattery  and  servile  court  compliances.  He  was 
a  zealous  advocate  for  po.mpous  innovations  in 
the  Church,  and  oppressive  projects  in  the  state, 
for  which  he  would  have  felt  the  resentments 
of  the  House  of  Commons  had  he  lived  a  little 
longer ;  but  he  died  very  seasonably  for  him- 
self, in  an  advanced  age,  October  31,  1640,  three 
days  before  the  meeting  of  the  Long  Parliament. 

*  His  "  Grounds  of  the  Christian  Religion"  passed 
through  fourteen  editions,  and  was  translated  into 
the  Turkish  language.  Mr.  Ball's  treatise  on  Faith, 
and  on  "  The  Power  of  Godliness,"  are  works  of 
great  merit,  and  are  still  eagerly  sought  after. C. 

t  Clarke's  Lives,  annexed  to  his  General  Martyr- 
ology,  p.  147.         t  lb.,  p.  146.  ^  Book  ii.*  p.  ]  18, 

II  Clarke's  Lives,  anne.^ed  to  the  Martyrology,  p. 
146,  147.  Dr.  Chadderton  has  a  monument  at  the 
entrance  of  Emanuel  College  Chapel.— 0. 


[To  the  divines  to  whose  memory  Mr.  Neal 
pays  the  just  tribute  of  respect  in  this  chapter, 
may  be  added  the  great  Mr.  Joseph  Mede.     He 
was  descended  from  a  good  family,  and  born  in 
October,  1586,  at  Berden,  in  Essex.     He   re- 
ceived his  grammar  learning  first  at  Hoddesdon, 
in  Hertfordsiiire,  and  finished  it  at  Weathers- 
field,  in   Essex.     While   he  was   at  this   last 
school,  he  bought  Bellarmine's  Hebrew  Gram- 
mar, and,  without  the  assistance  of  a  master, 
attained  considerable  skill  in  the  Hebrew  tongue! 
In  1602  he  was  sent  to  Christ's  College,  in  Cam- 
bridge.    In  1612  he  took  the  degree  of  master 
of  arts,  and  in  1618  that  of  bachelor  in  divinity  ; 
but  his  m.odcsty  and  humility  restrained  him 
from  taking  the  degree  of  doctor.     After  taking 
the  first  degree,  by  the  influence  of  Bishop  An- 
drews he  was  chosen  fellow  of  his  college,  hav- 
ing been  passed  over  at  several  elections  as 
one  suspected  of  favouring  Puritanical  princi- 
ples.    In  1627,  at  the  recommendation  of  Arch- 
bishop Usher,  he  was  elected  provost  of  Trinity 
College,  Dublin,  but  declined  accepting  this  pre- 
ferment, as  he  did  also  when  it  was  offered  him 
a  second  time  in  1630.     On  the  small  income 
of  his  fellowship  and  a  college-lecture  he  was 
extremely  generous  and  charitable,  and  con- 
stantly appropriated  a  tenth  of  it  to  charitable 
uses.     Temperance,  frugality,  and  a  care   to 
avoid  unnecessary  expenses  enabled  him  to  do 
this.     His  thoughts  were  much  employed  on 
the  generous  design  of  effecting  a  universal  pa- 
cification among  Protestants.    It  was  a  favour- 
ite saying  with  him,  "  that  he  never  found  him- 
self prone  to  change  his  hearty  affections  to  any 
one  lor  mere  difference  in  opinion."     He  was 
a  friend  to  free  inquiry  :   "  I  cannot  believe," 
said  he,  "that  truth  can  be  prejudiced  by  the 
discovery  of  truth  ;  but  I  fear  that  the  mainte- 
nance thereof  by  fallacy  or  falsehood  may  not 
end  with  a  blessing."    He  was  an  eminent  and 
faithful  tutor.    It  was  his  custom  to  require  the 
attendance  of  his  pupils  in  the  evening,  to  ex- 
amine them  on  the  studies  of  the  day  ;  the  first 
question  he  then  proposed  to  every  one  in  his 
order  was,  "  Quid  dubitas  1"  What  doubts  have 
you  met  with  in  your  studies  to-day  ?     For  he 
supposed  that  to  doubt  nothing,  and  to  under- 
stand nothing,  was  nearly  the  same  thing.    Be- 
fore he  dismissed  them  to  their  lodgings,  after 
having  solved  their  questions,  he  commended 
them  and  their  studies  to  God's  protection  and 
blessing  by  prayer.     He  was  anxious  and  labo- 
rious in  his  study  of  history  and  antiquities,  and 
diligently  applied  every  branch  of  knowledge  to 
increase  his  skill  in  the  sacred  writings.     He 
led  the  way  in  showing  that  papal  Rome  was 
one   principal   object  of  the   Apocalyptic  vis- 
ions ;  and  was  the  first  who  suggested  the  sen- 
timents since  espoused  and  defended  by  the 
pens  of  Lardner,  Sykes,  and  Farmer,  that  the 
demoniacs  in  the  New  Testiment  were  not  real 
possessions,  but  persons  afflicted  with  a  lunacy 
and  epilepsy.     His  days  were  spent  in  studious 
retirement.     He  died  on  the   1st  of  October, 
1638,  in  the  fifty-second  year  of  his  age.     In 
1677,  a  complete  edition  of  his  works  was  pub- 
lished in  folio  by  Dr.  Wmthington.—Bntish  Bi- 
ographij,  vol.  iv.,  p.  446-452,  and  his  Life,  pre- 
fixed  to  his  Works.'] — Ed. 


350 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

KING  CHARLES  I.,  1640. 

THE  CHARACTER  OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT. — 
THEIR  ARGUMENTS  AGAINST  THE  LATE  CONVO- 
CATION    AND    CANONS. THE     IMPEACHMENT    OF 

DR.  WILLIAM    LAUD,  ARCHBISHOP    OF   CANTERBU- 
RY.  VOTES  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS  AGAINST 

THE  PROMOTERS  OF  THE  LATE  INNOVATIONS. 

We  are  now  entering  upon  the  proceedings 
of  the  Long  Parliament,  which  continued  sitting 
with  some  little  intermission  for  above  eighteen 
years,  and  occasioned  such  prodigious  revolu- 
tions in  Church  and  State,  as  were  the  surprise 
and  wonder  of  all  Europe.  The  House  of  Com- 
mons have  been  severely  censured  for  the  ill 
success  of  their  endeavours  to  recover  and  se- 
cure the  Constitution  of  the  country ;  but  the 
attempt  was  glorious,  though  a  train  of  unfore- 
seen accidents  rendered  it  fatal  in  the  event. 
The  members  consisted  chiefly  of  country  gen- 
tlemen, who  had  no  attachment  to  the  court ; 
for,  as  Wliitelocke  observes,  "  Though  the  court 
laboured  to  bring  in  their  friends,  yet  those  who 
had  most  favour  with  them  had  least  in  the 
country ;  and  it  was  not  a  little  strange  to  see 
what  a  spirit  of  opposition  to  the  court  proceed- 
ings was  in  the  hearts  and  actions  of  the  most 
of  the  people,  so  that  very  few  of  that  party  had 
the  favour  of  being  chosen  members  of  this  Par- 
liament."* Mr.  Echard  insinuates  some  unfair 
methods  of  election,  which  might  be  true  on 
both  sides ;  but  both  he  and  Lord  Clarendon 
admit  that  there  were  many  great  and  worthy 
prtriots  in  the  House,  and  as  eminent  as  any 
age  had  ever  produced  ;  men  of  gravity,  of  wis- 
dom, and  of  great  and  plentiful  fortunes,  vvho 
would  have  been  satisfied  with  some  few  amend- 
ments in  Church  and  State. 

Before  the  opening  of  the  session,  the  princi- 
pal members  consulted  measures  for  securing 
the  frequency  of  Parliaments ;  for  redressing 
the  grievances  in  Church  and  State  ;  and  for 
bringing  the  king's  arbitrary  ministers  to  jus- 
tice ;  to  accomplish  which,  it  was  thought  ne- 
cessary to  set  some  bounds  to  the  prerogative, 
and  to  lessen  the  power  of  the  bishops  ;  but  it 
never  entered  into  their  thoughts  to  overturn 
the  civil  or  ecclesiastical  constitution,  as  will 
appear  from  the  concurrent  testimony  of  the 
most  unexceptionable  historians. 

"  As  to  their  religion,"  says  the  noble  histo- 
rian,! "  they  were  all  members  of  the  Establish- 
ed Church,  and  almost  to  a  man  for  episcopal 
government.  Though  they  were  undevoted 
enough  to  the  court,  they  had  all  imaginable 
duty  for  the  king,  and  affection  for  the  govern- 
ment established  by  law  or  ancient  custom  ; 
and  without  doubt  the  majority  of  that  body 
were  persons  of  gravity  and  wisdom,  who,  be- 
ing possessed  of  great  and  plentiful  fortunes, 
had  no  mind  to  break  the  peace  of  the  kingdom, 
or  to  make  any  considerable  alterations  in  the 
government  of  the  Church  or  State."  Dr.  Lewis 
du  Moulin,  who  lived  through  these  times,  says 
"  that  both  Lords  and  Commons  were  most,  if 
not  all,  peaceable,  orthodox  Church  of  England 
men,  all  conforming  to  the  rites  and  ceremonies 
of  episcopacy,  but  greatly  averse  to  popery  and 
tyranny,  and  to  the  corrupt  part  of  the  Church 

*  Memorials,  p.  35. 

t  Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  p.  184,  &c. 


that  inclined  towards  Rome."  This  is  farther 
evident  from  their  order  of  November  20,  1640, 
that  none  should  sit  in  their  House  but  such  as 
toould  receive  the  communion  according  to  the  usage 
of  the  Church  of  England.  The  Commons,  in 
their  grand  remonstrance  of  December  1,  1641, 
declared  to  the  world,  "  that  it  was  far  from 
their  purpose  to  let  loose  the  golden  reins  of 
discipline  and  government  in  the  Church,  to 
leave  private  persons  or  particular  congrega- 
tions to  take  up  what  form  of  Divine  service 
they  pleased ;  for  we  hold  it  requisite,"  say  they, 
"  that  there  should  be  throughout  the  whole 
realm  a  conformity  to  that  order  which  the  law 
enjoins  according  to  the  Word  of  God."  The 
noble  historian  adds,  farther,  "  that  even  after 
the  battle  of  Edgehill,  the  design  against  the 
Church  was  not  grown  popular  in  the  House  ; 
that  in  the  years  1642  and  1643  the  Lords  and 
Commons  were  in  perfect  conformity  to  the 
Church  of  England,  and  so  was  their  army,  the 
general  and  officers  both  by  sea  and  land  being' 
neither  Presbyterians,  Independents,  Anabap- 
tists, nor  Conventiclers  ;  and  that,  when  they 
cast  their  eyes  upon  Scotland,  there  were,  in 
truth,  very  few  in  the  two  houses  who  desired 
the  extirpation  of  episcopacy.  Nay,  his  lord- 
ship is  of  opinion  that  the  nation  in  general 
was  less  inclined  to  the  Puritans  than  to  the 
papists  ;  at  least,  that  they  were  for  the  Estab- 
lishment ;  for  when  the  king  went  to  Scotland 
[1641],  the  Common  Prayer  was  much  rever- 
enced throughout  the  kingdom,  and  was  a  gen- 
eral object  of  veneration  to  the  people.  There 
was  a  full  submission  and  love  to  the  establish- 
ed government  of  the  Church  and  State,  espe- 
cially to  that  part  of  the  Church  which  concern- 
ed the  liturgy  and  Book  of  Common  Prayer;" 
which,  though  it  be  hardly  credible,  as  will  ap- 
pear hereafter  by  the  numbers  of  petitions  from 
several  counties  against  the  hierarchy,  yet  may 
serve  to  silence  those  of  his  lordship's  admirers 
who,  through  ignorance  and  ill  will,  have  repre- 
sented the  Long  Parliament,  and  the  body  of 
the  Puritans  at  their  ffrst  sitting  down,  as  in  a 
plot  against  the  whole  ecclesiastical  establish- 
ment. 

If  we  may  believe  his  lordship's  character  of 
the  leading  members  of  both  houses,  even  of 
those  who  were  most  active  in  the  war  against 
the  king,  we  shall  find  even  they  were  true 
churchmen  according  to  law,  and  that  they  had 
no  designs  against  episcopacy,  nor  any  incli- 
nations to  presbytery  or  the  separation.* 

The  Earl  of  Essex  was  captain-general  and 
commander-in-chief  of  the  Parliamentary  army, 
and  so  great  was  his  reputation,  that  his  very 
name  commanded  thousands  into  their  service. 
It  had  been  impossible  for  the  Parliament  to 
have  raised  an  army,  in  Lord  Clarendon's  opin- 
ion, if  the  Earl  of  Essex  had  not  consented  to 
be  their  general ;  and  "  yet  this  nobleman," 
says  he,t  "  was  not  indevoted  to  the  function 
of  bishops,  but  was  as  much  devoted  as  any 

*  It  is  very  important  for  the  reader  to  bear  these 
facts  in  recollection.  The  exactions  and  overbear- 
ing tyranny  of  the  Church  led  these  men  to  their  fu- 
ture course,  as  the  only  means  of  self-preservation. 
Tlie  laity  saved  the  kingdom  from  the  doom  which 
threatened  it. — C. 

t  Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  p.  182, 185,  189,  211,  213,  233, 
507 ;  and  vol.  ii.,  p.  211,  212,  214,  462,  597,  &c. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


351 


man  to  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  obli- 
ged all  his  servants  to  be  present  with  him  at 
it ;  his  household  chaplain  being  always  a  con- 
formable man  and  a  good  scholar." 

The  Earl  of  Bedford  was  general  of  the  horse 
under  the  Earl  of  Essex,  but  "  he  had  no  desire 
that  there  should  be  any  alteration  in  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Church  ;  he  had  always  lived 
towards  my  Lord  of  Canterbury  himself  with  all 
respect  and  reverence  ;  he  frequently  visited 
and  dined  with  him,  subscribed  liberally  to  the 
repairing  of  St.  Paul's,  and  seconded  all  pious 
undertakings." 

Lord  Kimbolton,  afterward  Earl  of  Manches- 
ter, was  a  man  of  great  generosity  and  good- 
breeding,  and  no  man  was  more  in  the  confi- 
dence of  the  discontented  party,  or  more  trust- 
ed ;  he  was  commander  of  part  of  the  Par- 
liament forces,  and  rather  complied  with  the 
changes  of  the  times  than  otherwise  ;  he  had  a 
considerable  share  in  the  restoration  of  King 
Charles  II.,  and  was  in  high  favour  with  him 
till  his  death. 

The  Earl  of  Warwick  was  admiral  of  the 
Parliament  fleet ;  he  was  the  person  who  seiz- 
ed on  the  king's  ships,  and  employed  them 
against  him  during  the  whole  course  of  the  war ; 
he  was  looked  upon  as  the  greatest  patron  of 
the  Puritans,  and  "yet  this  nobleman,"  says 
Lord  Clarendon,  "  never  discovered  any  aver- 
sion to  episcopacy,  but  much  professed  the  con- 
trary." 

In  truth,  says  the  noble  historian,  when  the 
bill  was  brought  into  the  House  to  deprive  the 
bishops  of  their  votes  in  Parliament,  there  were 
only  at  that  time  taken  notice  of  in  the  House 
of  Peers  the  Lords  Say  and  Brook,  as  positive 
enemies  to  the  whole  fabric  of  the  Church,  and 
to  desire  a  dissolution  of  the  government. 

Among  the  leading  members  in  the  House  of 
Commons  we  may  reckon  William  Lenthall, 
Esq.,  their  speaker,  "  who  was  of  no  ill  reputa- 
tion for  his  affection  to  the  government  both  of 
Church  and  State,"  says  his  lordshfp,  and  de- 
clared on  his  deathbed,  afterthe  Restoration,  that 
he  had  always  esteemed  the  episcopal  govern- 
ment to  be  the  best  government  of  the  Church, 
and  accordingly  died  a  dutiful-  son  of  the  Church 
of  England. 

Mr.  Pym  had  the  leading  influence  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  was,  in  truth,  the  most 
popular  man,  and  most  able  to  do  hurt  of  any 
who  lived  in  his  time  ;  and  yet.  Lord  Clarendon 
says,  "  though  he  was  an  enemy  to  the  Armin- 
ians,  he  professed  to  be  very  entirely  for  the 
doctrine  and  discipline  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, and  was  never  thought  to  be  for  violent 
measures  till  the  king  came  to  the  House  of 
Commons  and  attempted  to  seize  him  among 
the  five  members." 

Denzil  Hollis,  Esq  ,  after  the  Restoration  pro- 
moted to  the  dignity  of  a  baron,  was  at  the 
head  of  aU  the  Parliament's  councils  till  the 
year  1647.  "He  had  an  indignation,"  says 
Lord  Clarendon,  "  against  the  Independents, 
nor  was  he  affected  to  the  Presbyterians  any 
otherwise  than  as  they  constituted  a  party  to 
oppose  the  others,  but  was  well  pleased  with 
the  government  of  the  Church." 

Sir  H.  Vane,  the  elder,  did  the  king's  af- 
fairs an  unspeakable  prejudice,  and  yet,  "in  his 
judgment,  he   liked  the  government  both   of 


Church  and  State ;  nay,  he  not  only  appeared 
highly  conformable  himself,  but  exceeding  sharp 
against  those  that  were  not." 

Sir  John  Hotham  was  the  gentleman  who 
shut  the  gates  of  Hull  against  the  king,  and  in 
a  sally  that  he  made  upon  the  king's  forces 
shed  the  first  blood  that  was  spilled  in  the  civil 
war,  and  was  the  first  his  majesty  proclaimed 
a  traitor;  and  yet  his  lordship  declares  "he 
was  very  well  affected  to  the  government." 

His  lordship  is  a  little  more  dubious  about 
the  famous  Mr.  Hampden,  but  says  that  most 
people  believed  "  his  dislike  was  rather  to  some 
churchmen  than  to  the  ecclesiastical  govern- 
ment of  the  Church." 

I  might  mention  Mr.  Whitelocke,  Selden, 
Langhorne,  and  others,  who  are  represented 
without  the  least  inclination  to  Presbytery  ;  but 
it  is  sufficient  to  observe,  from  his  lordship, 
"  that  all  the  Earl  of  Essex's  party,  in  both 
houses,  were  men  of  such  principles  that  they 
desired  no  alteration  in  the  court  or  govern- 
ment, but  only  of  the  persons  that  acted  in  it ; 
nay,  the  chief  officers  of  his  army  were  so  zeal- 
ous for  the  liturgy,  that  they  would  not  hear  a 
man  as  a  minister  that  had  not  episcopal  ordi- 
nation." 

Nathaniel  Fiennes,  Esq.,  Sir  H.  Vane,  jun., 
and,  shortly  after,  Mr.  Hampden,  were  be- 
lieved to  be  for  root  and  branch  ;  yet,  says  his 
lordship,  Mr.  Pym  was  not  of  that  mind,  nor 
Mr.  Hollis,  nor  any  of  the  northern  men,  nor 
any  of  those  lawyers  who  drove  on  most  furi- 
ously with  them,  all  of  whom  were  well  pleas- 
ed with  the  government  of  the  Church ;  for 
though  it  was  in  the  hearts  of  some  few  to  re- 
move foundations,  they  had  not  the  courage 
and  confidence  to  communicate  it." 

This  was  the  present  temper  and  constitu- 
tion of  both  houses  ;  from  which  his  lordship 
justly  concludes  that,  "  as  they  were  all  of 
them,  almost  to  a  man,  conformists  to  the 
Church  of  England,  they  had  all  imaginable 
duty  for  the  king  and  affection  for  the  govern- 
ment established  by  law  ;  and  as  for  the  Church, 
the  major  part  even  of  these  persons  would 
have  been  willing  to  satisfy  the  king ;  the  rath- 
er, because  they  had  no  reason  to  think  the 
two  houses,  or,  indeed,  either  of  them,  could 
have  been  induced  to  pursue  the  contrary." 
How  injurious,  then,  are  the  characters  of  those 
Church  historians,  and  others,  who  have  repre- 
sented the  members  of  this  Parliament,  even  at 
their  first  session,  as  men  of  the  new  religion, 
or  of  no  religion,  fanatics,  men  deeply  engaged 
in  a  design  against  the  whole  Constitution  in 
Church  and  State  ! 

The  Parliament  was  opened  November  3, 
with  a  most  gracious  speech  from  the  throne, 
wherein  his  majesty  declares  he  would  concur 
with  them  in  satisfying  their  just  grievances, 
leaving  it  with  them  where  to  begin.  Only 
some  offence  was  taken  at  styling  the  Scots 
rebels  at  a  time  when  there  was  a  pacification 
subsisting ;  upon  which  his  majesty  came  to 
the  House,  and,  instead  of  softening  his  lan- 
guage, very  imprudently  avowed  the  expres- 
sion, saying  he  could  call  them  neither  better 
nor  worse.  The  houses  petitioned  his  majesty 
to  appoint  a  fast  for  a  Divine  blessing  upon 
their  councils,  which  was  observed  November 
17 ;   the  Rev.  Mr.  Marshal   and   Mr.  Burges 


352 


HISTORY  OF   THE    PURITANS. 


preached  before  the  Commons,  the  former  on  2 
Chron.,  xv.,  2,  "  The  Lord  is  with  you  while 
you  are  with  him;  if  you  seek  him  he  will  be 
found  of  you,  but  if  you  forsai<e  him  he  will  for- 
sake you  ;"  the  latter  on  Jer.,  i.,  5,  "  They  shall 
ask  the  way  to  Zion  with  their  faces  thither- 
ward, saying,  Come,  and  let  us  join  ourselves 
to  the  Lord  in  a  perpetual  covenant  that  shall 
not  be  forgotten."  The  sermons  were  long, 
bufdelivered  with  a  great  deal  of  caution  :  the 
House  gave  them  thanks  and  a  piece  of  plate 
for  their  labours.  The  Bishops  of  Durham  and 
Carlisle  preached  before  the  Lords  in  the  Abbey 
Church  of  Westminstei- ;  the  one  a  courtier, 
and  the  other  a  favourer  of  the  Puritans.  The 
Lord's  Day  following,  all  the  members  in  a 
body  received  the  sacrament  from  the  hands  of 
Bishop  Williams,  dean  of  Westminster,  not  at 
the  rails  about  the  altar,  but  at  a  communion- 
table, placed,  by  order  of  the  House,  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  church  on  that  occasion. 

At  their  first  entrance  upon  business  they 
appointed  four  grand  committees  ;  the  first  to 
receive  petitions  abt)ut  grievances  of  religion, 
■which  was  afterward  subdivided  into  twenty  or 
thirty  ;  the  second  for  the  affairs  of  Scotland 
and  Ireland ;  the  third  for  civil  grievances,  as 
ship-money,  judges,  courts  of  justice,  monopo- 
lies, &c.  ;  the  fourth  concerning  popery,  and 
plots  relating  thereunto.  Among  the  grievan- 
ces of  religion,  one  of  the  first  things  that  came 
before  the  House  was  the  acts  and  canons  of  the 
late  convocation  :  several  warm  speeches  were 
made  against  the  compilers  of  them,  November 
9  ;  and,  among  others.  Lord  Digby,  who  was  as 
yet  with  the  country  party,  stood  up  and  said, 
"  Does  not  every  Parliament-man's  heart  rise 
to  sec  the  prelates  usurping  to  themselves  the 
grand  pre-eminence  of  Parliament  1  the  grant- 
ing subsidies  under  the  name  of  a  benevolence, 
under  no  less  a  penalty  to  them  that  refuse  it 
than  the  loss  of  heaven  and  earth — of  heaven 
by  excommunication,  and  of  earth  by  depriva- 
tion, and  this  without  redemption  by  appeal  1 
What  good  man  can  think  with  patience  of 
such  an  ensnaring  oath  as  that  which  the  new 
canons  enjoin  to  be  taken  by  ministers,  law- 
yers, physicians,  and  graduates  in  the  Universi- 
ty, where,  besides  the  swearing  such  an  imper- 
tinence as  that  things  necessary  to  salvation 
are  contained  in  discipline  ;  besides  the  swear- 
ing those  to  be  of  Divine  right  which  among  the 
learned  was  never  pretended  to,  as  the  arch 
things  in  our  hierarchy  ;  besides  the  swearing 
not  to  consent  to  the  change  of  that  which  the 
state  may,  upon  great  reasons,  think  fit  to  al- 
ter ;  besides  the  bottomless  perjury  of  an  el  mi- 
era ;  besides  all  this,  men  must  swear  that  they 
swear  freely  and  voluntarily  what  they  are 
compelled  to  ;  and,  lastly,  that  they  swear  to 
the  oath  in  the  literal  sense,  whereof  no  two  of 
the  makers  themselves,  that  I  have  heard  of, 
could  ever  agree  in  the  understanding."* 

*  Dr.  Grey  contrasts  this  speech  of  Lord  Digby's, 
as  far  as  it  censures  the  convocation  for  ta.xing  the 
clergy,  with  some  reflections  on  it  from  CoUyer,  who 
asserts  that  the  clergy  had  always  the  privilege  of 
taxing  their  own  body  ;  that  from  Magna  Charta  to 
the  37th  of  Henry  VIII.  there  is  no  parliamentary 
confirmation  of  subsidies  given  by  the  clergy ;  and 
that  in  1585  there  is  an  instance  of  the  convocation 
granting  and  levying  a  subsidy  or  benevolence  by  sy- 
nodical  authority.    The  credit  of  Mr.  Neal's  history, 


Sir  B.  Rudyard,  Sir.  J.  Culpeper,  Sir  Edward 
Deering,  Sir  Harbottle  Grimstone,  spoke  with 
the  same  warmth  and  satirical  wit  for  dischar- 
ging the  canons,  dismounting  them,  and  melt- 
ing them  down;  nor  did  any  gentleman  stand 
up  in  their  behalf  but  Mr.  Ilolbourn,  who  is  said 
to  make  a  speech  of  two  hours  in  their  vindica- 
tion; but  his  arguments  made  no  impression 
on  the  House,  for  at  the  close  of  the  debate  a 
committee  of  twelve  gentlemen,  among  whom 
were  Mr.  Seldcn,  Maynard,  and  Coke,  was  ap- 
pointed to  search  for  the  warrants  t)y  which 
the  convocation  was  held,  after  the  Parliament 
broke  up,  and  for  the  letters  patent  of  the  be- 
nevolence, and  for  such  other  materials  as  might 
assist  the  House  in  their  next  debate  upon  this 
argument,  which  was  appointed  for  December 
14,  when  some  of  the  members  would  have  ag- 
gravated the  crime  of  the  convocation  to  high 
treason,  but  Sergeant  Maynard  and  Mr.  Bag- 
shaw  moderated  their  resentments,  by  convin- 
cing them  that  they  were  only  in  a  praemunire. 
At  the  close  of  the  debate  the  House  came  to 
the  following  resolutions : 

Resolved  nem.  contradicentc,  "  That  the  cler- 
gy of  England,  convened  in  any  convocation  or 
synod,  or  otherwise,  have  no  power  to  make 
any  constitutions,  canons,  or  acts  whatsoever, 
in  matters  of  doctrine,  discipline,  or  otherwise, 
to  bind  the  clergy  or  laity  of  the  land,  without 
consent  of  Parliament. 

Resolved,  "  That  the  several  constitutions 
and  canons  ecclesiastical,  treated  upon  by  the 
Archbishops  of  Canterbury  and  York,  presidents 
of  the  convocations  for  their  respective  prov- 
inces, and  the  rest  of  the  bishops  and  clergy  of 
those  provinces,  and  agreed  upon  with  the 
king's  majesty's  license,  in  their  several  synods 
begun  at  London  and  York,  1640,  do  not  bind 
the  clergy  or  laity  of  the  land,  or  either  of  them. . 

Resolved,  "  That  the  several  constitutions 
and  canons  made  and  agreed  to  in  the  convo- 
cations or  synods  above  mentioned,  do  contain 
in  them  many  matters  contrary  to  the  king's 
prerogative,  to  the  fundamental  laws  and  stat- 
utes of  this  realm,  to  the  rights  of  Parliament, 
to  the  property  and  liberty  of  the  subject,  and 
matters  tending  to  sedition,  and  of  dangerous 
consequence. 

Resolved,  "  That  the  several  grants  of  benev- 
olences or  contributions,  granted  to  his  most 
excellent  majesty  by  the  clergy  of  the  provinces 
of  Canterbury  and  York,  in  the  several  convo- 
cations or  synods  holden  at  London  and  York 
in  the  year  1640,  are  contrary  to  the  laws,  and 
ought  not  to  bind  the  clergy." 


in  this  point,  is  no  farther  concerned  than  as  he  faith- 
fully represents  Lord  Digby's  speech.  This  Dr.  Grey 
does  not  dispute.  Yet  it  may  be  proper  to  observe, 
that  a  great  lawyer  says  "  that  the  grants  of  the  cler- 
gy were  illegal,  and  not  binding,  unless  they  were 
confirmed  in  Parliament ;"  and  that  Lord  Clarendon, 
speaking  of  this  convocation  giving  subsidies  out  of 
Parliament,  censures  it  as  doing  that  "  which  it  cer- 
tainly might  not  do."  The  last  subsidies  granted  by 
the  clergy  were  those  confirmed  by  the  statute  15 
Car.  I.,  cap.  x.  Since  which,  this  practice  of  grant- 
ing ecclesiastical  subsidies  has  given  way  to  another 
method  of  taxation,  comprehending  the  clergy  as 
well  as  the  laity ;  and  in  recompense  for  it,  the  ben- 
eficed clergy  are  allowed  to  vote  for  knights  of  the 
shire,— Co%er's  Eccles.  Hist.,\o\.  ii.,  p.  795.  Black- 
stone's  Commentaries,  vol.  i.,  p.  311,  8vo,  1778;  and 
Lord  Clarendon's  Hist.,  vol.  i.,  p.  148.— Ed. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


353 


If  the  first  of  these  resolutions  be  agreeable 
to  law,  I  apprehend  there  were  then  no  canons 
subsisting,  for  those  of  1603  were  not  brought 
into  Parliament,  but,  being  made  in  a  parlia- 
mentary convocation,  were  ratified  by  the  king 
under  the  great  seal,  and  so  became  binding  on 
the  clergy,  according  to  the  statute  of  the  25th 
of  King  Henry  VIII.  In  the  Saxon  times,  all 
ecclesiastical  laws  and  constitutions  were  con- 
iirmed  by  the  peers,  and  by  the  representatives 
of  the  people  ;*  but  those  great  councils,  to 
which  our  Parliaments  succeed,  being  made  up 
of  laics  and  ecclesiastics,  were  afterward  separ- 
ated, and  then  the  clergy -did  their  business  by 
themselves,  and  enacted  laws  without  confirm- 
ation of  king  or  Parliament,  during  the  reign 
of  popery,  till  the  act  of  the  submission  of  the 
clergy  to  King  Henry  VIII.,  so  that  the  claim 
of  making  canons  without  the  sanction  of  Par- 
liament seemed  to  stand  upon  no  other  founda- 
tion than  the  usurped  power  of  the  pope  :  nor 
did  the  Parliaments  of  those  times  yield  up  their 
right ;  for  in  the  51st  of  Edward  III.  the  Com- 
mons passed  a  bill  that  no  act  or  ordinance 
should  be  made  for  the  future  upon  the  petition 
of  the  clergy,  without  the  consent  of  the  Com- 
mons ;  "  and  that  the  said  Commons  should 
not  be  bound  for  the  future  by  any  constitu- 
tions of  the  clergy  to  which  they  had  not  given 
their  consent  in  Parliament."  But  the  bill  be- 
ing dropped,  things  went  on  upon  the  former 
footing  till  the  reign  of  King  Henry  VIII., + 
when  the  pope's  usurped  power  being  abolish- 
ed, both  Parliament  and  clergy  agreed,  by  the 
Act  of  Submission,  that  no  canons  should  be 

*  Dr.  Grey  controverts,  and  says,  "  I  should  be 
glad  to  know  what  authority  he  has  for  this  asser- 
tion." It  is  not  for  the  editor  to  give  the  authority, 
■when  Mr.  Neal  has  not  himself  referred  to  it ;  but  he 
can  supply  the  want  of  it  by  an  authority  which,  if 
Dr.  Grey  were  living,  would  command  his  respect, 
•viz.,  that  oi  Dr.  Burn,  who  tells  us  that, "  even  in  the 
Saxon  times,  if  the  subject  of  any  laws  was  for  the 
outward  peace  and  temporal  government  of  the 
Church,  such  laws  were  properly  ordained  by  the 
king  and  his  great  council  of  clergy  and  laity  inter- 
mixed, as  our  acts  of  Parliament  are  still  made. 
But  if  there  was  any  doctrine  to  be  tried,  or  any  ex- 
ercise of  pure  discipline  to  be  reformed,  then  the 
clergy  of  the  great  council  departed  into  a  separate 
synod,  and  there  acted  as  the  proper  judges.  Only 
when  they  had  thus  provided  for  the  state  of  religion, 
they  brought  their  canons  from  the  synod  to  the 
great  council,  to  be  ratified  by  the  king,  with  the  ad- 
vice of  his  great  men,  and  so  made  the  constitutions 
of  the  Church  to  be  laws  of  the  realm.  And  the 
Norman  revolution  made  no  change  in  this  respect." 
This  author  farther  says,  "  that  the  convocation-tax 
did  always  pass  both  houses  of  Parhament,  since  it 
could  not  bind  as  a  law  till  it  had  the  consent  of  the 
Legislature."  Judge  Foster,  in  his  examination  of 
Bishop  Gibson's  Codex,  appeals  to  the  laws  of  Eth- 
elbert  and  Withred,  kings  of  Kent,  and  of  Ina  of 
Wessex ;  to  the  laws  of  Alfred,  Edward  the  Elder, 
Athelstan,  Edmund,  Edgar,  and  Canute,  as  proofs 
that  the  ecclesiastical  and  civil  concerns  of  the  king- 
dom were  not,  in  the  times  of  the  Saxons,  under  the 
care  of  two  separate  legislatures,  and  subject  to  dif- 
ferent administrations,  but  blended  together,  and 
directed  by  one  and  the  same  Legislature,  the  great 
councils,  or,  in  modern  style,  the  Parliaments,  of  the 
respective  kingdoms  during  the  heptarchy,  and  of  the 
United  Kingdom  afterward. — Bum's  Ecclesiastical 
Law,  vol.  ii.,  p.  22,  26,  8vo.  An  Examination  of  the 
{Scheme  of  Church  Power  laid  down  in  the  Codex,  p. 
120,  &c.— Ed.  t  Fuller's  Appeal,  p.  42. 

Vol.  I.— Y  y 


binding  without  the  royal  assent ;  and  that  the 
clergy  in  convocation  should  not  so  much  as 
consult  about  any  without  the  king's  special 
license.  But  Sergeant  Maynard  delivered  it  as 
his  opinion  in  the  House,  that  it  did  not  follow, 
that  because  the  clergy  might  not  make  canons 
without  the  king's  license,  that  therefore  they 
might  make  them  and  bind  them  on  the  clergy 
by  his  license  alone ;  for  this  were  to  take 
away  the  ancient  rights  of  Parliament  before 
the  pope's  usurpation,  which  they  never  yielded 
up,  nor  does  the  act  of  submission  of  the  clergy 
take  away.  Upon  this  reasoning  the  Commons 
voted  their  first  resolution,  the  strength  of 
which  I  leave  to  the  reader's  consideration. 

The  arguments  upon  which  the  other  resolu- 
tions are  founded  will  be  laid  together,  after  we 
have  related  the  proceedings  of  the  convoca- 
tion. 

.The  convocation  was  opened  November  4, 
1640.      Dr.    Bargrave,    dean    of   Canterbury, 
preached  the  sermon,  and  Dr.  Steward,  dean 
of  Chichester,  was  chosen  prolocutor,  and  pre- 
sented to  the  archbishop's  acceptance  in  King 
Henry  VII. 's  chapel,  when  his  grace  made  a 
pathetic  speech,  lamenting  the  danger  of  the 
Church,  and  exhorting  every  one  present  to 
perform  the  duty  of  their  places  with  resolu- 
tion, and  not  to  be  wanting  to  themselves  or 
the  cause  of  religion  ;  but  nothing  of  moment 
was  transacted,  there   being   no  commission 
from  the  king  ;  only  Mr.  Warmistre,  one  of  the 
clerks  for  the  diocess  of  Worcester,  being  con- 
vinced of  the  invalidity  of  the  late   canons, 
moved  the  House  that  they  might  cover  the  pit 
which  they  had  opened,  and  prevent  a  parlia- 
mentary inquisition,  by  petitioning  the  king  for 
leave  to  review  them  ;  but  his  motion  was  re- 
jected, the  House  being  of  opinion  that  the  can- 
ons were  justifiable  ;  nor  would  they  appear  so 
mean  as  to  condemn  themselves  before  they 
were  accused.     Mr.  Warmistre  suffered  in  the 
opinion  of  his  brethren  within  doors  for  his 
cowardly   speech,  and   was   reproached    from 
without  as  an  enemy  to  the  Church  and  a  turn- 
coat, because  he  had  subscribed  those  articles 
which  now  he  condemned.     This  obliged  him 
to  publish  his  speech  to  the  world,  wherein, 
after  having  declared  his    satisfaction  in  the 
doctrine,   discipline,  and   government   of  the 
Church  of  England,  as  far  as  it  is  established 
by  law,  he  goes  on  to  wish  there  had  been  no 
private  innovations  introduced ;  for  though  he 
approves  of  an  outward  reverence  in  the  wor- 
ship of  God,  he  is  against  directing  it  to  altars 
and  images.     He  apprehends  it  reasonable  that 
such  innocent  ceremonies  as  have  a  proper  ten- 
dency to  decency  and  order  should  be  retained, 
but  wishes  the  removal  of  crosses  and  images 
out  of  churches,  as  scandalous  and  supersti- 
tious, having  an   apparent  tendency  towards 
idolatry ;  and  that  there  might  be  no  lighted 
candles  in  the  daytime  ;  he  then  gives  his  rea- 
sons against  the  oath  in  the  sixth  canon,  and 
concludes  with  these  words  :  "  If  my  subscrip- 
tion be  urged  against  what  I  have  said,  I  was 
persuaded  it  was  the  practice  of  synods  and 
councils  that  the  whole  body  should  subscribe 
to  those  acts  which  are  passed  by  the  major 
part  as  synodical  acts,  notwithstanding  their 
private  dissent ;  if  my  subscription  implied  any 
more,  I  do  so  far  recant  and  condemn  it  in  my- 


354 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


self,  and  desire  pardon  both  of  God  and  the 
Church,  resolving,  by  God's  grace,  to  be  more 
cautious  hereafter."  Mr.  Warmistre's  behav- 
iour showed  him  to  be  a  wise  and  discreet  cler- 
gyman ;  and  his  being  sequestered  from  his  liv- 
ings some  time  after,  for  not  submitting  to  the 
Parliament,  shows  him  to  have  been  a  man  of 
principle,  not  to  be  moved  from  his  integrity  by 
the  resentments  of  his  friends  or  the  flatteries 
of  his  enemies.  And  though  the  convocation 
■was  so  sanguine  at  their  first  coming  togeth- 
er as  to  despise  Mr.  Warmistre's  motion,  yet 
when  they  saw  the  vigorous  resolutions  of  the 
House  of  Commons  against  the  canons,  and  the 
articles  of  impeachment  against  the  metropoli- 
tan for  high  treason,  one  of  which  was  for 
compiling  the  late  canons,  they  were  dispirited, 
and  in  a  few  weeks  deserted  their  stations  in 
the  Convocation-house ;  the  bishops  also  dis- 
continued their  meetmgs,  and  in  a  few  weeks 
both  houses  dwindled  to  nothing,  and  broke  up 
without  either  adjournment  or  prorogation. 

To  return  to  the  Parliament.  It  was  argued 
against  the  late  convocation,  that  they  were  no 
legal  assembly  after  the  dissolution  of  the  Par- 
liament ;  that  his  majesty  had  no  more  power 
to  continue  them  than  to  recall  his  Parliament  ;* 
nor  could  he,  by  his  letters  patent,  convert  them 
into  a  national  or  provincial  synod,  because  the 
right  of  their  election  ceasing  at  the  expiration 
of  the  convocation,  they  ought  to  have  been  re- 
chosen  before  they  could  act  in  the  name  of  the 
clergy  whom  they  represented,  or  bind  them  by 
their  decrees.  It  is  contrary  to  all  law  and 
reason  in  the  world,  that  a  number  of  men,  met 
together  in  a  convocation,  upon  a  summons  lim- 
ited to  a  certain  time,  should,  after  the  expira- 
tion of  that  time,  by  a  new  commission,  be 
changed  into  a  national  or  provincial  synod, 
without  the  voice  or  election  of  any  one  person 
concerned.  The  Commons  were  therefore  at  a 
loss  by  what  name  to  call  this  extraordinary 
assembly,  being  in  their  opinion  neither  convo- 
cation nor  synod,  because  no  representative 
body  of  the  clergy.     The  words  convocation 


*  Archbishop   Laud,  to  exculpate  himself  from 
blame  in  this  matter,  declared  that  "  this  sitting  of 
the  convocation  was  not  by  his  advice  or  desire,  but 
that  he  humbly  desired  a  writ  to  dissolve  it."    It  was 
set  up  in  defence  of  this  measure  (and  the  argument 
has  since  been  adopted  by  Dr.  Warner),  that  the  Par- 
liament and  convocation,  being  separate  bodies,  and 
convened  by  different  writs,  the  dissolution  of  the 
former  does  not  necessarily  infer  the  dissolution  of 
the  latter,  which  could  not  rise  till  discharged  by 
another  writ.     Dr.  Burn  has  advanced  this  reason 
into  a  general  principle,  but  on  no  other  authority 
than  that  of  Dr.  Warner  in  this  case.    The  lord- 
keeper,  the  judges,  and  king's  council  assured  the 
■king  that  the  clergy  might  legally  continue  their  sit- 
ting.    But  much  allowance  is  to  be  made  for  the  in- 
fluence under  which  the  opinion  of  court-lawyers  is 
given ;  as  in  the  case  of  ship-money.     Mr.  Neal's 
reasoning  on  this  point  carries  great  weight  with  it. 
Lord  Clarendon  speaks  of  the  continued  sitting  of  the 
convocation  as  rather  unprecedented  ;  for  he  says  that 
this  assembling  of  the  clergy  customarily  began  and 
ended  with  Parliaments.     It  was  evidently  impolitic, 
in  such  a  conjuncture  of  time,  to  deviate  from  the 
custom,  and  to  stretch  the  prerogative.    Dr.  Grey's 
Examination  in  he.      Nahon's    Collection,  vol.  i  ,   p. 
365.      Warntr's  Eccles.  Hist.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  535.     Bunis 
Eccles.  Law,  vol.  ii.,  p.  27  ;  and  Lord  Clarendon's  Hist., 
vol.  i.,  p.  118.— Ed. 


and  synod  are  convertible  terms,  signifying  the 
same  thing,  and  it  is  essential  to  both  that  they 
be  chosen  by  (M"  they  are  to  make  constitutions 
and  canons  to  bind)  the  clergy.  Some,  indeed, 
have  thought  of  a  small  distinction,  as  that  a 
convocation  must  l)egin  and  end  with  the  Par- 
liament, whereas  a  synod  may  be  called  by 
the  king  out  of  Parliament ;  but  then  such 
an  assembly  cannot  give  subsidies  for  their 
brethren,  nor  make  laws  by  which  they  will  be 
bound. 

The  objections  to  the  particular  canons  were 
these : 

1.  Against  the  first  canon  it  was  argued,  that 
the  compilers  of  it  had  invaded  the  rights  and 
prerogatives  of  Parliament,  by  pretending  to 
settle  and  declare  the  extent  of  the  king's  pow- 
er, and  the  subjects'  obedience. 

By  declaring  the  sacred  order  of  kings  to  be 
of  Divine  right,  founded  in  the  prime  laws  of 
nature  and  revelation,  by  which  they  condemn- 
ed all  other  governments. 

By  affirming  that  the  king  had  an  absolute 
power  over  all  his  subjects,  and  a  right  to  the 
subsidies  and  aids  of  his  people  without  consent 
of  Parliament. 

By  affirming  that  subjects  may  not  bear  arms 
against  their  king,  either  offensive  or  defensive, 
upon  any  pretence  whatsoever,  upon  pain  of 
receiving  to  themselves  damnation. 

By  taking  upon  themselves  to  define  some 
things  to  be  treason  not  included  in  the  statute 
of  treasons. 

And,  lastly,  by  inflicting  a  penalty  on  such 
of  the  king's  subjects  as  shall  dare  to  disobey 
them,  in  not  reading  and  publishing  the  above- 
mentioned  particulars ;  in  all  which  cases  it 
was  averred  that  they  had  "  invaded  the  rights 
of  Parliament,  destroyed  the  liberty  of  the  sub- 
ject, and  subverted  the  very  fundamental  laws 
and  constitutions  of  England." 

2.  It  was  objected  against  the  second  canon, 
that  they  had  assumed  the  legislative  power,  in 
appointing  a  new  holyday  contrary  to  the  stat- 
ute, which  says  that  there  shall  be  such  and 
such  holydays,  and  no  more. 

4.  It  was  objected  against  the  fourth  canon, 
that  whereas  the  determination  of  heresy  is  ex- 
pressly reserved  to  Parliament,  the  convoca- 
tion had  declared  that  to  be  heresy  which  the  law 
takes  no  notice  of,  and  had  condemned  Socin- 
ianism  in  general,  without  declaring  what  was 
included  under  that  denomination,  so  that  after 
all  it  was  left  in  their  own  breasts  whom  they 
would  condemn  and  censure  under  that  char- 
acter. 

6.  It  was  objected  against  the  sixth  canon, 
that  it  imposed  a  new  oath  upon  the  subject, 
which  is  a  power  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  the 
making  a  new  law.*  It  was  argued  likewise 
against  the  oath  itself,  that  in  some  parts  it  was 


*  The  archbishop,  in  reply  to  this  objection,  refer- 
red to  various  canons  made  in  King  James's  time,  and 
appointing  different  oaths,  merely  by  the  authority 
of  convocation,  viz.,  canons  40,  118,  103,  and  127,  as 
precedents,  which  had  never  been  declared  illegal, 
nor  the  makers  of  them  censured  by  Parliaments  ; 
and  which  justified,  therefore,  the  powor  assumed 
by  this  convocation.  His  lordship  in  urging,  and  Dr. 
Grey  in  repeating,  this  defence,  did  not  perceive  that 
it  is  a  bad  and  insufficient  plea  for  doing  wrong,  that 
others  had  escaped  the  censure  and  punishment  due 
to  illegal  conduct. — Grey's  Examination  in  he. — Ed. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


355 


very  ambiguous  and  doubtful,  and  in  others  di- 
rectly false  and  illegal. 

We  are  to  swear  in  the  oath  that  "  we  ap- 
prove the  doctrine,  discipline,  or  government 
established  in  the  Church  of  England,"  and  yet 
we  are  not  told  wherein  that  doctrine  and  dis- 
cipline are  contained  ;  whether  by  the  doctrine 
of  the  Church  we  are  to  understand  only  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles,  or  likewise  the  Homilies 
and  Church  catechism  ;  and  by  the  discipline, 
only  the  Book  of  Canons,  or  likewise  all  other 
ecclesiastical  orders  not  repealed  by  statute  ; 
for  it  is  observable  that  the  words  of  the  oath 
are,  "  as  it  is  established,"  and  not  as  it  is  es- 
tablished by  law.  And  the  ambiguity  is  farther 
increased  by  that  remarkable  et  ccetera,  inserted 
in  the  body  of  the  oath  ;  for  whereas  oaths 
ought  to  be  explicit,  and  the  sense  of  the  words 
as  clear  and  determined  as  possible,  we  are 
here  to  swear  to  we  know  not  what,  to  some- 
thing that  is  not  expressed ;  by  which  means 
we  are  left  to  the  arbitrary  interpretation  of  the 
judge,  and  may  be  involved  in  the  guilt  of  per- 
jury before  we  are  aware. 

But,  besides  the  ambiguity  of  the  oath,  it  con- 
tains some  things  false  and  illegal ;  for  it  af- 
firms the  government  of  the  Church  by  arch- 
bishops, bishops,  deans,  and  archdeacons,  to  be 
of  Divine  right ;  for  after  w-e  have  sworn  to  the 
hierarchy  as  established  by  the  law  of  the  land, 
we  are  to  swear  farther,  that  "  by  right  it  ought 
so  to  stand  :"  which  words  are  a  mere  tautolo- 
gy, or  else  must  infer  some  farther  right  than 
that  which  is  included  in  the  legal  establishment, 
which  can  be  no  other  than  a  Divine  right. 
Now,  though  it  should  be  allowed  that  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Church  by  bishops  is  of  Divine 
right,  yet  certainly  archbishops,  deans,  and  arch- 
deacons can  have  no  pretence  to  that  claim. 

Besides,  to  swear  "  never  tagive  our  consent 
to  alter  the  government  of  this  Church  by  arch- 
bishops, bishops,  &c.,  as  it  stands  now  estab- 
lished," is  directly  contrary  to  the  oath  of  su- 
premacy, for  in  that  oath  we  are  sworn  to  as- 
sist his  majesty  in  the  exercise  of  his  ecclesias- 
tical jurisdiction  or  government,  by  his  com- 
mission under  the  great  seal,  directed  to  such 
persons  as  he  shall  think  meet ;  so  that  if  his 
majesty  should  think  fit  at  any  time  to  commis- 
sion other  persons  to  exercise  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction  than  at  present,  we  are  sworn  by 
the  oath  of  supremacy  not  only  to  consent,  but 
to  aid  and  assist  him  in  it,  whereas  in  this 
new  oath  we  swear. never  to  consent  to  any 
such  alteration. 

Nothing  is  more  evident  than  that  the  disci- 
pline of  the  Church  is  alterable ;  the  Church 
itself  laments  the  want  of  godly  discipline,  and 
many  of  the  clergy  and  laity  wish  and  desire  an 
amendment ;  it  is  therefore  very  unreasonable 
that  all  who  take  degrees  in  the  universities, 
many  of  whom  may  be  members  of  Parliament, 
shall  be  sworn  beforehand  "never  to  consent 
to  any  alteration."  And  though  it  is  known  to 
all  the  world  that  many  of  the  conforming  cler- 
gy are  dissatisfied  with  some  branches  of  the 
present  establishment,  yet  they  are  to  swear 
that  they  take  this  oath  "  heartily  and  willing- 
ly," though  they  are  compelled  to  it  under  the 
penalties  of  suspension  and  deprivation.  Some 
objections  were  made  to  the  seventh  and  other 
canons,  but  these  were  the  chief. 


Archbishop  Laud,  in  his  answer  to  the  im- 
peachment of  the  House  of  Commons  against 
himself,  boldly  undertakes  to  refute  all  these 
objections,  and  to  justify  the  whole,  and  every 
branch  of  the  canons  ;  his  words  are  these  :  "  I 
hope  I  am  able  to  make  it  good  in  any  learned 
assembly  in  Christendom,  that  this  oath,  and 
all  those  canons  (then  made,  and  here  before 
recited),  and  every  branch  in  them,  are  just  and 
orthodox,  and  moderate,  and  most  necessary 
for  the  present  condition  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, how  unwelcome  soever  to  the  present  dis- 
tempers."* Lord  Clarendon  expresses  himself 
modestly  on  the  other  side;  he  doubts  whether 
the  convocation  was  a  legal  assembly  after  the 
dissolution  of  the  Parliament,  and  is  very  sure 
that  their  proceedings  are  not  to  be  justified. 
"The  Convocation  house,"  says  he,  "which  is 
the  regular  and  legal  assembling  of  the  clergy, 
was,  after  the  determination  of  the  Parliament, 
continued  by  a  new  writ  under  the  proper  title  of 
a  synod;  made  canons,  which  it  was  thought 
it  might  do  ;  and  gave  subsidies  out  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  enjoined  oaths,  which  certainly  it 
might  not  do  ;  in  a  word,  did  many  things 
which  in  the  best  of  times  might  have  beea 
questioned,  and,  therefore,  were  sure  to  be  con- 
demned in  the  worst."  The  Parliament  that 
sat  after  the  Restoration  was  of  the  same  mind 
with  his  lordship,  forasmuch  as  these  canons 
were  excepted  out  of  the  act  of  13  Car.  II,,  cap. 
xii,,  and  declared  of  no  validity.  Mr.  Echard  is 
of  opinion  that  the  synod  that  framed  these 
canons  was  not  a  legal  representative  of  the 
clergy  after  the  dissolution  of  the  two  houses. 
But  Bishop  Kennet,  in  his  complete  history, 
says  that  these  public  censures  of  the  canons 
were  grounded  upon  prejudice  and  faction  ;  that 
it  is  hard  to  find  any  defect  of  legality  in  the 
making  of  them  ;  and  that,  if  these  canons  were 
not  binding,  we  have  no  proper  canons  since 
the  Reformation  ;  he  therefore  wishes  them,  or 
some  others  like  them,  revived,  because  "  ia 
very  much  of  doctrine  and  discipline  they  are  a 
good  example  to  any  future  convocation ;  and 
that  we  can  hardly  hope  for  unity,  or  any 
tolerable  regularity,  without  some  constitutions 
of  the  like  nature."  Strange  !  that  a  dignified 
clergyman,  who  held  his  bishopric  upon  revo- 
lution principles,  should  wish  the  subversion  of 
the  Constitution  of  his  country,  and  declare  for 
principles  of  persecution.  If  I  might  have  hb- 
erty  to  wish,  it  should  be  that  neither  we  nor 
our  posterity  may  ever  enjoy  the  blessings  of 
unity  and  regularity  upon  the  footing  of  such 
canons. 

Upon  the  same  day  that  the  House  passed  the 
above-mentioned  resolutions  against  the  can- 
ons, several  warm  speeches  were  made  against 

*  Dr.  Grey  asks  here,  "  Where  does  the  archbish-  . 
op  say  this  ?  Our  historian  quotes  no  authority  ;  and 
as  he  is  often  faulty  when  he  quotes  chapter  and 
verse,  so  without  it  I  am  unwilling  wholly  to  depend 
upon  his  bare  ipse  dixit."  The  editor  is  not  able,  at 
present,  to  supply  here  Mr.  Neal's  omission ;  but  he 
finds  the  same  words  of  Archbishop  Laud  quoted  by 
Dr.  Warner  (who  never  refers  to  his  authorities),  as 
spoken  in  the  House  of  Lords.  And  the  doctor  ex- 
presses on  them  his  belief  that,  as  to  many  of  the 
articles  contained  in  the  canons,  the  archbishop  here 
undertook  to  do  what  he  would  have  found  it  diffi- 
cult to  make  good. — Ecclesiastical  History,  vol.  ii.,  p. 
535.— Ed. 


35C 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  as  the  chief  au- 
thor of  them ;  and  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  inquire  more  particularly  how  far  his  grace 
had  been  concerned  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
convocation,  and  in  the  treasonable  design  of 
subverting  the  religion  and  laws  of  his  country, 
in  order  to  draw  up  articles  against  him.  Next 
day  the  Earl  of  Bristol  acquainted  the  House 
of  Lords  that  the  Scots  commissioners  had 
presented  some  papers  against  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbiiry,*  which  were  read  by  the  Lord 
Paget,  and  then  reported  to  the  House  of  Coni- 

'  mons,  at  a  conference  between  the  two  houses. 
Their  charge  consisted  of  divers  grievances 
(which  had  occasioned  great  disturbances  in 
the  kingdom  of  Scotland),  ranged  under  three 
heads,  of  all  which  they  challenged  the  arch- 
bishop to  be  the  chief  author  upon  earth. 

The  first  branch  ot  the  charge  consisted  of 
"  divers  alterations  in  religion,  imposed  upon 
them  without  order  and  against  law,  contrary 
to  the  form  established  in  their  Kirk;"  as,  his 
enjoining  the  bishops  to  appear  in  the  chapel  in 
their  whites  (1),  contrary  to  the  custom  of  their 
Kirk  and  the  archbishop's  own  promise ;  his  di- 
recting the  English  service  to  be  read  in  the 
chapel  twice  a  day  (2) ;  his  ordering  a  list  of 
those  counsellors  and  senators  of  the  College  of 
Justice  who  did  not  communicate  in  the  chapel, 

■  according  to  a  form  received  in  their  Kirk,  to  be 
sent  up  to  him,  in  order  to  their  being  punish- 
ed (3) ;  his  presumptuous  censuring  the  practice 
of  the  Kirk  in  fasting  sometimes  on  the  Lord's 
Day,  as  opposite  to  Christianity  itself  (4) ;  his  ob- 

*  "  Mr.  Neal,"  says  Dr.  Grey,  "  has  given  us  all 
the  objections  of  the  Scots  against  the  archbishop ; 
and  I  am  so  oldfashioned  a  person  as  to  think  that 
the  archbishop's  answers  to  their  objections  should 
likewise  have  been  produced  by  an  nnpartial  histo- 
rian." He  renews  the  same  complaint  against  our 
author  in  his  second  volume,  p.  173.  Mr.  Neal's  rea- 
son for  passing  over  the  archbishop's  answer  appears 
to  have  been,  that  his  grace  evaded  the  whole  charge 
at  his  trial  by  pleading  the  Act  of  Oblivion  at  the  pa- 
cification of  the  Scots  troubles.  But,  as  Dr.  Grey 
has  endeavoured  to  supply  Mr.  Neal's  deficiency,  the 
substance  of  the  archbishop's  defences  shall  be  given 
in  the  following  notes  ;  and  the  reader  will  judge  of 
their  importance,  and  of  Nr.  Neal's  conduct  in  omit- 
ting them. — En. 

(1.)  His  grace  replies  to  this  charge,  "  that  he  un- 
derstood himself  a  great  deal  better  than  to  enjoin 
where  he  had  no  power;  and  perhaps  he  might  e.\- 
press  his  majesty's  command,  as  dean  of  his  chapel 
in  England,  that  the  service  in  Scotland  should  be 
kept  answerable  to  it  here  as  much  as  might  be."— 
Ed. 

(2.)  Here  his  grace  pleads  his  majesty's  command, 
and  his  hope  that  it  was  no  crime  for  a  bishop  m 
England  to  signify  to  one  in  Scotland  the  king's 
pleasure  concerning  the  service  of  his  own  chapel. — 
Ed. 

(3.)  The  defence  set  up  on  this  head  by  the  arch- 
bishop was,  the  king's  command ;  and  that  the  form 
prescribed,  which  was  kneeling,  was  an  article  of  the 
Synod  of  Perth,  made  in  a  General  Assembly,  and 
confirmed  by  act  of  Parhament.  As  to  the  requisition 
itself,  he  pleaded  that  it  amounted  to  no  more  than 
if  his  majesty  should  command  all  his  judges  and 
counsellors  in  England,  once  in  the  year,  to  receive 
the  communion  in  his  chapel  at  Whitehall.— Ed. 

(4.)  The  archbishop  vindicates  himself,  in  this  in- 
stance, by  ample  testunonies  from  the  fathers,  and 
by  decrees  of  ancient  councils,  to  prove -that,  in  the 
ancient  Church,  it  was  held  unlawful  to  fast  on  the 
liord's  Day.    The  fact,  there  is  no  doubt,  was  so, 


taining  warrants  for  the  sitting  of  a  High  Com- 
mission Court  once  a  week,  at  Edinburgh  (5) ; 
and  his  directing  the  taking  down  of  galleries 
and  stone  walls  in  the  kirks  of  Edinburgh  and  St. 
Andrew's,  to  make  way  for  altars  and  adoration 
towards  the  east  (6). 

The  second  branch  of  their  charge  was,  "his 
obtruding  upon  them  a  book  of  canons  and  con- 
stitutions ecclesiastical,  devised  for  the  estab- 
lishing a  tyrannical  power  in  .ne  persons  of 
their  prelates,  over  the  consr.ences,  liberties, 
and  goods  of  the  people  (7) ;  jnd  for  abolishing 
that  discipline  and  government  of  their  Kirk, 
which  was  settled  by  law,  and  had  obtained 
among  them  ever  since  the  Reformation."  For 
proof  of  this,  they  alleged  that  the  Book  of  Can- 
ons was  corrected,  altered,  and  enlarged  by 
him  at  his  pleasure,  as  appears  by  the  interline- 
ations and  marginal  notes  in  the  book,  written 
with  the  archbishop's  own  hand  ;  that  he  had 
added  some  entire  new  canons,  and  altered  oth- 
ers in  favour  of  superstition  and  popery ;  and, 
in  several  instances  relating  to  the  censures  of 
the  Church,  had  lodged  an  unbounded  power  in 
the  prelates  over  the  consciences  of  men. 

The  third  and  great  innovation  with  which 
they  charged  the  archbishop  was,  "  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer,  administration  of  the  sac- 
raments, and  other  parts  of  Divine  worship, 
brought  in  without  warrant  from  their  Kirk,  to 
be  universally  received  as  the  only  form  of  Di- 
vine service,  under  the  highest  pains,  both  civil 
and  ecclesiastical  (1) ;   which  book  contained 

and  it  gave  the  archbishop  a  ground  of  arguing  with 
the  Church  of  Scotland  on  their  practice  :  but  would 
it  justify  the  asperity  of  censure  towards  weaker 
Christians,  or  the  e.xercise  of  authority  where  every 
one  ought  to  be  persuaded  in  his  own  mind  .' — Ed. 

(5.)  His  grace  answers  to  this  charge,  that  the 
warrants  were  not  procured  by  him,  but  by  a  Scotch 
man  of  good  place,  employed  about  it  by  the  bish 
ops ;  and  that  the  High  Commission  Court  was  set- 
tled, and  in  full  execution  in  the  Church  of  Scotland, 
in  1610,  before  ever  he  appeared  in  public  life.— Ed. 

(6.)  The  archbishop  absolutely  denies,  to  the  best 
of  his  memory,  giving  command  or  direction  for  ta- 
king down  the  galleries  of  St.  Andrew's ;  and  urges, 
that  it  was  very  improbable  that  he  should  issue  such 
commands  where  he  had  nothing,  who  in  London, 
and  other  parts  of  his  province,  permitted  the  galler- 
ies of  the  churches  to  stand.  As  to  the  galleries  and 
stone  walls  in  the  kirks  of  Edinburgh,  they  were  re- 
moved by  the  king's  command ;  not  to  malie  way  for 
altars  and  adoration  towards  the  east,  but  to  convert 
the  two  churches  into  a  cathedral. — P]d. 

(7.)  The  term  "  obtruding"  the  archbishop  thinks 
bold,  especially  as  pointing  at  the  king's  authority, 
whose  command  enjoined  the  Book  of  Canons  on  the 
Church  of  Scotland,  and  who,  in  this,  exercised  no 
other  power  than  that  which  King  James  challenged 
as  belonging  to  him  in  right  of  his  crown.  His  grace 
does  not  allow  the  imputations  cast  on  the  Book  of 
Canons ;  and  if  they  did  not  belong  to  them,  he  pleads 
that  it  was  owing  to  invincible  ignorance  and  the 
Scotch  bishops,  who  would  not  tell  wherein  the  can- 
ons went  against  their  laws,  if  they  did.  As  to  him- 
self, it  was  his  constant  advice,  in  the  whole  busi- 
ness, that  nothing  against  law  should  be  attempted. 
—Ed. 

(1.)  "That  the  liturgy  was  brought  in  without 
warrant  of  the  Kirk,"  if  it  were  true,  the  archbishop 
pleads  was  the  fault  of  the  Scotch  prelates,  whom 
he  had,  on  all  oscasions,  urged  to  do  nothing,  in  this 
particular,  without  warrant  of  law ;  and  to  whom, 
though  he  approved  the  liturgy  and  obeyed  his  maj- 
esty's command  in  helping  to  orf'er  that  book,  he 


HISTOEY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


357 


many  popish  errors  and  ceremonies  repugnant 
to  their  confession  of  faith,  constitutions  of 
their  General  Assemblies,  and  to  acts  of  Parlia- 
ment." Several  of  these  errors  are  mentioned 
in  the  article,  and  they  declare  themselves 
ready,  when  desired,  to  discover  a  great  many 
more  of  the  same  kind  ;  all  which  were  im- 
posed upon  the  kingdom,  contrary  to  their  ear- 
nest supplications  ;  and,  upon  their  refusal  to 
receive  the  service-book,-  they  were,  by  his 
grace's  instigation,  declared  rebels  and  trai- 
tors (2) ;  an  army  was  raised  to  subdue  them, 
and  a  prayer,  composed  and  printed  by  his  di- 
rection, to  be  read  in  all  the  parish  churches  in 
England,  in  time  of  Divine  service,  wherein 
they  are  called  "  traitorous  subjects,  having  cast 
off  aU  obedience  to  their  sovereign  ;"  and  sup- 
plication is  made  to  the  Almighty  to  cover  their 
faces  with  shame,  as  enemies  to  God  and  the 
king.  They  therefore  pray  that  the  archbish- 
op* may  be  immediately  removed  from  his  maj- 
esty's presence,  and  that  he  may  be  brought  to 
a  trial,  and  receive  such  censure  as  he  has  de- 
served, according  to  the  laws  of  the  kingdom. 

The  archbishop  has  left  behind  him  a  partic- 
ular answer  to  these  articles  in  his  diary,t  which 
is  written  with  peculiar  sharpness  of  style,  and 
discovers  a  great  opinion  of  his  own  abilities, 
and  a  contempt  of  his  adversaries ;  but,  either 
from  a  distrust  of  the  strength  of  his  reply  or 
for  some  other  reasons,  his  grace  was  pleased 
wisely  to  evade  the  whole  charge  at  his  trial, 
by  pleading  the  Act  of  Oblivion  (3)  at  the  pacifi- 
cation of  the  Scots  troubles. t 

When  the  report  of  these  articles  was  made 
to  the  Commons,  the  resentments  of  the  House 
against  the  archbishop  immediately  broke  out 
into  a  flame  ;  many  severe  speeches  were  made 
against  his  late  conduct ;  and,  among  others, 
one  was  by  Sir  Harbottle  Grimstone,  speaker 
of  that  Parliament  which  restored  King  Charles 
tl.,  who  stood  up  and  said,  "  that  this  great  man, 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  was  the  very  sty 
of  all  that  pestilential  filth  that  had  infested  the 
government ;  that  he  was  the  only  man  that 
had  advanced  those  who,  together  with  him- 
self, had  been  the  authors  of  all  the  miseries 
the  nation  now  groaned  under ;  that  he  had 
managed  all  the  projects  that  had  been  set  on 
foot  for  these  ten  years  past,  and  had  conde- 


whoUy  left  the  manner  of  introducing  it,  because  he 
was  ignorant  of  the  laws  of  Scotland. — Ed. 

(2.)  His  grace  contends  that  they  deserved  these 
titles,  but  he  did  not  procure  that  they  should  be  de- 
clared such ;  but  the  proclamation  fixing  these  names 
on  them  went  out  by  the  common  advice  of  the  lords 
of  the  council. — Ed. 

*  In  the  original, "  this  great  firebrand." — Dr.  Grey. 

+  In  the  History  of  his  Troubles  and  Trial. — Dr. 
Grey. 

(3.)  This  Dr.  Grey  denies,  and  adds,  "  that  he 
pleaded  the  king's  special  pardon."  The  doctor  con- 
founds here  two  different  matters.  The  Act  of  Obliv- 
ion was  pleaded  by  his  grace  before  the  trial  came 
on,  to  cover  himself  from  the  charge  of  the  Scots 
commissioners  ;  the  king's  pardon  was  produced 
when  the  trial  was  over,  in  bar  of  the  ordinance 
passed  for  his  execution,  Mr.  Neal,  in  which  he  is 
supported  by  the  authority  of  CoUyer,  speaks  of  the 
former.  Lord  Clarendon,  whom  Dr.  Grey  quotes, 
expressly  speaks  of  the  latter.  The  reader  wiU  not 
deem  it  generous  in  the  doctor  to  impeach  Mr.  Neal's 
veracity  on  the  ground  of  his  own  mistake. — Ed. 

X  Collyer's  Eccles.  Hist.,  vol.  i.,  p.  380. 


scended  so  low  as  to  deal  in  tobacco,  by  which 
thousands  of  poor  people  had  been  turned  out 
of  their  trades,  for  which  they  served  an  ap- 
prenticeship ;  that  he  had  been  charged  in  this 
house,  upon  very  strong  proof,  with  designs  to 
subvert  the  government,  and  alter  the  Protest- 
ant religion  in  this  kingdom  as  well  as  in  Scot- 
land ;  and  there  is  scarce  any  grievance  or 
complaint  comes  before  the  House  wherein  he 
is  not  mentioned,  like  an  angry  wasp,  leaving 
his  sting  in  the  bottom  of  everything."  He 
therefore  moved  that  the  charge  of  the  Scots 
commissioners  might  be  supported  by  an  im- 
peachment of  their  own,  and  that  the  ques- 
tion might  now  be  put,  whether  the  archbishop 
had  been  guilty  of  high  treason  1  which  being 
voted,  Mr.  Hollis*  was  immediately  sent  up  to 
the  bar  of  the  House  of  Lords  to  impeach  him 
in  the  name  of  all  the  commons  of  England, 
and  to  desire  that  his  person  might  be  seques- 
tered, and  that,  in  convenient  time,  they  would 
bring  up  the  particulars  of  their  charge  ;  upoa 
which,  his  grace,  being  commanded  to  with- 
draw, stood  up  in  his  place  and  said,  "that  he 
was  heartily  sorry  for  the  offence  taken  against 
him,  but  humbly  desired  their  lordships  to  look 
upon  the  whole  course  of  his  life,  which  was 
such  as  that,  he  was  persuaded,  not  one  maa 
in  the  House  of  Commons  did  believe  in  his 
heart  that  he  was  a  traitor."  To  which  the 
Earl  of  Essex  replied,  "  that  it  was  a  high  re- 
flection upon  the  whole  House  of  Commons  to 
suppose  that  they  would  charge  him  with  a 
crime  which  themselves  did  not  believe."  Af- 
ter this  his  grace  withdrew,  and  being  called  ia 
again,  was  delivered  to  the  usher  of  the  black 
rod,  to  be  kept  in  safe  custody  till  the  House  of 
Commons  should  deliver  in  their  articles  of  im- 
peachment. 

Upon  the  26th  of  February,  Mr.  Pym,  Mr. 
Hampden,  and  Mr.  Maynard,  by  order  of  the 
Commons,  went  up  to  the  Lords,  and  at  the 
bar  of  that  house  presented  their  lordships  with 
fourteen  articles,  in  maintenance  of  their  for- 
mer charge  of  high  treason  against  the  archbish- 
op, which  were  read,  his  grace  being  present. 

In  the  first,  he  is  charged  with  endeavouring 
to  subvert  the  Constitution,  by  introducing  aa 
arbitrary  power  of  government,  without  any 
limitation  or  rule  of  law.  In  the  second,  he  is 
charged  with  procuring  sermons  to  be  preached, 
and  other  pamphlets  to  be  printed,  in  which  the 
authority  of  Parliaments  is  denied,  and  the  ab- 
solute power  of  the  king  asserted  to  be  agreea- 
ble to  the  law  of  God.  The  third  article  char- 
ges him  with  interrupting  the  course  of  justice, 
by  messages,  threatenings,  and  promises  to  the 
judges.  The  fourth,  with  selling  justice  in  his 
own  person,  under  colour  of  his  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction,  and  with  advising  his  majesty  to 
sell  places  of  judicature,  contrary  to  law.  In 
the  fifth,  he  is  charged  with  the  canons  and  oath 
imposed  on  the  subject  by  the  late  convocation. 
In  the  sixth,  with  robbing  the  king  of  suprema- 
cy, by  denying  the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  to 
be  derived  from  the  crown.  In  the  seventh, 
with  bringing  in  popish  doctrines,  opinions,  and 
ceremonies,  contrary  to  the  Articles  of  the 
Church,  and  cruelly  persecuting  those  who  op- 
pose them.     In  the  eighth,  he  is  charged  with 

*  Denzil  Hollis  was  brother-in-law  to  the  Earl  of 
Strafford— C. 


358 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


promoting  persons  to  the  highest  and  best  pre- 
ferments in  the  Church  who  are  corrupt  in  doc- 
trine and  manners.  In  the  ninth,  with  employ- 
ing such  for  his  domestic  chaplains  as  he  knew 
to  be  popishly  affocted,  and  committed  to  them 
the  licensing  of  books,  whereby  such  writings 
have  been  published  as  have  been  scandalous 
to  the  Protestant  religion.  The  tenth  article 
charges  him  with  sundry  attempts  to  reconcile 
the  Church  of  England  with  the  Church  of 
Rome.  The  eleventh,  with  discountenancing 
of  preaching,  and  with  silencing,  depriving,  im- 
prisoning, and  banishing  sundry  godly  and  or- 
thodox ministers.  The  twelfth,  with  dividing 
the  Church  of  England  from  the  foreign  Prot- 
estant churches.  The  thirteenth,  with  being 
the  author  of  all  the  late  disturbances  between 
England  and  Scotland.  And  the  last,  with  en- 
deavouring to  bereave  the  kingdom  of  the  legis- 
lative power,  by  alienating  the  king's  mind  from 
his  Parliaments. 

At  the  delivery  of  these  articles,  Mr.  Pym  de- 
clared that  the  Commonsreserved  to  themselves 
the  liberty  of  presenting  some  additional  arti- 
cles, by  which  they  intended  to  make  their 
charge  more  particular  and  certain  as  to  the 
time  and  other  circumstances,  and  prayed  their 
lordships  to  put  the  cause  into  as  quick  a  for- 
wardness as  they  could. 

When  the  archbishop  had  heard  the  articles 
read,  he  made  his  obeisance  to  the  House,  and 
said  "that  it  was  a  great  and  heavy  charge,  and 
that  he  was  unworthy  to  live  if  it  could  be  made 
good  ;  however,  it  was  yet  but  in  generals,  and 
generals  made  a  great  noise,  but  were  no  proof 
For  human  frailties  he  could  not  excuse  him- 
self, bul  for  corruption  in  the  least  degree  he 
feared  no  accuser  that  would  speak  truth.  But 
that  which  went  nearest  him  was,  that  he  was 
thought  false  in  his  religion,  as  if  he  should 
profess  with  the  Church  of  England,  and  have 
his  heart  at  Rome."  He  then  besought  their 
lordships  that  he  might  enlarge  himself,  and  so 
made  a  short  reply  to  each  article,  which  con- 
sisted in  an  absolute  denial  of  the  whole.  The 
Lords  voted  him  to  the  Tower,  whither  he  was 
carried  in  Mr.  Maxwell's  coach  through  the  city, 
on  Monday,  March  1 .  It  was  designed  he  should 
have  passed  incognito  ;  but  an  apprentice  in 
Newgate-street  happening  to  know  him,  raised 
the  mob,  which  surrounded  the  coach,  and  fol- 
lowed him  with  huzzas  and  insults  till  he  got 
within  the  Tower  gate.  Indeed,  such  was  the 
universal  hatred  of  all  ranks  and  orders  of  men 
against  this  insolent  prelate,  for  his  cruel  usage 
of  those  who  had  fallen  into  his  hands  in  the 
time  of  his  prosperity,  that  no  man's  fall  in  the 
whole  kingdom  was  so  unlamented  as  his.  His 
grace  being  lodged  in  the  Tower,  thought  it  his 
interest  to  be  quiet,  without  so  much  as  moving 
the  Lords  to  be  brought  to  a  trial,  or  putting  in 
his  answer  to  the  articles  of  impeachment,  till 
the  Commons,  after  two  or  three  years,  exhib- 
ited their  additional  articles,  and  moved  the 
peers  to  appoint  a  day  for  his  trial. 

Before  the  archbishop  was  confined,  he  had 
the  mortification  to  see  most  of  the  Church  and 
State  prisoners  released.  November  16,  the 
Bishop  of  Lincoln  was  discharged  from  his  im- 
prisonment in  the  Tower,  and  his  fine  remitted. 
Next  day  being  a  public  fast,  he  appeared  in  the 
Abbey  Church  at  Westminster,  and  officiated  as 


dean.  When  he  resumed  his  seat  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  he  behaved  with  more  temper  than 
either  the  king  or  the  archbishop  could  expect ; 
whereupon  his  majesty  sent  for  him,  and  en- 
deavoured to  gain  him  over  to  the  court,  by 
promising  to  make  him  full  satisfaction  for  his 
past  sufferings  ;  in  order  to  which,  his  majesty 
commanded  all  the  judgments  that  were  entered 
against  him  to  be  discharged,  and  within  a 
twelvemonth  translated  him  to  the  Archbish- 
opric of  York,  with  leave  to  hold  his  deanery 
of  Westminster  in  commeyidam  for  three  years  ;^ 
the  bishop,  therefore,  never  complained  to  the 
House  of  his  sufferings,  nor  petitioned  for  satis- 
faction. 

Mr.  Prynne,  Mr.  Burton,  and  Dr.  Bastwick, 
being  remanded  from  the  several  islands  to 
which  they  had  been  confined  upon  their  hum- 
ble petition  to  the  House  of  Commons,  were 
met  some  miles  out  of  town  by  great  numbers 
of  people  on  horseback,  with  rosemaries  and 
bays  in  their  hats,  and  escorted  into  the  city  in  a 
sort  of  triumph,  with  loud  acclamations  for  their 
deliverance;*  and  a  few  weeks  after,  the  House 
came  to  the  following  resolutions  :  "  That  the 
several  judgments  against  them  were  illegal, 
unjust,  and  against  the  liberty  of  the  subject ; 
that  their  several  fines  be  remitted  ;  that  they 
be  restored  to  their  several  professions ;  and 
that,  for  reparation  of  their  losses,  Mr.  Burton 
ought  to  have  £6000,  and  Mr.  Prynne  and  Dr. 
Bastwick  £5000  each,  out  of  the  estates  of  the 

*  Prynne  gives  the  following  account  of  his  own 
and  Burton's  entrance  into  London :  "  The  next  morn- 
ing, early,  multitudes  of  their  friends  from  London 
and  elsewhere  met  them  at  Stanes,  and  came  flock- 
ing into  them  afresh  every  foot,  till  they  came  to 
Brainford,  where  they  dined.  All  the  way  from 
Stanes  to  Brainford  was  very  full  of  people,  which 
came  to  meet  them  and  welcome  them  into  England, 
some  in  coaches,  others  on  horseback,  others  on  foot. 
After  dinner  they  took  horse  for  London,  riding  both 
together ;  but  the  way  between  Brainford  and  Lon- 
don, though  broad,  was  full  of  coaches,  horses,  and 
people,  to  congratulate  their  return,  that  they  were 
forced  to  make  stops,  and  could  ride  scarcely  one 
mile  an  hour,  so  that  it  was  almost  night  ere  they 
came  to  Charing  Cross,  when  they  encountered  such 
a  world  of  people  in  the  streets  that  they  could  hard- 
ly pa.ss  them ;  the  city  marshal,  when  they  came  into 
the  Old  Bailey,  being  forced  to  make  way  for  them 
with  his  horse  troops  ;  the  crowd  of  people  was  so 
great  that  they  were  near  three  hours  in  passing  from 
Charing  Cross  to  their  lodgings  in  the  city,  having 
torches  to  light  them  when  it  grew  dark.  The  peo- 
ple were  so  extraordinarily  joyful  of  their  return,  that 
they  rang  the  bells  in  most  places  they  passed  for 
joy ;  ran  to  salute  them,  and  shake  them  by  the  hands, 
crying  out  with  one  unanimous  shout,  '  Welcome 
home  !  welcome  home!'  '  God  bless  you  !  God  bless 
you !'  '  God  be  thanked  for  your  return !'  and  the  like ; 
yea,  they  strewed  the  ways  where  they  rode  with 
herbs  and  flowers,  and,  running  to  their  gardens, 
brought  rosemaries  and  bays  thence,  which  they  g;ave 
to  them,  and  the  company  that  rode  with  them  mto 
London,  who  were  estimated  to  be  about  one  hun- 
dred coaches,  many  of  them  having  six  horses  apiece, 
and  at  least  two  thous-md  horse  ;  those  on  foot  being 
innumerable.  The  day  they  came  from  Eghara  into 
London,  the  sun  arose  most  gloriously  upon  them 
as  soon  as  they  came  out  of  their  inn,  without  any 
cloud  (which  they  both  observed),  and  so  continued 
shining  all  the  dav,  without  interposition  of  any  ob- 
stacle to  eclipse  its  rays,  so  as  heaven  and  earth 
conspired  together  to  smile  upon  them,  and  to  con 
gratulate  their  safe  return  fronr  their  bonds  and  ex 
\\es:'— Prelates'  Tyranny,^.  113-115.— C. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


353 


Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the  high  commis- 
sioners, and  those  lords  who  had  voted  against 
them  in  the  Star  Chamber  ;"  but  the  contusion 
of  the  times  prevented  the  payment  of  the 
money. 

Dr.  Leighton  was  released  about  the  same 
time,  and  his  fine  of  £10,000  remitted:  the 
reading  liis  petition  drew  tears  from  the  House, 
being  to  this  effect : 

"  The  humble  petition  of  Alexander  Leighton, 
prisoner  in  the  Fleet, 
"  Humbly  showeth, 

"  That  on  February  17,  1630,  he  was  appre- 
hended coming  from  sermon  by  a  High  Com- 
mission warrant,  and  dragged  along  the  streets 
with  bills  and  staves  to  London  House.  That 
the  jailer  of  Newgate  being  sent  for,  clapped 
him  in  irons,  and  carried  him  with  a  strong 
power  into  a  loathsome  and  ruinous  dog-hole, 
full  of  rats  and  mice,  that  had  no  light  but  a 
small  grate,  and  the  roof  being  uncovered,  the 
snow  and  rain  beat  in  upon  hiin,  having  no 
bedding,  nor  place  to  make  a  fire  but  the  ruins 
of  an  old  smoky  chimney.  In  this  woful  place 
he  was  shut  up  for  fifteen  weeks,  nobody  being 
suffered  to  come  near  him,  till  at  length  his 
Tvife  only  was  admitted. 

"  That  the  fourth  day  after  his  commitment, 
the  pursuivant,  with  a  mighty  multitude,  came 
to  his  house  to  search  for  Jesuits'  books,  and 
used  his  wife  in  such  a  barbarous  and  inhuman 
manner  as  he  is  ashamed  to  express  ;  that  they 
rifled  every  person  and  place,  holding  a  pistol 
to  the  breast  of  a  child  of  five  years  old,  threat- 
ening to  kill  him  if  he  did  not  discover  the 
books ;  that  they  broke  open  chests,  presses, 
boxes,  and  carried  away  everything,  even  house- 
hold stuff,  apparel,  arms,  and  other  things ; 
that  at  the  end  of  fifteen  weeks  he  was  served 
with  a  subpcena,  on  an  information  laid  against 
him  by  Sir  Robert  Heath,  attorney-general, 
whose  dealing  with  him  was  full  of  cruelty  and 
deceit ;  but  he  was  then  sick,  and,  in  the  opin- 
ion of  four  physicians,  thought  to  be  poisoned, 
because  all  his  hair  and  skin  came  off ;  that  in 
the  height  of  this  sickness  the  cruel  sentence 
was  passed  upon  him  mentioned  in  the  year 
1630,  and  executed  November  26  following, 
when  he  received  thirty-six  stripes  upon  his 
naked  back  with  a  threefold  cord,  his  hands  be- 
ing tied  to  a  stake,  and  then  stood  almost  two 
hours  in  the  pillory,  in  the  frost  and  snow,  be- 
fore he  was  branded  in  the  face,  his  nose  slit, 
and  his  ears  cut  off;  that  after  this  he  was  car- 
ried by  water  to  the  Fleet,  and  shut  up  in  such 
a  room  that  he  was  never  well,  and,  after  eight 
years,  was  turned  into  the  common  jail."  The 
House  voted  him  satisfaction  for  his  sufferings  ; 
but  it  does  not  appear  that  he  actually  received 
any,  except  being  keeper  of  Lambeth  House  as 
a  prison,  for  which  he  must  be  very  unfit,  being 
now  in  the  seventy-second  year  of  his  age,  and 
worn  out  with  poverty,  weakness,  and  pain. 

Besides  those  afore  named,  there  were  like- 
wise set  at  hberty  Dr.  Osbaldeston,  one  of  the 
prebendaries  of  Westminster ;  the  Reverend 
Mr,  Henry  Wilkinson,  B.D.,  of  Magdalen  Hall, 
Oxford,  Mr.  Smith,  Wilson,  Small,  Cooper,  and 
Brewer,  who  had  been  in  prison  fourteen 
years  ;*  Mr.  George  Walker,  who  had  been 
committed  for  preaching  a  sermon,  October  14, 

"  *  Nalson's  Col.,  p.  571. 


1638,  at  St.  John  the  Evangelist's,  London,  and 
detained  four  weeks  in  the  hands  of  a  messen- 
ger, to  whom  he  paid  £20  fees.*  This  gentleman, 
after  his  prosecution  in  the  Star  Chamber,  had 
been  shut  up  ten  weeks  in  the  Gate-house,  and 
at  last  compelled  to  enter  into  a  bond  of  £1000 
to  confine  himself  in  his  brother's  house  at 
Chiswick,  where  he  continued  till  this  time,  his 
parsonage  being  sequestered  ;  and,  in  general, 
all  who  were  confined  by  the  High  Commission 
were  released,  passing  their  words  to  be  forth- 
coming whenever  they  should  be  called  for. 

The  imprisonment  of  the  above-mentioned 
gentlemen  being  declared  illegal,  it  is  natural 
to  imagine  the  House  would  make  some  inqui- 
ry after  their  prosecutors.  About  the  latter 
end  of  January,  Dr.  Cosins,  prebendary  of  Dur- 
ham, and  afterward  bishop  of  the  diocess,  was 
sent  for  into  custody  on  account  of  the  super- 
stitious innovations  which  he  had  introduced 
into  that  cathedral.!  The  doctor,  in  his  an- 
swer, denied  the  whole  charge,  and  as  to  the 
particulars,  he  replied,  that  the  marble  altar 
with  cherubim  was  set  up  before  he  was  preb- 
endary of  the  church  ;t  that  he  did  not  approve 
of  the  image  of  God  the  Father,  and  that  to  his 
knowledge  there  was  no  such  representation  in 
the  church  at  Durham ;  that  the  crucifix  with 
a  blue  cap  and  golden  beard  was  mistaken  for 
the  top  of  Bishop  Hatfield's  tomb,  which  had 
been  erected  many  years  before ;  that  there 
were  but  two  candles  on  the  communion-table, 
and  that  no  more  were  used  on  Candlemas 
night  than  in  the  Christmas  holydays  ;  that  he 
did  not  forbid  the  singing  the  psalms  in  metre, "J 
nor  direct  the  singing  of  the  anthem  to  the 
tlu'ee  kings  of  Colen,||  nor  use  a  consecrated 
knife  at  the  sacrament.  The  Lords  were  so 
far  satisfied  with  the  doctor's  answer  as  not  to 
commit  him  at  present;ir  but  the  Commons  hav- 
ing voted  him  unfit  to  hold  any  ecclesiastical 
promotion,  the  doctor,  foreseeing  the  storm  was 
coming  upon  the  Church,  wisely  withdrew  into 
France,**  where  he  behaved  discreetly  and  pru- 

*  Nalson's  Col,  p.  570.  t  Ibid.,  p.  273. 

t  But  when  Smart  was  one  of  the  chapter ;  and 
that  many  of  the  things  objected  to  himself  were  in- 
troduced while  his  accuser  was  prebendary. — Dr. 
Grey,  from  Colly er. — Ed. 

<^  But  used  to  sing  them  himself  with  the  people 
at  morning  prayer. — Ed. 

II  But  ordered  it,  on  his  first  coming  to  the  cathe- 
dra], to  be'cut  out  of  the  old  song-book  belonging  to 
the  choristers  ;  and  no  such  anthem  had  been  sung 
in  the  choir  during  his  being  there,  nor,  as  far  as  his 
inquiry  could  reach,  for  threescore  years  before.— 
Dr.  Grey,  from  Colly  er. — Ed. 

<|[  The  doctor's  answer  was  entered  on  the  rolls  of 
Parliament,  and  made  good  before  the  Lords  by  him- 
self, and  by  the  witness  that  Smart  and  his  son-in- 
law  produced  against  him.  Upon  this.  Smart's  law- 
yer told  him,  at  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Lords,  that 
he  was  ashamed  of  the  complaint,  and  refused  to 
proceed  in  the  support  of  it.  Collyer  also  says  that 
many  of  the  lords  declared  that  Smart  had  abused 
the  House  of  Commons  by  a  groundless  complaint 
against  Cosins,  who,  by  an  order  from  the  Lords,  de- 
livered to  him  by  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  had  liberty 
to  go  where  he  pleased. — Eccles.  Hist.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  798. 
—Ed. 

**  He  fixed  his  residence  in  Paris,  where  he  was 
appointed  chaplain  to  the  Protestant  part  of  Queen 
Henrietta's  family.  Many  advantageous  offers  were 
made  to  him  to  tempt  him  over  to  the  communion 
of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  he  was  also  attacked 


360 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


dently  till  the  Restoration,  being  softened  in  his 
principles  by  age  and  sufferings. 

Dr.  Matthew  Wren,  late  Bishop  of  Norwich, 
and  now  of  Ely,  having  been  remarkably  severe 
against  the  Puritan  clergy  in  his  diocesses,  the 
inhabitants  of  Ipswich  drew  up  a  petition  against 
him,  and  presented  it  to  the  House,  December 
22,  1640,*  upon  which  the  committee  of  Parlia- 
ment exhibited  a  charge  against  him,  consisting 
of  twenty-five  articles,  relating  to  the  late  inno- 
vations. It  was  carried  up  to  tlie  Lords  by  Sir 
Thomas  Widdrington,  and  sets  forth,  that  du- 
ring the  time  of  his  being  Bishop  of  Norwich, 
which  was  about  two  years,  fifty  ministers  had 
been  excommunicated,  suspended,  and  deprived 
"  for  not  reading  the  second  service  at  the 
communion-table  ;  for  not  reading  the  Book  of 
Sports  ;  for  using  conceived  prayers  before  the 
afternoon  sermon,"  &c. ;  and  that,  by  his  rigor- 
ous severities,  many  of  his  majesty's  subjects, 
to  the  number  of  three  thousand,  had  removed 
themselves,  their  families,  and  their  estates  to 
Holland,  and  set  up  their  manufactories  there, 
to  the  great  prejudice  of  the  trade  of  this  king- 
dom. I  do  not  find  that  the  bishop  put  in  a  par- 
ticular answer  to  these  articles,  nor  was  he  ta- 
ken into  custody,  but  only  gave  bond  for  his  ap- 
pearance. Some  time  after,  the  Commons  voted 
him  unfit  to  hold  any  ecclesiastical  preferment 
in  the  Church,  and  both  Lords  and  Commons 
joined  in  a  petition  to  the  king  to  remove  the 
said  bishop  from  his  person  and  service  ;  after 
which  he  was  imprisoned,  with  the  rest  of  the 
protesting  bishops.  Upon  his  release,  he  reti- 
red to  his  house  at  Downham,  in  the  Isle  of 
Ely,  from  whence  he  was  taken  by  a  party  of 
Parliament  soldiers,  and  conveyed  to  the  Tow- 
er, where  he  continued  a  patient  prisoner  till 
the  end  of  the  year  1659,  without  being  brought 
to  his  trial  or  admitted  to  bail. 

Complaints  were  made  against  several  other 
bishops  and  clergymen,  as  Dr.  Pierce,  bishop  of 
Bath  and  Wells,  Dr.  Montague,  bishop  of  Nor- 
wich, Dr.  Owen,  bishop  of  Landaff,  and  Dr. 
Manwaring,  bishop  of  St.  David's ;  but  the 
House  had  too  many  affairs  upon  their  hands  to 
attend  to  their  prosecutions.  Of  the  inferior 
clergy,  Dr.  Stone,  Chaffin,  Aston,  Jones,  and 
some  others,  who  had  been  instruments  of  se- 
verity in  the  late  times,  were  voted  unfit  for 
ecclesiastical  promotions.  Dr.  Layfield,  arch- 
deacon of  Essex,  pleaded  his  privilege  as  a 
member  of  convocation,  according  to  an  old  po- 
pish statute  of  Henry  VI. ,t  but  the  committee 
overruled  it,  and  voted  the  doctor  into  custody 

by  threats  of  assassination,  but  continued  an  un- 
shaken Protestant.  The  arts  of  the  papists  succeed- 
ed with  his  only  son,  whom  they  prevailed  with  to 
embrace  the  Catholic  faith,  and  to  take  upon  him 
religious  orders.  This  was  a  very  heavy  affliction 
10  his  father,  who,  on  this  ground,  left  his  estate 
from  him. —  Granger  s  History  of  Endand,  vol.  iil.,  p. 
234,  8vo  ;  and  Nalson's  Collections,  vol.  i.,p.  519. — Ed. 

*  Nalson's  Collections,  p.  092. 

t  There  was  no  particular  propriety,  rather  it  was, 
as  Dr.  Grey  intimates,  somewhat  invidious  in  Mr. 
Neal  thus  to  characterize  this  statute,  relative  to  the 
privilege  of  the  clergy  coming  to  convocation,  as  it 
must,  being  of  so  ancient  a  date,  necessarily  be  po- 
pish, as  is  one  fourth  part  of  the  statute  law ;  and 
there  are  various  instances  of  its  being  enforced  since 
the  Reformation,  and  even  in  the  present  century,  of 
which  Dr.  Grey  gives  ample  proof. — Ed. 


of  the  sergcant-at-arms  ;  Dr.  Pocklington,  can- 
on of  Windsor  and  prebendary  of  Peterborough, 
was  complained  of  for  two  books,  one  entitled 
the  Christian  Altar,  the  other  Sunday  no  Sah- 
bath,  which  had  been  licensed  by  Dr.  Bray,  one 
of  the  archbishop's  chaplains.  The  doctor  ac- 
knowledged his  offence  at  the  bar  of  the  House, 
confessed  that  he  had  not  examined  the  books 
with  that  caution  that  he  ought,  and  made  a 
public  recantation  in  the  Church  of  Westmin- 
ster ;  but  Pocklington,  refusing  to  recant  about 
thirty  false  propositions  which  the  Bishop  of 
Lincoln  had  collected  out  of  his  books,  was  sen- 
tenced by  the  lord-keeper  "  to  be  deprived  of 
his  ecclesiastical  preferments,  to  be  forever  disa- 
bled to  hold  any  place  or  dignity  in  the  Church  or 
commonwealth,  never  to  come  within  the  verge 
of  his  majesty's  court,  and  his  books  to  be  burned 
by  the  hands  of  the  common  hangman,  in  the  city 
of  London  and  the  two  universities."  Both  the 
doctors  died  soon  after.  The  number  of  peti- 
tions that  were  sent  up  to  the  committee  of  re- 
ligion from  all  parts  of  the  country  against  their 
clergy  is  incredible  ;*  some  complaining  of  their 
superstitious  impositions,  and  others  of  the  im- 
morality of  their  lives  and  neglect  of  their 
cures,  which  shows  the  little  esteem  they  had 
among  the  people,  who  were  weary  of  their 
yoke,  regarding  them  no  longer  than  they  were 
under  the  terror  of  their  excommunications. 

Such  was  the  sjJirit  of  the  populace  that  it 
was  difficult  to  prevent  their  outrunning  au- 
thority, and  tearing  down  in  a  tumultuous  man- 
ner what  they  were  told  had  been  illegally  set 
up.  At  St.  Saviour's,  SoUthwark,  the  mob 
pulled  down  the  rails  about  the  communion-ta- 
ble. At  Halstead,  in  Essex,  they  tore  the  sur- 
plice, and  abused  the  service-book  ;  nay,  when 
the  House  of  Commons  was  assembled  at  SL 
Margaret's,  Westminster,  as  the  priest  was  be- 
ginning his  second  service  at  the  communion- 
table, some  at  the  lower  end  of  the  chilrch  be- 
gan a  psalm,  which  was  followed  by  the  con- 
gregation, so  that  the  minister  was  forced  to 
desist.  But,  to  prevent  these  seditious  practi- 
ces for  the  future,  the  Lords  and  Commons  pass- 
ed a  very  severe  sentence  on  the  rioters,  and 
published  the  following  order,  bearing  date  Jan- 
uary 16,  1640-1,  appointing  it  to  be  read  in  al! 
the  parish  churches  in  London,  Westminster, 
and  the  borough  of  Southwark,  viz.  :  "  That 
Divine  service  shall  be  performed  as  it  is  ap- 
pointed bjF  the  acts  of  Parliament  of  this  reahn, 
and  that  all  such  as  disturb  that  wholesome  or- 
der shall  be  severely  punished  by  law."  But 
then  it  was  added,  "that  the  parsons,  vicars, 
and  curates  of  the  several  parishes  shall  for- 
bear to  introduce  any  rites  or  ceremonies  that 
may  give  offence,  otherwise  than  those  which 


*  Dr.  Grey  judges  it  not  at  all  incredible ;  because, 
on  the  authority  of  Lord  Clarendon,  he  adds,  unfair 
methods  of  obtaining  petitions  were  used  in  those 
times  of  iniquity  and  confusion.  The  disingenuous 
art  of  which  his  lordship  complains  was  procuring 
signatures  to  a  petition  drawn  up  in  modest  and  du- 
tiful terms,  and  then  cutting  it  off  and  substituting 
another  of  a  different  strain  and  spirit,  and  annexing 
it  to  the  list  of  subscribers.  This  practice,  if  his 
lordship  asserted  it  on  good  evidence,  deserves  to  be 
censured  in  the  strongest  terms.  A  virtuous  mind 
has  too  often  occasion  to  be  surprised  and  shocked 
at  the  arts  which  party  prejudice  and  views  caa 
adopt— History  of  the  Rebellion,  vol.  i.,  p.  203.— Ed. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


36] 


are  established  by  the  laws  of  the  land."  The 
design  of  this  proviso  was  to  guard  against  the 
late  innovations,  and  particularly  against  the 
clergy's  refusing  the  sacrament  to  such  as 
would  not  receive  it  kneeling  at  the  rails. 

There  was  such  a  violent  clamour  against 
the  high  clergy,  that  they  could  hardly  officiate 
according  to  the  late  injunctions  witliout  being 
affronted,  nor  walk  the  streets  in  their  habits, 
says  Nalson,  without  being  reproached  as  po- 
pish priests,  Ceesar's  friends,  &c.  '  The  reputa- 
tion of  the  liturgy  began  to  sink  ;  reading  pray- 
ers was  called  a  lifeless  form  of  worship,  and  a 
quenching  the  Holy  Spirit,  whose  assistances 
are  promised  in  the  matter  as  well  as  the  man- 
ner of  our  prayers  ;  besides,  tlie  nation  being  in 
a  crisis,  it  was  thought  impossible  that  the  old 
forms  should  be  suitable  to  the  exigency  of  the 
times,  or  to  the  circumstances  of  particular 
persons,  who  might  desire  a  share  in  the  devo- 
tions of  the  Church,  Those  ministers,  there- 
fore, who  prayed  with  fervency  and  devotion,* 
in  words  of  their  own  conception,  suitable  ei- 
ther to  the  sermon  that  was  preached  or  to  the 
present  urgency  of  affairs,  had  crowded  and  at- 
tentive auditories,  while  the  ordinary  service  of 
the  Church  was  deserted  as  cold,  formal,  and 
without  spirit. 

The  discipline  of  the  Church  being  relaxed, 
the  Brownists  or  Independents,  who  had  as- 
sembled in  private,  and  shifted  from  house  to 
house  for  twenty  or  thirty  years,  resumed  their 
courage,  and  showed  themselves  in  public.  We 
have  given  an  account  of  their  origin,  from  Mr. 
Robinson  and  Mr.  Jacob,  in  the  year  1616,  the 
last  of  whom  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  John  La- 
thorp,  formerly  a  clergyman  in  Kent,  but  hav- 
ing renounced  his  orders,  he  became  pastor  of 
this  little  society.  In  his  time  the  congregation 
was  discovered  by  Tomlinson,  the  bishop's 
pursuivant,  April  29,  1632,  at  the  house  of  Mr. 
Humphry  Barnet,  a  brewer's  clerk,  in  Black- 
friars,  where  forty-two  of  whom  were  appre- 
hended and  only  eighteen  escaped  :  of  those 
that  were  taken,  some  were  confined  in  the 
(Jlink,  others  in  New  Prison  and  the  Gate- 
house, where  they  continued  about  two  years, 
and  were  then  released  upon  bail,  except  Mr. 
Lathorp,  for  whom  no  favour  could  be  obtain- 
ed ;  he  therefore  petitioned  the  king  for  liberty 
to  depart  the  kingdom,  which  being  granted,  he 
went,  in  the  year  1634,  to  New-England,  with 
about  thirty  of  his  followers.  Mr.  Lathorp  was 
a  man  of  learning,  and  of  a  meek  and  quiet 
spirit,  but  met  with  some  uneasiness  upon  oc- 
casion of  one  of  his  people  carrying  his  child  to 

*  Dr.  Grey  gives  some  specimens  of  this,  which 
are  very  much  in  the  style  of  those  in  the  piece  en- 
titled "  Scotch  Presbyterian  Eloquence."  The  im- 
proved taste  of  this  age,  and  rational  devotion,  revolt 
at  them.  But  Dr.  Grey  did  not  reflect  that  the  of- 
fensive improprieties  which  he  e.xposes  were  not  pe- 
cuhar  to  extemporary  prayer,  nor  to  the  Puritans  ; 
they  were  agreeable  to  the  fashion  of  the  age,  and  incor- 
porated themselves  with  the  precomposed  prayers  pub- 
lished by  royal  command.  The  thanksgiving  for  vic- 
tory in  the  north,  1643,  affords  an  instance  of  this. 
"Lord!  look  to  the  righteousness  of  our  cause.  See 
the  seamless  coat  of  thy  Son  torn,  the  throne  of  thine 
Anointed  trampled  on,  thy  Church  invaded  by  sac- 
rilege, and  thy  people  miserably  deceived  with  lies." 
— Rohinsori's  Tratislation  of  Claude's  Essay  on  the 
Composition  of  a  Sermon,  vol.  ii.,  p.  84. — Ed. 

Vol.  I.— Z  z 


be  rebaptized  by  the  parish  minister,  some  of 
the  congregation  insisting  that  it  should  be 
baptized,  because  the  other  administration  was 
not  valid  ;  but  when  the  question  was  put,  it 
was  carried  in  the  negative,  and  resolved  by  the 
majority  not  to  make  any  declaration  at  pres- 
ent whether  or  no  parish  churches  were  true 
churches.  Upon  this,  some  of  the  more  rigid, 
and  others  who  were  dissatisfied  about  the  law- 
fulness of  infant  baptism,  desired  their  dismis- 
sion, which  was  granted  them  ;  these  set  up  by 
themselves,  and  chose  Mr.  Jesse  their  minister, 
who  laid  the  foundation  of  the  first  Baptist  con- 
gregation* that  I  have  met  with  in  England. 
But  the  rest  renewed  their  covenant  "  to  walk 
together  in  the  ways  of  God,  so  far  as  he  had 
made  them  known  or  should  make  them  known 
to  them,  and  to  forsake  all  false  ways."  And 
so  steady  were  they  to  their  vows,  that  hardly 
an  instance  can  be  produced  of  one  that  de- 
serted to  the  Church  by  the  severest  prosecu- 
tions. 

Upon  Mr.  Lathorp's  retiring  into  New-Eng- 
land, the  congregation!  chose  for  their  pastor 
the  famous  Mr.  Canne,t  author  of  the  marginal 
references  in  the  Bible,  who,  after  he  had 
preached  to  them  in  private  houses  for  a  year 
or  two,  was  driven  by  the  severity  of  the  times 
into  Holland,  and  became  pastor  of  thp  Brown- 
ist  congregation  at  Amsterdam. 

After  Mr.  Canne,  Mr.  Samuel  Howe  under- 
took the  pastoral  care  of  this  little  flock  ;  he  was 
a  man  of  learning,  and  printed  a  small  treatise, 

*  According  to  Crosby,  this  is  a  mistake,  for  there 
were  three  Baptist  churches  in  England  before  that 
of  Mr.  Jesse.  One  formed  by  the  separation  of  many 
persons  from  Mr.  Lathorp's  in  1633,  before  he  left 
England.  Another  by  a  second  separation  from  the 
same  church  in  1638,  the  members  of  which  joined 
themselves  to  Mr.  Spilsbury.  And  a  third,  which  ori- 
ginated in  1639  with  Mr.  Green  and  Captain  Spencer, 
whom  Mr.  Paul  Hobson  joined. — Crosby's  History  of 
the  English  Baptists,  vol.  iii.,  p.  41,  42. — Ed. 

t  This  was  the  Church  meeting  in  Deadman's 
Place  ;  it  all  along  acted  on  the  principle  of  mixed 
communion,  and  chose  their  pastors  indiiferently 
from  among  the  Baptists  or  Psdobaptists.  If  this 
Church  weathered  through  the  period  of  the  com- 
monwealth, it  must  have  been  scattered  by  persecu- 
tion soon  after  the  Restoration. —  Wilson's  Dissent- 
ing Churches,  vol.  iv.,  p.  124. — C. 

X  Crosby  says  that  the  church  of  which  Mr. 
Canne,  Mr.  Samuel  Howe,  and  Mr.  Stephen  More 
were  successively  pastors,  was  constituted  and  plant- 
ed by  Mr.  Hubbard.  And  it  is  not  certain  whether 
Mr.  Canne  was  a  Baptist  or  not.  He  was  the  au- 
thor of  three  sets  of  notes  on  the  Bible,  which  ac- 
companied three  diflerent  editions  of  it.  One  print- 
ed by  him  at  Amsterdam,  1647,  which  refers  to  a 
former  one,  and  professes  to  add  "  many  Hebraisms, 
diversitie  of  readings,  with  consonancie  of  parallel 
Scriptures,  taken  out  of  the  last  annotation,  and  all 
set  in  due  order  and  place."  Another  is  commonly 
known,  and  has  been  often  reprinted.  There  was 
also  an  impression  of  it  at  Amsterdam,  1664.  A  new 
edition  of  the  Bible  of  1664  is  a  desideratum.— 7'u)o 
Treatises  of  Henry  Ainsioorth,  pref,  p.  35,  note;  and 
Crosby,  vol.  iii.,  p.  40.— Eo.  Mr.  Canne  was,  beyond 
all  doubt,  a  Baptist,  for  the  records  of  the  church  at 
Broadinead,  Bristol,  which  separated  from  the  Estab- 
lishment in  1640,  mention  Mr.  Canne  as  having  first 
settled  them  in  the  order  of  a  Christian  Church. 
The  minutes  run  thus :  "  The  Providence  of  God 
brought  to  this  city  one  Mr.  Canne,  a  baptized  man. 
It  was  that  Mr.  Canne  that  made  notes  and  refer- 
ences upon  the  Bible,"  &c. —  Wilson's  Hist,  of  Dis 
senting  Churches,  vol.  iv.,  p.  128-9. — C. 


362 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


called  "  The  Sufficiency  of  the  Spirit's  Teach- 
ing."* But  not  being  enough  upon  his  guard 
in  conversation,  ho  laid  himself  open  to  the  in- 
formers, by  whose  means  he  was  cited  into  the 
spiritual  courts  and  excommunicated  ;  hereup- 
on he  absconded,  till,  being  at  last  taken,  he 
"was  shut  up  in  close  prison,  where  he  died. 
His  friends  would  have  buried  him  in  Shore- 
ditch  churchyard,  but,  being  excommunicated, 
the  officers  of  the  parish  would  not  admit  it,  so 
they  buried  him  in  a  piece  of  ground  at  Anni- 
seed  Clear,  where  many  of  his  congregation 
were  buried  after  him.t 

Upon  Mr.  Howe's  death,  the  little  church  was 
forced  to  take  up  with  a  layman,  Mr.  Stephen 
More,  a  citizen  of  London,  of  good  natural  parts, 
and  of  considerable  substance  in  the  world  :  he 
had  been  their  deacon  for  some  years,  and,  in 
the  present  exigency,  accepted  of  the  pastoral 
office,  to  the  apparent  hazard  of  his  estate  and 
liberty.  However,  the  face  of  affairs  beginning 
now  to  change,  this  poor  congregation,  which 
had  subsisted  almost  by  a  miracle  for  above 
twenty-four  years,  shifting  from  place  to  place 
to  avoid  the  notice  of  the  public,  ventured  to 
open  their  doors  in  Deadman's  Place,  in  South- 
■wark,  January  18,  1640-1.  Mr.  Fuller  calls 
them  a  congregation  of  Anabaptists,  who  were 
met  together  to  the  number  of  eighty  ;  but  by 
their  journal  or  church-book,  an  abstract  of 
which  is  now  before  me,  it  appears  to  be  Mr. 
More's  congregation  of  Independents,  who,  be- 
ing assembled  in  Deadman's  Place  on  the  Lord's 
Day,  were  disturbed  by  the  marshal  of  the 
King's  Bench,  and  most  of  them  committed  to 
the  Clink  Prison.  Next  morning,  six  or  seven 
of  the  men  were  carried  before  the  House  of 
Lords,  and  charged  with  denying  the  king's  su- 
premacy in  ecclesiastical  matters,    and   with 

*  The  treatise  here  mentioned,  we  are  informed, 
displayed  strength  of  genius,  but  was  written  by  a 
cobbler,  as  appears  by  the  following  recommenda- 
tory lines  prefixed  to  it : 

"  What  How  ?  how  now  1  hath  How  such  learning-  found, 
To  throw  art's  curious  image  to  the  ground  ? 
Cambridge  and  Oxford  may  their  glory  now 
Veil  to  a  cobbler,  if  they  knew  but  How." 

This  treatise  was  founded  on  2  Peter,  iii.,  16,  and 
designed  to  show,  not  the  insufficiency  only  of  human 
learning  to  the  purposes  of  religion,  but  that  it  was 
dangerous  and  hurtful.  So  that  Mr.  Neal  was  mis- 
taken in  speaking  of  its  author  as  a  man  of  learning. 
^Crosby,  vol.  iii.,  p.  39,  note. — Ed. 

t  Crosby's  History  of  the  Enghsh  Baptists,  vol.  i., 
p.  165.  The  following  honourable  testimony  was 
borne  to  Mr.  Howe's  memory  by  Roger  Williams  : 
♦'Among  so  many  instances,  ilead  and  living,  to  the 
everlasting  praise  of  Christ  Jesus,  and  of  his  Holy 
Spirit,  breathing  a  blessing  where  he  listeth,  I  can- 
not but  with  honourable  testimony  remember  that 
eminent  Christian  witness  and  prophet  of  Christ, 
even  that  despised  and  yet  beloved  Samuel  Howe, 
who  being  by  calling  a  cobbler,  and  without  human 
learning,  which  yet  in  its  sphere  and  place  he  hon- 
oured— who  yet,  I  say,  by  searching  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, grew  so  excellent  a  textuary  or  Scripture- 
learned  man,  that  few  of  those  high  rabbles  that 
scorn  to  mend  or  make  a  shoe  could  aptly  or  readi- 
ly, from  the  Holy  Scriptures,  outgo  him.  *  *  *  * 
however  he  was  forced  to  seek  a  grave  or  bed  in  the 
highway,  yet  was  his  life,  and  death,  and  'ourial,  being 
attended  with  many  hundreds  of  God's  people,  hon- 
ourable, and  how  much  more  on  his  rising  again, 
glorious." — The  Hireling  Ministry  none  of  Christ's, 
London,  1652,  p.  11,  12.— C. 


preaching  in  separate  congregations,  contrary 
to  the  statute  of  the  35th  Eliz.  The  latter  they 
confessed,  and  as  to  the  former,  they  declared 
to  the  House  that  "they  could  acknowledge  no 
other  head  of  the  Church  but  Christ ;  tliat  they 
apprehended  no  prince  on  earth  had  power  to 
make  laws  to  bind  the  conscience  ;  and  that 
such  laws  as  were  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God 
ought  not  to  be  obeyed  ;  but  that  they  disowned 
all  foreign  power  and  jurisdiction."  Such  a 
declaration  a  twelvemonth  ago  might  have  cost 
them  their  ears  ;  but  the  House,  instead  of  re- 
mitting them  to  the  ecclesiastical  courts,  dis- 
missed them  with  a  gentle  reprimand,  and  three 
or  four  of  the  members  came,  out  of  curiosity, 
to  their  assembly  next  Lord's  Day,  to  hear  their 
minister  preach,  and  to  see  him  administer  the 
sacrament,  and  were  so  well  satisfied  that  they 
contributed  lo  their  cohection  for  the  poor. 

To  return  to  the  Parliament.  It  has  been 
observed  that  one  of  their  first  resolutions  was 
to  reduce  the  powers  of  the  spiritual  courts. 
The  old  popish  canons,  which  were  the  laws  by 
which  they  proceeded  (as  far  as  they  bad  not 
been  controlled  by  the  common  law  or  particu- 
lar statutes),  were  such  a  labyrinth,  that,  when 
the  subject  was  got  into  the  Commons,  he  knew 
not  how  to  defend  himself  nor  which  way  to 
get  out.  The  kings  of  England  had  always  de- 
clined a  reformation  of  the  ecclesiastical  laws, 
though  a  plan  had  been  laid  before  them  ever 
since  the  reign  of  King  Edward  VI.  But  the 
grievance  was  now  become  insufferable,  by  the 
numbers  of  illegal  imprisonments,  deprivations, 
and  fines  levied  upon  the  subject  in  the  late 
times,  for  crimes  not  actionable  in  the  courts  of 
Westminster  Hall ;  it  was  necessary,  therefore, 
to  bring  the  jurisdiction  of  these  courts  to  a 
parliamentary  standard  ;  but,  till  this  could  be 
accom.plished  by  a  new  law,  all  that  could  be 
done  was  to  vote  down  the  late  innovations, 
which  had  very  little  effect ;  and,  therefore,  on 
the  23d  of  January,  the  House  of  Commons 
ordered  commissioners  to  be  sent  into  all 
the  counties  to  demolish,  and  remove  out  of 
churches  and  chapels  all  "  images,  altars,  or 
tables  turned  altarwise,  crucifixes,  superstitious 
pictures,  or  other  monuments  and  relics  of  idol- 
atry," agreeably  to  the  injunctions  of  King  Ed- 
ward VI.  and  Queen  Elizabeth.  How  far  the 
House  of  Commons,  who  are  but  one  branch  of 
the  Legislature,  may  appoint  commissioners  to 
put  the  laws  in  execution,  without  the  concur- 
rence of  the  other  two,  is  so  very  questionable, 
that  I  will  not  take  upon  me  to  determine. 

The  University  of  Cambridge  having  com- 
plained of  the  oaths  and  subscriptions  imposed 
upon  young  students  at  their  matriculation,  as 
subscribing  to  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
and  to  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  the  House  of 
Commons  voted  "  that  the  statute  made  twen- 
ty-seven years  ago  in  the  University  of  Cam- 
bridge, imposing  upon  young  scholars  a  sub- 
scription, according  to  the  thirty-sixth  canon  of 
1603,  is  against  law  and  the  liberty  of  the  sub- 
ject, and  ought  not  to  be  imposed  upon  any  stu- 
dents or  graduates  whatsoever."  About  five 
months  forward  they  passed  the  same  resolu- 
tion for  Oxford,  which  was  not  unreasonable, 
because  the  universities  had  not  an  unlimited 
power,  by  the  thirty-sixth  canon,  to  call  upon 
all  their  students  to  subscribe,  but  only  upon 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


such  lecturers  or  readers  of  divinity  whom  they 
had  a  privilege  of  licensing  ;  and  to  this  I  con- 
ceive the  last  words  of  the  canon  refer :  "  If 
either  of  the  universities  offend  therein,  we 
leave  them  to  the  danger  of  the  law  and  his 
majesty's  censure." 

And  it  ought  to  be  remembered,  that  all  the 
proceedings  of  the  House  of  Commons  this 
year  in  punishing  delinquents,  and  all  their 
votes  and  resolutions  about  the  circumstances 
of  public  worship,  had  no  other  view  than  the 
cutting  off  those  illegal  additions  and  innova- 
tions which  the  superstition  of  the  late  times 
had  introduced,  and  reducing  the  discipline  of 
the  Church  to  the  standard  of  the  statute  law. 
No  man  was  punished  for  acting  according  to 
law  ;  but  the  displeasure  of  the  House  ran  high 
against  those  who,  in  their  public  ministrations, 
or  in  their  ecclesiastical  courts,  had  bound  those 
things  upon  the  subject  which  were  either  con- 
trary to  the  laws  of  the  land,  or  about  which  the 
laws  were  altogether  silent. 


CHAPTER  Vm. 

THE  ANTIQUITY    OF    LITURGIES,  AND   OF   THE    EPIS- 
COPAL ORDER,  DEBATED  BETWEEN  BISHOP   HALL 

AND       SMECTYMNUUS.  PETITIONS       FOR       AND 

AGAINST  THE   HIERARCHY. ROOT   AND    BRANCH 

PETITION. THE  MINISTERS'  PETITION  FOR  REF- 
ORMATION.  SPEECHES  UPON  THE    PETITIONS. 

PROCEEDINGS  AGAINST  PAPISTS. 

The  debates  in  Parliament  concerning  the 
English  liturgy  and  hierarchy  engaged  the  at- 
tention of  the  whole  nation,  and  revived  the 
controversy  without  doors.  The  press  being 
open,  great  numbers  of  anonymous  pamphlets 
appeared  against  the  Establishment,  not  with- 
out indecent  and  provoking  language,  under 
these  and  the  like  titles  :  Prelatical  Episcopacy 
not  from  the  Apostles ;  Lord-bishops  not  the 
Lord's  Bishops ;  Short  View  of  the  Prelatical 
Church  of  England  ;  A  Comparison  between 
the  Liturgy  and  the  Mass  Book  ;  Service  Book 
no  better  than  a  Mess  of  Pottage,  &c.  Lord 
Brook  attacked  the  order  of  bishops  in  a  trea- 
tise of  the  "  Nature  of  Episcopacy,"  wherein 
he  reflects  in  an  ungenerous  manner  upon  the 
low  pedigree  of  the  present  bench,  as  if  nothing 
except  a  noble  descent  could  qualify  men  to  sit 
among  the  peers.  Several  of  the  bishops  vin- 
dicated their  pedigree  and  families,  as  Bishop 
Williams,  Moreton,  Curie,  Cooke,  Owen,  &c., 
and  Archbishop  Usher  defended  the  order,  in  a 
treatise  entitled  "  The  Apostolical  Institution 
of  Episcopacy  ;"*  but  then  by  a  bishop  his  lord- 

*  Nalson,  in  his  Collections,  vol.  ii.,  p.  279,  280, 
and  after  him,  Collyer,  Ecclesiastical  History,  vol. 
ii.,  p.  808,  have  abridged  the  arguments  of  this  piece ; 
but  these  abstracts  do  not  show,  as  Dr.  Grey  would 
intimate,  the  extent  of  jurisdiction,  or  the  nature  of 
the  power,  according  to  Bishop  Usher's  idea,  exer- 
cised by  the  primitive  bishops.  They  go  to  prove 
only  a  superiority  to  elders  ;  and  by  a  quotation  from 
Beza,  it  should  seem  that  this  prelate,  as  Mr.  Neal 
says,  meant  by  a  bishop  only  a  president  of  the  pres- 
bytery of  a  place  or  district.  The  Presbyterians  are 
charged  with  misrepresenting  the  bishop's  opinion, 
and  with  printing  a  faulty  and  surreptitious  copy  of 
his  book.  If  this  were  done  knowingly  and  design- 
edly, it  must  rank  with  such  pious  arts  as  deserve 
censure. — Dr.  Grey. — Ed. 


ship  understood  no  more  than  a  slated  pres 
over  an  assembly  of  prcsbi/ters,.  which  the  I\ 
tans  of  these  times  were  willing  to  admit.     \ 
most  celebrated  writer  on  the  side  of  the  Esu 
lishment  was  the   learned   and   pious   Bislu 
Hall,  who,  at  the  request  of  Archbishop  Lau\ 
had  published  a  treatise  entitled  "  Episcopac^ 
of  Divine  Right,"  as  has  been  related.*     This\ 
reverend  prelate,  upon   the  gathering  of  the\ 
present  storm,  appeared  a  second  time  in  its  \ 
defence,  in  "  An  humble  Remonstrance  to  the   \ 
High  Court  of  Parliament ;"  and  some  time  af- 
ter, in  "  A  Defence  of  that  Remonstrance,"  in 
vindication  of  the  antiquity  of  liturgies  and  of 
diocesan  episcopacy. 

The  bishop's  remonstrance  was  answered  by 
a  celebrated  treatise  under  the  title  of"  Smec- 
tymnuus,"  a  fictitious  word  made  up  of  the  ini- 
tial letters  of  the  names  of  the  authors,  viz., 
Stephen  Marshal,  Edmund  Calamy,  Thomas 
Young,  Matthew  Newcomen,  and  William  Spur- 
stow.  When  the  bishop  had  replied  to  their 
book,  these  divines  published  a  vindication  of 
their  answer  to  the  "Humble  Remonstrance;" 
which,  being  an  appeal  to  the  Legislature  on 
both  sides,  may  be  supposed  to  contain  the 
merits  of  the  controversy,  and  will  therefore 
deserve  the  reader's  attention. 

The  debate  was  upon  these  two  heads  : 

1.  Of  the  antiquity  of  liturgies,  or  forms  of 
prayer. 

2.  Of  the  apostolical  institution  of  diocesan 
episcopacy. 

1.  The  bishop  begins  with  liturgies,  by  which 
he  understands  "  certain  prescribed  and  limited 
forms  of  prayer,  composed  for  the  public  ser- 
vice of  the  Church,  and  appointed  to  be  read  at 
all  times  of  public  worship."  The  antiquity  of 
these  his  lordship  derives  down  from  Moses,  by 
an  uninterrupted  succession,  to  the  present 
time.  "  God's  people,"  says  he,  "  ever  since 
Moses's  day,  constantly  practised  a  set  form, 
and  put  it  ever  to  the  times  of  the  Gospel. 
Our  blessed  Saviour,  and  his  gracious  forerun- 
ner, taught  a  direct  form  of  prayer.  When  Pe- 
ter and  John  went  up  to  the  temple  at  the  ninth 
hour  of  prayer,  we  know  the  prayer  wherein 
they  joined  was  not  of  an  extempore  and  sud- 
den conception,  but  of  a  regular  prescription ; 
and  the  evangelical  Church  ever  since  thought 
it  could  never  better  improve  her  peace  and 
happiness  than  in  composing  those  religious 
models  of  invocation  and  thanksgiving,  which 
they  have  traduced  unto  us,  as  the  liturgies  of 
St.  James,  Basil,  and  Chrysostom,  and  which, 
though  in  some  places  corrupted,  serve  to  prove 
the  thing  itself" 

Smectymnuus  replies,  that  if  there  had  been 
any  liturgies  in  the  times  of  the  first  and  most 
venerable  antiquity,  the  great  inquiries  after 
them  would  have  produced  them  to  the  world 
before  this  time;  but  that  there  were  none  in 
the  Christian  Church  is  evident  from  Tertullian 
in  his  Apology,  cap.  xxx.,  where  he  says  the 
Christians  of  those  times,  in  their  public  assem- 
blies, prayed  "  sine  monitore  quia  de  pectore," 
without  any  prompter  except  their  own  hearts. 


*  Laud  objected  to  some  of  his  positions,  and 
some  involving  important  principles,  and  Hall  was 
compliant  enough  to  adopt  his  suggestions. — Heylin's 
Laud,  398-402.     Jones's  Life  of  Bishop  Ifall,  153-166. 


364 


HISTORY    OF  THE  PURITANS. 


And  in  his  treatise  of  prayer,  he  adds,  there  are 
some  things  to  be  asked  "  according  to  the  oc- 
casions of  every  man."  St  Austin  says  the 
same  thing,  ep.  121:  "It  is  free  to  ask  the 
same  things  that  are  desired  in  the  Lord's  Pray- 
er, alits  Clique  aliis  verbis,  sometimes  in  one 
manner  of  expression,  and  sometimes  in  anoth- 
er." And  before  this,  Justin  Martyr,  in  his 
Apology,  says,  6  -puEaruc,  the  president,  or  he 
that  instructed  the  people,  prayed  according  to 
his  ability,  or  as  well  as  ha  could.  Nor  was 
this  liberty  of  prayer  taken  away  till  the  times 
when  the  Arian  and  Pelagirn  heresies  invaded 
the  Church  ;  it  was  then  first  ordained  that 
none  should  pray  "pro  arbitrio,  sed  semper 
easdem  preces;"  that  they  should  not  use  the 
liberty  which  they  had  hitherto  practised,  but 
should  always  keep  to  one  form  of  prayer. — 
Concil.  Load.,  can.  18.  Still,  this  was  a  form 
of  their  own  composing,  an  appears  by  a  canon 
of  the  Council  of  Carthage,  anno  397,  which 
gives  this  reason  for  it :  "  Ut  nemo  in  precibus 
vel  patrem  pro  filio,  vel  filium  pro  patre  nomi- 
net,  et  cum  ahari  adsistrlur  semper  ad  patrem 
iiirigatur  oratio  ;  et  quicunque  sibi  preces  ali- 
unde describit,  non  iis  utatur  nisi  prius  eas  cum 
fratribus  instructioribus  contulerit ;"  i.  e.,  "that 
none  in  their  prayers  might  mistake  the  Father 
for  the  Son,  or  the  Son  for  the  Father ;  and 
that,  when  they  assist  at  the  altar,  prayer  might 
be  always  directed  to  the  Father ;  and  whoso- 
ever composes  any  different  forms,  let  him  not 
make  use  of  them  till  he  has  first  consulted  with 
his  more  learned  brethren."  It  appears  from 
hence  that  there  was  no  uniform  prescribed 
liturgy  at  this  time  in  the  Church,  but  that  the 
more  ignorant  priests  might  make  use  of  forms 
of  their  own  composing,  provided  they  consult- 
ed their  more  learned  brethren  ;  till  at  length  it 
was  ordained  at  the  Council  of  Milan,  anno 
416,  that  none  should  use  set  forms  of  prayer 
except  such  as  were  approved  in  a  synod. 
They  go  on  to  transcribe,  from  Justin  Martyr 
and  TertuUian,  the  manner  of  public  worship  in 
their  times,  which  was  this  :  first  the  Scriptures 
were  read ;  after  reading  followed  an  exhorta- 
tion to  the  practice  and  imitation  of  what  was 
read ;  then  all  rose  up  and  joined  in  prayer ; 
after  this  they  went  to  the  sacrament,  in  the 
beginning  whereof  the  president  of  the  assem- 
bly poured  out  prayers  and  thanksgivings,  ac- 
cording to  his  ability,  and  the  people  said  Amen  ; 
then  followed  the  distribution  of  the  elements, 
and  a  collection  of  alms.  This  was  Justin 
Martyr's  liturgy  or  service,  and  Tertullian's  is 
the  same,  only  he  mentions  their  beginning  with 
prayer  before  reading  the  Scriptures,  and  their 
love-feasts,  which  only  opened  and  concluded 
with  prayer,  and  were  celebrated  with  singing 
of  psalms.  Although  the  Smectymnuans  admit 
that  our  blessed  Saviour  taught  his  disciples  a 
"form  of  pcayer,  yet  they  deny  that  he  designed 
to  confine  them  to  the  use  of  those  words  only, 
nor  did  the  primitive  Church  so  understand  it, 
as  has  been  proved  from  St.  Austin.  The  pre- 
tended liturgies  of  St.  James,  Basil,  and  St. 
Chrysostom  are  of  little  weight  in  this  argu- 
ment, as  being  allowed  by  the  bishop,  and  the 
most  learned  critics,  both  Protestants  and  pa- 
pists, to  be  full  of  forgeries  and  spurious  inser- 
tions. Upon  the  whole,  therefore,  they  chal- 
lenge his  lordship  to  produce  any  one  genuine 


liturgy  used  in  the  Christian  Church  for  three 
hundred  years  after  Christ.* 

From  the  antiquity  of  liturgies  in  general,  the 
bishop  descends  to  a  more  particular  commend- 
ation of  that  which  is  established  in  the  Church 
of  England,  as  that  it  was  drawn  up  by  wise 
and  good  men  with  great  deliberation  ;  that  it 
had  been  sealed  with  the  blood  of  martyrs,  and 
was  selected  out  of  ancient  models,  not  Roman, 
but  Christian. 

In  answer  to  which,  these  divines  appeal  to 
the  proclamation  of  Edward  VI.,  wherein  the 
original  of  it  is  published  to  the  world.  The 
statute  mentions  four  difl^erent  forms  then  in 
use,  out  of  which  a  uniform  office  was  to  be 
collected,  viz.,  the  use  of  Sarum,  of  Bangor,  of 
York,  and  of  Lincoln,  all  which  were  Roman 
rither  than  Christian;  they  admit  his  lordship's 
other  encomiums  of  the  English  liturgy,  but 
affirm  that  it  was  still  imperfect,  and  in  many 
places  offensive  to  tender  consciences. 

The  good  bishop,  after  all,  seems  willing  to 
compromise  the  difference  about  prayer.  "  Far 
be  it  from  me,"  says  his  lordship,  "  to  disheart- 
en any  good  Christian  from  the  use  of  conceived 
prayer  in  his  private  devotions,  and  upon  occa- 
sion also  in  the  public.  I  would  hate  to  be 
guilty  of  pouring  so  much  water  upon  the  spirit, 
to  which  I  should  gladly  add  oil  rather.  No; 
let  the  full  soul  freely  pour  out  itself  in  gracious 
expressions  of  its  holy  thoughts  into  the  bosom 
of  the  Almighty  ;  let  both  the  sudden  flashes  of 
our  quick  ejaculations,  and  the  constant  flames 
of  our  more  fixed  conceptions,  mount  up  from 
the  altar  of  a  zealous  heart  unto  the  throne  of 
grace ;  and  if  there  be  some  stops  or  solecisms 
in  the  fervent  utterance  of  our  private  wants, 
these  are  so  far  from  being  offensive,  that  they 
are  the  most  pleasing  music  to  the  ears  of  that 
God  unto  whom  our  prayers  come  ;  let  them 
be  broken  off  with  sobs  and  sighs,  and  incon- 
gruities of  o/r  delivery  ;  our  good  God  is  no 
otherways  affected  to  tliis  invperfect  elocution 
than  an  indulgent  parenris  to  the  clipped  and 
broken  language'  of  his  dear  child,  which  is 
more  delightful  to  him  than  any  other's  smooth 
oratory.     This  is  not  to  be  opposed  in  another 

*  Bishop  Burnet  says  [Hist.  Ref ,  part  ii.,  p.  72] 
that  it  was  in  the  fourth  century  that  the  liturgies  of 
St.  James,  St.  Basil,  &c.,  were  first  mentioned;  that 
the  Council  of  Laodicea  appointed  the  same  prayers 
to  be  used  mornings  and  evenings,  but  that  these  forms 
were  left  to  the  discretion  of  every  bishop  ;  nor  was 
it  made  the  subject  of  any  public  consultation  till 
St.  Austin's  time,  when,  in  their  dealing  with  here- 
tics, they  found  they  took  advantage  from  some  of 
the  prayers  that  were  in  some  churches ;  upon  which 
it  was  ordered  that  there  should  be  no  public  prayers 
used  but  by  common  advice.  Formerly,  says  the 
bishop,  the  worship  of  God  was  a  pure  and  simple 
thing,  and  so  it  continued  till  superstition  had  so  in- 
fected the  Church  that  those  forms  were  thought  too 
naked,  unless  they  were  put  under  more  artificial 
rules,  and  dressed  up  with  much  ceremony.  In 
every  age  there  were  notable  additions  made,  and  all 
the  writers  almost  in  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries 
employed  their  fancies  to  find  out  mystical  significa- 
tions for  every  rite  that  was  then  used,  till  at  length 
there  were  so  many  missals,  breviaries,  rituals,  pon- 
tificals, ponloises,  pies,  graduals,  antiphonals,  psal- 
teries, hours,  and  a  great  many  more,  that  the  under- 
standing how  to  officiate  was  become  so  hard  a  piece 
of  trade,  that  it  was  not  to  be  learned  without  long 
practice. 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


365 


by  any  man  that  hath  found  the  true  operations 
of  this  grace  in  himself—"  "  What  I  have  pro- 
fessed concerning  conceived  prayers  is  what  I 
have  ever  allowed,  ever  practised,  both  in  pri- 
vate and  public.  God  is  a  free  spirit,  and  so 
should  ours  be,  in  pouring  out  our  voluntary  de- 
votions upon  all  occasions  ;  nothing  hinders 
but  that  this  liberty  and  a  public  liturgy  should 
be  good  friends,  and  go  hand  in  hand  together  ; 
and  whosoever  would  forcibly  separate  them, 
let  them  bear  their  own  blame  :  the  over-rigor- 
ous pressing  of  the  liturgy,  to  the  justling  out 
of  preaching  or  conceived  prayers,  was  never 
intended  by  the  lawmakers  or  moderate  gov- 
ernors of  the  Church."  If  the  bishops,  while  in 
power,  had  practised  according  to  these  pious 
and  generous  principles,  their  affairs  could  not 
have  been  brought  to  such  a  dangerous  crisis  at 
this  time. 

2.  The  other  point  in  debate  between  the 
bishop  and  his  adversaries  related  to  the  supe- 
rior order  of  bishops.  And  here  the  controversy 
was  not  about  the  name,  which  signifies  in  the 
Greek  no  more  than  an  overseer,  but  about  the 
office  and  character  ;  the  Smectymnuan  divines 
contended  that  a  primitive  bishop  was  no  other 
than  a  parochial  pastor  or  preaching  presbyter, 
without  pre-eminence  or  any  proper  rule  over 
his  brethren.  His  lordship,  on  the  other  hand, 
affirms  that  bishops  were  originally  a  "  distinct 
order  from  presbyters,  instituted  by  the  apos- 
tles themselves,  and  invested  with  the  sole 
power  of  ordination  and  ecclesiastical  jurisdic- 
tion ;"  that  in  this  sense  they  are  of  Divine  in- 
stitution, and  have  continued  in  the  Church  by 
an  uninterrupted  succession  to  the  present  time. 
The  bishop  enters  upon  this  argument  with  un- 
usual assurance,  bearing  down  his  adversaries 
with  a  torrent  of  bold  and  unguarded  expres- 
sions. His  words  are  these  :  "  This  holy  call- 
ing (meaning  the  order  of,  bishops  as  distinct 
from  presbyters)  fetches  its  pedigree  from  no 
less  than  apostolical,  and,  therefore.  Divine  in- 
stitution. Except  all  histories,  all  authors  fail 
us,  nothing  can  be  more  plain  than  this ;  out 
of  them  we  can  and  do  show  on  whom  the 
apostles  of  Christ  laid  their  hands,  with  an  ac- 
knowledgment and  conveyance  of  imparity  and 
jurisdiction.  We  show  what  bishops,  so  or- 
dained, lived  in  the  time  of  the  apostles,  and 
succeeded  each  other  in  their  several  charges 
under  the  eyes  and  hands  of  the  then  living 
apostles.  We  show  who  immediately  succeed- 
ed those  immediate  successors  in  their  several 
sees,  throughout  all  the  regions  of  the  Christian 
Church,  and  deduce  their  uninterrupted  line 
through  all  the  following  ages  to  this  present 
day  ;  and  if  there  can  be  better  evidence  under 
heaven  for  any  matter  of  fact  (and  in  this 
cause  matter  of  fact  so  derived  evinceth  mat- 
ter of  right),  let  episcopacy  be  forever  aban- 
doned out  of  God's  Church.  Again,  if  we  do 
not  show,  out  of  the  genuine  and  undeniable 
•writings  of  those  holy  men  who  lived  both  in 
the  times  of  the  apostles  and  some  years  after 
them,  and  conversed  with  them  as  their  bless- 
ed fellow-labourers,  a  clear  and  received  dis- 
tinction both  of  the  names  and  offices  of  bish- 
ops, presbyters,  and  deacons,  as  three  dis- 
tinct subordinate  callings  in  God's  Church, 
W'ith  an  evident  specification  of  the  duty  and 
charge  belonging  to   each   of  them,  let   this 


claimed  hierarchy  be  forever  rooted  out  of  the 
Church."* 

The  bishop  adnnitst  that,  in  the  language  of 
Scripture,  bishops  and  presbyters  are  the  same; 
that  there  is  a  plaia  identity  in  their  denomina- 
tion, and  that  we  never  find  these  three  orders 
mentioned  together,  bishops,  presbyters,  and 
deacons  ;  but  though  there  be  no  distinction  of 
names,  his  lordship  apprehends  there  is  a  real 
distinction  and  specification  of  powers,  which 
are, 

1.  The  sole  right  af  ordination. 

2.  The  sole  right  of  spiritual  jurisdiction. 

1.  The  sole  right  of  ordination  his  lordship 
proves  from  the  words  of  Paul,  2  Tim.,  i.,  6  : 
"  Stir  up  the  gift  of  God  which  is  in  thee  by 
the  laying  on  of  my  hands  ;"  and  that  this 
power  was  never  communicated  to  presbyters 
from  the  words  of  St.  Jerome,  by  whom  ordina- 
tion is  excepted  from  the  office  of  a  presbyter  : 
"quid  facit  episcopus,  quod  non  facit  presbyter 
ordinatione."  And  yet  (says  his  lordship)  our 
English  bishops  do  not  appropriate  this  power 
to  themselves  :  "  Say,  brethren,  I  beseech  you, 
after  all  this  noise,  what  bishop  ever  undertook 
to  ordain  a  presbyter  alone,  or  without  the  con- 
current imposition  of  many  hands'!  This  is 
perpetually  and  infallibly  done  by  us." 

The  Smectymnuan  diwnes  contend,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  bishops  and  presbyters  were 
originally  the  same  ;  that  ordination  to  the 
office  of  a  bishop  does  not  differ  from  the  ordi- 
nation of  a  presbyter ;  that  there  are  no  powers 
conveyed  to  a  bishop  from  which  presbyters 
are  excluded,  nor  any  qualification  required  in 
one  more  than  in  the  other  ;  that,  admitting 
Timothy  was  a  proper  bishop,  which  they  deny, 
yet  that  he  was  ordained  by  the  laying  on  of 
the  hands  of  the  presbytery  as  well  as  that  of 
St.  Paul's,  1  Tim.,  iv.,  14 ;  that  the  original  of 
the  order  of  bishops  was  from  the  presbyters 
choosing  one  from  among  themselves  to  be 
stated  president  in  their  assemblies,  in  the  sec- 
ond or  third  century;  that  St.  Jerome  declares, 
once  and  again,  that  in  the  days  of  the  apostles 
bishops  and  presbyters  were  the  same  ;  that  as 
low  as  his  time  they  had  gained  nothing  but 
ordination  ;  and  that  St.  Chrysostom  and  The- 
ophylact  affirm,  that  while  the  apostles  lived, 
and  for  some  ages  after,  the  name  of  bishops 
and  presbyters  were  not  distinguished.  This, 
say  they,  is  the  voice  of  the  most  primitive  an- 
tiquity, t  But  the  Smectymnuans  are  amazed 
at  his  lordship's  assertion  that  the  bishops  of 
the  Church  of  England  never  ordained  without 
presbyters,  and  that  this  was  so  constant  a 
practice  that  no  instance  can  be  produced  of  its 
being  done  without  them.      "  Strange  !"   say 


*  Remonstrance,  p.  21.  t  Defence,  p.  47. 

:j:  In  the  debate  of  the  House  on  this  head,  the 
authority  of  that  very  ancient  parchment  copy  of 
the  Bible  in  St.  James's  library,  sent  by  Cyrillus,  pa- 
triarch of  Alexandria,  to  King  Charles  I.,  being  all 
written  in  great  capital  Greek  letters,  was  vouched 
and  asserted  by  Sir  Simon  d'Ewes,  a  great  antiqua- 
ry, wherein  the  postscripts  to  the  Epistles  to  Timo- 
thy and  Titus  are  only  this :  "  This  first  to  Timothy, 
written  from  Laodicea ;  to  Titus,  written  from  Ni- 
copolis ;"  whence  he  inferred  that  the  styling  of 
Timothy  and  Titus  first  bishops  of  Ephesus  and 
Crete  were  the  spurious  additions  of  some  Eastern 
bishop  or  monk,  at  least  five  hundred  years  after 
Christ. — RushwoTth,  vol.  iv.,  p.  284. 


366 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


they,  "when  some  of  us  have  been  eyewit- 
nesses of  many  scores  who  have  been  ordain- 
ed by  a  bishop  in  his  private  chapel,  without 
the  presence  of  any  presbyter  except  his  do- 
mestic chaplain,  who  only  read  prayers.  Be- 
sides, the  bishop's  letters  of  orders  make  no 
mention  of  the  assistance  of  presbyters,  but 
challenge  the  whole  power  to  themselves,  as 
his  lordship  had  done  in  his  book  entitled  Epis- 
copacy of  Divine  Right,  the  fifteenth  section  of 
which  has  this  title,  '  The  Power  of  Ordination 
is  only  in  Bishops.'  " 

But  the  main  point  upon  which  the  bishop 
lays  the  whole  stress  of  the  cause  is.  Whether 
presbyters  may  ordain  without  a  bishop  1  For 
the  proof  of  this,  the  Smectymnuans  produced 
the  author  of  the  comment  on  the  Ephesians, 
which  goes  under  the  name  of  St.  Ambrose, 
who  says  that  in  Egypt  the  presbyters  ordain  if 
the  bishop  be  not  present ;  so  also  St.  Augus- 
tine, in  the  same  words  ;  and  the  chorepiscopus, 
who  was  only  a  presbyter,  had  power  to  impose 
hands,  and  to  ordain  within  his  precincts  with 
the  bishop's  license  ;  nay,  farther,  the  presbyter 
of  the  city  of  Alexandria,  with  the  bishop's 
leave,  might  ordain,  as  appears  from  Con.  Ancyr. 
Carit.,  3,  where  it  is  said,  "  It  is  not  lawful  for 
chorepiscopi  to  ordain  presbyters  or  deacons  ; 
nor  for  the  presbyters  of  the  city,  without  the 
bishop's  letter,  in  another  parish ;"  which  im- 
plies they  might  do  it  with  the  bishop's  letter, 
or  perhaps  without  it,  in  their  own  ;  and  Fir- 
milianus  says  of  them  who  rule  in  the  Church, 
whom  he  calls  "  seniores  et  pra^positi,"  that 
is,  presbyters  as  well  as  bishops,  that  they  had 
the  power  of  baptizing  and  of  laying  on  of  hands 
in  ordaining.* 


*  It  may  be  some  satisfaction  to  the  reader  to  see 
the  judgment  of  other  learned  men  upon  this  argu- 
ment, which  has  broken  the  bands  of  brotherly  love 
and  charity  between  the  Church  of  England  and  all 
the  foreign  Protestants  that  have  no  bishops. 

The  learned  prelate  of  Ireland,  Archbishop  Usher, 
in  his  letter  to  Dr.  Bernard,  says,  "I  have  ever  de- 
clared my  opinion  to  be,  that  '  episcopus  et  presbyter 
gradu  tantum  differunt,  non  ordine,'  and,  consequent- 
ly, that  in  places  where  bishops  cannot  be  had,  the 
ordination  by  presbyters  stands  valid  ;  but  the  ordina- 
tion made  by  such  presbyters  as  have  severed  them- 
selves from  those  bishops  to  whom  they  have  sworn 
canonical  obedience,  I  cannot  excuse  from  being 
schismatical.  I  think  that  churches  that  have  no 
bishops  are  defective  in  their  government ;  yet,  for  the 
justifying  my  communion  with  them  (which  I  do  love 
and  honour  as  true  members  of  the  Church  univer- 
sal), I  do  profess,  if  I  were  in  Holland,  I  should  re- 
ceive the  blessed  sacrament  at  the  hands  of  the  Dutch, 
with  the  like  affection  as  I  should  from  the  hands  of 
the  French  ministers  were  I  at  Charenton."  The 
same  most  reverend  prelate,  in  his  answer  to  Mr. 
Baxter,  says,  "  that  the  king  having  asked  him  at  the 
Isle  of  Wight  whether  he  found  in  antiquity  that 
presbyters  alone  ordained  any,  he  replied  yes,  and 
that  he  could  show  his  majesty  more,  even  where 
presbyters  alone  successively  ordained  bishops,  and 
instanced  in  Jerome's  words  (Epist.  ad  Evagrium), 
of  the  presbyters  of  Alexandria  choosing  and  making 
their  own  bishops  from  the  days  of  Mark  till  He- 
raclus  and  Dionysius. — Baxter's  Life,  p.  206. 

This  was  the  constant  sense  of  our  first  Reform- 
ers, Cranmer,  Pilkington,  Jewel,  Grmdal,  Whitgift, 
&c.,  and  even  of  Bancroft  himself;  for  when  Dr. 
Andrews,  bishop  of  Ely,  moved  that  the  Scots  bish- 
ops elect  might  first  be  ordained  presbyters  in  the 
year  1610,  Bancroft  replied  there  was  no  need  of  it, 
since  ordination  by  presbyters  was  valid  ;  upon  which 


2.  The  other  branch  of  power  annexed  to  the 
episcopal  office  is  the  sole  right  of  spiritual  ju- 
risdiction ;  this  the  bishop  seems  in  some  sort 
to  disclaim:  "Whoever,"  says  he,  "challenged 
a  sole  jurisdiction  ]  We  willingly  grant  that 
presbyters  have,  and  ought  to  have,  jurisdictioa 
within  their  own  charge,  and  that  in  all  great 
affairs  of  the  Church  they  ought  to  be  consult- 
ed. We  admit  that  bishops  of  old  had  their  ec- 
clesiastical council  of  presbyters,  and  we  still 
have  the  same  in  our  deans  and  chapters  ;  but 
we  s-^y  that  the  superiority  of  jurisdiction  is  so 
in  the  bishop,  that  presbyters  may  not  exercise 
it  without  him,  and  that  the  exercise  of  exter- 
nal jurisdiction  is  derived  from,  by,  and  under 
him,  to  tliose  who  exercise  it  within  his  dio- 
cess."  This  his  lordship  proves  from  several 
testimonies  out  of  the  fathers. 

The  Smectymnuans  agree  with  his  lordship, 
that  in  the  ancient  Church  bishops  could  do  no- 
thing without  the  consent  of  the  clergy  ;  nor  in 
cases  of  excommunication  and  absolution  with- 
out the  allowance  of  the  whole  body  of  the 
Church  to  which  the  delinquent  belonged,  as 
appears  from  the  testimonies  of  Tertullian  and 
St.  Cyprian ;  but  they  aver,  upon  their  certain 
knowledge,  that  our  English  bishops  have  exer- 
cised several  parts  of  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction 
without  their  presbyters.  And  farther  (say 
they),  where,  in  all  antiquity,  do  we  meet  with 
such  delegates  as  lay-chancellors,  commissa- 
ries, and  others  as  never  received  imposition 
of  hands  1  These  offices  were  not  known  in 
those  times,  nor  can  any  instance  be  produced 
of  laity  or  clergy  who  had  them  for  above  four 
hundred  years  after  Christ. 

Upon  the  whole,  allowing  that,  in  the  third 
or  fourth  century,  bishops  were  a  distinct  order 
from  presbyters,  yet,  say  these  divines,  our 
modern  bishops  of  the  Church  of  England  differ 
very  widely  from  them  ;  the  primitive  bishops 
were  elected  by  a  free  suffrage  of  the  presby- 
ters, but  ours  by  a  conge  i'clire  from  the  king. 
They  did  not  proceed  against  criminals  but  with 
the  consent  of  their  presbyters,  and  upon  the 
testimony  of  several  witnesses  ;  whereas  ours 
proceed  by  an  oath  ex  officio,  by  which  men  are  * 
obliged  to  accuse  themselves ;  the  primitive 
bishops  had  no  lordly  titles  and  dignities,  no 
lay-chancellors,  commissaries,  and  other  offi- 
cials, nor  did  they  engage  in  secular  affairs,  &c. 
After  several  comparisons  of  this  kind,  they  re- 
capitulate the  late  severities  of  the  bishops  in 
their  ecclesiastical  courts,  and  conclude  with 
an  humble  petition  to  the  high  court  of  Parlia- 
ment, "  that  if  episcopacy  be  retained  in  the 


the  said  bishop  concurred  in  their  consecration.  And 
yet  lower,  when  the  Archbishop  of  Spalato  was  in 
England,  he  desired  Bishop 'Moreton  to  reordain  a 
person  that  had  been  ordained  beyond  sea,  that  he 
might  be  more  capable  of  preferment ;  to  which  the 
bishop  replied,  that  it  could  not  be  done  but  to  the 
scandal  of  the  Reformed  churches,  wherein  he  would 
have  no  hand.  The  same  reverend  prelate  adds,  in 
his  Apol.  Cathol,  that  to  ordain  was  i\\e  jus  antiquum 
of  presbyters.  To  these  may  be  added  the  testimony 
of  Bishop  Burnet,  whose  words  are  these  :  "  As  for 
the  notion  of  distinct  oflSces  of  bishop  and  presbyter, 
1  confess  it  is  not  so  clear  to  me,  and  therefore,  since 
I  look  upon  the  sacramental  actions  as  the  highest 
of  sacred  performances,  I  cannot  but  acknowledge 
those  who  are  empowered  for  them  must  be  of  the 
highest  office  in  the  Church." — Vindication  of  th- 
Church  of  Scotland,  p.  336. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


367 


Church,  it  may  be  reduced  to  its  primitive  sim- 
plicity ;  and  if  they  must  have  a  liturgy,  that 
there  may  be  a  consultation  of  divines  to  alter 
and  reform  the  present ;  and  that  even  then  it 
may  not  be  imposed  upon  the  clergy,  but  left 
to  the  discretion  of  the  minister  how  much  of  it 
to  read  when  there  is  a  sermon." 

By  this  representation  it  appears  that  the 
controversy  between  these  divines  might  have 
been  compromised  if  the  rest  of  the  clergy  had 
been  of  the  same  spirit  and  temper  with  Bishop 
Hall ;  but  the  court-bishops  would  abate  nothing 
as  long  as  the  crown  could  support  them  ;  and 
as  the  Parliament  increased  in  power,  the  Puri- 
tan divines  stiffened  in  their  demands,  till  meth- 
ods of  accommodation  were  impracticable. 

Whde  this  controversy  was  debating  at  home, 
letters  were  sent  from  both  sides  to  obtain  the 
judgment  of  foreign  divines,  but  most  of  them 
were  so  wise  as  to  be  silent.  Dr.  Plume,  in  the 
Life  of  Bishop  Hacket,  writes  that  Blondel,  Vos- 
sius,  Hornbeck,  and  Salmasiu's  were  sent  to  by 
the  king's  friends  in  vain  ;  Blondel  published  a 
very  learned  treatise  on  the  Puritan  side ;  but 
Deodate,  from  Geneva,  and  Amyraldus,  from 
France,  wished  an  accommodation,  and,  as 
Plume  says,  were  for  episcopal  government. 
The  papists  triumphed,  and  had  raised  expecta- 
tions from  these  differences,  as  appears  by  a 
letter  of  T.  White,  a  Roman  Catholic,  to  the 
Lord-viscount  Gage,  at  Dublin,  dated  gebruary 
12,  1639,  in  which  are  these  words  :  "We  are 
in  a  fair  way  to  assuage  heresy  and  her  episco- 
pacy, for  Exeter's  book  has  done  more  for  the 
Catholics  than  they  could  have  done  them- 
selves, he  having  written  that  episcopacy  in  of- 
fice and  jurisdiction  is  absolutely  jure  divino 
(which  was  the  old  quarrel  between  our  bish- 
ops and  King  Henry  VIII.,  during  his  heresy), 
which  book  does  not  a  little  trouble  our  adver- 
saries, who  declare  this  tenet  of  Exeter's  to  be 
contrary  to  the  laws  of  this  land.  All  is  like  to 
prosper  here,  so  1  hope  with  you  there."*  How- 
ever, it  is  certain  tlie  body  of  foreign  Protest- 
ants were  against  the  bishops,  for  this  reason, 
among  others,  because  they  had  disowned  their 
ordinations ;  and  could  it  be  supposed  they 
should  compliment  away  the  validity  of  their  ad- 
ministrations to  a  set  of  men  that  had  disowned 
their  communion,  and  turned  the  French  and 
Dutch  congregations  out  of  the  land  1  No : 
they  wished  they  might  be  humbled  by  the  Par- 
liament. Lord  Clarendon  adds,  "  They  were 
glad  of  an  occasion  to  publish  their  resentments 
against  the  Church,  and  to  enter  into  the  same 
conspiracy  against  the  crown,  without  which 
they  could  have  done  little  hurt." 

But  the  cause  of  the  hierarchy  being  to  be 
decided  at  another  tribunal,  no  applications 
were  wanting  on  either  side  to  make  friends  in 
the  Parliament-house,  and  to  get  hands  to  peti- 
tions. The  industry  of  the  several  parties  on 
this  occasion  is  almost  incredible  ;  and  it  being 
the  fashion  of  the  time  to  judge  of  the  sense  of 
the  nation  this  way,  messengers  were  sent  all 
over  England  to  promote  the  work.  Lord  Clar- 
endon, and  after  him  Dr.  Nalson  and  others  of 
that  party,  complain  of  great  disingenuity  on  the 
side  of  the  Puritans:  his  lordship  says,t  "that 
the  paper  which  contained  the  ministers'  peti- 

*  Foxes  and  Firebrands,  part  ii.,  p.  81. 
t  Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  p.  204. 


tion  was  filled  with  very  few  hands,  but  that 
many  other  sheets  were  annexed,  for  the  recep- 
tion of  numbers  that  gave  credit  to  the  under- 
taking ;  but  that,  when  their  names  were  sub- 
scribed, the  petition  itself  was  cut  off  and  a 
new  one  of  a  very  different  nature  annexed  to 
the  long  list  of  names  ;  and  when  some  of  the 
ministers  complained  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Marshall, 
with  whom  the  petition  was  lodged,  that  they 
never  saw  the  petition  to  which  their  hands 
were  annexed,  but  had  signed  another  against 
the  canons,  Mr.  Marshall  is  said  to  reply  that  it 
was  thought  fit  by  those  that  understood  bu- 
siness better  than  they,  that  the  latter  peti- 
tion should  be  rather  preferred  than  the  for- 
mer." This  is  a  charge  of  a  very  high  nature,* 
and  ought  to  be  well  supported  :  if  it  had  been 
true,  why  did  they  not  complain  to  the  commit- 
tee which  the  House  of  Commons  appointed  to 
inquire  into  the  irregular  methods  of  procuring 
hands  to  petitions  !  His  lordship  answers,  that 
they  were  prevaded  with  to  sit  still  and  pass  it 
by ;  for  which  we  have  only  his  lordship's 
word,  nothing  of  this  kind  being  to  be  found  in 
Rushworth,  Whitelocke,  or  any  disinterested 
writer  of  those  times. 

However,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  there  was 
a  great  deal  of  art  and  persuasion  used  to  get 
hands  to  petitions  on  both  sides,  and  many  sub- 
scribed their  names  who  were  not  capable  to 
judge  of  the  merits  of  the  cause.  The  petitions 
against  the  hierarchy  were  of  two  sorts  :  some 
desiring  that  the  whole  fabric  might  be  destroy- 
ed ;  of  these  the  chief  was  the  root  and  branch 
petition,  signed  by  the  hands  of  about  fifteen 
thousand  citizens  and  inhabitants  of  London : 
others  aiming  only  at  a  reformation  of  the  hie- 
rarchy ;  of  these  the  chief  was  the  ministers' 
petition,  signed  with  the  names  of  seven  hun- 
dred beneficed  clergymen,  and  followed  by  oth- 
ers, with  an  incredible  number  of  hands,  from 
Kent,  Gloucestershire,  Lancashire,  Nottingham, 
and  other  counties.  The  petitions  in  favour  of 
the  present  Establishment  were  not  less  nu- 
merous, for  within  the  compass  of  this  and  the 
next  year  there  were  presented  to  the  king  and 
House  of  Lords  no  less  than  nineteen  from  the 
two  universities,  from  Wales,  Lancashire,  Staf- 
fordshire, and  other  counties,  subscribed  with 
about  one  hundred  thousand  hands,  whereof, 
according  to  Dr.  Walker,  six  thousand  were  no- 
bility, gentry,  and  dignified  clergy.  One  would 
think  by  this  account  that  the  whole  nation  had 
been  with  them ;  but  can  it  be  supposed  that 
the  honest  freeholders  of  Lancashire  and  Wales 
could  be  proper  judges  of  such  allegations  in 
their  petitions  as  these  :  That  there  can  be  no 
Church  without  bishops  ;  that  no  ordination 
was  ever  performed  without  bishops  ;  that  with- 
out bishops  there  can  be  no  presbyters,  and,  by 
consequence,  no  consecration  of  the  Lord's 
Supper ;  that  it  has  never  been  customary  for 
presbyters  to   lay  hands   upon   bishops,  from 

*  This  charge  we  have  seen  brought  forward  by 
Dr.  Grey  to  discredit  what  Mr.  Neal  had  reported 
concerning  the  number  of  petitions  sent  up  from  all 
parts  of  the  country  against  the  clergy.  When,  as 
he  proceeded  in  his  review  of  Mr.  Neal's  history,  he 
saw  that  our  author  had  himself  laid  before  his  read- 
ers this  charge  of  Lord  Clarendon's,  it  would  have 
been  candid  in  him  to  have  cancelled  his  own  stric- 
tures on  this  point,  or  to  have  exposed  the  futility  of 
Mr.  Neal's  reply  to  his  lordship. — Ed. 


368 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS. 


whence  the  disparity  of  their  function  is  evi- 
dent ;  that  a  bishop  has  a  character  that  cannot 
be  communicated  but  by  one  of  the  same  dis- 
tinction ;  and  that  tlie  Church  has  been  gov- 
erned by  bishops,  witiiout  interruption,  for  fif- 
teen hundred  years  !  These  are  topics  fit  to  be 
debated  in  a  synod  of  learned  divines  ;  but  tlie 
taci\ing  a  hundred  thousand  names  of  freehold- 
ers on  either  side  could  prove  no  more  than 
that  the  honest  countrymen  acted  too  much  by 
an  implicit  faith  in  their  clergy.  Loud  com- 
plaints being  made  to  the  Parliament  of  unfair 
methods  of  procuring  names  to  petitions,  the 
House  appointed  a  committee  to  examine  into 
the  matter ;  but  there  being  great  faults,  as  I 
apprehend,  on  both  sides,  the  affair  was  dropped. 

The  root  and  branch  petition  was  presented 
to  the  House  December  11,  1640,  by  Alderman 
Pennington  and  others,  in  the  name  of  his  maj- 
esty's subjects  in  and  about  the  city  of  London 
and  adjacent  counties.  It  was  thought  to  be 
the  contrivance  of  the  Scots  commissioners, 
who  were  become  very  popular  at  this  time. 
The  petition  showeth,  "  that  whereas  the  gov- 
ernment of  archbishops  and  lord-bishops,  deans 
and  archdeacons,  &c.,  with  their  courts  and 
ministrations  in  them,  have  proved  prejudicial, 
and  very  dangerous  to  the  Church  and  Com- 
monwealth ;  they  themselves  having  formerly 
held  that  they  have  their  jurisdiction  or  power 
of  human  authority,  till  of  late  they  have  claim- 
ed their  calling  immediately  from  Christ,  which 
is  against  the  laws  of  this  kingdom,  and  deroga- 
tory to  his  majesty's  state  royal.  And  where- 
as the  said  government  is  found,  by  woful  ex- 
perience, to  be  a  main  cause  and  occasion  of 
many  foul  evils,  pressures,  and  grievances  of  a 
very  high  nature  to  his  majesty's  subjects,  in 
their  consciences,  liberties,  and  estates,  as  in  a 
schedule  of  particulars  hereunto  annexed  may 
in  part  appear : 

"  We  therefore  most  humbly  pray  and  be- 
seech this  honourable  assembly,  the  premises 
considered,  that  the  said  government,  with  all 
its  dependances,  roots,  and  branches,  may  be 
abolished,  and  all  the  laws  in  their  behalf  made 
void,  and  that  the  government,  according  to 
God's  Word,  may  be  rightly  placed  among  us  ; 
and  we,  your  humble  supplicants,  as  in  duty 
bound,  shall  ever  pray,"  &c. 

The  schedule  annexed  to  the  petition  con- 
tained twenty-eight  grievances  and  pressures, 
the  chief  of  which  were,  the  bishops  suspend- 
ing and  depriving  ministers  for  nonconformity 
to  certain  rites  and  ceremonies  ;  their  discoun- 
tenancing preaching ;  their  claim  of  jus  divi- 
num;  their  administering  the  oath  ex  officio; 
the  exorbitant  power  of  the  High  Commission, 
with  the  other  innovations  already  mentioned. 

The  friends  of  the  Establishment  opposed  this 
petition,  with  one  of  their  own  in  favour  of  the 
hierarchy,  in  the  following  words  : 

"  To  the  honourable   the  knights,  citizens, 
&c.,  the  petition  of,  &c.,  humbly  showeth, 

"That  whereas,  of  late,  a  petition,  subscribed 
by  many  who  pretend  to  be  inhabitants  of  this 
city,  hath  been  delivered,  received,  and  read  in 
this  honourable  House,  against  the  ancient, 
present,  and  by  law  established  government  of 
the  Church,  and  that  not  so  much  for  the  ref- 
ormation of  bishops  as  for  the  utter  subversion 
and  extirpation  of  episcopacy  itself — we,  whose 


names  are  underwritten,  to  show  there  he  many, 
and  those  of  the  better  sort  of  the  inhabitants 
of  this  city,  otherwise  and  better  minded,  do 
humbly  represent  unto  this  honourable  Plouse 
these  considerations  following : 

1.  "That  episcopacy  is  as  ancient  as  Chris- 
tianity itself  in  this  kingdom. 

3.  "  That  bishops  were  the  chief  instruments 
in  the  reformation  of  the  Church  against  po- 
pery, and  afterward  the  most  eminent  martyrs 
for  the  Protestant  religion,  and  since,  the  best 
and  ablest  champions  for  the  defence  of  it. 

3.  "  That,  since  the  Reformation,  the  times 
have  been  very  peaceable,  happy,  and  glorious, 
notwithstanding  the  episcopal  government  in 
the  Church,  and,  therefore,  that  this  govern- 
ment can  be  no  cause  of  our  unhappiness. 

4.  "  We  conceive  that  not  only  many  learned, 
but  divers  other  godly  persons,  would  be  much 
scandalized  and  troubled  in  conscience  if  the 
government  of  episcopacy,  conceived  by  them 
to  be  an  apostolical  institution,  were  altered ; 
and  since  there  is  so  much  care  taken  that  no 
man  should  be  offended  in  the  least  ceremony, 
we  hope  there  will  be  some  that  such  men's 
consciences  may  not  be  pressed  upon  in  a  mat- 
ter of  a  higher  nature  and  consequence,  espe- 
cially considering  that  this  government  by  epis- 
copacy is  not  only  lawful  and  convenient  for 
edification,  but  likewise  suitable  to,  and  agree- 
able vvith#the  civil  policy  and  government  of 
this  state. 

5.  "That  this  government  is  lawful,  it  ap- 
pears by  the  immediate,  universal,  and  constant 
practice  of  all  the  Christian  world,  grounded 
upon  Scripture,  from  the  apostles'  time  to  this 
last  age,  for  above  fifteen  hundred  years  togeth- 
er, it  being  utterly  incredible,  if  not  impossible, 
that  the  whole  Church,  for  so  long  a  time,  should 
not  discover,  by  God's  Word,  this  government 
to  be  unlawful,  if  it  had  been  so  ;  to  which  may 
be  added,  that  the  most  learned  Protestants, 
even  in  those  very  churches  which  now  are 
not  governed  by  bishops,  do  not  only  hold  the 
government  by  episcopacy  to  be  lawful,  but 
wish  that  they  themselves  might  enjoy  it. 

"Again,  That  the  government  by  episcopacy 
is  not  only  lawful,  but  convenient  for  edification, 
and  as  much  or  more  conducing  to  piety  and 
devotion  than  any  other,  it  appears,  because  no 
modest  man  denies  that  the  primitive  times 
were  most  famous  for  piety,  constancy,  and 
perseverance  in  the  faith,  notwithstanding  more 
frequent  and  more  cruel  persecutions  than  ever 
have  been  since ;  and  yet  it  is  confessed  that 
the  Church  in  those  times  was  governed  by 
bishops. 

"  Lastly,  That  the  government  of  the  Church 
by  episcopacy  is  most  suitable  to  the  form  and 
frame  of  the  civil  government  here  in  this  king- 
dom, it  appears  by  the  happy  and  flourishing 
union  of  them  both  for  so  long  a  time  together; 
whereas  no  man  can  give  us  an  assurance  how 
any  church  government  besides  this  (whereof 
we  have  had  so  long  experience)  will  suit  and 
agree  with  the  civil  policy  of  this  state.  And 
we  conceive  it  may  be  of  dangerous  conse- 
quence for  men  of  settled  fortunes  to  hazard 
their  estates  by  making  so  great  an  alteration, 
and  venturing  upon  a  new  form  of  government, 
whereof  neither  we  nor  our  ancestors  have  had 
any  trial  or  experience,  especially  considering 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


369 


that  those  who  would  have  episcopacy  to  be 
abohshed  have  not  yet  agreed,  nor  (as  we  are 
verily  persuaded)  ever  will  or  can  agree  upon 
any  other  common  form  of  government  to  suc- 
ceed in  the  room  of  it,  as  appears  by  the  many 
different  and  contrary  draughts  and  platforms 
they  have  made  and  published,  according  to  the 
several  humours  and  sects  of  those  that  made 
them ;  whereas,  seeing  every  great  alteration 
in  a  church  or  state  must  needs  be  dangerous, 
it  is  just  and  reasonable  that  whosoever  would 
introduce  a  new  form  instead  of  an  old  one, 
should  be  obliged  to  demonstrate  and  make  it 
evidently  appear  aforehand  that  the  govern- 
iricnt  he  would  introduce  is  proportionably  so 
much  better  than  that  he  would  abolish,  as  may 
recompense  the  loss  we  may  sustain,  and  may 
be  worthy  of  the  hazard  we  must  run  in  abol- 
ishing the  one,  and  introducing  and  settling  of 
the  other  ;  but  this  we  are  confident  can  never 
be  done  in  regard  of  this  particular. 

"  And  therefore  our  humble  and  earnest  re- 
quest to  this  honourable  House  is,  that  as  v/e\l 
in  this  consideration  as  all  the  other  aforesaid, 
we  may  still  enjoy  that  government  which 
most  probably  holds  its  institution  from  the 
apostles,  and  most  certainly  its  plantation  with 
our  Christian  faith  itself  in  this  kingdom,  where 
it  hath  ever  since  flourished,  and  continued  for 
many  ages  without  any  interruption  or  altera- 
tion ;  whereby  it  plainly  appears,  that  as  it  is 
the  most  excellent  government  in  itself,  so  it  is 
the  most  suitable,  most  agreeable,  and  every 
way  most  proportionable  to  the  civil  constitu- 
tion and  temper  of  this  state ;  and  therefore 
we  pray  and  hope  will  always  be  continued 
and  preserved  in  it  and  by  it,  notwithstanding 
the  abuses  and  corruptions  which  in  so  long  a 
tract  of  time,  through  the  errors  or  negligence 
of  men,  have  crept  into  it ;  which  abuses  and 
corruptions  being  all  of  them  (what  and  how 
many  soever  there  may  be)  but  merely  acci- 
dental to  episcopacy,  we  conceive  and  hope 
there  may  be  a  reformation  of  the  one  without 
a  destruction  of  the  other. 

"  Which  is  the  humble  suit  of,  &c.,  &c." 

A  third  petition  was  presented  to  the  House, 
January  23,  by  ten  or  twelve  clergymen,  in  the 
name  of  seven  hundred  of  their  brethren  who 
had  signed  it,  called  the  ministers'  petition, 
praying  for  a  reformation  of  certain  grievances 
in  the  hierarchy,  but  not  an  entire  subversion 
of  it ;  a  schedule  of  these  grievances  was  an- 
aexed,  which  being  referred  to  the  committee, 
Mr.  Crew  reported  the  three  following  as  prop- 
er for  the  debate  of  the  House  :  "  1.  The  secu- 
lar employments  of  the  clergy.  2.  The  sole 
power  of  the  bishops  in  ecclesiastical  affairs, 
and  particularly  in  ordinations  and  church  cen- 
sures. 3.  The  large  revenues  of  deans  and 
chapters,  with  the  inconveniences  that  attend 
the  application  of  them." 

Two  days  after  the  delivery  of  this  petition 
[January  25]  his  majesty  came  to  the  House, 
and  very  unadvisedly  interrupted  their  debates 
by  the  following  speech :  "  There  are  some 
men  that  more  maliciously  than  ignorantly  will 
put  no  difference  between  reformation  and  al- 
teration of  government ;  hence  it  comes  to 
pass  that  Divine  service  is  irreverently  inter- 
rupted, and  petitions  in  an  ill  way  given  in, 
neither  disputed  nor  denied,  against  the  present 

Vol.  I. — A  a  a 


established  government,  in  the  names  of  divers 
counties,  with  threatenings  against  the  bisbops 
that  they  will  make  them  but  ciphers.  Now  I 
must  tell  you  that  I  make  a  great  difference 
between  reformation  and  alteration  of  govern- 
ment ;  though  I  am  for  the  first,  I  cannot  give 
way  to  the  latter.  If  some  of  them  have 
overstretched  their  power,  and  encroached  too 
much  on  their  temporality,  I  shall  not  be  un- 
willing that  these  things  should  be  redressed 
and  reformed  ;'  nay,  farther,  if  you  can  show 
me  that  the  bishops  have  some  temporal  au- 
thority inconvenient  for  the  state,  and  not  ne- 
cessary for  the  government  of  Church  and  up- 
holding episcopal  jurisdiction,  I  shall  not  be  un- 
willing to  desire  them  to  lay  it  down  ;  but  this 
must  not  be  understood  that  I  shall  any  ways 
consent  that  their  voices  in  Parliament  should 
be  taken  away,  for  in  all  the  times  of  my  pred- 
ecessors, since  the  Conquest  and  before,  they 
have  enjoyed  it  as  one  of  the  fundamental  con- 
stitutions of  the  kingdom."  This  unhappy 
method  of  the  king's  coming  to  the  House  and 
declaring  his  resolutions  beforehand  was  cer- 
tainly unparliamentary,  and  did  the  Church  no 
service ;  nor  was  there  any  occasion  for  it  at 
this  time,  the  House  being  in  no  disposition  as 
yet  to  order  a  bill  to  be  brought  in  for  subvert- 
ing the  hierarchy. 

In  the  months  of  February  and  March,  sev- 
eral days  were  appointed  for  the  consideration 
of  these  petitions  ;  and  when  the  bill  for  the 
utter  extirpating  the  episcopal  order  was 
brought  into  the  House  in  the  months  of  May 
and  June,  several  warm  speeches  were  made 
on  both  sides  :  I  will  set  the  chief  of  them  be- 
fore the  reader  at  one  view,  though  they  were 
spoken  at  different  times. 

Among  those  who  were  for  root  and  branch, 
or  the  total  extirpating  of  episcopacy,  was  Sir 
Henry  Vane,  who  stood  up  and  argued  that, 
"  since  the  House  Ijad  voted  episcopal  govern- 
ment a  great  impediment  to  the  reformation 
and  growth  of  religion,  it  ought  to  be  taken 
away  ;  for  it  is  so  corrupt  in  the  foundation," 
says  he,  "  that  if  we  pull  it  not  down,  it  will 
fall  about  the  ears  of  those  that  endeavour  it 
within  a  few  years.  This  government  was 
brought  in  by  antichrist,  and  has  let  in  all 
kinds  of  superstition  in  the  Church  :  it  has 
been  the  instrument  of  displacing  the  most 
godly  and  conscientious  ministers,  of  vexing, 
punishing,  and  banishing  out  of  the  kingdom 
the  most  religious  of  all  sorts  and  conditions, 
that  would  not  comply  with  their  superstitious 
inventions  and  ceremonies.  In  a  word,  it  has 
turned  the  edge  of  the  government  against  the 
very  life  and  power  of  godliness,  and  the  favour 
and  protection  of  it  towards  all  profane,  scan- 
dalous, and  superstitious  persons  that  would 
uphold  their  party  :  it  has  divided  us  from  the 
foreign  Protestant  churches,  and  has  done  what 
it  could  to  bind  the  nation  in  perpetual  slavery 
to  themselves  and  their  superstitious  inven- 
tions by  the  late  canons.  Farther,  this  gov- 
ernment has  been  no  less  prejudicial  to  the  civil 
liberties  of  our  country,  as  appears  by  the  bish- 
ops preaching  up  the  doctrine  of  arbitrary  pow- 
er, by  their  encouraging  the  late  illegal  projects 
to  raise  money  without  Parliament,  by  their 
kindling  a  war  between  England  and  Scotland, 
and  falling  in  with  the  plots  and  combinations 


370 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


that  have  been  entered  into  against  this  pres- 
ent Parliament."  Sir  Harry  concludes  from 
these  premises,  "that  llie  Protestant  religion 
must  alwavs  be  in  danger  as  long  as  it  is  in  the 
hands  of  such  governors  ;  nor  can  there  be  any 
hopes  of  reformation  in  the  state  while  the  bish- 
ops have  votes  in  J'arliament ;  that  the  fruit 
being  so  bad,  the  tree  must  be  bad.  Let  us  not, 
then,  halt  between  two  opmions,"  says  he,  "  but 
with  one  heart  and  voice  give  glory  to  God  by 
complying  with  his  providence,  and  with  the 
safety  and  peace  of  the  Church  and  State, 
which  is  by  passing  the  Root  and  Branch  Bill."* 

Mr.  Sergeant  Thomas  gave  the  House  a  long 
historical  narration  of  the  viciousness  and  mis- 
behaviour of  the  bishops  in  the  times  of  popery  ; 
of  their  treasonable  and  rebellious  conduct  to- 
wards their  sovereigns :  of  their  antipathy  to 
the  laws  and  liberties  of  their  country  ;  of  their 
ignorance,  pride,  and  addictedness  to  the  pomp 
of  this  world,  to  the  apparent  neglect  of  their 
spiritual  functions  ;  and  of  their  enmity  to  all 
methods  of  reformation  to  this  day.t 

Mr.  Bagshaw  stood  up  to  reply  to  the  objec- 
tions made  against  abolishing  the  order  of  bish- 
ops. 

"  It  is  asserted,"  says  he,  "  that  it  is  of  Di- 
vine right,  which  is  contrary  to  the  statute  37 
of  Henry  VHI.,  cap.  xvii.,  which  says  they  have 
their  episcopal  authority,  and  all  other  ecclesi- 
astical jurisdiction  whatsoever,  solely  and  only 
by,  from,  and  under  the  king. 

"  It  is  argued  that  episcopacy  is  inseparable 
from  the  crown,  and  therefore  it  is  commonly 
said.  No  bishop,  no  king  ;  which  is  very  ridicu- 
lous, because  the  kings  of  England  were  long 
before  bishops,  and  may  still  depose  them. 

"  It  is  said  that  episcopacy  is  a  third  state  in 
Parliament ;  but  this  I  deny,  for  the  three  states 
are  the  king,  the  lords  temporal,  and  the  com- 
mons. Kings  of  England  have  held  several 
Parliaments  without  bishops  ;  King  Edward  I., 
in  the  24th  of  his  reign,  heia  a  Parliament  cx- 
cluso  clero;  and  in  the  Parliament  of  the  7th 
Richard  II.  there  is  mention  made  of  the  con- 
sent of  the  lords  temporal  and  the  commons, 
but  not  a  word  of  the  clergy  ;  since,  therefore, 
the  present  hierarchy  was  of  mere  human  in- 
stitution, and  had  been  found  a  very  great  griev- 
ance to  the  subject,  he  inclined  to  the  root  and 
branch  petition." 

Mr.  White  entered  more  fully  into  the  merits 
of  the  cause,  and  considered  the  present  bishops 
of  the  Church  with  regard  to  their  baronies, 
their  temporalities,  and  their  spiritualities. 

"  The  former,"  says  he,  "  are  merely  of  the 
king's  favour,  and  began  in  this  kingdom  the 
4th  of  William  the  Conqueror,  by  virtue  where- 
of they  have  had  place  in  the  House  of  Peers  in 
Parliament;  but  in  the  7th  Henry  VIII.  (1648, 
Kel.)  it  was  resolved  by  all  the  judges  of  Eng- 
land that  the  king  may  hold  his  Parliament  by 
himself,  his  temporal  lords,  and  commons,  with- 
out any  bishop ;  for  a  bishop  has  not  any  place 
in  Parliament  by  reason  of  his  spiritualities,  but 
merely  by  reason  of  his  barony,  and  according- 
ly acts  of  Parliament  have  been  made  without 
them,  as  2  Richard  II.,  cap.  iii.,  and  at  other 
times  ;  nor  were  they  ever  called  spiritual  lords 
in  our  statutes  till  16  Richard  II.,  cap,  i. 

*  Nalson's  Collections,  vol.  ii.,  p.  276. 
t  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  211. 


"  By  the  bishop's  spiritualities  I  mean  those 
spiritual  powers  which  raise  him  above  the  or- 
der of  a  presbyter ;  and  here  I  consider,  first, 
his  authority  ovei'  presbyters  by  the  oath  of 
canonical  obedience,  by  which  he  may  com- 
mand them  to  collect  tenths  granted  in  convo- 
cation, according  to  20  Henry  VI.,  cap.  xiii. 
Secondly,  his  office,  which  is  partly  judicial  and 
partly  ministerial;  by  the  former  he  judges  ia 
liis  courts  of  all  matters  ecclesiastical  and  spir- 
itual within  his  diocess,  and  of  the  fitness  of 
such  as  are  presented  to  him  to  be  instituted 
into  benefices  ;  by  the  latter  he  is  to  consecrate 
places  dedicated  to  Divine  service.  9  Henry 
VI.,  cap.  xvii.,  he  is  to  provide  for  the  officiating 
of  cures  in  the  avoidance  of  churches,  on  neg- 
lect of  the  patron's  presenting  thereunto.  He 
is  to  certify  loyal  [or  lawful]  matrimony,  gen- 
eral bastardy,  and  excommunication.  He  is  to 
execute  judgments  given  in  quare  impcdit,  qpon 
the  writ  ad  admiltendum  clericum.  He  is  to  at- 
tend upon  trials  for  life,  to  report  the  sufficiency 
or  insufficiency  of  such  as  demand  clergy  ;  and, 
lastly,  he  is  to  ordain  deacons  and  presbyters. 

"  Now  all  these  things  being  given  to  these 
bishops ;Mrc  humano,'"  says  Mr.  White,  "  I  con- 
ceive may,  for  just  reasons,  be  taken  away.  He 
affirms  that,  according  to  Scripture,  a  bishop 
and  presbyter  is  one  and  the  same  person  :  (1.) 
Their  duties  are  mentioned  as  the  same,  the 
bishop  being  to  teach  and  rule  his  church,  1 
Tim.,  iii.,  2,  5  ;  and  the  presbyter  being  to  do 
the  very  same,  1  Pet.,  v.,  2,  3.  (2.)  Presbyters 
in  Scripture  are  said  to  be  bishops  of  the  Holy- 
Ghost,  Acts,  XX.,  28.  And  St.  Paul  charges  the 
presbyters  of  Ephesus  to  take  heed  to  the  flock 
over  which  the  Holy  Ghost  had  made  them 
bishops  or  overseers  ;  and  other  bishops  the 
Holy  Ghost  never  made.  (3.)  Among  the  enu- 
meration of  church  officers,  Eph.,  iv.,  11,  where- 
of the  three  former  are  extraordinary,  and  are 
ceased,  there  remains  only  the  pastor  and 
teacher,  which  is  the  very  same  with  the  pres- 
byter. The  bishop,  as  he  is  more  than  this,  is 
no  officer  given  by  God  ;  and  it  is  an  encroach- 
ment on  the  kingly  office  of  Christ  to  admit 
other  officers  into  the  Church  than  he  himself 
has  appointed. 

"  Seeing,  then,  episcopacy  may  be  taken  away 
in  all  wherein  it  exceeds  the  presbyter's  office, 
which  is  certainly  jure  dimno,  we  ought  to'  re- 
store the  presbyters  to  their  rights  which  the 
bishops  have  taken  from  them,  as  particularly 
to  the  right  of  ordination,  excommunication, 
and  liberty  to  preach  the  whole  counsel  of  God 
without  restraint  from  a  bishop :  they  should 
have  their  share  in  the  discipline  and  govern- 
ment of  the  Church;  and,  in  a  word,  all  superi- 
ority of  order  between  bishops  and  presbyters 
should  be  taken  away."  Mr.  White  is  farther 
of  opinion  that  the  bishops  should  be  deprived 
of  their  baronies,  and  all  intermeddling  with 
civil  affiiirs ;  that  institution  and  induction,  the 
jurisdiction  of  tithes,  causes  matrimonial  and 
testamentary,  and  other  usurpations  of  the  ec- 
clesiastical courts,  should  be  restored  to  the 
civil  judicature,  and  be  determined  by  the  laws 
of  the  land. 

In  order  to  take  off  the  force  of  these  argu- 
ments in  favour  of  the  root  and  branch  peti- 
tion, the  friends  of  the  hierarchy  said  that  the 
very  best  things  might  be  corrupted  :  that  to 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


371 


take  away  the  order  of  bishops  was  to  change 
the  whole  Co.nstitution  for  they  knew  not  what ; 
they  therefore  urged  the  ministers'  petition  for 
reformation,  and  declaimed  with  vehemence 
against  the  corruptions  of  the  late  times. 

Lord  Falkland,  who,  in  the  judgment  of  the 
noble  historian,   was  the  most   extraordinary 
person  of  his  age,  stood  up  and  said, 
"  Mr.  Speaker, 

"  He  is  a  great  stranger  in  our  Israel  who 
knows  not  that  this  kingdom  has  long  laboured 
under  many  and  great  oppressions,  both  in  reli- 
gion and  liberty,  and  that  a  principal  cause  of 
both  has  been  some  bishops  and  their  adhe- 
rents, who,  under  pretence  of  uniformity,  have 
brought  in  superstition  and  scandal  under  the 
title  of  decency  ;  who  have  defiled  our  churches 
by  adorning  them,  and  slackened  the  strictness 
of  that  union  that  was  between  us  and  those  of 
our  religion  beyond  sea :  an  action  both  impol- 
itic and  ungodly.* 

"  They  have  been  less  eager  on  those  who 
damn  our  Church  than  on  those  who,  on  weak 
conscience,  and  perhaps  as  weak  reason,  only 
abstain  from  it.  Nay,  it  has  been  more  dan- 
gerous for  men  to  go  to  a  neighbouring  parish 
when  they  had  no  sermon  in  their  own,  than  to 
be  obstinate  and  perpetual  recusants.  While 
mass  has  been  said  in  security,  a  conventicle 
has  been  a  crime ;  and,  which  is  yet  more,  the 
conforming  to  ceremonies  has  been  more  ex- 
acted than  the  conforming  to  Christianity  ;  and 
while  men  for  scruples  have  been  undone,  for 
attempts  of  sodomy  they  have  only  been  ad- 
monished. 

"  Mr..  Speaker,  they  have  resembled  the  dog 
in  the  fable :  they  have  neither  practised  them- 
selves, nor  employed  those  that  should,  nor 
suflTered  those  that  would.  They  have  brought 
in  catechising  only  to  thrust  out  preaching ; 
cried  down  lectures  by  the  name  of  faction, 
either  because  other  men's  industry  in  that  duty 
appeared  a  reproof  to  their  neglect,  or  with  in- 
tent to  have  brought  in  darkness,  that  they 
might  the  easier  sow  their  tares  while  it  was 
night. 

"In  this  they  have  abused  his  majesty  as  well 
as  his  people ;  for  when  he  had  with  great  wis- 
dom silenced  on  both  parts  those  opinions  that 
will  always  trouble  the  schools,  they  made  use 
of  this  declaration  to  tie  up  one  side  and  let  the 
other  loose.  The  truth  is,  Mr.  Speaker,  as  some 
ministers  in  our  state  first  took  away  our  mon- 
ey, and  afterward  endeavoured  to  make  our 
money  not  worth  taking,  by  depraving  it,  so 
these  men  first  depressed  the  power  of  preach- 
ing, and  then  laboured  to  make  it  such,  as  the 
harm  had  not  been  much  if  it  had  been  depress- 
ed ;  the  chief  subjects  of  the  sermons  being  the 
JUS  divinum  of  bishops  and  tithes  ;  the  sacred- 
ness  of  the  clergy  ;  the  sacrilege  of  impropria- 
tions; the  demolishing  of  Puritanism  ;  the  build- 
ing up  of  the  prerogative,  &c.  In  short,  their 
work  has  been  to  try  how  much  of  the  papi.st 
might  be  brought  in  without  popery,  and  to  de- 
stroy as  much  as  they  could  of  the  Gospel,  with- 
out bringing  themselves  in  danger  of  being  de- 
stroyed by  the  law. 

"  Mr.  Speaker,  these  men  have  been  betrayers 
of  our  rights  and  liberties,  by  encouraging  such 

*  Rushworth,  vol.  iv.,  p.  184,  or  part  iii.,  vol.  i. 


men  as  Dr.  Beal  and  Manwaring ;  by  appear- 
ing for  monopolies  and  ship-money  ;  some  of 
them  have  laboured  to  exclude  all  persons  and 
causes  of  the  clergy  from  the  temporal  magis- 
trate, and,  by  hindering  prohibitions,  to  have  ta- 
ken away  the  only  legal  bounds  to  their  arbi- 
trary power ;  they  have  encouraged  all  the 
clergy  to  suits,  and  have  brought  all  suits  to  the 
council-table,  that,  having  all  power  in  ecclesi- 
astical matters,  they  might  have  an  equal  pow- 
er in  temporals ;  they  have  both  kindled  and 
blown  the  common  fire  of  both  nations,  and 
have  been  the  first  and  principal  cause  of  the 
breach  since  the  pacification  at  Berwick. 

"  Mr.  Speaker,  I  have  represented  no  small 
quantity,  and  no  mean  degree  of  guilt ;  but  this 
charge  does  not  lie  against  episcopacy,  but 
against  the  persons  who  have  abused  that  sacred 
function ;  for  if  we  consider  that  the  first  spread- 
ers of  Christianity,  the  first  defenders  of  it,  both 
with  their  ink  and  blood,  as  well  as  our  late  Re- 
formers, were  all  bishops  ;  and  even  now,  in  this 
great  defection  of  the  order,  there  are  some 
that  have  been  neither  proud  nor  ambitious ; 
some  that  have  been  learned  opposers  of  popery 
and  zealous  suppressers  of  Arminianism,  be- 
tween whom  and  their  inferior  clergy  there  has 
been  no  distinction  in  frequent  preaching  ; 
whose  lives  are  untouched,  not  only  by  guilt, 
but  by  malice  ;  I  say,  if  we  consider  this,  we 
shall  conclude  that  bishops  may  be  good  men  ; 
and  let  us  but  give  good  men  good  rules,  and 
we  shall  have  good  government  and  good  times. 

"  I  am  content  to  take  away  from  them  all 
those  things  which  may,  in  any  degree  of  pos- 
sibility, occasion  the  like  mischiefs  with  those 
I  have  mentioned:  I  am  sure  neither  their  lord- 
ships, judging  of  tithes,  wills,  and  marriages, 
no,  nor  their  voices  in  Parliament,  are  jure  di- 
vino.  If  their  revenues  are  too  great,  let  us 
leave  them  only  such  proportion  as  may  serve, 
in  some  degree,  for  the  support  of  the  dignity 
of  learning  and  encouragement  of  students. 
If  it  be  found  they  will  employ  their  laws  against 
their  weaker  brethren,  let  us  take  away  those 
laws,  and  let  no  ceremonies,  which  any  number 
count  unlawful  and  no  man  counts  necessary, 
be  imposed  upon  them ;  but  let  us  not  abolish, 
upon  a  few  days'  debate,  an  order  that  has  last- 
ed in  most  churches  these  sixteen  hundred 
years.  I  do  not  believe  the  order  of  bishops  to 
be  jure  dioino,  nor  do  I  think  them  unlawful ; 
but,  since  all  great  changes  in  government  are 
dangerous,  I  am  for  trying  if  we  cannot  take 
away  the  inconveniences  of  bishops  and  the  in- 
conveniences of  no  bishops.  Let  us,  therefore, 
go  upon  the  debate  of  grievances,  and  if  the 
grievances  may  be  taken  away  and  the  order 
stand,  we  shall  not  need  to  commit  the  London 
petition  at  all ;  but  if  it  shall  appear  that  the 
abolition  of  the  one  cannot  be  but  by  the  de- 
struction of  the  other,  then  let  us  not  commit 
the  London  petition,  but  grant  it." 

Lord  George  Digby,  an  eminent  Royalist, 
spoke  with  great  warmth  against  the  root  and 
branch  petition,  and  with  no  less  zeal  for  a  ref- 
ormation of  grievances. 

"  If  the  London  petition,"  says  his  lordship, 
"  may  be  considered  only  as  an  index  of  griev- 
ances, I  should  wink  at  the  faults  of  it,  for  no 
man  within  these  walls  is  more  sensible  of  the 
heavy  grievances  of  church  government  thaa 


372 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


myself,  nor  whose  affections  are  keener  for 
the  clipping  those  wings  of  the  prelates,  where- 
by they  have  mounted  to  such  insolence ;  but, 
having  reason  to  believe  that  some  aim  at  the 
total  extirpation  of  bishops,  I  cannot  restrain 
myself  from  labouring  to  divert  it. 

"  I  look  upon  the  petition  with  terror,  as  on 
a  comet  or  a  blazing  star,  raised  and  kindled 
out  of  the  poisonous  exhalations  of  a  corrupted 
hierarchy  :  methought  the  comet  had  a  terrible 
tail,  and  pointed  to  the  north;  and  I  fear  all  the 
prudence  of  this  House  will  have  a  hard  work 
to  hinder  this  meteor  from  causing  such  distem- 
pers and  combustions  as  it  portends  by  its  ap- 
pearance :  whatever  the  event  be,  I  shall  dis- 
charge my  conscience  freely,  unbiased  both 
from  popularity  and  court  respect."* 

His  lordship  then  goes  on  to  argue  the  un- 
reasonableness of  abolishing  a  thing  because 
of  some  abuses  that  attend  it ;  he  complains 
of  the  presumption  of  the  petitioners  in  desiring 
the  repeal  of  so  many  laws  at  once,  and  not  ap- 
plying in  a  more  modest  manner  for  a  redress 
of  grievances,  as  the  ministers  have  done.  On 
the  other  hand,  he  allows  the  behaviour  of  the 
prelates  had  given  too  just  an  occasion  for  it ; 
that  no  people  had  been  so  insulted  as  the  peo- 
ple of  England  had  lately  been,  by  the  insolen- 
ces of  the  prelates  :  "  Their  vengeance  has  been 
so  laid,  as  if  it  were  meant  no  generation,  no 
degree,  no  complexion  of  mankind  should  es- 
cape it.  Was  there  a  man  of  tender  con- 
science," says  his  lordship,  "  him  they  loaded 
with  unnecessary  impositions  ;  was  there  a 
man  of  legal  conscience,  him  they  nettled  with 
innovations  and  fresh  introductions  to  popery  ; 
was  there  a  man  of  an  humble  spirit,  him  they 
trampled  to  dirt  in  their  pride  ;  was  there  a 
man  of  proud  spirit,  him  they  have  bereft  of 
reason,  with  indignation  at  their  superlative  in- 
solence ;  was  there  a  man  faithfully  attached 
to  the  rights  of  the  crown,  how  has  he  been 
galled  by  their  new  oath  !  was  there  a  man  that 
durst  mutter  against  their  insolences,  he  may 
inquire  for  his  lugs.  They  have  been  within 
the  bishop-s'  visitation  as  if  they  would  not  only 
derive  their  brandishment  of  the  spiritual  sword 
from  ;St.  Peter,  but  of  the  material  one  too,  and 
the  right  to  cut  off  ears  ;  for  my  part,  I  am  so 
inflamed  with  these  things,  that  I  am  ready  to 
cry,  with  the  loudest  of  the  fifteen  thousand, 
Down  with  them  to  the  ground. 

"  But,  Mr.  Speaker,  we  must  divest  ourselves 
of  passion  :  we  all  agree  a  reformation  of  Church 
government  is  necessary ;  but,  before  I  can 
strike  at  the  root  and  agree  to  a  total  extirpa- 
tion of  episcopacy,  it  must  be  made  manifest  to 
me,  (1.)  That  the  mischiefs  we  have  felt  arise 
from  the  nature  of  episcopacy,  and  not  from  its 
abuse.  (2.)  Such  a  form  of  government  must 
be  set  before  us  as  is  not  liable  to  proport  ionable 
inconveniences.  (3.)  It  must  appear  that  the 
Utopia  is  practicable.  Let  us,  therefore,  lay 
aside  the  thoughts  of  extirpating  bishops,  and 
reduce  them  to  their  primitive  standard  ;  let  us 
retrench  their  diocesses ;  let  them  govern  by 
assemblies  of  their  clergy;  let  us  exclude  them 
from  intermeddlmg  in  secular  affairs,  and  ap- 
point a  standing  committee  to  collect  all  the 
grievances  of  the  Church,  and  no  man's  votes 


*  Rushworth,  p.  172. 


shall  be  given  with  more  zeal  for  redressing 
them  than  mine." 

Surely  the  bishops  must  have  behaved  very 
ill  in  the  late  limes,  that  their  very  best  friends 
could  load  them  with  such  reproaches  !  Sir 
Benjamin  Rudyard,  surveyor  of  the  Court  of 
Wards,  Sir  Harbottle  Grimstone,  with  a  great 
many  others  of  unquestionable  duty  and  loyalty 
to  the  king,  spoke  the  same  language  ;  and  it  de- 
serves to  be  remembered,  says  Lord  Claren- 
don,* that,  in  the  midst  of  these  complaints,  the 
king  was  never  mentioned  but  with  great  hon- 
our ;  all  the  grievances  being  laid  at  the  door 
of  his  ministers,  and  all  hopes  of  redress  being 
placed  in  his  majesty  alone.  At  the  close  of 
the  debate,  it  was  ordered  that  the  root  and 
branch  petition  should  remain  in  the  hands  of 
the  clerk  of  the  House  of  Commons,  with  direc- 
tion that  no  copy  should  be  delivered  out ;  but, 
after  the  throwing  out  of  the  bill  to  deprive  the 
bishops  of  their  votes  in  Parliament,  it  was  re- 
vived, and  a  bill  brought  in  by  Sir  Edward 
Deering  [May  20,  1641]  for  the  utter  extirpa- 
ting of  the  whole  order,  as  will  be  seen  here 
after. 

It  was  in  this  debate  that  some  smart  repar- 
tees passed  between  the  members :  Mr.  Grim- 
stone  argued  thus  :  that  bishops  are  jure  divino 
is  a  question  ;  that  archbishops  are  not  jure  di- 
vino is  out  of  question  ;  now  that  bishops  which 
are  questioned  whether  jure  divtno,  or  archbish- 
ops which  out  of  question  are  not  jure  divino, 
should  suspend  ministers  which  are  jure  divino, 
I  leave  to  you  to  be  considered.  To  which  Mr. 
Selden  answered,  that  the  convocation  is  jure 
divino  is  a  question ;  that  Parliaments  are  not 
jure  divino  is  out  of  the  question  ;  that  religion 
is^Mre  divino  is  no  question ;  now  that  the  con- 
vocation which  is  questionable  whether  jwrc  di- 
vino, and  Parliaments  which  out  of  the  question 
are  not;M7e  divino,  should  meddle  with  religion 
which  questionless  is  jure  divino,  I  leave  to  your 
consideration.  In  both  which  I  apprehend  there 
is  more  of  a  jingle  of  words  than  strength  of 
argument,  t 

But  the  House  was  unanimous  for  a  reforma- 
tion of  the  hierarchy,  which  was  all  that  the 
body  of  the  Puritans  as  yet  wished  for  or  desi- 
red. The  ministers'  petition  was  therefore 
committed  to  a  committee  of  the  whole  House, 
and  on  March  9  they  came  to  this  resolution  : 
"  That  the  legislative  and  judicial  power  of  bish- 
ops in  the  House  of  Peers  is  a  great  hinderancc 
to  the  discharge  of  their  spiritual  function,  prej- 
udicial to  the  commonwealth,  and  fit  to  be  taken 
away  by  bill;  and  that  a  bill  be  drawn  up. to 
this  purpose."  March  11,  it  was  resolved  far- 
ther, "  that  for  bishops  or  any  other  clergyman 
to  be  in  the  commission  of  peace, *or  to  have 
any  judicial  power  in  the  Star  Chamber  or  in 
any  civil  court,  is  a  great  hinderance  to  their 
spiritual  function,  and  fit  to  be  taken  away  by 
bill."  And  not  many  days  after  it  was  resolv- 
ed that  they  should  not  be  privy  councillors  or 
in  any  temporal  offices. 

While  the  House  of  Commons  were  thus  pre- 
paring to  clip  the  wings  of  the  bishops,  they 
were  not  unmindful  of  the  Roman  Catholics; 

*  Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  p.  203. 

t  Selden's  argument  is  considered  by  Bishop  War- 
burton  as  a  thorough  confutation  of  Grimstone's. — 
Ed. 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS. 


373 


these  were  criminals  of  a  higher  nature,  and 
had  a  deep  share  in  the  present  calamities ; 
their  numbers  were  growing,  and  their  pride 
and  insolence  insufferable  :  they  flocked  in  great 
numbers  about  the  court,  and  insulted  the  very 
courts  of  judicature  ;  the  queen  protected  them, 
and  the  king  and  archbishop  countenanced 
them  as  friends  of  the  prerogative.  Andreas 
ab  Harbenstield,  the  Queen  of  Bohemia's  chap- 
lain, advised  his  grace  of  a  popish  confederacy 
against  the  king  and  the  Church  of  England  ; 
but  when  the  names  of  Montague,  Sir  Kenelm 
Digby,  Winter,  Windebank,  and  Porter,  all  pa- 
pists, and  officers  about  the  court,  were  men- 
tioned as  parties,  the  whole  was  discredited 
and  stifled.  When  the  House  of  Commons  pe- 
titioned the  king  to  issue  out  a  proclamation 
for  putting  the  laws  in  execution  against  pa- 
pists, it  was  done  in  so  defective  a  manner  that 
the  committee  reported  it  would  avail  nothing ; 
for  in  the  clause  which  enjoins  all  popish  recu- 
sants to  depart  the  city  in  fifteen  days,  it  is  ad- 
ded, "  without  special  license  had  thereunto  ;"' 
so  that  if  they  could  obtain  a  license  from  his 
majesty,  or  from  the  lords  of  the  council,  the 
bishop,  the  lieutenant,  or  deputy-lieutenant  of 
the  county,  then  they  were  not  within  the  pen- 
alty. Besides,  the  disarming  of  all  popish  re- 
cusants was  limited  to  recusants  convicted  ;  so 
that  if  they  were  not  convicted,  a  justice  of 
peace  could  not  disarm  them.  They  observed, 
farther,  that  many  recusants  had  letters  of  grace 
to  protect  their  persons  and  estates  ;  that,  in- 
stead of  departing  from  London,  there  was  a 
greater  resort  of  papists  at  present  than  hereto- 
fore ;  and  that  their  insolence  and  threatening 
language  were  insufferable  and  dangerous.  A 
gentleman  having  given  information  in  open 
court  to  one  of  the  judges  of  the  King's  Bench, 
that  in  one  parish  in  the  city  of  Westminster 
there  were  above  six  thousand  recusants,  the 
committee  appointed  Mr.  Heywood,  an  active 
justice  of  peace,  to  collect  and  bring  in  a 
list  of  the  names  of  all  recusants  within  that 
city  and  liberties  ;  for  which  purpose  all  the  in- 
habitants were  summoned  to  appear  and  take 
the  oaths  in  Westminster  Hall ;  but  while  the 
justice  was  in  the  execution  of  his  office,  and 
pressing  one  James,  a  papist,  to  take  them,  the 
wretch  drew  out  his  knife  and  stabbed  the  jus- 
tice in  the  open  court,  telling  him,  "  he  gave 
him  that  for  persecuting  poor  Catholics."  The 
old  gentleman  sunk  down  with  the  wound,  but 
by  the  care  of  the  surgeons  was  recovered,  and 
the  criminal  taken  into  custody.*  This  Mr. 
Heywood  was  the  very  person  who,  being  com- 
manded by  King  James  I.  to  search  the  cellars 
under  the  Parliament  house  at  the  time  of  the 


*  Dr.  Grey  is  displeased  with  Mr.  Neal  for  not  in- 
forming his  reader  how  the  king  acted  on  this  occa- 
sion ;  especially  as  he  says,  according  to  the  first 
edition,  "  the  king  favours  them,"  ;.  e.,  the  papists. 
This  is  the  marginal  contents  of  the  following  para- 
graph, and  the  fact  is  there  fully  established.  With 
respect  to  the  attempt  made  on  the  life  of  Mr.  Hey- 
wood, his  majesty,  it  should  be  acknowledged,  e.x- 
pressed  a  proper  abhorrence  of  it,  and  "recommend- 
ed it  to  Parliament  to  take  course  for  a  speedy  and 
exemplary  punishment"  of  it.  For  which  the  House 
returned  their  humble  thanks.  But  this  instance  of 
royal  justice  is  not  sufficient  to  wipe  off  the  charge 
of  general  and  great  partiality  towards  the  Catholics. 
—  Rushworth's  Collections,  part  iii.,  vol.  i.,  p.  57. — Ed. 


Gunpowder  Plot,  took  Guy  Faux  with  his  dark 
lantern  in  his  hand,  which  lantern  is  preserved 
among  the  archives  of  Oxford,  with  Mr.  Hey- 
wood's  name  upon  it  in  letters  of  gold. 

The  Parliament,  alarmed  at  this  daring  at- 
tempt, sent  orders  to  all  the  justices  of  peace  of 
Westminster,  London,  and  Middlesex,  requiring 
them  to  command  the  church-wardens  to  make 
a  return  of  the  names  of  all  recusants  within 
their  parishes,  in  order  to  their  being  proceeded 
agamst  according  to  law  ;  a  k\v  days  after,  the 
like  orders  were  sent  to  the  justices  in  the  re- 
moter counties.  The  houses  petitioned  his  maj- 
esty to  discharge  all  popish  officers  in  garrisons 
or  in  the  army  who  refused  to  take  the  oaths 
of  allegiance  and  supremacy,  and  to  fill  up  their 
places  with  Protestants.  March  16,  they  peti- 
tioned his  majesty  to  remove  all  papists  from 
court,  and  particularly  Sir  Kenelm  Digby,  Sir 
Toby  Matthews,  Sir  John  Winter,  and  Mr.  Mon- 
tague, and  that  the  whole  body  of  Roman  Cath- 
olics might  be  disarmed.  The  answer  returned 
was,  that  his  majesty  would  take  care  that  the 
papists  about  the  court  should  give  no  just  cause 
of  scandal ;  and  as  for  disarming  them,  he  was 
content  it  should  be  done  according  to  law. 
So  that  their  addresses  had  no  other  effect  than 
to  exasperate  the  papists,  the  king  and  queen 
being  determined  to  protect  them  as  long  as 
they  were  able. 

There  was  at  this  time  one  Goodman,  a  sem- 
inary priest,  under  condemnation  in  Newgate, 
whom  the  king,  instead  of  leaving  to  the  sen- 
tence of  the  law,  reprieved  in  the  face  of  his 
Parliament ;  whereupon  both  houses  [January 
29,  1640]  agreed  upon  the  following  remon- 
strance : 

"  That,  considering  the  present  juncture,  they 
conceived  the  strict  execution  of  the  laws 
against  recusants  more  necessary  than  formerly, 

1.  "  Because,  by  divers  petitions  from  sever- 
al parts  of  the  kingdom,  complaints  are  made  of 
the  great  increase  of  popery  and  superstition  ; 
priests  and  Jesuits  swarm  in  great  abundance 
in  this  kingdom,  and  appear  as  boldly  as  if  there 
were  no  laws  against  them. 

2.  "  It  appears  to  the  House  that  of  late 
years  many  priests  and  Jesuits  condemned  for 
high  treason  have  been  discharged  out  of  prison. 

3.  "  That  at  this  time  the  pope  has  a  nuncio 
or  agent  in  this  city,  and  papists  go  as  publicly 
to  mass  at  Denmark  House,  and  at  St.  James's 
and  the  ambassadors'  chapels,  as  others  do  to 
their  parish  churches. 

4.  "  That  the  putting  the  laws  in  execution 
against  papists  is  for  the  preservation  and  ad- 
vancement of  the  true  religion  established  in 
this  kingdom,  for  the  safety  of  their  majesties' 
persons,  and  the  security  of  government. 

5.  "  It  is  found  that  Goodman  the  priest  has 
been  twice  formerly  committed  and  discharged; 
that  his  residence  now  in  London  was  in  abso- 
lute contempt  of  his  majesty's  proclamation ; 
that  he  was  formerly  a  minister  of  the  Church 
of  England  ;  and,  therefore,  they  humbly  desire 
he  may  be  left  to  the  justice  of  the  law." 

To  this  remonstrance  the  king  replied, 
"  That  the  increase  of  popery  and  supersti- 
tion, if  any  such  thing  had  happened,  was  con- 
trary to  his  inclination  ;  but  to  take  off  all  occa- 
sions of  complaint,  he  would  order  the  laws  to 
be  put  in  execution. 


374 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


"  That  he  would  set  forth  a  proclamation  to 
command  Jesuits  and  priests  to  depart  the  king- 
dom within  a  month  ;  and  in  case  they  either 
failed  or  returned,  they  should  be  proceeded 
against  according  to  law. 

"  As  touching  the  pope's  nuncio,  Rosetti,  his 
commission  reached  only  to  keep  up  a  corre- 
spondence between  the  queen  and  pope,  in  things 
relative  to  the  exercise  of  religion  ;  that  this 
correspondence  came  within  the  compass  of  the 
full  liberty  of  conscience  secured  her  by  the 
articles  of  marriage  ;  however,  since  Rosetti's 
character  happened  to  be  misunderstood  and 
gave  offence,  he  had  persuaded  the  queen  to 
consent  to  his  being  recalled. 

"Farther,  his  majesty  promised  to  take  care 
to  restrain  his  subjects  from  going  to  mass  at 
Denmark  House,  St.  James's,  and  the  chapels  of 
the  ambassadors. 

"Lastly,  touching  Goodman,  he  was  content 
to  remit  him  to  the  pleasure  of  the  House  ;  but 
he  puts  them  in  mind  that  neither  Queen  Eliza- 
beth nor  King  James  ever  put  any  to  death 
merely  for  religion  ;  and  desired  them  to  con- 
sider the  inconveniences  that  such  a  conduct 
might  draw  upon  his  subjects  and  other  Prot- 
estants in  foreign  countries." 

How  strange  this  assertion  !  Let  the  reader 
recollect  the  many  executions  of  papists  for  de- 
nying the  supremacy  ;  the  burning  the  Dutch 
Anabaptists,  for  whom  Mr.  Fox,  the  martyrolo- 
gist,  interceded  in  vain  ;  and  the  hanging  of 
Barrow,  Greenwood,  Penry,  &c.,  in  the  reign 
of  Queen  Ehzabeth  ;  let  him  also  remember  the 
burning  of  Bartholomew  Legate  and  Edward 
Wightman  for  the  Arian  heresy  by  King  James 
I.  (of  all  which,  and  some  others,  the  Commons, 
in  their  reply,  put  his  majesty  in  mind),  and 
then  judge  of  the  truth  of  this  part  of  his  dec- 
laration. Nor  did  the  Jesuits  regard  the  other 
parts  of  it,  for  they  knew  that  they  had  a  friend 
in  the  king's  bosom  that  would  protect  them, 
and  therefore,  instead  of  removing  out  of  the 
land,  they  lay  concealed  within  the  verge  of  the 
court.  Even  Goodman  himself  was  not  execu- 
ted,* though  the  king  promised  to  leave  him  to 
the  law,  and  though  he  himself  petitioned,  like 

*  Whitelocke  informs  us  that  the  king  left  him  to 
the  Parliament,  "and  they,"  says  Bishop  Warburton, 
"would  not  order  his  execution.  The  truth  of  the 
matter  was  this  :  each  party  was  desirous  of  throw- 
ing the  odium  of  Goodman's  execution  on  the  other, 
so  between  both  the  man  escaped."  On  this  ground, 
his  lordship  e.xclaims,  "  How  prejudiced  is  the  rep- 
resentation of  our  historian  !"  In  reply  to  this  reflec- 
tion, it  may  be  asked,  Did  it  not  show  the  king's  par- 
tiality and  reluctance  to  have  the  law  executed  against 
Goodman,  that  he  remitted  the  matter  to  the  House '{ 
Did  not  the  inflicting  the  sentence  of  the  law  lie 
solely  with  himself,  as  invested  with  the  executive 
power  ?  and  yet  he  did  not  inflict  it.  Doth  not  this 
conduct  justify  Mr.  Neal's  representation  ?  nay,  that 
representation  is  just  and  candid  if  it  pointed  to  the 
reprieve  only,  which  produced  the  remonstrance  of  the 
Parliament.  There  would  not  have  been  any  occa- 
sion for  that  remonstrance  liad  it  not  been  for  his 
majesty's  attachment  to  men  of  that  description. 

The  advocates  of  the  king  have  considered  his  con- 
duct towards  Goodman  as  an  amiable  act  of  humanity ; 
nay,  as  proceeding  from  a  mind  most  sensibly  touch- 
ed with  the  "  gallantry,"  as  it  is  called,  of  this  man 
in  petitioning  to  be  made  a  sacrifice  to  the  jnstif-e  of 
the  law,  to  serve  his  majesty's  interests  and  affairs. 
— Dr.  Grey,  and  Nalson's  Collections,  vol.  i.,  p.  746. 
— En. 


Jonah  the  prophet,  to  be  thrown  overboard  to 
allay  the  tempest  between  the  king  and  his  sub- 
jects. Such  was  his  majesty's  attachment  to 
this  people  !  to  the  apparent  hazard  of  the  Prot- 
estant religion  and  the  peace  of  his  kingdoms, 
and  to  the  sacrificing  all  good  correspondence 
between  himself  and  his  Parliament. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

FROM  THE  IMPEACHMENT  OF  THE  EARL  OF  STRAF- 
FORD TO  THE  RECESS  OF  THE  PARLIAMENT  UPON 
THE    king's    PROGRESS    IN    SCOTLAND. 

It  is  impossible  to  account  for  the  prodigious 
changes  of  this  and  the  years  immediately  suc- 
ceeding, without  taking  a  short  view  of  some 
civil  occurrences  that  paved  the  way  for  them. 
In  pursuance  of  the  design  of  bringing  corrupt 
ministers*  to  justice,  the  Parliament  began  with 
Thomas  Wentworth,  earl  of  Strafford,  an  able 
statesman,  but  a  most  dangerous  enemy  of  the 
laws  and  liberties  of  his  country,  whom  they  im- 
peached of  high  treason  November  11,  1640,  and 
brought  to  his  trial  the  22d  of  March  following. 
The  grand  article  of  his  impeachmentt  was,  "  for 
endeavouring  to  subvert  the  fundamental  laws 
»f  England  and  Ireland,  and  to  introduce  an  ar- 
bitrary and  tyrannical  government."  This  was 
subdivided  into  several  branches,  supported  by 
a  multiplicity  of  facts,  none  of  which  were  di- 
rectly treason  by  law,  but  being  put  together, 
were  construed  to  be  such  by  accumulation. 
The  earl's  reply  to  the  facts  consisted  partly  in 
excuses  and  evasions,  with  an  humble  acknowl- 
edgment that  in  some  things  he  had  been  mis- 
taken ;  but  his  principal  defence  rested  upon 
a  point  of  law,  "Whether  an  endeavour  to  sub- 
vert the  fundamental  form  of  government,  and 
the  laws  of  the  land,  was  high  treason  at  com- 
mon law,  or  by  any  statute  in  force  T'  Mr. 
Lane,  the  counsel  for  the  prisoner,  maintained, 
(1.)  That  all  treasons  were  to  be  reduced  to 
the  particulars  specified  in  the  25th  Edw.  III., 
cap.  ii.  (2.)  That  nothing  else  was  or  could  be 
treason,  and  that  it  was  so  enacted  by  the  1st 
Henry  IV.,  cap.  x.  (3.)  That  there  had  been 
no  precedent  to  the  contrary  since  that  time. 


*  They  were  a  remarkable  party  who  assembled 
round  the  council-table  of  Charles  I.  Beside  the  un- 
fortunate monarch  there  sat  the  magnificent  Buck- 
ingham, the  loyal  Hamdton,  the  severe  Strafford, 
the  high-churchman  Laud,  the  melancholy  Falkland, 
and  the  gay  and  graceful  Holland.  In  the  midst  of 
these  high  and  haughty  councils,  and  high  resolves, 
how  little  did  they  foresee  the  wretched  fate  which 
awaited  them  !  There  was  not  one  of  that  assembly 
whose  death  was  not  violent.  Charles,  Hamilton, 
Strafford,  Laud,  and  Holland  died  on  the  scaffold, 
Buckingham  fell  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin,  and 
Falkland,  under  circumstances  of  peculiar  bitterness, 
on  the  battle-field. — Jesse's  Court  of  the  Stuarts,  vol. 
ii.,  p.  348,  349.— C. 

t  When  the  Earl  of  Strafford  was  impeached,  the 
king  came  into  the  House  of  Lords  and  desired  that 
the  articles  against  him  might  be  read,  which  the 
lord-keeper  ordered  to  be  done,  while  many  lords 
cried  out.  Privilege  !  privilege  !  When  the  king  was 
departed,  the  House  ordered  that  no  entry  should  be 
made  of  the  king's  demand  of  hearing  the  articles 
read,  or  of  the  keeper's  compliance  with  it. — A  MS. 
Memorandum  of  Dr.  Birch  in  (he  British  Museum,  and 
quoted  in  the  Curiosities  of  Literature,  vol.  ii..  p.  186. 
—Ed. 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS. 


375 


And  (4.)  That  by  1  Mary,  cap.  xii.,  an  endeav- 
our to  subvert  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  land 
is  declared  to  be  no  more  than  felony. 

The  Commons  felt  the  weight  of  these  argu- 
ments, and,  not  being  willing  to  enter  into  de- 
bate with  a  private  barrister,  changed  their  im- 
peachment to  a  bill  of  attainder,  v/hich  they 
had  a  right  to  do  by  virtue  of  a  clause  in  the 
25th  Edw.  III.,  cap.  ii.,*  which  refers  the  decis- 
ion of  what  is  treason,  in  all  doubtful  cases, 
to  the  king  and  Parliament. t  The  attainder 
passed  the  Commons  April  19,  yeas  two  hun- 
dred and  four,  noes  fifty-nine  ;  but  it  is  thought 
would  have  been  lost  in  the  House  of  Lords 
had  it  not  been  for  the  following  accident,  which 
put  it  out  of  the  power  of  the  earl's  friends  to 
save  him. 

The  king  being  weary  of  his  Parliament,  and 
desirous  to  protect  his  servant,  consented  to  a 
project  of  some  persons  in  the  greatest  trust 
about  the  court  to  bring  the  army  that  was 
raised  against  the  Scots  up  to  London,  in  order 
to  awe  the  two  houses,  to  rescue  the  earl,  and 
to  take  possession  of  the  city  of  London.  Lord 
Clarendon  sayst  the  last  motion  was  rejected 
with  abhorrence,  and  that  the  gentleman  who 
made  it  was  the  person  who  discovered  the 
whole  plot.  The  conspirators  met  in  the  queen's 
lodgings  at  Whitehall,  where  a  petition  was 
drawn  up  for  the  officers  of  the  army  to  sign, 
and  to  present  to  his  majesty,  with  a  tender  of 
their  readiness  to  wait  upon  him  in  defence  of 
his  prerogative  against  the  turbulent  spirits  of 
the  House  of  Commons ;  the  draught  was  shown 
to  the  king,  and  signed,  "  In  testimony  of  his 
majesty's  approbation,  C.  R.,"  but  the  plot  be- 
ing discovered  to  the  Earl  of  Bedford,  to  the 
Lords  Say  and  Kimbolton,  and  to  Mr.  Pym, 
with  the  names  of  the  conspirators,  all  of  them 
absconded,  and  some  fled  immediately  into 
Prance. 

Mr.  Pym  opened  the  conspiracy  to  the  House 


*  The  words  of  the  statute  are, 

"  And  because  that  many  other  like  cases  of  trea- 
son may  happen  in  time  to  come,  which  a  man  can- 
not think  or  declare  at  this  present  time,  it  is  accord- 
ed that  if  any  other  case,  supposed  treason,  which  is 
not  above  specified,  doth  happen  before  any  justice, 
the  justices  shall  tarry  without  any  going  to  judgment 
of  the  treason  till  the  cause  be  showed  and  declared 
hefore  the  lung  and  his  Parliament  whether  it  ought 
to  be  judged  treason  or  felony." 

t  The  bill  of  attainder  against  the  Earl  of  Straf- 
ford being  formed  on  this  principle  and  authority, 
there  was  a  great  propriety  in  the  following  clause 
of  it,  viz. :  "  That  no  judge  or  judges,  justice  or  jus- 
tices whatsoever,  shall  adjudge  or  interpret  any  act  or 
thing  to  be  treason,  nor  hear  or  determine  treason, 
in  any  other  manner  than  he  or  they  should  or  ought 
to  have  done  before  the  passing  of  this  act."  This 
clause  has  been  considered  as  a  reflection  on  the 
bill  itself,  and  as  an  acknowledgment  that  the  case 
■was  too  hard,  and  the  proceedings  too  irregular,  to 
be  drawn  into  a  precedent.  But  this  is  a  miscon- 
struction of  the  clause,  which  did  not  intimate  any 
consciousness  of  wrong  m  those  who  passed  it ;  but 
was  meant  to  preserve  to  Parliament  the  right, 
in  future,  which  is  exercised  in  this  instance,  of  de- 
terminhig  what  is  treason  in  all  doubtful  cases,  and 
was  intended  to  restrain  the  operation  of  the  bill  to 
this  single  case.  It  showed,  observes  Mrs.  Macau- 
lay,  a  very  laudable  attention  to  the  preservation  of 
public  liberty. — Macaulay^s  History,  vol.  ii.,  8vo,  p. 
444,  note  (t) ;  and  Dr.  Harris's  Lif<!  of  Charles  L,  p. 
324,  320.— Ed.  t  Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  p.  248. 


of  Commons  May  2, 1641,*  and  acquainted  them 
that,  among  other  branches  of  the  plot,  one  was 
to  seize  the  Tower,  to  put  the  Earl  of  Strafford 
at  the  head  of  the  Irish  army  of  papists,  who 
were  to  be  transported  into  England,  and  to  se- 
cure the  important  town  of  Portsmouth,  in  or- 
der to  receive  succours  from  France ;  Sir  Will- 
iam Balfour,  lieutenant  of  the  Tower,  confess- 
ed that  the  king  had  sent  him  express  orders  to 
receive  a  hundred  men  into  that  garrison  under 
the  command  of  Captain  Billingsly,  to  favour 
the  earl's  escape  ;  and  that  the  earl  himself  of- 
fered him  £20,000  in  money,  and  to  advance  his 
son  in  marriage  to  one  of  the  best  fortunes  in 
the  kingdom.  Lord  Clarendon  has  used  all  his 
rhetoric  to  cover  over  this  conspiracy,  and  to 
make  posterity  believe  it  was  little  more  than 
the  idle  chat  of  some  officers  at  a  tavern  ;  but 
they  who  will  compare  the  depositions  in  Rush- 
worth  with  his  lordship's  account  of  that  mat- 
ter, says  Bishop  Burnet,  will  find  that  there  is  a 
great  deal  more  in  the  one  than  the  other  is  will- 
ing to  believe. t  Mr.  Echard  confesses  that  the 
plot  was  not  wholly  without  foundation.  The 
court  would  have  disowned  it,  but  their  keeping 
the  conspirators  in  their  places  made  the  Parlia- 
ment believe  that  there  was  a  great  deal  more 
in  it  than  was  yet  discovered  ;  they  therefore 
sent  orders  immediately  to  secure  the  town  and 
haven  of  Portsmouth,  and  to  disband  the  Irish 
army  ;  they  voted  that  all  papists  siiould  be  re- 
moved from  about  the  court,  and  directed  let- 
ters to  Sir  Jacob  Ashley  to  induce  the  army  to 
a  dutiful  behaviour,  and  to  assure  them  of  their 
full  pay. 

The  consequences  of  this  plot  were  infinitely 
prejudicial  to  the  king's  affairs  ;  the  court  lost 
its  reputation  ;  the  reverence  due  to  the  king 
and  queen  was  lessened  ;  and  the  House  of 
Commons  began  to  be  esteemed  the  only  bar- 
rier of  the  people's  liberties  ;  for  which  purpose 
they  entered  into  a  solemn  protestation  to  stand 
by  each  other  with  their  lives  and  fortunes  ;  the 
Scots  army  was  continued  for  their  security  ;  a 
bill  for  the  continuance  of  the  present  Parlia- 
ment was  brought  in  and  urged  with  great  ad- 
vantage ;  and,  last  of  all,  by  the  discovery  of 
this  plot  the  fate  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford  was 
determined  ;  great  numbers  of  people  crowded 
in  a  tumultuous  manner  to  Westminster,  cry- 

*  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  369,  folio.  Stratford,  as  is  well 
known,  had  been  long  distinguished  among  the  pop- 
ular leaders  of  the  House  of  Commons  for  his  vio- 
lent opposition  to  the  court.  Whether  his  defection 
was  owing  to  ambition,  the  love  of  power,  or  to  an 
awakened  dread  for  the  Constitution  of  his  country ; 
whether  it  was  the  splendid  promises  of  Charles,  ea- 
ger to  gain  over  so  powerful  a  mind,  or  a  fear  that  his 
associates  were  proceeding  to  too  great  lengths,  it  is 
now  impossible  to  determine.  However,  his  sudden 
leap  from  a  patriot  to  a  courtier  was  as  severe  a  blow 
to  his  own  party  as  it  viras  a  triumph  to  the  court. 
To  the  astonishment  of  all  men,  he  was  created  sud- 
denly, July  22,  1628,  Baron  Wentworth,  Newmarsh 
and  Oversley.  Shortlv  after  his  elevation  he  met  his 
old  friend  Pym.  "Yo'u  see,"  said  Strafford,  "that  I 
have  left  you."  "  So  1  perceive,"  was  Pym's  reply; 
"  but  we  shall  never  leave  you  as  long  as  you  have  a 
head  on  your  shoulders."  If  this  he  true,  it  is  certain 
that  Pym  kept  his  word,  and  never  lost  sight  of 
Strafford  till  he  had  brought  him  to  the  block. — Jes- 
se's Court  of  the  Sluarts,  vol.  ii.,  p  353. — C. 

t  May's  Hist.,  p.  97-99.  Rushworth,  part  iii.,  vol, 
i.,p.  291. 


376 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


ing.  Justice  !  justice  !  and  threatening  violence 
to  those  members  of  the  House  of  Commons 
who  had  voted  against  his  attainder.  In  this 
situation  of  affairs,  and  in  the  absence  of  the 
bench  of  bishops  (as  being  a  case  of  blood),  the 
hill  passed  vv'ith  the  dissent  only  of  eleven  peers. 
The  king  had  some  scruples  about  giving  it  the 
royal  assent,  because,  though  he  was  convinced 
the  earl  had  been  guilty  of  "high  crimes  and 
misdemeanors,"  he  did  not  apprehend  that  an 
"  endeavour  to  subvert  the  fundamental  form 
of  government,  and  to  introduce  an  arbitrary 
power,  was  high  treason  ;"  his  majesty  con- 
sulted his  bishops  and  judges,  but  was  not  sat- 
isfied till  he  received  a  letter  from  the  earl  him- 
self, beseeching  his  majesty  to  sign  the  bill,  in 
order  to  make  way  for  a  happy  agreement  be- 
tween him  and  his  subjects.  Mr.  Whitelocke 
insinuates*  that  this  letter  was  but  a  feint  of 
the  earl's,  for  when  Secretary  Carlton  acquaint- 
ed him  with  what  the  king  had  done,  and  with 
the  motive,  which  was  his  own  consent,  he  rose 
up  in  a  great  surprise,  and  lifting  up  his  eyes  to 
heaven,  said,  "  Put  not  your  trust  in  princes, 
nor  in  the  sons  of  men,  for  in  them  there  is  no 
salvation."!  Two  days  after  this  [May  12],  he 
was  executed  on  Tower  Hill,  and  submitted  to 
the  axe  with  a  Roman  bravery  and  courage  ; 
but  at  the  restoration  of  King  Charles  II.  his  at- 
tainder was  reversed,  and  the  articles  of  accu- 
mulative treason  declared  null,  because  what  is 
not  treason  in  the  several  parts  cannot  amount 
to  treason  in  the  whole.  J 

This  was  the  unhappy  fate  of  Thomas  Went- 
worth,  earl  of  Strafford,  once  an  eminent  patri- 
ot and  asserter  of  the  liberties  of  his  country, 
but  after  he  was  called  to  court,  one  of  the  most 
arbitrary  ministers  that  this  nation  ever  pro- 
duced. He  was  certainly  a  gentleman  of  dis- 
tinguished abilities,  as  appears  by  the  incom- 
parable defence  he  made  on  his  trial,  which 
gained  him  more  reputation  and  esteem  with 
the  people  than  all  the  latter  actions  of  his  life 
put  together ;  but  still  he  was  a  public  enemy 
of  his  country,  and  had  as  great  a  share  in 
those  fatal  counsels  that  brought  on  the  civil 
war  as  any  man  then  living.  "  The  earl,"  says 
Mr.  Echard,  "  was  of  a  severe  countenance,  in- 

*  Memorials,  p.  44. 

f  While  the  trial  was  in  progress,  the  earl  received 
the  following  remarkable  letter  from  Charles : 

"  Strafford— The  misfortune  that  is  fallen  upon 
you  by  the  strange  mistaking  and  conjunction  of 
these  times  being  such  that  I  must  lay  by  the  thought 
of  employing  jfou  hereafter  in  my  affairs,  yet  I  can- 
not satisfy  in  honour  or  conscience  without  assuring 
you  now,  in  the  midst  of  all  our  troubles,  that,  upon 
the  word  of  a  king,  you  shall  not  suffer  in  life,  honour, 
or  fortune.  This  is  but  justice,  and,  therefore,  a  very 
mean  reward  from  a  master  to  so  faithful  and  able  a 
servant  as  you  have  shown  yourself  to  be  ;  yet  it  is 
as  much  as  I  conceive  the  present  times  will  permit, 
though  none  shall  hinder  me  from  being 

"Your  constant,  faithful  friend, 

"Charles  R." 
— Strafford's  Letters,  vol.  ii.,  p.  416. 

"The  world,"  remarks  a  modern  writer,  "will  more 
readily  forgive  the  faults  of  Strafford  than  they  will 
acquit  Charles  for  having  consented  to  his  death." 
Charles,  in  his  last  moments  on  the  scaffold,  observ- 
ed, "I  will  only  observe  this — that  an  unjust  sen- 
tence, that  I  suffered  to  take  effect,  is  punished  by  an 
unjust  sentence  on  me."— King-  Charles's  Works,  p. 
208.— C.  t  Nalson's  Collections,  vol.  ii,,  p.  203. 


sufferably  proud  and  haughty,  having  a  sover- 
eign contempt  of  the  people,  whom  he  never 
studied  to  gratify  in  anything  ;  the  ancient  no- 
bility looked  upon  his  sudden  rise  and  univer- 
sal influence  in  public  affairs  with  envy,  so  that 
he  had  but  few  friends,  and  a  great  many  ene- 
mies." 

Lord  Digby,  in  his  famous  speech*  against 
the  Bill  of  Attainder,  wherein  he  washes  his 
hands  of  the  blood  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford,  has, 
n^ertheless,  these  expressions  :  "  I  confident- 
ly believe  him  the  most  dangerous  minister,  and 
the  most  insupportable  to  free  subjects,  that 
can  be  charactered.  I  believe  his  practices  iti 
themselves  have  been  as  high  and  tyrannical  as 
any  subject  ever  ventured  upon ;  and  the  ma- 
lignity of  them  is  greatly  aggravated  by  those 
abilities  of  his,  whereof  God  has  given  him  tho 
use,  but  the  devil  the  application.  In  a  word, 
I  believe  him  still  that  grand  apostate  to  the 
commonwealth,  who  must  not  expect  to  be  par- 
doned in  this  world  till  he  be  despatched  to  the 
other." 

Lord  Falkland  says,  "  That  he  committed  so 
many  mighty  and  so  manifest  enormities  and 
oppressions  in  the  kingdom  of  Ireland,  that  the 
like  have  not  been  committed  by  any  governor 
in  any  government  since  Verres  left  Sicily  ;  and 
after  his  lordship  was  called  over  from  being 
deputy  of  Ireland,  to  be  in  a  manner  deputy  of 
England,  he  and  the  junctillo  gave  such  coun- 
sels and  pursued  such  courses  as  it  is  hard  to 
say  whether  they  were  more  unwise,  more  un- 
just, or  more  imfortunate." 

Lord  Clarendon  says,t  "That  he  had  been 
compelled,  for  reasons  of  state,  to  exercise 
many  acts  of  power,  and  had  indulged  some  to 
his  own  appetite  and  passion,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  Lord-chancellor  of  Ireland  and  the  Lord 
Mount  Norris,  the  former  of  which  was  satis 
pro  impcrio,  but  the  latter  the  most  extravagant 
piece  of  sovereignty  that,  in  a  time  of  peace, 
had  been  executed  by  any  subject."  From 
whence  the  reader  may  conclude,  that  whatev- 
er encomiums  the  earl  might  deserve  as  a  gen- 
tleman and  a  soldier,  yet,  as  a  statesman,  he 
deserved  the  fate  he  underwent. 

The  execution  of  this  great  personage  struck 
terror  into  all  the  king's  late  ministers  ;  some 
of  them  resigned  their  places,  and  others  re- 
tired into  France ;  among  the  latter  was  the 
Lord-keeper  Finch  and  Secretary  Windebank. 
Six  of  the  judges  were  impeached  of  high, 
crimes  and  misdemeanors,  for  "  interpreting 
away  the  laws  of  their  country  ;"  but  the  Par- 
liament had  too  much  business  upon  their  hands 
to  attend  to  their  prosecution  at  present.  Thus 
this  unhappy  prince  was  deprived  of  those  couiv- 
sellors  who  were  in  his  own  arbitrary  senti- 
ments, and  left  as  in  a  manner  to  himself,  and 
the  powerful  influence  of  his  bigoted  queen  and 
her  cabal  of  papists  :  for  the  new  ministers  who 
succeeded  were  such  in  whom  the  king  would 
place  no  confidence.  So  that  most  men  expect- 
ed that  these  vigorous  proceedings  would  ia- 
duce  him  to  put  a  speedy  end  to  the  session. 

But  that  which  prevented  it  was  the  want  of 
money  to  pay  off  the  armies  in  the  north  -,  h» 


*  This  is  one  of  the  most  splendid  orations  of  tte 
English  Parliament.  It  is  worthy  of  close  study,  anl. 
may  he  found  at  length  in  Baker's  Chronicles. — C. 

t  Vol.  i.,  p.  250. 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS. 


377 


majesty  pressed  the  houses  to  despatch  this  af- 
fair, and  relieve  the  country  from  the  burden 
of  contribution  ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  Com- 
mons looked  upon  the  Scots  as  their  security, 
and  that,  if  they  were  sent  home,  they  should 
again  be  at  the  mercy  of  the  prerogative,  sup- 
ported by  a  standing  army.  However,  they 
had  begun  to  borrow  money  of  the  city  of  Lon- 
don towards  the  expense  ;  but  when  the  plot  to 
dissolve  the  Parliament  broke  out,  the  citizens 
declared  they  would  lend  nothing  upon  parlia- 
mentary security,  because  their  sitting  was  so 
very  precarious.  This  gave  rise  to  a  motion 
for  the  continuance  of  the  present  Parliament 
till  they  should  dissolve  themselve.s,  which  was 
presently  turned  into  a  short  bill,  and  passed 
both  houses  with  very  little  opposition,  as  the 
only  expedient  that  could  be  thought  of  to  sup- 
port the  public  credit  :  it  enacts,  "  that  this 
present  Parliament  shall  not  be  adjourned,  pro- 
rogued, or  dissolved,  without  their  own  con- 
sent," and  was  signed  by  commission  with  the 
Bill  of  Attainder  against  the  Earl  of  Strafford. 

All  men  stood  amazed  at  the  king's  weakness 
on  this  occasion ;  for,  by  this  hasty  and  unad- 
vised measure,  he  concurred  in  a  change  of  the 
whole  Constitution,  giving  the  two  houses  a  co- 
ordinate power  in  the  Legislature  with  himself, 
for  as  long  time  as  they  pleased  :,if  his  majesty 
had  fixed  their  continuance  to  a  limited  time, 
it  might  have  satisfied  the  people  and  saved  the 
prerogative  ;  but,  by  making  them  perpetual,  he 
parted  with  the  sceptre  out  of  his  own  hands, 
and  put  it  into  the  hands  of  his  Parliament. 
"This,",  says  Mr.  Echard,  "has  made  some 
writers  doubt  whether  those  who  afterward 
took  up  arms  against  the  king  could  be  legally 
termed  rebels.  For  by  passing  this  act  his  maj- 
esty made  the  two  houses  so  far  independent 
upon  himself,  that  they  immediately  acquired 
an  uncommon-  authority,  and  a  sort  of  natural 
right  to  inspect  and  censure  his  actions,  and  to 
provide  for  the  safety  of  the  kingdom." 

While  the  Commons  were  alarmed  with  the 
discovery  of  the  plot  and  the  flight  of  the  con- 
spirators, Mr.  Pym  moved  that  both  houses 
might  join  in  some  band  of  defence  for  the  se- 
curity of  their  liberties  and  of  the  Protestant  re- 
ligion ;  accordingly,  the  following  protestation 
was  drawn  up,  and  subscribed  the  very  next 
day  by  the  whole  House  [May  3]  : 

"  I,  A.  B.,  do,  in  the  presence  of  Almighty 
God,  vow  and  protest  to  maintain  and  defend, 
as  far  as  lawfully  I  may,  with  my  life,  power, 
and  estate,  the  true  Reformed  Protestant  reli- 
gion, expressed  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Church 
of  England,  against  all  popery  and  popish  inno- 
vations in  this  realm,  contrary  to  the  said  doc- 
trine ;  and  according  to  the  duty  of  my  alle- 
giance, I  will  maintain  and  defend  his  majesty's 
royal  person,  honour,  and  estate  ;  also  the  pow- 
er and  privilege  of  Parliament,  the  lawful  rights 
and  liberties  of  the  subject,  and  of  every  person 
who  shall  make  this  protestation  in  whatsoevfer 
he  shall  do,  in  the  lawful  pursuance  of  the 
same.  And  to  my  power,  as  far  as  lawfully  I 
may,  I  will  oppose,  and  by  all  good  ways  and 
means  endeavour  to  bring  to  condign  punish- 
ment, all  such  who  shall  by  force,  practice, 
counsel,  plot,  conspiracy,  or  otherwise,  do  any- 
thing to  the  contrary  in  this  protestation  con- 
tained.    And  farther,  that  I  shall,  in  all  just 

Vol.  L— B  b  b 


and  honourable  ways,  endeavour  to  preserve 
the  union  and  peace  between  the  three  king- 
doms of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland ;  and 
neither  for  hope,  fear,  nor  any  other  respect, 
shall  relinquish  this  promise,  vow,  and  protest- 
ation."* 

May  4,  this  protestation  was  made  by  all  the 
peers  present  in  Parliament,  except  the  Earl  of 
Southampton  and  Lord  Roberts  ;t  even  by  the 
bishops  themselves,  though  (as  Lord  Claren- 
dont  observes)  it  comes  little  short  of  the  Scots 
covenant.  Their  lordships,  indeed,  would  have 
interpreted  those  words,  "  the  true  Reformed 
Protestant  religion,  expressed  in  the  doctrine 
of  the  Church  of  England,"  to  have  included  the 
government  or  hierarchy  of  the  Church  ;  but  it 
was  resolved  and  declared  by  the  House,!^*  that 
by  those  words  was  and  is  meant  only  the  pub- 
lic doctrine  professed  in  the  said  Church,  so 
far  as  it  is  opposite  to  popery  and  popish  inno- 
vations ;  and  that  the  said  words  are  not  to  ex- 
tend to  the  maintenance  of  any  form  of  worship, 
discipline^  or  government,  nor  of  rites  and  cer- 
emonies. II  Within  two  days  the  protestation 
was  taken  by  eighty  temporal  lords,  seventeen 
bishops,  nine  judges,  and  four  hundred  and  thir- 
ty-eight of  the  House  of  Commons.  Next  day 
it  was  printed,  and  sent  to  the  sheriffs  and  jus- 
tices of  peace  in  the  several  counties  of  Eng- 
land, to  be  taken  by  the  whole  nation,  with  the 
following  directions :% 

" That  it  he  taken  in  the  afternoon  of 

some  Lord's  Day  after  sermon,  before  the  con- 
gregation be  dismissed,  by  all  masters  of  fami- 
lies, their  sons  that  are  of  a  proper  age,  and  men- 
servants,  in  the  manner  following.  First,  That 
notice  be  given  to  the  minister  by  the  church- 
wardens of  the  intention.  Secondly,  That  the 
minister  acquaint  the  people  in  his  sermon  of 
the  nature  of  the  protestation.  Thirdly,  That 
the  minister  first  take  it  himself,  reading  it  dis- 
tinctly with  an  audible  voice,  that  all  present 
may  hear  it ;  then  the  assembly  shall  take  the 
writing  in  their  hands,  saying  with  a  distinct  and 
audible  voice,  '  I,  A.  B.,  do,  in  the  presence  of 
Almighty  God,  vow  and  protest  the  same,  which 
the  leading  person  that  reads  it  did,'  naming 
the  person.  Fourthly,  The  names  of  all  that 
take  it  shall  be  subscribed  in  a  register ;  and 
the  names  of  those  that  refuse  shall  be  en- 
tered." 


*  Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  p.  251,  &c. 

+  "Alleging  that  there  was  no  law  that  enjoined 
it,  and  thai  the  consequence  of  such  voluntary  en- 
gagements might  produce  effects  that  were  not  in- 
tended."— Lord  Clarendon,  as  quoted  by  Dr.  Grey.— 
Ed.  t  Vol.  i.,  p.  253. 

^  Mr.  Neal,  according  to  Lord  Clarendon,  has  mis- 
represented this  matter.  For  he  says,  that  this  ex- 
planation was  procured  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
without  ever  advising  with  the  House  of  Peers.  The 
peers  had  previously  taken  the  protestation. — Hist. 
of  the  Rehelliun,  vol.  ii.,  p.  252.  Mr.  Neal  is  properly 
corrected  here  by  Dr.  Grey. — Ed. 

II  Rushworth,  part  iii.,  vol.  i. 

%  The  English  House  of  Commons  was  nominally 
made  up  of  Episcopalians,  and  it  is  not  quite  fair  to 
hold  up  the  enforcement  of  this  protestation,  and  oth- 
er measures  of  the  Long  Parliament,  as  Presbyterian 
intolerance.  It  was  two  years  after  before  the  Sol- 
emn League  and  Covenant  was  established.— See  the 
History  of  the  Westminster  Assembly,  by  Rev.  W.  M. 
Hetherington. — C. 


378 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS. 


The  cities  of  London  and  Westminster  ob- 
served these  directions,  but  tlie  remoter  coun- 
ties were  complained  of  for  neglect;  upon 
which  the  House  of  Commons  passed  a  bill  to 
oblige  all  persons  to  take  it  throughout  the  king- 
dom ;  which  was  lost  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
llie  whole  bench  of  bishops  opposing  it ;  where- 
upon the  Commons  came  to  this  resolution, 
that  ''whosoever  would  not  take  the  protesta- 
tion was  unfit  to  bear  offices  in  the  Church  or 
commonwealth." 

This  was  carrying  matters  to  a  very  extraor- 
dinary length.  There  had  been  a  parliament- 
ary association  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
which  her  majesty  confirmed,  and  a  solemn 
league  and  covenant  in  Scotland,  which  the 
king  had  complied  with  ;  but  the  enforcing  a 
protestation  or  vow  upon  his  majesty's  subjects 
without  his  consent  was  assuming  a  power 
■which  even  this  dangerous  crisis  of  affairs,  and 
the  uncommon  authority  with  which  this  Par- 
liament was  invested  by  the  late  Act  of  Contin- 
uance, can  by  no  means  support  or  justify. 
The  odium  of  putting  a  stop  to  the  protestation 
fell  upon  the  bench  of  bishops,  who  were  al- 
ready sinking  under  their  own  weight  ;  and  his 
majesty's  not  interposing  in  this  affair  at  all 
was  afterward  made  use  of  as  a  precedent  for 
imposing  the  solemn  league  and  covenant  upon 
Ihe  whole  kingdom  without  his  concurrence* 

The  Puritans  had  also  objected  to  the  lordly 
titles  and  dignities  of  the  bishops;  but  their 
voles  in  the  House  of  Peers  were  now  esteem- 
ed a  very  great  grievance,  and  an  effectual  bar 
to  the  proceedings  of  Parliament.  It  was  re- 
membered that  they  had  been  always  averse  to 
reformation  ;  that  they  had  voted  unanimously 
against  the  supremacy  in  King  Henry  VHI.'s 
reign,  and  against  the  Act  of  Uniformity  in 
Queen  Elizabeth's.  It  was  now  observed  that 
they  were  the  creatures  of  the  court,  and  a  dead 
weight  against  all  reformation  in  Church  or 
State  ;  twenty-six  votes  being  sufficient  at  any 
time  to  turn  the  scale  in  that  House,  whose  full 
number  was  not  above  a  hundred  ;  it  was  there- 
fore moved  that  a  bill  might  be  brought  in  to 
take  away  their  seats  in  Parliament,  which  was 
readily  agreed  to.  The  bill,  says  Lord  Claren- 
don,! was  drawn  up  with  great  deliberation, 
and  was  entitled,  "  An  Act  for  restraining 
Bishops,  and  others  of  the  Clergy  in  Holy  Or- 
ders, from  intermeddling  in  Secular  Affairs." 
It  consisted  of  several  branches  ;  as,  "  that  no 
bishop  should  have  a  vote  in  Parliament,  nor 
any  judicial  power  in  the  Star  Chamber,  nor  be 
a  privy  councillor,  nor  a  judge  in  any  temporal 
courts ;  nor  should  any  clergyman  be  in  the 
commission  of  peace."  To  make  way  for  the 
passing  of  this  bill,  it  was  alleged  that  if  this 
were  granted  the  Commons  would  be  satisfied, 
and  little  or  nothing  farther  attempted  to  the 
prejudice  of  the  Church.  It  therefore  passed 
the  House  of  Commons  without  opposition,  and 
was  sent  up  to  the  House  of  Peers  May  1, 1641. 
Mr.  Fuller  saysj  that  Lord  Kimbolton  would 
have  persuaded  the  bishops  to  resign  their  votes 
in  Parliament,  adding,  that  then  the  temporal 
lords  would  be  obliged  in  honour  to  preserve 
their  jurisdiction  and  revenues.  The  Earl  of 
Essex  also  employed  somebody  to  treat  private- 


*  Nalson's  Col,  vol.  ii.,  p.  414. 

+  Vol.  i.,  p.  234.  t  Book  ix.,  p.  185. 


ly  with  the  bishops  on  the  same  head  ;  but 
they  rejected  all  overtures  of  accommodation, 
resolving  to  make  their  utmost  efforts,  and  to 
keep  possession  of  their  seats  till  a  superior 
strength  should  dispossess  them;  accordingly, 
the  bill  niet  with  a  vigorous  opposition  in  the 
Upper  House,  and  after  a  second  reading  was 
thrown  out,  without  so  much  as  being  commit- 
ted (a  countenance  frequently  given  to  bills 
they  never  intend  to  pass) ;  but  the  whole 
bench  of  bishops  voting  for  themselves,  it  is  no 
wonder  it  was  lost  by  a  considerable  majority. 
Mr.  Fuller  says  it  would  have  been  thrown  out 
if  the  bishops  had  not  voted  at  all  ;  for  though 
the  temporal  lords  were  content  to  exclude 
them  from  all  secular  offices  and  employments 
in  the  state,  they  were  in  no  disposition  to  take 
away  their  suffrages  in  the  House  of  Peers. 

Many  learned  speeches  were  made  in  both 
houses  upon  this  occasion  ;  the  reasons  of  the 
Commons  for  passing  the  bill  were  these  :  (1.) 
Because  their  attendance  on  secular  affairs,  not 
relating  to  the  Church,  is  a  great  hinderance  to 
their  spiritual  function.*  "No  man  thalfwar- 
reth,"  saith  St.  Paul  to  Timothy,  "  entangleth 
himself  with  the  affairs  of  this  life."  (2.)  Be- 
cause it  is  contrary  to  their  ordination-vow, 
for  when  they  enter  into  holy  orders  they  prom- 
ise to  give  themselves  wholly  to  that  vocation. 
(3  )  Because  councils  and  canons  in  several 
ages  have  forbid  their  meddling  in  secular  af- 
fairs. (4.)  Because  the  twenty-four  bishops  de- 
pend on  the  two  archbishops,  and  take  an  oath 
of  canonical  obedience  to  them.  (5.)  Because 
their  peerage  is  not  of  the  same  nature  with  the 
temporal  lords,  being  but  for  life.  (6.)  Because 
they  depend  on  the  crown  for  translation  to 
greater  bishoprics.  (7.)  Because  it  is  not  fit 
that  twenty-six  of  them  should  sit  as  judges 
upon  complaints  brought  against  themselves 
and  their  order. t 

Bishop  Williams  published  an  answer  to 
these  reasons,  entitled  the  Ab.stract,  to  which 
there  presently  came  out  a  reply.  The  chief 
speakers  on  behalf  of  the  bishops,  in  the  House 
of  Peers,'  were  the  Lord-viscount  Newark,  af- 
terward Earl  of  Kingston,  Dr.  Williams,  lord- 
bishop  of  Lincoln,  afterward  Archbishop  of 
York,  the  Marquis  of  Hereford,  the  Earls  of 
Southampton,  Bath,  and  Bristol.  But  instead 
of  transcribing  their  speeches,  I  will  give  the 
reader  a  summary  of  their  arguments,  and  of 
their  adversaries'  reply. 

First,  It  was  argued  that  "  bishops  had  voted 
in  Parliament  almost  ever  since  the  Conquest, 
according  to  Matthew  Paris,  Sir  Henry  Spel- 


*  Rushworth,  p.  281.  Nalson's  Collections,  vol. 
ii.,  p.  260. 

t  On  these  reasons.  Dr.  Harris  observes,  "  That, 
whatever  might  have  been  thought  of  them  at  that 
time,  we  are  to  suppose  that  they  have  long  been  of 
no  force.  The  zeal  for  the  Constitution  in  Church 
and  State,  the  abhorrence  of  all  ministerial  measures 
inconsistent  therewith,  the  opposition  to  everything 
contrary  to  hberty  and  the  public  good  ;  and,  above 
all,  the  self-denial  and  contempt  of  the  world,  hu- 
mility, and  constant  discharge  of  episcopal  duties, 
required  in  the  New  Testament ;  1  say  all  these 
things  show  how  much  tlie  bishops  since  the  Refor- 
mation are  altered,  and  how  much  those  are  mista- 
ken who  represent  them  as  a  dead  weight  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  and  a  useless  expense  to  the  pub- 
lic."—ij/e  of  Charles  I.,  p.  330,  331. 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


379 


man,  and  others."  To  which  it  was  replied,* 
that  time  and  usage  ought  to  be  of  no  weight 
■with  lawmakers,  on  the  behalf  of  things  which 
are  allowed  to  be  inconvenient :  abbots  had  vo- 
ted as  anciently  in  Parliament  as  bishops,  and 
yet  their  votes  were  taken  away. 

Secondly,  It  was  said  that  "the  bishops  vo- 
ting was  no  considerable  hinderance  in  their 
spiritual  function  ;  for  Parliaments  were  to  sit 
but  once  in  three  years,  and  then  but  for  a 
month  or  two  together ;  but  though  no  clergy- 
man should  entangle  himself  with  the  affairs  of 
this  life,  the  apostle  does  not  exclude  him  from 
intermeddling."  To  which  it  was  answered, 
that  the  episcopal  function,  if  well  discharged, 
"was  enough  for  all  their  time  and  thoughts  ; 
and  that  their  diocesses  were  large  enough  to 
employ  all  their  labours,  in  visitation,  confirma- 
tion, preaching,  &c.  The  design  of  the  Apos- 
tle Paul  was  certainly  to  exhort  Timothy  to 
withdraw  himself  as  much  as  possible  from  the 
affairs  of  this  life,  that  his  thoughts  might  be 
more  entire  for  his  evangelical  work ;  and, 
therefore,  in  another  place,  he  exhorts  him  to 
give  himself  wholly  to  these  things. 

Thirdly,  It  was  said  that  "  clergymen  had  al- 
ways been  in  the  commission  of  the  peace,  from 
the  first  planting  of  Christianity,  and  that  they 
■were  best  qualified  for  it."  To  which  it  was 
answered,  that  they  were  most  unfit  for  this  em- 
ployment, because  it  had  a  direct  tendency  to 
hinder  their  usefulness  in  their  pulpits;  and  to 
the  fact  it  was  replied,  that  the  first  clergymen 
that  were  made  justices  of  the  peace,  or  had 
power  in  temporal  jurisdiction,  were  the  Bish- 
ops of  Durham  and  York,  34  Edvv.  III.  That 
before  the  Act  of  Conformity,  1  Edw.  VI.,  the 
clergy  were  not  put  in  commission  for  the 
peace  ;  and  that  the  reason  of  their  being  then 
admitted  was,  that  they  might  persuade  the 
people  to  conformity  ;  but  if  in  conscience  they 
held  it  not  consistent  with  their  spiritual  call- 
ing, they  might  refuse. 

It  was  farther  said,  that  the  taking  away  one 
whole  bench  out  of  the  House  of  Peers  was  an 
ill  precedent,  and  might  encourage  the  Com- 
mons one  time  or  other  to  cut  off  the  barons,  or 
some  other  degree  of  the  nobility.  To  which 
it  was  replied,  that  the  peerage  of  the  bishops 
did  not  stand  upon  the  same  footing  with  the 
rest  of  the  nobility,  because  their  honour  does 
not  descend  to  their  posterity,  and  because  they 
have  no  right  to  vote  in  cases  of  blood  ;  if  they 
had  the  same  right  of  peerage  with  the  tempo- 
ral lords,  no  canon  of  the  Church  oould  deprive 
them  of  it ;  for  it  was  never  known  that  the 
canons  of  the  Church  pretended  to  deprive  the 
barons  of  England  of  any  part  of  their  inherent 
jurisdiction. 

It  was  argued  farther,  that  if  the  bench  of 
bishops  were  deprived  of  their  votes,  they  would 
be  left  under  very  great  disadvantages ;  for 
whereas  the  meanest  commoner  is  represented 
in  the  Lower  House,  the  bishops  will  be  thrown 
out  of  this  common  benefit ;  and.  if  they  have 
no  share  in  consenting  to  the  laws,  neither  in 
their  persons  nor  representatives,  what  justice 
can  oblige  them  to  keep  those  laws  1 

To  which  it  was  replied,  that  they  have  the 
same  sliare  in  the  Legislature  with  the  rest  of 
the  freeholders  of  England ;  nor  is  there  any 

*  Nalson's  Collections,  vol.  ii.,  p.  251,  &c. 


more  reason  that  the  bishops,  as  bishops,  should 
be  a  part  of  the  Legislature,  than  the  judges  or 
the  lawyers,  as  such,  or  any  other  incorporated 
profession  of  learned  men. 

But  the  principal  argument  that  was  urged 
in  favour  of  bishops  was,  that  "  they  were  one 
of  the  three  estates  in  Parliament ;  that  as  such 
they  were  the  representatives  of  the  whole  body 
of  the  clergy,  and,  therefore,  to  turn  them  out 
would  be  to  alter  the  Constitution,  and  to  take 
away  one  whole  branch  of  the  Legislature  :  the 
Parliament  would  not  then  be  the  complete  rep- 
resentative body  of  the  nation,  nor  would  the 
laws  which  were  enacted  in  their  absence  be 
valid.  To  support  this  assertion  it  was  said, 
(1.)  That  the  clergy  in  all  other  Christian  king- 
doms of  these  northern  parts  make  up  a  third 
estate,  as  in  Germany,  France,  Spain,  Poland, 
Denmark,  Scotland  ;  and,  therefore,  why  not  in 
England^  (2.)  When  King  Henry  V.  was  bu- 
ried, it  is  said  the  three  estates  assembled,  and 
declared  his  son  Henry  VI.  his  successor.  The 
petition  to  Richard,  duke  of  Gloucester,  to  ac- 
cept the  crown,  runs  in  the  name  of  the  three 
estates  ;  and  in  his  Parliament  it  is  said  ex- 
pressly, that  at  the  request  of  the  three  estates 
((.  e.,  the  lords  spiritual  and  temporal,  and 
commons  in  Parliament  assembled),  he  was 
declared  undoubted  king  of  these  realms ;  to 
which  may  be  added,  the  statute  of  1  Eliz.,  cap. 
iii.,  where  the  lords  spiritual  and  temporal,  and 
commons,  are  said  to  represent  the  three  es- 
tates of  this  realm. 

It  was  replied  to  this,  that  the  bishops  did 
not  sit  in  the  House  as  a  third  estate,  nor  as 
bishops,  but  only  in  the  right  of  their  baronies 
annexed  to  their  bishoprics,  5  Will.  I.  All 
the  bishops  have  baronies  except  the  Bishop  of 
Man,  who  is  as  much  a  bishop,  to  all  intents 
and  purposes  of  jurisdiction  and  ordination,  as 
the  others,  but  has  no  place  in  Parliament,  be- 
cause he  does  not  hold  per  iniegram  baronium. 
It  must  be  admitted,  that  in  ancient  times  the 
lords  spiritual  are  sometimes  mentioned  as  a 
third  estate  of  the  realm,  but  it  could  not  be  in- 
tended by  this  that  the  clergy,  much  less  the 
bishops,  were  an  essential  part  of  the  Legis- 
lature ;  for  if  so,  it  would  then  follow  that  no 
act  of  Parliament  could  be  valid  without  their 
consent ;  whereas  divers  acts  are  now  in  force, 
from  which  the  whole  bench  of  bishops  have 
dissented,  as  the  Act  of  Conformity,  1  Edw.  VL, 
and  the  Act  of  Supremacy,  1  Eliz.*  If  the  ma- 
jor part  of  the  barons  agree,  and  the  House  of 
Commons  concur,  any  bill  may  pass  into  an 
act  with  the  consent  of  the  king,  though  all  the 
bishops  dissent,  because  their  votes  are  over- 
ruled by  the  major  part  of  the  peers.  In  the 
Parliament  of  Northampton,  under  Henry  IL, 
when  the  bishops  challenged  their  peerage,-f 
they  said,  "  Non  sedemus  hie  episcopi  sed  bar- 
ones,"  We  sit  not  here  as  bishops,  but  as  bar- 
ons ;  we  are  barons,  and  you  are  barons — here, 
therefore,  we  are  peers.  Nor  did  King  Charles 
himself  apprehend  the  bishops  to  be  one  of  the 
three  estates,  for  in  his  declaration  of  June  16, 
1642,  he  calls  himself  one,  and  the  lords  spirit- 
ual and  temporal,  and  commons,  the  other  two. 
In  ancient  times  the  prelates  were  sometimes 
excluded  the  Parliament,  as  in  25  King  Edw.  I., 

*  Nalson's  Collections,  vol.  ii.,  p.  502,  tStc. 
t  Fuller's  Appeal. 


380 


HISTORY    OF   THE    PURITANS. 


when  they  would  not  agree  to  grant  an  aid  to 
nis  majesty  in  the  Parliament  at  Carlisle  ;  and 
oefore  that  time  several  acts  had  passed  against 
the  oppressions  of  the  clergy,  in  which  the  entry 
in  the  records  stands  thus  :  "  The  king  having 
consulted  with  the  earls,  harons,  and  the  other 
nobles ;  or  by  tlie  assent  of  the  earls,  barons, 
and  other  lay  people;"  which  shows  the  bish- 
ops did  not  consent,  for  if  they  had  they  would 
nave  been  first  named,  the  order  of  the  nobility 
in  all  ancient  records  being  prelates,  earls,  and 
barons.*     When  the  convocation  had  cited  Dr. 
Standish  before  them,  for  speaking  words  against 
their  power  and  privilege,  in  the  7th  Henry  VIII., 
it  was  determined  by  all  the  judges  of  the  land, 
in  presence  of  the  king,  that  his  majesty  might 
hold  his  Parliament  without  calling  the  bishops 
at  all.     It  appears,  therefore,  from  hence,  that 
the  bishops  never  were  accounted  a  third  estate 
of  the  realm,  in  such  a  sense  as  to  make  them 
an  essential  branch  of  the  Legislature  ;  nor  are 
they  the  representatives  of  the  clergy,  because 
then  the  clergy  would  be  twice  represented, 
for  as  many  of  them  as  are  freeholders  are 
represented  with  their  fellow-subjects   in  the 
House  of  Commons ;  and  as  clergymen  they  are 
represented  in  convocation,  the  writ  of  election 
to  convocation  being  to  send  two  clerks  nd  con- 
sentiendum,  &c.     Besides,  none  can  properly  be 
called  representatives  of  others  but  such  as  are 
chosen  by  them  ;  the  bishops,  therefore,  not  be- 
ing chosen  for  this  purpose,  cannot  properly  be 
the  representatives  of  the  clergy  in  Parliament ; 
they  sit  there  not  in  their  spiritual  character, 
but  by  virtue  of  the  baronies  annexed  to  their 
bishoprics  ;   and  if  the  king,  with  consent  of 
Parliament,  should  annex  baronies  to  the  courts 
of  justice  in  Westminster  Hall,  or  to  the  su- 
preme magistracy  of  the  city  of  London,  the 
judges  and  the  lord-mayor,  for  the  time  being, 
would  have  the  same  right  of  peerage.     But 
none  of  these  arguments  were  deemed  of  suffi- 
cient weight  with  the  lords  to  deprive  them  of 
their  seats  in  Parliament. 

The  loss  of  this  bill,  with  the  resolute  behav- 
iour of  the  bishops,  who  were  determined  to 
part  with  nothing  they  were  in  possession  of, 
inflamed  the  Commons,  and  made  them  con- 
clude that  there  was  no  hope  of  reformation 
while  they  were  a  branch  of  the  Legislature.  It 
was  observed  that  the  bishops  were  unusually 
diligent  in  giving  their  attendance  upon  the 
House  at  this  time,  and  always  voted  with  the 
court.  Some  of  the  leading  members,  therefore, 
in  the  warmth  of  their  resentments,  brought  in 
a  bill  in  pursuance  of  the  root  and  branch  peti- 
tion, which  had  been  laid  aside  for  some  time, 
for  the  utter  extirpation  of  all  bishops,  deans, 
and  chapters,  archdeacons,  prependaries,  chant- 
ers, with  all  chancellors,  officials,  and  officers 
belonging  to  them  ;  and  for  the  disposing  of  their 
lands,  manors,  &c.,  as  the  Parliament  shall  ap- 
point.! A  rash  and  inconsiderate  attempt!  For 
could  they  expect  that  the  bishops  should  abol- 
ish themselves'!  Or  that  the  temporal  lords 
should  consent  to  the  utter  extirpating  an  order 
of  cluirchmen,  when  they  would  not  so  much 
as  give  up  one  branch  of  their  privileged  The 
bill  being  drawn  up  by  Mr.  St.  John,  was  deliv- 
ered to  the  speaker  by  Sir  Edward  Deering, 

*  Rushworth,  part  iii.,  vol.  i.,  p.  396. 

+  Nalson's  Collections,  vol.  ii.,  p.  248,  295,  300. 


with  a  short  speech,  in  which  he  took  notice  of 
the  moderation  of  the  House  in  the  late  bill, 
hoping  that,  by  pruning  and  taking  off  a  few 
unnecessary  branches  from  the  bishops,  the  tree 
might  prosper  the  better  !  but  that  this  soft 
method  having  proved  ineffectual,  by  reason  of 
tlieir  incorrigible  obstinacy,  it  was  now  neces- 
sary to  put  the  "  axe  to  the  root  of  the  tree."* 
"  I  never  was  for  ruin,"  says  he,  "  as  long  as 
there  was  any  hope  of  reforming  ;  and  now  I 
profess,  that  if  those  hopes  revive  and  prosper, 
I  will  divide  my  sense  upon  this  bill,  and  yield 
my  shoulders  to  underprop  the  primitive,  law- 
ful, and  just  episcopacy."  He  concluded  with 
a  sentence  in  Ovid  : 

"  Cuncta  prins  tentanda,  sed  immedicabile  vulnus 
Ense  reddendum  est,  ne  pars  sincera  trahatur."-! 

The  reading  of  this  bill  was  very  much  op- 
posed, because  it  was  brought  in  contrary  to 
the  usage  of  Parliament,  without  first  asking 
leave ;  however,  it  was  once  read,  and  then 
adjourned  for  almost  two  months :  a  little  be- 
fore the  king  went  to  Scotland,  it  was  carried 
by  a  majority  of  thirty-one  voices  to  read  it  a 
second  time,  and  commit  it  to  a  committee  of  the 
whole  House,  of  which  Mr.  Hyde  [Lord  Claren- 
don] was  chairman,  who  made  use  of  so  much 
art  and  industry  to  embarrass  the  aifair,  that 
after  twenty  days  the  bUl  was  dropped. 

Sir  Edward  Deering's  speech  in  the  commit- 
tee will  give  light  into  the  sentiments  of  the 
Puritans  of  these  times  .J  "  The  ambition  of 
some  prelates,"  says  he,  "  will  not  let  them 
see  how  inconsistent  two  contrary  functions  are 
in  one  and  the  same  person,  and,  therefore, 
there  is  left  neither  root  nor  branch  of  that  so 
good  and  necessary  a  bill  which  we  lately  sent 
up,  and,  consequently,  no  hope  of  such  a  ref- 
ormation as  we  all  aim  at ;  what  hopes,  then, 
can  we  have  that  this  bill,  which  strikes  at  root 
and  branch,  both  of  their  seats  of  justice,  and 
of  their  episcopal  chairs  in  the  Church,  will 
pass  as  it  is,  and  without  a  tender  of  some 
other  government  in  lieu  of  this,  since  the  voices 
are  still  the  same  which  threw  out  your  former 
bill  V'()  Sir  Edward,  therefore,  proposed  anoth- 
er form  of  government,  if  the  House  should 
think  fit  to  abolish  the  present,  which  was,  in 
a  manner,  the  same  with  Archbishop  Usher's, 
hereafter  mentioned  ;  as,  "  First,  That  every 
shire  should  be  a  distinct,  diocess  or  church. 
Secondly,  That  in  every  shire  or  church  twelve 
or  more  able  divines  should  be  appointed,  in  the 
nature  of  an  old  primitive  constant  presbytery. 
Thirdly,  That  over  every  presbytery  there 
should  be  a  president,  let  him  be  called  bishop, 
or  overseer,  or  moderate,  or  superintendent,  or 
by  what  other  name  you  please,  provided  there 
be  one  in  every  shire,  for  the  government  and 
direction  of  the  presbytery,  in  the  nature  of  the 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons,  or  chair- 


*  Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  p.  237.  Nalson,  ut  ante,  p. 
248. 

t  Lord  Clarendon  represents  Sir  Edward  Deermg 
as  a  man  of  levity  and  vanity,  easily  flattered  by  be- 
ing commended  ;  and  says,  "  that  the  application  of 
tlie  above  lines  was  his  greatest  motive  to  deliver 
the  speech  which  they  close."  Dr.  Harris  (Life  of 
Charles  I.,  p.  327)  says  "  he  could  not  be  actuated 
by  so  mean  a  motive ;  and  that  he  was  a  man  of 
sense,  virtue,  and  learning,  perhaps  not  inferior  to 
his  lordship,  and  of  a  family  vastly  superior."— Ed. 

t  Nalson's  Coll.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  295,  &c.  ()  Ibid. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


381 


man  of  a  committee."  Accordingly,  it  was  re- 
solved, July  10,  "  That  ecclesiastical  power  for 
the  government  of  the  Church  be  exercised  by 
commissioners."  July  31,  resolved,  "  That  the 
members  for  every  county  bring  in  the  names 
of  nine  persons  to  be  ecclesiastical  commission- 
ers, on  whom  the  power  of  church  government 
shall  be  devolved  ;  but  that  no  clergyman  be  of 
the  commission."  This  was  designed  as  a 
temporary  provision,  and  shows  that  the  Puri- 
tans of  these  times  did  not  intend  the  Presby- 
terian government,  but  only  a  reduction  of 
Episcopacy  to  what  they  apprehended  a  more 
primitive  standard  ;  and  if  the  bishops  would 
have  relinquished  some  part  of  their  jurisdic- 
tion, the  mischiefs  that  befell  them  afterward 
might  have  been  prevented  ;  however,  for  the 
present,  the  prosecution  of  it  was  laid  aside. 

But  the  House  went  more  readily  into  the 
debate  for  abolishing  deans  and  chapters,  and 
applying  their   revenues   to  better  purposes.* 
Tliis  alarmed  the  cathedral-men,  and  put  them 
upon  consulting  how  to  ward  off  the  danger 
that  threatened  them  ;  for   this  purpose,  one 
divine  was   deputed  from   every  cathedral  in 
England  to  solicit  their  friends  in  the  houses 
on  behalf  of  their  several  foundations  j  and  it 
must  be  owned  they  did  all  that  men  could  do, 
leaving  no  stone  unturned  that  might  be  for 
their  advantage.      Addresses  were  presented 
from  both  universities  in  their  favour  :t  the  ad- 
dress from  Oxford  prays  "  for  the  continuance 
of  the  present  form  of  church  government  as 
the  most  ancient  and  apostolical ;  and  for  the 
continuance  of  cathedral-churches,  with  their 
lands  and  revenues,  as  dedicated  to  the  service 
of  God  soon  after  the  first  plantation  of  Chris- 
tianity here  ;  as  foundations  thought  fit  to  be 
preserved,  when  the  nurseries  of  superstition 
were  demolished  at  the  Reformation  ;  as  con- 
firmed by  the  laws  of  the  land  ;  as  nurseries  of 
students  and  learned  men  in  divinity  ;  as  the 
upholders   of  divers   schools,   hospitals,  high- 
ways, bridges,  and  other  pious  works  ;  as  ben- 
eficial to  those  cities  where  they  are  situate, 
by  hospitality,  by  relief  of  the  poor,  and  by  oc- 
casionmg  the  resort  of  many  strangers,  to  the 
benefit  of  the  tradesmen  and  inhabitants  of  the 
places  where  they  are  built ;  as  the  chief  sup- 
port of  many  thousand  families  of  the  laity,  who 
enjoy  estates  from  them  in  a  free  way  ;  and  as 
yielding  an  ample  revenue  to  the  crown,  and  a 
maintenance  to  many  learned  professors  in  the 
university."    The  address  from  the  University 
of  Cambridge  was  to  the  same  purpose,  and, 
therefore,  prays,  "  that  the  religious  bounty  of 
their  ancestors,  for  the  advancement  of  learn- 
ing, and  of  learned  men,  may  be  preserved  from 
ruin  and  alienation  ;  but,  withal,  to  take  or- 
der that  they  may  be  reduced  to  the  due  ob- 
servation of  their  statutes,  and  that  all  innova- 
tions and  abuses  may  be  reformed."    The  dep- 
uties from  the  several  cathedrals  drew  up  a  pe- 
tition to  the  Lords  and  Commons  to  be  heard 
by  their  counsel ;  but  being  informed  that  the 
House  would  not  allow  them  that  benefit,  and 
that  if  they  had  anything  to  offer  they  must  ap- 
pear and  plead  their  own  cause,  they  made 
choice  of  Dr.  John  Racket,  prebendary  of  St. 
Paul's  and  archdeacon  of  Bedford,  as  their  ad- 


vocate, who,  being  admitted  to  the  bar  of  the 
House,  May  12,  after  the  petitions  from  the  two 
universities  had  been  read,  made  a  laboured 
speech  in  their  behalf,  insisting  chiefly  on  the 
topics  of  the  Oxford  address. 

He  recommended  cathedrals,  "  as  fit  to  sup- 
ply the  defects  of  private  prayer,"  the  public 
performance  whereof  should  be  in  some  place 
of  distinction.*  And  whereas  the  exquisite- 
ness  of  the  music  gave  offence  to  some  ears, 
as  hindering  their  devotion,  he  requested,  in 
the  name  of  his  brethren,  that  it  might  be  mod- 
erated to  edification,  and  reduced  to  the  form 
that  Athanasius  recommends,  "ut  legentibus 
sint  quara  cantantibus  similiores." 

He  alleged  that  '•  at  the  Reformation  preach- 
ing began  in  cathedrals ;"  and  whereas  some 
have  said  that  lecture-preachers  were  an  up- 
start corporation,  the  doctor  observed  that  the 
local  statutes  of  all  the  cathedrals  required  lec- 
tures on  the  week-days  ;  and  he  requested,  in 
the  name  of  his  brethren,  that  the  godly  and 
profitable  performance  of  preaching  might  be 
more  exacted. 

He  urged  tiiat  "  cathedrals  were  serviceable 
for  the  advancement  of  learning,  and  training 
up  persons  for  the  defence  of  the  Church  ;"  and 
that  the  taking  them  away  would  disserve  the 
cause  of  religion,  and  be  a  pleasure  to  their  ad- 
versaries. 

He  added,  that  "  the  ancient  and  genuine  use 
of  deans  and  chapters  was  a  scnatus  cpiscopi," 
to  assist  the  bishop  in  his  jurisdiction  ;  and 
whereas  some  of  his  reverend  brethren  had 
complained  that  bishops  had  for  many  years 
usurped  the  sole  government  to  themselves  and 
their  consistories,  the  continuing  of  chapters 
rightly  used  would  bring  it  to  a  plurality  of  as- 
sistants* 

He  then  put  them  in  mind  of  "  the  antiquity 
of  the  structures,  and  the  number  of  persons 
maintained  by  them,"  amounting  to  many  thou- 
sands ;  he  instanced  their  tenants,  who  by  their 
leases  enjoyed  six  parts  in  seven  pure  gain,  and 
had  therefore  petitioned  for  their  landlords ; 
and  showed  that  the  cities  in  which  cathedrals 
were  built  were  enriched  by  the  hospitality  of 
the  clergy  and  the  resort  of  strangers. 

He  enlarged  farther  "  upon  their  endow- 
ments, as  encouragements  to  industry  and  vir- 
tue :"  that  several  famous  Protestants  of  for- 
eign parts  had  been  maintained  by  being  install- 
ed prebendaries,  as  Casaubon,  Saravia,  Dr.  Pe- 
ter du  Moulin,  Vossius,  and  others  ;  that  the 
crown  had  great  benefit  from  these  founda- 
tions, paying  greater  sums  into  the  exchequer 
lor  first-fruits  and  tenths,  according  to  propor- 
tion, than  other  corporations. 

And,  lastly,  he  puts  them  in  mind  that  "these 
structures  and  estates  were  consecrated  to  Di- 
vine service,  and  barred  all  alienation  with  the 
most  dreadful  imprecations." 

In  the  afternoon  Dr.  Cornelius  Burges  ap- 
peared on  the  other  side  of  the  question,  and 
made  a  long  speech  concerning  the  unprofital)le- 
ness  of  those  corporations  ;  he  complained  of 
the  "  debauchery  of  singing-men,"  and  of  their 
vicious  conversation  ;  he  spoke  against  "  music 
in  churches"  as  useless  and  hurtful.  He  made 
a  distinct  answer  to  the  particulars  of  Dr.  Hack- 


*  Fuller's  Church  History,  b.  xi.,  p.  176. 
t  Nalson's  Coll.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  305,  306. 


*  Fuller,  b.  xi.,  p.  177. 


382 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


et's  speech  ;  and  in  conclusion  said,  "  Though 
he  apprehended  it  necessary  to  apply  these 
foundations  to  better  purposes,  it  was  by  no 
means  lawful  to  alienate  them  from  public  and 
pious  uses,  or  to  convert  them  to  any  private 
persons'  profit." 

The  farther  debate  of  this  bill  was  adjourned 
for  a  week,  and  then  committed  to  a  commit- 
tee of  the  whole  House,  when  the  two  follow- 
ing remarkable  speeches  were  made  against 
these  foundations.* 

The  first  by  Mr.  Sergeant  Thomas,  who  ad- 
mits "that  there  were  deans  in  St.  Austin's 
time,  but  that  they  were  not  officers  of  the 
Church  until  some  centuries  after.  St.  Austin 
gives  this  account  of  their  original :  that  the 
monks,  for  their  more  convenient  retirement 
and  contemplation,  appointed  officers,  whom 
they  called  deans,  '  eo  quod  denis  sunt  propos- 
iti ;'  because  every  man  had  the  care  of  ten 
monks,  and  was  to  provide  them  all  necessaries 
of  life,  that  their  devotions  might  not  be  inter- 
rupted with  worldly  cares.  In  the  following 
ages  of  darkness  and  superstition,  princes  and 
others  bestowed  large  revenues  upon  these 
monks  from  the  opinion  they  had  of  the  aus- 
terity and  sanctity  of  their  lives ;  and  as  the 
monks  grew  rich,  the  office  of  the  dean,  who 
was  the  '  propositus'  or  steward,  grew  more 
considerable,  till  in  St.  Bernard's  time  it  was 
ordained  that  none  but  a  presbyter  should  be  a 
dean  :  'Ne  sit  decanus  nisi  presbyter.'  At  tiie 
reformation  of  religion,  when  many  other  reli- 
gious foundations  were  broke  up,  these  were 
preserved,  and  in  the  constitutions  of  King 
Henry  VIII.  and  Edward  VI.  it  is  ordained  that 
all  deans  should  be  presbyters,  men  of  gravity, 
learning,  and  prudence  ;  that  they  should  govern 
the  cathedral  churches  according  to  their  stat- 
utes ;  that  they  should  preserve  discipline,  and 
see  that  the  holy  rites  be  performed  in  a  grave 
and  decent  manner  ;  that  they  be  assistants  to 
the  bishops  within  their  several  cathedrals,  as 
the  archdeacons  are  abroad,  for  which  reason 
they  should  not  be  absent  from  their  cathedrals 
without  the  most  urgent  necessity,  to  be  allow- 
ed by  the  bishop,  but  one  or  other  of  them  is  to 
preach  in  their  cathedrals  every  Lord's  Day." 
The  sergeant  then  observed  how  unlike  our 
present  deans  were  to  their  predecessors,  how 
little  they  observed  the  statutes  of  their  insti- 
tution, and  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  it  was 
not  reasonable  that  such  vast  revenues  should 
be  allowed  to  persons  who  were  of  so  little  use 
to  the  Church  or  commonwealth. 

Mr.  Pury,  alderman  of  Gloucester,  pursued 
the  same  argument ;  he  produced  a  copy  of  the 
statutes  of  the  dean  and  chapter  of  Gloucester, 
with  their  original  grant  about  tiie  time  of  the 
Reformation.  "  We  have  erected,"  says  the 
king,  "  cathedrals  and  colleges  in  the  place  of 
monasteries,  that  ^where  ignorance  and  super- 
stition reigned  the  sincere  worship  of  God  might 
flourish,  and  the  Gospel  of  Christ  Jesus  be  pure- 
ly preached  ;  and,  farther,  that  the  increase  of 
the  Christian  faith  and  piety,  the  instruction  of 
youth  in  good  learning,  and  the  susteulation  of 
the  poor,  may  be  forever  kept,  maintained  and 
continued. "t     He  then  produced  the  statutes, 


*  Rushwoith,  part  ui.,  vol.  i,,  p.  285      Nalson's 
Coll..  vol.  li.,  p.  282. 
t  JNalson's  Collections,  vol.  ii.,  p.  289. 


which  ordained  "  that  the  said  deans,  prebends, 
and  canons,  shall  always  reside  and  dwell  in 
the  houses  of  the  said  cathedrals,  and  there 
keep  a  family,  with  good  hospitality  to  feed  the 
poor,  and  to  distribute  alms.  That  they  should 
'  preach  the  Word  in  season  and  out  of  season,' 
especially  in  the  cathedral  church,  and  have 
youth  profitably  taught  there.  To  this  end  they 
are  to  have  a  common  table  in  the  common  hall 
of  the  cathedral,  where  the  canons,  scholars, 
choristers,  and  officers  are  to  eat  together;. 
The  said  dean  and  chapter  are  to  give  yearly 
£20  to  the  poor,  besides  what  is  given  to  their 
own  poor  alms-men  ;  and  £20  more  to  the  re- 
pairing bridges  and  highways  thereabout.  For 
the  performance  of  the  said  statutes  and  prem- 
ises, the  deans,  prebendaries,  canons,  and  other 
ministers  of  the  cathedral,  are  obliged  to  take 
oath,  and  every  one  of  them  doth  swear  that,  to 
the  utmost  of  his  power,  he  will  observe  them 
inviolably." 

The  alderman  observes  from  hence,  "  that 
not  one  of  the  above-mentioned  statutes  are,  or 
have  been  kept,  or  the  matters  in  any  of  them 
contained,  performed  by  any  of  the  deans  or 
prebendaries  of  the  said  cathedral  in  his  mem- 
ory. Tliat  they  come  once  a  year  to  receive 
the  rents  and  profits  of  the  lands,  but  do  not 
distribute  to  the  poor  their  proportion  ;  nor  do 
they  mend  the  highways  and  bridges  ;  nor  do 
they  keep  any  common  table  ;  and  instead  of 
preaching  '  in  season  and  out  of  season,'  they 
neither  practise  it  themselves,  nor  encourage 
it  in  others.  Infinite  are  the  pressures  that 
many  cities  near  unto  deans  and  chapters  have 
endured  by  them  and  their  procurement ;  so 
far  have  they  been  from  a  common  benefit. 
Since,  then,  the  said  deans  and  chapters  are  but 
trustees,  and  the  profits  of  the  said  lands  have 
been  so  ill  employed,  contrary  to  the  trust  in 
them  reposed,  the  alderman  was  of  opinion 
that,  by  a  legislative  power  in  Parliament,  it 
was  fit  to  take  them  away  and  put  them  into 
the  hands  of  feoffi^es,  to  be  disposed  of  to  such 
pious  and  charitable  uses  as  they  were  first  in- 
tended for ;  by  which  means  the  preaching  of 
the  Gospel  might  be  eflfectually  encouraged, 
smaller  livings  augmented,  and  the  necessities 
of  the  poor  better  supplied." 

Tiiese  speeches  made  such  an  impression 
upon  the  House,  that,  after  a  long  debate,  they 
came  to  these  resolutions :  "  That  all  deans, 
deans  and  chapters,  archdeacons,  prebendaries, 
chanters,  canons,  and  petty  canons,  and  their 
officers,  shall  be  utterly  abolished  and  taken 
away  out  of  the  Church  ;  and  that  all  the  lands 
taken  by  this  bill  from  deans  and  chapters  shall 
be  put  into  the  hands  of  feoffees,  to  be  employ- 
ed for  the  support  of  a  fit  number  of  preaching 
ministers  for  the  service  of  every  church,  and 
for  the  reparation  of  the  said  churches,  provis- 
ion being  made  that  his  majesty  be  no  loser  in 
his  rents,  first-fruits,  and  other  duties  ;  and  that 
a  competent  maintenance  shall  be  made  to  the 
several  persons  concerned,  if  they  appear  not 
delinquents  to  this  house."  But  none  of  these 
votes  passed  into  a  law,  nor  was  there  the  least 
prospect  of  their  being  confirmed  by  the  Lords 
as  long  as  the  bishops  were  in  that  house,  who 
stood  together  like  a  wall  against  every  attempt 
of  the  Commons  for  alterations  in  the  Church, 
tdl,  by  an  unexpected  providence,  they  were 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


383 


broken  in  pieces,  and  made  way  for  their  own 
ruin. 

The  firmness  of  the  bishops  against  all  abate- 
ments or  relaxations  in  favour  of  the  Puritans 
exasperated  the  people,  and  put  an  end  to  all 
prospect  of  agreement.  A  committee  of  ac- 
commodation had  been  appointed  by  the  House 
of  Lords,  March  12,  to  consider  of  such  innova- 
tions in  religion  as  were  proper  to  be  taken 
away,  which,  by  the  plot  of  the  court  to  bring 
up  the  army,  and  the  loss  of  the  late  bills  for 
reformation  of  the  hierarchy,  was  now  broken 
up.*  It  consisted  often  earls,  ten  bishops,  and 
ten  barons.  "  This  committee,"  says  Archbish- 
op Laud  in  his  Diary,  "  will  meddle  with  doc- 
trine as  well  as  ceremony,  and  will  call  some 
divines  to  them  to  consider  of  the  business,  as 
appears  by  a  letter  hereunto  annexed,  sent  by 
the  Lord-bishop  of  Lincoln  to  some  divines  to 
attend  this  service.  Upon  the  whole,  I  believe 
this  committee  will  prove  the  national  synod  of 
England,  to  the  great  dishonour  of  the  Church, 
and  what  else  may  follow  upon  it  God  knows." 
At  their  first  meeting  they  appointed  a  sub- 
committee of  bishops,  and  divines  of  different 
persuasions,  to  prepare  matters  lor  their  debate ; 
the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  was  chairman  of  both, 
and  was  ordered  to  call  together  the  sub-com- 
mittee with  all  convenient  speed,  which  he  did 
by  a  letter  directed  to  each  of  them  in  the  fol- 
lowing words  : 

"  I  am  commanded  by  the  lords  of  the  com- 
mittee for  the  innovations  in  matters  of  reli- 
gion, to  let  you  know  that  their  said  lordships 
have  assigned  and  appointed  you  to  attend  them 
as  assistants  in  that  committee,  and  to  let  you 
know,  in  general,  that  their  lordships  intend  to 
examine  all  innovations  in  doctrme  and  disci- 
pline introduced  into  the  Church  without  law 
since  the  Reformation  ;  and  (if  their  lordships 
shall  find  it  behooveful  for  the  good  of  the  Church 
and  State)  to  examine  after  that  the  degrees 
and  perfection  of  the  Reformation  itself,  which 
I  am  directed  to  intimate  to  you,  that  you  may 
prepare  your  thoughts,  studies,  and  meditations 
accordingly,  expecting  their  lordships'  pleasure 
for  the  particular  points  as  they  shall  arise. 
Dated  March  12,  1640-1." 

Their  names  were  these  : 
Dr.  Wdliams,  bishop  of  Lincoln, 
Dr.  Usher,  archbishop  of  Armagh, 
Dr.  Morton,  bishop  of  Durham, 
Dr.  Hall,  bishop  of  Exeter, 
Dr.  Samuel  Ward,  Dr.  Twisse, 

Dr.  Jonh  Prideaux,  Dr.  Burges, 

Dr.  Sanderson,  Mr.  White, 

Dr.  Featly,  Mr.  Marshall, 

Dr.  Brownrigge,  Mr.  Calamy, 

Dr.  Holdsworthe,  Mr.  Hill. 

Dr.  Hacket, 

Some  others  were  named,  but  these  were  all 
who  appeared  :  they  consulted  together  six  sev- 
eral days  in  the  Jerusalem  Chamber,  at  West- 
minster, the  dean  entertaining  them  all  the 
while  at  his  table.  The  result  of  their  confer- 
ences was  drawn  up  for  the  debate  of  the 
committee  in  certain  propositions  and  queries, 
under  the  following  heads  : 


*  Laud's  Diary,  p.  61.    History  of  his  Troubles, 
p.  174. 


1.  Innovations  in  Doctrine. 

1.  "Quaere,  whether  in  the  twentieth  article 
these  words  are  not  inserted,  'the  Church  has 
authority  in  controversies  of  faith  V 

2..  "  Several  false  doctrines  have  been  preach- 
ed, even  all  the  doctrines  of  the  Council  of 
Trent,  abating  only  such  points  of  state  popery 
against  the  king's  supremacy  as  were  made 
treason  by  the  statute ;  for  example,  some 
have  preached  justification  by  works  ;  others, 
that  works  of  penance  are  satisfactory  before 
God ;  that  private  confession  is  necessary  to 
salvation,  necessitate  medti ;  that  absolution  of  a 
priest  is  more  than  declaratory  ;  that  the  Lord's 
Supper  is  a  true  and  proper  sacrifice.  Some 
have  defended  prayer  for  the  dead,  and  the  law- 
fulness of  monastic  vows  ;  some  have  denied 
the  morality  of  the  Sabbath  ;  some  have  preach- 
ed that  subjects  are  bound  to  pay  taxes  contra- 
ry to  the  laws  of  the  realm  ;  some  have  defend- 
ed the  whole  substance  of  Arminianism  ;  and 
others  have  given  just  occasion  of  being  sus- 
pected of  Socinianism. 

3.  "  Several  dangerous  and  reprovable  books 
have  been  printed,"  which  are  mentioned  in  the 
copy  of  their  proceedings  now  before  me. 

2.  Innovations  in  Discipline. 

As,  1.  "  Turning  the  holy  table  into  an  altar. 

2.  "  Bowing  towards  it  or  to  the  east  many 
times,  with  three  congees,  at  access  or  recess 
in  the  church. 

3.  "  Placing  candlesticks  on  altars  in  paro- 
chial churches  in  the  daytime,  arrd  making  can- 
opies over  them  with  curtains,  in  imitation  of 
the  veil  of  the  temple  ;  advancing  crucifixes  and 
images  upon  the  parafront  or  altar-cloth,  and 
compelling  all  communicants  to  come  up  before 
the  rails. 

4.  "Reading  the  litany  in  the  body  of  the 
church,  and  some  part  of  the  morning- prayer  at 
the  altar  when  there  is  no  communion  ;  and 
the  minister's  turning  his  face  to  the  east  when 
he  pronounces  the  creed  or  reads  prayers. 

5.  "  Offering  bread  and  wine  by  the  hands  of 
the  church-wardens,  or  others,  before  the  con- 
secration of  the  elements.  Having  a  credentia, 
or  side-table  for  the  Lord's  Supper.  Introdu- 
cing an  offertory  before  the  communion,  besides 
the  giving  alms  to  the  poor  afterward. 

6.  '•  Prohibiting  ministers  to  expound  the 
catechism ;  suppressing  lectures  on  the  week- 
day, and  sermons  on  Sunday  afternoon.  Pro- 
hibiting a  direct  prayer  before  sermon,  and 
bidding  of  prayer. 

7.  "  Singing  Te  Deum  in  prose  in  parish 
churches.  Standing  up  at  the  hymns  of  the 
church  ;  and  always  at  Gloria  Patri.  Carrying 
children  from  baptism  to  the  altar,  to  offer  them 
to  God  ;  and  prohibiting  the  building  galleries 
in  churches,  where  the  parishes  are  very  popu- 
lous. 

8.  "  Introducing  Latin  service  in  the  com- 
munion at  Oxford  ;  and  into  morning  and  even- 
ing prayer  in  Cambridge. 

9.  "  Pretending  for  their  innovations  the  in- 
junctions and  advertise, nents  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, which  are  not  in  force,  but  appertain  to 
the  liturgy  printed  in  the  second  and  tliird  of 
Edward  VI.,  which  the  Parliament  had  reform- 
ed  and  laid  aside." 


384 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


Memorandum  for  Reformation. 

1.  "That  in  all  cathedral  and  collegiate 
churches  two  sermons  be  preached  every  Sun- 
day, and  likewise  every  holyday  ;  and  one  lec- 
ture at  least  on  working  days  every  week  in 
the  year. 

2.  "  That  the  music  used  in  cathedral  and 
collegiate  churches  be  framed  with  less  curios- 
ity ;  and  that  no  hymns  or  anthems  be  used 
where  ditties  arc  framed  by  private  men,  but 
such  as  are  contained  in  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
or  in  our  liturgy  or  prayers,  or  have  public  al- 
lowance. 

3.  "  That  the  reading-desk  be  placed  in  the 
church,  where  Divine  service  may  be  best  heard 
of  the  people." 

3.   Considerations  upon  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer. 

1.  "Whether  the  names  of  some  departed 
saints  should  not  be  struck  out  of  the  calendar? 

2.  "  Whether  the  rubric  should  not  be  mend- 
ed, where  all  those  vestments  are  commanded 
■which  were  used  in  the  second  year  of  Edward 

3.  "  Whether  lessons  of  canonical  Scripture 
should  not  be  inserted  into  the  calendar  instead 
of  Apocryphal 

4.  "In  the  rubric  for  the  Lord's  Supper, 
"Whether  it  should  not  be  inserted,  that  such  as 
intend  to  communicate  shall  signify  their  names 
to  the  curate  over  night,  or  in  the  morning  be- 
fore prayers  1 

5.  "  The  next  rubric  to  be  explained,  how  far 
a  minister  may  fepiilse  a  scandalous  and  noto- 
rious sinner  from  the  communion  ! 

6.  "  Whether  it  be  not  fit  to  insert  a  rubric, 
touching  kneeling  at  the  communion,  that  it  is 
to  comply,  in  all  humility,  with  the  prayer  which 
the  minister  makes,  when  he  delivers  the  ele- 
ments ! 

7.  "  Whether  there  should  not  be  a  rubric  to 
take  away  all  offence  from  the  cross  in  baptism  1 
Or,  whether  it  be  more  expedient  that  it  be 
•wholly  disused  1  And,  whether  this  reason 
shall  be  published,  that  in  ancient  liturgies  no 
cross  was  signed  upon  the  p^rty  but  where  oil 
also  was  used,  and  therefore,  oil  being  now 
omitted,  so  may  that  which  was  concomitant 
■with  it,  the  sign  of  the  cross! 

8.  "  Whether  the  catechism  may  not  receive 
a  little  more  enlargement  1 

9.  "  Whether  the  times  prohibited  for  mar- 
riages are  quite  to  be  taken  away  1  Whether 
those  words  in  the  office,  '  With  my  body  I 
thee  worship,'  should  not  be  thus  altered  :  I 
give  thee  power  over  my  body  1  And,  whether 
that  part  of  the  rubric  which  obliges  the  new- 
married  persons  to  receive  the  communion  the 
same  day  of  their  marriage,  might  not  be  chan- 
ged for  the  next  Sunday  when  the  communion 
is  celebrated  ■? 

10.  "  Whether,  in  the  absolution  for  the  sick, 
it  were  not  better  to  say,  I  pronounce  thee  ab- 
solved 1  And  in  the  office  for  the  dead,  instead 
of  those  words,  '  In  sure  and  certain  hope  of 
the  resurrection  to  eternal  life,'  whether  it  were 
not  better  to  say,  Knowing,  assuredly,  that  the 
dead  shall  rise  again  V 

Some  other  amendments  of  smaller  moment 
were  proposed,  but  these  were  the  chief  No 
mention  was  made  of  a  reformation  of  episco- 


pacy, because  their  chairman,  the  Bishop  of  Lin- 
coln, had  undertaken  that  province,  and  accord- 
ingly presented  the  House  of  Lords  with  a  rec- 
onciling scheme,  which  was  dropped  after  the 
first  reading.     It  consisted  often  articles. 

1.  "That  every  bishop,  being  within  his  dio- 
cess,  and  not  disabled  by  ill  health,  shall  preach 
once  every  Lord's  Day,  or  pay  .£5  to  the  poor, 
to  be  levied  by  the  next  justice  of  the  peace. 

2.  "  That  no  bishop  shall  be  justice  of  the 
peace  except  the  Dean  of  Westminster,  in  West- 
minster and  St.  Martin's.  [This  seems  to  be  a 
proviso  for  himself] 

3.  "  That  every  bishop  shall  have  twelve  as- 
sistants besides  the  dean  and  chapter  ;  four  to 
be  chosen  by  the  king,  four  by  the  Lords,  and 
four  by  the  Commons,  for  jurisdiction  and  ordi- 
nation. 

4.  "  That  in  all  vacancies,  these  assistants, 
with  the  dean  and  chapter,  shall  present  to  the 
king  three  of  the  ablest  divines  in  the  diocess, 
who  shall  choose  one  to  be  bishop. 

5.  "  That  deans  and  prebendaries  shall  not  be 
nonresidents  at  their  cathedrals  above  sixty 
days. 

6.  "  That  sermons  shall  be  preached  in  the 
cathedrals  twice  every  Lord's  Day,  once  every 
holyday,  and  a  lecture  on  Wednesdays,  with  a 
salary  of  one  hundred  marks  per  annum. 

7.  "  That  all  archbishops,  bishops,  and  colle- 
giate churches,  &c.,  shall  be  obliged  to  give  a 
fourth  part  of  their  fines  and  improved  rents  to 
buy  in  impropriations. 

8.  "  That  all  double-beneficed  men  shall  pay 
the  value  of  half  their  living  to  the  curate. 

9.  "  No  appeal  shall  be  made  to  the  Court  of 
Arches  or  Court  of  Audience. 

10.  "  It  is  proposed  that  canons  and  ecclesi- 
astical constitutions  shall  be  drawn  up,  and  suit- 
ed to  the  laws  of  the  realm  by  sixteen  learned 
persons,  six  to  be  nommated  by  the  king,  five  _ 
by  the  Lords,  and  five  by  the  Commons." 

Archbishop  Usher  offered  another  scheme  for 
the  reduction  of  episcopacy  into  the  form  of  sy- 
nodical  government,  received  in  the  ancient 
Church ;  in  which  his  grace  supposes,  that  of 
the  many  elders  that  ruled  the  Church  of  Eph- 
esus,  there  was  one  stated  president,  whom  our 
Saviour  calls  the  angel ;  and  whom  Ignatius,  in 
one  of  his  epistles,  calls  the  bishop,  to  whom, 
in  conjunction  with  the  elders  or  presbyters, 
the  whole  government  of  the  Church,  both  as 
to  doctrine  and  discipline,  was  committed.  He 
therefore  proposes  that  these  be  continued  ;  and 
for  a  regulation  of  their  jurisdiction,  that  suffra- 
gans should  be  appointed  to  hold  monthly  syn- 
ods of  presbyters,  from  whom  there  should  be 
an  appeal  to  diocesan,  provincial,  and  national 
ones  ;  and  more  particularly, 

1.  "  That  the  rector  of  every  parish,  with  the 
church-wardens,  should  admonish  and  reprove 
such  as  live  scandalously,  according  to  the  qual- 
ity of  their  offence  ;  and  if  by  this  means  they 
are  not  reclaimed,  to  present  them  to  the  next 
monthly  synod,  and  in  the  mean  time  debar 
them  the  Lord's  Table. 

2.  "Whereas,  by  a  statute  of  26  Henry 
VIII.,  suffragans  are  appointed  to  be  erected  in 
twenty-six  several  places  of  this  kingdom,  the 
number  of  them  may  be  conformed  to  the  num- 
ber of  the  several  rural  deaneries  into  which 
every  diocess  is  subdivided  ;  which  being  done, 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


385 


ihe  suffragan  may  every  month  assemble  a  syn- 
od of  the  several  rectors  or  incumbent  pastors 
•within  the  precinct,  and  according  to  the  major 
part  of  their  votes  conclude  all  matters  that 
should  be  brought  into  debate  before  them. 

3.  "  A  diocesan  synod  might  be  held  once  or 
twice  a  year,  wherein  all  the  suffragans,  and 
the  rest  of  the  rectors  or  incumbent  pastors,  or 
a  certain  select  number  out  of  svery  deanery 
within  that  diocess,  might  meet,  with  whose 
consent  all  things  might  be  concluded  by  the 
bishop  or  superintendent ;  or  in  his  absence,  by 
one  of  his  suffragans,  whom  he  should  appoint 
as  moderator  in  his  room  ;  and  here  the  trans- 
actions of  the  monthly  synods  may  be  revised 
and  reformed. 

4.  "  The  provincial  synod  may  consist  of  all 
the  bishops  and  suffragans,  and  such  of  the  cler- 
gy as  should  be  elected  out  of  every  diocess 
■within  the  province  ;  the  primate  of  either  prov- 
ince might  be  moderator,  pr,  in  his  room,  one  of 
the  bishops  appointed  by  him.  This  synod  might 
be  held  every  third  year,  and  if  the  Parliament 
be  sitting,  both  the  primates  and  provincial  syn- 
ods might  join  together,  and  make  up  one  na- 
tional synod,  wherein  all  appeals  from  inferior 
synods  might  be  received,  all  their  acts  exam- 
ined, and  all  ecclesiastical  affairs  relating  to  the 
state  of  the  Church  in  general  established." 

Several  other  proposals  were  made  to  the 
House  of  Commons  by  those  Puritans  who 
were  for  revising  and  altering  some  things  in 
the  Church,  but  not  for  root  and  branch  ;*  as, 
that  his  majesty  should  be  moved  to  call  a  na- 
tional synod,  or  a  select  number  of  divines  of 
the  three  nations  under  his  majesty's  govern- 
ment, with  an  intimation  to  all  Reformed 
churches  to  send  their  deputies,  to  settle  a  uni- 
form model  of  government  for  the  Church  of 
England,  to  be  confirmed  by  Parliament,  leaving 
to  other  nations  a  Christian  liberty  in  those 
forms  of  discipline  which  are  most  agreeable  to 
their  civil  government. 

Others  proposed  "  that  the  present  liturgy 
might  be  continued,  but  that  the  Apocryphal 
lessons  be  entirely  omitted  ;  that  all  sentences 
of  Holy  Scripture  be  according  to  the  last  trans- 
lation ;  that  the  word  minister  be  used  instead 
of  priest ;  with  some  other  amendments.  That, 
with  regard  to  Episcopal  government,  bishops 
be  obliged  to  constant  preaching  in  their  metro- 
politan or  parochial  churches  ;  that  they  never 
ordain  without  consent  of  three  or  four  presby- 
ters at  least ;  that  they  do  not  suspend  by  their 
sole  authority,  but  with  consent  of  presbyters, 
and  that  for  weighty  causes  ;  that  none  may  be 
excommunicated  but  by  the  bishop  himself, 
with  consent  of  the  pastor  in  whose  parish  the 
■delinquent  dwells,  and  that  for  heinous  and 
•ery  scandalous  crimes  only.  That  the  fees  of 
ecclesiastical  courts  be  regulated,  and  that  bish- 
ops, chancellors,  and  their  officials,  may  be  sub- 
ject to  the  censure  of  provincial  synods  and 
convocations." 

But  all  these  attempts  for  accommodation 
were  blasted  by  the  stiffness  of  the  bishops, 
and  by  the  discovery  of  the  plot  to  bring  the 
army  to  London  to  dissolve  the  Parliament ; 
this  put  the  nation  into  a  ferment,  and  widened 
the  distance  between  the  king  and  the  two  hous- 


■*■  Nalson's  Colle'ctions,  vol.  ii.,  p.  203. 
Vol.  I.— C  c  c 


es,  upon  which  the  committee  broke  up  about 
the  middle  of  May,  without  bringing  anything 
to  perfection.  Mr.  Fuller  has  observed  very 
justly,  "  that  the  moderation  and  mutual  compli- 
ance of  these  divines  might  have  saved  the  body 
of  episcopacy,  and  prevented  the  civil  war  ;  but 
the  court  bishops  expected  no  good  from  them, 
suspecting  the  Doctrinal  Puritans  (as  they  nick- 
named those  bishops  and  Episcopal  divines), 
joined  with  the  Disciplinary  Puritans,  would 
betray  the  Church  between  them.  Some  hot 
spirits  would  abate  nothing  of  Episcopal  power 
or  profit,  but  maintained  that  the  yielding  any- 
thing was  granting  the  day  to  the  opposite  par- 
ty." It  is  the  observation  of  another  learned 
writer,  upon  the  committee's  agreeing  to  have 
the  Psalms  in  the  liturgy  printed  according  to 
the  new  translation  ;  to  expunge  all  Apocryphal 
lessons ;  to  alter  certain  passages  in  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer  ;  and  some  other  things, 
with  which  divers  of  the  Presbyterians  said 
they  were  satisfied,  "  that  if  the  Episcopal  men 
had  made  these  concessions  when  they  were  in 
full  power,  they  had  prevented  the  mischiefs 
that  were  coming  upon  them  ;  but  as  things 
were  at  present,  neither  side  appeared  very  well 
satisfied." 

There  were  deep  resentments  in  the  breasts 
of  both  parties  ;  the  bishops  were  incensed  at 
the  bold  attacks  of  the  House  of  Commons  upon 
their  peerage  and  spiritual  jurisdiction  ;  and 
the  Puritans  had  a  quick  sense  of  their  former 
sufferings,  which  made  them  restless  till  they 
had  abridged  their  power.  It  is  very  remarka- 
ble, and  looks  like  an  appearance  of  Divine  dis- 
pleasure against  the  spirit  of  these  times,  that 
Archbishop  Usher's  scheme  for  the  reduction 
of  Episcopacy,  which  at  this  time  would  have 
satisfied  the  chief  body  of  the  Puritans,  could 
not  be  obtained  from  the  king  and  bishops  ;  that 
afterward,  when  the  king  offered  this  very 
scheme  at  the  treaty  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  the 
Parliament  and  Puritan  divines  would  not  ac- 
cept it,  for  fear  of  breaking  with  their  Scots 
brethren.  Again,  when  the  Presbyterian  minis- 
ters, at  the  restoration  of  King  Charles  II.,  pre- 
sented it  to  his  majesty  as  a  model  with  which 
they  were  satisfied,  and  which  would  compre- 
hend, in  a  manner,  their  whole  body,  both  the 
king  and  bishops  rejected  it  with  contempt,  and 
would  not  suffer  it  to  be  debated. 

It  may  not  be  improper  in  this  place  to  make 
a  few  remarks  upon  tliis  part  of  Mr.  Rapin's  ac- 
curate and  judicious  History  of  England,  who, 
in  his  account  of  these  times,  seems  to  repre 
sent  the  body  of  the  Puritans  to  be  Presbyteri- 
ans, and  as  having  formed  a  conspiracy  against 
the  whole  fabric  of  the  Church,  from  the  very 
beginning  of  this  Parliament,  whereas  the 
state  of  the  controversy  between  the  Church 
and  the  Puritans  was  now  changed.  In  the 
reigns  of  Queen  Elizabeth  and  King  James  I., 
the  Puritans  were  for  the  most  part  Presbyte- 
rians, though  even  then  there  were  inany  Epis- 
copalians among  them ;  but,  from  the  time  that 
Arminianism  prevailed  in  the  Church,  and  the 
whole  body  of  the  Calvinists  came  to  be  distin- 
guished by  the  name  of  Doctrinal  Puritans,  both 
parties  seemed  to  unite  in  a  moderate  episcopa- 
cy, there  being  little  or  no  mention  of  the  old 
book  of  discipline  for  twenty  years  before  the 
commencement  of  the  civil  war,  and  all  the 


386 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


controversy  turning  upon  points  of  Calvinism  ; 
upon  a  reduction  of  the  exorbitant  power  of  the 
bishops  ;  or  upon  innovations,  as  they  were 
called,  and  ceremonies.  There  were  few  either 
among  the  clergy  or  laity  who  had  a  zeal  for 
presbytery,  or  desired  any  more  than  to  be  rid 
of  their  oppressions.  Mr.  Rapin,  however,  is 
of  opinion*  that  "  among  the  members  of  Par- 
liament there  were  real  Presbyterians,  who 
thought,  no  doubt,  of  altering  the  whole  gov- 
ernment of  the  Church.  These  are  represented 
as  deep  politicians,  as  working  under  ground, 
and  making  use  of  all  kinds  of  artifices  to  ac- 
complish their  designs,  which  they  took  care 
not  to  discover."  He  owns,  indeed,  that  "  the 
Presbyterians  were  not  very  numerous  in  the 
House,  but  that  they  were  supported  by  a  pretty 
great  party  in  the  kingdom,  and  particularly  by 
the  Scots ;"  which  assertion  seems  to  me  to 
require  stronger  evidence  than  he  has  thought 
fit  to  produce.  I  have  shown,  from  Lord  Clar- 
endon, that  both  houses  of  Parliament,  at  their 
first  sitting  down,  were  almost  to  a  man  for  the 
constitution  of  the  Church  ;  that  they  aimed  at 
no  more  than  a  redress  of  grievances ;  and  that 
there  were  not  above  two  or  three  in  both  hous- 
es that  were  for  root  and  branch.  That  all 
the  members  received  the  communion  accord- 
ing to  the  usage  of  the  Church  of  England,  at 
their  first  sitting  down,  and  brought  a  certifi- 
cate of  their  having  so  done.  That  the  peti- 
tion of  the  Puritan  ministers  was  not  for  setting 
up  presbytery,  but  only  for  reforming  the  griev- 
ances of  the  hierarchy  ;t  the  controversy  be- 
tween Bishop  Hall  and  the  Smectymnuan  di- 
vines proceeded  on  the  same  footing,  as  did  the 
Committee  of  Accommodation.  In  short,  when 
the  Parliament  was  obliged  to  fly  to  the  Scots 
for  assistance  in  the  war,  and  to  receive  their 
covenant ;  and  when,  afterward,  they  found  it 
necessary  to  pay  the  utmost  deference  to  their 
advices,  lest  they  should  withdraw  their  army, 
and  leave  them  to  the  mercy  of  an  enraged 
king,  they  could  never,  in  the  worst  of  times, 
be  mduced  to  establish  their  discipline  in  the 
Church  of  England,  without  reserve  of  the  ec- 
clesiastical power  to  themselves.  And  as  to 
the  ministers  who  composed  the  assembly  of 
divines  at  Westminster,  though  in  a  course  of 
time  they  carried  things  very  high,  yet  I  am  of 
opinion,  with  Mr.  Fuller,^  that  at  first  "  they 
rather  favoured,  the  Presbyterian  discipline,  or  were 
brought  over  to  embrace  it  by  the  Scots,"  than  that 
they  came  thither  possessed  with  sentiments  of  its 
Divine  authority.  However,  it  is  certain  that  at 
the  Restoration  these  very  divines  offered  to  give 
it  up  for  Archbishop  Usher's  model  of  primitive 
episcopacy. 

It  must  be  confessed,  that  soon  after  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Parliament  there  were  many 
among  the  common  people  who  were  enemies 
to  the  whole  ecclesiastical  constitution,  being 
supported  by  the  Scots  commissioners,  who  had 
conceived  an  implacable  antipathy  against  the 
order  of  bishops,  which  they  had  voted  contrary 
to  the  Word  of  God.     But  this  was  not  the  case 

♦  Vol.  ii.,  p.  359,  447,  folio  edition. 

t  The  history  of  the  Church  of  England  shows 
the  stern  resistance  which  it  has  ever  made  to  re- 
form. If  ever  it  be  reformed  from  its  papistical  ap- 
pendages, it  must  be/rowi  wiihoiU. — C. 

t  Book  xi.,  p.  198. 


of  the  Puritan  clergy,  who  wanted  only  to  get  ril 
ofthe  tyranny  of  the  bishops,  and  were  willing  to 
leave  the  Pai-liament  to  model  the  government  of 
the  Church  as  they  pleased.  And  although,  as 
the  influence  of  the  Scots  over  the  two  houses 
increased,  presbytery  prevailed,  and  when  the 
Parliament  were  at  their  mercy,  and  forced  to 
submit  to  what  conditions  they  would  nnpose 
upon  them  for  their  assistance,  the  Kirk  disci- 
pline gained  the  ascendant,  and  at  length  ad- 
vanced into  a  Divine  right  in  tiie  assembly  of 
divines,  yet  the  Parliament  would  never  come 
into  it,  and  when  the  Scots  were  gone  home  it 
dwindled  by  degrees,  till  it  was  almost  totally 
eclipsed  by  the  rising  greatness  of  the  Independ- 
ents. 

It  appears,  therefore,  to  me,  that  there  was 
no  formal  design  as  yet,  either  in  the  House  of 
Commons  or  among  the  Puritan  clergy,  to  sub- 
vert the  hierarchy,  and  erect  the  Presbyteriaa 
government  upon  its  ruins  ;  there  were  no  con- 
siderable number  of  Presbyterian  ministers  ia 
the  nation ;  and  the  leading  members  in  both 
iiouses  were  known  to  be  of  another  stamp. 
"  We  are  confident,"  says  the  king,  in  his  letter 
to  the  Council  of  Scotland,  August  26,  "  that  the 
most  considerable  persons  in  both  houses  of 
Parliament,  and  those  who  make  the  fairest  pre- 
tensions to  you  of  uniformity  in  church  govern- 
ment, will  no  sooner  embrace  a  presbyterial 
than  you  an  episcopal."*  And  Bishop  Burnet 
speaks  the  same  language.  So  that  what  was 
done  in  the  House  of  Commons  afterward  was 
the  result  of  the  situation  of  their  affairs,  and 
not  of  any  formed  design  :  as  that  changed,  so 
did  their  councils  and  measures.  The  contrary 
to  this  ought  not  to  be  supposed,  but  proved  by 
incontestable  matters  of  fact,  which  neither  Mr. 
Rapin,  nor  any  other  historian  whom  I  have 
read,  has  yet  done.  And  I  will  venture  to  say, 
that  if  there  were  such  invisible  Presbyterians 
behind  the  curtain,  who  planned  the  subversioa 
of  the  hierarchy,  and  blew  it  up,  as  it  were,  with- 
out hands,  they  must  have  been  abler  states- 
men, and  masters  of  much  more  worldly  poli- 
tics, than  their  posterity  have  ever  been  re- 
markable for. 

To  return  to  the  Parliament.  There  were 
two  bills  which  affected  the  prerogative  now 
ready  for  the  royal  assent :  one  to  abolish  the 
Court  of  High  Commission,  and  regulate  the 
privy  council ;  the  other,  to  take  away  the  Star 
Chamber.  To  induce  the  king  to  pass  them 
more  readily,  the  Commons  sent  up  a  money- 
bill  with  them ;  but  when  the  king  came  to  the 
House  [July  3,  1641]  he  passed  the  money-bill, 
and  told  the  houses  he  must  take  some  time  to 
consider  of  the  others,  which  disgusted  the 
Commons  so  much  that  they  returned  to  their 
house  and  immediately  adjourned.  At  their 
next  meeting  they  fell  into  new  heats,  which 
his  majesty  being  informed  of,  came  to  the 
House  of  Peers,  and,  having  sent  for  the  Com- 
mons, reprimanded  them  for  their  jealousies,  and 
then  passed  the  bills  ;  he  also  put  them  in  mind 
what  he  had  done  this  session;  "that  he  had 
yielded  that  the  judges  should  hold  their  places 
quamdiu  se  bene  gcsserint ;  that  he  had  given 
away  his  right  to  ship-money ;  granted  a  law 
for  triennial  Parliaments,  and  for  securing  the 
money  borrowed  for  disbanding  the   armies ; 


*  Hamilton's  Memoirs,  book  iv.,  p.  197. 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


387 


in  a  word,  that  he  had  hitherto  given  way  to 
everything,  and,  therefore,  they  should  not  won- 
der if  in  some  things  he  began  now  to  refuse."* 
Lord  Clarendon  insinuates  that  tlie  king  passed 
these  bills  with  reluctance  ;  from  whence  an- 
other ingenious  writer  concludes,  that  if  ever 
the  ministry  had  regained  their  power,  it  was 
likely  they  would  advise  his  majesty  to  declare 
them  void,  as  being  extorted  from  him  by  force 
and  violence. 

The  act  for  abolishing  the  High  Commission 
Court  repeals  that  branch  of  the  statute  1  Eliz., 
cap.  i.,  upon  which  this  court  was  founded,  and 
then  enacts,  "that  no  archbishops,  bishops,  vic- 
ars-general, chancellor,  or  official,  nor  commis- 
sary of  any  archbishop,  bishop,  or  vicar-gener- 
al, or  any  other  spiritual  or  ecclesiastical  offi- 
cer, shall,  by  any  grant,  license,  or  commission 
from  the  king,  his  heirs  or  successors,  after  the 
1st  of  August,  1641,  award,  impose,  or  inffict 
any  pain,  penalty,  fine,  amercement,  imprison- 
ment, or  other  corporeal  punishment,  upon  any 
of  the  king's  subjects,  for  any  contempt,  misde- 
meanor, crime,  matter,  or  thing  whatsoever  be- 
longing to  spiritual  or  ecclesiastical  jurisdic- 
tion, or  shall  ex  officio  tender  or  administer  to 
any  person  any  corporeal  oath,  to  make  any 
presentment  of  any  crime,  or  to  confess  or  ac- 
cuse himself  of  any  crime,  offence,  delinquency, 
or  misdemeanor,  whereby  he  or  she  may  be 
liable  to  any  punishment  whatsoever,  under 
penalty  of  treble  charges,  and  £100  to  him  or 
them  who  shall  first  demand  or  sue  for  the 
same.  And  it  is  farther  enacted,  that  after  the 
said  1st  of  August,  1641,  no  new  court  shall  be 
erected,  or  deemed,  or  appointed,  that  shall 
have  the  like  power,  jurisdiction,  or  authority 
as  the  High  Commission  Court  had,  or  pretend- 
ed to  have,  but  all  such  commissions,  letters 
patent,  &c.,  from  the  king,  or  his  successors, 
and  all  acts,  sentences,  and  decrees  made  by 
virtue  thereof,  shall  be  utterly  void." 

By  passing  this  act,  all  coercive  power  of 
church  consistories  was  taken  away,  and  the 
spiritual  sword,  that  had  done  such  terrible  ex- 
ecution in  the  hands  of  some  bishops,  was  put 
into  the  scabbard.  It  was  very  extraordinary 
that  the  bishops,  who  were  then  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  should  so  supinely  suffer  themselves 
to  be  surprised  out  of  their  power.  Some  were 
ready  to  observe  a  hand  of  justice,  says  Mr. 
Fuller,!  that  seeing  many  simple  souls,  by  cap- 
tious interrogatories,  had  been  circumvented 
by  the  High  Commission  Court  into  a  self-ac- 
cusation, an  unsuspected  clause  in  this  statute 
should  abolish  all  their  lawful  authority :  for 
there  is  no  proviso  in  the  act  to  confine  it  only 
to  the  High  Commission,  but  it  extends  to  all 
archbishops,  bishops,  and  all  spiritual  or  eccle- 
siastical officers  in  any  of  their  courts.  Lord 
Clarendon  saysf  that  the  king  was  apprehen- 
sive that  the  body  of  the  bill  exceeded  the  title, 
and,  therefore,  made  a  pause  in  consenting  to 
pass  it,  but  that  some  bishops  prevailed  with 
his  majesty  to  sign  it,  to  take  ofT  the  odium 
from  that  bench,  of  their  being  enemies  to  all 
reformation  ;  for  it  was  insinuated,  says  the 
noble  historian,  that  since  they  opposed  a  due 
regulation  of  their  power,  there  would  be  no 
way  but  to  cut  them  off  root  and  branch. 

*  Nalson's  Collections,  vol.  i.,  p.  327. 

t  Book  xi.,  p.  181.        X  Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  p.  284. 


The  act  for. taking  away  the  Star  Chamber, 
and  regulating  the  privy  council,  dissolves  the 
said  court  from  the  1st  of  August,  1641,  "and 
repeals  all  those  acts,  or  clauses  of  acts  of  Par- 
liament, by  which  any  jurisdiction,  power,  or 
authority  is  given  to  the  said  court,  or  to  any 
of  the  officers  or  ministers  thereof  And  it  or- 
dains farther,  that  neither  his  majesty,  nor  his 
privy  council,  have,  or  ought  to  have,  any  juris- 
diction, power,  or  authority,  by  English  bill,  pe- 
tition, articles,  libel,  or  other  arbitrary  way,  to 
examine  or  draw  in  question,  determine  or  dis- 
pose of,  the  lands,  tenements,  hereditaments, 
goods,  or  chattels  of  any  of  the  subjects  of  this 
kingdom." 

Thus  fell  the  two  chief  engines  of  the  late  ar- 
bitrary proceedings  in  Church  and  State,  which 
had  the  liberties  and  estates  of  many  worthy 
and  pious  families  to  answer  for.  By  the  pro- 
viso in  the  act  for  abolishing  the  High  Commis- 
sion, that  "  no  new  court  shall  be  erected  with 
like  powers  for  the  future,"  it  appears  how  odi- 
ous their  proceedings  were  in  the  eyes  of  the 
nation.  Lord  Clarendon  admits*  that  the  ta- 
king away  the  Star  Chamber  at  this  time  was 
very  popular  ;  but  is  of  opinion  that  it  would  be 
no  less  politic  in  the  crown  to  revive  it  when 
the  present  distempers  are  expired  ;  however,  I 
rely  on  the  wisdom  of  a  British  Parliament, 
that  they  will  never  consent  to  it. 

When  the  king  had  signed  the  two  bills,  he 
desired  the  advice  of  his  Parliament  concern- 
ing a  manifesto  which  he  intended  to  send  to 
the  Diet  of  Ratisbon  in  favour  of  the  Palatine 
family,  wherein  he  declares  that  he  will  not 
abandon  the  interests  of  his  sister  and  nephew, 
but  will  employ  all  his  force  and  power  in  their 
behalf  until  they  are  restored.  This  was  high- 
ly acceptable  to  the  Puritans,  who  had  always 
the  interest  of  that  house  at  heart.  The  mani- 
festo was  read  July  7,t  when  the  Commons  de- 
clared their  approbation  of  it,  and  resolved  to 
give  his  majesty  such  assistance  therein  as 
shall  stand  with  the  honour  of  his  majesty,  and 
the  interest  and  affections  of  his  kingdom,  if 
the  present  treaty  does  not  succeed.  The 
peers  concurred  in  the  same  vote,  and  both 
houses  desired  the  king  to  recommend  it  to  the 
Parliament  of  Scotland,  which  his  majesty 
promised.  Many  warm  speeches  were  made  on 
this  occasion  in  favour  of  the  Queen  of  Bohe- 
mia, by  Sir  Simon  d'Ewes,  Mr.  Denzil  Hollis, 
and  Sir  Benjamin  Rudyard.t  "  The  restoring 
the  prince  to  his  electorate,"  says  Sir  Benja- 
min, "  will  restore  the  Protestant  religion  there ; 
it  will  strengthen  and  increase  it  in  Germany, 
which  is  of  great  and  vast  consequence.  It 
will  likewise  refresh  and  comfort  the  heart  of 
that  most  noble,  virtuous,  and  magnanimously- 
suffering  Queen  of  Bohemia  his  majesty's  sis- 
ter, and  his  highness's  mother,  who  is  ever  to 
be  highly  and  tenderly  regarded  by  this  house, 
and  by  this  kingdom."  Mr.  Denzil  Hollis  said, 
"  The  House  of  Commons  looks  upon  those  dis- 
tressed princes,  of  so  glorious  an  extraction, 
with  an  eye  of  tenderness,  wishing  every  drop 
of  that  princely  blood  may  ever  be  illustrated 
with  honour  and  happiness.  To  hear  that  these 
princes  should  have  their  patrimony  taken  from 


Vol.  i ,  p.  285. 


"    V  oi.  1 ,  p.  zoo. 

t  Rushworth,  part  iii.,  vol.  i.,  p.  310. 

i  Nalson's  Collections,  p.  326-328,  378. 


388 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


them,  and  suffer  things  so  unworthy  their  birth 
and  relation,  is  a  thing  that  makes  our  ears  to 
tingle,  and  our  hearts  to  rise  within  us.  But 
there  is  another  motive  which  has  an  irresisti- 
ble operation  with  us,  which  is  the  advance- 
ment of  Protestant  religion.  The  Protestant 
religion  and  this  kingdom  must  live  and  die  to- 
gether ;  and  it  is  madness  to  suppose  the  Prot- 
estant religion  can  continue  here,  if  we  suffer 
it  to  be  destroyed  and  eradicated  out  of  the 
neighbouring  countries.  Religion  is  the  heart 
of  England,  and  England  is  the  heart  of  the 
Protestant  religion  in  all  the  other  parts  of 
Christendom  ;  let  us,  therefore,  like  wise  men, 
that  foresee  the  evil  afar  off,  rather  meet  it  at 
a  distance,  than  stay  till  the  Austrian  ambition 
and  popish  power  come  to  our  door."*  These 
were  the  sentiments  of  the  Puritans  in  this  Par- 
liament with  respect  to  the  ancestors  of  his 
present  majesty  and  the  Protestant  religion. 
The  Queen  of  Bohemia  was  so  sensible  of  their 
particular  regards  for  her  family,  that  she  re- 
turned them  her  thanks ;  but  the  manifesto 
ended  in  nothing.! 

The  Commons  not  being  able  to  come  at  their 
intended  alterations  in  the  Church  while  the 
bench  of  bishops  remained  united  in  the  House 
of  Peers,  formed  several  schemes  to  divide 
them  :  it  was  first  proposed  to  set  large  fines 
upon  both  houses  of  convocation  for  compiling 
the  late  canons,  and  a  bill  was  brought  in  for 
that  purpose  ;  but,  upon  better  consideration,  it 
was  thought  more  effectual  for  the  present  to 
make  examples  of  those  bishops  only  who  had 
been  the  principal  movers  in  that  affair ;  agree- 
ably to  this  resolution,  a  committee  was  appoint- 
ed, July  31,  to  draw  up  an  impeachment  against 
one  half  of  the  bench,  viz.,  Dr.  Laud,  archbish- 
op of  Canterbury  ;  Dr.  Curie,  bishop  of  Win- 
chester ;  Dr.  Wright,  bishop  of  Coventry  and 
Litchfield  ;  Dr.  Goodman,  bishop  of  Gloucester ; 
Dr.  Hall,  bishop  of  Exeter  ;  Dr.  Owen,  bishop 
of  St.  Asaph  ;  Dr.  Pierce,  bishop  of  Bath  and 
Wells  ;  Dr.  Wren,  bishop  of  Ely  ;  Dr.  Roberts, 
bishop  of  Bangor;  Dr.  Skinner,  bishop  of  Bris- 
tol ;  Dr.  Warner,  bishop  of  Rochester;  Dr.  Tow- 
ers, bishop  of  Peterborough  ;  Dr.  Owen,  bishop 
of  Landaff.J  The  impeachment  was  of  high 
crimes  and  misdemeanors  :  "  for  making  and 
publishing  the  late  canons,  contrary  to  the  king's 
prerogative,  to  the  fundamental  laws  of  the 
realm,  to  the  rights  of  Parliament,  and  to  the 
property  and  liberty  of  the  subject ;  and  con- 
taining matters  tending  to  sedition,  and  of  dan- 
gerous consequence  ;  and  for  granting  a  benev- 
olence or  contribution  to  his  majesty,  to  be  paid 
by  the  clergy  of  that  province,  contrary  to  law." 
It  was  carried  up  to  the  Lords,  August  4,  by  Ser- 
geant Wild,  who  demanded,  in  the  name  of  all 
the  Commons  of  England,  that  the  bishops  might 
be  forthwith  put  to  answer  the  crimes  and  mis- 
demeanors above  mentioned,  in  the  presence 
of  the  House  of  Commons;  and  that  such  far- 
ther proceedings  might  be  had  against  them  as 
to  law  and  justice  appertained.  The  Commons 
were  in  hopes  that  the  bishops  would  have  quitted 
their  votes  in  Parliament  to  be  discharged  of  the 
prasmunire;  but  they  resolved  to  abide  by  their 
right,  and  therefore  only  desired  time  to  prepare 
their  answer,  and  counsel  for  their  assistance  ; 


*  Rushworth,  p.  316. 

t  Ibid.,  part  iii.,  vol.  i.,  p.  359. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  357. 


accordingly,  they  were  allowed  three  months' 
time  to  put  in  their  answer,  and  counsel  of 
their  own  nomination,  viz.,  Sergeant  Jermin,  Mr. 
Chute,  Mr.  Heme,  and  Mr.  Hales.* 

From  this  time  the  bishops  fell  under  a  gen- 
eral disregard  ;  the  cry  of  the  populace  was 
against  them,  as  the  chief  impediments  of  all 
reformation  in  Church  and  State  ;  and  even  the 
temporal  peers  treated  them  with  neglect,  ex- 
pressing their  dislike  at  the  Bishop  of  London 
being  styled  Right  Honourable.  Besides,  the 
lords  spiritual  were  not  distinctly  mentioned  in 
the  bills  that  passed  this  session,  according  to 
ancient  usage  ;  the  clerk  of  the  Parliament,  in 
reading  the  bills  to  the  House,  turned  his  back 
upon  the  bench  of  bishops ;  and  when  the  hous- 
es went  in  a  body  to  church  on  a  fast-day,  the 
temporal  barons  gave  themselves  precedence  of 
the  bishops.  These  were  the  preludes  to  their 
downfall,  which  happened  about  six  months 
forward,  though  from  this  time  they  were  little 
better  than  ciphers  in  the  House. 

These  resolute  proceedings  against  the  bish- 
ops put  the  court  upon  forming  new  projects  to 
break  up  the  Parliament.  It  was  observed  that 
the  strength  and  courage  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons rose  from  their  confederacy  with  the 
Scots,  whose  army  in  the  north  was  entirely  in 
their  interest ;  it  was  therefore  resolved  in  coun- 
cil to  detach  that  nation,  if  possible,  from  the 
Parliament,  and  to  bring  them  over  to  the  king, 
by  yielding  everything  they  should  desire  ;  for 
this  purpose  his  majesty  declared  his  resolution 
to  the  two  houses  to  visit  his  native  country  in 
person  within  fourteen  days,  and  desired  them 
to  finish  the  bills  which  were  before  them  by 
that  time.  The  Commons  being  aware  of  the 
design,  and  apprehensive  of  danger,  if  the  king 
should  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  English 
army  in  the  north,  sent  away  the  Earl  of  Hol- 
land immediately  with  money  to  pay  off,  which 
was  done  without  mutiny  or  disturbance ;  but 
the  business  of  the  houses  being  very  urgent, 
and  the  time  short,  they  voted,  that  in  this  case 
of  great  necessity,  concerning  the  peace  of  the 
kingdom,  they  would  sit  the  next  day,  being 
Sunday,  by  six  o'clock  in  the  morning ;  which 
they  did,  and  having  heard  a  sermon,  returned 
to  the  House  about  nine,  and  sat  all  day  long 
on  the  Lord's  Day,  commonly  called  Sunday 
[August  8,  1641].  IBut,  lest  this  might  be  mis- 
construed as  a  profanation,  or  be  drawn  into 
example,  they  published  the  following  declara- 
tion :t 

"  Whereas,  both  houses  of  Parliament  found 
it  fit  to  sit  in  Parliament  upon  the  8th  of  Au- 
gust, being  Lord's  Day,  for  many  urgent  occa- 
sions, being  straitened  in  time  by  his  majes- 
ty's resolution  to  go  within  a  day  or  two  to 
Scotland,  they  think  fit  to  declare,  that  they 
would  not  have  done  this  but  upon  inevita- 
ble necessity  ;  the  peace  and  safety  of  both 
Church  and  State  being  so  deeply  concerned, 
which  they  do  hereby  declare,  to  this  end,  that 
neither  any  other  inferior  court  or  council,  or 
any  other  person,  may  draw  this  into  example, 
or  make  use  of  it  for  their  encouragement,  in 
neglecting  the  due  observation  of  the  Lord's 
Day." 

*  Fuller's  Church  History,  book  xL,  p.  183. 
t  Rushworth,  p.  362.    Nalson's  Collections,  vol.  iL, 
p.  436. 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


389 


The  same  vote  passed  the  House  of  Lords 
nemine  contradicente,  and  was  ordered  to  be 
printed. 

August  10,  his  majesty  came  to  the  House 
and  gave  his  assent  to  a  bill  concerning  knight- 
hood ;  against  the  oppressions  of  the  stannary 
courts ;  for  regulating  the  clerks  of  markets ; 
and  for  contirming  or  ratifying  the  peace  [or 
pacification]  with  the  Scots.  This  last  being 
an  affair  of  great  consequence,  I  shall  give  the 
reader  an  abstract  of  the  treaty,  which  had  been 
depending  ever  since  November  23,  1640,  be- 
tween the  commissioners  of  both  nations,  who 
agreed  to  the  following  conclusions  [August  7], 
which  the  king  ratified  and  confirmed  the  very 
day  he  set  out  for  Scotland. 

"  That  the  acts  of  Parliament  held'  at  Edin- 
burgh, June  2,  be  published  by  his  majesty's 
authority,  and  have  in  all  time  to  come  the  full 
strength  of  laws. 

"  That  the  Castle  of  Edinburgh,  and  other 
forts  of  Scotland,  should  be  furnished  and  used 
for  the  defence  of  the  kingdom,  with  the  advice 
of  the  states  of  Parliament. 

"  That  all  those  who  in  England  or  Ireland 
have  been  imprisoned,  or  otherwise  censured 
for  subscribing  the  covenant,  and  for  refusing 
to  take  the  oath  contrary  to  the  same,  shall  be 
released  and  freed  from  such  censures  ;  and 
for  the  time  to  come  the  subjects  of  Scotland, 
living  in  Scotland,  shall  not  be  obliged  to  any 
oaths  contrary  to  the  laws  or  religion  of  that 
kingdom  ;  but  if  they  come  to  reside  in  England 
or  Ireland,  they  shall  be  subject  to  the  laws  as 
others  are. 

■'  That  all  his  majesty's  courts  of  justice 
shall  be  free  and  open  against  all  evil  counsel- 
lors and  delinquents ;  that  the  Parliament  of 
Scotland  shall  have  liberty  to  proceed  against 
such  ;  and  that  his  majesty  will  not  employ 
any  person,  in  any  office  or  place,  who  shall  be 
judged  incapable  by  sentence  of  Parliament ; 
nor  make  use  of  their  service,  nor  grant  them 
access  to  his  royal  person,  without  consent  of 
Parliament. 

"  That  all  ships  and  goods  on  both  sides  be 
restored,  and  that  £300,000  be  given  to  the 
Scots  by  the  English,  for  their  friendly  assist- 
ance and  relief 

"That  all  declarations,  proclamations,  &c., 
that  have  been  published  against  the  loyalty 
and  dutifulness  of  his  majesty's  subjects  of 
Scotland,  be  recalled  and  suppressed  ;  and  that 
at  the  close  of  the  treaty  of  peace  the  loyalty  of 
his  majesty's  said  subjects  shall  be  made  known 
at  the  time  of  public  thanksgiving  in  all  places, 
and  particularly  in  all  parish  churches  of  his 
majesty's  dominions. 

"  That  the  garrisons  of  Berwick  and  Carli.sle 
be  removed,  and  all  things  be  reduced  to  the 
state  they  were  in  before  the  late  troubles. 

"Whereas,  unity  in  religion  and  uniformity 
in  church  government  have  been  desired  by  liie 
Scots  as  a  special  means  for  preserving  the 
peace  between  both  kingdoms,  his  majesty, 
with  the  advice  of  both  houses  of  Parliament, 
doth  approve  of  the  affection  of  his  subjects  in 
Scotland,  in  their  desire  of  having  a  conformity 
of  church  government  between  the  two  nations. 
And  as  the  Parliament  hath  already  taken  into 
consideration  the  reformation  oT  church  gov- 
ernment, so  they  will  proceed  therein  in  due 


time,  as  shall  best  conduce  to  the  glory  of  God, 
the  peace  of  the  Church,  and  both  kingdoms. 

"  That  the  Prince  of  Wales  shall  be  iicrmitted 
to  repair  into  Scotland,  and  reside  there,  as 
there  shall  be  occasion. 

"That  his  majesty  will  give  ear  to  the  infor- 
mations of  Parliament,  and  when  that  is  not 
sitting,  to  the  council  and  college  of  justice,  so 
far  as  to  make  choice  of  some  one  of  such  as 
they,  by  common  consent,  shall  recommend  to 
places  of  trust  in  the  council,  the  session,  and 
other  judicatures.  Or,  if  his  majesty  shall  think 
any  other  person  fit,  he  shall  acquaint  his  Par- 
liament, to  the  intent,  that  if  by  their  informa- 
tion any  just  exception  shall  be  made  to  the 
said  person,  his  majesty  may  nominate  another. 
"That  some  noblemen,  &c.,  of  the  Scots 
nation  shall  be  placed  about  the  king,  and  that 
his  majesty  will  endeavour  to  give  just  satis- 
faction to  his  people  with  regard  to  his  placing 
none  but  persons  of  the  Reformed  religion  about 
his  own  and  the  prince's  person." 

Then  follows  an  act  of  oblivion,  with  excep- 
tion to  the  Scots  prelates  and  four  others  ;  and 
in  the  close  the  ratification  of  the  whole  in  these 
words : 

"  Be  it  enacted  by  his  majesty,  with  the  as- 
sent of  the  Lords  and  Commons  in  this  present 
Parliament  assembled,  that  the  said  treaty,  and 
all  the  articles  thereof,  be  and  stand  forever 
ratified  and  established,  and  have  the  force, 
vigour,  strength,  and  authority  of  a  law,  stat- 
ute, and  act  of  Parliament.  And  his  majesty, 
for  himself  and  his  successors,  promises,  in  verba 
■principis,  never  to  come  in  the  contrair  of  this 
statute  and  sanction,  nor  anything  therein  con- 
tained, but  to  hold  the  same  in  all  points  firm 
and  stable,  and  cause  it  to  be  truly  observed, 
according  to  the  tenour  and  intent  thereof,  now 
and  forever.  And  the  Parliaments  of  both 
kingdoms  respectively  give  full  assurance,  and 
make  public  faith,  for  the  true  and  faithful  ob- 
servation of  this  treaty,  &c.,  hinc  inde,  in  all 
times  to  come." 

Bishop  Burnet  very  justly  observes  a  collu- 
sion in  the  king's  approving  the  desire  of  his 
Scots  subjects  for  uniformity  of  church  govern- 
ment. His  majesty  wished  it  as  much  as  they, 
but  with  a  very  different  view ;  the  king  was 
for  bringing  them  to  the  English  standard, 
whereas  the  Scots  intended  to  bring  the  Eng- 
lish to  theirs.  However,  his  majesty  was  re- 
solved to  contradict  them  in  nothing,  that  he 
might  break  the  confederacy  between  the  two 
nations;  for  Lord  Saville  had  now  informed 
him  of  the  correspondence  of  some  of  the  Eng- 
lish nobility  with  the  Scots,  which  encouraged 
them  to  raise  an  army  and  march  to  the  bor- 
ders. He  had  shown  him  a  copy  of  the  letter 
with  the  forged  names  of  Essex,  Bedford,  Man- 
deville,  and  others,  exciting  them  to  assert  the 
liberties  of  their  Church  and  nation,  and  prom- 
ising all  the  assistance  they  could  give  with 
safety  to  themselves.  His  majesty,  therefore, 
resolved  to  gain  over  the  Scots,  that  he  might 
be  at  liberty  to  prosecute  the  iuviters  and  re- 
cover his  prerogative  in  England,  which  he 
knew  he  could  accomplish  by  the  assistance  of 
the  Irish,  if  the  English  Puritans  were  left  to 
themselves.  The  Parliament  was  aware  of  the 
design,  and  therefore  appointed  one  lord  and 
two  commoners  to  follow  his  majesty  to  Scot- 


390 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


land,  in  order  to  keep  up  a  good  correspondence 
with  the  Parliament  of  that  nation,  and  to  ex- 
hort them,  since  they  had  gained  their  own 
liberties  by  the  assistance  of  the  English  Parlia- 
ment, not  to  desert  them  till  the  English  also 
had  recovered  theirs. 

The  king  set  out  post,  August  11,  1641,  and 
arrived  at  Edinburgh  in  three  or  four  days.  The 
Parliament  met  August  19,  when  his  majesty 
acquainted  them,  in  a  most  gracious  speech, 
that  the  end  of  his  coming  into  his  native  coun- 
try was  to  quiet  the  distractions  of  the  king- 
dom ;  "  and  this  I  mind,"  says  his  majesty, 
"  fully  and  cheerfully  to  perform,  for  I  assure 
you  I  can  do  nothing  with  more  cheerfulness 
than  to  give  my  people  general  satisfaction ; 
wherefore,  not  offering  to  endear  himself  to  you 
in  words,  which  is  not  my  way,  I  desire,  in  the 
first  place,  to  settle  that  which  concerns  reli- 
gion, and  the  just  liberties  of  this  my  native 
country,  before  I  proceed  to  any  other  act."* 
Accordingly,  his  majesty  allowed  of  their  late 
proceedings  in  opposing  the  English  liturgy,  and 
erecting  tables  in  defence  of  their  liberties  ;  he 
confirmed  the  acts  of  their  Assembly  at  Glas- 
gow, which  declared  that "  the  government  of  the 
Church  by  archbishops  and  bishops  was  contra- 
ry to  the  Word  of  God,  and  was,  therefore,  abol- 
ished." The  Rev.  Mr.  Henderson  waited  on 
the  king  as  his  chaplain,  and  was  appointed  to 
provide  preachers  for  him  while  he  was  in  that 
country,  his  majesty  having  declared  that  he 
would  conform  to  their  manner  of  worship  while 
he  was  among  them.  Mr.  Henderson  had  the 
rent  of  the  royal  chapel ;  Mr.  Gillespie  had  a 
pension,  and  the  professors  of  the  several  uni- 
versities had  their  provisions  augmented  by  the 
revenues  formerly  belonging  to  the  bishops. 
His  majesty  conferred  titles  of  honour  upon 
many  of  their  gentry  ;  and  all  parties  were  so 
well  pleased,  that  it  was  said,  when  his  majesty 
left  the  kingdom,  that  he  departed  a  contented 
king  from  a  contented  people. 

No  sooner  was  the  king  returned  but  the 
English  bishops  reproached  his  majesty  with 
his  concessions,  especially  for  admitting  "  the 
English  hierarchy  to  be  contrary  to  the  Word 
of  God."  They  told  him  he  had  unravelled  the 
web  which  his  father  and  himself  had  been 
weaving  in  that  country  for  above  forty  years, 
and,  instead  of  making  the  Scots  his  friends,  he 
had  only  created  a  new  thirst  in  the  English 
Parliament  to  follow  their  example.  These  re- 
monstrances had  such  an  influence  upon  the 
unhappy  king,  that  he  repented  heartily  of  what 
he  had  done,  and  told  Dr.  Saunderson,  after- 
ward Bishop  of  Lincoln,  when  he  was  in  the 
Isle  of  Wight,  that  two  errors  did  much  afflict 
him,  his  consenting  to  the  Earl  of  Strafford's 
death,  and  his  abolishing  episcopacy  in  Scot- 
land ;  and  that  if  God  should  ever  restore  him 
to  the  peaceable  possession  of  his  crown,  he 
would  demonstrate  his  repentance  by  a  public 
confession  and  a  voluntary  penance  (I  think, 
says  the  doctor),  by  going  barefoot  from  the 
Tower  of  London,  or  Whitehall,  to  St.  Paul's, 
and  desiring  the  people  to  intercede  with  God 
for  him.  This  shows  how  much  superstition 
still  remained  in  his  majesty's  make  and  con- 
stitution, when  he  could  imagine  the  going  bare- 
foot through  the  streets  could  atone  for  his  mis- 


*  Rushworth,  part  iii.,  vol.  i.,  p.  382. 


takes  ;  and  how  little  depend  ance  was  to  be 
had  upon  his  promises  and  declarations  ;  that 
even  in  the  year  1648,  when  the  necessity  of 
his  affairs  obliged  him  to  consent  to  a  uniform- 
ity of  Presbyterian  government  in  both  nations, 
he  could  declare  in  private  to  his  chaplain  that 
''if  he  was  ever  restored  to  his  throne,  he 
would  do  public  penance  for  abolishing  episco- 
pacy in  Scotland."  Upon  the  whole,  the  king's 
journey  into  his  native  country  did  him  no  ser- 
vice ;  for,  though  the  Scots  were  pleased  with 
his  majesty's  concessions,  they  durst  not  de- 
pend upon  them  so  long  as  he  was  under  the 
direction  of  the  queen  and  the  English  bishops, 
and  they  continued  to  think  themselves  obliged, 
from  gratitude,  affection,  and  interest,  to  culti- 
vate a  good  understanding  with  the  English 
Parliament,  and  to  assist  them  in  recovering 
their  religion  and  liberties. 

Upon  the  day  of  thanksgiving  for  the  pacifi- 
cation between  the  two  nations  [September  7], 
Bishop  Williams,  dean  of  Westminster,  without 
any  direction  from  his  superiors,  composed  a 
form  of  prayer  for  the  service  of  the  day,  with 
which  the  House  of  Commons  was  offended, 
and  came  to  this  resolution  :  "  That  the  Bishop 
of  Lincoln  had  no  power  to  set  forth  any  prayer 
to  be  read  on  the  public  thanksgiving  ;  and  that 
no  minister  is  obliged  to  read  the  said  prayer  ; 
and  the  House  is  of  opinion,  and  doth  order, 
that  the  said  prayer  be  not  read  in  the  liberties 
of  Westminster,  or  elsewhere."*  Dr.  Burges 
and  Mr.  Marshall  preached  before  the  Com- 
mons, and  read  the  following  order,  appointed 
by  both  houses  to  be  published  in  all  the 
churches  throughout  England,  with  his  majes- 
ty's consent. 

"Whereas,  according  to  the  act  of  this  pres- 
ent Parliament  for  confirmation  of  the  treaty 
of  pacification,  it  was  desired  by  the  commis- 
sioners of  Scotland  that  the  loyalty  and  faith- 
fulness of  his  majesty's  subjects  [of  Scotland] 
might  be  made  known  at  the  time  of  thanksgiv- 
ing, in  all  places,  and  particularly  in  all  parish 
churches  of  his  majesty's  dominions  ;  which 
request  was  graciously  condescended  to  by  his 
majesty,  and  confirmed  by  the  said  act :  it  is 
now  ordered  and  commanded  by  both  houses  of 
Parliament,  that  the  same  be  effectually  done 
in  all  parish  churches  throughout  this  kingdom, 
on  Tuesday,  September  7,  at  the  time  of  the 
public  thanksgiving,  by  the  respective  ministers 
of  each  parish,  or  their  curates,  who  are  here- 
by required  to  read  this  present  order  in  the 
church." 

The  order  being  read,  the  ministers  declared 
that,  notwithstanding  all  which  had  passed  in 
the  late  commotions,  the  Scots  nation  were  still 
his  majesty's  faithful  and  loyal  subjects.  Thus, 
as  the  calling  and  continuance  of  an  English 
Parliament,  after  twelve  years'  interval,  was 
owing  to  the  marching  of  the  Sdots  army  into 
the  north  of  England,  it  was  by  the  powerful 
support  and  assistance  of  that  Parliament,  and 
the  expense  of  a  million  of  money,  that  the 
Scots  obtained  the  present  pacification,  with 
the  full  recovery  of  their  kirk  discipline  and 
civil  liberties. 

In  the  midst  of  this  ferment  of  the  spirit  o 
men,  the  workings  of  opposite  counsels,  and  tl 
taking  the  swDrd  out  of  the  hands  of  the  spirit- 

*  Nalson's  Collections,  vol.  ii.,  p.  476,  477. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


391 


ual  courts,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  that  the 
state  of  religion  was  unsettled,  and  that  men 
began  to  practise  with  some  latitude  in  points 
of  ceremony  and  forms  of  worship.  It  has  been 
observed  that  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  the 
House  of  Commons  had  ordered  commissioners 
to  be  sent  into  all  the  counties  of  England,  for 
removing  the  late  innovations.  June  28,  it  was 
farther  ordered,  "  that  neither  university  should 
do  reverence  to  the  communion-table."  And, 
August  31,  "that  the  church-wardens  of  the 
several  parishes  shall  forthwith  remove  the 
communion-table  from  the  east  end  of  the 
churches  where  they  stand  altarwise,  and  take 
away  the  rails  and  level  the  chancels,  as  before 
the  late  innovations."  Upon  complaint  of  the 
■want  of  sermons,  and  that  the  incumbents  in 
many  places  would  not  admit  preachers  into 
their  pulpits,  though  the  parish  maintained 
them,  it  was  ordered,  June  14,  "  That  the  deans 
and  chapters  of  all  cathedrals  be  required,  and 
enjoined,  to  suifer  the  inhabitants  to  have  free 
liberty  to  have  a  sermon  preached  in  their  ca- 
thedrals every  Sunday  in  the  afternoon  "  July 
12,  ordered,  "  That  in  all  parochial  churches 
■where  there  is  no  preaching  in  the  afternoon,  if 
the  parishioners  will  not  maintain  a  conforma- 
ble lecturer  at  their  own  charge,  the  parson  or 
vicar  shall  give  way  to  it,  unless  he  will  preach 
himself"  SeptemJDer  6,  ordered,  "That  it  be 
lawful  for  the  parishioners  of  any  parish  to  set 
up  a  lecture,  and  to  maintain  an  orthodox  min- 
ister at  their  own  charge,  to  preach  every 
Lord's  Day  where  there  is  no  preaching,  and  to 
preach  one  day  every  week  where  there  is  no 
weekly  lecture."*  But,  notwithstanding  these 
Totes,  some  bishops  inhibited  preaching  on 
Sundays  in  the  afternoon  ;  and.  in  particular 
Dr.  Montague,  bishop  of  Norwich,  upon  which 
the  Commons  voted,  "  That  his  lordship's  inhi- 
bition of  the  Reverend  Mr.  Carter  to  preach 
in  his  own  parish  church  was  void  ;  and  that 
every  minister  may  preach  in  his  own  parish 
church  as  often  as  he  pleases." 

Many  petitions  being  sent  from  divers  coun- 
ties for  preaching  ministers,  a  committee  of 
forty  members  of  the  House,  called  the  Com- 
mittee for  Preaching  Ministers,  was  appointed 
to  send  ministers  where  there  were  vacancies, 
and  to  provide  for  their  maintenance.!  These 
gentlemen  recommended  many  of  the  late  si- 
lenced ministers,  as  the  Reverend  Mr.  Case, 
Mr.  Marshall,  Sedgwick,  Burroughs,  whom 
some  of  the  vicars  refused  to  admit  into  their 
pulpits,  or  at  least  dissuaded  their  parishioners 
from  hearing  them,  upon  which  some  of  them 
"were  required  to  attend  the  committee ;  and 
because  great  complaints  were  made  to  the 
House  of  the  idleness  and  viciousness  of  the 
country  clergy,  another  committee  was  appoint- 
ed to  examine  into  such  complaints,  and  was 
called  the  Committee  for  Scandalous  Ministers,  t 


*  Nalson's  Collections,  vol.  ii,,  p.  288,  383,  457. 

t  Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  p.  295. 

t  "By  'scandalous  ministers,'"  says  Dr.  Grey, 
*'  no  more  was  meant  than  the  being  truly  orthodox, 
truly  conformable  to  the  rules  and  orders  of  the 
Church,  and  faithful  and  obedient  subjects  to  his 
majesty."  It  is  sufficient  to  oppose  to  this  round  as- 
sertion of  Dr.  Grey  an  authority  not  to  be  contro- 
verted, that  of  Fuller,  Church  History,  b.  xi.,  p.  207. 
He  informs  us  that  some  of  the  clergy  were  outed  for 


The  day  before  the  recess  of  the  Parliament 
[September  8,  1641],  it  was  resolved  by  the 
Commons,  "  That  the  Lord's  Day  should  be 
duly  observed  and  sanctified  ;  that  all  dancing, 
or  other  sports  either  before  or  after  Divine  ser- 
vice, be  forborne  and  restrained ;  and  that  the 
preaching  God's  Word  be  promoted  in  the  af- 
ternoon, in  the  several  churches  and  chapels  of 
this  kingdom  ;  and  that  ministers  and  preach- 
ers be  encouraged  thereunto.  The  chancellors 
of  the  two  universities,  the  heads  of  colleges, 
all  patrons,  vicars,  and  church-wardens,  are  to 
make  certificate  of  the  performance  of  these 
orders  ;  and  all  defaulters  to  be  returned  to 
Parliament  before  the  30th  of  October  next. 
Ordered  farther,  that  all  crucifixes,  scandalous 
pictures  of  any  one  or  more  persons  of  the  Trin- 
ity, and  all  images  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  shall  be 
taken  away  and  abolished  ;  and  that  all  tapers, 
candlesticks,  and  basins  be  removed  from  the 
communion-table.  That  all  corporeal  reveren- 
ces at  the  name  of  Jesus,  or  towards  the  east 
end  of  the  church,  chapel,  or  chancel,  or  to- 
wards the  communion-table,  be  forborne."* 
These  orders  to  be  observed  in  all  cathedral 
and  collegiate  churches  and  chapels,  in  the  two 
universities,  by  the  respective  officers  and  min- 
isters of  these  places,  and  by  the  readers  and 
benchers  of  the  inns  of  court,  t 

The  House  of  Lords  consented  to  some  of 
these  resolutions,  but  not  to  all.  They  agreed 
in  their  committee,  "  that  no  rails  should  be 
placed  about  the  communion-table  where  there 
were  none  already,  but  not  to  the  pulling  down 
all  that  were  set  up ;  and  that  all  chancels 
raised  within  fifteen  years  past  shall  be  level- 
led ;  that  images  of  the  Trinity  should  be  abol- 
ished, without  limitation  of  time,  and  all  images 
of  the  Virgin  Mary  erected  within  twenty  years 
past."1:  But  as  for  bowing  at  the  name  of  Je- 
sus, they  insisted  that  it  should  be  left  indiffer- 
ent. So  that  when  the  question  was  put  to 
agree  or  not  to  agree  with  the  resolutions  of  the 


their  affection  to  the  king's  cause  merely,  and  many 
were  charged  with  delivering  false  doctrines,  whose 
positions  were  found  at  the  least  disputable;  and 
urges  that  many  of  the  complainers  were  factious 
people,  and  the  witnesses  against  the  clergy  seldom 
deposed  on  oath  ;  yet,  after  these  deductions,  he  al- 
lows that  many  were  outed  for  their  misdemeanors  ; 
and  adds,  "  some  of  their  offences  were  so  foul,  it  is 
a  shame  to  report  them,  crying  to  justice  for  punish- 
ment." He  appears,  indeed,  to  have  his  doubts 
whether  their  crimes  were  sufficiently  proved ;  for 
if  the  proof  were  perfect,  the  persons  ought  to  have 
lost  their  lives,  and  not  their  livings  only.  This  is, 
however,  a  proof  against  Dr.  Grey's  unlimited  asser- 
tion, that  in  many  instances  the  imputation  of  scan- 
dalous crimes,  supported  by  considerable  evidence 
at  least,  was  the  ground  of  proceeding.  Mr.  Baxter 
tells  us  that  it  was  no  sooner  understood  that  the 
committee  was  formed,  than  multitudes  in  all  coun- 
ties came  up  with  petitions  against  their  ministers. 
Two  hundred  of  the  names  of  scandalous  ministers, 
their  places,  and  articles  proved  against  them,  were 
published  by  Mr.  White,  the  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee ;  and  moderate  men  were  grieved  to  see  so 
much  ignorance  and  such  gross  immoralities  ex- 
posed to  the  derision  of  the  world.  And  yet  Dr. 
Grey  could  say,  that  scandalous  ministers  meant  no 
more  than  the  loyal  and  orthodox. — Baxter's  Life, 
part  i.,  p.  19,  folio.— Ed. 

*  Nalson's  Collections,  vol.  ii.,  p.  482. 

t  Rushworth,  part  iii.,  vol.  i.,  p.  386. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  482,  483. 


392 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


Commons,  it  passed  ia  the  negative,  eleven 
against  nine.  The  Conmions,  therefore,  pub- 
lished their  resolutions  apart,  and  desirfed  the 
people  to  wait  patiently  lor  the  intended  refor- 
mation, without  any  disturbance  of  the  worship 
of  God  and  of  the  peace  of  the  kingdom.  Upon 
•which  the  Lords,  in  a  heat,  appointed  their  or- 
der of  January  19,  1640-1,  already  mentioned, 
to  be  reprinted,*  "that  Divine  service  should  be 
performed,  as  it  is  appointed  by  act  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  that  all  who  disturb  that  wholesome 
order  shall  be  severely  punished  according  to 
law.  That  all  parsons,  vicars,  and  curates,  in 
their  several  parishes,  do  forbear  to  introduce 
any  rites  or  ceremonies  that  may  give  offence, 
otherwise  than  those  that  are  established  by  the 
laws  of  the  land."  This  was  voted  by  twelve  of 
the  lords  present,  the  other  six  entering  their 
protest  ;t  after  which  both  houses  adjourned  for 
six  weeks.  Mr.  Rapin  observes,^  that  there 
seems  no  necessity  for  trhe  Lords  to  renew  this 
order ;  and  that  it  was  done  out  of  spleen  and 
revenge  because  the  Commons  had  made  a 
declaration  against  innovations,  and  it  was  not 
doubted  but  the  bishops  were  the  chief  authors 
of  it. 

Lord  Clarendon  represents  the  putting  these 
orders  of  the  House  of  Commons  in  execution 
as  a  transcendent  presumption,  and  a  breach  of 
the  privilege  of  the  House  of  Lords  ;  and  though 
in  one  place  his  lordship  acknowledges  that  lit- 
tle or  nothing  of  moment  was  done  in  pursu- 
ance of  the  order  of  the  two  houses,  yet  upon 
this  occasion  he  says,i^  "  that  seditious  and  fac- 
tious persons  caused  the  windows  to  be  broken 
down  in  churches,  tore  away  the  rails,  removed 
the  communion-tables,  and  committed  many 
insolent  and  scandalous  disorders,  and  that  if 
any  opposed  them  they  were  sent  for  before 
the  committee."  But  the  fairest  account  of 
this  matter  may  be  gathered  from  Mr.  Pym's 
report  to  the  House  at  their  first  meeting  after 
the  recess. 

"  The  committee  of  religion,"  says  he,  "have 
sent  down  divers  of  your  declarations  into  the 
country,  and  have  found  that  in  some  places, 
where  there  were  good  ministers,  they  were 
retained,  and  in  other  places  neglected.  We 
cannot  say  there  have  been  any  great  tumults, 
though  the  execution  of  the  orders  of  the  House 
has  occasioned  something  tending  that  way.  In 
some  parishes  they  came  to  blows,  and  in  others 
they  would  have  done  the  like  if  care  had  not 
been  taken  to  prevent  it.  At  St.  Giles's,  Cripple- 
gate,  the  parishioners  were  almost  at  daggers 
drawing  about  the  rails  of  the  communion-table, 
which  they  would  not  suffer  to  be  removed. 
The  like  opposition  was  made  to  the  orders  of 
the  House  at  St.  George's,  Southwark,  St.  Ma- 
ry's, Woolnoth,  St.  Botolph's,  Aldersgate,  and 
a  few  other  places,  but  in  most  places  they 
were  quiet." 

If  the  innovations  complained  of  were  ac- 
cording to  law,  neither  Lords  nor  Commons 
had  authority  to  remove  them,  for  in  a  time  of 
public  peace  and  tranquillity  a  vote  of  Parlia- 
ment cannot  suspend  or  set  aside  the  laws  ;  but 

*  Rushworth,  part  iii.,  vol.  i.,  p.  387.  CUrendon, 
vol.  i.,  p.  293. 

t  Nalson's  Collections,  vol.  u.,  p.  485. 
i  Vol.  ii.,  p.  382,  folio. 
^  Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  p.  29. 


if  they  were  apparently  contrary  to  law,  I  do 
not  see  why  either  house  of  Parliament,  or 
even  the  parishioners  themselves,  by  a  vote  of 
their  vestry,  might  not  order  them  to  be  takea 
away.  Remarkable  are  the  words  of  Sir  Ed- 
ward Deering  to  this  purpose  :  "  The  orders  of 
the  House,"  says  he,  "  are,  doubtless,  powerful, 
if  grounded  upon  the  laws  of  the  land  ;  upoa 
tiiis  warrant  we  may,  by  an  order,  enforce  any- 
thing that  is  undoubtedly  so  grounded  ;  and,  by 
the  same  rule,  we  may  abrogate  whatsoever  is 
introduced  contrary  to  the  undoubted  founda- 
tion of  your  laws  ;  but  we  may  not  rule  and  gov- 
ern by  arbitrary  and  disputable  orders,  espe- 
cially in  matters  of  religion."* 

The  Lords  disapproved  of  the  tumultuous  at- 
tempts of  private  persons,  and  punished  them 
severely.  Complaint  being  made  by  the  inhab- 
itants of  St.  Saviour's,  Southwark,  of  certain 
persons  who  had  pulled  down  the  rails  of  the 
communion-table  in  an  insolent  and  riotous 
manner,  they  were  sent  into  custody,  and  hav- 
ing been  heard  by  their  counsel  at  the  bar  of 
the  House,  the  church-wardens  of  the  parisli 
were  ordered  to  set  up  new  rails  at  the  costs 
and  charges  of  the  offenders,  in  the  manner 
they  had  stood  for  fifty  years  before,  but  not 
according  to  the  model  of  the  four  or  five  last 
years.!  The  rioters  also  were  enjoined  to  make 
a  public  confession  of  their  fault  in  the  body  of 
the  church,  on  a  Sabbath  day  when  the  con- 
gregation should  be  present,  and  to  stand  coitt- 
mitled  to  the  Fleet  during  the  pleasure  of  the 
House. t  Upon  another  complaint  of  the  pa^ 
rishioners  of  St.  Olave's,  Southwark,  against 
others  that  had  made  a  tumult  in  their  church, 
and  used  irreverent  speeches  during  the  admin- 
istration of  the  sacrament,  the  delinquents 
were  sent  into  custody,  and,  after  hearing,  thej 
were  committed  to  the  King's  Bench  lor  six 
months,  without  bail  or  mainprize,  and  ordered 
to  stand  upo«  a  high  stool  in  Cheapside  and  is 
Southwark,  for  two  hours  on  a  market  day,  aad 
to  acknowledge  their  fault  publicly ;  they  were 
also  fined  £20,  and  to  find  sureties  for  their 
good  behaviour ;  but  when  they  had  been  im- 
prisoned about  a  month,  upon  their  humble 
petition,  and  acknowledgment  of  their  misde- 
meanors, they  were  released.^ 

If  we  may  give  credit  to  the  petition  from 
Canterbury,  things  were  everywhere  in  great 
confusion  ;  for  it  says,  "  that  the  religion  and 
government  by  law  established  has  been  of  late 
most  miserably  distracted  by  ill-affected  per- 
sons, by  whose  means  the  houses  of  God  are 
profaned,  and  in  part  defaced  ;  the  ministers  of 
Christ  are  contemned  and  despised  ;  the  orna- 
ments and  many  utensils  of  the  church  are 
abused  ;  the  liturgy  and  Book  of  Common  Pray- 
er depraved  and  neglected  ;  that  absolute  model 
of  prayer,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  vilified  ;  the  sac- 
raments of  the  Gospel,  in  some  places,  rudely 
administered,  in  other  places  omitted  ;  soleraa 
days  of  fasting  observed,  and  appointed  by  pri- 
vate persons;  marriages  illegally  solemnized; 
burials  uncharitably  performed;  and  the  very 
fundamentals  of  religion  subverted  by  the  pub- 
lication of  a  new  creed,  and  teaching  the  abro- 

*  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  part  iii.,  p.  391. 
t  Nalson's  Collections,  vol.  ii.,  p.  271,  322. 
t  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  291,  292. 
i)  Ibid.,  vol  ii.,  p.  395. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


393 


gation  of  the  moral  law ;  many  offensive  ser- 
mons are  preached,  and  many  impious  pam- 
phlets printed."  Lord  Clarendon  says,*  "that 
the  pulpits  were  supplied  with  seditious  and 
schismatical  preachers.  That  in  order  to  poi- 
son the  hearts  of  the  king's  subjects,  care  was 
taken  to  place  such  ministers  and  lecturers  in 
the  most  populous  towns  and  parishes  as  abhor- 
red the  present  government  and  temperature  of 
the  Church  and  State  ;"  and  then  adds,  "  I  am 
confident  there  was  not,  from  the  beginning  of 
this  Parliament,  one  orthodox  or  learned  man 
recommended  by  them  to  any  church  in  Eng- 
land." Strange  !  when  scarce  one  was  rec- 
ommended who  had  not  been  educated  in  our 
universities,  and  subscribed  all  the  doctrinal  ar- 
ticles of  the  Church  of  England  !  But  his  maj- 
esty's language  is  more  severe  in  his  declara- 
tion of  August  12,  1642.  "  Under  pretence  of 
encouraging  preaching,"  says  he,  "they  have 
erected  lectures  in  several  parishes,  and  com- 
mended such  lecturers  as  were  men  of  no  learn- 
ing nor  conscience,  but  furious  promoters  of  the 
most  dangerous  innovations  ;  many  have  taken 
no  orders,  yet  were  recommended  by  members 
of  either  house  to  parishes  ;  and  when  mechan- 
ic persons  have  been  brought  before  them  for 
preaching  in  churches,  and  have  confessed  the 
same,  they  have  been  dismissed  without  pun- 
ishment, and  hardly  with  reprehension.  All 
persons  of  learning  and  eminency  in  preaching, 
and  of  sober  and  virtuous  conversation,  of  great 
examples  in  their  lives,  and  even  such  as  among 
these  men  had  been  of  greatest  estimation,  and 
suffered  somewhat  for  them,  were  discounte- 
nanced, and  such  men  cherished  who  boldly 
preached  against  the  government  of  the  Church, 
against  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  against 
our  kingly  lawful  power,  and  against  our  per- 
son. Farther,  a  license  even  to  treason  is  ad- 
mitted in  pulpits,  and  persons  ignorant  in  learn- 
ing and  understanding,  turbulent  and  seditious 
in  disposition,  scandalous  in  life,  and  uncon- 
formable in  opinion  to  the  laws  of  the  land,  are 
imposed  upon  parishes  to  infect  and  poison  the 
minds  of  our  people." 

What  character  the  Parliament  divines  had 
for  learning,  for  orthodoxy  of  doctrine,  and  so- 
briety of  manners,  will  appear  hereafter.  The 
Commons,  in  their  reply  to  his  majesty's  decla- 
ration, denied  the  whole  of  this  charge,  and 
averred,  "  that  they  were  careful  in  their  inqui- 
ries into  the  learning  and  morality  of  those 
whom  they  recommended  ;  that  they  were  not 
for  encouraging  faction  and  schism,  but  for  pre- 
ferring those  who  were  for  a  parliamentary  ref- 
ormation in  the  Church  and  State  ;  that  they 
had  shown  their  resentments  against  mobs  and 
tumults,  and  against  the  preaching  of  laymen  ;"t 
for  when  they  were  informed  that  Mr.  Robin- 
son, Spencer,  Banks,  Durant,  and  Green,  being 
mere  laymen,  had  presumed  to  preach  publicly, 
they  sent  for  them  [June  7],  and  reprimanded 
them  by  their  speaker  in  these  words  :  "  The 
House  has  a  great  distaste  of  your  proceedings, 
and  if  you  offend  at  any  time  in  the  like  kind 
again,  this  House  will  take  care  you  shall  be 
severely  punished." 

Far  be  it  from  me  to  apologize  for  the  furious 
preachers  of  these  times,  though  it  will  appear 


*  Vol.  i.,  p.  295. 

■t  Nalson's  Collections,  vol.  ii.,  p.  265,  270. 
Vol.  I.— D  d  d 


hereafter  that  the  complaints  of  the  royalists 
are  very  much  exaggerated.  It  was  certainly 
a  great  disadvantage  to  the  Parliament's  cause 
that  they  could  not  get  a  good  supply  of  learned 
and  able  preachers,  the  keys  of  admission  into 
holy  orders  being  at  this  time  in  the  hands  of 
the  bishops,  who  were  very  strict  in  their  ex- 
amination into  the  political  principles  of  those 
they  ordained ;  this  reduced  the  committee  to 
the  necessity  of  admitting  some  few  who  came 
well  recommended  from  New-England  or  Scot- 
land, and  had  been  only  ordained  by  presbyters, 
and  such  young  students  who,  by  producing 
their  testimonials  from  the  universities,  were 
allowed  to  preach  for  some  time  as  candidates. 
They  were  under  the  like  disadvantages  as  to 
presentations  or  inductions,  most  of  them  being 
in  the  hands  of  the  king  and  the  bishops. 

The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  continued  to 
ordain  clergymen  of  his  own  principles  in  the 
Tower,  whereupon  the  House  of  Lords  ordered 
[October  28]  that  his  jurisdiction  should  be  se- 
questered, and  administered  by  his  inferior  offi- 
cers, till  he  should  be  acquitted  of  the  charge 
of  high  treason  that  was  against  him.  His 
grace  often  admitted  such  clergymen  to  livings 
as  were  obnoxious  to  the  two  houses,  insomuch 
that  the  Lords  found  it  necessary  to  enjoin  him 
to  acquaint  their  house  with  the  names  of  such 
persons  as  he  nominated  to  any  ecclesiastical 
benefice,  promotion,  or  dignity  within  his  dis- 
posal, to  be  approved  of  first  by  the  House,  be- 
fore they  were  collated  or  instituted.  On  the 
other  hand,  when  a  minister  was  chosen  by  the 
parishioners,  and  recommended  to  his  grace  for 
admission,  if  he  did  not  like  his  principles  and 
character,  he  would  either  except  against  him, 
or  suffer  the  living  to  lapse  to  the  crown.  This 
created  him  new  enemies,  and  kept  alive  the 
resentments  of  the  Commons.  At  length  the 
archbishop  acquainted  the  king  with  his  case, 
who  sent  him  a  peremptory  letter,  requiring 
him  "  that  as  often  as  any  benefice,  or  other 
spiritual  promotion,  should  become  void  in  his 
gift,  to  dispose  of  it  only  to  such  persons  as  his 
majesty  should  nominate  ;  and  that  if  either  or 
both  houses  should  command  him  otherwise,  he 
should  then  let  it  fall  in  lapse  to  the  crown." 
As  soon  as  the  houses  were  acquainted  with 
this,  they  published  an  order  of  their  own,  re- 
quiring the  archbishop  to  dispose  of  no  benefice 
or  spiritual  promotion  that  should  become  void 
at  any  time  before  his  trial,  without  the  leave 
and  order  of  the  two  houses  at  Westminster. 
Such  was  the  struggle  between  the  king  and 
Parliament  for  the  pulpits  !  It  being  thoOght 
of  great  consequence  on  both  sides  to  fill  them 
with  men  of  their  own  principles,  who  would 
be  zealous  in  the  cause  in  which  they  were  sev- 
erally engaged. 

All  the  bishops  were  under  a  cloud,  and  ia 
no  degree  of  favour  either  with  the  Parliament 
or  people,  except  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  who, 
having  some  years  been  in  prison,  had  no  share 
in  the'  late  innovations.  This  prelate,  in  the 
recess  of  Parliament,  visited  his  diocess,  and 
exhorted  the  people  in  his  sermons  to  keep  to 
their  lawful  minister,  and  not  go  after  tub- 
preachers  in  conventicles.  He  acquainted  them 
with  the  laws,  and  told  them  that  no  power 
could  protect  them  from  the  penalty  of  statutes 
unrepealed.     "  Look  back,"  says  his  lordship, 


394 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


"  from  the  beginning  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  Can 
the  Gospel  stand  better  against  the  Church  of 
Rome,  than  it  has  done  under  the  bishops,  lit- 
urgy, and  canons?  Therefore,  don't  abandon 
the  good  old  way,  for  another  which  you  do  not 
know  how  much  evil  may  be  in  it."  But  his 
rhetoric  had  very  little  effect  ;  nor  did  the  Par- 
liament approve  of  his  conduct,  at  a  time  when 
his  majesty  was  out  of  the  kingdom,  and  when 
it  was  resolved  to  attempt  some  considerable 
alterations  in  the  hierarchy. 

The  distractions  in  the  State  were  no  less 
threatening  than  those  of  the  Church.  The 
plague  was  in  the  city  of  London,  which  dis- 
persed the  members,  so  tliat  they  could  hardly 
make  a  house.  The  disbanding  the  army  in- 
fested the  roads  with  highwaymen,  insomucli 
that  it  was  hardly  safe  to  travel  from  one  town 
to  another.  The  officers  (many  of  whom  were 
papists)  crowded  to  London,  and  took  lodgings 
about  Covent  Garden  and  Whitehall,  under  pre- 
tence of  receiving  the  remainder  of  their  pay  ; 
these  behaved  with  unusual  insolence,  and 
struck  terror  into  the  minds  of  the  people.  The 
mob  was  frequently  up  in  one  part  of  the  town 
or  another ;  one  while  they  threatened  the  pope's 
nuncio,  and  another  while  the  queen-mother, 
upon  which  they  retired  out  of  the  kingdom  ; 
but  the  queen  herself  stood  by  her  friends  ;  she 
had  a  convent  of  Capuchins  in  her  court,  and 
protected  great  numbers  of  the  king's  subjects 
and  others  from  the  sentence  of  the  laws.  The 
lord-mayor  was  commanded  to  bring  in  a  list  of 
popish  recusants  about  London,  and  all  the 
papists  in  tlie  several  counties  were  ordered  to 
be  disarmed  ;  "  which,  though  it  had  little  or 
no  effect,"  says  Lord  Clarendon,*  "  served  to 
keep  up  fears  and  apprehensions  in  the  people 
of  dangers  and  designs  ;"  which  will  appear 
presently  not  to  have  been  groundless.  This 
was  the  melancholy  state  of  the  nation,  when 
on  a  sudden  it  was  thunderstruck  with  the  sur- 
prising news  of  one  of  the  most  barbarous  mas- 
sacres of  the  Protestants  in  Ireland  that  the 
records  of  any  age  or  nation  can  produce. 

Lord  Clarendon  is  of  opinion  that  the  Parlia- 
ment, instead  of  adjourning,  should  now  have 
broken  up  and  returned  home,  since  the  princi- 
pal grievance  of  Church  and  State  had  been  re- 
dressed, and  the  Constitution  secured  by  the 
act  for  triennial  parliaments.  But  not  to  trouble 
the  reader  with  affairs  of  state,  what  religious 
grievances  were  actually  redressed  1  except  the 
shortening  the  power  of  the  spiritual  courts,  by 
the  acts  for  abolishing  the  Court  of  High  Com- 
mission and  Star  Chamber,  not  one  of  the  late 
innovations  was  abolished  by  law  ;  nor  was 
there  any  alteration  in  the  liturgy  or  form  of 
church  government.  The  sole  power  of  the 
bishops  in  ordination  and  jurisdiction  remained 
to  be  regulated  ;  nor  was  there  any  reformation 
of  deans  and  chapters  ;  all  which  the  Puritans 
hoped  for  and  expected.  In  short,  the  whole 
government  of  the  Church  remained  entire, 
notwithstanding  the  fierce  attacks  of  the  Com- 
mons against  it.  The  act  for  triennial  parlia- 
ments will  appear  not  to  have  been  a  sufficient 
security  to  the  Constitution,  if  we  consider  how 
many  acts  of  Parliament  the  king  and  his  ari^i- 
trary  ministers  had  broke  through  the  last  fifteen 
years  ;  that  his  majesty  had  still  the  same  prin- 


Vol.  i.,  p.  290. 


ciplcs,  and  was  likely  to  be  in  the  same  hands 
upon  the  dissolution  of  this  Parliament.  Be- 
sides, it  was  said  that  these  laws  had  been  ex- 
torted from  him  by  force,  and,  therefore,  were 
not  binding  ;  and  if  a  Parliament  sliould  be 
called  after  three  years,  that  it  was  dissolvable 
at  pleasure;  so  that  in  all  probability  things 
would  have  returned  to  the  old  channel  if  the 
Parliament  had  now  dissolved  themselves.  Sup- 
posing, therefore,  but  not  admitting,  that  the 
principal  grievances  of  Church  and  State  had 
been  redressed,  I  leave  it  witii  the  reader  wheth- 
er, in  the  present  situation  of  affairs,  a  mere  re- 
dress of  past  grievances  was  sufficient  without 
some  security  against  the  return  of  the  like  in 
time  to  come. 

Among  the  remarkable  divines  who  died 
about  this  time,  was  Dr.  John  Davenant,  bishop 
of  Salisbury,  born  in  London,  and  educated  a 
fellow-commoner  in  Queen's  College,  Cam- 
bridge, of  which  he  was  afterward  master,  and 
Lady  Margaret  professor  in  the  same  universi- 
ty. He  was  a  celebrated  Calvinist,  and  one  of 
those  divines  appointed  by  King  James  to  rep- 
resent the  Church  of  England  at  the  Synod  of 
Dort,  where  he  behaved  with  great  prudence 
and  moderation  ;  and  upon  his  return  to  Eng- 
land was  preferred  to  the  bishopric  of  Salis- 
bury ;  but  in  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  King 
Charles,  he  became  obnoxious  to  the  court  for 
venturing  to  preach  on  the  doctrine  of  predes- 
tination, contrary  to  his  majesty's  declaration, 
and  was  forced  to  make  his  submission  before 
the  privy  council.  He  was  a  quiet  and  peacea- 
ble prelate,  humble  and  charitable,  a  strict  ob- 
server of  the  Sabbath,  an  enemy  to  the  pomp 
and  luxury  of  the  clergy,  and  one  who  lamented 
the  high  proceedings  of  the  court.  He  had  a 
great  reputation  m  foreign  parts  for  profound 
learning  and  an  unblemished  life  ;  and  after  he 
had  enjoyed  his  bishopric  about  twenty  years, 
ended  his  days  in  peace  and  honour,  April  20, 
1641,  a  little  before  the  beginning  of  the  troub- 
les that  afterward  came  upon  the  Church  and 
kingdom.*  He  died  of  a  consumption,  and  a 
few  hours  before  his  death  prayed  pathetically 
for  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  "  blessing  God  for  his 
fatherly  correction,  forasmuch  as  his  whole  life 
having  been  full  of  mercy,  he  had  been  ready  to 
doubt  whether  he  was  a  true  child  of  God  till 
this  last  sickness."! 

Dr.  Ricliard  Montague,  bishop  of  Norwich, 
was  a  divine  of  a  different  character;  he  was 
born  in  Westminster,  educated  in  Eaton  Col- 
lege, and  afterward  fellow  of  King's  College. 
Mr.  Fuilei  says  he  was  a  celebrated  Grecian 
and  church  antiquary,  well  read  in  the  fathers, 
but  a  superstitious  admirer  of  church  ceremo- 
nies.J     He  was  a  thorough  Arminian,  a  crea- 

*  Fuller's  Worthies,  b.  ii.,  p.  207;  and  Church 
Hist.,  b.  xi.,  176. 

t  This  eminent  and  worthy  prelate  was  a  bene- 
factor to  Queen's  College,  in  Cambridge,  giving  to 
it  the  perpetual  advowsons  of  the  rectories  of  Chev- 
erel-Magna  and  Newton-Tony,  in  Wiltshire,  and  a 
rent  charge  of  £31  IQs.  per  annum  for  the  founding 
of  two  Bible  clerks,  and  buying  books  for  the  library 
in  the  same  college. — Biogr.  Brilan.,  vol.  iv.,  second 
edition,  p.  C31. — Ed. 

X  Fuller's  words,  as  Dr.  Grey  observes,  are,  "  But 
all  his  diocess  being  not  so  well  skilled  in  antiquity 
as  himself,  some  charged  him  with  superstitious 
urging  of  ceremonies."    He  is  allowed  to  have  urged 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


395 


ture  of  Archbishop  Laud's,  and  an  ill  instru- 
ment between  the  king  and  Parliament  in  the 
late  times,  and,  therefore,  voted  unfit  for  any 
church  preferment;  but  when  the  king  resolved 
to  govern  without  Parliaments,  his  majesty 
preferred  him  first  to  the  bishopric  of  Chiches- 
ter, and  then  to  Norwich,  where  he  showed  his 
zeal  for  the  Church  by  a  vigorous  and  illegal 
prosecution  of  the  Puritans.  He  was  accused 
by  the  present  Parliament  for  superstitious  in- 
novations ;  and  would,  no  doubt,  have  felt  their 
resentments,  if  he  had  not  gone,  as  Mr.  Fuller 
expresses  it,*  a  more  compendious  way,  to  an- 
swer for  all  his  proceedings  in  the  high  court  of 
heaven.     He  died  April  12,  1641. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  John  Eaton,  M.A.,  and  vicar 
of  Wickham  Market,  was  born  in  Kent,  1575, 
and  of  a  peculiar  mould,  says  Mr.  Echard,t 
very  paradoxical  in  his  opinions,  and  reckoned 
a  great  Antinomian,  and  one  of  the  founders  of 
that  sect,  for  which  he  more  than  once  suffered 
imprisonment.  His  chief  performance  was  a 
book  entitled  "  The  Honeycomb  of  free  Justifi- 
cation by  Christ  alone,"  for  which  he  was  im- 
prisoned in  the  Gate-house  at  Westminster. 
Mr.  Echard  admits  that  by  means  of  his  zeal, 
his  exemplary  patience,  and  piety,  he  was  ex- 
ceedingly admired  in  the  neighbourhood  where 
he  lived,  and  strangely  valued  for  many  years 
after  his  death.  In  truth,  though  he  commit- 
ted some  mistakes  in  his  assertions  about  the 
doctrine  of  grace,  he  was,  nevertheless,  says 
Mr.  Archdeacon,  a  pattern  of  faith,  holiness, 
and  cheerfulness,  in  his  sufferings,  to  succeed- 
ing generations.  He  died  in  the  sixty-seventh 
year  of  his  age. 


CHAPTER  X. 

FROM  THE  REASSEMBLING  OF  THE  PARLIAMENT  TO 
THE  king's  leaving  HIS  PALACE  OF  WHITE- 
HALL, JANUARY    10,   1641-2. 

Before  his  majesty  left  Scotland,  advice 
came  to  London  [November  1]  of  a  general  in- 
surrection of  the  papists  in  Ireland,  and  a  most 
cruel  and  bloody  massacre  of  the  Protestants  of 
that  kingdom. t     The  project  of  an  insurrection 

ceremonies ;  but,  according  to  Fuller  and  Dr.  Grey, 
that  is  not  superstition,  though  they  may  be  unau- 
thorized by  Scripture,  if  they  be  sanctioned  by  antiqui- 
ty.— Ed.  How  strange  that  men  who  are  so  anxious 
for  the  sanction  of  antiquity,  do  not  fall  back  upon  the 
simple  usages  of  the  apostolic  age  !  Error  stalked 
into  the  Church  at  the  very  heels  of  the  apostles,  and 
we  owe  some  of  the  Epistles  themselves  to  the  early 
appearance  of  error. — C. 

*  Book  i.,  p.  194.  t  Ath.  0.x.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  1-6. 

t  A  fair  judgment  of  this  horrid  affair,  it  may  be 
observed,  cannot  be  formed  without  considering  it  in 
connexion  with  the  causes  that  led  to  it.  It  should  be 
viewed  as  the  result  of  various  circumstances,  which, 
for  a  course  of  years,  had  irritated  the  minds  of  the 
Irish,  and  at  last  raised  them  to  a  pitch  of  phrensy  and 
cruelty,  of  which  we  cannot  read  without  being  shock- 
ed at  the  recital.  The  Irish  had  been  pursued  witli 
a  constant,  rigorous,  and  unremitting  persecution. 
They  had  su tiered  extortions^ imprisonments,  and  ex- 
communications. Their  estates  had  been  seized  un- 
der the  pretext  of  a  judicial  inquiry  into  defective  ti- 
tles, in  which  inquiry  verdicts  against  them  were  ex- 
torted from  jurors.  They  had  been  heavily  taxed 
for  their   superstitions,  and  totally  precluded  the 


was  formed  in  the  months  of  March  and  April, 
1641,  not  without  the  privity  of  the  English 
court,  and  executed  October  23  following ;  no 
information  of  it  having  been  given  to  the  Prot- 
estants till  the  very  night  before  it  was  to  take 
place,  when  it  was  too  late  to  prevent  the  ef- 
fects of  it  in  the  country,  and  almost  to  save 
the  city  of  Dublin  itself  When  the  express 
that  brought  the  news  was  read  in  the  House, 
it  produced  a  general  silence  for  a  time,  all 
men  being  struck  with  horror.  When  it  was 
told  without  doors,  it  flew  like  flashes  of  light- 
ning, and  spread  universal  terror  over  the 
whole  kingdom.  Every  day,  and  almost  every 
hour,  produced  new  messengers  of  misery,  who 
brought  farther  intelligence  of  the  merciless 
cruelty  of  the  papists  towards  the  poor  Protest- 
ants, whose  very  name  they  threatened  to  ex- 
tirpate out  of  the  kingdom. 

On  the  appointed  day  between  twenty  and 
thirty  thousand  of  the  native  Irish  appeared  in 
arms  in  the  northern  counties,  and  having  se- 
cured the  principal  gentlemen,  and  seized  their 
effects,  they  murdered  the  common  people  in 
cold  blood,  forcing  many  thousands  to  fly  from 
their  houses  and  settlements  naked,  into  the 
bogs  and  woods,  where  they  perished  with  hun- 
ger and  cold.  No  ties  of  friendship,  neighbour- 
hood, or  consanguinity  were  capable  of  soften- 
ing their  obdurate  hearts,  in  a  cause  which  they 
called  "the  cause  of  loyalty  and  religion."  Some 
they  whipped  to  death,  others  they  stripped  na- 
ked and  exposed  to  shame,  and  then  drove  them, 
like  herds  of  swine,  to  perish  in  the  mountains  : 
many  hundreds  were  drowned  in  rivers  ;  some 
had  their  throats  cut ;  others  were  dismember- 
ed. With  some  the  execrable  villains  made 
themselves  sport,  trying  who  could  hack  deep- 
est into  an  Englishman's  flesh.  Husbands  were 
cut  in  pieces  in  the  presence  of  their  wives  ; 
wives  and  young  virgins  abused  in  the  sight  of 
their  nearest  relations ;  nay,  they  taught  their 
children  to  strip  and  kill  the  children  of  the  Eng- 
lish, and  dash  out  their  brains  against  the  stones. 
Forty  or  fifty  thousand  vvere  massacred  after  this 
manner  in  a  few  days,  without  distinction  of  age, 
sex,  or  quality,  before  they  suspected  their  dan- 
ger, or  had  time  to  provide  for  their  defence. 
In  a  few  weeks  the  insurrection  was  so  general 
that  they  took  possession  of  whole  counties,  mur- 
dering the  inhabitants,  plundering  their  houses, 
and  killing  or  driving  away  their  cattle.  Multi- 
tudes of  poor  distressed  creatures  and  families 
fled,  naked  and  half  starved,  first  to  Dublin,  and 
from  thence  to  England,  with  death  and  despair 
in  their  countenances.  At  length  the  Irish  ar- 
my, having  ravaged  all  the  northern  counties, 
blocked  up  the  city  of  Dublin  itself,  with  all  the 
poor  distressed  Protestants  who  had  taken  sanc- 
tuary in  it ;  but  not  being  masters  of  the  sea, 
the  city  was  relieved,  and  part  of  the  country 
secured,  till  the  Parliament  was  at  leisure  to 


exercise  of  their  religion.  Their  application  to 
Charles  I.  for  a  toleration  had  been  scornfully  reject- 
ed, in  consequence  of  a  protestation  against  it,  drawn 
up  by  the  Primate  Usher  and  twelve  bishops.  The 
detail  of  their  sutferings  may  be  seen  in  "Jones's 
Letter  to  the  United  .Societies  of  Belfast."  By 
which  it  will  appear  that  from  the  Reformation  they 
had  been  the  victims  of  religious  persecution  and 
civil  devastation  ;  as,  to  use  the  author's  words,  al- 
most to  justify,  but  certainly  tc  extenuate,  the  dread- 
ful ensuing  period  of  1641. — Ed. 


396 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


pour  out  all  their  vengeance  upon  the  heads  of 
the  murderers,  by  the  hands  of  the  victorious 
and  terrible  Oliver  Cromwell. 

The  frequent  expresses  which  pressed  one 
after  another  to  England,  with  the  multitudes 
of  distressed  creatures  that  got  passage  into 
several  parts  of  the  kingdom,  filled  the  hearts 
of  all  true  Protestants  witli  infinite  conjectures 
and  prodigious  imaginations  of  treasonable  de- 
signs agauist  this  as  well  as  the  neighbouring 
kingdom.  They  were  afraid,  and  not  without 
reason,  that  a  second  part  of  this  tragedy  might 
be  acted  on  themselves  ;  the  Parliament,  there- 
fore, ordered  themselves  a  guard  of  train-bands, 
and  entered  immediately  into  measures  to  se- 
cure the  nation  from  the  impending  storm. 

But  before  we  dismiss  the  Irish  insurrection 
and  massacre,  it  will  not  be  improper  to  trace 
it  from  the  original,  and  inquire  into  the  au- 
thors, and  the  several  parties  concerned  in  it. 
The  Earl  of  Antrim,  and  Sir  Phelim  O'Neal, 
who  were  at  the  head  of  the  Irish  Catholics, 
having  acquainted  the  pope's  nuncio  and  some 
of  the  priests  about  the  queen  how  easily  they 
could  assume  the  government  of  Ireland,  and 
assist  the  king  against  the  English  Puritans, 
letters  were  written  in  the  queen's  name,  and 
perhaps  in  the  king's,*  authorizing  them  to  take 
up  arms  and  seize  the  government.!  The  Irish 
received  the  orders  with  pleasure  ;  and  conclu- 
ded farther  among  themselves,  that  it  was  ne- 
cessary at  the  same  time  to  extirpate  the  Prot- 
estants out  of  that  kingdom  before  they  could 
with  safety  transport  their  army  into  England. 
That  this  was  their  design  appears  from  their 
remonstrance,  published  upon  the  very  day  of 
the  insurrection,  in  which  they  say,  "  that  hav- 
ing some  liberty  of  religion  granted  them  by  the 
king,  they  perceived  the  Parliament  was  wrest- 
ing his  majesty's  prerogative  from  him,  in  order 
to  extinguish  their  religion  ;  therefore,  to  sup- 
port his  majesty's  prerogative,  and  to  confirm 
his  royal  and  ever  happy  love  to  them,  they  had 
taken  up  arms ;  and  accordingly  bound  them- 
selves to  one  another  by  the  following  oath  : 

"  That  they  would  maintain  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic religion ;  that  they  would  bear  true  faith 
and  allegiance  to  the  king  and  his  heirs,  and 
defend  him  and  them  with  their  lives  and  es- 
tates against  all  persons  that  should  endeavour 
to  suppress  the  prerogative,  or  do  any  acts  con- 
trary to  regal  government,  to  the  power  and 
privilege  of  Parliaments,  and  to  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  the  subject." 


•*  Dr.  Grey  is  severe  in  his  animadversions  on  Mr. 
Neal's  insinuation,  that  the  English  court,  and  even 
the  king,  were  privy  to  the  Irish  insurrection.  Bish- 
op Warburton,  on  the  same  ground,  has  impeached 
our  author's  candour  and  impartiality  :  our  reply  to 
whom,  in  the  two  following  notes,  will  serve  as  an 
answer  to  Dr.  Grey.  I  will  add  here,  that  Mr.  Bax- 
ter says  "  that  the  soberer  part  could  not  believe  that 
the  Irish  rebels  had  the  king's  commission." — His 
Life,  p.  29,  folio.  A  deed  was  passed  on  ihe  credu- 
lous with  that  name,  by  aflLxing  to  it  the  great  seal 
taken  off  from  some  grant  or  patent.  The  distinction 
which  Mr.  Neal  afterward  makes  between  the  insur- 
rection and  the  massacre  is  justified  by  what  Bishop 
Burnet  asserts  in  a  passage  quoted  in  the  beginning 
of  the  paragraph,  where  the  distinction  occurs, — 
Rushworth's  Collections,  part  iii.,  vol.  1.,  p.  402. — Ed. 

t  Prynne's  Introduction,  p.  220-252.  Burnet'sHis- 
tory,  Life,  and  Times,  vol.  i.,  p.  55,  Edinburgh  edit. 
Rushworth,  vol.  iv.,  p.  398,  &c. 


They  called  themselves  tne  queen's  amiy, 
and  published  a  proclamation  from  their  camp 
at  Newry,  declaring  that  they  acted  by  the 
king's  commission,  under  the  great  seal  of  Scot- 
land, dated  at  Edinburgh,  October  1,  1641,  and 
by  letters  under  his  sign-manual,  of  the  same 
date  with  the  commission ;  which  I  believe,  withi 
Lord  Clarendon,  was  a  forgery  ;  though  it  is  a 
little  unaccountable  that  his  majesty  should 
never,  by  any  public  act  or  declaration  of  his 
own,  clear  himself  of  so  vile  a  calumny.  How- 
ever, though  the  king  gave  out  no  commission, 
there  is  too  much  reason  to  believe*  that  the 
queen  and  her  popish  council,  and  even  the 
king  himself,  were  not  unacquainted  with  the 
design  of  an  insurrection  before  it  took  place, 
and  that  her  majesty  gave  it  all  the  countenance 
she  could  with  safety  ;  but  when  these  bloody 
butchers  overacted  their  parts  to  such  a  degree 
as  to  massacre  near  two  hundred  thousand  Prot- 
estants in  cold  blood,  to  make  way  for  their 
tyranny,  it  was  time  for  all  parties  to  disowa 
them. 

Bishop  Burnet  observes,  "That  in  the  first 
design  of  an  insurrection  there  was  no  thought 
of  a  massacre ;  this  came  into  their  heads  as 
they  were  contriving  methods  of  executing  it ; 
and  as  the  people  were  governed  by  the  priests, 
these  were  the  men  that  set  on  the  Irish  to  all 
the  blood  and  cruelty  that  followed."  There 
was  a  consultation  at  the  Abbey  of  Multifernan, 
in  the  county  of  West-Meath,  where  it  was  de- 
bated what  course  should  betaken  with  the  Prot- 
estants ;  some  were  for  expelling  them  as  the 
King  of  Spain  did  the  Moors  ;  others  pressed 
to  have  them  universally  cut  ofT;  but  not  com- 
ing to  a  conclusion,  they  left  the  army  to  act  at 
discretion.!  How  far  the  pope's  nuncio  and 
the  queen's  council  might  be  consulted  about 
the  massacre  is  a  secret  :  if  we  distinguish  be- 
tween the  insurrection,  in  order  to  assume  the 
government  into  the  hands  of  the  Irish  papists, 
and  the  massacre  which  attended  it,  we  may 
conclude,  without  any  breach  of  charity,  that 
the  English  court  admitted  of  the  former, 
though  they  might  wash  their  hands  of  the 
latter.J 

The  Parliament,  in  their  declaration  of  March 
9,  1641,  say  that  the  rebellion  in  Ireland  was 
framed  and  contrived  in  England,  and  that  they 
had  taken  several  depositions,  proving  that  the 
English  papists  were  to  rise  about  the  same 


*  Bishop  Warburton  taxes  the  following  insinua- 
tions against  the  king  as  being  "  certainly  very  un- 
just and  groundless."  The  reader  will  observe  that 
Mr.  Neal's  insinuations  go  no  farther  than  that  the 
king  was  acquainted  with,  if  he  did  not  encourage, 
the  design  of  the  Irish  to  appear  in  arms.  He  by  no 
means  'charges  him  with  consenting  or  being  privy  to 
the  massacre.  As  to  the  hand  he  had  in  the  rebellion, 
two  modern  historians  have,  with  great  candour,  ful- 
ly stated  the  evidence  pro  and  con.  Dr.  Harris,  in  his 
Life  of  Charles  I.,  p.  336,  351  ;  and  Mrs.  Macaulay, 
vol.  iii.,  p.  84-93,  the  note.  From  the  arguments  sta- 
ted by  these  writers,  it  will  appear  that  there  were 
certain  grounds  for  Mr.  Neal's  insinuations,  and  if  so, 
they  cannot  be  very  unjust. — Ed. 

t  Nalson's  Collection,  vol.  ii.,  p.  633. 

t  If  by  the  court  here  be  meant  the  king.  Bishop 
Warburton  condemns  Mr.  Neal  as  "  scandalously  un- 
charitable." It  is  more  reasonable  to  explain  Mr. 
Neal  by  himself;  and  the  parties  whom  he  particu- 
larized in  this  very  sentence  are  the  queen  and  the 
pope's  nuncio. — Ed. 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


397 


time  ;*  that  the  rebels  said  they  acted  by  the 
king's  authority  ;  that  they  called  themselves 
the  queen's  army,  and  declared  that  "  their  pur- 
pose was  to  come  to  England  after  they  had 
done  in  Ireland,  to  recover  the  royal  preroga- 
tive, wrested  from  him  by  the  Puritan  faction 
in  the  House  of  Commons."  Mr.  Pym  declared 
in  Parliament  that  several  disbanded  officers 
and  soldiers  of  the  king's  army  went  over  to 
Ireland,  and  listed  among  the  rebels  by  the 
king's  express  warrant,  which  his  majesty  de- 
nied ;  but  when  the  matter  was  examined,  it 
appeared  that  his  authority  had  been  abused  by 
some  who  were  very  near  his  person. 

The  concern  of  the  court  in  this  dark  affair  is 
evident  from  the  relation  of  the  Earl  of  Essex, 
who  told  Bishop  Burnet  "  that  he  had  taken  all 
the  pains  he  could  to  inquire  into  the  original 
of  the  Irish  massacre,  but  could  not  see  reason 
to  believe  the  king  was  accessory  to  it ;  but  he 
did  believe  that  the  queen  did  hearken  to  the 
propositions  made  by  the  Irish,  who  undertook 
to  take  the  government  of  Ireland  into  their 
own  hands,  which  they  thought  they  could  easi- 
ly perform,  and  then  they  promised  to  assist  the 
king  against  the  hot  spirits  of  Westminster." 
With  this  the  insurrection  began,  and  all  the 
Irish  believed  the  queen  encouraged  it. 

There  was  farther  discovery  of  this  fact  at 
the  restoration  of  King  Charles  II.,  when  the 
Marquis  of  Antrim,  who  had  been  at  the  head 
of  the  rebellion,  and  whose  estate  had  been  con- 
fiscated, finding  himself  likely  to  be  excluded 
the  Act  of  Indemnity,  came  to  London  to  peti- 
tion his  majesty  to  examine  the  warrants  he 
had  acted  upon.  Accordingly,  a  committee  of 
council  was  appointed,  and  the  marquis  pro- 
duced some  letters  from  the  king,  which  did 
not  amount  to  a  full  proof;  but  in  one  of  them 
the  king  says  that  he  was  not  then  at  leisure, 
but  referred  himself  to  the  queen's  letter,  and 
said  that  was  all  one  as  if  he  writ  himself  t 
Upon  this  foundation  the  marquis  produced  a 
series  of  his  own  letters  to  the  queen,  in  which 
he  gave  her  an  account  of  every  one  of  those 
particulars  that  were  laid  to  his  charge,  and 
showed  the  grounds  he  went  upon,  and  desired 
her  majesty's  direction  to  every  one  of  these  ; 
and  he  had  answers  ordering  him  to  do  as  he 
did.  This  afTair,  says  the  bishop,^  the  queen 
herself,  who  was  then  at  court,  espoused  with 
great  zeal,  and  said  she  was  bound  to  save 
him.  So  a  report  was  drawn  up  by  the  com- 
mittee, declaring  that  he  had  fully  justified  him- 
self in  everything  ;  but  the  Earl  of  Northumber- 
land, who  was  chairman,  refused  to  set  his 
hand  to  it,  saying,  "  He  was  sorry  the  marquis 
had  produced  such  warrants  ;  but  he  did  not 


*  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,p.  419,  420,  folio  edition. 

t  To  invalidate  the  argument  drawn  from  the  de- 
fence which  the  Marquis  of  Antrim  set  up,  Dr.  Grey 
urges  that  the  marquis  had  not  the  least  concern  in 
the  massacre  or  first  insurrection,  and  refers  to  the 
evidence  of  this  produced  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Cart, 
in  a  piece  entitled  "  The  Irish  Massacre  set  in  a  true 
Light,"  171ft.  Dr.  Harris  notices  the  same  argument 
as  advanced  by  Mr.  Hume ;  but  he  denies  the  mat- 
ter, and  says,  that  "  nothing  is  more  certain  than 
that  Antrim  had  a  hand  in  the  first  rebel  Hon  in  Ire- 
land." Of  this  he  brings  various  proofs. — Life  of 
Charles  /.,  p.  350.— Ed. 

%  Burnet's  Hist.,  Life  and  Times,  vol.  i.,  p.  54, 55, 
Edin.  ed. 


think  that  they  ought  to  serve  his  turn,  for  he 
did  not  believe  that  any  warrant  from  the  king 
or  queen  could  justify  so  much  bloodshed,  in 
so  many  black  instances  as  were  laid  against 
him."  Upon  the  earl's  refusing  to  sign  the  re- 
port, the  rest  of  the  committee  declined  it,  and 
there  it  dropped  ;  whereupon  the  king  himself 
wrote  over  to  the  Duke  of  Ormond  that  he  had 
so  vindicated  himself  that  he  must  get  him  in- 
cluded in  the  Act  of  Indemnity;  but  the  Lord 
Mazarine  and  others  not  being  satisfied  to  give 
their  vote  in  favour  of  such  a  criminal,  not- 
withstanding the  instructions  they  had  receiv- 
ed from  England,  the  marquis  was  obliged,  in 
his  own  defence,  to  produce  in  the  House  of 
Commons  a  letter  from  King  Charles  I.,  wrote 
with  his  own  hand,  giving  him  express  orders 
to  take  up  arms  ;*  upon  which  he  was  pardon- 
ed, and  his  estate  restored. 

In  the  letter  of  King  Charles  II.  to  the  Duke 
of  Ormond  above  mentioned,  under  his  majes- 
ty's own  hand,  and  entered  in  the  signet  office 
July  13,  1663,+  there  is  this  remarkable  passage  ; 
"  That  the  referees  who  had  examined  the  mar- 
quis [of  Antrim's]  case,  had  declared  to  him, 
they  had  seen  '  several  letters,  all  of  them  of 
the  handwriting  of  our  royal  father  to  the  said 
marquis,'  and  several  instructions  concerning 
his  treating  with  the  Irish  in  order  to  the  king's 
service,  by  reducing  them  to  their  obedience, 
and  by  drawing  some  forces  from  them  for  the 


*  Here  Dr.  Grey  asks,  "  And  what  is  all  this  to  the 
Irish  massacre  ?  The  letter,  it  is  plain,  related  to  his 
joining  Montrose  in  Scotland."  To  prove  this,  the 
doctor  appeals  to  the  letter  of  King  Charles  II.,  quo- 
ted in  the  next  paragraph,  in  which  his  majesty  ex- 
pressly allows  that  the  marquis  was  instructed  to 
draw  some  forces  from  Ireland  for  the  service  of 
Scotland.  And,  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Cart,  he  re- 
fers to  an  act  of  Parliament,  anno  1617,  1618,  Car. 
ii.,  in  which  the  king,  speaking  of  his  letter  to  the 
Duke  of  Ormond,  says,  "It  was  only  to  declajre  that 
the  Marquis  of  Antrim  was  employed  in  Ireland  to 
procure  what  forces  he  could  from  thence,  to  be 
transported  into  Scotland  for  his  late  majesty's  ser- 
vice, under  the  late  Marquis  of  Montrose."  Whoev- 
er reads  King  Charles  11. 's  letter,  which  is  given  at 
full  length  in  Ludlow's  "  Truth  brought  to  Light,"  a 
pamphlet  printed  in  1693,  in  answer  to  Dr.  Holling- 
worth,  will  not  think  the  limitation  of  his  majesty's 
meaning,  here  offered,  consistent  with  the  stram  and 
tenour  of  that  letter,  which  refers  to  the  Irish  rebell- 
ion in  the  most  general  terms,  as  well  as  sjpeaks  of 
"  drawing  some  forces  from  the  Irish  for  the  service 
of  Scotland,"  and  alludes  to  various  other  actings 
of  the  marquis  with  the  Irish  confederates.  It  was 
proved,  on  the  trial  of  the  marquis's  claim  to  be  in- 
cluded in  the  Act  of  Indemnity,  that  he  was  to  have 
had  a  hand  in  surprising  the  castle  of  Dublin,  in 
1641  ;  and  seven  other  charges  were  substantiated 
against  him.  After  a  trial  of  seven  hours,  the  king's 
letter  being  opened  and  read  in  court,  Rainford,  one 
of  the  commissioners,  said  "  that  the  king's  letter  on 
his  behalf  was  evidence  without  exception ;"  and 
thereupon  he  was  declared  an  innocent  papist. — 
Truth  brought  to  Light,  p.  15  The  plea  of  this  let- 
ter was  the  instructions  given  to  the  marquis  by 
Charles  I.,  and,  as  Mr.  Neal's  quotation  states,  it  ap- 
plied to  every  transaction  with  the  Irish  Catholics. 
Ludlow  avers  it  as  a  well-known  fact,  that  the  mar- 
quis had  his  head  and  hands  deeply  and  early  en- 
gaged in  the  bloody  work  of  the  rebellion,  and  was 
among  the  first  in  it.— Memoirs,  4to,  p.  423,  edition  of 
1771.  As  to  the  act  of  Parliament,  to  which  Mr. 
Cart  refers,  it  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  statutes  at 
large,  4to,  nor  in  Pickering's  statutes. — Ed. 

t  Ludlow's  Memoirs,  vol.  iii.,  p.  353. 


398 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


service  of  Scotland.  That,  besides  letters  and 
orders  under  his  majesty's  own  hand,  there 
was  sufficient  evidence  and  testimony  of  sev- 
eral messages  and  directions  sent  from  our  roy- 
al father  and  our  royal  mother,  with  the  privity 
and  direction  of  the  king  our  father,  by  which 
it  appears,  that  wliatever  correspondence  or 
actings  the  said  marquis  had  with  the  confed- 
erate Irish  Catholics,  was  directed  and  allowed 
by  the  said  letters  and  instructions  ;  and  that 
the  king  himself  was  well  pleased  with  what 
the  marquis  did  after  he  had  done  it,  and  ap- 
proved of  the  same." 

I  have  been  more  particular  in  accounting  for 
this  insurrection,  because  whoever  were  the 
autliors  of  it,  they  are,  in  the  judgment  of  Lord 
Clarendon,  answerable  for  all  the  calamities  of 
the  civil  war.  "  It  was  Ireland,"  says  his  lord- 
ship,* "  that  drew  the  first  blood.  If  they  had 
not  at  that  time  rebelled,  and  in  that  manner, 
it  is  very  probable  all  the  miseries  which  after- 
ward befell  the  king  and  his  dominions  had 
been  prevented."  At  whose  door,  then,  the  guilt 
of  all  this  blood  must  be  laid,  I  freely  leave  with 
the  reader. 

Upon  the  first  news  of  the  Irish  massacre,  the 
Commons  turned  themselves  into  a  committee 
of  the  whole  House,  and  came  to  the  following 
resolutions :  "  That  all  Roman  Catholics  of 
quality  in  the  several  counties  of  England  be 
secured,  and  that  all  papists  depart  from  Lon- 
don to  their  respective  places  of  abode  in  the 
country  ;  that  the  House  of  Lords  be  desired  to 
join  with  the  Cominons  in  a  petition  for  dissolv- 
mg  the  convent  of  Capuchins,  and  sending  them 
out  of  the  kingdom  ;  that  the  foreign  ambassa- 
dors be  desired  todehver  up  such  priests  of  the 
king's  subjects  as  are  in  their  houses ;  that  a 
list  be  brought  in  of  the  queen's  servants  ;  and 
that  a  proclamation  be  issued  out  for  all  stram- 
gers  that  are  not  Protestants  to  give  an  account 
of  their  names  and  places  of  abode,  or  depart 
the  kingdom."  They  also  despatched  a  mes- 
senger to  the  king,  beseeching  him  to  concur 
with  them  in  securing  the  nation  against  any 
farther  attempts  of  the  papists  ;  and  not  to  em- 
ploy any  in  his  councils  who  were  favourers  of 
popery,  superstition,  or  innovation  in  religion. 
They  voted  £200,000  to  be  borrowed  immedi- 
ately for  the  service  of  Ireland,  and  appointed 
the  train-bands  of  Westminster  to  guard  them 
from  the  insolence  and  affronts  of  vagrant  sol- 
diers about  the  court,  and  to  secure  them  from 
other  designs  which  they  had  reason  to  sus- 
pect. The  Lords  ordered  all  Romish  recusants 
to  remove  out  of  the  inns  of  court  and  chan- 
cery. The  Commons  ordered  the  oaths  of  alle- 
giance and  supremacy  to  be  tendered  to  all 
Irish  gentlemen  within  those  courts;  "for  it 
now  appears,"  says  Mr.  Pym,  "that  the  reli- 
gion of  the  papists  is  incompatible  with  any 
other  religion  ;  it  is  destructive  to  all  others,  and 
will  endure  nothing  that  opposes  it.  There  are 
other  religions  that  are  not  right,  but  not  so  de- 
structive as  popery,  for  the  principles  of  popery 
are  subversive  of  all  states  and  persons  that 
oppose  it."t 

When  the  king  returned  from  Scotland  the 
latter  end  of  November,  and  had  been  received 

*  Vol.  1.,  p.  299. 

t  Nalson's  Collection,  vol.  ii.,  p.  620. 


with  the  acclamations  of  the  citizens  of  Lon- 
don,* he  was  prevailed  with  by  the  queen  and 
her  faction  to  check  the  proceedings  of  the  two 
houses,  since  the   Scots  were   easy,  and  the 
hearts  of  the  English  nation  seemed  to  be  with 
him ;  his  majesty  had  recommended  the  sup- 
pressing the  Irish  rebellion  to  the  Scots  repre- 
sentatives, and   by  letter   had   committed  the 
care   of   it   also   to   the   English    Parliament ; 
whereupon    the   House    of   Commons,   in   the 
king's  absence,  authorized  the  Earl  of  Leicester, 
by  an  ordinance  of  their  own,  to  raise  forces, 
and  the  lord-high  admiral  to  provide  shipping 
for  their  transportation  from  Chester,  and  oth- 
er ports  ;  but  when  the  king  came  to  Whitehall 
he  seemed  so  unwilling  to  act  against  the  pa- 
pists, that  the  Parliament  were  afraid  of  sending 
Protestant  soldiers  out  of  the  kingdom,  lest  his 
majesty  should   take   advantage   of  their   ab- 
sence, and  break  up  the  Constitution  ;t  for  he 
had  already  commanded  away  the  Parliament's 
guard,  telling  them  they  had  nothing  to  fear 
from  the  papists,  and  that  their  jealousies  of 
plots   and   massacres   were   imaginary. t      He 
pardoned  seven  popish  priests  who  were  under 
sentence  of  condemnation,  contrary  to  the  pe- 
tition of  the  House  of  Commons.     He  turned 
out  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  lord-lieutenant  of 
Ireland,  and  Sir  William  Parsons,  one  of  the 
most  active  Protestant  justices  in  that  king- 
dom.    He  intercepted  the  parliamentary  sup- 
plies in  their  way  to  Chester,  and  received  a 
deputation  from  the  Irish  Catholics  with  great- 
er ceremony  and  respect  than  from  his  Protest- 
ant subjects.      Nor  could  his  majesty  be  pre- 
vailed with  to  issue  out  a  proclamation  decla- 
ring the  Irish  rebels,  till  the  beginning  of  Janua- 
ry, and  even  then  only  forty  copies  were  print- 
ed, and  not  one  to  be  dispersed  till  farther  or- 
ders.^    Indeed,  the  king  proclaimed  a  monthly 
fast,  and  offered  to  raise  an  army  of  English  for 
the  relief  of  Ireland,  \yhich  the  Commons  de- 
clined ;  and  instead  thereof,  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  treat  for  ten  thousand  Scots,  which 
the  House  of  Lords,  by  direction  from  the  king, 
put  a  stop  to  ;||  so  that  between  both,  the  relief 
of  Ireland   was   neglected.     The   king  would 
have  persuaded  the  Parliament  to  send  over  ten 
thousand  English,  that  they  might  find  it  more 
difficult  to  raise  forces  in  case  of  a  breach  with 
him ;  but  the  Commons  prevailed  with  the  Scots 
to  offer  ten  thousand  of  their  nation,  that  they 
might  not  be  obliged  to  leave  themselves  naked 
and  defenceless  in  so  critical  a  juncture. 

Upon  the  whole,  it  seems  to  me  that  this  bar- 
barous insurrection  and  massacre  was  formed 
either  here  or  in  Ireland,  to  distress  the  Parlia- 
ment, after  the  failure  of  the  design  of  doing  it 
by  the  English  army.     The  king  seems  to  have 


*  Nalson's  Collection,  p.  675,  &c. 

t  Rapin,  vol.  u.,  p.  386,  387,  folio. 

i  Rapin,  p.  388,  foUo.     Nalson,  vol.  ii,,  p.  400, 684. 

^  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  401,  folio  edition. 

II  "  The  king,"  says  Dr.  Grey,  "  was  not  concerned 
in  it,  as  appears  from  Rapin,  the  author  he  {i.  e.,  Mr. 
Neal)  refers  to."  The  doctor  then  rejj^tes,  in  Ra- 
pin's  words,  the  three  questions  on  this  point  deba- 
ted by  the  Lords.  In  which  statement  there  is,  it  is 
true,  an  entire  silence  about  the  king's  interference. 
But  the  doctor  had  overlooked  the  preceding  para- 
graph, which  establishes  Mr.  Neal's  assertions ;  m 
which  Rapin  says,  "  the  king  had  found  means  to 
gain  the  Peers." — Ed. 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


399 


been  willingly  ignorant*  of  the  progress  of  the 
affair,  having  intrusted  the  correspondence  with 
the  queen  and  her  council ;  but  when  he  heard 
how  the  Irish  had  overacted  their  part  he  was 
surprised,  and  thought  it  necessary  to  declare 
against  iheni ;  yet,  when  he  came  to  his  queen, 
he  appeared  too  favourable  to  their  persons  and 
conduct,  and  instead  of  going  briskly  into  the 
measures  that  were  proposed  to  subdue  them, 
his  majesty  played  the  politician,  and  would 
have  made  use  of  the  Irish  rebellion  to  put  him- 
self at  the  head  of  an  army  to  break  up  his  Eng- 
lish Parliament. 

While  the  king  was  in  Scotland,  it  was  given 
out  by  some  ill-designing  people  that,  since  his 
majesty  had  yielded  so  much  to  the  Scots,  he 
might  be  persuaded  to  introduce  presbytery  into 
England  at  his  return  ;  upon  which  his  majesty 
sent  the  following  letter  to  Mr.  Nichols,  clerk 
of  the  council : 

"  I  hear  it  is  reported  that,  at  my  return,  I 
intend  to  alter  the  government  of  the  Church 
of  England,  and  to  bring  it  to  that  form  it  is  in 
here  ;  therefore,  I  command  you  to  assure  all 
my  servants,  that  I  will  be  constant  to  the  dis- 
cipline and  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England, 
established  by  Queen  Elizabeth  and  my  father  ; 
and  that  I  resolve,  by  the  grace  of  God,  to  die 
in  the  maintenance  of  it.  Edinburgh,  October 
18,  1641."* 

Accordingly,  his  majesty  resolved  to  fill  up 
the  vacant  sees,  and  ordered  five  conge  d'elires 
to  be  drawn,  for  five  clergymen  therein  named  ; 
but  the  two  houses  joining  in  a  petition  to  his 
majesty  to  suspend  his  commands  till  he  came 
home,  the  matter  was  delayed  ;  however,  soon 
after  his  return,  he  made  the  following  removes 
and  promotions. 

Dr.  Williams,  bishop  of  Lincoln,  was  transla- 
ted to  the  province  of  York,  in  the  room  of  Dr. 
Neile,  deceased,  and  Dr.  Winniffe,  dean  of  St. 
Paul's,  a  grave  and  moderate  divine,  was  made 
Bishop  of  Lincoln  ;  Dr.  Duppa,  bishop  of  Chi- 
chester, was  translated  to  Salisbury,  vacant  by 
the  death  of  Dr.  Davenant ;  and  Dr.  King,  dean 
of  Rochester,  was  promoted  to  Chichester.  Dr. 
Hall  was  translated  from  Exeter  to  Norwich, 
in  the  room  of  Bishop  Montague ;  and  Dr. 
Brownrigge,  master  of  Catharine  Hall,  Cam- 
bridge, an  eminent  and  learned  divine,  was  ad- 
vanced to  Exeter.  Dr.  Skinner  was  translated 
from  Bristol  to  Oxford,  vacant  by  the  death  of 
Dr.  Bancroft ;  and  Dr.  Westfield,  archdeacon  of 
St.  Alban's,  a  very  popular  preacher,  was  pro- 
moted to  Bristol ;  Dr.  Prideaux,  king's  professor 
of  divinity  in  Oxford,  was  made  Bishop  of  Wor- 
cester, in  the  room  of  Bishop  Thornborough, 
deceased.  The  bishopric  of  Carlisle  being  va- 
cant by  the  death  of  Dr.  Barnabas  Potter,  a 
Puritan  bishop,  commonly  called  the  penitential 
preacher,  was  given  in  commendam  to  the  most 
reverend  Dr.  Usher,  archbishop  and  primate  of 
Ireland,  during  the  commotion  in  that  kingdom. 

*  "  This,"  says  Bishop  Warburton,  "  is  a  villa- 
xious  accusation,  destitute  of  all  proof  and  likelihood." 
His  lordsbip-might  have  spared  some  of  his  warmth 
and  bitterness.  For  if  it  be  an  accusation,  it  comes 
forward  as  a  conclusion  arising  from  the  facts  and 
authorities  stated  in  the  preceding  pages.  It  is  prop- 
erly the  opinion  of  the  author,  and  the  reader  will 
judge  how  far  it  justly  flows  from  the  evidence  laid 
before  him. — En. 

t  Nalson's  Collection,  vol.  ii.,  p.  683. 


Most  of  these  divines  stood  well  in  the  opinion 
of  the  people,  but  their  accepting  bishoprics  in 
this  crisis  did  neither  the  king  nor  themselves 
any  service.  After  this  his  majesty  nominated 
but  two  bishops  throughout  the  course  of  his 
reign  ;  one  was  Dr.  Frewen,  dean  of  Gloucester 
and  president  of  Magdalen  College,  Oxon,  to 
the  bishopric  of  Coventry  and  Litchfield,  1644, 
and  Dr.  Howel,  prebendary  of  Windsor,  to  Bris- 
tol, about  ten  months  after. 

A  committee  had  been  appointed  above  a 
twelvemonth  ago,  at  the  motion  of  Lord  Digby, 
"  to  draw  out  of  all  the  grievances  of  the  nation 
such  a  remonstrance  as  might  be  a  faithful  and 
lively  representation  to  his  majesty  of  the  de- 
plorable state  of  the  kingdom  ;"*  but  was  laid 
aside  till  this  time,  when  the  prospect  of  an 
agreement  between  him  and  his  Parliament  be- 
ing almost  at  an  end,  after  the  breaking  out  of 
the  Irish  insurrection  and  massacre,  it  was  per- 
fected and  read  in  the  House  of  Commons  No- 
vember 22,  when  it  met  with  so  strong  an  op- 
position that  it  was  carried  only  by  nine  voices,! 
after  a  long  debate  from  three  in  the  afternoon 
till  three  in  the  morning,  which  made  onej  say 
"  it  looked  like  the  verdict  of  a  starved  jury." 
Many  were  of  opinion  that  those  grievances 
which  had  been  redressed  by  the  late  acts  of 
Parliament  ought  to  have  been  covered,  lest 
the  reviving  them  should  make  the  breach  wider 
between  the  king  and  Parliament,  while  others 
thought  the  mentioning  them  could  do  no  harm 
if  it  was  done  with  respect,  and  that  it  was  in 
a  manner  necessary  in  order  to  introduce  the 
intended  limitation  of  the  royal  power.  How- 
ever, this  was  the  crisis  that  discovered  the 
strength  of  the  two  parties,  and  was  managed 
with  such  warmth,  that  Oliver  Cromwell  is  said 
to  tell  Lord  Falkland  that,  "  if  the  remonstrance 
had  been  rejected,  he  would  have  sold  all  he 
had  next  morning,  and  never  have  seen  England 
more." 

It  is  difficult  to  say  which  side  of  the  question 
was  right. 1^    Mr.  Rapinll  will  not  take  upon  him 


*  Bishop  Warburton  asks  here,  "  Why  are  we 
told  this  but  to  mislead  us  ?  A  year  ago,  before  the 
king  had  made  full  satisfaction  for  his  misgovern- 
ment,  such  a  remonstrance  was  seasonable ;  now  he 
had  made  full  satisfaction,  it  was  factious  and  sedi- 
tious." To  this  question  of  his  lordship's  it  may  be 
retorted.  Why  should  a  design  to  mislead  be  msum- 
ated  against  Mr.  Neal  ?  Has  he  not,  m  the  same 
paragraph,  informed  his  readers  that  "  many  were  of 
opinion  that  those  grievances  which  had  been  re- 
dressed ought  to  have  been  covered  V  Doth  he  not 
fairly  state  the  whole  business?  And  doth  he  not, 
with  candour  and  impartiality,  avoid  biasing  his 
reader,  while  he  waives  giving  a  decided  opinion  on 
the  conduct  of  the  Parliament  in  this  affair?  All 
this  appears,  in  the  hurry  of  his  remarks  at  breakfast- 
time,  to  have  escaped  his  lordship's  notice.  Had  he 
read  on,  before  he  wrote  in  the  margin  of  his  book, 
it  would  have  precluded  his  censure.— En. 

t  This  is  a  mistake  copied  from  Clarendon.  The 
numbers  for  passing  the  remonstrance  was  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty-nine  against  one  hundred  and  forty- 
eight,  so  it  was  carried  by  eleven  yoices.— Harris's 
Life  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  p.  74.— Ed. 

X  t)r.  Harris  supposes  this  was  Sir  Benjamin 
Rudyard,  who,  according  to  WiUis,  was  in  three 
Parliaments  the  representative  of  Portsmouth,  and 
was  afterward  returned  for  Old  Sarum  once,  for 
Dowton  once,  and  for  Wilton  twice.— Ed. 

(}  Clarendon,  vol.  ii.,  p.  312. 

II  Rapir.,  vol  ii.,  p.  388,  fol.  edit. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS; 


400 
to  determine  whether  it  was  necessary  for  the 
welfare  of  the  kingdom  to  put  it  out  of  lie 
king-s  power  to  govern  for  the  future  m  the 
same  arbitrary  manner  as  he  had  done  for  fif- 
teen years  ;  but  he  thinks  the  reason  for  it  very 
plausible,  and  does  not  well  see  what  securuy 
ihey  could  have  who  were  for  leaving  the  king 
in  possession  of  the  same  power  he  had  before 
enioved  ;  especially  if  it  be  considered  that  his 
maiesty  had  still  the  same  arbitrary  principles, 
and  the  same  inviolable  attachment  to  his  queen 
and  the  popish  faction,  besides  the  current  re- 
port that  the  court  had  fomented  the  Irish  in- 
surrection, which  had  filled  the  minds  of  the 
people  with  distracting  terrors  It  is  certain 
the  kint'  had  conceived  an  implacable  aversion 
to  the  leading  members  of  the  Puritanical  party 
in  both  houses,  and  having  quieted  the  Scots, 
was  determined  to  make  them  examples  ot 
which  they  were  ignorant.  After  all,  whe  her 
these  and  the  like  reasons  were  sufficient  to 
justify  the  whole  of  the  Paliament's  conduct  in 
this  affair,  I  will  not  presume  to  determine 

The  remonstrance  was  presented  to  tbe  king 
at  Hampton  Court  [December  1,  1641],  about 
a  week  after  his  majesty's  return  Irom  Scot- 
land with  a  petition  for  redress  of  grievances 
therein  contained.    It  is  easy  to  suppose  it  was 
not  very  acceptable,  but  the  king  gave  the  com- 
mittee his  hand  to  kiss,  and  took  time  to  return 
an  answer.*   The  remonstrance  enumerates  the 
several  grievances,  oppressions,  and  unbounded 
acts  of  the  prerogative,  since  his  majesty  s  ac- 
cession, to  the  number  of  almost  two  hundred, 
and  charges  their  rise  and  progress,  (1-   ,<Jn 
the  Jesuited  papists.     (2.)  On  the  court   bish- 
ops, and  corrupt  part  of  the  clergy.     (3.)  On 
such  corrupt  counsellors  and  courtiers  as  for 
private  ends  had  engaged  themselves  in  the  in- 
terest of  some  foreign  princes,  to  the  prejudice 
of  the  king  and  state.    These  ministers  are  said 
to  carry  on  their  designs,  (1.)  By  suppressing 
the  power  and  purity  of  religion,  and  of  such 
persons  as  were  best  affected  to  it.     (2.)  Jiy 
cherishing  the  Arminian  party  in  those  points 
wherein  they  agree  with  the  papists,  in  order  to 
widen  the  difference  between  the  common  Prot- 
estants and  those  called  Puritans  ;  and  by  in- 
troducing such  opinions  and  ceremonies  as  tend 
to  an  accommodation  with  popery.     (3.)  By  fo- 
mentint'  differences  and  discontent  between  the 
kine  and  his  Parliament,  and  by  putting  him 
upon  arbitrary  and  illegal  methods  of  raising 

oil  nnliPS 

1  omit  the  grievances  of  the  State  ;  those 
which  related  to  the  Church  were  such  as  fol- 

°T  The  suspensions,  excommunications,  dep- 
rivations, and  degradations  of  divers  painful, 
learned,  and  pious  ministers  of  the  Gospel  by 
the  bishops,  and  the  grievous  oppression  of 
great  numbers  of  his  majesty's  faithlul  subjects 

2  The  sharpness  and  severity  of  the  Higii 
Commission,  assisted  by  the  council-table  not 
much  less  grievous  than  the  Romish  Inquisition. 

3  The  rigour  of  the  bishops'  courts  in  the 
country,  whereby  great  numbers  of  the  meaner 
tradesmen  have  been  impoverished  and  driven 
out  of  the  kingdom  to  Holland  and  New-Jrmg- 


*  Rushworth,  part  iii.,  vol.  i.,  p. 
("loUection,  p.  694. 


438.    Nalson's 


land  The  advancing  those  to  ecclesiastical 
preferments  who  were  most  officious  in  promo- 
ting superstition,  and  most  virulent  in  railing 
atTainst  godliness  and  honesty. 
"4  The  design  of  reconciling  the  Church  of 
England  with  Rome,  and  imposing  upim  the 
Church  of  Scotland  such  popish  superstitions 
and  innovations  as  might  dispose  them  to  join 
with  England  in  the  intended  reconciliation. 

5.  The  late  canons  and  oath  imposed  upon 
the  clergy  under  the  severest  penalties,  and 
the  continuance  of  the  convocation  by  a  new 
commission,  after  the  dissolution  of  the  Parlia- 
ment, wherein  they  raised  taxes  upon  the  sub- 
iect  for  the  maintenance  of  what  was  called 
"  helium  episcopale."  The  rootmg  out  of  the 
kingdom  by  force,  or  driving  away  by  fear,  the 
Puritans ;  under  which  name  they  include  all 
that  desire  to  preserve  the  laws  and  liberties 
of  the  kingdom,  and  to  maintain  religion  m  the 

power  of  it.  ^  ,  1 

6  The  exempting  papists  from  penal  laws, 
so  far  as  amounted  to  a  toleration,  besides  con- 
ferring upon  them  many  other  privileges  and 
court  favours  ;  these,  say  they,  have  had  a 
secretary  of  state  of  their  own  religion,  and  a 
nuncio  from  the  pope,  by  whose  authority  the 
popish  nobility,  clergy,  and  gentry  have  been 
convocated  after  the  manner  of  a  Parliament ; 
new  jurisdictions  have  been  erected  of  popish 
archbishops  ;  taxes  have  been  levied  ;  another 
state  moulded  within  this  state,  independent  in 
government,  and  secretly  corruptmg  the  igno- 
rant professors  of  our  religion,  &c.  Itie  pa- 
pists have  been  furnished  with  arms  and  ammu- 
nition, listed  in  the  king's  service,  and  encour- 
aged by  the  weekly  prayers  of  their  priests  f^or 
the  prosperity  of  their  designs,  to  promote  the 
Catholic  cause.  They  complain,  farther  of  a 
party  of  bishops  and  popish  lords  in  the  House 
of  Peers  who  have  caused  much  opposition  and 
delay  in  the  prosecution  of  delinquents,  and 
hindered  the  passing  some  good  bills  for  the  re- 
forming abuses  and  corruptions  in  Church  ana 
State  ;  and  of  a  malignant  party  that  has  coun- 
tenanced the  rebellion  in  Ireland. 

After  the  recital  of  these  grievances,  they  ac- 
knowledge with  thankfulness  the  many  acts 
that  his  majesty  has  passed  this  session  for  the 
public  good,  and  put  his  majesty  in  mind  ot  the 
large  sums  of  money  they  had  raised  for  his 
service,  amounting  to  no  less  than  a  million 
and  a  half  They  declare,  "  that  it  is  far  from 
their  purpose  or  desire  to  let  loose  the  golden 
reins  of  discipline  and  government  in  the 
Church,  to  leave  private  persons  or  particular 
congregations  to  take  up  what  form  of  Divine 
service  they  please  ;  for  we  hold  it  requisite 
say  they,  "that  there  should  be  throughout  the 
whole  realm  a  conformity  to  that  order  which 
the  laws  enjoin,  according  to  the  Word  of  God  ; 
and  we  desire  to  unburden  the  consciences  ot 
men  from  needless  and  superstitious  ceremo- 
nies, to  suppress  innovations,  and  to  take  away 
the  monuments  of  idolatry.  To  effect  tms  in- 
tended reformation,  we  desire  there  may  De  a 
general  synod  of  the  most  grave,  pious,  learned, 
and  judicious  divines  of  this  island,  assisted 
with  some  from  foreign  parts  professing  the 
same  religion  with  us,  who  may.cons.der  of  all 
things  necessary  for  the  peace  and  good  gov- 
ernment of  the  Church,  and  represent  the  re- 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


401 


suit  of  their  consultations  to  the  Parliament,  to 
be  allowed  and  confirmed,  and  to  receive  the 
stamp  of  authority.  It  is  our  chief  care  to  ad- 
vance and  promote  learning,  and  to  provide  a 
competent  maintenance  for  conscionable  and 
preach-ing  ministers  throughout  the  kingdom. 
We  intend,  likewise,  to  reform  and  purge  the 
fountains  of  learning  —  the  two  universities, 
that  the  streams  flowing  thence  may  be  clear 
and  pure,  and  an  honour  and  comfort  to  the 
whole  land.  And  seeing  that  the  religion  of 
papists  has  such  principles  as  certainly  tend  to 
the  destruction  and  extirpation  of  all  Protest- 
ants, when  they  have  opportunity  to  effect  it, 
it  is  necessary  to  keep  them  in  such  a  condition 
that  they  may  not  be  able  to  do  us  any  hurt." 

In  the  petition  that  attended  this  remon- 
strance, after  having  assured  his  majesty  that 
they  had  not  the  least  intention  to  lay  any  blem- 
ish upon  his  royal  person  by  the  foregoing  dec- 
laration, but  only  to  represent  how  his  royal 
authority  and  trust  had  been  abused,  they  hum- 
bly beseech  his  majesty  to  concur  with  his  peo- 
jie  in  a  parliamentary  way,  (I.)  "For  the  de- 
priving the  bishops  of  their  votes  in  Parliament, 
and  abridging  their  immoderate  power,  usurped 
over  the  clergy  and  other  your  good  subjects, 
to  the  hazard  of  religion  and  prejudice  of  the 
jast  liberties  of  your  people.  (2.)  For  the  ta- 
king away  such  oppressions  in  religion,  church 
government,  and  discipline,  as  have  been  brought 
in  and  fomented  by  them.  (3.)  For  uniting  all 
snch  your  loyal  subjects  as  agree  in  fundament- 
als against  papists,  by  removing  some  oppres- 
sions and  unnecessary  ceremonies,  by  which 
divers  weak  consciences  have  been  offended, 
and  seem  to  be  divided  from  the  rest."  (4.) 
They  conclude  "with  beseeching  his  majesty 
to  remove  from  his  counsels  all  favourers  of 
popery  and  arbitrary  power,  and  promoters  of 
the  above-mentioned  pressures  and  corruptions, 
and  to  employ  such  as  his  Parliament  might 
confide  in  ;  and  that,  in  his  princely  goodness, 
lie  would  reject  all  solicitations  to  the  contrary, 
now  powerful  and  near  soever."* 

His  majesty,  in  his  answer  to  this  petition," 
about  a  week  after,  complains  very  justly  of  the 
disrespect  of  the  Gommons  in  printing  their  re- 
monstrance before  he  had  time  to  return  an  an- 
swer.    To  the  preamble  and  conclusion  of  the 
petition,  he  says,  that  "  he  knows  of  no' wicked, 
arbitrary,  and  malignant  party  prevalent  in  the 
government,  or  near  himself  and  his  children  ;" 
and  assures  them  that  the  mediation  of  the 
nearest  to  him  has  always  concurred  in  such 
persons,  against  whom  there  can  be  no  just 
cause  of  exception.     To  the  several  articles 
his  majesty  replies  :  first,  concerning  religion, 
"that  he  is  willing  to  concur  with  all  the  just 
desires  of  his  people,  in  a  parliamentary  way, 
for  preserving  the  peace  of  the  kingdom  from 
the  designs  of  the  popish  party. 

"That  for  depriving  the  bishops  of  their 
votes  in  Parliament,  he  thought  their  right  was 
grounded  on  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  king- 
dom and  constitution  of  Parliament,  but  since 
you  desire  our  concurrence  in  a  parliamentary 
way,"  says  the  king,  "  we  will  give  no  farther 
answer  at  present. 

"  As  for  abridging  the  extraordinary  power 

*  Nalson's  Collection,  vol.  ii.,  p.  692. 
Vol.  I. — E  e  e  , 


of  the  clergy,  if  there  remain  any  excesses  or 
usurpations  in  their  jurisdictions,  we  neither 
have  nor  will  protect  them. 

"  Concerning  church  corruptions,  as  you 
style  them,  and  removing  unnecessary  ceremo- 
nies, we  are  willing  to  concur  in  the  removal 
of  any  illegal  innovations  which  may  have  crept 
int;  and  if  our  Parliament  advise  us  to  call  a 
national  synod  for  that  purpose,  we  shall  take 
it  into  consideration. 

"  But  we  are  very  sorry  to  hear,  in  such  gen- 
eral terms,  corruption  in  religion  objected,  since 
we  are  persuaded  in  our  own  conscience  that 
no  church  can  be  found  upon  earth  that  pro- 
fesseth  the  true  religion  with  more  purity  of 
doctrine  than  the  Church  of  England  doth  ;  nor 
where  the  government  and  discipline  are  jointly 
more  beautified,  and  free  from  superstition,  than 
as  they  are  here  established  by  law,  which,  by 
the  grace  of  God,  we  will  with  constancy  main- 
tain while  we  live,  in  their  purity  and  glory,  not 
only  against  all  invasions  of  popery,  but  also 
from  the  irreverence  of  those  many  schismatics 
and  separatists  wherewith  of  late  this  kingdom 
and  this  city  abound,  to  the  great  dishonour 
and  hazard  both  of  Church  and  State  ;  for  the 
suppression  of  whom  we  require  your  timely 
aid  and  active  assistance." 

Some  time   after  [December  15,  1641]  his 
majesty  published  his  answer  to  the  remon- 
strance,* with  a  declaration  to  all  his  loving 
subjects,  in  which  he  professes  himself  fully 
satisfied  "that  the  religion  of  the  Church  of 
England  is  most  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God, 
and  that  he  should  be  ready  to  seal  it  with  his 
blood  if  God  should  call  him  to  it.     That  as  for 
ceremonies  in  religion,  which  are  in  their  own 
nature  indifferent,  he  is  willing,  in  tenderness 
to  any  number  of  his  subjects,  that  a  law  should 
be  made  for  the  exemption  of  tender  conscien- 
ces from  punishment,  or  prosecution  for  such 
ceremonies  as  by  the  judgment  of  most  men 
are  held  to  be  indifferent,  and  of  some  to  be  ab- 
solutely unlawful,  provided  the  peace  of  the 
kingdom  be  not  disturbed,  nor  the  present  de- 
cency and  comeliness  of  God's  service  estab- 
lished in  the  Church  discountenanced  ;  nor  the 
pious,  sober,  and  devout  actions  of  those  rev- 
erend persons  who  were  the  first  labourers  in 
the   blessed  Reformation   be  scandalized  and 
defamed.     His  majesty  then  adds,  that  he  can- 
not, without  grief  of  heart  and  some  tax  upon 
himself  and  his  ministers  for  not  executing  the 
laws,  look  upon  the  bold  license  of  some  men, 
in  printing  pamphlets  and  sermons  so  full  of  bit- 
terness and  malice  against  the  present  govern- 
ment and  the  law  established,  so  full  of  sedition 
against  himself  and  the  peace  of  the  kingdom, 
that  he  is  many  times  amazed  to  consider  by 
what  eyes  these  things  are  seen,  and  by  what 
ears  they  are  heard ;  he  therefore  commands 
again  all  his  officers  and  ministers  of  justice  to 
proceed  against  them  with  all  speed,  and  put 
the  laws  in  execution."!     Agreeably  to  this 
declaration,  his  majesty  issued  out  his  royal 
proclamation  December  10,  requiring  obedience- 
to  the  laws  and  statutes  ordained  for  the  estab-. 
lishing  true  religion  in  this  kingdom,  and  com- 
manding that  Divine  service  be  performed  as 
heretofore  ;  and  that  all  officers  and  ministers, 


*  Nalson's  Collection,  vol.  ii.,  p.  647,  &c. 
t  Rushworth,  part  iii.,  vol.  i.,  p.  456. 


402 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


ecclesiastical  and  temporal,  do  put  the  said 
laws  in  due  execution  against  all  wilful  con- 
temners and  disturbers  of  Divine  worship,  con- 
trary to  the  said  laws  and  statutes. 

Thus  matters  stood  hetween  the  king  and 
Parliament  when  all  men  expected  the  court 
interest  in  the  House  of  Peers  would  be  broken, 
by  the  issue  of  the  impeachment  of  thirteen 
bishops,  lor  compiling  the  late  canons,  whi«h 
was  now  approaching.     The  Lords  had  resolv- 
ed that  such  bishops  as  were  impeached  should 
not  sit  in  the  House  when  the  merits  of  their 
cause  was  in  debate,  but  that  when  the  manner 
of  proceeding  was  to  be  settled,  they  might  be 
present,  but  not  vote.     To  enable  them  the  bet- 
ter to  make  their  defence,  it  was  resolved,  far- 
ther, that  the  Bishop  of  Rochester,  with  one 
other  bishop,  might  have  access  twice  to  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  in  the  Tower  to  con- 
sult with  him  about  their  answer  to  the  im- 
peachment ;  and  that  all  the  lords-bishops  may 
have  access  to  and  have  copies  of  any  acts  and 
records  in  any  of  his  majesty's  courts  of  jus- 
tice that  may  serve  for  their  defence.     On  the 
10th  of  November  the  bishops  put  in  their  an- 
swer, consisting  of  a  plea  and   demurrer,  in 
which  they  neither  confess  nor  deny  the  fact, 
but  endeavour  to  show  that  the  offence  of  ma- 
king canons  could  not  amount  to  a  premunire  ; 
which  was  certainly  true,  provided  they  had 
been  made  in  a  legal  convocation,  and  that  the 
canons  themselves  had  not  been  contrary  to 
the   king's   prerogative   and   the  fundamental 
laws  of  the  land.     The  answer  was  signed  with 
all  their  hands  except  the  Bishop  of  Glouces- 
ter's, who  pleaded  not  guilty  modo  et  forma* 
The  Commons  were  dissatisfied  with  the  bish- 
ops for  not  pleading  directly  to  their  charge  ; 
and  with  the  Lords  for  receiving  a  demurrer 
when  they  were  not  present,  contrary  to  the 
request  which  they  sent  up  with  the  impeach- 
ment, especially  when  the  nature  of  the  case, 
being  a  mere  matter  of  fact,  could  not  require 
it ;  they  therefore  prayed  the  Lords  by  Ser- 
geant Glyn  to  set  aside  the  demurrer,  and  to 
admit  them  to  make  proof  of  their  charge  with- 
out any  farther  delay  ;  or  if  they  were  satisfied 
with  the  charge,  and  the  bishops  would  not 
plead  to  it,  to  proceed  immediately  to  judg- 
ment ;   but  the  Lords,  instead   of  complying 
with  the  Commons,  gave  the  bishops  their  op- 
tion, and  ordered  them  to  declare  by  Saturday 
whether  they  would  plead  to  the  impeachment 
or  abide  by  their  demurrer,  when  they  declared 
they  would   abide  by  their   demurrer;    upon 
which  the  Lords  appointed  Monday  following 
[December  11]  to  hear  them  by  their  counsel  in 
presence  of  the  Commons ;  but  the  House,  re- 
senting this  dilatory  method  of  proceeding  in  a 
case  which  they  allege  was  so  apparent  and 
manifest  to  the  whole  world,  would  not  appear ; 
the   most    active    members    declaring    among 
their  friends,  with  a  sort  of  despair,  that  they 
would  be  concerned  no  farther  against  the  bish- 
ops, for  they  now  saw  it  was  in  vain  to  attack 
a  number  of  men  whom  the  court  and   the 
House  of  Lords  were  resolved  to  protect. 

AVhen  this  was  rumoured  in  the  city,  it 
alarmed  the  people,  whose  fears  were  already 
sufiiciently  awakened  with  the  apprehensions 
of  a  popish  massacre  and  insurrection  within 


their  own  walls.  The  aldermen  and  common 
council  immediately  assembled,  and  drew  up  a.' 
|)etiiion  to  support  the  courage  of  the  Com- 
mons, and  went  with  it  to  Westminster  in  sixty- 
coaches,  attended  by  a  great  number  of  the 
lower  people.*  The  petition  prays,  "  that  the 
House  of  Commons  would  still  be  a  means  to 
the  king  and  the  House  of  Peers,  to  concur 
with  them  [the  Commons]  in  redressing  the 
grievances  of  Church  and  State,  and  for  the 
better  effecting  hereof,  that  the  popish  lords 
and  bishops  may  be  removed  out  of  the  House 
of  Peers."  The  speaker  returned  them  thanks 
in  the  name  of  the  House,  and  promised  to  take 
their  address  into  consideration  in  due  time.  A. 
few  days  after,  great  numbers  of  people  assem- 
bled at  Blackheath  to  sign  a  petition  to  the 
same  purpose  ;  and  within  a  fortnight  the  ap- 
prentices of  London  went  up  with  a  petition 
signed  with  a  multitude  of  names,  complaining 
of  the  decay  of  trade,  occasioned  by  papists  and 
prelates,  and  by  a  malignant  party  that  adhered 
to  them  ;  and  praying  that  the  popish  lords,  and 
other  eminent  persons  of  that  religion,  might  be 
secured,  and  that  prelacy  might  be  rooted  out, 
according  to  their  former  petition,  commonly 
called  the  root  and  branch.  The  Commons  re- 
ceived their  petition  favourably,  but  the  king, 
instead  of  calming  the  citizens,  increased  their 
jealousies  and  suspicions  by  removing,  at  this 
very  time,  Sir  William  Belfour  from  the  lieu- 
tenancy of  the  Tower,  and  putting  Colonel 
Lunsford  into  his  place,  a  suspected  papist,  of 
no  fortune,  who  had  been  once  outlawed,  and 
was  fit  for  any  desperate  attempt ;  this  unsea- 
sonable promotion  occasioned  petitions  to  his 
majesty  for  his  removal,  which  with  much  diffi- 
culty, after  some  time,  was  obtained,  but  the 
jealousies  of  the  people  still  remained. 

The  petitions  above  mentioned  against  the 
bishops  were  confronted  with  others  out  of  the 
country  in  their  favour.  November  18,  the 
humble  petition  of  the  knights,  esquires,  gentle- 
men, parsons, t  vicars,  curates,  &c.,  of  Rutland- 
shire, was  presented  to  the  House,  signed  by 
about  eight  hundred  and  forty  hands,  praying 
for  the  continuance  of  episcopacy,  as  the  only 
government  of  apostolical  institution  sealed  with, 
the  blood  of  martyrs,  admirably  suited  to  the  civil 
government  of  this  kingdom,  and  affirming  that 
no  presbyter  ever  laid  on  hands  without  a  bish- 
op. December  8,  a  petition  of  the  like  nature 
was  presentecf  from  Huntingdonshire,  and  two 
days  after  another  from  Somersetshire,  signed 
with  above  fourteen  thousand  names. t'5' 


*  Nalson's  Collection,  vol.  ii.,  p.  715,  731. 


*  Nalson's  Collection,  vol.  ii.,  p.  733. 

t  "  And  householders  in  the  county  of  Rutland,  in 
behalf  of  themselves  and  families:"  omitted.  —  Dr. 
Grey. 

t  There  were  also  petitions  from  the  counties  of 
Cheshire,  Nottingham,  Devonshire,  Stafford,  Kent, 
the  six  shires  of  North  Wales,  the  counties  of  Lan- 
caster, Cornwall,  and  Hereford.  Of  these  petitions, 
that  from  Devon  had  eight  thousand  signatures,  that 
from  Stafford  three  thousand,  and  those  from  the  six 
shires  of  North  Wales  thirty  thousand.  Among  the 
petitioners  were  computed,  where  the  different  ranks 
of  the  petitioners  were  classed,  to  be  five  peers,  two 
hundred  and  twenty-five  knights,  three  hundred  and 
ninety-nine  divines,  one  thousand  five  hundred  and 
eighty-eight  gentlemen,  and  twenty-eight  thousand 
three  hundred  and  thirty-six  freeholders. — Dr.  Grey  s 
Examination,  vol.  i.,  p.  312,  314. 

^  Nalson's  Collection,  vol.  ii.,  p.  726,  727, 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


403 


On  the  other  hand,  the  ministers  appointed 
to  solicit  their  remonstrance  formerly  mention- 
ed, addressed  the  House,  December  20,  1641, 
acknowledging  "their  piety  and  zeal  for  the 
true  religion,  against  popery  and  superstition  ; 
in    countenancing    the    sacred   ordinance    of 
preaching  ;   in  encouraging  painful  and  godly 
ministers,  formerly  set  aside,  but  now  profita- 
bly employed  in  many  congregations ;   in  dis- 
countenancing of  bold  intruders,  who,  without 
a  sufficient  call,  have  thrust  themselves  into 
the  sacred  office  ;  as  also,  of  all  unworthy  and 
scandalous  ministers;  in  freeing  divers  godly 
ministers  from  prison  and  exile,  and  others  froni 
heavy  censures  ;  in  preventing  the  utter  ruin  of 
the  petitioners,  by  setting  aside  the  late  oath  and 
canons,  the  High  Commission,  and  other  illegal 
pressures  of  ecclesiastical  courts ;  in  making 
an  order  to  take  away  all  superstitious  rites  and 
ceremonies,  images,  pictures,  and  other  inno- 
vations out  of  churches  ;  in  conducting  the  late 
peace  with  Scotland  to  a  happy  conclusion,  and 
in  their  vigorous  endeavours  for  the  relief  of 
Ireland,  &c.     But  whereas  there  still  remain  a 
great  many  grievances  to  be  removed,  they  are 
necessitated  to  renew  their  former  suit  for  re- 
dress of  the  aforesaid  evils,  and  for  taking  away 
whatever  shall  appear  to  be  the  root  and  cause 
of  them.     And  whereas  the   petitioners,  and 
many  others,  are  desirous  in  all  things  to  sub- 
mit to  the  laws,  so  far  as  possible  they  may, 
yet,  merely  out  of  tenderness  and  scruple  of 
conscience,  they  dare  not  continue,  as  formerly 
they  did,  the  exercise  of  some  things  enjoined  ; 
not   only   because   they  have  more   seriously 
weighed  the  nature  and  scandal  of  them,  and 
because  sundry  bishops,  and  other  grave  di- 
vines, called  to  their  assistance  by  order  of  the 
House  of  Peers,  have,  as  they  are  informed,  dis- 
'  covered  divers  particulars  which  need  altera- 
tion in  the  liturgy  ;  and  because  there  is  not,  as 
they  humbly  conceive,  at  this  day,  commonly 
extant,  any  Book  of  Common  Prayer  without  so 
many  alterations  and  additions  as  render  it  in 
many  parts  another  thing  from  that  which  is  by 
law  established ;  but  chiefly,  because  the  House, 
from  a  sense  of  its  defects,  has  taken  the  ref- 
ormation thereof  under  consideration,  which 
they  hoped  would  be  some  shelter  against  the 
strict  pressing  the  use  of  it,  till  their  pleasure 
was  declared  in  a  parliamentary  way.     But, 
though  the  petitioners  have  been  comfortably 
assured  of  some  ease  herein,  yet  now,  to  their 
great  sorrow,  they  apprehend  that  the  same 
things  are  anew  enforced,  which  may  occasion 
much  trouble  and  vexation  to  sundry  peaceable 
and  worthy  ministers,  some  of  whom  have  been 
indicted  upon  the  statute  of  1  Eliz.,  cap.  ii., 
since  the  beginning  of  this  present  Parliament, 
and  others  threatened  for  omissions  of  some 
things  complained  of  to  this  high  court,  and 
still  depending  before  you.      The  petitioners, 
therefore,  pray  the  House  to  resume  the  consid- 
eration of  their  former  petition,  and  to  commit 
the  same  to  the  debate  of  a  free  synod,  and,  in 
the  mean  time,  to  be  mediators  to  his  majesty 
for  some  relaxation  in  matters  of  ceremony, 
and  of  reading  the  whole  liturgy.     They  farther 
pray,  that  a  monthly  fast  may  be  appointed  and 
religiously  observed  during  the  present  sessions 
of  Parliament,  and  they  will  be  ready  at  any 
time  to  offer  reasons  why  there  should  be  a 


synod  of  a  different  constitution  from  the  con- 
vocation now  in  being,  when  they  Shall  be  re- 
quired."* 

The   carrying  up  these   petitions  to  West- 
minster, and  especially  that  of  the  London  ap- 
prentices, occasioned  great  tumults  about  the 
Parliament-house.     The  king  was  at  his  palace 
at  Whitehall,  attended  by  a  great  number  of 
disbanded  officers,  whom  his  majesty  received 
with  great  ceremony,  and  employed  as  a  guard 
to  his  royal  person.     These  officers  insulted  the 
common  people,  and  gave  them  ill  language  as 
they  passed  by  the  court  to  the  Parliament- 
house,  crying  out.  No  bishops — no  popish  lords  ! 
If  the  people  ventured  to  reply,  the  officers  fol- 
lowed their  reproaches  with  cuts  and  lashes, 
which,  says  Lord  Clarendon,!  produced  some 
wounds,  and  drew  blood.      Mr.  Baxter   says 
they  came  out  of  Whitehall,  and  catched  some 
of  them,  and  cut  off  their  ears.     From  these 
skirmishes,  and  from  the  shortness  of  the  ap- 
prentices' hair,  which  was  cut  close  about  their 
ears,  the  two  parties  began  first  to  be  distin- 
guished by  the  names  of  Roundhead  and  Cava- 
lier.    David  Hyde,  one  of  the  reformades,  first 
drew  his  sword  in  the  palace-yard,  and  swore 
he  would  cut  the  throats  of  those  roundheaded 
dogs  that  bawled   against  the   bishops.     Dr. 
Williams,  bishop  of  Lincoln,  lately  promoted  to 
the  see  of  York,  going  by  land  to  the  House  of 
Peers,  in  company  with  the  Earl  of  Dover,  and 
hearing  a  youth  cry  out  louder  than  the  rest,  No 
bishops— no  popish  lords  !  stepped  from  the  earl 
and  laid  hands  on  him,  but  his  companions  res- 
cued him,  and  about  a  hundred  of  them  sur- 
rounded the  bishop,  hemmed  him  in,  and  with 
a  universal  shout  cried  out.  No  bishops  !  after 
which  they  opened  a  passage  and  let  his  grace 
go  forward  to  the  House. t    The  same  day,  Colo- 
nel Lunsford,  coming  through  Westminster  Hall 
in  company  with  thirty  or  forty  officers,  drew 
his  sword  and  wounded  about  twenty  apprenti- 
ces and  citizens  :  others,  walking  in  the  abbey 
while  their  friends  were  waiting  for  an  answer 
to  their  petition,  were  ordered  by  the  vergers  to 
clear  the  church,  lest  the  ornaments  of  the  ca- 
thedral should  suffer  damage  ;  upon  which  most 
of  them  went  out,  and  the  doors  were  shut,  but 
some  few  remaining  behind,  were  apprehended 
and  carried  before  the  bishop,  which  occasioned 
another  skirmish,  in  which  Sir  Richard  Wise- 
man was  killed  by  a  stone  from  the  battlements ; 
after  which  the  officers  and  soldiers  sallied  out 
upon  the  mob  with  sword  in  hand,  and  obliged 
them  to  retire.    The  news  of  this  being  reported 
in  the  city,  the  whole  populace  was  in  arms, 
and  resolved  to  go  next  morning  to  Westmin- 
ster with  swords  and  staves.     The  lord-mayor 
and  sheriffs  raised  the  train-bands,  and  having 
ordered  the  city  gates  to  be  kept  shut,  they  rode 
about  all  night  to  keep  the  peace  ;  but  it  was 
impossible  to  hinder  the  people's  going  out  in 
the  day.     On  the  other  hand,  the  king  com- 
manded the  militia  of  Westminster  and  Mid- 
dlesex to  be  raised  by  turns,  as  a  guard  to  his 
royal  person  and  family ;  upon  which  several 
gentlemen  of  the  inns  of  court  offered  their  ser- 
vice, in  case  his  majesty  apprehended  any  dan- 

*■  Nalson's  Collection,  vol.  ii.,  p.  764. 

t  Vol.  i.,  p.  339. 

i  Rushworth,  part  iii.,  vol.  i.,  p.  463. 


404 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


ger.*  The  House  of  Commons,  being  no  less 
afraid  of  themselves,  petitioned  for  a  guard  out 
of  the  city  of  London,  under  the  command  of 
the  Earl  of  Essex,  which  his  majesty  refused, 
but  told  them  he  would  take  as  much  care  of 
them  as  of  his  own  children  ;  and  if  this  would 
not  suffice,  he  would  command  such  a  guard  to 
wait  upon  them  as  he  would  be  answerable  to 
God  for  ;  but  the  House,  not  being  willing  to 
trust  to  the  king's  guard,  declined  his  majesty's- 
offer,  and  not  prevailing  for  one  of  their  own 
choosing,  they  ordered  halberds  to  be  brought 
into  the  House,  and  resolved,  in  case  of  an  as- 
sault, to  defend  themselves. 

The  Lords  exerted  themselves  to  disperse  the 
tumults,  by  sending  their  gentleman-usher  of  the 
black  rod  to  command  the  people  to  depart  to 
their  homes,  and  by  appointing  a  committee  to 
inquire  into  the  causes  of  them.  His  majesty 
also  published  a  proclamation  [December  28, 
1641]  forbidding  all  tumultuous  assemblies  of 
the  people.  But  the  Commons,  being  unwilling 
to  affront  the  citizens,  were  not  so  vigorous  in 
suppressing  them  as  it  is  thought  the  circum- 
stances of  things  required ;  for  as  the  king  relied 
upon  his  guard  of  officers,  the  Commons  had 
their  dependance  upon  the  good-will  of  the  cit- 
izens. JN'ot  that  the  House  can  be  charged  with 
encouraging  tumults,t  for  the  very  next  day 
after  the  king's  proclamation  they  sent  a  mes- 
sage to  the  Lords,  declaring  their  readiness  to 
concur  in  all  lawful  methods  to  appease  them  ; 
but  being  sensible  their  strength  was  among  the 
inhabitants  of  London,  without  whose  counte- 
nance and  support  everything  must  have  been 
given  back  into  the  hands  of  the  court,  they 
were  tender  of  entering  upon  vigorous  meas- 
ures. 

While  these  tumults  continued,  the  bishops 
were  advised  to  forbear  their  attendance  upon 
the  House,  at  least  till  after  the  recess  of  Chnst- 

*  Rushworth,  part  iii.,  vol.  i.,  p.  456,  471. 

t  Bishop  Warburton  is  very  warm  on  this  asser- 
tion, and  calls  it  "a  notorious  falsehood."  The 
House,  he  says,  "  has  been  charged  by  all  mankind 
with  encouraging  the  tumults,  though  not  with  pub- 
licly avowing  that  they  did  encourage  them."  The 
truth  orl'alsehood  of  Mr.  Neal's  assertion  will  depend 
on  the  explanation  ol  the  word  "  encourage ;"  if  it 
means  connivance  at,  and  giving  countenance  to,  the 
tumults,  its  veracity  may  be  impeached.  For  when 
the  Lords  desired,  on  December  27,  the  House  to 
join  in  publishing  a  declaration  against  the  tumults, 
and  in  petitioning  the  king  for  a  guard,  they  waived 
taking  the  request  into  consideration,  on  the  plea 
that  the  hour  was  too  late  for  it.  When  the  ne.xt  day 
came,  they  adjourned  the  matter  to  the  succeeding. 
The  mob  being  again  assembled  on  the  29th,  they 
sent  their  message  to  the  Lords.  Mr.  Neal  does  not 
immediately  stale  these  circumstances,  but  he  repre- 
sents the  Commons  as  not  acting  with  vigour  in  sup- 
pressing the  riots  and  as  placing  some  dependance 
on  the  spirit  w'.ich  the  people  showed.  Mr.  Neal, 
therefore,  by  encouraging  the  tumults,  must  be  un- 
derstood to  mean,  as  Rapin  expresses  it,  "  taking  any 
resolution  to  encourage  these  tumults,"  or  avowing 
an  approbation  of  them  :  then  his  assertion  is,  in  the 
judgment  of  even  Bishop  Warburton,  just  and  trtie. 
The  reader  cannot  but  observe,  that  Mr.  Neal  thought 
that  the  tumults  were  not,  at  first  at  least,  disagree- 
able to  the  Commons.  Yet  it  should  be  observed, 
that  Whilelocke,  speaking  of  them,  says,  "  it  was  a 
dismal  thing  to  all  sober  men,  especially  members  of 
Parliament,  to  see  and  hear  them." — Memorials,  p. 
51,— Ed. 


mas  ;  but  this  looking  too  much  like  cowardice, 
their  lordships  determined  to  do  their  duty ;  and 
because  the  streets  were  crowded  with  unruly 
people,  they  agreed  to  go  by  water  in  their 
barges  ;  but  as  soon  as  they  came  near  to  the 
shore,  the  mob  saluted  them  with  a  volley  of 
stones,  so  that,  being  afraid  to  land,  they  rowed 
back  and  returned  to  their  own  houses.  Upon 
this  repulse,  twelve  of  them  met  privately  at 
the  Archbishop  of  York's  lodgings  in  Westmin- 
ster, to  consult  what  measures  were  to  be  ta- 
ken. The  archbishop  advised  them  to  go  no 
more  to  the  House,  and  immediately,  in  a  heat, 
drew  up  the  following  protestation  against  what- 
soever the  two  houses  should  do  in  their  ab- 
sence, which  all  present  signed  with  their  hands, 
except  the  Bishop  of  Winchester. 

"  To  the  king's  most  excellent  majesty,  and  the 
lords  and  peers  now  assembled  in  Parlia- 
ment. 

"  The  humble  petition  and  protestation  of  all 
the  bishops  and  prelates  now  called  by  his 
majesty's  writs  to  attend  the  Parliament,  and 
present  about  London  and  Westminster  for 
that  service. 

"  Whereas  the  petitioners  are  called  up  by 
several  and  respective  writs,  and  under  great 
penalties,  to  attend  the  Parliament,  and  have  a 
clear  and  indubitable  right  to  vote  in  bills,  and 
other  matters  whatsoever  debatable  in  Parlia- 
ment, by  the  ancient  customs,  laws,  and  stat- 
utes of  this  realm,  and  ought  to  be  protected  by 
your  majesty  quietly  to  attend  and  prosecute 
that  great  service;  they  humbly  remonstrate 
and  protest,  before  God,  your  majesty,  and  the 
noble  lords  and  peers  now  assembled  in  Parlia- 
ment, that  as  they  have  an  indubitate  right  to 
sit  and  vote  in  the  House  of  Lords,  so  are  they, 
if  they  may  be  protected  from  force  and  vio- 
lence, inost  ready  and  willing  to  perform  their 
duties  accordingly.  And  that  they  do  abomi- 
nate all  actions  or  opinions  tending  to  popery 
and  the  maintenance  thereof;  as  also,  all  pro- 
pension  and  inclination  to  any  malignant  party, 
or  any  other  side  or  party  whatsoever,  to  the 
which  their  own  reasons  and  conscience  shall 
not  move  them  to  adhere.  But  whereas  they 
have  been  at  several  times  violently  menaced, 
affronted,  and  assaulted  by  multitudes  of  people 
in  their  coming  to  perform  their  services  in  that 
honourable  house,  and  lately  chased  away  and 
put  in  danger  of  their  lives,  and  can  find  no  re- 
dress or  protection,  upon  sundry  complaints 
made  to  both  houses  in  these  particulars  :  they 
humbly  protest  before  your  majesty,  and  the 
noble  House  of  Peers,  that  saving  unto  them- 
selves all  their  rights  and  interest  of  sitting  and 
voting  in  that  house  at  ot'ner  times,  they  dare 
not  sit  or  vote  in  the  House  of  Peers,  untO  your 
majesty  shall  farther  secure  them  from  all  af- 
fronts, indignities,  and  dangers  in  the  premises. 
Lastly,  whereas  their  fears  are  not  built  upon 
fantasies  and  conceits,  but  upon  such  grounds 
and  objections  as  may  well  terrify  men  of  reso- 
lution and  much  constancy,  they  do,  in  all  hu- 
mility and  duty,  protest  before  your  majesty, 
and  the  peers  of  that  most  honourable  House 
of  Parliament,  against  all  laws,  orders,  votes, 
resolutions,  and  determinations,  as  in  them- 
selves null,  and  of  none  effect,  which  in  their 
absence,  since  the  27ih  of  this  month  of  Decern- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


405 


Iter,  1641,  have  already  passed;  as  likewise 
against  all  such. as  shall  hereafter  pass  in  that 
most  honourable  house,  during  the  time  of  this 
their  forced  and  violent  absence  from  the  said 
most  honourable  house  ;  not  denying,  but  if 
their  absenting  of  themselves  were  wilful  and 
voluntary,  that  most  honourable  house  might 
proceed  in  all  the  premises,  their  absence,  or 
this  protestation,  notwithstanding.  And  hum- 
bly beseeching  your  most  excellent  majesty  to 
command  the  clerk  of  that  House  of  Peers  to 
enter  this  their  petition  and  protestation  among 
their  records, 

"  And  they  will  ever  pray  God  to  bless,  &c. 
"  John  Eborac,  George  Hereford, 

Tho.  Duresme,  Rob.  Oxon, 

Ro.  Gov.  Lichf  Mat.  Ely, 

Jos.  Norwich,  Godfrey  Gloucester, 

Jo.  Asaph,  Jo.  Peterborough, 

Gul.  Bath  and  Wells,       Morice  Landaff." 
This  protestation  was  presented  to  the  king 
by  Archbishop  Williams,*  who  undertook  to 
justify  the  lawfulness  of  it ;  but  his  majesty'de- 
clining  to  appear  in  so  nice  an  affair,  delivered 
it  into  the  hands  of  the  Lord-keeper  Littleton, 
who  by  his  majesty's  command  read  it  in  the 
House  of  Lords  the  next  morning.     After  some 
debate  the  Lords  desired  a  conference  with  the 
Commons,  when  the  keeper,  in  the  name  of  the 
House  of  Peers,  declared,  that  "  the  protesta- 
tion of  the  bishops  contained  matters  of  high  and 
dangerous  consequence,  extending  to  the  in- 
trenching upon  the  fundamental  privileges  and 
being  of  Parliaments,  and,  therefore,  the  Lords 
thought  fit   to   communicate  it  to   the   Com- 
mons."t     The  protestation  being  communica- 
ted to  the  House  of  Commons,  they  resolved, 
within  half  an  hour,  to  accuse  the  twelve  bish- 
ops of  high  treason,  "  for  endeavouring  to  sub- 
vert the  fundamental  laws  and  being  of  Parlia- 
ments," and  sent  u-p  their  impeachment  by  Mr. 
Glyn,  who,  having  delivered  it  at  the  bar  of  the 
House  of  Lords,  the  usher  of  the  black  rod  was 
ordered  to  go  immediately  in  search  of  the  bish- 
ops, and  bring  them  to  the  House  ;  the  bishops 
appearing  the   same  evening  [December  30], 
were  sequestered  from  Parliament,  ten  of  them 
being  sent  to  the  Tower,  the  Bishops  of  Dur- 
ham and  Norwich, t  by  reason  of  their  great  age 
and  the  service  they  had  done  the  Church  of 
God  by  their  writing  and  preaching,  being  com- 
mitted to  the  custody  of  the  black  rod,  with  an 
allowance  of  £5  a  day  for  their  expenses. ij 

The  adversaries  of  the  bishops  in  both  hous- 
es were  extremely  pleased  with  their  unadvised 
conduct;  one  said  it  was  the  finger  of  God,  to 
bring  that  to  pass  which  otherwise  could  not 
have  been  compassed.  There  was  but  one  gen- 
tleman in  the  whole  debate  that  spoke  in  their 
behalf,  and  he  said  "he  did  not  believe  they 
were  guilty  of  high  treason,  but  that  they  were 
stark  mad,  and,  therefore,  desired  they  may  be 
sent  to  Bedlam."  Lord  Clarendonll  censures 
this  protestation,  as  proceeding  from  the  pride 
and  passion  of  Archbishop  Williams ;  he  admits 
that  the  eleven  bishops  were  ill  advised  in  going 
into  his  measures,  and  suffering  themselves  to 
be  precipitated  into  so  hasty  a  resolution,  though 

*  Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  p.  351. 

t  Rushvvorth,  part  iu.,  vol.  i.,  p.  467. 

X  Morton  and  Hall. 

^  Fuller,  b.  xi.,  p.  188.  ||  Vol.  i.,  p.  355. 


he  is  certain  there  could  be  nothing  of  high 
treason  in  it.  However,  their  behaviour  gave 
such  scandal  and  offence,  even  to  those  who 
passionately  desired  to  preserve  their  function, 
that  they  had  no  compassion  or  regard  for  their 
persons. 

The  objections  that  I  have  met  with  against 
the  protestation  are  these  :  First,  That  it  tend- 
ed to  destroy  the  very  being  of  parliaments,  be- 
cause it  put  a  stop  to  all  laws,  orders,  votes, 
and  resolutions  made  in  the  absence  of  the 
bishops.  Secondly,  The  presence  of  the  bishops 
is  hereby  made  so  essential  that  no  act  can  pass 
without  them,  which  is  claiming  a  negative 
voice,  like  the  king's.  Thirdly,  The  bishops 
desiring  the  king  to  command  the  clerk  of  the 
House  of  Peers  to  enter  their  protestation  on 
record  was  derogatory  to  the  rights  of  Parlia- 
ment, as  though  the  king  by  his  command 
could  make  a  record  of  Parliament.  Fourthly, 
The  annulling  all  laws  that  might  be  made  at 
this  time,  when  Ireland  was  in  so  much  danger 
from  the  breaking  out  of  the  Irish  massacre, 
was  a  sort  of  conspiring  with  the  rebels  to  de- 
stroy that  kingdom.  Fifthly,  It  was  said  that, 
besides  the  unwarrantable  expressions  in  the 
protestation,  the  form  of  presenting  and  trans- 
mitting it  was  unjustifiable. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  said,  on  behalf  of 
the  bishops,  that  there  was  a  manifest  force  put 
upon  them  ;  and  a  violence  offered  to  the  free- 
dom of  one  member  of  Parliament  is  a  violence 
offered  to  the  whole  ;  that,  therefore,  they  had 
a  right  to  protest,  and  guard  their  privileges, 
without  being  accountable  for  the  ill  consequen- 
ces that  might  follow.  Yet  surely  this  manner 
of  asserting  their  privilege  was  irregular ;  should 
they  not  have  petitioned  the  Lords  to  secure 
their  passage  to  Parliament,  rather  than  have 
put  a  negative  upon  ah  their  proceedings  1  I 
have  met  with  only  one  learned  writer  who 
commends  the  bishops  upon  this  occasion,  and. 
he  advances  them,  in  romantic  language,  to  the 
rank  of  heroes  :  his  words  are  these :  "  Had 
the  bishops  done  less,  they  had  fallen  short  of 
that  fortitude  which  might  justly  be  expected 
from  them.  They  had  reason  to  conclude  the 
root  and  branch  work  would  certainly  go  for- 
ward, and,  therefore,  to  be  silent  under  such  an 
outrage  would  look  like  cowardice.  When  the 
prospect  is  thus  menacing,  and  a  man  is  almost 
certain  to  be  undone,  the  most  creditable  expe- 
dient is  to  spend  himself  in  a  blaze,  and  flash  to 
the  last  grain  of  powder.  To  go  out  in  a  smoke 
and  smother  is  but  a  mean  way  of  coming  to 
nothing.  To  creep  and  crawl  to  a  misfortune 
is  to  suffer  like  an  insect.  A  man  ought  to  fall 
with  dignity  and  honour,  and  to  keep  his  mind 
erect,  though  his  fortune  happens  to  be  crushed. 
This  was  the  bishops'  meaning,  and  for  m.aking 
so  handsome  a  retreat  they  ought  to  stand 
commended  upon  record.''*  But,  with  due  re- 
gard to  this  reverend  divine,  was  there  no  me- 
dium between  being  silent,  and  taking  upon 
them,  in  such  a  crisis,  to  stop  all  the  business 
of  Parliament  ?  For,  if  the  proceedings  of  the 
House  of  Peers  are  null  without  the  bishops,  it 
is  no  less  certain  that  those  of  the  House  of 
Commons  are  null  without  the  Peers  :  from 
whence  it  must  follow  that  the  whole  Parlia- 


*  Collyer's  Eccles.  Hist.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  819, 


406 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


ment  was  incapable  of  acting.  Mr.  Rapin*  is 
of  opinion  that  the  king  hoped  "  that  this  affair 
might  occasion  the  dissolution  of  the  Parlia- 
ment." But  if  he  did,  his  majesty  was  much 
mistaken,  for  the  bishops  and  popish  lords  be- 
ing now  absent,  the  majority  of  the  whole 
House  of  Peers  was  against  the  court ;  which 
vexed  the  queen  and  her  faction,  and  put  them 
upon  such  an  extravagant  piece  of  revenge  as 
effectually  broke  the  peace  of  the  kingdom,  and 
rendered  the  king's  aflairs  irretrievable. 

His  majesty  having  been  assured  that  the 
Lord  Kinibolton,  and  five  of  the  most  active 
members  in  the  House  of  Commons,  viz.,  Denzil 
Hollis,  Sir  Arthur  Haslerigge,  John  Pym,  John 
Hampden,  and  William  Stroud,  Esqrs.,  had  in- 
vited the  Scots  into  England,  and  were  now  the 
chief  encouragers  of  those  tumults  that  had 
kept  the  bishops  and  popish  lords  from  the 
House  ;  that  they  had  aspersed  his  government, 
and  were  endeavouring  to  deprive  him  of  his 
royal  power ;  in  a  word,  that  they  were  con- 
spiring to  levy  war  against  him,  resolved  to 
impeach  them  of  high  treason  ;  accordingly,  his 
majesty  sent  his  attorney-general  to  the  House 
with  the  articles  [January  3,  1642],  and  at  the 
same  time  despatched  officers  to  their  houses 
to  seal  up  their  trunks,  papers,  and  doors  ;  but 
the  members  not  being  ordered  into  custody,  as 
his  majesty  expected,  the  king  went  himself  to 
the  House  next  day  in  the  afternoon  [January 
4]  to  seize  them,  attended  with  about  two  hun- 
dred officers  and  soldiers,  armed  with  swords 
and  pistols  ;  the  gentlemen  of  the  inns  of  court, 
who  had  offered  their  service  to  defend  the 
king's  person,  having  had  notice  to  be  ready  at 
an  hour's  warning,  t  The  king  having  entered 
the  House,  went  directly  to  the  speaker's  chair, 
and  looking  about  him,  said,  with  a  frown,  "  I 
perceive  the  birds  have  fled,  but  I  will  have 
them  wheresoever  I  can  find  them,  for  as  long 
as  these  persons  are  here  this  House  will  never 
be  in  the  right  way  that  I  heartUy  wish  it ;  I 
expect,  therefore,  that  as  soon  as  they  come  to 
the  House,  that  you  send  them  to  me."  Having 
then  assured  the  members  that  he  designed  no 
force  upon  them,  nor  breach  of  privilege,  after 
a  little  while  he  withdrew  ;  but  as  his  majesty 
was  going  out,  many  members  cried  aloud,  so 
as  he  might  hear  them,  Privilege  !  privilege  !t 
The  House  was  in  a  terrible  panic  while  the 
king  was  in  the  chair,  the  door  of  the  House, 
with  all  the  avenues,  being  crowded  with  offi- 
cers and  soldiers :  as  soon,  therefore,  as  his 
majesty  was  gone  they  adjourned  till  the  next 
day,  and  then  for  a  week.  It  was  happy  that 
the  five  members  had  notice  of  the  king's  com- 
ing, just  time  enough  to  withdraw  into  the  city, 
otherwise  it  might  have  occasioned  the  effusion 
of  blood,  for,  without  doubt,  the  armed  soldiers 
at  the  door  waited  only  for  the  word  to  carry 
them  away  by  force.  Next  day  his  majesty 
went  into  the  city  [January  5]  and  demanded 
them  of  the  lord-mayor  and  court  of  aldermen 
then  assembled  by  his  order  at  Guildhall,  pro- 
fessing, at  the  same  time,  his  resolution  to  pros- 
ecute all  who  opposed  the  laws,  whether  papists 
or  Separatists,  and  to  defend  the  true  Protestant 
religion  which  his  father  professed,  and  in  which 

*  Vol.  i.,  p.  405,  folio. 

t  Whiteloeke's  Memorials,  p.  50.        t  Ibid.,  p.  51. 


he  would  continue  to  the  end  of  his  life.*  Bui 
though  his  majesty  was  nobly  entertained  by 
the  sheriffs,  he  now  perceived  that  this  rash  and 
unadvised  action  had  lost  him  the  hearts  of  the 
citizens,  there  being  no  acclamations  or  huz- 
zas, as  usual,  only  here  and  there  a  voice,  as 
he  went  along  in  his  coach,  crying  out.  Privi- 
lege of  Parliament !  privilege  of  Parliament ! 
However,  he  persisted  in  his  resolution,  and 
January  8  published  a  proclamation,  command- 
ing all  magistrates  and  officers  of  justice  to  ap- 
prehend the  accused  members  and  carry  them  to 
the  Tower. 

It  is  hard  to  say  with  any  certainty  who  put 
the  king  upon  this  unparalleled  act  of  violence, 
a  species  of  tyranny  which  the  most  arbitrary 
of  his  predecessors  had  never  attempted.  If 
his  majesty  deliberated  at  all  upon  what  he 
was  going  about,  we  must  conclude  that  he  in- 
tended to  dissolve  the  Parliament,  and  to  re- 
turn to  his  former  methods  of  arbitrary  govern- 
ment ;  because  by  the  same  rule  that  the  king 
might  take  five  members  out  of  the  House,  he 
might  take  five  hundred  ;  besides,  several  of  the 
articles  laid  against  them  were  equally  chargea- 
ble on  the  majority  of  the  House.  It  now  ap- 
peared, says  Rapin,t  that  the  king  was  resolved 
to  be  revenged  on  those  that  had  offended  him  ; 
and  that  there  was  no  farther  room  to  confide 
in  his  royal  word.  Some  say  that  this  was 
Lord  Digby's  mad  project,  who,  when  he  found 
his  majesty,  after  his  return  ouj  of  the  city, 
vexed  at  his  disappointment,  offered  to  go  with 
a  select  company  and  bring  them  dead  or  alive  ; 
but  the  king  was  afraid  of  the  consequences  of 
such  an  enterprise  ;  and  Digby,  being  ordered 
to  attend  in  his  place  in  the  House,  thought  fit 
to  withdraw  out  of  the  kingdom.  Mr.  Echard.J 
with  greater  probability,  lays  it  upon  the  queen 
and  her  cabal  of  papists  ;  and  adds,  that  when 
the  king  expressed  his  distrust  of  the  affair,  her 
majesty  broke  out  into  a  violent  passion,  and' 
said,  "  Allez,  poltron,"  &c.,  "  Go,  coward,  and 
pull  those  rogues  out  by  the  ears,  or  never  see 
my  face  any  more  ;"  which  it  seems,  says  the 
archdeacon,  determined  the  whole  matter. 

The  citizens  of  London  were  so  far  from  de- 
livering up  the  five  members,  that  they  petition- 


*  Rushworth,  part  iii.,  vol.  i.,  p.  479. 

t  Vol.  li.,  p.  408,  409,  foho  edition. 

i  Bishop  Warburton  is  much  displeased  with  Mr. 
Neal  for  quoting  the  authority,  and  giving  in  to  the 
opinion  of  Echard.  For  he  says,  "  It  was  a  known 
and  uncontroverted  fact  that  the  advice  was  Digby's." 
To  invalidate  the  supposition  that  the  measure  pro- 
ceeded from  the  queen's  counsels,  his  lordship  urges 
that  the  queen  was  not  capable  of  any  vigorous 
steps,  being  intimidated  with  the  fear  of  an  impeach- 
ment, and  actually  projecting  her  escape  :  as  if  dan- 
ger and  alarm  were  incompatible  with  concerting 
and  adopting  the  means  of  avoiding  the  threatening 
evil ;  as  if  Digby  might  not  be  the  ostensible  adviser 
of  measures  which  others  suggested  and  instigated. 
That  he  was  the  sole  author  of  this  measure,  is  not 
so  uncontroverted  a  fact  as  the  bishop  conceived  it 
to  be ;  and  it  may  be  alleged  in  favour  of  Mr.  ISeal 
and  Echard,  that  among  the  divers  excuses  made  for 
thrs  action,  some  imputed  it  to  the  irritation  and 
counsel  of  the  women  ;  telling  the  king,  "  that  if  he 
were  King  of  England,  he  would  not  suffer  himself 
to  be  baffled  about  such  persons."  The  notice  of 
thi.s  intended  step  was  given  tp  these  five  gentlemen 
by  a  great  court  lady,  their  friend,  who  overheard 
some  discourse  about  it. —  Whiteloeke's  Menwriah  p. 
50,  51.— Ed. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS 


407 


ed  the  king  that  they  might  be  at  liberty  and 
proceeded  against  according  to  the  methods  of 
Parhament.  At  the  same  time,  they  acquainted 
his  majesty  with  their  apprehensions  of  the  ruin 
of  trade,  and  of  the  danger  of  the  Protestant  re- 
ligion, by  reason  of  the  progress  of  the  rebellion 
in  Ireland,  and  the  number  of  papists  and  other 
disbanded  officers  about  the  court.  His  majes- 
ty, finding  he  had  lost  the  city,  fortified  White- 
hall with  men  and  ammunition,  and  sent  can- 
noniers  into  the  Tower  to  defend  it  if  there 
should  be  occasion.*  When  the  citizens  com- 
plained of  this,  his  majesty  replied,  "  that  it  was 
done  with  an  eye  to  their  safety  and  advantage ; 
that  his  fortifying  Whitehall  was  not  before  it 
■was  necessary ;  and  that  if  any  citizens  had 
been  wounded,  it  was  undoubtedly  for  their 
evil  and  corrupt  demeanour."  But  they  had  no 
confidence  in  the  king's  protection.  A  thou- 
sand mariners  and  sailors  offered  to  guard  the 
five  members  to  Westminster  by  water  upon 
the  day  of  their  adjournment  [January  11],  and 
the  train-bands  offered  the  committee  at  Guild- 
hall to  do  the  same  by  land,  which  was  accept- 
ed, and  the  offer  of  the  apprentices  refused. 
Things  being  come  to  this  extremity,  his  maj- 
esty, to  avoid  the  hazard  of  an  affront  from  the 
populace,  took  a  fatal  resolution  to  leave  White- 
hall, and  accordingly,  January  10,  the  day  be- 
fore the  Parliament  was  to  meet,  he  removed 
with  his  queen  and  the  whole  royal  family  to 
Hampton  Court,  and  two  days  after  to  Wind- 
sor, from  whence  he  travelled  by  easy  stages 
to  York  ;  never  returning  to  London  till  he  was 
brought  thither  as  a  criminal  to  execution. 

By  the  king's  deserting  his  capital  in  this 
manner,  and  not  returning  when  the  ferment 
■was  over,  he  left  the  strength  and  riches  of  the 
iingdom  in  the  hands  of  his  Parliament  ;  for 
the  next  day,  the  five  members  were  conducted 
by  water  in  triumph  to  Westminster,  the  train- 
bands of  the  city  marching  at  the  same  time  by 
land,  who,  after  they  had  received  the  thanks 
of  the  House,  were  dismissed  ;  and  Sergeant 
Skippon,  with  a  company  of  the  city  militia, 
■was  appointed  to  guard  the  Parliament-house  ; 
"from  this  day,"  says  Lord  Clarendon,!  "we 
may  reasonably  date  the  levying  war  in  England, 
"Whatsoever  has  been  since  done  being  but  the 
superstructures  upon  these  foundations."  It 
must  be  considered  that  two  days  after  [Janua- 
ry 12]  the  king  sent  a  message  to  the  House 
■waiving  his  proceedings  with  respect  to  the 
five  members,  and  promising  to  be  as  careful  of 
their  privileges  as  of  his  life  or  crown  ;  and  a 
little  after  offered  a  general  pardon  ;  but  the 
Commons  had  too  much  reason  at  this  time  not 
to  depend  upon  his  royal  promise  ;  they  insist- 
ed that  the  accused  members  should  be  brought 
to  their  trial  in  a  legal  and  parliamentary  way  ; 
in  order  to  which,  they  desired  his  majesty  to 
inform  them  what  proof  there  was  against 
them  ;  it  being  the  undoubted  right  and  privi- 
lege of  Parliament  that  no  member  can  be  pro- 
ceeded against  without  the  consent  of  the 
House  ;  which  his  majesty  refusing  to  comply 
with,  removed  farther  off  to  Windsor,  and  en- 
tered upon  measures  very  inconsistent  with  the 
peace  of  the  kingdom.} 

*  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  408,  folio  edition. 

t  Vol.  i.,  p.  383. 

t  Rushworth,  part  iii.,  vol.  i.,  p.  492. 


To  return  to  the  bishops  ;  about  a  fortnight 
after  their  commitment  [January  17, 1642]  they 
pleaded  to  the  impeachment  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  "Not  guilty  in  manner  and  form," 
and  petitioned  the  Lords  for  a  speedy  trial, 
which  was  appointed  for  the  25th  instant,  but 
was  put  off  from  time  to  time,  till  the  whole 
bench  of  bishops  was  voted  out  of  the  House, 
and  then  entirely  dropped  ;  for  the  very  next 
day  after  their  commitment,  the  Commons  de- 
sired the  Lords  to  resume  tlie  consideration  of 
the  bill  that  had  been  sent  up  some  months  ago, 
for  taking  away  all  temporal  jurisdiction  from 
those  in  holy  orders,  which  the  Lords  promis- 
ed :  it  had  passed  the  Commons  without  any 
difficulty  about  the  time  of  the  Irish  insurrec- 
tion, and  was  laid  aside  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
as  being  thought  impossible  to  pass  while  the 
bishops'  votes  were  entire :  when  it  was  re- 
vived at  this  juncture,  the  Earl  of  Bedford  and 
the  Bishop  of  Rochester  made  a  vigorous  stand 
against  it.*  His  lordship  urged  that  it  was 
contrary  to  the  usage  of  Parliament  when  a  bill 
had  been  once  rejected  to  bring  it  in  a  second 
time  the  same  session.  To  which  it  was  re- 
plied that  it  was  not  the  same  bill  [having  a 
new  title],  though  it  was  to  accomplish  the 
same  end.  Besides,  the  distress  of  the  times 
required  some  extraordinary  measures  for  their 
redress ;  and,  farther,  since  the  king  had  been 
graciously  pleased  to  pass  an  act  for  the  con- 
tinuance of  this  Parhament  as  long  as  they 
thought  fit  to  sit,  and  thereby  parted  with  his 
right  of  proroguing  or  dissolving  them,  the  na- 
ture of  things  was  altered,  and,  therefore,  they 
were  not  to  be  tied  down  to  the  ordinary  forms 
in  otlier  cases.  The  question  being  put  wheth- 
er the  bill  should  be  read,  it  passed  in  the  af- 
firmative ;  upon  which  the  consideration  of  it 
was  resumed,  and  after  some  few  debates  the 
bill  was  passed  by  a  very  great  majority,  Feb- 
ruary 6,  1641-2,  the  citizens  of  London  ex- 
pressing their  satisfaction  by  ringing  of  bells 
and  bonfires.  But  it  was  still  apprehended  that 
the  king  would  refuse  his  assent,  because,  when 
he  had  been  pressed  to  it,  his  majesty  had  said 
it  was  matter  of  great  concernment,  and  there- 
fore he  would  take  time  to  consider  ;  however, 
the  Commons,  not  content  with  this  delay,  sent 
again  to  Windsor  to  press  his  compliance  upon 
the  following  reasons;  "Because  the  subjects 
suffered  by  the  bishops  exercising  temporal  ju- 
risdiction, and  making  a  party  in  the  House  of 
Lords ;  because  it  was  apprehended  that  there 
would  be  a  happy  conjunction  of  both  houses 
upon  the  exclusion  of  the  bishops  ;  and  the 
signing  of  this  bill  would  be  a  comfortable 
pledge  of  his  majesty's  gracious  assent  to  the 
future  remedies  of  those  evils  which  were  to  be 
presented  to  him."t 

This  message  from  the  House  of  Commons 
was  seconded  by  those  of  greatest  trust  about 
the  king,  who  argued,  "  that  the  combination 
against  the  bishops  was  irresistible ;  that  the 
passing  this  bill  was  the  only  way  to  preserve 
the  Church  ;  and  that  if  the  Parliament  was 
gratified  in  this,  so  many  persons  in  both  hous- 
es would  be  fully  satisfied  that  they  would  join 
in  no  farther  alterations  ;  but  if  they  were 
crossed  in  this,  they  would  endeavour  an  extir- 
pation of  the  bishops  and  a  demolishing  of  the 

*  Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  p.  302,  416.      f  Ihid.,  p.  427. 


408 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


•whole  fabric  of  the  Church."  They  argued  far- 
ther, "  that  force  or  indirect  means  having  been 
made  use  of  to  obtain  the  bill,  the  king  might 
by  his  power  bring  the  bishops  in  again  when 
the  present  distempers  were  composed ;"  an 
argument  by  which  his  majesty  might  have  set 
aside  all  his  concessions,  or  acts  of  grace  (as 
he  pleased  to  call  them),  to  his  Parliament  at 
once.  But  none  of  these  reasons  would  have 
prevailed,  had  not  the  queen  made  use  of  her 
sovereign  influence  over  the  king.  Her  majes- 
ty was  made  to  believe,  by  Sir  J.  Culpeper,  that 
her  own  preservation  depended  upon  the  king's 
consent  to  the  bill ;  that  if  his  majesty  refused 
it,  her  journey  into  Holland  would  be  stopped, 
and  her  person  possibly  endangered  by  some 
mutiny  or  insurrection  ;  whereas  the  using  her 
interest  with  the  king  would  lay  a  popular  obli- 
gation upon  the  kingdom,  and  make  her  accept- 
able to  the  Parliament.  These  arguments  car- 
rying a  face  of  probability,  her  majesty  wrested 
the  king's  resolution  from  him,  so  that  the  bill 
was  signed  by  commission,  February  14,  to- 
gether with  another  against  pressing  soldiers, 
his  majesty  being  then  at  Canterbury,  accom- 
panying the  queen  in  her  passage  to  Holland. 
But  his  majesty's  signing  them  with  so  much 
reluctance  did  him  a  disservice.*  All  men 
took  notice  of  his  discontent ;  and  Lord  Clar- 
endon sayst  he  has  cause  to  believe  that  the 
king  was  prevailed  with  to  sign  them,  "  be- 
cause he  was  told  that  there  being  violence  and 
force  used  to  obtain  them,  they  were  therefore 
in  themselves  null,  and  in  quieter  times  might 
easily  be  revoked  and  disannulled."  A  dan- 
gerous doctrine,  as  it  may  tend  to  overthrow 
the  most  established  laws  of  a  country !  To 
give  the  reader  the  act  itself: 

"  Whereas  bishops  and  other  persons  in  holy 
orders  ought  not  to  be  entangled  with  secular 
jurisdiction,  the  office  of  the  ministry  being  of 
such  great  importance  that  it  will  take  up  the 
whole  man.  And  for  that  it  is  found,  by  long 
experience,  that  their  intermeddling  with  secu- 
lar jurisdictions  hath  occasioned  great  mischiefs 
and  scandals  both  to  Church  and  State,  his 
majesty,  out.of  his  religious  care  of  the  Church 
and  souls  of  his  people,  is  graciously  pleased 
that  it  be  enacted,  and  by  authority  of  this  pres- 
ent Parliament  be  it  enacted,  that  no  archbish- 
op or  bishop,  or  other  person  that  now  is,  or 
hereafter  shall  be,  in  holy  orders,  shall  at  any 
time  after  the  15th  day  of  February,  in  the  year 
of  our  Lord  1642,  have  any  seat  or  place,  suf- 
frage or  vote,  or  use  or  execute  any  power  or 
authority  in  the  Parliaments  of  this  realm,  nor 
shall  be  of  the  privy  council  of  his  majesty,  his 
heirs  or  successors,  or  justices  of  the  peace,  of 
oyer  and  terminer  or  jail  delivery,  or  execute 
any  temporal  authority,  by  virtue  of  any  com- 
mission ;  but  shall  be  wholly  disabled,  and  be 
incapable  to  have,  receive,  use,  or  execute,  any 
of  the  said  offices,  places,  powers,  authorities, 
and  things  aforesaid. 

"  And  be  it  farther  enacted,  by  the  authority 
aforesaid,  that  all  acts  from  and  after  the  said 
15th  of  February,  which  shall  be  done  or  exe- 
cuted by  any  archbishop  or  bishop,  or  other 
person  whatsoever  in  holy  orders  ;  and  all  and 
every  suffrage  or  voice  given  or  delivered  by 

*  Rushworth,  part  ill.,  vol.  i.,  p.  552. 
T  Vol.  1.,  p.  429,  430. 


them  or  any  of  them,  or  other  thing  done  by 
them  or  any  of  them,  contrary  to  the  purport 
and  true  meaning  of  this  act,  shall  be  utterly 
void  to  all  intents,  constructions,  and  purposes." 
Thus  the  peerage  of  the  bishops   and  the 
whole  secular  power  of  the  clergy  ceased  for 
about  twenty  years  ;  how  far  they  contributed 
to  it  by  their  pride  and  ambition,  their  sovereign 
contempt  of  the  laity,  and  indiscreet  behaviour 
towards  their  Protestant  brethren,  has  been  al- 
ready observed.     Their  eneiriies  said  the  hand 
of  God  was  against  them,  because  they  had 
given  too  much  countenance  to  the  ridiculing 
of  true  devotion  and  piety,  under  the  name  of 
godly  Puritanism  ;*  because  they  had  silenced 
great  numbers  of  ministers,  eminent  for  learn- 
ing and  religion,  for  not  complying  with  certain 
indifferent  rites  and  ceremonies,  while  others, 
who  were  vicious  and  insufficient  for  their  of- 
fice, were  encouraged  ;  because  they  made  a 
stricter  inquiry   after  those  who   fasted    and 
prayed,  and  joined  together  in  religious  exerci- 
ses, than  after  those  who  were  guilty  of  swezu"- 
ing,  drunkenness,  and  other  kinds  of  debauch- 
ery ;  because  they  discouraged  afternoon  ser- 
mons and  lectures,  and  encouraged  sports  and 
pastimes  on  the  Lord's  Day  ;  because  they  had 
driven  many  hundred  families  out  of  the  land; 
and  were,  upon  the  whole,  enemies  to  the  civil 
interests  of  their  country.     Others  observed, 
that  most  of  them  verged  too  much  towards  tije 
See  of  Rome,  and  gave  ground  to  suspect  that 
they  were  designing  a  union  between  the  two 
churches,t  which,  at  a  time  when  the  Roman 
Catholics  in  Ireland  had  imbrued  their  hands  in 
the  blood  of  almost  two  hundred  thousand  Prot- 
estants, and  were  so  numerous  at  home  as  to 
make  large  and  public  collections  of  money  to 
support  the  king  in  his  war  against  the  Scots, 
was  sufficient  to  make  every  sincere  Protestant 
jealous  of  their  power.     Besides,  the  bishops 
themselves  had  been  guilty  of  many  oppres- 
sions ;  they  had,  in  a  manner,  laid  aside  the 
practice  of  preaching,  that  they  might  be  the 
more  at  leisure  for  the  governing  part  of  their 
function  ;  though  even  here  they  devolved  the 
whole  of  their  jurisdiction  upon  their  chancel- 
lors and  under-officers.i     They  did  not  sit  in 
their  consistories  to  hear  complaints,  or  do  jus- 
tice either  to  clergy  or  laity,  but  turned  over 
the  people  to  registrars,  proctors,  and  appari- 
tors, who  drew  their  money  from  them  against 
equity  and  law,  and  used  them  at  discretion. 
Few  or  none  of  them  made  their  visitations  in 
person,  or  lived  in  their  Episcopal  cities  ;  by 
which  means  there  was  no  kind  of  hospitality 
or  liberality  to  the  poor.     Divine  service  in  the 
cathedrals  was  neglected  or  ill  performed,  for 
want  of  their  presence  and  inspection.    Instead 
of  conferring  orders  at  the  mother-church,  they 
made  use  of  the  chapels  of  their  private  houses, 
without  requiring  the  assistance  of  their  deans 
and  chapters  upon  such  solemn  occasions ;  they 
pronounced  the  censures   of  deprivation  and 
degradation  in  a  monarchal  and  absolute  man- 

*  Baxter's  History,  Life,  and  Times,  p.  33. 

t  There  is  a  remarkable  resemblance  between 
many  of  these  church  dignitaries  and  some  of  o«ir 
modo-n  prelates.  A  thoughtful  man  cannot  avoal 
alarm  when  he  marks  the  sympathy  of  the  present 
day  for  these  persecutors  of  the  saints. — C. 

t  Collyer's  Ecclesiastical  History,  vol.  ii.,  p.  82a 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS. 


409 


ner,  not  calling  in  the  deans  and  chapters  to 
any  share  of  the  administration.     And,  upon 
the  whole,  they  did  little  else  but  receive  their 
rents,  indulge  their  ease,  consult  their  grandeur, 
and  lord  it  over  their  brethren.     These  were 
the  popular  complaints   against   them,  which 
made  the  citizens  rejoice  at  their  downfall,  and 
attend  the  passing  the  bill  with  bonfires  and 
illuminations.     However,   if  all   these   things 
had  not  concurred  in  a  nice  and  critical  junc- 
ture of  affairs,  the  attempts  of  the  House  of 
Commons  would  have   been   in  vain,  neither 
the  king  nor  peers  being  heartily  willing  to  de- 
prive them  of  their  seats  in  Parliament.     This 
was  one  of  the  last  bills  the  king  passed,  and 
the  only  law  which  he  enacted  in  prejudice  of 
the  Established  Church.*     Here  his  majesty 
made  a  stand,  and,  by  a  message  sent  to  both 
houses,  desired  not  to  be  pressed  to  any  one 
single  act  farther,  till  the  whole  affair  of  church 
government  and  the  liturgy  was  so  digested 
and  settled  that  he  might  see  clearly  what  was 
fit  to  remain,  as  well  as  what  was  fit  to  be 
taken  away. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

VROM    THE    king's    LEAVING    WHITEHALL    TO    THE 
COMMENCEMENT    OF    THE    CIVIL    WAR. 

All  things  now  tended  to  a  rupture  between 
the  king  and  Parliament,  the  Legislature  being 
divided,  and  the  Constitution  broken.  While  the 
royal  family  was  at  Hampton  Court,  the  officers 
and  soldiers  who  were  quartered  about  Kings- 
ton, to  the  number  of  two  hundred,  made  such 
disturbances  that  the  militia  of  the  country  was 
raised  to  disperse  them.     After  a  few  days  the 
king  removed  to  Windsor,  where   a  cabinet 
council  was  held  in  presence  of  the  queen,  in 
which,   besides  the  resolution   of  passing  no 
more  bills,  already  mentioned,  it  was  farther 
agreed  that  her  majesty,  being  to  accompany  the 
princess  her  daughter  to  Holland,  in  order  to  her 
marriage  with  the  Prince  of  Orange,  should  take 
with  her  the  crown  jewels  and  pledge  them  for 
ready  money,  with  which  she  should  purchase 
arms  and  ammunition,  &c.,  for  the  king's  ser- 
vice.    She  was  also  to  treat  with  the  Kings  of 
France  and  Spain  for  four  thousand  soldiers, 
by  the  mediation  of  the  pope's  nuncio.     It  was 
farther  resolved,  that  his  majesty  should  come 
to  an  agreement  with  the  Parliament  till  he  un- 
derstood the  success  of  her  negotiations,  but 
should  endeavour  to  get  possession  of  the  im- 
portant  fortresses    of  Portsmouth    and   Hull, 
where  the  arms  and  artillery  of  the  late  army 
in  the  north  were  deposited.     Mr.  Echard  says 
it  was  resolved  that  the  queen  should  remove 
to  Portsmouth,  and  the  king  to  Hull ;  that  be- 
ing possessed  of  those  places  of  strength,  where 
his  friends  might  resort  to  him  with  safety,  he 
should  sit  still  till  the  hot  spirits  at  Westminster 
could  be  brought  to  reason  ;t  but  this  important 
secret  being  discovered,  the  Parliament  entered 
upon  more  effectual  measures  for  their  safety  : 
they  sent  to  Colonel  Goring,  governor  of  Ports- 
mouth, not  to  receive  any  forces  into  the  town 
but  by  authority  of  the  king,  signed  by  both 
houses  of  Parliament.     Sir  John  Hotham  was 


sent  to  secure  the  magazine  at  Hull,  and  a 
guard  was  placed  about  the  Tower  of  London,  to 
prevent  the  carrying  out  any  ordnance  or  am- 
munition without  consent  of  Parliament.  Lord 
Clarendon,  and  after  him  Mr.  Echard,  cen.sure 
the  two  houses  for  exercising  these  first  acts 
of  sovereignty ;  how  far  they  were  necessarj 
for  their  own  and  the  public  safety,  after  what 
had  passed,  and  the  resolutions  of  the  councils 
at  Windsor,  I  leave  with  the  reader. 

The  command  of  the  militia  had  been  usual- 
ly in  the  crown,  though  the  law  had  not  posi- 
tively determined  in  whom  that  great  power 
was  lodged,  as  Mr.  Whitelocke  undertook  to 
prove  before  the  commissioners  at  Uxbridge  ;* 
the  king  claimed  the  sole  disposal  of  it,  where- 
as the  Parliament  insisted  that  it  w-as  not  in 
the  king  alone,  but  in  the  king  and  Parliament 
jointly  ;  and  that  when  the  kingdom  is  in  immi- 
nent danger,  if  the  royal  power  be  not  exerted 
in  its  defence,  the  military  force  may  be  raised 
without  it.  But  waiving  the  question  of  right, 
the  Parliament  desired  the  command  of  the 
militia  might  be  put  into  such  hands  as  they 
could  confide  in  only  for  two  years,  till  the 
present  disorders  were  quieted.  This  the  king 
refused,  unless  the  House  would  first  give  up 
the  question  of  right,  and  vest  the  sole  com- 
mand of  the  fnilitia  in  the  crown  by  form  of 
law  ;  which  the  Parliament  declined,  and  voted 
the  advisers  of  that  answer  enemies  of  the 
kingdom. 

Multitudes  of  petitions  were  presented  to  the 
houses  from  the  city  of  London,  and  from  the 
counties  of  Middlesex,  Hertford,  Essex,  &c.,t 


*  Rushworth,  part  iii.,  vol.  i.,  p.  554. 
t  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  433,  folio  edition. 
Vol.  I.--F  f  f 


*  "In  the  treaty  at  Uxbridge,  printed  in  King 
Charles's  works,  and  in  Dugdale's  Short  View  of 
the  Troubles  of  England,  and  separate  by  itself,  in 
quarto,  by  Litchfield,  1645, 1  can  find,"  says  Dr.  Grey, 
"  no  such  offer  of  proof  made  by  Mr.  Whitelocke." 
This  is  tr\ie,  and  the  reason  may  be  assigned ;  the 
piece  referred  to  exhibits  only  the  requisitions  on  one 
side  and  the  answers  on  the  other,  without  going 
into  the  detail  of  the  matters  that  were  the  subjects 
of  conversation  merely ;  but  because  the  assertion 
of  Mr.  Neal  be  not  found  in  the  Relation  of  the 
Treaty  of  Uxbridge,  and  he  subjoins  no  authority  for 
it,  Dr.  Grey  adds,  "  he  will  not,  1  hope,  take  it  amiss 
if  we  do  not  implicitly  take  his  word."    The  reader 
will  judge  of  the  candour  and  liberahty  of  this  insin- 
uation when  he  is  mformed  that  Mr.  Neal  spoke  on 
the  best  authority,  that  of  Mr.  Whitelocke  himself. 
Memorials,  p.  124 ;  who  farther  tells  us  that  a  mo- 
tion was  made  to  appoint  a  day  to  hear  him  and  Sir 
Edward  Hyde  (who  advanced  the  doctrine  of  the 
king's  absolute  power  over  the  militia)  debate  the 
point ;  but  by  the  interference  of  the  Earl  of  South- 
ampton, and  some  other  gentlemen,  the  debate  was 
declined.    But  the  commissioners  of  both  kingdoms, 
on  their  return  to  their  quarters,  gave  Whitelocke 
thanks,  and  said  "  the  honour  of  Parharnent  was 
concerned  therein,  and  vindicated  by  him." — Ed. 

t  Dr.  Grey  observes,  with  a  sneer,  that  among 
these  petitions  were  some  remarkable  ones  ;  name- 
ly, one  from  the  porters,  fifteen  thousand  in  number; 
another  in  the  name  of  many  thousands  of  the  poor 
people ;  and  a  third  from  the  tradesmen's  wives  in 
and  about  the  city  of  London,  delivered  by  Mrs.  Anne 
Stagge,  a  brewer's  wife.  "  These  petitions,"  says 
the  doctor,  "  would  have  been  worthy  a  place  in  Mr. 
Neal's  curious  collection."  The  contempt  which 
Dr.  Grey  casts  on  these  petitions,  will  not  appear 
generous  or  just  to  one  who  reflects  on  the  object  of 
these  petitions,  which  were  highly  interesting  ;  who 
I  estimates  things  not  by  the  fluctuation  and  factitious 
I  claims  of  rank  and  wealth,  but  by  the  standard  oJ 


410 


HISTORY   OF  THE  PURITANS. 


beseeching  them  to  provide  for  the  safety  of  the 
nation,  by  disarming  papists,  by  taking  care  of 
the  Protestants  in  Ireland,  by  bringing  evil 
counsellors  to  punishment,  by  putting  the  king- 
dom into  a  posture  of  defence,  and  by, commit- 
ting the  forts  and  castles  of  the  kingdom  to  such 
persons  as  both  houses  could  confide  in ;  but 
their  hands  were  tied,  because  the  king,  who 
has  the  sole  execution  of  the  laws,  would  act 
no  longer  in  concert  with  his  Parliament.  The 
Commons,  encouraged  by  the  spirit  of  the  peo- 
ple, petitioned  a  second  time  for  the  militia,  and 
framed  an  ordinance  with  a  list  of  the  names 
of  sueh  persons  in  whom  they  could  confide. 
His  majesty,  in  order  to  amuse  the  House  and 
gain  time,  told  them  "  that  he  could  not  divest 
himself  of  that  just  power  that  God  and  the 
laws  of  the  kingdom  had  placed  in  him  for  the 
V  defence  of  his  people,  for  any  indefinite  time." 
After  this  they  presented  a  third  petition  to 
the  king,  at  Theobald's  [March  1],  in  which 
they  protest,  "  that  if  his  majesty  persists  in 
that  denial,  the  dangers  and  distempers  of  the 
kingdom  were  such  as  would  endure  no  longer 
delay  ;  and,  therefore,  if  his  majesty  will  not 
satisfy  their  desires,  they  shall  be  enlbrced,  for 
the  safety  of  the  kingdom,  to  dispose  of  the 
militia  by  authority  of  both  houses  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  they  resolve  to  do  it  accordingly  ;"* 
beseeching  his  majesty,  at  the  same  time,  to 
reside  near  his  Parliament.  The  king  was  so 
inflamed  with  this  protestation,  that  he  told 
them  "he  was  amazed  at  their  message,  but 
should  not  alter  his  resolution  in  any  point. "t 
And  .instead  of  residing  near  his  Parliament, 
he  removed  to  Newmarket,  and,  by  degrees,  to 
York.  Upon  this  the  Commons  voted,  March 
■  4,  "  that  the  kingdom  be  forthwith  put  into  a 
posture  of  defence  by  authority  of  both  houses, 
in  such  a  way  as  is  already  agreed  upon  by  both 
houses  of  Parliament  ;"t  and  next  day  they 
published  an  ordinance  for  that  purpose.  March 
9,  both  houses  presented  a  declaration  to  the 
king  at  Newmarket,  "  expressing  the  causes  of 
their  fears  and  jealousies,  and  their  earnest  de- 
sires that  his  majesty  would  put  from  him  those 
wicked  and  mischievous  counsellors  that  have 
caused  these  differences  between  him  and  his 
Parliament ;  that  he  would  come  to  Whitehall, 
and  continue  his  own  and  the  prince's  resi- 
dence near  his  Parliament,  which  he  may  do 
with  more  honour  and  safety  than  in  any  other 
place.  We  beseech  your  majesty,"  say  they, 
"to  consider  in  what  state  you  are,  and  how 

reason  and  rectitude  ;  and  who  respects  the  rights  of 
property,  howr  small  soever  that  property  be,  of  secu- 
rity, and  of  conscience,  which  attach  themselves  to 
every  class  and  order  of  men.  With  respect  to  the 
petition  of  the  virtuous  matrons,  and  the  respect  vvith. 
which  it  was  treated  by  Parliament,  who  commission- 
ed Mr.  Pym  to  return  an  answer  in  person,  both  are 
sanctioned  by  the  Roman  History :  the  Legislature  of 
that  great  empire,  when  towering  to  its  utmost  splen- 
dour, received  and  encouraged  the  petitions  of  wom- 
en.—JfacauZay's  History  of  England,  vol.  iii.,  p.  187, 
18!!,  the  note.  The  female  petitioners,  in  the  in- 
stance before  us,  by  their  public  spirit,  and  the  share 
they  took  in  the  common  calamities  produced  by 
oppression,  did  honour  to  themselves  and  their  sex  ; 
and  the  conduct  of  the  House  towards  them  was  not 
less  politic  than  complaisant. — Ed. 

*•  Rush  worth,  part  hi.,  vol.  i.,  p.  523. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  521. 
•  i  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  419,  folio  edit. 


easy  the  way  is  to  happiness,  greatness,  and 
honour,  if  you  will  join  with  your  Parliament  ; 
this  is  all  we  expect,  and  for  this  we  will  retura 
to  you  our  lives  and  fortunes,  and  do  eveiy- 
thing  we  can  to  support  your  just  sovereignty 
and  power.  But  it  is  not  words  alone  that 
will  secure  us  ;  that  which  we  desire  is  some 
real  effect  in  granting  those  things  that  the 
present  necessities  of  the  kingdom  require." 
They  add,  farther,  "  that  his  majesty's  removal 
to  so  great  a  distance  not  only  obstructed  the 
proceedings  of  Parliament,  but  looked  like  an 
alienation  of  the  kingdom  from  himself  and 
family."*  His  majesty's  best  friends  advised 
him  to  take  this  opportunity  of  returning  to 
London,  "  and  it  must  be  solely  imputed  to  his 
majesty's  own  resolution,"  says  Lord  Claren- 
don, "that  he  took  not  that  course;"  but  in- 
stead of  this  he  broke  out  into  a  passion,  and 
told  them  he  had  his  fears  for  the  true  Protest- 
ant profession  and  the  laws  as  well  as  they : 
"What  would  you  havel"  says  his  majesty. 
"  Have  I  violated  your  laws,  or  denied  to  pass 
any  bill  for  the  ease  of  my  subjects  1  I  do  not 
ask  what  you  have  done  for  me.  God  so  deal 
with  me  and  mine,  as  my  intentions  are  upright 
for  maintaining  the  true  Protestant  profession 
and  the  laws  of  the  land."  Being  asked  by  the 
Earl  of  Pembroke  whether  he  would  not  grant 
the  militia  for  a  httle  time,  his  majesty  swore 
by  God,  "No,  not  for  an  hour."  When  he 
was  put  in  mind  of  his  frequent  violations  of 
the  laws,  his  majesty  replied,  "  that  he  had 
made  ample  reparation,  and  did  not  expect  to 
be  reproached  with  the  actions  of  his  minis- 
ters."t 

As  his  majesty  insisted  upon  the  militia,  he 
claimed  also  an  inalienable  right  to  all  the  forts 
and  garrisons  of  the  kingdom,  with  an  uncon- 
trollable power  to  dispose  of  the  arms  and  am- 
munition laid  up  in  them,  as  his  proper  goods. 
This  the  Parliament  disputed,  and  maintained 
that  they  were  his  majesty's  only  in  trust  for 
the  public,  and  that  in  discharge  of  this  trust 
the  Parliament  sitting  are  his  counsellors ;  for 
if  the  king  had  such  property  in  the  forts  and 
magazines  as  he  claimed,  he  might  then  sell  or 
transfer  them  into  the  enemy's  hand  as  abso- 
lutely as  a  private  person  may  his  lands  and 
goods  ;  which  is  a  strange  maxim,  and  contra- 
ry to  the  act  of  40  Edw.  III. 

Many  declarations  passed  between  the  king 
and  his  Parliament  on  this  argument,  while 
each  party  were  getting  possession  of  all  that 
they  could.  The  king  was  contriving  to  make 
sure  of  the  magazine  of  Hull,  but  the  Parliament 
were  beforehand  with  his  majesty,  and  not  only 
secured  that  important  fortress,  but  got  the 
command  of  the  fleet  [March  31],  which  sub- 
mitted to  the  Earl  of  Warwiok,  whom  the  Par- 
liament appointed  to  be  their  admiral. 

The  ordinance  of  March  5,  for  disposing  of 
the  militia  by  both  houses  of  Parliament  with- 
out the  king,  in  case  of  extreme  danger  to  the 
nation,  of  which  danger  the  two  houses  were 
the  proper  judges,  with  the  subsequent  resolu- 
tion of  March  16,  were  the  grand  crises  which 
divided  the  House  into  two  parties.  Mr.  Hyde, 
afterward  Lord  Clarendon,  Mr.  Bridgeman,  Mr. 
Palmer,  and  other  eminent  lawyers  and  gentle- 

*  Rushworth,  part  hi.,  vol.  i.,  p.  528. 
+  Ibid.,  p.  5.-53. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


411 


men,  having  given  their  opinion  against  the  or- 
dinance, quitted  their  seats,  and  retired  to  the 
king.  On  the  other  hand.  Sergeant  Maynard, 
"Whitelocke,  Glyn,  Selden,  the  Lord-keeper  Lit- 
tleton, Mr.  Lee,  St.  John,  Grimston,  and  divers 
others  of  no  less  judgment  in  law,  and  of  a  su- 
perior interest  in  their  country,  accepted  of 
commissions  in  the  militia,  and  continued  in 
the  service  of  the  Parliament.  Many  retired  to 
their  country-seats,  and  were  for  standing  neu- 
ter in  this  nice  conjuncture  ;  but  those  that  re- 
mained in  the  House  were  about  three  hundred, 
besides  fifty  that  were  employed  in  the  country, 
and  about  fifty  more  absent  with  leave ;  the 
rest  went  over  to  the  king,  and  were  some  time 
after  expelled  the  House.  But  from  this  time 
the  sitting  members  were  more  resolute,  and 
met  with  less  opposition. 

March  15,  his  majesty  acquainted  the  houses 
from  Huntingdon,  with  his  design  to  reside  for 
some  time  at  York  ;  and  adds,  that  he  expected 
"  they  should  pay  a  due  regard  to  his  preroga- 
tive, and  to  the  laws  established  ;  and  that  none 
of  his  subjects  should  presume,  under  colour  of 
any  order  or  ordinance  of  Parliament  to  which 
his  majesty  is  not  a  party,  to  do  or  execute  what 
is  not  warrantable  by  the  laws."  His  majesty's 
intention,  by  this  message,  was  to  put  a  stop 
to  all  farther  proceedings  of  the  Parliament,  for 
their  own  and  the  nation's  security,  till  they  had 
digested  all  their  grievances  into  a  body.  Upon 
receiving  this  declaration  both  Houses  came  to 
these  resolutions,  among  others  : 

March  16,  Resolved,  "That  those  who  ad- 
vise his  majesty  to  absent  himself  from  the  Par- 
liament are  enemies  to  the  peace  of  the  king- 
dom, and  justly  suspected  to  be  favourers  of  the 
rebellion  in  Ireland."* 

Resolved,  "  That  the  ordinance  of  Parliament 
for  the  militia  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  oath 
of  allegiance  ;  but  that  the  several  commissions 
granted  by  his  majesty  under  the  great  seal  to 
the  lieutenants  of  the  several  counties,  are  ille- 
gal and  void."t 

Resolved,  "  That  in  cases  of  extreme  danger, 
and  of  his  majesty's  refusal  to  act  in  concert 
with  his  Parliament,  the  people  ought,  by  the 
fundamental  laws  of  the  kingdom,  to  obey  the 
ordinances  of  both  houses  concerning  the  mili- 
tia ;  and  that  such  persons  as  shall  be  appoint- 
ed deputy-lieutenants,  and  are  approved  by  both 
houses,  ought  to  take  upon  them  to  execute 
their  offices." 

It  was  resolved  farther,  "That  the  two  hous- 
es of  Parliament,  being  the  representative  body 
of  the  whole  nation,  and  two  parts  in  three  of 
the  Legislature,  were  the  proper  judges  of  the 
state  and  condition  of  it." 

Resolved,  "  That  when  both  houses  agreed 
that  the  nation  was  in  extreme  danger,  as  they 
now  did,  the  king  was  obliged,  by  the  laws  of 
the  land,  to  agree  to  those  remedies  which  they 
who  are  his  great  council  should  advise  him  to. 
This  seems  evident  from  the  statute  of  25  Edw. 
III.,  entitled,  the  Statute  of  Provisors  of  Bene- 
fices, which  says,  '  that  the  right  of  the  crown 
of  England,  and  the  laws  of  the  realm,  are  such 
that,  upon  the  mischiefs  and  damages  that  hap- 
pen to  this  realm,  our  sovereign  lord  the  king 
ought,  and  is  bound  by  his  oath,  with  the  accord 

*  Rushworth,  p.5.34. 

t  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,p.  422,  foUo  edit. 


of  his  people  in  Parliament,  to  ordain  remedy 
for  removing  thereof.'"* 

Resolved,  "  That  if  in  such  a  time  of  danger 
his  majesty  deserts  his  Parliament,  or  refuses 
to  concur  with  them  in  ordaining  such  remedies 
as  are  absolutely  necessary  for  the  common 
safety,  then  the  two  houses  ought  to  look  upon 
themselves  as  the  guardians  of  the  people,  and 
provide  for  their  defence. 

Resolved  "  That  when  the  Lords  and  Com- 
mons, which  is  the  supreme  court  of  judicature 
in  the  kingdom,  shall  declare  what  the  law  of 
the  land  is,  to  have  this  not  only  questioned, 
but  contradicted,  and  a  command  that  it  should 
not  be  obeyed,  is  a  high  breach  of  privilege  of 
Parliament." 

His  majesty,  on  the  other  hand,  averred,  "  that 
the  kingdom  was  in  no  danger,  but  from  the  ar- 
bitrary proceedings  of  the  Parliament,  who  were 
invading  the  royal  prerogative,  and  subverting 
the  Constitution  in  Church  and  State. 

"  That  if  the  kingdom  was  really  in  danger, 
he  was  the  guardian  and  protecter  of  his  people, 
and  was  answerable  to  God  only  for  his  con- 
duct ;  but  that  Parliaments  were  temporary,  and 
dissolvable  at  his  pleasure ;  that  he  should,"there- 
fore,  consider  them  as  his  counsellors  and  ad- 
visers, but  not  his  commanders  or  dictators." 

His  majesty  admitted  "that  in  some  doubt- 
ful cases  the  Parliament  were  judges  of  the  law, 
but  he  did  not  think  himself  bound  to  renounce 
his  own  judgment  and  understanding,  by  passing 
laws  that  might  separate  from  his  crown  that 
which  was  in  a  manner  essential  to  it,  viz.,  a 
power  to  protect  his  subjects." 

To  which  the  Commons  replied,  "that  the 
king  alone  could  not  be  judge  in  this  case,  for 
the  king  judges  not  matters  of  law  but  by  his 
courts  ;  nor  can  the  courts  of  law  be  judges  of 
the  state  of  the  kingdom  against  the  Parliament, 
because  they  are  inferior  ;  but  as  the  law  is  de- 
termined by  the  judges,  who  are  the  king's  coun- 
cil, so  the  state  of  the  nation  is  to  be  determined 
by  the  two  houses  of  Parliament,  who  are  the 
proper  judges  of  the  Constitution.  If,  therefore, 
the  Lords  and  Commons  in  Parliament  assem- 
bled declare  this  or  the  other  matter  to  be  ac- 
cording to  law,  or  according  to  the  Constitution 
of  the  kingdom,  it  is  not  lawful  for  any  single 
person,  or  inferior  court,  to  contradict  it."t 

But  instead  of  tiring  the  reader  with  a  long 
paper  war  in  support  of  these  propositions,  I 
will  make  one  general  remark,  which  may 
serve  as  a  key  to  the  whole  controversy.  If 
we  suppose  the  kingdom  to  be  in  its  natural 
state,  after  the  king  had  withdrawn  from  his 
Parliament,  and  would  act  no  longer  in  concert 
with  them  ;  if  the  Constitution  was  then  en- 
tire, and  the  most  considerable  grievances  re- 
dressed ;  if  the  laws  in  being  were  a  sufficient 
security  against  the  return  of  popery  and  ar- 
bitrary power,  and  there  was  good  reason  to 
believe  those  laws  would  have  free  course, 
then  the  king's  arguments  are  strong  and  con- 
clusive ;  for  in  all  ordinary  cases,  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice,  and  the  due  execution  of  the 
laws,  is  vested  in  the  crown  ;  nor  may  the  Lords 
and  Commons  in  Parliament  make  new  laws, 
or  suspend  and  alter  old  ones,  without  his  maj- 
esty's consent.     But,  on  the  other  hand,  if,  in 

*  Rushworth,  p.  669. 

t  Rushworth,  part  iii.,  vol.  i.,  p.  698.   Rapin,p.  i7T. 


412 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


the  opinion*  of  the  Lords  and  Commons  in 
Parliament  assembled,  who  are  the  representa- 
tives of  the  whole  nation,  the  Constitution  is 
brolven,  by  the  king's  deserting  his  two  houses, 
and  resolving  to  act  no  longer  in  concert  with 
them,  or  by  any  other  overt  acts  of  his  majes- 
ty's council  inconsistent  with  the  Constitution  ; 
or  if  both  houses  shall  declare!  the  religion  and 
liberties  of  the  nation  to  be  m  imminent  danger, 
either  from  foreign  or  domestic  enemies,  and 
the  king  will  not  concur  with  his  Parliament  to 
apply  such  remedies  as  the  wisdom  of  his  two 
houses  shall  think  necessary  ;  then,  certainly, 
after  proper  petitions  and  remonstrances,  they 
may,  from  the  necessity  of  the  case,  provide 
for  the  public  safety,  as  much  as  in  the  case  of 
nonage  or  captivity  of  the  prince.  In  order, 
therefore,  to  decide  in  the  present  controversy, 
we  must  make  an  estimate  of  the  true  condi- 
tion of  the  nation  ;  whether  it  was  in  its  natu- 
ral state  ;  or  whether  the  Constitution,  being 
divided  and  broken  by  the  king's  deserting  his 
Parliament,  the  legal  form  of  government  was 
not  dissolved  1  In  the  former  case,  I  appre- 
hend the  king  was  in  the  right ;  in  the  latter, 
the  Parliament. 

This  unhappy  controversy  was  managed 
with  great  warmth  and  mutual  reproaches, 
though  with  this  decency,  that  the  king  did  not 
charge  his  Parliament  with  criminal  designs, 
but  only  a  malignant  party  in  both  houses  ;  nor 
did  the  Parliament  reproach  the  person  of  the 
king,  but  laid  all  their  grievances  upon  his  evil 
counsellors ;  however,  it  is  easy  to  observe 
that  it  was  impossible  the  parties  should  agree, 
because  they  reasoned  upon  a  different  princi- 
ple ;  the  king  supposing  the  nation  was  in  a 
sound  state,  and  that,  therefore,  the  laws  ought 
to  take  their  natural  course  ;  the  Parliament 
apprehending  the  Constitution  broken,  and  that, 
therefore,  it  was  their  duty  to  provide  for  the 
public  safety,  even  without  the  king's  concur- 
rence. But  we  shall  have  more  light  into  this 
controversy  hereafter. 

To  return  to  the  history.  Though  the  Scots 
were  made  easy  at  home,  being  in  full  posses- 
sion of  their  civil  and  religious  rights,  yet  they 
could  not  remain  unconcerned  spectators  of  the 
ruin  of  the  Enghsh  Parliament,  partly  out  of 
gratitude  for  the  favours  they  had  received,  and 
partly  from  an  apprehension  that  the  security 
of  their  own  settlement,  as  well  as  the  introdu- 
cing their  kirk  discipline  into  England,  depend- 
ed upon  it.  While  the  king  was  at  Windsor, 
the  Scots  commissioners  at  London  offered 
their  mediation  between  his  majesty  and  his 
two  houses  :  in  their  petition,  they  tell  his  maj- 
esty "  that  the  hberties  of  England  and  Scot- 
land must  stand  and  fall  togetiier  ;"  and  after 
some  expressions  of  grief  for  the  distractions 
of  England,  which  they  conceive  to  arise  from 

*  It  should  rather  be— if,  according  to  the  opinion 
—  of  the  Lords  and  Commons,  &c. — Ed. 

t  Rather — if,  as  both  houses  shall  declare,  the  re- 
ligion and  liberties  of  the  nation  be  in  imminent 
danger,  &c.  The  controversy  turns  not  on  the 
opinion  and  declaration  of  the  two  houses,  but  on 
the  truth  of  the  facts  stated.  And  these  amendments 
preserve  the  contrast  between  the  opposite  parts  of 
Mr.  Neal's  proposition,  which  he  is  veiy  politely 
represented  by  Bishop  Warburton  as  not  knowing 
how  to  state. — En. 


the  plots  of  the  papists  and  prelates,  whose  aim 
has  been  not  only  to  prevent  any  farther  reform- 
ation, but  to  subvert  the  purity  and  truth  of  re- 
ligion ;  they  offer  their  service  to  compose  the 
differences,  and  beseech  his  majesty  "  to  have 
recourse  to  the  faithful  advice  of  both  houses  of 
Parliament,  which  will  not  only  quiet  the  minds 
of  his  English  subjects,  but  remove  the  jealou- 
sies and  fears  that  may  possess  tlie  hearts  of  his 
subjects  in  his  other  kingdoms."  In  their  pa- 
per of  the  same  date,  to  both  houses  of  Parlia- 
ment, January  15,  "  they  return  thanks  to  the 
Parliament  of  England  for  the  assistance  given 
to  the  kingdom  of  Scotland  in  settling  their  late 
troubles  ;  and,  next  to  the  providence  of  God 
and  his  majesty's  goodness,  they  acknowledge 
their  obligations  to  the  mediation  and  brotherly 
kindness  of  the  English  Parliament ;  and  now, 
by  way  of  return,  and  to  discharge  the  trust  re- 
posed in  them,  they  offer  their  mediation  be- 
tween them  and  the  king,  beseeching  the  hous- 
es to  consider  of  the  fairest  and  most  likely 
methods  to  compose  the  differences  in  Church 
and  State."  Bishop  Burnet  says  their  design 
was  to  get  episcopacy  brought  down  and  pres- 
bytery set  up,  to  the  first  of  which  most  of  the 
members  were  willing  to  consent,  but  few  were 
cordial  for  the  latter. 

The  king  was  highly  displeased  with  the 
Scots  mediation,  and  sent  them  word  that  the 
case  of  England  and  Scotland  was  different ;  in 
Scotland,  says  his  majesty,  episcopacy  was 
never  settled  by  law,  and  is  found  to  be  contra- 
ry to  the  genius  of  the  people  ;  but  in  England, 
it  is  rooted  in  the  very  Constitution,  and  has 
flourished  without  interruption  for  eighty  years ; 
he  therefore  commands  them  not  to  transact 
between  him  and  his  Parliament,  without  first 
communicating  their  propositions  to  him  in 
private.  At  the  same  time,  his  majesty  sent  let- 
ters into  Scotland,  and  ordered  the  chancellor 
to  use  his  utmost  efforts  to  keep  that  kingdom 
to  a  neutrality.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Parlia- 
ment threw  themselves  into  the  arms  of  the 
Scots  ;  they  thanked  the  commissioners  for 
their  kind  and  seasonable  interposition,  and 
prayed  them  to  continue  their  endeavours  to 
remove  the  present  distractions,  and  to  pre- 
serve the  union  between  the  two  kingdoms. 
They  wrote  likewise  into  Scotland  to  the  same 
purpose,  the  effects  of  which  will  appear  at 
the  next  meeting  of  Parliament. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  Lords  and  Commons, 
in  order  to  encourage  the  expectations  of  their 
friends  in  both  kingdoms,  published  the  follow- 
ing declaration  of  their  intentions  : 

"  Die  Sabbati,  April  9,  1642. 

"  The  Lords  and  Comtnons  declare,  that  they 
intend  a  due  and  necessary  reformation  of  the 
government  and  discipline  of  the  Church,  and 
to  take  away  nothing  in  the  one  but  what  will 
be  evil  and  justly  offensive,  or  at  least  unneces- 
sary and  burdensome  ;  and  for  the  better  effect- 
ing thereof,  speedily  to  have  consultation  with 
godly  and  learned  divines  ;  and  because  this 
will  never  of  itself  attain  the  ends  sought  there- 
in, they  will  use  their  utmost  endeavours  to  es- 
tablish learned  and  preaching  ministers,  with  a 
good  and  sufficient  maintenance,  throughout 
the  whole  kingdom,  wherein  many  dark  corners 
are  miserably  destitute  of  the  means  of  salva- 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


413 


tion,  and  many  poor  ministers  want  necessary 
provision." 

Tills  declaration  was  ordered  to  be  published 
by  the  sheriffs  of  the  several  counties,  for  the 
satisfaction  of  the  people. 

The  distance  between  London  and  York  in- 
creased the  misunderstanding  between  the  king 
and  his  Parliament ;  numbers  of  persons  trav- 
elling between  the  two  places  with  secret  in- 
telligence, the  Parliament  appointed  the  follow- 
ing oath  to  be  taken  by  all  who  came  from  the 
king's  quarters  : 

"  I,  A.  B.,  do  swear  from  my  heart,  that  I 
■will  not,  directly  or  indirectly,  adhere  unto  or 
"Willingly  assist  the  king  in  this  war,  or  in  this 
cause  against  the  Parliament,  nor  any  forces 
raised  without  consent  of  the  two  houses  of 
Parliament,  in  this  cause  or  war.  And  I  do 
likewise  swear,  that  my  coming,  and  submit- 
ting myself  under  the  power  and  protection  of 
Parliament,  is  without  any  manner  or  design 
whatsoever  to  the  prejudice  of  the  proceedings 
of  this  present  Parliament,  and  without  direc- 
tion, privity,  or  advice  of  the  king,  or  any  of  his 
council  or  officers,  other  than  I  have  made 
known.  So  help  me  God  and  the  contents  of 
this  book." 

This  was  called  the  negative  oath,  and  was 
voted  April  5,  1642. 

As  soon  as  the  correspondence  was  thus  in- 
terrupted, numbers  of  libellous  newspapers, 
mercuries,  and  weekly  intelligencers,  began  to 
appear  full  of  scandal  and  reproach,  whereby 
the  conduct  of  great  and  wise  men  was  asper- 
sed, innumerable  false  reports  spread  through 
the  nation,  and  the  spirits  of  the  people  sharp- 
ened for  war.  On  the  side  of  the  king  was 
Mercurius  Aulicus,  and  on  the  side  of  the  Par- 
liament Mercurius  Britannicus.  When  the  king 
fixed  his  court  at  Oxford,  the  learned  garrison 
drew  their  pens  for  the  king,  as  the  politicians 
of  London  did  for  the  Parliament ;  and  while 
the  armies  were  in  the  field,  these  gentlemen 
employed  themselves  in  celebrating  their  won- 
derful exploits  to  the  people  ;  so  that,  beside 
the  above-mentioned  weekly  papers,  there  ap- 
peared Mercurius  Rusticus,  Pragmaticus,  Pub- 
licus,  diurnals  and  intelligencers  without  num- 
ber. The  pulpits,  also,  were  employed  in  the 
same  work ;  the  preachers  dealt  too  much  in 
politics,  and  made  free  with  the  characters  and 
actions  of  their  superiors  :  there  were  incendi- 
aries on  both  sides :  the  king's  preachers  en- 
hanced his  majesty's  character,  and  treated  the 
Parliament  as  rebels  and  traitors  ;*  and  the 
Parliament  ministers  were  no  less  culpable,  for 
though  they  avoided  speaking  disrespectfully  of 
the  person  of  the  king,  they  declaimed  against 
the  hierarchy,  against  evil  and  popish  counsel- 
lors, and  glanced  at  the  queen  herself,  as  pre- 
venting the  harmony  between  his  majesty  and 
the  Parliament,  and  pushing  him  upon  measures 
that  were  destructive  to  the  Protestant  religion 
and  the  Constitution  of  their  country  ;  which, 
how  true  soever  in  itself,  was  a  subject  very 
unfit  for  the  pulpit. 

The  great  resort  of  the  nobility  and  gentry  to 
the  court  at  York  gave  his  majesty  new  life, 
and  encouraged  him  to  treat  his  Parliament  with 
very  sovereign  language  ;  he  sent  them  word, 
that   "he  would   have  nothing  extorted  from 


*  Rushworth,  part  iii.,  vol.  i.,  p.  760. 


him  ;  nor  would  he  grant  them  anything  farther 
than  the  law  had  put  into  his  hands."*  At  the 
same  time,  his  majesty  attempted  to  seize  upon 
the  magazine  at  Hull,  pursuant  to  the  scheme 
formed  at  Windsor  in  January  last ;  and  ac- 
cordingly appeared  before  the  town  \vith  three 
hundred  horse,  April  23d,  but  was  denied  en- 
trance wiih  more  than  twelve  attendants  ; 
whereupon,  after  an  hour's  time  allowed  for  de- 
liberation, his  majesty  caused  Sir  John  Hotham 
the  governor  to  be  proclaimed  a  traitor,  by  two 
heralds  at  arms,  and  then  retired  to  York,  full 
of  resentment  for  the  affront  he  had  received, 
which  he  did  not  fail  to  communicate  to  the 
Parliament,  demanding  justice  against  Sir  John 
Hotham  according  to  law;  however,  the  Par- 
liament stood  by  their  governor,  and  ordered 
the  arms  and  ammunition  in  Hull  to  be  remo- 
ved to  the  Tower  of  London,  except  what  was 
necessary  for  the  defence  of  the  place. 

Upon  his  majesty's  return  to  York,  he  com- 
manded the  committee  of  Parliament,  which 
were  spies  upon  his  actions,  to  retire  to  Lon- 
don, but  they  excused  themselves,  as  being  or- 
dered to  continue  by  those  who  employed  them. 
His  majesty  also  summoned  the  nobility  and 
gentry  of  the  northern  counties  to  meet  him  at 
York  [May  12],  when  he  acquainted  them  with 
his  reasons  for  refusing  the  Militia  Bill,  and 
with  the  treasonable  behaviour  of  Sir  John  Hot- 
ham in  keeping  him  out  of  Hull,  and  depriving 
him  of  his  magazine,  being  his  own  proper 
goods.  "  Since  treason  is  countenanced  so 
near  me,"  says  his  majesty,  "  it  is  time  to  look 
to  my  safety  ;  none  can  blame  me  to  apprehend 
danger.  I  am  therefore  resolved  to  have  a 
guard — ."  The  gentry  were  divided  in  their 
sentiments  about  the  king's  conduct,  and  gave 
answers  as  they  were  differently  affected, 
though  all  were  willing  to  serve  his  majesty 
according  to  law.  After  several  other  assem- 
blies of  the  nobility,  gentry,  freeholders,  and 
ministers  of  York  had  been  held  by  his  majes- 
ty's command,  in  all  which  he  declared  that 
"  he  was  resolved  to  defend  the  true  Protestant 
religion  established  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Eliz- 
abeth, to  govern  by  law  for  the  future,  and 
that  he  had  no  intention  to  make  war  with  his 
Parliament,  except  it  were  in  way  of  defence,"! 
a  regiment  of  horse  was  raised  for  the  security 
of  his  majesty's  person,  and  the  command  given 
to  the  Prince  of  Wales.  This  was  the  first  levy 
of  troops  in  the  civil  war,  his  majesty  having 
as  yet  only  a  regiment  of  the  militia  of  six  hun- 
dred men,  besides  the  reformadoes  that  attend- 
ed the  court. 

About  the  same  time  [May  17]  the  king  or- 
dered the  courts  of  justice  to  remove  from 
Westminster  to  York,  and  sent  for  Sergeant- 
major  Skippon,  an  old  experienced  officer,  to 
attend  him  in  person,  which  the  Parliament 
prevented  ;  but  were  not  so  successful  in  rela- 
tion to  the  great  seal,  which  the  keeper  sent 
privately  to  the  king  by  the  messenger  that 
came  for  it  [May  22],  and  next  day  followed 
himself  This  was  a  sensible  disappointment 
to  the  Parliament,  especially  as  it  was  attended 
with  the  loss  of  nine  other  peers,  who  deserted 
their  stations  in   the  House  about  the  same 

*  Rapin,  p.  354. 

t  Rushworth,  part  iii.,  vol.  i.,  p.  615,  624.  Rapin, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  434,  435,  fol.  ed. 


414 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


time,  and  went  over  to  the  king,  as  did  consid- 
erable numbers  of  the  Commons,  his  majesty 
having  now  given  orders  to  all  his  friends  to 
leave  the  House  and  repair  to  him,  which,  in- 
stead of  breaking  up  the  Parliament,  as  intend- 
ed, strengrtiened  the  hands  of  the  country  party, 
and  gave  thefti  an  opportunity,  after  some  time, 
of  expelling  the  deserters. 

Things  being  come  to  this  crisis,  the  Parlia- 
ment voted.  May  20,  "  that  it  was  now  appa- 
■rent  that  the  king,  seduced  by  wicked  counsel, 
intended  to  make  war  upon  the  Parliament. 
That  whensoever  the  king  maketh  such  war  it 
is  a  breach  of  trust,  contrary  to  his  coronation 
oath,  and  tending  to  the  dissolution  of  the  gov- 
ernment. That  whosoever  shall  serve  or  as- 
sist his  majesty  in  such  war  are  traitors,  and 
have  been  so  adjudged  by  two  acts  of  Parlia- 
ment, 11  Rich.  II.,  and  1  Henry  IV.  May  28 
they  ordered  ail  sheriffs  and  justices  of  peace, 
&c.,  to  make  stay  of  all  arms  and  ammunition 
carrying  to  York,  and  to  disperse  all  forces 
coming  together  by  the  king's  commission." 

To  justify  their  respective  proceedings,  both 
parties  published  their  reasons  to  the  world ;  a 
summary  of  which  being  contained  in  the  Par- 
liament's memorial  of  May  19,  and  the  king's 
answer,  I  shall  give  the  reader  an  abstract  of 
them. 

The  Parliament,  in  their  memorial,  avow,  in 
the  presence  of  the  all-seeing  Deity,  •'  that  the 
sincerity  of  their  endeavours  has  been  directed 
only  by  the  king's  honour  and  the  public  peace, 
free  from  all  private  aims,  personal  respects, 
and  passions  whatsoever.  They  complain  of 
his  majesty's  being  drawn  into  the  north,  far 
from  his  Parliament,  which  has  given  occasion 
to  many  false  rumours  and  scandalous  reports, 
to  the  interrupting  the  good  understanding  be- 
tween the  king  and  his  Parliament.  They  take 
notice  of  those  evil  counsellors  which  have  pre- 
vailed with  his  majesty  to  make  infractions 
upon  his  royal  word,  as  that,  '  On  the  word  of 
a  king,  and  as  I  am  a  gentleman,  I  will  redress 
the  grievances  of  my  people.  I  am  resolved  to 
put  myself  on  the  love  and  affection  of  my  Eng- 
lish subjects.  We  do  engage  solemnly,  on  the 
word  of  a  king,  that  the  security  of  all  and  eve- 
ry one  of  you  from  violence  is  and  shall  be  as 
much  my  care  as  the  preservation  of  us  and  our 
chddren.'  Since  which  time  the  studies  and 
chambers  of  some  of  the  members  had  been 
broken  open,  and  six  of  them  attempted  to  be 
seized  in  the  Parliament  House,  the  blame  of 
which  they  are  willing  to  impute  to  his  evil 
counsellors.  And  though  the  king  disavows 
such  counsellors,  we  hold  it  our  duty,"  say 
they,  "  humbly  to  avow  there  are  such,  else  we 
must  say,  that  all  the  ill  things  done  in  his  maj- 
esty's name  have  been  done  by  himself,  where- 
in we  should  neither  follow  the  direction  of  the 
law,  which  says  the  king  can  do  no  wrong  ;  nor 
the  affections  of  our  own  hearts,  which  is  to 
clear  his  majesty  as  much  as  may  be  of  all  mis- 
government,  and  to  lay  the  fault  upon  his  min- 
isters.* If  any  ill  be  done  in  matters  of  state, 
the  council  are  to  answer  for  it ;  and  if  any  mat- 
ters of  the  law,  judges.  They  acknowledge  the 
many  excellent  acts  that  his  majesty  had  lately 
passed  for  the  advantage  of  his  subjects,"  but 
then  add,  "  that  in  none  of  them  have  they  be- 


Rushworth,  part  iii.,  vol.  i.,  p.  693. 


reaved  his  majesty  of  any  just,  necessary,  or 
profitable  prerogative  of  the  crown.  They  de- 
clare their  disallowance  of  all  seditious  libels, 
but  complain  of  many  mutinous  petitions  that 
have  been  presented  to  the  king  to  divide  him 
from  his  Parliament ;  and  whereas  the  king  had 
insinuated  that  the  Church  was  to  be  destroyed 
to  make  way  for  presbytery,  they  aver  that  they 
desire  no  more  than  to  encourage  piety  and 
learning,  and  to  place  learned  and  pious  preach- 
ers in  all  parishes,  with  a  sufficient  mainte- 
nance. Upon  the  whole,  they  aver  the  king- 
dom to  be  in  imminent  danger  from  enemies 
abroad,  and  a  popish  and  discontented  party  at 
home,  and  that  in  such  a  case  the  kingdom 
must  not  be  without  means  to  preserve  itself. 
They  aver  that  the  ordinary  means  of  providing 
for  the  public  safety  is  in  the  king  and  Parlia- 
ment ;*  but  because  the  king,  being  only  a  sin- 
gle person,  may  be  liable  to  many  accidents, 
the  wisdom  of  the  state  in  such  cases  has  in- 
trusted the  two  houses  of  Parliament  to  supply 
what  shall  be  wanting  on  the  part  of  the  prince, 
as  in  cases  of  captivity,  nonage,  or  where  the 
royal  trust  is  not  discharged  ;  which  the  Lords 
and  Commons  having  declared  to  be  the  pres- 
ent case,  there  needs  no  farther  authority  to 
confirm  it,  nor  is  it  in  the  power  of  any  person 
at  court  to  revoke  that  judgment.  They  then 
mention  some  proofs  of  the  nation's  danger, 
and  conclude  by  praying  for  the  protection  of 
Almighty  God  upon  the  king,  and  beseech  his 
majesty  to  cast  from  him  his  evil  counsellors, 
assuring  him  and  the  whole  kingdom  that  they 
desire  nothing  more  than  to  preserve  the  purity 
and  power  of  religion,  to  honour  the  king  in  all 
his  just  prerogatives,  and  to  endeavour,  to  the 
utmost  of  their  power,  that  all  parishes  may 
have  learned  and  pious  preachers,  and  those 
preachers  competent  livings.  And  they  doubt 
not  to  overcome  all  difficulties,  if  the  people  do 
not  desert  them  to  their  own  undoing  ;  and 
even  in  this  cause  they  declare  they  will  not 
betray  their  trust,  but  look  beyond  their  own 
lives  and  estates,  as  thinking  nothing  worth 
enjoying  without  the  liberty,  peace,  and  safety 
of  the  kingdom,  nor  anything  too  much  to  be 
hazarded  for  the  obtaining  of  it."t 

His  majesty,  in  his  answer,  is  not  willing  to 
charge  his  Parliament  with  misbehaviour,  but 
only  a  malignant  party  in  both  houses.  He 
denies  the  several  plots  and  conspiracies  men- 
tioned in  their  declaration,  and  takes  notice  of 
their  misapplying  the  word  "  Parliament"  to  the 
vote  of  both  houses,  whereas  the  king  is  an  es- 
sential part  of  the  Parliament.  His  majesty 
confesses  that  his  going  to  the  House  of  Com- 
mons to  seize  the  five  members  was  an  error 
in  form,  but  maintains  the  matter  of  the  accu- 
sation to  be  just,  and  therefore  thinks  he  ought 
not  to  be  reproached  with  it.  He  neither  af- 
firms nor  denies  the  design  of  bringing  the  army 
to  London,  but  quibbles  with  the  words  "  de- 
sign" and  "resolution,"  as  Rapin  observes,  King 
Charles  I.  being  very  skilful  in  such  sort  of  am- 
biguities. His  majesty  made  no  reply  to  the 
Parliament's  reasoning  upon  the  head  of  the 
king's  neglecting  to  discharge  his  trust,  but 
seems  to  insinuate  that  the  Parliament  should 
in  no  case  meddle  with  the  government  without 


*  Rush  worth,  part  iii.,  vol.  i.,  p.  699. 

t  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  704.    Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  442,  folio. 


HISTORY  OF   THE    PURITANS. 


415. 


an  express  law.  He  denies  his  knowledge  of  any- 
evil  counsellors  about  him,  and  declares  that  he 
did  not  willingly  leave  his  Parliament,  but  was 
driven  away  by  the  tumults  at  Whitehall ;  and 
adds,  that,  by  the  help  of  God  and  the  laws  of 
the  land,  he  would  have  justice  for  those  tu- 
mults ;  nor  does  his  majesty  own  the  promoting 
or  retaining  in  his  service  any  who  are  disaffect- 
ed to  the  laws  of  the  kingdom  ;  but  he  will  not 
take  a  vote  of  Parliament  for  his  guide,  till  it  is 
evident  they  are  without  passion  or  affection. 
The  king  charges  them  home  with  the  greatest 
violation  of  the  laws  and  liberties  of  the  subject. 
"  What  is  become  of  the  law  that  man  was  born 
to  1"  says  he.  "And  where  is  Magna  Charta, 
if  the  vote  of  Parliament  may  make  a  lawT' 
His  majesty  concludes  with  a  severe  remark  on 
the  Parliament's  calling  the  petitions  presented 
to  him  "  mutinous."  "  Hath  a  multitude  of  mean, 
inconsiderable  people  about  the  city  of  London 
had  liberty  to  petition  against  the  government 
of  the  Church,  against  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  &c.,  and  been  thanked  for  it  1  And 
shall  it  be  called  mutiny  in  the  gravest  and  best 
citizens  in  London,  and  gentry  of  Kent,  to  frame 
petitions  to  be  governed  by  the  known  laws  of 
the  land,  and  not  by  votes  of  Parliament  1  Is 
not  this  evidently  the  work  of  a  faction  1  Let 
heaven  and  earth,  God  and  man,  judge  between 
us  and  these  men  !" 

The  reader  will  judge  of  the  weight  of  these 
declarations  according  to  a  former  remark.  The 
Parliament  supposes  the  "  nation  in  imminent 
danger,  and  the  royal  power  not  exerted  in  its 
defence  ;"  in  which  case,  they,  as  guardians  of 
the  people,  apprehend  themselves  empowered 
to  act  in  its  defence.  The  king  supposes  the 
nation  to  be  in  its  natural  state,  and  in  no  man- 
ner of  danger,  but  from  a  malignant  party  with- 
in the  two  houses,  and  that,  therefore,  the  laws, 
should  have  their  free  and  ordinary  course. 
Upon  these  contrary  suppositions  the  arguments 
on  both  sides  are  invincible  :  but  (as  has  been 
already  observed)  it  was  impossible  they  should 
produce  any  good  effect,  till  it  was  first  agreed 
whether  the  nation  was  in  danger,  or  whether 
the  royal  promise  might  be  relied  upon  with 
safety. 

On  the  2d  of  June  the  Parliament  presented 
the  king  with  the  sura  of  all  their  desires  for 
the  reformation  and  security  of  Church  and 
State,  in  nineteen  propositions,  according  to  his 
majesty's  command  in  January  last.  Those 
which  relate  to  the  state  are  built  upon  the  sup- 
position above  mentioned,  that  the  nation  was  in 
imminent  danger ;  and  that,  after  so  many  infrac- 
tions of  the  royal  word,  it  was  not  to  be  relied 
upon  for  the  execution  of  the  laws  but  in  con- 
junction with  the  Parliament.  They  therefore 
pray  "that  his  majesty's  privy  councillors,  com- 
manders of  forts  and  garrisons,  and  all  the  great 
officers  of  state,  may  be  approved  by  the  two 
houses  ;  that  the  judges  may  hold  their  places 
quavi  diu  se  bene  gesserint ;  that  the  militia  may 
be  in  the  hands  of  the  Parliament  for  the  pres- 
ent ;  that  all  public  business  may  be  determined 
by  a  majority  of  the  council ;  and  that  they  may 
take  an  oath  to  maintain  the  petition  of  right, 
and  such  other  laws  as  shall  be  enacted  this 
present  session.  They  pray  that  the  justice  of 
Parliament  may  pass  upon  delinquents  ;  that  the 
Lord  Kimbolton  and  the  five  members  may  be 


effectually  cleared  by  act  of  Parliament,  and- 
that  his  majesty  would  enter  into  alliances  with 
foreign  princes  for  the  support  of  the  Protestant 
religion,"  &c.  It  is  hard -to  express  his  majes- 
ty's resentment  against  all  these  propositions 
(except  the  last  two),  which  he  says  were  fit 
only  to  be  offered  to  a  vanquished  prisoner  ; 
that  he  were  unworthy  of  his  noble  descent  if 
he  should  part  with  such  flowers  of  the  crowa 
as  are  worth  all  the  rest  of  the  garland :  "  If 
these  things  are  granted,"  says  he,  "  we  may 
have  the  title  of  a  king,  and  be  waited  upon 
bareheaded  ;  we  may  have  our  hand  kissed,  and. 
have  swords  and  maces  carried  before  us,  but 
as  to  real  power,  we  should  remain  but  the  out- 
side, the  picture,  the  sign  of  a  king."  His  maj- 
esty, therefore,  rejected  them  in  the  gross,  with 
this  sovereign  reply  :  "  Nolumus  leges  Angliae 
mutari." 

The  propositions  relating  to  religion  are 
these  : 

Prop.  4.  "  That  he  or  they  to  whom  the  gov- 
ernment and  education  of  the  king's  children 
shall  be  committed  be  approved  by  both  houses 
of  Parliament,  and  in  the  intervals  of  Parlia- 
ment by  the  majority  of  the  privy  council ;  and 
that  such  servants  against  whom  the  houses 
have  any  just  exception  be  removed.* 

Prop.  5.  "That  the  marriages  of  the  king's 
children  be  with  consent  of  Parhament,  under 
penalty  of  a  praemunire  on  such  as  shall  con- 
clude them  otherwise,  and  not  to  be  pardoned 
but  by  Parliament. 

Prop.  6.  "  That  the  laws  in  force  against 
Jesuits,  priests,  and  popish  recusants  be  strict- 
ly put  in  execution,  without  any  toleration  or 
dispensation  to  the  contrary ;  and  that  some 
more  effectual  course  may  be  enacted  by  au- 
thority of  Parliament  to  disable  them  from  ma- 
king any  disturbance  in  the  state,  or  eluding  the 
laws  by  trusts  or  otherwise. 

Prop.  7.  "  That  the  votes  of  popish  lords  in. 
the  House  of  Peers  be  taken  away,  so  long  as 
they  continue  papists  ;  and  that  your  majesty 
will  consent  to  such  a  bill  as  shall  be  drawn 
for  the  education  of  the  children  of  papists  by 
Protestants  in  the  Protestant  religion. 

Prop.  8.  "  That  your  majesty  will  be  pleased 
to  consent  that  such  a  reformation  be  made  of 
the  church  government  and  liturgy  as  both 
houses  of  Parliament  shall  advise,  wherein 
they  intend  to  have  consultation  with  divines, 
as  is  expressed  in  their  declaration  for  that  pur- 
pose ;  and  that  your  majesty  will  contribute 
your  best  assistance  for  the  raising  of  a  suf- 
ficient maintenance  for  preaching  ministers 
through  the  kingdom  ;  and  that  your  majesty 
will  be  pleased  to  give  your  consent  to  the  laws 
for  the  taking  away  of  innovations  and  super- 
stitions, and  of  pluralities,  and  against  scanda- 
lous ministers." 

To  these  propositions  his  majesty  replied  as 
follows  : 

To  the  fourth  and  fifth,  concerning  the  edu- 
cation and  disposal  of  his  children,  "  that  he 
had  committed  them  to  the  care  of  persons  of 
quality,  integrity,  and  piety,  with  special  regard 
to  their  education  in  the  principles  of  the  true 
Protestant  religion,  but  that  he  would  never 
part  with  that  trust,  which  God,  nature,  and 

*  Rushworth,  part  iii.,  vol.  i.,  p.  79."^. 


416 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


the  laws  of  the  land  had  placed  in  him ;  nor 
would  he  suffer  any  to  share  with  him  in  his 
power  of  treaties  ;  but  he  assured  them  that 
he  would  not  entertain  any  treaty  of  marriage 
for  his  children  without  due  regard  to  the  Prot- 
estant religion  and  the  honour  of  his  family  ; 
and  that  he  would  take  such  care  of  the  Prince 
of  Wales,  and  his  other  children,  as  should 
justify  him  to  God  as  a  father,  and  to  his  do- 
minions as  a  king." 

To  the  sixth  proposition,  concerning  popish 
recusants,  his  majesty  admitted,  "  that  if  they 
could  find  any  more  effectual  course  to  disable 
them  from  disturbing  the  state,  or  eluding  the 
laws,  by  trust  or  otherwise,  he  ought  to  give 
his  consent  to  it." 

To  the  seventh,  concerning  the  votes  of  po- 
pish lords,  his  majesty  replied,  "  that  he  was 
informed  those  lords  had  prudently  withdrawn 
from  the  House  of  Peers,  but  he  did  not  con- 
ceive that  a  law  against  the  votes  of  any, 
where  blood  gave  them  their  right,  was  so 
proper  in  regard  of  the  privilege  of  Parliament ; 
however,  his  majesty  was  content  that,  as  long 
as  they  did  not  conform  to  the  doctrine  and 
discipline  of  the  Church  of  England,  they  should 
not  sit  in  the  House  of  Peers,  but  only  vote  by 
proxy.  As  for  a  bill  for  the  educating  the  chil- 
dren of  papists  in  the  Protestant  religion,  he 
should  be  very  glad  of  it,  and  would  encourage 
it." 

To  the  eighth  proposition,  touching  reforma- 
tion of  church  government  and  liturgy,  his  maj- 
esty refers  them  to  his  declaration  of  Decem- 
ber 1,  in  which  he  had  declared  "  that  he  was 
willing  to  remove  illegal  innovations ;  that  if 
his  Parliament  advised  him  to  call  a  synod  to 
examine  into  such  ceremonies  as  gave  offence, 
he  would  take  it  into  consideration,  and  apply 
himself  to  give  due  satisfaction  therein  ;  but  he 
was  persuaded  in  his  conscience  that  no  church 
could  be  found  upon  earth  that  professed  the 
true  religion  with  more  purity  of  doctrine  than 
the  Church  of  England  ;  nor  where  the  govern- 
ment and  discipline  are  more  beautified,  and 
free  from  superstition,  than  as  they  are  here  es- 
tablished by  law  ;  which  his  majesty  is  deter- 
mined with  constancy  to  maintain  as  long  as 
he  lives,  in  their  purity  and  glory,  not  only 
against  all  innovations  of  popery,  but  from  the 
irreverence  of  those  many  schismatics  and  sep- 
aratists wherewith  of  late  this  kingdom  and  the 
city  of  London  abound,  for  the  suppression  of 
whom  his  majesty  requires  the  assistance  of 
his  Parliament.  As  for  such  matters  in  reli- 
gion which  were  in  their  own  nature  indifferent, 
his  majesty  refers  them  to  his  first  declaration, 
printed  by  advice  of  his  privy  council,  in  which 
he  had  declared  that  he  was  willing,  in  tender- 
ness to  any  number  of  his  loving  subjects,  to 
admit  that  some  law  might  be  made  for  the  ex- 
emption of  tender  consciences  from  punishment 
or  prosecution  for  such  ceremonies ;  provided 
it  be  attempted  and  pursued  with  that  modesty, 
temper,  and  submission,  that  the  peace  and 
quiet  of  the  kingdom  be  not  disturbed,  the  de- 
cency and  comeliness  of  God's  service  discoun- 
tenanced, nor  the  pious,  sober,  devout  actions 
of  the  first  Reformers  scandalized  and  defamed. 
His  majesty  adds,  that  he  had  formerly  referred 
the  composing  the  present  distractions  about 
church  government  and  liturgy  to  the  wisdom 


of  the  Parliament,  but  desired  he  might  not  be 
pressed  to  any  single  act  on  his  part,  till  the 
whole  be  so  digested  and  settled  by  both  houses, 
that  his  majesty  may  clearly  see  what  is  fit  to 
be  left  as  well  as  what  is  fit  to  be  taken  away. 
His  majesty  observes  with  satisfaction  that 
they  desire  only  a  reformation,  and  not,  as  is 
daily  preached  in  conventicles,  a  destruction  of 
the  present  discipline  and  liturgy,  and  promises 
to  concur  with  his  Parliament  in  raising  a  suf- 
ficient maintenance  for  preaching  ministers,  in 
such  manner  as  shall  be  most  for  the  advance- 
ment of  piety  and  learnmg ;  but  as  for  the  other 
bills,  against  superstitious  innovations  and  plu- 
ralities, his  majesty  can  say  nothing  to  them 
till  he  sees  them." 

It  was  now  apparent  to  all  men  that  this 
controversy,  which  had  hitherto  been  debated 
by  the  pen,  must  be  decided  by  the  sword ;  for 
this  purpose  the  queen  was  all  this  while  in 
Holland  negotiating  foreign  supplies.  Her  maj- 
esty pledged  the  crown  jewels  ;  and,  with  the 
money  arising  from  thence,  purchased  a  small 
frigate  of  thirty-two  guns,  called  the  Provi- 
dence, and  freighted  it  with  two  hundred  bar- 
rels of  powder,  two  or  three  thousand  arms, 
seven  or  eight  fieldpieces,  and  some  ready 
money  for  the  king's  service ;  all  which  were 
safely  conveyed  to  his  majesty  at  York,  about 
the  beginning  of  June.  The  Parliament  had 
been  advertised  of  the  queen's  proceedings,  and 
acquainted  the  king  with  their  advices,  which 
at  first  he  was  pleased  to  disown,  for  in  his  dec- 
laration of  March  9,  he  tells  the  Parliament, 
"  Whatsoever  you  are  advertised  from  Paris, 
&c.,  of  foreign  aids,  we  are  confident  no  sober, 
honest  man  in  our  kingdom  can  believe  that  we 
are  so  desperate,  or  so  senseless,  as  to  enter- 
tain such  designs,  as  would  not  only  bury  this 
our  kingdom  in  certain  destruction  and  ruin, 
but  our  name  and  posterity  in  perpetual  scorn 
and  infamy."*  One  would  think  by  this  that 
the  king  did  not  know  what  was  doing  with  the 
crown  jewels,  though  they  were  carried  over 
with  his  leave,  and,  as  Mr.  Whitelocket  says, 
that  with  them  and  the  assistance  of  the  Prince 
of  Orange,  a  sufficient  party  might  be  raised  for 
the  king.  But  in  this  answer,  as  in  most  others, 
his  majesty  had  his  ambiguities  and  reserva- 
tions.$ 


*  Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  part  ii.,  p.  445,  462. 

t  Memorials,  p.  52. 

i  Bishop  Warburton  contends  that  by  "foreign 
aids"  the  king  understood,  what  the  Parliament  cer- 
tainly meant,  foreign  troops.  His  lordship,  therefore, 
asserts,  "  there  is  no  ambiguity  here ;  but  there  is 
neither  end  nor  measure,"  he  adds,  "  to  this  histo- 
rian's prejudices  and  false  representations."  The 
e.xact  state  of  the  matter  is,  that  the  Parliament,  in 
their  declaration,  do  use  the  words  "  foreign  force," 
and  explicitly  mention  the  loan  of  four  thousand  men 
apiece  by  the  Kings  of  France  and  Spain.  The  king 
in  his  answer  says,  only  in  general,  "  that  whatever 
their  advertisements  from  Rome,  &c.,  were,  he  was 
confident  no  sober,  honest  man,"  &c.,  without  using, 
as  Mr.  Neal  inaccurately  represents  him  doing,  the 
terms  "  foreign  aids."  But  will  it  follow  from  hence 
that  the  king's  answer  was  free  from  ambiguity  and 
reservation,  or  Mr.  Neal's  charge  false  ?  If  what  Mr. 
VVhitelocke  says  were  true,  there  was  a  duplicity 
and  ambiguity  in  the  king's  reply ;  and  it  consisted 
in  this,  not  in  the  use  of  an  equivocal  term,  but  in 
censuring  the  measures  of  which  he  was  suspected, 
as  senseless,  desperate,  and  pernicious ;  at  the  same 


F.v.'ir,7vc.i  iy  Gimbpr  fi-om  'wi'Oriaiji.il 


wy  LH]  ajvj    )nryy  ^^j,  hM. 


'"'■'■-^i'  ou A.Jj.  ibb'/ 


HISTORY    OF  THE   PURITANS* 


41- 


It  was  the  king's  great  misfortune  never  to 
get  possession  of  a  convenient  place  of  strength 
upon  the  coast.  The  governor  of  Portsmouth 
declaring  for  him,  the  Parliament  immediately 
ordered  the  militia  of  the  county  to  hlock  up  the 
place  by  land,  while  the  Earl  of  Warwick  did 
the  same  by  sea,  so  that  it  was  forced  to  sur- 
render for  want  of  provisions,  before  the  king 
could  relieve  it.  The  like  disappointment  be- 
fell his  majesty  at  Hull,  which  he  besieged  a 
second  time,  July  4,*  with  three  thousand  foot 
and  about  one  thousand  horse,  while  Sir  J.  Pen- 
nington, the  king's  admiral,  blocked  it  up  by 
sea  ;  but  the  governor,  drawing  up  the  sluices, 
Jaid  the  country  under  water,  and  obliged  the 
army  to  retire.  This  was  a  severe  disappoint- 
ment ;  because  his  majesty  had  sent  word  to 
the  Parliament,  June  14,  that,  "  by  the  help  of 
God  and  the  law,  he  would  have  justice  upon 
those  that  kept  him  out  of  Hull,  or  lose  his  life 
in  requiring  it."t 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Commons,  upon  the 
desertion  of  the  king's  friends,  ordered  a  gen- 
eral call  of  the  House,  June  16,  and  that  every 
member  should  answer  to  his  name  on  forfeit- 
ure of  £100.  The  Lords  ordered  the  nine  peers 
that  went  after  the  great  seal  to  appear  at  their 
bar,  June  8,  and  for  their  non-appearance  [June 
27],  deprived  them  of  their  privilege  of  voting 
in  the  House  during  the  present  Parliament. 
As  the  Commons  had  taken  all  imaginable  pre- 
cautions to  hinder  the  king  from  getting  the 
forts  and  magazines  of  the  kingdom  into  his 
possession,  they  ordered  all  suspected  places  to 
be  searched  for  arms  and  ammunition.  In  the 
archbishop's  palace  at  Lambeth  they  seized 
arms  for  about  five  hundred  men,  and  lodged 
them  in  the  Tower  of  London  ;  in  Cobham  Hall 
Ibey  seized  five  cart-loads  of  arms  ;  and  below 
Gravesend  about  one  hundred  pieces  of  cannon. 
As  soon  as  they  heard  the  king  had  receiv- 
ed supplies  from  beyond  sea  and  was  preparing 
to  besiege  Hull,  they  ordered  their  ordinance 
for  raising  the  militia  to  be  put  in  execution  in 
Essex  [June  7],  when  all  the  regiments  appear- 
ed full,  besides  a  great  number  of  volunteers, 
who  declared  they  would  stand  by  the  Parlia- 
ment in  this  cause  with  their  lives  and  fortunes. 
The  king  forbade  the  militia's  appearing  in  arms 
without  his  consent,  according  to  the  statute  7 
Eliz.,  cap.  i.,  and  issued  out  commissions  of  ar- 
ray, according  to  an  old  statute  of  5  Henry  IV., 
appointing  several  persons  of  quality  to  array, 
muster,  and  train  the  people  in  the  several 
counties  ;  but  the  Parliament,  by  a  declaration, 
endeavoured  to  prove  these  commissions  to  be 
illegal,  contrary  to  the  petition  of  right,  and  to 
a  statute  of  this  present  Parliament ;  and  went 
on  with  mustering  the  militia  in  several  other 
counties^  where  the  spirit  of  the  people  appear- 
ed to  be  with  them.  The  execution  of  these 
counter-commissions  occasioned  some  skirmish- 
es wherever  the  two  parties  happened  to  meet. 

On  the  10th  of  June,  1642,  the  Parliament 
published  proposals  for  borrowing  money  upon 

time  he  was  actually  taking  such  or  similar  steps. — 
Ed. 

*  According  to  Dr.  Grey,  thero  is  an  error  in  this 
date ;  for  the  king  issued  a  proclamation  of  his  in- 
tcsition  to  besiege  Hull  upon  the  llth  of  July,  so 
could  not  lay  siege  to  it  upon  the  4th. — Ed. 

i  Rushworth,  p.  601. 

Vol.  L— G  g  g 


the  pubHc  faith  at  eight  per  cent,  interest,  al- 
lowing the  full  value  of  the  plate,  besides  one 
shilling  per  ounce  consideration  for  the  fashion. 
Upon  information  of  this,  the  king  immediately 
wrote  to  the  Lord-mayor  of  London  to  forbid  the 
citizens  lending  their  money  or  plato,  upon  pain 
of  high  treason  ;  notwithstanding  which,  such 
vast  quantities  were  brouglit  into  Guildhall 
within  ten  days,  that  there  were  hardly  officers 
enough  to  receive  it.  Mr.  Echard  computes  the 
plate  at  £11,000,000,  which  is  monstrous,  for 
in  reality  it  was  but  £1,267,326  ;  the  gentry  of 
liOndon  and  Middlesex  brought  in  the  best  of 
their  plate,  and  the  meaner  sort  their  gold  rings, 
thimbles,  and  bodkins.  Lord  Clarendon  says, 
this  zeal  of  the  people  arose  from  the  influence 
and  industry  of  their  preachers  ;  which  might 
be  true  in  part,  though  it  was  rather  owing  to  a 
quick  and  feeling  apprehension  of  the  danger  of 
their  liberties  and  religion,  by  an  inundation  of 
popery  and  arbitrary  power. 

The  king  also  tried  his  credit  with  the  peo- 
ple, by  publishing  a  declaration  inviting  his 
subjects  to  bring  in  their  money,  plate,  horses, 
and  arms  to  York,  upon  the  security  of  his  for- 
ests and  parks  for  the  principal,  and  eight  per 
cent,  interest,  with  very  little  success,  except 
among  the  courtiers  and  the  two  universities. 

July  7,  his  majesty  sent  letters  to  the  vice- 
chancellor  and  heads  of  colleges  in  Oxford,  de- 
siring them  to  lend  him  their  public  stock,  enga- 
ging, upon  the  word  of  a  king,  to  allow  them  eight 
per  cent,  for  that  and  all  other  sums  of  money 
that  any  private  gentleman  or  scholar  should 
advance.    Hereupon  it  was  unanimously  agreed 
in  convocation  to  intrust  his  majesty  with  their 
public  stock,  amounting  to  £860,  which  was 
immediately   delivered    to   Mr.  Cliaworth,  his 
majesty's   messenger.      The   several   colleges 
also  sent  his  majesty  their  plate  ;  and  private 
gentlemen  contributed  considerable   sums  of 
money  to  the  value  of  above  £10,000.*  The  two 
houses  of  Westminster  being  informed  of  these 
proceedings,  published  an  ordinance,  declaring 
this  act  of  the  university  "  a  breach  of  trust, 
and  an  alienation  of  the  public  money,  contrary 
to  the  intent  of  the  pious  donors,  and,  therefore, 
jiot  to  be  justified  by  the  laws  of  God  or  man  ;" 
that  it  was  also  contrary  to  their  engagements, 
for  the  university  being  yet  in  the  hands  of  the 
Parliament,  the  Lord  Say  and  his  deputy-lieu- 
tenants had  been  with  the  several  masters  and 
heads  of  houses,  and  obtained  a  solemn  promise 
from  each  of  them  that  their  plate  should  be 
forthcoming,  and  should  not  be  made  use  of  by 
the  king  against  the  Parliament ;  and  yet,  con- 
trary to  their  engagement,  they  sent  it  away 
privately  to  York,  where  it  arrived  July  18,  as 
appeared  by  his  majesty's  most  gracious  letter 
of  thanks. t    As  soon  as  the  two  houses  were 
informed  of  this,  they  sent  for  the  four  princi- 
pal managers  of  this  affair  into  custody,  viz., 
Dr.  Prideaux,  bishop  of  Worcester,  Dr.  Samuel 
Fell,  dean  of  Christ  Church,  Dr.  Frewen,  and 
Dr.  Potter,  who  absconded  ;  and  the  scholars, 
encouraged  by  their  principals,  bought  arms, 
formed  themselves  into  companies,  and,  laying 
aside  their  academical  studies,  were  instructed 
in  the  art  of  war,  and  performed  the  military 

*  Clarendon,  vol.  ii.,  p.  88. 

t  Rushworth,  part  iii.,  vol.  i.,  p.  759. 


418 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


exercises  under  their  respective  captains  and 
leaders.  Such  was  the  zeal  of  the  vice-chan- 
cellor, Dr.  Pink,  that,  not  content  with  marshal- 
ling the  university,  he  promoted  the  king's  com- 
mission of  array  among  the  townsmen,  and  re- 
ceived one  of  his  majesty's  troops  of  horse 
into  garrison,  for  which  he  was  afterward  ap- 
prehended and  committed  to  the  Gate-house  at 
Westminster.  The  Parliament,  provoked  with 
this  behaviour  of  the  university,  threatened  to 
quarter  some  of  their  own  regiments  upon 
them,  which  frightened  away  half  the  scholars, 
and  put  the  rest  into  such  a  terrible  panic  that 
the  vice-chancellor  thought  proper  to  write  the 
following  submissive  letter  to  the  Earl  of  Pem- 
broke, their  chancellor : 

"  Right  Honourable, 
"  May  it  please  your  lordship  to  know,  that 
this  university  is  now  in  extreme  danger  of  suf- 
fering all  the  calamities  that  warlike  forces  may 
bring  upon  it.*     Such  forces,  we  hear  for  cer- 
tain, are  some  of  them  already  on  their  march, 
and  others  are  raising  to  assault  us,  and,  if  they 
may  have  their  wills,  to  destroy  us  !     My  lord, 
you  have  been  solicitous  whom  to  appoint  your 
chancellor  for  next  year,  but  if  these  forces 
come  forward,  and  do  that  execution  upon  us 
that  we  fear  they  intend,  there  will  be  no  use  at 
all  for  a  vice-chancellor,  for  what  will  be  here 
for  him  to  do,  where  there  will  be  no  scholars 
for  him  to  govern  1     Or  what  should  scholars 
do  here,  having  no  libraries  left  them  to  study 
in,  no  schools  to  dispute  in,  chapels  to  serve 
God  in,  colleges  or  halls  to  live  or  lodge  in,  but 
have  all  these  ransacked,  defaced,  demolished, 
so  as  posterity  may  have  to  say.  See  !  here  was 
for  a  long  time,  and  till  such  a  year,  a  univer- 
sity of  great  renown  and  eminence  in  all  man- 
ner of  learning  and  virtue,  but  now  laid  utterly 
waste,  and  buried  in  her  own  ruins.    And  then 
the  question  will  be.  What !  had  we  no  lord 
chancellor  1  or  was  he  not  able  to  protect  us  1 
We  are  all  confident  that  if  your  lordship  would 
interpose  for  us  to  the  honourable  houses  of 
Parliament  for  our  safety  and  security,  all  would 
be  well  with  us.     The  delinquents  that  were 
sent  for  are  not  one  of  them  here  at  this  time. 
Sir  John  Byron,  with  his  regiment  of  troopers, 
we  shall  soon  prevail  with  to  withdraw  from 
us,  if  he  may  with  safety  march  back  to  the 
king,  who,  of  his  own  gracious  care  of  us,  sent 
him  hither.     And  if  your  lordship  shall  be  se- 
cured, that  no  other  forces  shall  be  here  im- 
posed upon  us,  that  will  take  the  liberty  to  ex- 
ercise that  barbarous  insolence  with  which  the 
illiterately  rude  and  ruffianly  rabble  of  the  vul- 
gar threaten  us  ;  against  such  only  our  young 
men  have  lately  taken  in  hand  the  arms  we 
have  (a  very  few,  God   knows,  and  in  weak 
hands  enough)  to  save  themselves  and  us  from 
having  our  libraries  fired,  our  colleges  pillaged, 
and  our  throats  cut  by  them,  if  they  should  sud- 
denly break  in  upon  us.     And  this,  my  lord,  is 
aU  the  sinful  intent  we  have  had  in  permitting 
them  to  train  in  a  voluntary  and  peaceable  man- 
ner so  as  they  have  done.     Good  my  lord,  that 
which  I  most  earnestly  beg  of  your  honour  is, 
that  at  the  humble  request  of  the  university 
you  would  put  in  action  with  all  speed  what 
may  be  most  prevalent  with  the  Parliament  for 

'  Rushworth,  part  iii.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  11. 


the  peace  and  security  of  this  place,  and  for  the 
staying  of  our  students,  a  great  part  of  whom 
(such  stout  and  hardy  men  are  they),  upon 
alarms  and  frights,  such  as  have  been  hourly 
here  of  late,  are  fled  away  from  us  home  to 
their  mothers.  The  disciples,  when  in  danger 
of  drowning,  clamoured  our  Saviour,  '  Master, 
carest  thou  not  that  we  perish  T  But  I  am 
bold  to  assume  for  your  honour,  and  to  assure 
all  of  this  university  under  your  happy  govern- 
ment, that  you  will  not  suffer  us  to  perish,  and 
that  you  will  at  this  time  give  us  a  clear  and 
real  evidence  of  it,  having  this  representation 
of  the  peril  we  are  now  in,  made  to  your  hon- 
our by  me, 

"  Your  lordship's  humble  servant, 

"  Provost,  vice-chancellor  of  Oxford. 
"Sept.  12,  1642." 

This  letter  being  sent  two  months  after  the 
university  had  conveyed- their  plate  and  money 
to  the  king  ;  after  they  had  refused  to  send  up 
such  principal  managers  of  that  affair  as  the 
Parliament  had  demanded  ;  after  they  had  ta- 
ken up  arms,  and  received  a  regiment  of  his 
majesty's  forces  into  garrison,  the  Earl  of  Pem- 
broke only  returned  the  following  angry  answer : 

"  Sir, 

"  If  you  had  desired  my  advice  and  assistance 
in  time,  I  should  willingly  have  contributed  my 
best  endeavours  for  your  safety  and  protection, 
but  your  unadvised  counsels  and  actions  have 
reduced  you  to  the  straits  you  are  now  in ;  and  in. 
discretion  you  might  have  foreseen,  that  the  ad- 
mitting cavaliers,  and  taking  up  arms,  could  not 
but  make  the  university  a  notorious  mark  of  op- 
position against  the  Parhament,  and,  therefore, 
to  be  opposed  by  it.  If  you  had  contained  your- 
selves within  the  decent,  modest  bounds  of  a 
university,  you  might  justly  have  challenged 
me,  if  I  had  not  performed  the  duty  of  a  chan- 
cellor. The  best  counsel  I  now  can  give  you 
is,  that  you  presently  dismiss  the  cavaliers,  and 
yield  up  to  the  Parliament  such  delinquents  as 
are  among  you ;  then,  the  cause  being  takea 
away,  the  effect  will  follow.  When  you  have 
put  yourselves  into  the  right  posture  of  a  uni- 
versity, I  will  be  a  faithful  servant  to  you,  and 
ready  to  do  you  all  the  good  offices  I  can  with 
the  Parliament,  as  I  am  now  sorry  you  have 
brought  upon  yourselves  these  troubles. 
"  I  rest  your  very  true  friend, 

"  Pembroke  and  Montgomery. 

','Sept.  13,  1642." 

Cambridge  University  followed  the  example 
of  Oxford,  for  upon  reading  his  majesty's  letter 
of  June  29  to  the  vice-chancellor,- Dr.  Holds- 
worth,  they  readily  agreed  also  to  intrust  the 
king  with  their  public  money  :  what  the  whole 
sum  amounted  to  does  not  appear,  but  may  be 
guessed  by  the  particulars  of  one  college,  a 
receipt  for  which,  is  preserved  among  the  ar- 
chives, and  is  as  follows  : 

"July  2,  1642. 
"  Received,  the  day  and  year  above  written, 
of  Wm.  Beale,  doctor  in  divinity,  master  of  St. 
John's  College,  in  the  University  of  Cambridge, 
for  the  king's  use  (according  to  the  intendment 
and  direction  of  his  majesty's  letters  of  the  29th 
of  June  last,  to  the  vice-chancellor  of  the  said 


1 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


419 


university),  the  sum  of  £150.    I  say,  received 
from  the  treasury  of  the  said  college  by  me,* 

"  John  Foley." 

This  Mr.  Foley  was  fellovir  of  Fembroke  Hall, 
and  one  of  the  proctors  of  the  university.  Wlien 
the  king  had  secured  their  money,  he  sent  to 
borrow  their  plate,  under  pretence  of  preservmg 
it  from  the  Parliament ;  for  this  purpose  he  wrote 
another  letter  to  the  vice-chancellor,  with  direc- 
tions to  take  an  exact  account,  not  only  of  the 
weight,  but  also  of  the  form  of  every  piece,  to- 
gether with  the  names,  arms,  and  mottoes  of 
the  respective  donors,  that  if  his  majesty  should 
not  preserve  it  as  entire  as  ii  was,  he  might 
restore  it  hereafter  in  the  same  weight  and  form, 
and  with  the  same  marks,  all  which  he  ensured 
upon  his  royal  word.  There  is  no  account  re- 
maining of  what  plate  the  coUeges  delivered  up 
for  his  majesty's  use,  though  many  wished,  says 
Mr.  Fuller,  that  every  ounce  had  been  a  pound 
for  his  sake  ;  but  in  the  treasury  of  St.  John's 
College  there  are  the  particulars  of  what  that 
college  delivered  in,  together  with  the  weight, 
forms,  and  names  of  the  chief  benefactors,  which 
amounts,  in  the  whole,  according  to  avoirdupois 
weight,  to  two  thousand  sixty-five  ounces  and 
a  half,  as  expressed  in  the  following  receipt : 

"  August  8, 1642. 
"  I  do  acknowledge  that  there  has  been  de- 
livered to  me,  in  the  name  and  on  behalf  of  the 
master,  fellows,  and  scholars  of  St.  John's  Col- 
lege, in  Cambridge,  two  fir  boxes,  marked  with 
these  three  letters,  S.  J.  C,  containing  in  them 
all  the  several  pieces  of  plate  above  written, 
which  said  plate  weigheth,  as  appears  by  the 
particulars,  two  thousand  sixty-five  ounces  and 
a  half,  more  or  less,  which  they  deposited  into 
the  king's  hands  for  the  security  thereof  and 
his  majesty's  service,  according  to  the  tenour  of 
his  majesty's  letters,  written  and  directed  to 
the  vice-chancellor  of  the  university.* 

"  John  Foley." 

According  to  this  calculation,  the  king  might 
receive  from  all  the  colleges  together  about  .£8  or 
£10,000  in  plate,  besides  money.  Colonel  Oli- 
ver Cromwell,  with  his  company  of  soldiers,  en- 
deavoured to  intercept  the  convoy,  but  under 
the  conduct  of  Mr.  Barnaby  Oley,  their  guide, 
who  was  acquainted  with  all  the  by-roads,  they 
escaped  the  enemy,  and  delivered  up  their 
charge  to  the  king  about  the  time  when  he  was 
setting  up  his  royal  standard  at  Nottingham. 
Cromwell  having  missed  the  convoy,  returned 
to  Cambridge  and  took  possession  of  the  town 
and  university  for  the  Parliament,  who,  being 
acquainted  with  what  was  done,  sent  them  an 
angry  message,  as  they  had  done  to  Oxford, 
full  of  resentments  for  their  disposing  of  the 
public  money,  contrary  to  the  trust  reposed  in 
them.  The  masters  and  fellows  excused  them- 
selves by  alleging  the  royal  mandate ;  where- 
upon the  two  houses  sent  a  mandate  of  their 
own  to  the  vice-chancellor  and  heads  of  colle- 
ges in  convocation  assembled,  desiring  them  to 
contribute  their  assistance  to  the  cause  in  which 
they  [the  Parliament]  were  engaged ;  but  though, 
as  Dr.  Barwick  observes,  the  commander  of  the 
garrison  kept  them  sitting  till  midnight,  they 
would  lend  nothing,  because  they  apprehended 

*  Dr.  Barwick's  Life,  p.  22.  t  Ibid.,  p.  24. 


it  to  be  contrary  to  religion  and  a  good  con- 
science ;  the  houses,  therefore,  ordered  Dr.  Beal, 
Dr.  Martin,  and  Dr.  Sterne,  masters  of  St.  John's, 
Jesus',  and  Queen's  College,  into  custody;*^ 
upon  which  many  of  the  scholars  deserted  theii 
stations,  and  listed  in  the  king's  service. 

Besides  the  two  universities,  the  king  ap- 
plied underhand  to  the  papists,  who  were  firm 
to  his  interest,  though  he  durst  not  as  yet  avow 
his  correspondence  with  them  ;  for  in  his  dec- 
laration of  June  3,  he  assures  the  ministers  and 
freeholders   of  Yorkshire  that  he  would   not 
make  use  of  foreigners,  or  of  persons  disaffect- 
ed to  the  Protestant  religion.     Again,  we  have 
taken  order  that  the  power  of  the  sword  shall 
not  come  into  the  hands  of  papists. t     August 
10,  his  majesty  commands  that  no  papist  should 
be  listed  as  a  soldier  in  his  army  ;  which  was 
expedient,  to  avoid  as  much  as  possible  the  re- 
proach of  an  alliance  with  those  people,  who 
were  at  this  time  become  infamous  by  the  Irish 
massacre.     Though  his  majesty  had  but  few 
Roman  Catholics  among  his  own  forces,  the 
Duke  of  Newcastle's  army  was  filled  with  them, 
and  popery  was  countenanced  to  that  degree 
at  York  that  mass  was  said  in  every  corner  of 
the  street,  and  the  Protestants  so  affronted  that 
they  were   almost   afraid  to   go   to  church. J 
The  king  applied  to  his  Roman  Catholic  sub- 
jects to  advance  two  or  three  years  of  the  rent 
that  thcv  paid  as  composition  for  their  estates 
as  recusants,  which  they  not  only  complied 
with,  but  wrote  to  their  friends  abroad  to  bor- 
row more ;  proclamation  was  made  at  Bruges, 
and  other  parts   of  Flanders,  that  all  people 
who  would  loan  any  money  to  maintain  the  Ro- 
man Catholics  in  England,  should  have  it  repaid 
in  a  year's  time,  with  many  thanks. 

The  Lancashire  papists,  having  been  lately 
disarmed  by  order  of  Parliament,  petitioned  his 


*  They  were  immediately  after  carried  to  London 
by  Cromwell,  and  confined  in  the  Tower  and  other 
prisons  for  some  years,  particularly  in  the  noisome 
hold  of  a  ship.— I>r.  Grey  ;  Barwick's  Life,  p.  32,  note 
(t)  ;  and  Fuller's  History  of  Cambridge,  p.  168.— Ed. 

t  Rushworth,  part  iiiv,  vol.  i.,  p.  625. 

X  Dr.  Grey  would  impeach  the  truth  of  this  detail, 
and  says,  that  as  Mr.  Neal  "  quotes  no  authority  for 
these  particulars,  I  am  willing  to  believe  that  they 
are  not  all  of  them  true."  As  for  the  first  particular, 
I  can  refer  for  Mr.  Neal  to  Rapin,  vol.  u.,  p.  468,  and 
the  matter  has  been,  within  these  few  years,  stated 
and  discussed  by  Mrs.  Macaulay,  vol.  ui.,  p.  377,  378, 
8vo  The  fact  was  admitted  by  the  Earl  of  New- 
castle himself,  and  he  published  a  long  declaration, 
partly  to  vindicate  himself  on  this  head,  which  is 
preserved  in  Rushworth,  part  iii.,  vol.  u.,  p.  78,  &c. 
Though  I  am  not  able  to  ascertain  the  authorities  on 
which  my  author  states  the  other  particulars,  a  let- 
ter of  intelligence  of  the  affairs  in  Yorkshire,  which 
the  ParUament  received,  and  which  has  been  given 
to  the  public  since  Mr.  Neal's  history  appeared,  af- 
fords a  general  confirmation  to  his  account.  It  rep- 
resents that  the  papists,  after  the  king's  proclama- 
tion for  raising  his  standard,  flocked  from  Ireland, 
Lancashire,  and  all  parts  of  Yorkshire,  to  York ;  that 
there  were  great  rejoicings  among  them,  and  a  great 
forwardness  to  assist  the  service  shown.  The  cii 
cumstances  represented  by  our  author  were  not  un 
natural  or  improbable  consequences  of  such  a  con- 
fluence and  exultation  of  the  papists.  And  it  appears 
from  this  letter  that  the  cavaliers  in  general  were 
guilty  of  tumults,  outrages,  and  depradation.— Par- 
tiamciUary  History,  vol.  xi.,  p.  335,  381,  405,  qicoted  by 
Mrs.  Macaulay,  vol.  iii.,  f.  343,  344,  8vo.— Ed. 


420 


HISTORY    OF   THE    PURITANS. 


majesty  that,  since  the  war  was  begun,  their 
arms  might  be  redelivered,  that  they  might  be 
in  a  capacity  to  defend  his  majesty's  royal  per- 
son and  their  own  families.  To  which  his  maj- 
esty consented  in  the  following  words  : 

" — The  laws  for  disarming  recusants  being 
to  prevent  dangers  in  a  time  of  peace,  but  not 
intended  to  bar  you  from  the  use  of  arms  in 
time  of  war  for  your  own  safety,  or  the  defence 
of  our  person — Our  wiU  and  command,  there- 
fore, is,  and  we  charge  and  require  you  upon 
your  allegiance,  that  with  all  possible  speed 
you  provide  sufficient  arms  for  yourselves,  your 
servants,  and  your  tenants,  which  we  authorize 
and  require  you  to  keep  and  use  for  the  defence 
of  us,  yourselves,  and  your  country,  against 
all  forces  raised  against  us,  under  colour  of  any 
order  or  ordinance  of  Parliament,  and  we  shall 
use  our  utmost  power  to  protect  you  and  yours 
against  all  injuries  and  violence.* 

"  Given  under  our  signet  at  Chester,  Septem- 
ber 27,  in  the  eighteenth  year  of  our  reign." 

Agreeably  to  this,  Mr.  George  Tempest,  a 
priest,  writes  to  his  brother  in  the  king's  army, 
"  Our  priests  at  Lancaster  are  at  liberty  ;  Cath- 
olic commanders  are  admitted,  and  all  well 
enough  that  way  ;  God  Almighty,  as  I  hope, 
will  better  prosper  the  cause."  And  another 
adds,  "that  there  is  no  prosecution  of  priest  or 
papist  in  Northumberland." 

When  the  Parliament  objected  this  to  his 
majesty,  and  named  the  very  officers,  he  was 
highly  displeased,  and  in  his  answer  makes  use 
of  these  solemn  expressions  :  "  For  that  contin- 
ued dishonest  accusation  of  our  inclination  to 
the  papists,  which  the  authors  of  it  in  their 
ovi^n  consciences  know  to  be  most  unjust  and 
groundless,  we  can  say  no  more,  and  we  can 
do  no  more,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  world. — 
That  any  priests  or  Jesuits  imprisoned  have 
been  released  by  us  out  of  the  jail  at  Lancaster, 
or  any  other  jail,  is  as  false  as  the  father  of 
lies  can  invent.  Neither  are  the  persons  named 
in  that  declaration,  to  whom  commissions  are 
supposed  to  be  granted  for  places  of  command 
in  this  war,  so  much  as  known  to  us ;  nor 
have  they  any  command,  or  to  our  knowledge 
are  present  in  our  army.  And  it  is  strange  that 
our  oaths  and  protestations  before  Almighty 
God,  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Protestant 
religion,  should  be  so  slighted. — We  desire  to 
have  our  protestations  believed  by  the  evidence 
of  our  actions."!  Surely  this  solemn  appeal 
to  Almighty  God  was  ambiguous  and  evasive  ! 
or  else  we  must  conclude  that  his  majesty  was 
very  little  acquainted  with  what  was  done  in 
his  name,  and  by  his  commission. 

It  was  only  five  days  after  this  that  the  mask 
was  thrown  off,  for  his  majesty  confesses,  in 
his  declaration  of  October  27,  that  the  mahce 
and  fury  of  his  enemies  had  reduced  him  to  the 
necessity  of  accepting  the  service  and  affection 
of  any  of  his  good  subjects,  whatsoever  their 
religion  was  ;  that  he  did  know  of  some  few 
papists  whose  eminent  abilities  in  command 
and  conduct  had  moved  him  to  employ  them  in 
his  service ;  but  he  assures  his  good  subjects 
that  he  would  always  use  his  endeavours  to 
suppress  their  religion,  by  executing  the  laws 
already  in  force  against  papists,  and  in  concur- 


*  Rushwortb,  vol.  ii.,  part  iii.,  p.  50.        t  Ibid.,  p.  31. 


ring  in   any  other  remedies  which  his  two 
houses  should  think  proper. 

As  the  king  was  reduced  to  the  necessity  of 
accepting  the  service  and  affection  of  the  pa- 
pists, so,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Parliament 
took  all  imaginable  care  to  cultivate  a  good 
correspondence  with  the  Scots,  and  to  secure 
that  nation  in  their  interests.  We  have  re- 
membered that  the  Scots  commissioners  at 
London  offered  their  mediation  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  year,  which  the  Parliament  accept- 
ed ;  but  the  king,  from  his  extreme  hatred  of 
the  Presbyterian  discipline,  refused,  command- 
ing them  to  be  content  with  their  own  settle- 
ment, and  not  to  meddle  in  the  affairs  of  an- 
other nation.  But  the  breach  between  the  king 
and  his  two  houses  growing  wider,  the  council 
of  Scotland  sent  their  chancellor,  in  the  month 
of  May,  to  renew  their  offers  of  a  mediation 
between  the  two  parties,  which  the  king  reject- 
ed as  before  ;*  and  the  rather,  because  they 
still  insisted  upon  the  abolishing  of  episcopacy, 
which  his  majesty  believed  to  be  of  Divine  in- 
stitution, and  upon  a  uniformityof  Presbyte- 
rian government  in  the  two  nations  ;  whereas 
the  majority  of  both  houses,  being  of  Erastian 
principles,  were  under  no  difficulties  about  a 
change  of  discipline,  apprehending  that  the 
civil  magistrate  might  set  up  what  form  of 
government  was  most  conducive  to  the  good 
of  the  state.  The  Parliament,  therefore,  treat- 
ed the  chancellor  with  great  respect,  and  not 
only  accepted  the  mediation,  but  wrote  to  the 
General  Assembly,  which  was  to  meet  in  July, 
acquainting  them  with  the  crisis  of  their  affairs, 
and  desiring  their  advice  and  assistance  in 
bringing  about  such  a  reformation  as  was  de- 
sired. To  which  the  Assembly  returned  an 
answer,  dated  August  3,  1642,  to  the  following 
purpose. 

"After  giving  God  thanks  for  the  Parlia- 
ment's desire  of  a  reformation  of  religion,  and 
expressing  their  grief  that  it  moves  so  slowly, 
they  observe,  that  their  commissioners,  far  from 
arrogance  and  presumption,  had,  with  great  re- 
spect and  reverence,  expressed  their  desires  for 
unity  of  religion,  that  there  might  be  one  con- 
fession of  faith,  one  directory  of  worship,  one 
public  catechism,  and  one  form  of  church  gov- 
ernment.! The  Assembly,"  say  they,  "  now  en- 
ter upon  the  labours  of  the  commissioners,  being 
encouraged  by  the  zeal  of  former  times,  when 
their  predecessors  sent  a  letter  into  England 
against  the  surplice,  tippet,  and  corner-cap,  in 
the  year  1566,  and  again  in  the  years  L'iSa  and 
1589.  They  are  now  farther  encouraged  by 
the  king's  late  answer  to  their  commissioners 
in  their  treaty  for  Ireland,  wherein  his  majesty 
approves  of  the  affection  of  his  subjects  of 
Scotland,  in  their  desires  of  conformity  of 
church  government ;  by  his  majesty's  late  prac- 
tice while  he  was  in  Scotland,  in  resorting  to 
their  worship,  and  establishing  it  by  act  of  Par- 
liament. They  are  also  encouraged  by  a  letter 
sent  from  many  reverend  brethren  of  the  Church 
of  England,  expressing  their  prayers  and  en- 
deavours against  everything  that  shall  be  prej- 
udicial to  the  establishment  of  the  kingdom  of 
Christ.  They  therefore  advise  to  begin  with 
a  uniformity  of  church  government ;  for  what 

*  Duke  of  Hamilton's  Memoirs,  book  iii.,  p.  194. 
t  Rushworth,  vol.  ii.,  part  iii.,  p.  387. 


HISTORY  OF   THE    PURITANS. 


421 


hope  can  there  be,"  say  they,  "  of  one  confession 
of  faith,  one  form  of  worship  and  catechism, 
till  prelacy  be  plucked  up  root  and  branch,  as  a 
plant  which  God  had  not  planted!  Indeed, 
the  Reformed  kirks  hold  their  form  of  govern- 
ment by  presbyters  to  be  jure  divino,  and  per- 
petual, but  prelacy  is  almost  universally  held  by 
the  prelates  themselves  to  be  a  human  ordi- 
nance, and  may,  therefore,  be  altered  or  abol- 
ished, in  cases  of  necessity,  without  wronging 
any  man's  conscience ;  for  the  accomplishing 
of  which  they  promise  their  best  assistance." 

In  the  Parliament's  answer  to  this  letter, 
"  they  acknowlege  the  friendship  of  their  breth- 
ren in  Scotland,  and  express  their  desires  of 
unity  in  religion,  that  in  all  his  majesty's  domin- 
ions there  might  be  but  one  confession  of  faith 
and  form  of  church  government  ;*  and  though 
this  is  hardly  to  be  expected  punctually  and  ex- 
actly, yet  they  hope,  since  they  are  guided  by 
the  same  spirit,  they  shall  be  so  directed  as  to 
cast  out  everything  that  is  offensive  to  God, 
and  so  far  agree  with  the  Scots,  and  other  Re- 
formed churches,  in  the  substantials  of  doc- 
trine, worship,  and  discipline,  that  there  may 
be  a  free  communion  in  all  holy  exercises  and 
duties  of  public  worship,  for  the  attaining 
whereof  they  intend  an  assembly  of  godly  and 
learned  divines,  as  soon  as  they  can  obtain  the 
royal  assent.  We  have  entered  into  a  serious 
consideration,"  say  they,  "  what  good  we  have 
received  from  the  government  of  bishops,  and 
do  perceive  it  has  been  the  occasion  of  many  in- 
tolerable burdens  and  grievances,  by  their  usurp- 
ing a  pre-eminence  and  power  not  given  them 
by  the  Word  of  God,  &c.  We  find  it  has  also 
been  pernicious  to  our  civil  government,  inso- 
much as  the  bishops  have  ever  been  forward  to 
fill  the  minds  of  our  princes  with  notions  of  ar- 
bitrary power  over  the  lives  and  liberties  of  the 
subject,  by  their  counsels  and  in  their  sermons. 
Upon  which  accounts,  and  many  others,  we  do 
declare,  that  this  government,  by  archbishops, 
bishops,  their  chancellors  and  commissaries, 
deans  and  chapters,  archdeacons,  and  other  ec- 
clesiastical officers  depending  upon  the  hierar- 
chy, is  evil,  and  justly  offensive  and  burden- 
some to  the  kingdom,  a  great  impediment  to 
reformation,  and  very  prejudicial  to  the  civil 
government,  and  that  we  are  resolved  the  same 
shall  be  taken  away.  And  we  desire  our  breth- 
ren of  Scotland  to  concur  with  us  in  petitioning 
his  majesty  that  we  may  have  an  assembly  of 
divines  ;  and  to  send  some  of  their  own  minis- 
ters to  the  said  assembly,  in  order  to  obtain 
uniformity  in  church  government,  that  so  a  more 
easy  passage  may  be  made  for  settling  one  con- 
fession of  faith,  and  directory  of  public  worship, 
for  the  three  kingdoms." 

The  king,  being  alarmed  with  the  harmony 
between  the  two  kingdoms,  sent  a  warm  re- 
monstrance to  the  Council  of  Scotland,  August 
26,  the  very  week  he  set  up  his  standard  at  Not- 
tingham, in  which  he  declares, 

"  That  he  desired  uniformity  as  much  as  they, 
m  such  a  way  as  he  in  his  conscience  thought 
most  serviceable  to  the  true  Protestant  religion  ; 
but  that  his  two  houses  of  Parliament  had  nev- 
er made  any  proposition  to  him  since  their 
meeting  concerning  uniformity  of  church  gov- 
ernment ;  so  far,"  says  his  majesty,  "  are  they 


Rushworth,  vol.  ii.,  part  iii.,  p.  390. 


from  desiring  such  a  thing,  that  we  are  confi- 
dent the  most  considerable  persons,  and  those 
who  make  the  fairest  pretensions  to  you  of  that 
kind,  will  not  sooner  embrace  a  piesbyterial 
than  you  an  episcopal.*  And  truly  it  seems, 
notwithstanding  whatsoever  profession  they 
have  made  to  the  contrary,  that  nothing  has 
been  less  in  their  minds  than  settling  the  true 
religion,  and  reforming  such  abuses  in  the 
Church  as  possibly  may  have  crept  in  contrary 
to  the  established  laws  of  the  land,  to  which  we 
have  been  so  far  from  being  averse,  that  we 
have  pressed  them  to  it.  And  whenever  any 
proposition  shall  be  made  to  us  by  them,  which 
we  shall  conceive  may  advance  the  unity  of  the 
Protestant  religion,  according  to  the  Word  of 
God,  or  establish  church  government  according 
to  the  known  laws  of  the  kingdom,  we  shall  let 
the  world  see  that  nothing  can  be  more  agree- 
able to  us  than  the  advancing  so  good  a  work." 

Here  his  majesty  explains  the  uniformity  he 
all  along  intended,  and  very  justly  observes, 
that  the  Parliament  no  more  believed  the  Divine 
institution  of  presbytery  than  others  did  of  dio- 
cesan prelacy  ;  for  though  they  were  content, 
in  order  to  secure  the  assistance  of  the  Scots 
nation,  to  vote  away  the  power  of  archbishops 
and  bishops,  yet  when  they  had  conquered  the 
king,  and  had  nothing  to  fear  from  their  neigh- 
bours, they  could  not  be  prevailed  with  to  es- 
tablish the  Scots  presbytery  without  reserving 
the  power  of  the  keys  to  themselves. 

Lord  Clarendon  very  justly  observes,  "that 
the  Parliament  were  sensible  they  could  not 
carry  on  the  war  but  by  the  help  of  the  Scots, 
which  they  were  not  to  expect  without  an  al- 
teration of  the  government  of  the  Church,  to 
which  that  nation  was  violently  inclined :  but 
that  very  much  the  major  part  of  the  members 
that  continued  in  the  Parliament-house  were 
cordially  affected  to  the  established  government, 
at  least  not  affected  to  any  other."!  But  then, 
to  induce  them  to  consent  to  such  an  alteration, 
it  was  said  the  Scots  would  not  take  up  arms 
without  it ;  so  that  they  must  lose  all,  and  let 
the  king  return  as  a  conqueror,  or  submit  to  the 
change.  If  it  should  be  said  this  would  make 
a  peace  with  the  king  impracticable,  whose  af- 
fection to  the  hierarchy  all  men  knew,  it  was 
answered,  that  it  was  usual  in  treaties  to  ask 
more  than  was  expected  to  be  granted  ;  and,  it 
might  be,  that  their  departing  from  their  propo- 
sition concerning  the  Church  might  prevail  with 
the  king  to  give  them  the  militia.  Upon  these 
motives  the  bill  to  abolish  episcopacy  was 
brought  into  the  House,  and  passed  the  Com- 
mons September  1,  and  on  the  10th  of  the  same 
month  it  passed  the  Lords.  The  noble  histo- 
rian says  that  marvellous  art  and  industry  were 
used  to  obtain  it ;  that  the  majority  of  the 
Commons  was  really  against  it,  and  that  it  was 
very  hardly  submitted  to  by  the  House  of  Peers. 
But  the  writer  of  the  Parliamentary  Chronicle, 
who  was  then  at  London,  says,  the  bill  passed 
nulla  contradicente,  not  a  negative  vote  being 
heard  among  them  all,  and  that  there  were  bon- 
fires and  ringing  of  bells  for  joy  all  over  the 
city.t 

The  bill  was  entitled,  "  An  Act  for  the  utter 

*  Duke  of  Hamilton's  Memoirs,  b.  iv.,  p.  197. 

t  Clarendon,  vol.  h.,  p.  117. 

X  ParUamentary  Chronicle,  p.  150. 


422 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


abolishing  and  taking  away  of  all  archbishops, 
bishops,  their  chancellors  and  commissaries," 
&c. 

It  ordains,  that  "  after  the  fifth  of  November, 
1643,  there  shall  be  no  archbishop,  bishop,  chan- 
cellor, or  commissary  of  any  archbishop  or 
bishop,  nor  any  dean,  sub-dean,  dean  and  chap- 
ter, archdeacon,  nor  any  chancellor,  chanter, 
treasurer,  sub-treasurer,  succentor,  or  sacrist, 
of  any  cathedral  or  collegiate  church,  nor  any 
prebendary,  canon,  canon-residentiary,  petty 
canon,  vicar  choral,  chorister,  old  vicars  or  new 
vicars,  of  or  within  any  cathedral  or  collegiate 
churches  in  England  or  Wales. — That  their 
names,  titles,  jurisdictions,  offices,  and  func- 
tions, and  the  having  or  using  any  jurisdiction 
or  power,  by  reason  or  colour  of  any  such 
names  and  titles,  shall  cease,  determine,  and 
become  absolutely  void. 

"  That  all  the  manors,  lordships,  castles, 
messuages,  lands,  tenements,  rents,  and  all 
other  possessions  and  hereditaments  whatso- 
ever, belonging  to  any  archbishopric  or  bishop- 
ric, shaU  be  in  the  real  and  actual  possession 
and  seisin  of  the  king's  majesty,  his  heirs  and 
successors,  to  hold  and  enjoy  in  as  ample  a 
manner  as  they  were  held  by  any  archbishop  or 
bishop  within  two  years  last  past,  except  im- 
propriations, parsonages,  appropriate  tithes,  ob- 
lations, obventions,  pensions,  portions  of  tithes, 
parsonages,  vicarages>  churches,  chapels,  ad- 
vowsons,  nominations,  collations,  rights  of  pat- 
ronage and  presentation. 

"  That  all  impropriations,  parsonages,  titlies. 
&c.,  and  all  otlier  hereditaments  and  posses- 
sions whatsoever,  belonging  to  any  dean,  sub- 
dean  and  chapter,  archdeacon,  or  any  of  their 
officers,  be  put  into  the  hands  of  trustees,  to  pay 
to  all  and  every  archbishop,  bishop,  dean,  sub- 
dean,  archdeacon,  and  all  other  officers  belong- 
ing to  collegiate  and  cathedral  churches,  such 
yearly  stipends  and  pensions  as  shall  be  appoint- 
ed by  Parliament.  And  they  shall  dispose  of 
all  the  aforesaid  manors,  lands,  tithes,  appropri- 
ations, advowsons,  &c.,  for  a  competent  main- 
tenance for  the  support  of  such  a  number  of 
preaching  ministers  in  every  cathedral  and  col- 
legiate church  as  shall  be  appointed  by  Parlia- 
ment ;  and  for  the  maintenance  of  preaching 
ministers  in  other  places  of  the  country  where 
such  maintenance  is  wanting ;  and  for  such 
other  good  uses,  to  the  advancement  of  religion, 
piety,  and  learning,  as  shall  be  directed  by  Par- 
liament. 

"  Provided,  that  all  revenues  and  rents  as 
have  been,  and  now  ought  to  be,  paid  for  the 
maintenance  of  grammar-schools  or  scholars,  or 
for  the  repairing  any  church,  chapel,  highway, 
causeway,  bridges,  schoolhouse,  almshouse,  or 
other  charitable  uses,  payable  by  any  of  the  per- 
sons whose  offices  are  taken  away  by  this  act, 
shall  be  continued.  Provided,  also,  that  this  act 
shall  not  extend  to  any  college,  church,  corpo- 
ration, foundation,  or  house  of  learning  in  either 
of  the  universities." 

It  may  seem  strange  that  the  Parliament 
should  abolish  the  present  establishment  before 
they  had  agreed  on  another,  but  the  Scots 
would  not  decl-are  for  them  till  they  had  done  it. 
Had  the  two  houses  been  inclined  to  presbytery 
(as  some  have  maintained),  it  would  have  been 
easy  to  have  adopted  the  Scots  model  at  once  ; 


but  as  the  bill  for  extirpating  episcopacy  was 
not  to  take  place  tih  above  a  year  forward,  it 
is  apparent  they  were  willing  it  should  not  take 
place  at  all,  if  in  that  time  they  could  come  to 
an  accommodation  with  the  king  ;  and  if  the 
breach  should  then  remain,  they  proposed  to 
consult  with  an  assembly  of  divines  what  form 
to  erect  in  its  stead.  Thus  the  old  English  hie- 
rarchy lay  prostrate  for  about  eighteen  years, 
although  never  legally  abolished  for  vi^ant  of  the 
royal  assent ;  and  therefore,  at  the  restoration 
of  King  Charles  II.,  it  took  place  again,  without 
any  new  law  to  restore  it ;  which  the  Presby- 
terians, who  were  then  in  the  saddle,  not  under- 
standing, did  not  provide  against  as  they  might. 
While  the  king  and  Parliament  were  thus 
strengthening  themselves,  and  calling  in  sever- 
ally all  the  succours  they  could  get,  the  scene 
of  the  war  began  to  open  ;  his  majesty  travelled 
with  a  large  retinue  into  several  of  the  northern 
and  western  counties,  summoning  the  people 
together,  and  in  set  speeches  endeavouring  to 
possess  them  of  the  justice  of  his  cause,  prom- 
ising, upon  the  word  of  a  king,  that  for  the  fu- 
ture he  would  govern  by  law.  Upon  this  assu- 
rance, about  forty  lords,  and  several  members 
who  had  deserted*  the  House  of  Commons,  sign- 
ed an  engagement  to  defend  his  majesty's  per- 
son and  prerogative,  to  support  the  Protestant 
religion  established  by  law,  and  not  to  submit 
to  any  ordinance  of  Parliament  concerning  the 
militia  that  had  not  the  royal  assent;  Great 
numbers  listed  in  his  majesty's  service,  whereby 
an  army  was  formed,  which  marched  a  second 
time  to  the  siege  of  Hull. 

*  Bishop  Warburton  censures  Mr.  Neal  for  using 
the  word  "deserted,"  "  which,"  he  says,  "is  a  party 
word,  and  implies  betraying  their  trust."  His  lord- 
ship owns  that  the  conduct  of  the  members,  who  left 
the  House  and  retired  to  the  king,  was  so  called  by 
the  Parliament ;  but  an  historian's  'adopting,  in  this 
case,  the  term  which  impeaches  their  fidelity,  he 
considers  "  taking  for  granted  the  thing  in  dispute.'' 
But,  with  his  lordship's  leave,  his  stricture  confounds 
the  province  of  the  liistorian  with  that  of  the  mere 
chronologist.  The  former  does  not  merely  detail 
events,  but  investigates  their  causes,  and  represents 
tlieir  connexion  and  influence.  It  is  not  easy  to  say 
how  he  can  do  this,  without  forming  and  expressing 
a  decided  opinion  on  them.  That  opinion  does  not 
bind  the  reader,  nor  is  the  impartiality  of  the  histo- 
rian violated,  if  facts  are  fairly  and  fully  stated.  In 
the  case  before  us,  it  may  be  farther  urged,  that  the 
word  "deserted"  not  only  conveyed  Mr.  Neal's  idea 
of  the  conduct  of  the  members  who  left  the  Parha- 
ment,  but  truly  represented  it.  They  forsook  the 
seats  to  which  they  were  elected  ;  they  left  the  post 
which  was  assigned  to  them ;  and  they  withdrew 
from  the  stage  of  debate  and  action,  to  which  the 
king's  writ  had  called,  and  to  which  the  voice 
of  their  constituents  had  sent  them.  They  were 
representatives,  chosen  to  act  in  conjunction  with 
tho  other  representatives  :  instead  of  proceeding  on 
this  principle,  they  formed  a  separate  junto  and  fac- 
tion. The  first  duty  of  a  representative  is  to  fulfil 
the  trust  reposed  hi  him.  The  word  "deserted," 
says  his  lordship,  is  a  party  word  :  grant  it.  Yet  the 
use  of  it  was  not  inconsistent  with  the  impartiality 
of  the  historian :  for  though  it  should  not  give  the 
most  favourable  idea  of  the  conduct  of  these  mem- 
bers, it  conveys  the  judgment  which  the  Parliament 
had  of  it ;  and  of  the  rectitude  of  this  judgment  the 
reader  is  still  left  to  form  his  own  sentiments.  The 
matter  at  the  time  was  considered  in  the  most  seri- 
ous light,  and  greatly  alarmed  and  distressed  all  who 
loved  the  peace  of  the  nation.— See  May's  Parlia 
mentary  History,  p.  58,  &c. — Ed. 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS. 


423 


A  week  after  the  king  was  set  down  before 
this  fortress,  and  not  before  [July  12]  the  two 
houses,  after  long  debates,  came  to  this  resolu- 
tion, that  an  army  should  be  raised  for  the  de- 
fence of  the  king  and  Parliament,  that  the  Earl 
of  Essex  should  be  captain-general,  and  the 
Earl  of  Bedford  general  of  the  horse,  who  were 
empowered  to  resist  and  oppose  with  force  all 
such  whom  they  should  find  in  arms,  putting  in 
execution  the  kmg's  commission  of  array.  The 
reasons  of  this  resolution  arising  from  the  king's 
extraordinary  preparations  for  war,  were  pub- 
lished at  the  same  time  ;  and  in  their  declara- 
tion of  August  4,  they  say,  "  that  they  would 
have  yielded  up  everything  to  the  king,  could 
they  have  been  assured  that  by  disarming  them- 
selves they  should  not  have  been  left  naked, 
while  the  military  sword  was  in  the  hands  of 
those  evil  counsellors  who,  they  had  reason  to 
fear,  had  vowed  the  destruction  of  the  two  hous- 
es, and,  through  their  sides,  of  the  Protestant 
religion  ;  but,  being  well  acquainted  with  their 
designs,  they  apprehend  that  their  duty  to  God 
and  their  country  obliges  them  to  hazard  every- 
thing for  the  maintenance  of  the  true  religion, 
the  king's  person,  honour,  and  estate,  and  the 
hberties  of  England."  On  the  9th  of  August 
the  king  proclaimed  the  Earl  of  Essex  and  all 
his  adherents  traitors,  unless  they  laid  down 
their  arms  within  six  days  ;  and  in  another 
manifesto  declared  both  houses  of  Parliament 
guilty  of  high  treason,  and  forbid  all  his  subjects 
to  yield  obedience  to  them.  The  Parliament, 
also,  on  their  part,  proclaimed  all  who  adhered 
to  the  king  in  this  cause  traitors  against  the 
Parliament  and  the  kingdom.*  August  12,  the 
ling  by  proclamation  commanded  all  his  sub- 
jects on  the  north  of  Trent,  and  within  twenty 
miles  south  of  it,  to  appear  in  arms  for  the  sup- 
pressing the  rebels  that  were  marching  against 
him ;  and  about  the  same  time  issued  out  an- 
other proclamation,  requiring  all  men  who  could 
bear  arms  to  repair  to  him  at  Nottingham,  where 
he  intended  to  set  up  his  standard  on  Monday, 
August  22.  In  the  mean  time,  his  majesty  gave 
out  new  commissions  to  augment  his  forces, 
and  marching  through  Lincoln,  took  away  the 
arms  of  the  train-bands  for  the  use  of  his  troops. 
At  length,  being  arrived  at  the  appointed  place, 
he  caused  his  standard  to  be  erected  in  the  open 
field,  on  the  outside  of  the  castle  wall,  at  Not- 
tingham, but  very  few  came  to  attend  it  ;  and 
the  weather  proving  stormy  and  tempestuous,  it 
■was  blown  down  the  same  evening,  and  could 
not  be  fixed  again  in  two  days.  Three  weeks 
after  this  [September  9],  the  Earl  of  Essex,  the 
Parliament's  general,  left  London,  to  put  him- 
self at  the  head  of  their  army  of  fifteen  thousand 
men  at  St.  Alban's.  The  king,  with  an  army  of 
equal  strength,  marched  from  Nottingham  to 
Shrewsbury,  and  having  refreshed  his  forces 
there  for  some  time,  broke  up  October  12,  in  or- 
der to  march  directly  for  London  ;  but  the  Earl 
of  Essex  putting  himself  in  the  way,  both 
armies  engaged  at  Edgehill,  near  Keinton,  in 
"Warwickshire,  on  Sunday,  October  23,  the  very 
same  day  twelvemonth  after  the  breaking  out 
of  the  Irish  massacre  ;  the  battle  continued  from 
•Uiyee  in  the  afternoon  till  night,  with  almost 
equal  advantage,  the  number  of  slain  on  both 
ades   being  about  four  thousand.      Thus  the 

*  Rapin,  vol.  li.,  p.  457,  foho  edition. 


sword  was  drawn  which  was  drenched  in  the 
blood  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  island  for  sever- 
al years,  to  the  loss  of  as  many  Protestant  lives 
as  perished  by  the  insurrection  and  massacre  of 
Ireland. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE    ST.^TE    OF    THE    CHURCH    OF    ENGLAND. THE 

RELIGIOUS  CHAR.iOTER  OF  BOTH  PARTIES, 
WITH  A  SUMMARY  OF  THE  GROUNDS  OF  THE 
CIVIL    WAR. 

We  have  already  seen  the  unsettled  state  of 
religion  upon  the  king's  progress  into  Scotland, 
with  the  complaints  of  the  Royalists  for  want  of 
decency  and  uniformity.  The  hierarchy  had 
for  some  time  been  a  dead  weight,  the  springs 
that  moved  it  being  stopped  by  the  imprison- 
ment of  the  bishops  and  the  check  that  was 
given  to  the  spiritual  courts  ;  but  now  the  whole 
fabric  was  taken  down  after  a  year,  though 
when  that  was  expired  no  other  discipline  was 
erected  in  its  room ;  nor  was  the  name,  style, 
and  dignity  of  archbishops  and  bishops  taken 
away  by  ordinance  of  Parliament  till  Septem- 
ber 5,  1646,  that  is,  till  the  war  was  over,  and 
the  king  a  prisoner.  In  this  interval  there 
was  properly  no  established  form  of  govern- 
ment, the  clergy  being  permitted  to  read  more 
or  less  of  the  liturgy  as  they  pleased,*  and  to 
govern  their  parishes  according  to  their  dis- 
cretion. The  vestments  were  left  indifferent, 
some  wearing  them,  and  others,  in  imitation  of 
the  foreign  Protestants,  making  use  of  a  cloak. 
February  2,  1642-3,  the  Commons  ordered  that 
the  statute  of  the  University  of  Canobridge, 
which  imposes  the  use  of  the  surplice  upon  all 
students  and  graduates,  should  not  be  pressed, 
as  being  against  the  law  and  liberty  of  the  sub- 
ject ;  and  three  days  after,  they  made  the  same 
order  for  the  schools  of  Westminster,  Eton, 
and  Winchester.  Bishop  Kennet  says  that 
tithes  were  denied  to  those  who  read  common 
prayer  ;  and  it  is  as  true,  that  they  were  with- 
held from  those  that  did  not  read  it ;  for  many, 
taking  advantage  of  the  confusion  of  the  times, 
eased  themselves  of  a  burden  for  which  some 
few  pleaded  conscience,  and  others  the  uncer- 
tain title  of  those  that  claimed  them. 

Though  the  Parliament  and  Puritan  clergy 
were  averse  to  cathedral- worship,  that  is,  to  a 
variety  of  musical  instruments,  choristers,  sing- 
ing of  prayers,  anthems,  &c.,  as  unsuitable  to 
the  solemnity  and  simplicity  of  Divine  service, 
yet  was  it  not  prohibited  ;  and  though  the  rev- 
enues of  prebendaries  and  deans,  &c.,  had  been 
voted  useless,  and  more  fit  to  be  applied  to  the 
maintenance  of  preaching  ministers,  yet  the 
stipends  of  those  who  did  not  take  part  with 
the  king  were  not  sequestered  till  the  latter 
end  of  the  year  1645,  when  it  was  ordained, 
"  that  the  deans  and  prebendaries  of  Westmin- 
ster who  absented  themselves,  or  were  delin- 

*  Here,  as  Dr.  Grey  observes,  is  an  inaccuracy. 
The  use  of  the  liturgy  was  not  permitted  during  the 
whole  of  this  interval,  as  appears  by  Mr.  Neal's  own 
account,  vol.  iii. ;  for  it  was  prohibited,  and  the  di- 
rectory established  in  its  room,  previously  to  the 
abolition  of  the  episcopal  titles  and  dignity,  by  ordi- 
nances of  Parliament  on  the  3d  of  January,  1644-5, 
and  23d  of  August,  1645,— Ed. 


424 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


quents,  or  had  not  taken  tlie  covenant,  should 
be  suspended  from  their  several  offices  and 
places,  except  Mr.  Osbaldcston ;"  but  the 
nanaes,  titles,  and  offices  of  deans  and  chapters 
were  not  abolished  till  after  the  king's  death,  in 
the  year  1649,  the  Parliament  proceeding  with 
some  caution  as  long  as  there  was  any  pros- 
pect of  an  accommodation  with  the  king.  In- 
deed, the  beauty  of  the  cathedrals  was  in  some 
measure  defaced  about  tiiis  time,  by  the  ordi- 
nance for  the  removing  crucifixes,  images,  pic- 
tures, and  other  monuments  of  superstition,  out 
of  churches.  Many  fine  paintings  in  the  win- 
dows and  on  the  walls  were  broken  and  de- 
stroyed, without  a  decent  repair  of  the  damage. 
In  Lambeth  Chapel  the  organ  was  taken  down 
[November  25].  The  following  summer,  the 
paintings,  pictures,  superstitious  ornaments, 
and  images  were  defaced  or  removed  out  of 
the  Cathedrals  of  Canterbury,  Rochester,  Chi- 
chester, Winchester,  Worcester,  Lincoln,  Litch- 
field, Salisbury,  Gloucester,  St.  Paul's  in  Lon- 
don, the  Collegiate  Church  of  Westminster, 
&c.  "  But,"  says  my  author,  "  I  do  not  find 
that  they  then  seized  the  revenues  and  estates 
of  the  cathedrals,  but  contented  themselves 
with  plundering  and  imprisoning  some  of  the 
principal  members,  and  dispersing  many  of  the 
rest ;  and  several  of  those  places  coming  after- 
ward into  his  majesty's  hands,  the  service  did 
not  wholly  cease,  nor  were  the  doors  of  those 
stately  fabrics  finally  closed  at  that  time." 

Though  the  discipline  of  the  Church  was  at 
an  end,  there  was,  nevertheless,  an  uncommon 
spirit  of  devotion  among  the  people  in  the  Par- 
liament quarters  ;  the  Lord's  Day  was  observed 
with  remarkable  strictness,  the  churches  being 
crowded  with  numerous  and  attentive  hearers 
three  or  four  times  in  the  day ;  the  officers  of 
the  peace  patrolled  the  streets  and  shut  up  all 
public-houses  ;  there  was  no  travelling  on  the 
road,  or  walking  in  the  fields,  except  in  cases 
of  absolute  necessity.  Religious  exercises  were 
set  up  in  private  families,  as  reading  the  Scrip- 
tures, family  prayer,  repeating  sermons,  and 
singing  of  psalms,  which  was  so  universal  that 
you  might  walk  through  the  city  of  London  on 
the  evening  of  the  Lord's  Day  without  seeing 
an  idle  person,  or  hearing  anything  but  the  voice 
of  prayer  or  praise  from  churches  and  private 
houses. 

As  is  usual  in  times  of  public  calamity,  so  at 
the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war,  all  public  di- 
versions and  recreations  were  laid  aside.  By 
an  ordinance  of  September  2,  1642,  it  was  de- 
clared, that "  whereas  public  sports  do  not  agree 
with  public  calamities,  nor  public  stage-plays 
with  the  seasons  of  humiliation,  this  being  an 
exercise  of  sad  and  pious  solemnity,  the  other 
being  spectacles  of  pleasure  too  commonly  ex- 
pressing lascivious  mirth  and  levity,  it  is  there- 
fore ordained  that,  while  these  sad  causes 
and  set  times  of  humiliation  continue,  public 
stage-plays  shall  cease  and  be  forborne ;  in- 
stead of  which  are  recommended  to  the  people 
of  this  land  the  profitable  duties  of  repentance, 
and  making  their  peace  with  God."* 

*  Rushworlh,  vol.  ii.,  part  iii.,  p.  1.  It  is  worthy 
oi  notice  how  decorous  and  truly  respectable  are  all 
the  public  acts  of  the  Parliament,  and  how  little  they 
appear  like  the  productions  of  enthusiasts  or  fanat- 
ics.— C. 


The  set  times  of  humiliation  mentioned  in 
the  ordinance  refers  to  the  monthly  fast  ap- 
pointed by  the  king  at  the  request  of  the  Par- 
liament [January  8,  1641],  on  account  of  the 
Irish  insurrection  and  massacre,  to  be  observed 
every  last  Wednesday  in  the  month  as  long  as 
the  calamities  of  that  nation  should  require  it. 
But  when  the  king  set  up  his  standard  at  Not- 
tingham, the  two  houses,  apprehending  that 
England  was  now  to  be  the  seat  of  war,  pub- 
lished an  ordinance  for  the  more  strict  obser- 
vation of  this  fast,  in  order  to  implore  a  Divine 
blessing  upon  the  consultations  of  Parliament, 
and  to  deprecate  the  calamities  that  threatened 
this  nation.  All  preachers  were  enjoined  to 
give  notice  of  it  from  the  pulpit  the  preceding 
Lord's  Day,  and  to  exhort  their  hearers  to  a 
solemn  and  religious  observation  of  the  whole 
day,  by  a  devout  attendance  on  the  service  of 
God  in  some  church  or  chapel,  by  abstinence, 
and  by  refraining  from  worldly  business  and 
diversions :  all  public-houses  are  likewise  for- 
bid to  sell  any  sorts  of  liquors  (except  in  cases 
of  necessity)  till  the  public  exercises  and  reli- 
gious duties  of  the  day  were  ended ;  which 
continued  with  little  or  no  intermission  from 
nine  in  the  morning  till  four  in  the  afternoon, 
during  which  time  the  people  were  at  their  de- 
votions, and  the  ministers  engaged  in  one  part 
or  other  of  Divine  worship. 

But,  besides  the  monthly  fast,  the  opening  of 
the  war  gave  rise  to  another  exercise  of  prayer 
and  exhortation  to  repentance  for  an  hour 
every  morning  in  the  week.  Most  of  the  citi- 
zens of  London  having  some  near  relation  or 
friend  in  the  army  of  the  Earl  of  Essex,  so 
many  bills  were  sent  up  to  the  pulpit  every 
Lord's  Day  for  their  preservation,  that  the  mio- 
ister  had  neither  time  to  read  them  nor  to  rec- 
ommend their  cases  to  God  in  prayer  ;  it  was 
therefore  agreed,  by  some  London  divines,  to 
separate  an  hour  for  this  purpose  every  mora- 
ing,  one  half  to  be  spent  in  prayer,  and  the 
other  in  a  suitable  exhortation  to  the  people. 
The  Reverend  Mr.  Case,  minister  of  St.  Marj 
Magdalen,  Milk-street,  began  it  in  his  churcfe 
at  seven  in  the  morning,  and  when  it  had  con- 
tinued there  a  month,  it  was  removed  by  turoa 
to  other  churches  at  a  distance,  for  the  accom- 
modation of  the  several  parts  of  the  city,  and 
was  called  the  morning  exercise.  The  service 
was  performed  by  divers  ministers,  and  earnest 
intercessions  were  made,  in  the  presence  of  a 
numerous  and  crowded  audience,  for  the  wel- 
fare of  the  public  as  well  as  particular  cases. 
When  the  heat  of  the  war  was  over  it  became 
a  casuistical  lecture,  and  was  carried  on  by 
the  most  learned  and  able  divines  till  the  res- 
toration of  King  Charles  II.  Their  sermons 
were  afterward  published  in  several  volun^es 
quarto,  under  the  title  of  the  Morning  Exer- 
cises,* each  sermon  being  the  resolution  of 
some  practical  case  of  conscience.     This  lec- 


*  These  Morning  Exercises  are  now  to  be  procured 
but  rarely ;  they  consist  of  seven  small  quarto  vol- 
'imes,  including  a  supplemental  one,  and  are  in  great 
demand.  They  are  regarded  as  furnishing  one  of 
the  best  compends  of  theology  in  the  English  lan- 
guage. No  library  of  any  pretensions  should  be 
without  this  admirable  work  ;  and  although  it  is 
very  expensive,  it  will  repay  the  owner.  The  unri- 
valled volume  on  Popery  is  about  to  be  republished 
at  Boston. — C. 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


425 


ture,  though  in  a  different  form,  is  continued 
among  the  Protestant  Dissenters  to  this  day. 

Some  time  after,  another  morning  lecture  was 
set  up  in  the  abbey-church  of  Westminster,  be- 
tween the  hours  of  six  and  eight,  for  the  bene- 
fit of  that  part  of  the  town,  and  especially  of 
the  members  of  Parliament  ;  it  was  carried  on 
by  Dr.  Staunton,  Mr.  Nye,  Marshal,  Palmer, 
Herle,  Whitaker,  and  Hill,  all  members  of  the 
Assembly  of  Divines.  In  short,  there  were 
lectures  and  sermons  every  day  in  the  week  in 
one  church  or  another,  which  were  well  at- 
tended, and  with  great  appearance  of  zeal  and 
affection.  Men  were  not  backward  to  rise  be- 
fore day,  and  go  to  places  of  worship  at  a  great 
distance,  for  the  benefit  of  hearing  the  Word  of 
God.  Such  was  the  devotion  of  the  city  of  Lon- 
don and  parts  adjacent  in  these  dangerous  times ! 

Nor  was  the  reformation  of  manners  less  re- 
markable ;  the  laws  against  vice  and  profane- 
ness  were  so  strict,  and  so  rigorously  put  in 
execution,  that  wickedness  was  forced  to  hide 
itself  in  corners.  There  were  no  gaming- 
houses, or  houses  of  pleasure  ;  no  profane 
swearing,  drunkenness,  or  any  kind  of  debauch- 
ery, to  be  seen  or  heard  in  the  streets.  It  is 
commonly  said  that  the  religion  of  these  times 
was  no  better  than  hypocrisy  and  dissimula- 
tion ;  and,  without  all  doubt,  there  were  num- 
bers of  men  who  made  the  form  of  godliness  a 
cloak  to  dishonesty ;  nay,  it  is  probable  that 
hypocrisy,  and  other  secret  immoralities,  might 
be  the  prevailing  sins  of  the  age,  all  open  vices 
being  suppressed  ;  but  still  I  am  persuaded  that 
the  body  of  the  people  were  sincerely  religious, 
and,  with  all  their  faults,  I  should  rejoice  to 
see,  in  our  days,  such  an  appearance  of  religion, 
and  all  kinds  of  vice  and  profaneness  so  effect- 
ually discountenanced. 

If  we  go  from  the  city  to  the  camp  of  the 
Earl  of  Essex,  we  shall  find  no  less  probity  of 
manners  among  them,  most  of  his  soldiers  be- 
ing men  who  did  not  fight  so  much  for  pay  as 
for  religion  and  the  liberties  of  their  country. 
Mr.  Whitelocke  observes,*  "  that  Colonel  Crom- 
well's regiment  of  horse  were  most  of  them 
freeholders'  sons,  who  engaged  in  the  war  upon 
principles  of  conscience  ;  and  that,  being  well 
armed  within  by  the  satisfaction  of  their  con- 
sciences, and  without  with  good  iron  arms,  they 
would  as  one  man  stand  firmly  and  charge  des- 
perately." The  same  author!  adds,  "  that  Col- 
onel Wilson,  who  was  heir  to  an  estate  of 
£2000  a  year,  and  was  the  only  son  of  his  fa- 
ther, put  himself  at  the  head  of  a  gallant  regi- 
ment of  citizens,  who  listed  themselves  in  the 
Parliament's  service  purely  upon  conscience  ; 
this,"  says  he,  "  was  the  condition  of  many 
others  also  of  like  quality  and  fortune  in  those 
times,  who  had  such  an  affection  for  their  reli- 
gion, and  the  rights  and  liberties  of  their  coun- 
try, that  'pro  aris  et  focis  they  were  willing  to 
undergo  any  hardships  or  dangers,  and  thought 
no  service  too  much  or  too  great  for  their  coun- 
try." The  most  eminent  divines  served  as 
chaplains  to  the  several  regiments ;  Dr.  Bur- 
ges  and  Mr.  Marshall  were  chaplains  to  the 
Earl  of  Essex's  regiment ;  Dr.  Downing  to 
Lord  Roberts's  ;  Mr.  Sedgwick  to  Colonel  Hol- 
lis's ;  Dr.  Spurstow  to  Mr.  Hampden's  ;  Mr. 
Aske  to  Lord  Brooks's,  &c.     While  these  con- 


*  Memorials,  p.  68. 
Vol.  I.— H  h  h 


t  Ibid.,  p.  72. 


tinued,  none  of  the  enthusiastic  follies,  that 
were  afterward  a  reproach  to  the  army,  discov- 
ered themselves.  There  were  among  them 
some  who  afterward  joined  the  sectaries  ;  some 
who  were  mercenaries,  and  (if  we  may  believe 
his  majesty's  declaration  after  the  battle  of 
Edgehill)  some  who  were  disguised  papists  ; 
but,  upon  the  whole,  Lord  Clarendon  confesses, 
there  ivas  an  exact  discipline  in  the  army ;  that 
they  neither  plundered  nor  robbed  the  country  ; 
all  complaints  of  this  kind  being  redressed  in 
the  best  manner,  and  the  offenders  punished. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Baxter,  who  was  himself  in  the 
army,  gives  this  account  of  them  :*  "The  gen- 
erality of  those  people  throughout  England  who 
went  by  the  name  of  Puritans,  Precisians,  Pres- 
byterians, who  followed  sermons,  prayed  in 
their  families,  read  books  of  devotion,  and  were 
strict  observers  of  the  Sabbath,  being  avowed 
enemies  to  swearing,  drunkenness,  and  all 
kinds  of  profaneness,  adhered  to  the  Parlia- 
ment :  with  these  were  mixed  some  young 
persons  of  warm  heads  and  enthusiastic  prin- 
ciples, who  laid  the  foundation  of  those  sects 
and  divisions  which  afterward  spread  over  the 
whole  nation,  and  were  a  disgrace  to  the  cause 
which  the  ParUament  had  espoused.  Of  the 
clergy,  those  who  were  of  the  sentiments  of 
Calvin,  who  were  constant  preachers  of  the 
Word  of  God  themselves,  and  encouragers  of  it 
in  others ;  who  were  zealous  against  popery, 
and  wished  for  a  reformation  of  the  discipline 
of  the  Church,  were  on  the  Parliament's  side. 
Among  these  were  some  of  the  elder  clergy, 
who  were  preferred  before  the  rise  of  Arch- 
bishop Laud  ;  all  the  deprived  and  silenced 
ministers,  with  the  whole  body  of  lecturers  and 
warm  popular  preachers  both  in  town  and 
country  ;  these  drew  after  them  great  numbers 
of  the  more  serious  and  devout  people,  who 
were  not  capable  of  judging  between  the  king 
and  Parliament,  but  followed  their  spiritual 
guides  from  a  veneration  that  they  had  for  their 
integrity  and  piety.  Many  went  unto  the  Par- 
liament, and  filled  up  their  armies  afterward, 
merely  because  they  heard  men  swear  for  the 
common  prayer  and  bishops,  and  heard  others 
pray  that  were  against  them  :  because  they 
heard  the  king's  soldiers,  wath  horrid  oaths, 
abuse  the  name  of  God,  and  saw  them  live  in 
debauchery,  while  the  Parliament  soldiers  flock- 
ed to  sermons,  talked  of  religion,  and  prayed 
and  sung  psalms  together  on  their  guards.  And 
all  the  sober  men  that  I  was  acquainted  with, 
who  were  against  the  Parliament,"  says  Mr. 
Baxter,  "  used  to  say  the  king  had  the  better 
cause,  but  the  Parliament  had  the  better  men."t 
The  Puritan  [or  Parliament]  clergy  were 
zealous  Calvinists,  and  having  been  prohibited 
for  some  years  from  preaching  against  the  Ar- 
minians,  they  now  pointed  all  their  artillery 
against  them,  insisting  upon  little  else  in  their 

*  Baxter's  Life,  p.  26,  31,  33,  &c.,  fol. 

t  To  the  authorities  quoted  by  Mr.  Neal,  Bishop 
Warburton  opposes  that  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  who,  in 
his  speech  to  his  Parliament,  represented  the  Presby- 
terian armies  of  the  Parliament  as  chiefly  made  up, 
before  the  self-denying  ordinance,  of  decayed  "  serv- 
ing-men, broken  tapsters,  and  men  without  any  sense 
of  religion  ;  and  that  it  was  his  business  to  inspire 
that  spirit  of  reUgion  into  his  troops  on  the  reform,  to 
oppose  the  principle  of  honour  in  the  king's  troops, 
made  up  of  gentleman." — Ed. 


426 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


sermons  but  the  doctrines  of  predestination, 
justification  by  faith  alone,  salvation  by  free 
grace,  and  the  inability  of  man  to  do  that  which 
is  good.  The  duties  of  the  second  table  were  too 
much  neglected  ;  from  a  strong  aversion  to  Ar- 
minianism,  these  divines,  unhappily,  made  way 
for  Antinomianism,  verging  from  one  extreme 
to  another,  till,  at  length,  some  of  the  weaker 
sort  were  lost  in  the  wild  mazes  of  enthusias- 
tic dreams  and  visions,  and  others,  from  false 
principles,  pretended  to  justify  the  hidden  works 
of  dishonesty.  The  Assembly  of  Divines  did 
what  they  could  to  put  a  stop  to  the  growth  of 
these  pernicious  errors  ;  but  the  great  scarcity 
of  preachers  of  a  learned  education,  who  took 
part  with  the  Parliament,  left  some  pulpits  in 
the  country  empty,  and  the  people  to  be  led 
aside,  in  many  places,  by  every  bold  pretender 
to  inspiration. 

"  The  generality  of  the  stricter  and  more  dil- 
igent sort  of  preachers,"  says  Mr.  Baxter,  "join- 
ed the  Parliament,  and  took  shelter  in  their 
garrisons  ;  but  they  were  almost  all  conforma- 
ble ministers  ;  the  laws  and  the  bishops  having 
cast  out  the  Nonconformists  long  enough  be- 
fore, and  not  left  above  two  in  a  county : 
those  who  made  up  the  Assembly  of  Divines, 
and  who,  through  the  land,  were  the  honour  of 
the  Parliament  party,  were  almost  all  such  as 
till  then  had  conformed,  and  took  the  ceremo- 
nies to  be  lawful  in  cases  of  necessity,  but 
longed  to  have  that  necessity  removed."  He 
admits  "that  the  younger  and  less  experienced 
ministers  in  the  country  were  against  amend- 
ing the  bishops  and  liturgy,  apprehending  this 
was  but  gilding  over  their  danger ;  but  that 
this  was  not  the  sense  of  the  Parliament,  nor 
of  their  principal  divines.  The  matter  of  bish- 
ops or  no  bishops,"  says  he,  "  was  not  the 
main  thing,  except  with  the  Scots,  for  thou- 
sands that  wished  for  good  bishops  were  on  the 
Parliament  side.  Almost  all  those  afterward 
called  Presbyterians,  and  all  that  learned  and 
pious  synod  at  Westminster,  except  a  very  few, 
had  been  Conformists,  and  kept  up  an  honour- 
able esteem  for  those  bishops  that  they  thought 
religious,  as  Archbishop  Usher,  Bishop  Dave- 
nant,  Hall,  Moreton,  &c.  These  would  have 
been  content  with  an  amendment  of  the  hierar- 
chy, and  went  into  the  Parliament  because 
they  apprehended  the  interests  of  religion  and 
divil  liberty  were  on  that  side."* 

But  the  political  principles  of  these  divines 
gave  the  greatest  disgust  to  the  Royalists  ;  they 
encouraged  the  people  to  stand  by  the  Parlia- 
ment, and  preached  up  the  lawfulness  of  de- 
fending their  religion  and  liberties  against  the 
king's  evil  counsellors.  They  were  for  a  limit- 
ed monarchy,  agreeable  to  our  present  happy 
Constitution,  for  which,  and  for  what  they  ap- 
prehended the  purity  of  the  Protestant  religion, 
they  contended,  and  for  nothing  more  ;  but  for 
this  they  have  suffered  in  their  moral  charac- 
ter, and  have  been  left  upon  record  as  rebels, 
traitors,  enemies  to  God  and  their  king,  &,c.t 
His  majesty,  in  one  of  his  declarations,  calls 
,  them  "  ignorant  in  learning,  turbulent  and  sedi- 
tious in  disposition,  scandalous  in  life,  uncon- 
formable to  the  laws  of  the  land,  libellers,  revi- 


*  Baxter's  Life,  p.  33,  35,  37. 

t  Husband's  Collections,  p.  514,  &c. 


lers  both  of  Church  and  State,  and  preachers  of 
sedition  and  treason  itself"  Lord  Clarendon 
says,  "  that  under  the  notion  of  reformation, 
and  extirpating  popery,  they  infused  seditious 
inclinations  into  the  hearts  of  men  against  the 
present  government  of  the  Church  and  State  ; 
that  when  the  army  was  raised  they  contained 
themselves  within  no  bounds,  and  inveighed  as 
freely  against  the  person  of  the  king  as  they 
had  before  against  the  worse  malignants,  pro- 
fanely and  blasphemously  applying  what  had 
been  spoken  by  the  prophets  against  the  most 
wicked  and  impious  kings,  to  stir  up  the  people 
against  their  most  gracious  sovereign."  His 
lordship  adds,  "  that  the  Puritan  clergy  were 
the  chief  incendiaries,  and  had  the  chief  influ- 
ence in  promoting  the  civil  war.  The  Kirk 
reformation  in  Scotland  and  in  this  kingdom,'" 
says  his  lordship,  "  was  driven  on  by  no  men 
so  much  as  those  of  their  clergy  ;  and,  without 
doubt,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  never  liad 
such  an  influence  over  the  councils  at  court  as 
Dr.  Burges  and  Mr.  Marshal  had  then  on  the 
houses  ;  nor  did  all  the  bishops  of  Scotland  to- 
gether so  much  meddle  in  temporal  affairs  as 
Mr.  Henderson  had  done."* 

Strange !  when  the  Scots  bishops  were  ad- 
vanced to  the  highest  posts  of  honour  and  civil 
trust  in  that  kingdom,  and  when  Archbishop 
Laud  had  the  direction  of  all  public  affairs  in 
England  for  twelve  years  together.  Was  not 
the  archbishop  at  the  head  of  the  council-table, 
the  Star  Chamber,  and  the  Court  of  High  Com- 
mission ^  Was  not  his  grace  the  contriver  or 
promoter  of  all  the  monopolies  and  oppressions 
that  brought  on  the  civil  war  1  What  could  the 
Puritan  clergy  do  like  this  1  Had  they  any  pla- 
ces of  profit  or  trust  under  the  government,  or 
any  commissions  in  the  ecclesiastical  courts  1 
Did  they  amass  to  themselves  great  riches  or 
large  estates !  No  ;  they  renounced  all  civil 
power  and  jurisdiction,  as  well  as  lordly  titles 
and  dignities,  and  were,  for  the  most  part,  con- 
tent with  a  very  moderate  share  of  the  world. 
If  they  served  the  Parliament  cause,  it  was  in 
visiting  their  parishioners,  and  by  their  sermons 
from  the  pulpits :  here  they  spent  their  zeal, 
praying  and  preaching  as  men  who  were  in 
earnest  for  what  they  apprehended  the  cause 
of  God  and  their  country.  But  it  is  easy  to 
remark,  that  the  noble  historian  observes  no 
measure  with  the  Puritan  clergy  when  they  fall 
in  his  way. 

Nor  were  the  Parliament  divines  the  chief 
incendiaries  between  the  king  and  people,  if  we 
may  believe  Mr.  Baxter,  who  knew  the  Puri- 
tans of  those  times  much  better  than  his  lord- 
ship. "  It  is  not  true,"  says  this  divine,!  "  that 
they  stirred  up  the  people  to  war ;  there  was 
hardly  one  such  man  in  a  county,  though  they 
disliked  the  late  innovations,  and  were  glad  the 
Parliament  were  attempting  a  reformation." 
They  might  inveigh  too  freely  in  their  sermons 
against  the  vices  of  the  clergy  and  the  severi- 
ties of  the  late  times,  but  in  all  the  first  ser- 
mons that  I  have  read.J  for  some  years  after 


*  Vol.  1.,  p.  302.  t  Baxter's  Life,  p.  34. 

t  Dr.  Grey,  who  nnstakes  this  for  the  assertion  of 
Baxter  instead  of  Mr.  Neal,  opposes  to  it  his  own  re- 
mark on  the  fast-sermons  between  the  year  1610  and 
the  death  of  tire  king :  from  which,  he  says,  he  could 
produce  hundreds  of  instances  for  the  disproof  of 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


427 


the  beginning  of  the  war,  I  have  met  with  no 
reflections  upon  the  person  of  the  king,  but  a 
rehgious  observation  of  that  pohtical  maxim. 
The  king  can  do  no  wrong. 

His  lordship  adds,  that  "  they  profanely  and 
blasphemously  applied  what  had  been  spoken 
by  the  prophets  against  the  most  wicked  and 
most  impious  kings,  to  stir  up  the  people  against 
their  most  gracious  sovereign.  If  this  were 
really  the  case,  yet  the  king's  divines  came  not 
behind  them  in  applying  the  absolute  dominion 
of  the  kings  of  Judah  in  support  of  the  unbound- 
ed prerogatives  of  the  kings  of  England,  and  in 
cursing  the  Parliament,  and  pronouncing  dam- 
nation upon  all  who  died  in  their  service.  I 
could  produce  a  large  catalogue  of  shocking  ex- 
pressions to  this  purpose,  but  I  wish  such  of- 
fences buried  in  oblivion,  and  we  ought  not  to 
form  our  judgments  of  great  bodies  of  men  from 
the  excesses  of  a  few. 

We  shall  have  an  opportunity  hereafter  to 
compare  the  learning  of  the  Puritan  divines* 
with  the  Royalists,  when  it  will  appear  that 
there  were  men  of  no  less  eminence  for  litera- 
ture with  the  Parliament  than  with  the  king,  as 
the  Seldens,  the  Lightfoots,  the  Cudvvorths,  the 
Pococks,  the  Whichcotes,  the  Arrowsmiths, 
&c.  ;  but  as  to  their  morals,  their  very  adver- 
saries will  witness  for  them.  Dr.  G.  Bates,  an 
eminent  Royalist,  in  his  Elenchus,  gives  them 
this  character :  "  Moribus  severis  essent,  in 
concionibus  vehemenles,  precibus  etpiis  officiis 
prompti,  uno  verbo  ad  caetera  boni,"  i.  e.,  "They 
were  men  of  severe  and  strict  morals,  warm 
and  affectionate  preachers,  fervent  in  prayer, 
ready  to  all  pious  offices,  and,  in  a  word,  other- 
wise [that  is,  abating  their  political  principles] 
good  men."  And  yet,  with  all  their  goodness, 
they  were  unacquainted  with  the  rights  of  con- 
science, and  when  they  got  the  spiritual  sword 


what  is  said  above.  As  a  specimen,  he  quotes  many 
passages  from  sermons  of  the  most  popular  and  lead- 
ing men  of  those  times.  Some  of  these  passages,  it 
appears  to  me,  point  strongly  at  the  king,  and  go  to 
prove  that  royal  personages  are  amenable  for  evil 
conduct.  But,  besides  that  they  are  given  detached 
from  their  connexion,  it  is  to  be  considered,  that  if 
Mr.  Neal  had  read  the  same  discourses,  they  would 
affect  liis  mind  differently  from  what  they  did  Dr. 
Grey,  who,  through  all  his  animadversions,  appears 
to  have  looked  upon  Charles  as  an  immaculate 
prince,  and  to  have  been  a  disciple  to  the  advocates 
for  passive  obedience  and  nonresistance. — Ed. 

*  Mr.  Neal  is  here  charged  with  contradicting 
what  he  had  said  p.  159,  where  he  speaks  of  "  the 
great  scarcity  of  preachers  of  a  learned  education." 
This  is  said  when  Mr.  Neal  is  representing  the  diffi- 
culty the  Assembly  of  Divines  had  to  supply  the  pul- 
pits through  the  country.    This  might  be  the  case 
when  speaking  of  the  kingdom  at  large,  and  j'et  there 
might  be  some  of  no  less  eminence  for  literature  than 
any  who  sided  with  the  king.     Mr.  Neal  gives  the 
names  of  such ;  but  Bishop  Warburton  will  not  allow 
that  they  were  of  the  Parliament  party  :  "  the  most 
that  can  be  said  of  them  is,"  he  adds,  "  that  they  sub- 
mitted to  the  power."   But  their  acting  with  the  As- 
sembly of  Divines  was  certainly  more  than  a  sub- 
mission to  power — it  was  taking  a  lead  in  the  affairs 
of  the  Parliament ;  this,  if  the  cause  had  been  repug- 
nant to  their  principles,  they  might,  and  as  honest 
men  would,  have  declined  doing,  as  did  Bishop  Ush- 
er, Dr.  Holdsworth,  and  the  other  Episcopalian  di- 
vines, who  were  also  chosen  to  attend  the  assembly, 
but  who  stayed  away  from  it,  because  it  was  not,  in 
their  opinion,  a  legal  convocation. — Ed. 


into  their  hands,  managed  it  very  little  better 
than  their  predecessors  the  bishops.* 

The  clergy  who  espoused  the  king's  cause 
were  the  bench  of  bishops,  the  whole  body  of 
the  cathedral,  and  the  major  part  of  the  paro- 
chial clergy,  with  the  heads  and  most  of  the  fel- 
lows of  both  universities,  among  whom  were 
men  of  the  first  rank  for  learning,  politeness, 
piety,  and  probity  of  manners,  as  Archbishop 
Usher,  Bishop  Hall,  Moreton,  Westfield,  Brown- 
rigge,  Prideaux,  Dr.  Hammond,  Saunderson, 
&c.,  who  joined  the  king,  not  merely  for  the 
sake  of  their  preferments,  but  because  they  be- 
lieved the  unlawfulness  of  subjects  resisting 
their  sovereign  in  any  case  whatsoever.  Among 
the  parochial  clergy  were  men  of  no  less  name 
and  character.  Lord  Clarendont  says,  "that 
if  the  sermons  of  those  times  preached  at  court 
were  collected  together  and  published,  the  world 
would  receive  the  best  bulk  of  orthodox  divin- 
ity, profound  learning,  convincing  reason,  nat- 
ural, powerful  eloquence,  and  admirable  devo- 
tion, that  hath  been  communicated  in  any  age 
since  the  apostles'  time."  And  yet,  in  the  very 
same  page,  he  adds,  "  There  was  sometimes 
preached  there  matter  very  unfit  for  the  place, 
and  scandalous  for  the  persons."  I  submit  this 
paragraph  to  the  reader's  judgment ;  for  I  must 
confess,  that  after  having  read  over  several  of 
these  court-sermons,  I  have  not  been  able  to 
discover  all  that  learning  and  persuasive  elo- 
quence which  his  lordship  admires ;  nor  can 
much  be  said  for  their  orthodoxy,  if  the  Thirty- 
nine  Articles  be  the  standard.  But  whatever 
decency  was  observed  at  court,  there  was  hard- 
ly a  sermon  preached  by  the  inferior  clergy 
within  the  king'^  quarters,  wherein  the  Parlia- 
ment divines  were  not  severely  exposed  and 
ridiculed  under  the  character  of  Puritans,  Pre- 
cisians, Formalists,  Sabbatarians,  canting  hyp- 
ocrites, &c.  Such  was  the  sharpness  of  men's 
spirits  on  both  sides  ! 

Among  the  country  clergy  there  was  great 
room  for  complaints,  many  of  them  being  plu- 
ralists,  nonresidents,  ignorant  and  illiterate, 
negligent  of  their  cures,  seldom  or  never  visit- 
ing their  parishioners,  or  discharging  any  more 
of  their  function  than  would  barely  satisfy  the 
law.  They  took  advantage  of  the  Book  of  Sports 
to  attend  their  parishioners  to  their  wakes  and 
revels,  by  which  means  many  of  them  became 
scandalously  immoral  in  their  conversations. 
Even  Dr.  Walker  admits  that  there  were  among 
them  men  of  wicked  lives,  and  such  as  were  a 
reproach  and  scandal  to  their  function  ;  the  par- 
ticulars of  which  had  better  have  been  buried 
than  left  upon  record. t 

The  common  people  that  filled  up  the  king's 
army  were  of  the  looser  sort ;  and  even  the 
chief  officers,  as  Lord  Goring,  Granville,  Wil- 
mot,  and  others,  were  men  of  profligate  lives, 
and  made  a  jest  of  religion;  the  private  senti- 
nels were  soldiers  of  fortune,  and  not  having 
their  regular  pay,  lived  for  the  most  part  upon 
free  plunder.  When  they  took  possession  of  a 
town,  they  rifled  the  houses  of  all  who  were 
called  Puritans,  and  turned  their  families  out  ol 
doors.  Mr.  Baxter  says,  "that  when  he  lived 
at  Coventry,  after  the  battle  of  Edgehill,  there 

*  See  also  the  testimony  of  Wood  and  others. — C 

t  Vol.  i.,  p.  77. 

i  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  p.  72. 


428 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS. 


were  above  thirty  worthy  ministers  in  that  city 
who  had  fled  thither  for  refuge  from  the  soldiers 
and  popular  fury,  as  he  himself  also  had  done, 
though  they  had  never  meddled  in  the  wars. 
Among  these  were  the  Reverend  Mr.  Vines, 
Mr.  Anthony  Burgess,  Mr.  Burdal,  Mr.  Brom- 
shil,  Dr.  Bryan,  Grew,  Craddock,  and  others. 
And  here,"  says  he,  "  I  must  repeat  the  great 
cause  of  the  Parliament's  strength  and  of  the 
king's  ruin :  the  debauched  rabble,  encouraged 
by  the  gentry,  and  seconded  by  the  common 
soldiers  of  his  army,  took  all  that  were  called 
Puritans  for  their  enemies  ;  so  that  if  any  man 
was  noted  for  a  strict  and  famous  preacher,  or 
for  a  man  of  a  precise  and  pious  life,  he  was 
plundered,  abused,  and  put  in  danger  of  his  life  ; 
if  a  man  prayed  in  his  family,  or  was  heard  to 
repeat  a  sermon  or  sing  a  psalm,  they  present- 
ly cried  out  rebels,  roundheads,  and  all  their 
money  and  goods  proved  guilty,  however  inno- 
cent they  were  themselves.  Upon  my  certain 
knowledge,  it  was  this  that  iilled  the  armies 
and  garrisons  of  the  Parliament  with  sober  and 
pious  men.  Thousands  had  no  mind  to  meddle 
in  the  wars,  but  to  live  peaceably  at  home,  if 
the  rage  of  the  soldiers  and  drunkards  would 
have  suffered  them.  Some  stayed  at  home  till 
they  had  been  imprisoned ;  some  till  they  had 
been  plundered  twice  or  thrice  over,  and  had 
nothing  left ;  others  were  quite  tired  out  with 
the  insolence  of  their  neighbours,  with  being 
quartered  upon,  and  put  in  continual  danger  of 
their  lives,  and  so  they  sought  refuge  in  the 
Parliament  garrisons."* 

This  was  so  notorious,  that  at  length  it  came 
to  the  king's  ear,  who,  out  of  mere  compassion 
to  his  distressed  subjects,  issued  out  a  procla- 
mation, bearing  date  November  25,  1642,  for 
the  better  government  of  his  army  ;  the  pream- 
ble of  which  sets  forth,  "  that  his  majesty,  hav- 
ing taken  into  his  princely  consideration  the 
great  misery  and  ruin  of  his  subjects,  by  the 
'plundering,  robbing,  and  spoiling  of  their  hous- 
es, and  taking  from  them  their  money,  plate, 
household-stuff,  cattle,  and  other  goods,  under 
pretence  of  their  being  disaffected  to  us  and  our 
service,  and  these  unlawful  and  unjust  actions 
done  by  divers  soldiers  of  our  army,  and  others 
sheltering  themselves  under  that  title  ;  his  maj- 
esty, detesting  such  barbarous  proceedings,  for- 
bids his  officers  and  soldiers  to  make  any  such 
seizures  for  the  future  without  his  warrant. 
And  if  they  go  on  to  plunder  and  spoil  the  peo- 
ple, by  taking  away  their  money,  plate,  house- 
hold goods,  oxen,  sheep,  or  other  cattle,  or  any 
victuals,  corn,  hay,  or  other  provisions,  going  to 
or  from  any  market,  without  making  satislac- 
tion,  his  majesty  orders  them  to  be  proceeded 
against  by  martial  law."  This  was  as  much  as 
the  king  could  do  in  his  present  circumstances  ; 
yet  it  had  very  little  effect,  for  his  majesty  hav- 
ing neither  money  nor  stores  for  his  army,  the 
officers  could  maintain  no  discipline,  and  were 
forced  to  connive  at  their  living  at  free  quarter 
upon  the  people. 

Thus  this  unhappy  nation  was  miserably  har- 
assed, and  thrown  into  terrible  convulsions  by 
an  unnatural  civil  war — the  nobility  and  gentry, 
with  their  dependants,  being  chiefly  with  the 
king ;   the  merchants,  tradesmen,  substantial 


*  Baxter's  Life,  p.  44. 


farmers,  and,  in  general,  the  middle  ranks  of 
people,  siding  with  the  Parliament. 

It  is  of  little  consequence  to  inquire  who  be- 
gan this  unnatural  and  bloody  war.     None  will 
blame  them,  on  whose  part  it  was  just  and  una- 
voidable, for  taking  all  necessary  precautions  in 
their  defence,  and  making  use  of  such  advan- 
tages as  Providence  put  into  their  hands  to  de- 
feat the  designs  of  the  enemy,  and  nothing  can 
excuse  the  other.    His  majesty  professed  before 
God  to  his  nobles  at  York,  that  he  had  no  in- 
tention to  make  war  upon  his  Parliament.    And 
in  his  last  speech  upon  the  scaffold,  he  affirms 
"  that  he  did  not  begin  a  war  with  the  two  hous- 
es of  Parliament,  but  that  they  began  with  him 
upon  the  point  of  the  militia ;  and  if  anybody 
will  look  upon  the  dates  of  the  commissions," 
says  his  majesty,  "  theirs  and  mine,  they  will 
see  clearly  that  they  began  these  unhappy  troub- 
les, and  not  I."     Yet,  with  all  due  submission 
to  so  great  an  authority,  were  the  dates  of  com- 
missions for  raising  the  militia  the  beginning  of 
the  war  1     Were  not  the  crown-jewels  first 
pawned  in  Holland,  and  arms,  ammunition,  and 
artillery  sent  over  to  the  king  at  York "?     Did 
not  his  majesty  summon  the   gentlemen  and 
freeholders  to  attend  him  as  an  extraordinary 
guard,  in  his  progress  in  the  North,  and  appear 
before  Hull  in  a  warlike  manner,  before  the  rais- 
ing the  militia  1     Were  not  these  warlike  prep- 
arations ?     Dr.  Welwood  says,  and  I  think  all 
impartial  judges  must  allow,  that  they  look  very 
much  that  way.     Mr.  Echard  is  surprised  that 
"  the  king  did  not  put  himself  into  a  posture  of 
defence  sooner  ;"*  but  he  would  have  ceased 
to  wonder  if  he  had  remembered  the  words  of 
Lord  Clarendon :  "  The  reason  why  the  king  did 
not  raise  forces  sooner  was,  because  he  had  nei- 
ther arms  nor  ammunition,  and  till  these  could 
be  procured  from  Holland,  let  his  provocations 
and  sufferings  be  what  they  would,  he  was  to 
submit  and  bear  it  patiently."   It  was,  therefore, 
no  want  of  will,  but  mere  necessity,  that  hin- 
dered the  king's  appearing  in  arms  sooner  than 
he  did.     Father  Orleans  confesses  that  it  was 
agreed  with  the  queen,  in  the  cabinet-council 
at  Windsor,  that  while  her  majesty  was  negoti- 
ating in  Holland,  the  king  should  retire  to  York, 
and  there  make  his  first  levies.     He  adds,  "  ihat 
all  mankind  believed  that  his  majesty  was  under- 
hand preparing  for  icar,  that  the  sword  might  cut 
asunder  those  knots  he  had  made  ivith  his  pen." 

In  order  to  excuse  the  unhappy  king,  who  was 
sacrificed  in  the  house  of  his  friends,  a  load  of 
guilt  is  with  great  justice  laid  upon  the  queen, 
who  had  a  plenitude  of  power  over  his  majesty, 
and  could  turn  him  about  which  way  she  pleased. 
Bishop  Burnet  says,  "  that  by  the  liveliness  of 
her  discourse  she  made  great  impressions  upon 
the  king  ;  so  that  to  the  queen's  want  of  judg- 
ment, and  the  king's  own  temper,  the  sequel  of 
all  his  misfortunes  was  owing. "t  Bishop  Ken- 
net  adds,  that  "  the  king's  match  with  the  lady 
was  a  greater  judgment  upon  the  nation  than 
the  plague  which  then  raged  in  the  land ;  and 
that  the  influence  of  a  stately  queen  over  an  af- 
fectionate husband  proved  very  fatal  both  to 
prince  and  people,  and  laid  in  a  vengeance  for 
future  generations."    The 'queen  was  a  great 


*  Memoirs,  p.  64. 

t  History  of  his  Life  and  Times,  vol.  i.,  p.  39, 
Scotch  edition. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


429 


bigot  to  her  religion,  and  was  directed  by  her 
father  confessor  to  protect  the  Roman  Catho- 
5ics,  even  to  the  hazard  of  the  king's  crown  and 
dignity.  Though  his  majesty  usually  consulted 
her  in  all  affairs  of  state,  yet  she  sometimes 
presumed  to  act  without  him,  and  to  make  use  of 
his  name  without  his  knowledge.  '•  It  was  the 
queen  that  made  all  the  great  officers  of  state," 
says  Lord  Clarendon  :  "  no  preferments  were 
bestowed  without  her  allowance."  She  was 
an  enemy  to  Parliaments,  and  pushed  the  king 
upon  the  most  arbitrary  and  unpopular  actions, 
to  raise  the  English  government  to  a  level  with 
the  French.  It  was  the  queen  that  countenan- 
ced the  Irish  insurrection  ;  that  obliged  the  king 
to  go  to  the  House  of  Commons  and  seize  the 
five  members  ;  and  that  was  at  the  head  of  the 
council  at  Windsor,  in  which  it  was  determined 
to  break  with  the  Parliament  and  prepare  for 
war:  "This,"  says  the  noble  historian,  viz., 
the  king's  perfect  adoration  of  his  queen,  his 
resolution  to  do  nothing  without  her,  "  and  his 
being  inexorable  as  to  everything  he  promised 
her,  were  the  root  and  cause  of  all  other  griev- 
ances. The  two  houses  often  petitioned  the 
king  not  to  admit  her  majesty  into  his  councils, 
or  to  follow  her  advice  in  matters  of  state  ; 
but  he  was  not  to  be  moved  from  his  too  servile 
regards  to  her  dictates,  even  to  the  day  of  his 
death."* 

Sundry  others  of  his  majesty's  privy  council 
had  their  share  in  bringing  on  the  calamities  of 
the  war,  though  when  it  broke  out  they  were 
either  dead,  dispersed,  or  imprisoned ;  as  the 
Duke  of  Buckingham,  Earl  of  Strafford,  Arch- 
bishop Laud,  Finch,  Windebank,  Noy,  &c. 
These  had  been  the  most  busy  actors  at  the 
council-table,  the  Star  Chamber,  and  Court  of 
High  Commission,  and  were  at  the  head  of  all 
the  monopolies  and  illegal  projects  that  ensla- 
ved the  nation  for  above  twelve  years,  and 
might  have  done  it  forever,  had  they  been  good 
husbands  of  the  public  treasure,  and  not  brought 
upon  themselves  the  armed  force  of  a  neigh- 
bouring nation.  The  politics  of  these  statesmen 
were  very  unaccountable,  for  as  long  as  they 
could  subsist  without  a  parliamentary  supply, 
they  went  on  with  their  ship-money,  court  and 
conduct  money,  monopolies,  and  suchlike  re- 
sources of  the  prerogative  ;  as  soon  as  the  Par- 
liament sat,  these  were  suspended,  in  expecta- 
tion of  a  supply  from  the  two  houses,  before 
they  had  inquired  into  the  late  inroads  upon  the 
Constitution  ;  but  when  they  found  this  could 
not  be  obtained,  they  broke  up  the  Parliament 
in  disgust,  fined  and  imprisoned  the  members 
for  their  freedom  of  speech,  and  returned  to 
their  former  methods  of  arbitrary  government. 
Ail  King  Charles's  Parliaments  had  been  thus 

*  "  Many  passages  have  been  quoted  from  his  letters 
to  his  queen,  as  proofs  of  his  spiritless  submission. 
It  was  Charles's  great  misfortune,  that  he  was  too 
easily  wrought  upon  to  follow  the  advice  of  others, 
and  frequently  of  persons  less  gifted  than  himself. 
Milton  says  of  him,  in  his  panegyric  on  Cromwell, 
'  Whether  with  his  enemies  or  his  friends,  in  the 
court  or  in  the  camp,  he  was  always  in  the  hands  of 
another  ;  now  of  his  wife,  then  of  the  bishops  ;  now 
of  the  peers,  then  of  the  soldiery  ;  and  last,  of  his  en- 
emies :  that  for  the  most  part  he  followed  the  worser 
counsels,  and  almost  always  of  the  worser  men.' 
There  is  as  much  justice  as  acrimony  in  this  remark." 
— Jesse's  Court  of  the  Stuarts,  vol.  ii.,  p.  69-70. — C. 


dissolved,  even  to  the  present,  which  would, 
undoubtedly,  have  been  treated  in  the  same 
manner,  had  it  not  been  for  the  Act  of  Contin- 
uation.* 

On  the  other  hand,  a  spirit  of  English  liberty 
had  been  growing  in  the  nation  for  some  years, 
and  the  late  oppressions,  instead  of  extinguish- 
ing it,  had  only  kept  it  underground,  till,  having 
collected  more  strength,  it  burst  out  with  the 
greater  violence  ;  the  patriots  of  the  Constitu- 
tion watched  all  opportunities  to  recover  it : 
yet,  when  they  had  obtained  a  Parliament  by 
the  interposition  of  the  Scots,  they  were  dis- 
posed to  take  a  severe  revenge  upon  their  late 
oppressors,  and  to  enter  upon  too  violent  meas 
ures  in  order  to  prevent  the  return  of  power 
into  those  hands  that  had  so  shamefully  abused 
it.  The  five  members  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, and  their  friends  who  were  concerned  in 
inviting  the  Scots  into  England,  saw  their  dan- 
ger long  before  the  king  came  to  the  House  to 
seize  them,  which  put  them  upon  concerting 
measures  not  only  to  restore  the  Constitution, 
but  to  lay  farther  limitations  upon  the  royal 
power  for  a  time,  that  they  might  not  be  expo- 
sed to  the  mercy  of  an  incensed  prince,  so  soon 
as  he  should  be  delivered  from  the  present  Par- 
liament. It  is  true,  his  majesty  offered  a  gen- 
eral pardon  at  the  breaking  up  of  the  session, 
but  these  members  were  afraid  to  rely  upon  it, 
because,  as  was  said,  there  was  no  appearance 
tliat  his  majesty  would  govern  by  law  for  the 
future,  any  more  than  he  had  done  before. 

The  king,  being  made  sensible  of  the  designs 
and  spirit  of  the  Commons,  watched  all  oppor- 
tunities to  disperse  them,  and  not  being  able  to 
gain  his  point,  resolved  to  leave  the  two  houses, 
and  act  no  longer  in  concert  with  them,  which 
was,  in  effect,  to  determine  their  power  ;  for  to 
what  purpose  should  they  sit,  if  the  king  will 
pass  none  of  their  bills,  and  forbid  his  subjects 
to  obey  any  of  their  votes  or  ordinances  till 
they  had  received  the  royal  assent  1  It  was 
this  that  dismembered  and  broke  the  Constitu- 
tion, and  reduced  the  Parliament  to  this  dilem- 
ma, either  to  return  home,  and  leave  all  things 
in  the  hands  of  the  king  and  queen  and  their 
late  ministry,  or  to  act  by  themselves,  as  the 
guardians  of  the  people,  in  a  time  of  imminent 
danger  :  had  they  dissolved  themselves,  or  stood 
still  while  his  majesty  had  garrisoned  the  strong 
fortresses  of  Portsmouth  and  Hull,  and  got  pos- 
session of  all  the  arms,  artillery,  and  ammuni- 
tion of  the  kingdom  ;  had  they  suffered  the  fleet 
to  fall  into  his  majesty's  hands,  and  gone  on 
meekly  petitioning  for  the  militia,  or  for  his  maj- 
esty's return  to  his  two  houses  of  Parliament, 
till  the  queen  was  returned  with  foreign  recruits, 
or  the  Irish  at  liberty  to  send  his  majesty  suc- 
cours, both  they  and  we  must,  in  all  probability, 

*  This  act  has  been  called  "  a  violent  breach  of 
the  Constitution  of  this  government :"  but  the  author 
who  has  cast  this  reproach  on  it  also  observes, 
that  "  if  this  act  had  not  been  obtained,  perhaps  it 
would  have  been  impossible  to  oppose  the  king's  at- 
tempts with  effect."  On  this  ground,  the  "  Act  of 
Continuation"  has  been  called  "  an  act  of  fidelity  of 
the  representatives  of  the  people  to  their  constitu- 
ents ;  an  instance  of  the  expedience  and  righteous- 
ness of  recovering  the  violated  Constitution,  by 
means  not  strictly  justifiable  when  the  times  are 
peaceable,  and  the  curators  of  government  just  and 
upright." — Memoirs  of  Hollis,  vol.  ii.,  p.  591. — Ed. 


430 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


have  been  buried  in  the  ruins  of  the  hberties  of 
our  country.  The  two  houses  were  not  insen- 
sible of  the  risk  they  ran  in  crossing  the  meas- 
ures of  their  sovereign,  under  whose  govern- 
ment they  thought  they  were  to  live,  and  who 
had  counsellors  about  him  who  would  not  fail 
to  put  him  upon  the  severest  reprisals,  as  soon 
as  the  sword  of  the  kingdom  should  return  into 
his  hands ;  but  they  apprehended  that  their 
own  and  the  public  safety  was  at  stake  ;  and 
that  the  king  was  preparing  to  act  against  them, 
by  raising  extraordinary  guards  to  his  person, 
and  sending  for  arms  and  ammunition  from 
abroad  ;  therefore  they  ventured  to  make  a 
stand  in  their  own  defence,  and  to  perform  such 
acts  of  sovereignty  as  were  necessary  to  put  it 
out  of  the  power  of  the  court  to  make  them  a 
sacrifice  to  the  resentments  of  their  enemies. 

But  though  in  a  just  and  necessary  war  it  is 
of  little  moment  to  inquire  who  began  it,  it  is, 
nevertheless,  of  great  consequence  to  consider 
on  which  side  the  justice  of  it  lies.  Let  us, 
therefore,  take  a  short  view  of  the  arguments 
on  the  king's  side,  with  the  Parliament's  reply. 

1.  It  was  argued  by  the  Royalists,  "that  all 
grievances,  both  real  and  imaginary,  were  re- 
moved by  the  king's  giving  up  ship-money,  by 
his  abolishing  the  Court  of  Honour,  the  Star 
Chamber,  and  High  Commission,  and  by  his 
giving  up  the  bishops'  votes  in  Parliament."* 

The  Parliament  writers  own  these  to  be  very 
important  concessions,  though  far  from  com- 
prehending all  the  real  grievances  of  the  na- 
tion. The  queen  was  still  at  the  head  of  his 
majesty's  councils,  without  whose  approbation 
no  considerable  affairs  of  government  were 
transacted.  None  of  the  authors  of  the  late 
oppressions  had  been  brought  to  justice  except 
the  Earl  of  Strafford,  and  it  is  more  than  prob- 
able, if  the  Parliament  had  been  dissolved,  they 
would  not  only  have  been  pardoned,  but  re- 
stored to  favour.  Though  bishops  were  de- 
prived of  their  seats  in  Parliament,  yet  the  de- 
fects in  the  public  service,  of  which  the  Puri- 
tans complained,  were  almost  untouched,  nor 
were  any  effectual  measures  taken  to  prevent 
the  growth  of  popery,  which  threatened  the  ruin 
of  the  Protestant  religion. 

2.  It  was  argued  farther,  "  that  the  king  had 
provided  against  any  future  oppressions  of  the 
subjects  by  consenting  to  the  act  for  triennial 
Parliaments." 

To  this  it  was  replied,  that  the  Triennial  Act, 
in  the  present  situation  of  the  court,  was  not  a 
sufficient  security  of  our  laws  and  liberties  ;  for 
suppose  at  the  end  of  three  years,  when  the 
king  was  in  full  possession  of  the  regal  power, 
having  all  the  forts  and  garrisons,  arms  and 
ammunition  of  the  kingdom  at  his  disposal, 
with  his  old  ministry  about  him,  the  council 
should  declare  that  the  necessity  of  his  majes- 
ty's affairs  obliged  him  to  dispense  with  the 
Triennial  Act,  what  sheriff  of  a  county,  or 
other  officer,  would  venture  to  put  it  in  execu- 
tion !  Besides,  had  not  the  king,  from  this 
very  principle,  suspended  and  broke  through 
the  laws  of  the  land  for  twelve  years  together 
before  the  meeting  of  this  Parliament?  And 
did  not  his  majesty  yield  to  the  new  laws 
with  a  manifest  reluctance?  Did  he  not  affect 
to  call  them  acts  of  grace,  and  not  of  justice? 


Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  p.  262. 


Were  not  some  of  them  extorted  from  him  by 
such  arguments  as  these:  "that  his  consent  to- 
tliem  being  forced,  they  were  in  themselves  in- 
valid, and  might  be  avoided  in  better  times?" 
Lord  Clarendon  says*  he  had  reason  to  believe 
this  ;  and  if  his  lordship  believed  it,  I  cannot 
see  how  it  can  reasonably  be  called  in  ques- 
tion. Bishop  Burnet  is  of  the  same  mind,  and 
declares,  in  the  History  of  his  Life  and  Times, 
"  that  his  majesty  never  came  into  his  conces- 
sions seasonably,  nor  with  a  good  grace  ;  all 
appeared  to  be  e.xtorted  from  him  ;  and  there 
were  grounds  to  believe  that  he  intended  not 
to  stand  to  them  any  longer  than  he  lay  under 
that  force  that  visibly  drew  them  upon  him, 
contrary  to  his  own  inclinations."  To  all  which 
we  may  may  add  the  words  of  Father  Orleans, 
the  Jesuit,  who  says,  "  that  all  mankind  be- 
lieved at  that  time  that  the  king  did  not  grant 
so  much  but  in  order  to  revoke  all."t 

3.  It  was  said  "that  the  king  had  seen  his 
mistake,  and  had  since  vowed  and  protested,  in 
the  most  solemn  manner,  that  for  the  future  he 
would  govern  according  to  law." 

To  this  it  was  replied,  that  if  the  petition  of 
right,  so  solemnly  ratified  from  the  throne  in 
presence  of  both  houses  of  Parliament,  was  so 
quickly  broke  through,  what  dependance  could 
be  had  upon  the  royal  promise?  For  though 
the  king  himself  might  be  a  prince  of  virtue 
and  honour,  yet  his  speeches,  says  Mr.  Rapin, 
were  full  of  ambiguities  and  secret  reserves, 
that  left  room  for  different  interpretations  ;  be- 
sides, many  things  were  transacted  without  his 
knowledge,  and,  therefore,  so  long  as  the  queen 
was  at  the  head  of  his  counsels,  they  looked 
upon  his  royal  word  only  as  the  promise  of  a 
minor,  or  of  a  man  under  superior  direction, 
which  was  the  most  favourable  interpretation 
that  could  be  made  of  the  many  violations  of  it 
in  the  course  of  fifteen  years.  "  The  queen, 
who  was  directed  by  popish  counsels,"  says 
Bishop  Burnet,  "  could,  by  her  sovereign  power, 
make  tlie  king  do  whatsoever  she  pleased." 

4.  It  was  farther  urged,  "that  the  Parliament 
had  invaded  the  royal  prerogative,  and  usurped 
the  legislative  power,  without  his  majesty's 
consent,  by  claiming  the  militia,  and  the  appro- 
bation of  the  chief  officers,  both  civil  and  mili- 
tary, and  by  requiring  obedience  to  their  votes 
and  ordinances." 

This  the  two  houses  admitted,  and  insisted 
upon  it  as  their  right,  in  cases  of  necessity  and 
extreme  danger,  of  which  necessity  and  dan- 
ger they,  as  the  guardians  of  the  nation,  and 
two  parts  in  three  of  Legislature,  were  the 
proper  judges  :  "  The  question  is  not,"  say 
they,  "  whether  the  king  be  the  fountain  of  jus- 
tice and  protection,  or  whether  the  execution 
of  tlie  laws  belongs  primarily  to  him  ?  But  if 
the  king  shall  refuse  to  discharge  that  duty  and 
trust,  and  shall  desert  his  Parliament,  and,  in  a 
manner,  abdicate  the  government,  whether  there 
be  not  a  power  in  the  two  houses  to  provide  for 
the  safety  and  peace  of  the  kingdom?  or,  if 
there  be  no  Parliament  sitting,  whether  the  na- 
tion does  not  return  to  a  state  of  nature,  and  is 
not  at  liberty  to  provide  for  its  own  defence  by 
extraordinary  methods?"     This  seems  to  have 

*  Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  p.  430. 
t  History  of  his  Own  Times,  vol.  i.,  p.  40,  Edin- 
burgh. 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


431 


been  the  case  in  the  late  glorious  revolution 
of  King  William  and  Queen  Mary,  when  the 
Constitution  being  broken,  a  convention  of  the 
nobility  and  commonalty  was  summoned  with- 
out the  king's  writ,  to  restore  the  religion  and 
liberties  of  the  people,  and  place  the  crown 
upon  another  head. 

5.  The  king,  on  his  part,  maintained  that 
"  there  was  no  danger  from  him,  but  that  all 
the  danger  was  from  a  malignant  party  in  the 
Parliament,  who  were  subverting  the  constitu- 
tion in  Church  and  State.  His  majesty  averred 
that  God  and  the  laws  had  intrusted  him  with 
the  guardianship  and  protection  of  his  people, 
and  that  he  would  take  such  care  of  them  as 
he  should  be  capable  of  answering  for  it  to 
God." 

With  regard  to  dangers  and  fears,  the  Parlia- 
ment appealed  to  the  whole  world  whether  there 
were  not  just  grounds  for  them,  after  his  maj- 
esty had  violated  the  petition  of  right,  and  at- 
tempted to  break  up  the  present  Parliament,  by 
bringing  his  army  to  London  ;  after  he  had  en- 
tered their  house  with  an  armed  force  to  seize 
five  of  their  members;  after  he  had  deserted 
his  Parliament,  and  resolved  to  act  no  longer  in 
concert  with  them  ;  after  his  majesty  had  be- 
gun to  raise  forces  under  pretence  of  an  extra- 
ordinary guard  to  his  person,  and  endeavoured 
to  get  the  forts  and  ammunition  of  the  kingdom 
into  his  possession,  against  the  time  when  he 
should  receive  supplies  from  abroad  ;  after  they 
had  seen  the  dreadful  effects  of  a  bloody  and 
unparalleled  insurrection  and  massacre  of  the 
Protestants  in  Ireland,  and  were  continually 
alarmed  with  the  increase  and  insolent  beha- 
viour of  the  papists  at  home  ;  and,  lastly,  after 
they  had  found  it  impracticable,  by  their  most 
humble  petitions  and  remonstrances,  to  remove 
the  queen  and  her  cabal  of  papists  from  the  di- 
rection of  the  king's  councils  ;  after  all  these 
things  (say  they),  "  we  must  maintain  the 
grounds  of  our  fears  to  be  of  that  moment,  that 
we  cannot  discharge  the  trust  and  duty  which 
lie  upon  us,  unless  we  do  apply  ourselves  to  the 
use  of  those  means  which  God  and  the  laws 
have  put  into  our  hands  for  the  necessary  de- 
fence and  safety  of  the  kingdom."* 

There  were  certainly  strong,  and  perhaps 
unreasonable  jealousies  and  apprehensions  of 
*  danger  on  both  sides.  The  king  complained 
that  he  was  driven  from  Whitehall  by  popular 
tumults,  where  neither  his  person  nor  family 
could  remain  in  safety.  He  was  jealous  (as  he 
said)  for  the  laws  and  liberties  of  his  people, 
and  was  apprehensive  that  his  Parliament  in- 
tended to  change  the  Constitution,  and  wrest 
the  sceptre  and  sword  out  of  his  royal  hands. 
On  the  other  side,  the  two  houses  had  their 
fears  and  distrusts  of  their  own  and  the  public 
safety  ;  they  were  apprehensive  that  if  they  put 
the  forts  and  garrisons,  and  all  the  strength  of 
the  kingdom,  into  his  majesty's  power  as  soon 
.as  they  were  dissolved,  he,  by  the  influence  of 
his  queen  and  his  old  counsellors,  would  return 
to  his  maxims  of  arbitrary  government,  and 
never  call  another  Parliament ;  that  he  would 
take  a  severe  revenge  upon  those  members 
who  had  exposed  his  measures  and  disgraced 
his  ministers ;  and,  in  a  word,  that  he  would 
break  through  the  late  laws,  as  having  been  ex- 


torted from  him  by  force  or  violence  ;  but  it' 
was  very  much  in  the  king's  power,  even  at  the 
treaty  of  Uxbridge  in  1644-5,  to  have  removed 
these  distrusts,  and  thereby  have  saved  both 
himself,  the  Church,  and  the  nation  ;  for,  as 
the  noble  historian  observes,  "  the  Parliament 
took  none  of  the  points  of  controversy  less  to 
heart,  or  were  less  united  in  anything,  than  ia 
what  concerned  the  Church."*  i\nd  with  re- 
gard to  the  State,  that  "  many  of  them  were  for 
peace,  provided  they  might  have  indemnity  for 
what  was  past,  and  security  for  time  to  come." 
Why,  then,  were  not  this  indemnity  and  secu- 
rity offered  1  which  must  necessarily  have  di- 
vided the  Parliamentarians,  and  obliged  the 
most  rigorous  and  violent  to  recede  from  their 
high  and  exorbitant  demands,  and,  by  conse- 
quence, have  restored  the  king  to  the  peacea- 
ble possession  of  his  throne. 

Upon  the  whole,  if  we  believe  with  the  noble 
historian,  and  the  writers  on  his  side,  "  that  the 
king  was  driven  by  violence  from  his  palace  at 
Whitehall,  and  could  not  return  with  safety ; 
that  all  real  and  imaginary  grievances  of  Church 
and  State  were  redressed ;  and  that  the  king- 
dom was  sufficiently  secured  from  all  future  in- 
roads of  popery  and  arbitrary  power  by  the 
laws  in  being,"  then  the  justice  and  equity  of 
the  war  were  most  certainly  with  the  king. 
Whereas,  if  we  believe  "  that  the  king  volunta- 
rily deserted  his  Parliament,  and  that  it  was 
owing  alone  to  his  majesty's  own  peremptory 
resolution  that  he  would  not  return  (as  Lord 
Clarendon  admits) ;  if  by  this  means  the  Con- 
stitution was  broken,  and  the  ordinary  courts 
of  justice  necessarily  interrupted ;  if  there  were 
sundry  grievances  still  to  be  redressed,  and  the 
king  resolved  to  shelter  himself  under  the  laws 
in  being,  and  to  make  no  farther  concessions  ; 
if  there  were  just  reasons  to  fear,"  with  Bishop 
Burnet  and  Father  Orleans,  that  the  king  "  would 
abide  by  the  late  laws  no  longer  than  he  was 
under  that  force  that  brought  them  upon  him  ;" 
in  a  word,  "if,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Lords  and 
Commons,  the  kingdom  was  in  imminent  dan- 
ger of  the  return  of  popery  and  arbitrary  power, 
and  his  majesty  would  not  condescend  so  much 
as  to  a  temporary  security  for  their  satisfac- 
tion," then  we  must  conclude  that  the  cause 
of  the  Parliament  at  the  commencement  of  the 
war,  and  for  some  years  after,  was  not  only 
justifiable,  but  commendable  and  glorious  ;  es- 
pecially if  we  believe  their  own  most  solemn 
protestation, t  in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God, 
to  the  kingdom  and  to  the  world,  "  that  no  pri- 
vate passion  or  respect,  no  evil  intention  to  his 
majesty's  person,  no  designs  to  the  prejudice 
of  his  just  honour  or  authority,  had  engaged 
them  to  raise  forces,  and  take  up  arms  against 
the  authors  of  this  war  in  which  the  kingdom 
is  inflamed."! 


*  Rapin,  p.  468. 


*  Vol.  ii.,  p.  581,  594. 

t  Rushworth,  vol.  ii.,  part  iii.,  p.  26. 

j  Bishop  Warburlon  grants  that  "  Charles  was  a 
man.  of  ill  faith ;"  from  whence  arose  the  question, 
"  Whether  he  was  to  be  trusted  ?  Here,"  he  adds, 
"  we  must  begin  to  distinguish.  It  was  one  thing 
whether  those  particulars,  who  had  personally  of- 
fended the  king,  in  the  manner  by  which  they  ex- 
torted this  amends  from  him  ;  and  another,  whether 
the  public,  on  all  principles  of  civil  government, 
ought  not  to  have  sat  down  satisfied.  I  think  par- 
ticulars could  not  safelv  take  his  word,  and  that  the 


432 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


public  could  not  honestly  refuse  it.  You  will  say, 
then,  the  leaders  in  Parliament  were  justified  in  their 
mistrust.  Here,  again,  we  must  distinguish.  Had 
they  been  private  men,  we  shovild  not  dispute  it.  But 
they  bore  another  character  ;  they  were  representa- 
tives of  the  public,  and  should,  therefore,  have  acted 
in  that  capacity."  Some  will  consider  these  distinc- 
tions, set  up  by  his  lordship,  as  savouring  more  of 
chicanery  than  solid  reasoning.  The  simple  ques- 
tion is.  Was  Charles  worthy  to  be  trusted?  No! 
His  lordship  grants  that  he  was  a  man  of  ill  faith. 
How,  then,  could  the  representatives  of  the  people 
nonestly  commit  the  national  interest  to  a  man 
whose  duplicity  and  insincerity  had  repeatedly  de- 


ceived them,  and,  in  deceiving  them,  had  deceived 
the  public  ?  If  they  could  not  safely  take  his  word 
for  themselves,  how  could  they  do  it  for  their  con- 
stituents? In  all  their  negotiations  with  him,  they 
had  been  acting,  not  for  themselves  only,  but  for  the 
nation.  It  was  inconsistent  with  the  trust  invested 
in  them  to  sacrifice  or  risk  the  national  welfare  by 
easy  credulity ;  a  credulity  which,  in  their  private 
concerns,  wisdom  and  prudence  would  have  con- 
demned. Besides,  the  insincerity  of  Charles  had 
been  so  notorious,  they  had  no  ground  to  suppose 
that  the  public  would  expect  or  approve  of  their  doing 
it,  to  whom  the  proofs  of  his  insincerity  ofiered  them- 
selves immediately,  and  with  all  their  force. — Ed. 


I 


PREFACE 

TO   VOL.   III.   OF   THE    ORIGINAL   EDITION. 


No  period  of  civil  history  has  undergone  a  more  critical  examination  than  the  last 
seven  years  of  King  Charles  L,  vi^hich  was  a  scene  of  such  confusion  and  inconsist- 
ent management  between  the  king  and  Parliament,  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  discover 
the  motives  of  action  on  either  side.  The  king  seems  to  have  been  directed  by  se- 
cret springs  from  the  queen  and  her  council  of  papists,  who  were  for  advancing  the 
prerogative  above  the  laws,  and  vesting  his  majesty  with  such  an  absolute  sovereign- 
ty as  might  rival  his  brother  of  France,  and  enable  him  to  establish  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion  in  England,  or  some  how  or  other  blend  it  with  the  Protestant, 
This  gave  rise  to  the  unparalleled  severities  of  the  Star  Chamber  and  High  Commis- 
sion, which,  after  twelve  years'  triumph  over  the  laws  and  liberties  of  the  subject, 
brought  on  a  fierce  and  bloody  war,  and  after  the  loss  of  above  a  hundred  thousand 
lives,  ended  in  the  sacrifice  of  the  king  himself,  and  the  subversion  of  the  whole  Con- 
stitution. 

Though  all  men  had  a  veneration  for  the  person  of  the  king,  his  ministers  had  ren- 
dered themselves  justly  obnoxious,  not  only  by  setting  up  a  new  form  of  government 
at  home,  but  by  extending  their  jurisdiction  to  a  neighbouring  kingdom,  under  the 
government  of  distinct  laws,  and  inclined  to  a  form  of  church  discipline  very  differ- 
ent from  the  English  :  this  raised  such  a  storm  in  the  north,  as  distressed  his  majes- 
ty's administration,  exhausted  his  treasure,  drained  all  his  arbitrary  springs  of  sup- 
ply, and  (after  an  intermission  of  twelve  years)  reduced  him  to  the  necessity  of  re- 
lorning  to  the  Constitution,  and  calling  a  Parliament ;  but  when  the  public  grievances 
came  to  be  opened,  there  appeared  such  a  collection  of  ill-humours,  and  so  general 
a  distrust  between  the  king  and  his  two  Houses,  as  threatened  all  the  mischief  and 
desolation  that  followed.  Each  party  laid  the  blame  on  the  other,  and  agreed  in 
nothing  but  in  throwing  off"  the  odium  of  the  civil  war  from  themselves. 

The  affairs  of  the  Church  had  a  very  considerable  influence  on  the  welfare  of  the 
State :  the  Episcopal  character  was  grown  into  contempt,  not  from  any  defect  of 
learning  in  the  bishops,  but  from  their  close  attachment  to  the  prerogative,  and  their 
own  insatiable  thirst  of  power,  which  they  strained  to  the  utmost  in  their  spiritual 
courts,  by  reviving  old  and  obsolete  customs,  levying  large  fines  on  the  people  for  con- 
tempt of  their  canons,  and  prosecuting  good  men  and  zealous  Protestants  for  rites  and 
ceremonies  tending  to  superstition,  and  not  warranted  by  the  laws  of  the  land.     The 
iing  supported  them  to  the  utmost ;  but  was  obliged,  after  some  time,  to  give  way, 
first,  to  an  act  for  abolishing  the  High  Commission,  by  a  clause  in  which  the  power  of 
the  bishops'  spiritual  courts  was  in  a  manner  destroyed ;  and,  at  last,  to  an  act  de- 
priving them  of  their  seats  in  Parliament.     If  at  this  time  any  methods  could  have 
been  thought  of  to  restore  a  mutual  confidence  between  the  king  and  his  two  Houses, 
the  remaining  differences  in  the  Church  might  easily  have  been  compromised ;  but 
the  spirits  of  men  were  heated,  and  as  the  flames  of  the  civil  war  grew  fiercer,  and 
spread  wider,  the  wounds  of  the  Church  were  enlarged,  till  the  distress  of  the  Par- 
liament's affairs  obliging  them  to  call  in  the  Scots,  with  their  solemn  league  and  cove- 
nant, they  became  incurable. 

When  the  king  had  lost  his  cause  in  the  field,  he  put  himself  at  the  head  of  his  di- 
vines, and  drew  his  learned  pen  in  defence  of  his  prerogative  and  the  Church  of 
England  ;  but  his  arguments  were  no  more  successful  than  his  sword.  I  have  brought 
llie  debates  between  the  king  and  Mr.  Henderson,  and  between  the  divines  of  both 
sides  at  the  treaties  of  Uxbridge  and  Newport  upon  the  head  of  Episcopacy,  into  as 
Barrow  a  compass  as  <possible  ;  my  chief  design  being  to  trace  the  proceedings  of  the 
*VoL.  I. — In 


434  PREFACE. 

Parliament  and  their  assembly  at  Westminster,  which  (whether  justifiable  or  not) 
ought  to  be  placed  in  open  view,  though  none  of  the  historians  of  those  times  have 
ventured  to  do  it. 

The  Westminster  assembly  was  the  Parliament's  grand  council  in  matters  of  re- 
ligion, and  made  a  very  considerable  figure,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  through  the 
course  of  the  civil  war,  till  they  disputed  the  power  of  the  keys  with  their  superiors, 
and  split  upon  the  rocks  of  Divine  right  and  covenant-uniformity.  The  records  of  this 
venerable  assembly  were  lost  in  the  fire  of  London ;  but  I  have  given  a  large  and 
just  account  of  their  proceedings,  from  a  manuscript  of  one  of  their  members,  and 
some  other  papers  that  have  fallen  into  my  hands,  and  have  entered  as  far  into  their 
debates  with  the  Erastians,  Independents,  and  others,  as  was  consistent  with  the  life 
and  spirit  of  the  history. 

Whatever  views  the  Scots  might  have  from  the  beginning  of  the  war,  the  Parlia- 
ment would  certainly  have  agreed  with  the  king  upon  the  foot  of  a  limited  Episcopa- 
cy till  the  calling  the  assembly  of  divines,  after  which  the  solemn  league  and  cove- 
nant became  the  standard  of  all  their  treaties,  and  was  designed  to  introduce  the  Pres- 
byterian government  in  its  full  extent,  as  the  established  religion  of  both  kingdoms. 
This  tied  up  the  Parliament's  hands  from  yielding  in  time  to  the  king's  most  rea- 
sonable concessions  at  Newport,  and  rendered  an  accommodation  impracticable ;  I 
have  therefore  transcribed  the  covenant  at  large,  with  the  reasons  for  and  against  it. 
Whether  such  obligations  upon  the  consciences  of  men  are  justifiable  from  the  ne- 
cessity of  affairs,  or  binding  in  all  events  and  revolutions  of  government,  I  shall  not 
determine  ;  but  the  imposing  them  upon  others  was  certainly  a  very  great  hardship. 

The  remarkable  trial  of  Archbishop  Laud,  in  which  the  antiquity  and  use  of  the 
several  innovations  complained  of  by  the  Puritans  are  stated  and  argued,  has  never 
been  published  entire  to  the  world.  The  archbishop  left  in  his  diary-  a  summary  of 
his  answer  to  the  charge  of  the  Commons,  and  Mr.  Prynne,  in  his  Canterbury's  Doom, 
has  published  the  first  part  of  his  grace's  trial,  relating  principally  to  points  of  reli- 
gion ;  but  all  is  imperfect  and  immethodical.  I  have  therefore  compared  both  ac- 
counts together,  and  supplied  the  defects  of  one  with  the  other  ;  the  whole  is  brought 
into  a  narrow  compass,  and  thrown  into  such  a  method  as  will  give  the  reader  a 
clear  and  distinct  view  of  the  equity  of  the  charge,  and  how  far  the  archbishop  de- 
served the  usage  he  met  with. 

I  have  drawn  out  abstracts  of  the  several  ordinances  relating  to  the  rise  and  prog- 
ress of  Presbytery,  and  traced  the  proceedings  of  the  committee  for  plundered  and 
scandalous  ministers,  as  far  as  was  necessary  to  my  general  design,  without  descend- 
ing too  far  into  particulars,  or  attempting  to  justify  the  whole  of  their  conduct  j  and 
though  I  am  of  opinion  that  the  number  of  clergy  who  suffered  purely  on  the  ground 
of  religion  was  not  very  considerable,  it  is  certain  that  many  able  and  learned  divines, 
who  were  contented  to  live  quietly  and  mind  the  duty  of  their  places,  had  very  hard 
measure  from  the  violence  of  parties,  and  deserve  the  compassionate  regards  of  pos- 
terity ;  some  being  discharged  their  livings  for  refusing  the  covenant,  and  others  plun- 
dered of  everything  the  unruly  soldiers  could  lay  their  hands  upon,  for  not  complying 
with  the  change  of  the  times. 

In  the  latter  end  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  Dr.  Walker,  of  Exeter,  published  "  Aa 
Attempt  to  recover  the  Number  and  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy  of  the  Church  of  England ;", 
but  with  notorious  partiality,  and  in  language  not  fit  for  the  lips  of  a  clergyman,  a 
scholar,  or  a  Christian  ;  every  page  or  paragraph,  almost,  labours  with  the  cry  of  "  re- 
bellion, treason,  parricide,  faction,  stupid  ignorance,  hypocrisy,  cant,  and  downright 
knavery  and  wickedness,"  on  one  side  ;  and  "  loyalty,  learning,  primitive  sanctity, 
and  the  glorious  spirit  of  martyrdom,"  on  the  other.  One  must  conclude,  from  the 
doctor,  that  there  was  hardly  a  wise  or  honest  patriot  with  the  Parliament,  nor  a  weak 
or  dishonest  gentleman  with  the  king.  His  preface*  is  one  of  the  most  furious  in- 
vectives against  the  seven  most  glorious  years  of  Queen  Anne  that  ever  was  publish- 
ed ;  it  blackens  the  memory  of  the  late  King  William  III.,  to  whom  he  applies  that 
passage  of  Scripture,  "  I  gave  them  a  king  in  my  anger,  and  took  him  away  in  ray 
wrath ;"  it  arraigns  the  great  Duke  of  Marlborough,  the  glory  of  the  English  nation, 

♦  Preface,  page  8-11 


PREFACE.  435 

and  both  houses  of  Parliament,  as  in  a  confederacy  to  destroy  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, and  dethrone  the  queen.  "  Rebellion,"  says  the  doctor,  "  was  esteemed  the  most 
necessary  requisite  to  qualify  any  one  for  being  intrusted  with  the  government,  and 
disobedience  the  principal  recommendation  for  her  majesty's  service.  Those  were 
thought  the  most  proper  persons  to  guard  the  throne,  who,  on  the  first  dislike,  were 
every  whit  as  ready  to  guard  the  scaffold  ;  yea,  her  majesty  was  in  effect  told  all  this 
to  her  face,  in  the  greatest  assembly  of  the  nation.  And  to  say  all  that  can  be  said 
of  this  matter,  all  the  principles  of  1641,  and  even  those  of  1648,  have  been  plainly 
and  openly  revived." 

Thus  has  this  obscure  clergyman  dared  to  affront  the  great  author,  under  God,  of  all 
our  present  blessings  ;  and  to  stigmatize  the  Marlboroughs,  the  Godolphins,  the  Stan- 
hopes, the  Sunderlands,  the  Cowpers,  and  others,  the  most  renowned  heroes  and 
statesmen  of  the  age. 

It  must  be  confessed,  that  the  tumults  and  riotous  assemblies  of  the  lower  sort  of 
people  are  insufferable  in  a  well-regulated  government ;  and  without  all  question, 
some  of  the  leading  members  of  the  Long  Parliament  made  an  ill  use  of  the  populace, 
as  tools  to  support  their  secret  designs  :  but  how  easy  were  it  to  turn  all  this  part  of 
the  doctor's  artillery  against  himself  and  his  friends ;  for  Prynne,  Burton,  and  Bast- 
wick,  in  their  return  from  their  several  prisons,  were  not  attended  with  such  a  nu- 
merous cavalcade  as  waited  upon  the  late  Dr.  Sacheverel,  in  his  triumphant  progress 
through  the  western  counties  of  England  and  Wales ;  nor  did  they  giye  themselves 
up  to  the  same  excess  of  licentiousness  and  rage.  If  the  mob  of  1641  insulted  the 
bishops,  and  awed  the  Parliament,  so  did  the  doctor's  retinue  in  1710  ;  nay,  their  zeal 
outwent  their  predecessors',  when  they  pulled  down  the  meeting-houses  of  Protestant 
Dissenters,  and  burned  the  materials  in  the  open  streets,  in  maintenance  of  the  doc- 
trines of  passive  obedience  and  nonresistance,  which  their  pious  confessor  had  been 
preaching  up  ;  "  a  bold,  insolent  man,"  says  Bishop  Burnet,  "  with  a  very  small  meas- 
ure of  rehgion,  virtue,  learning,  or  good  sense  :"  but  to  such  extremes  do  men's  pas- 
\  sions  carry  them  when  they  write  to  serve  a  cause !  I  have  had  occasion  to  make 
some  use  of  Dr.  Walker's  confused  heap  of  materials,  but  have  endeavoured  carefully 
to  avoid  his  spirit  and  language. 

No  man  has  declaimed  so  bitterly  against  the  proceedings  of  Parliament  upon  all 
occasions  as  this  clergyman  ;  nor  complained  more  loudly  of  the  unspeakable  dam- 
age the  liberal  arts  and  sciences  sustained  by  their  purging  the  two  universities  ;  the 
new  heads  and  fellows  of  Oxford  are  called  "  a  colony  of  Presbyterian  and  Inde- 
pendent novices  from  Cambridge  ;  a  tribe  of  ignorant  enthusiasts  and  schismatics ; 
an  illiterate  rabble,  swept  from  the  plough-tail,  from  shops  and  grammar-schools,"*  &c. 
The  University  of  Cambridge  is  reported  by  the  same  author  "  to  be  reduced  to  a 
mere  Munster  by  the  knipper-dolings  of  the  age,  who  broke  the  heart-strings  of  learn- 
ed men,  who  thrust  out  one  of  the  eyes  of  the  kingdom,  and  made  eloquence  dumb, 
philosophy  sottish,  widowed  the  arts,  drove  away  the  muses  from  their  ancient  habi- 
tation, and  plucked  the  reverend  and  orthodox  professors  out  of  their  chairs.  They 
turned  religion  into  rebellion,  and  changed  the  apostolical  chair  into  a  desk  for  blas- 
phemy. They  took  the  garland  from  off  the  head  of  learning,  and  placed  it  on  the 
dull  brows  of  ignorance.  And  having  unhived  a  numerous  swarm  of  labouring  bees, 
they  placed  in  their  room  swarms  of  senseless  drones."t  Such  is  the  language  of 
our  historian,  transcribed  from  Dr.  Berwick  !  I  have  carefully  looked  into  this  af- 
fair, and  collected  the  characters  of  the  old  and  new  professors  from  the  most  approved 
writers,  that  the  disinterested  reader  may  judge  how  far  religion  and  learning  suffer- 
ed by  the  exchange. 

The  close  of  this  volume,  which  relates  the  disputes  between  the  Parliament  and 
army  ;  the  ill  success  of  his  majesty's  arms  and  treaties  ;  the  seizure  of  his  royal  per- 
son a  second  time  by  the  army ;  his  trial  before  a  pretended  high  court  of  justice, 
and  his  unparalleled  execution  before  the  gates  of  his  royal  palace  by  the  military 
power,  is  a  most  melancholy  and  affecting  scene  ;  in  which,  next  to  the  all-disposing 
providence  of  God,  one  cannot  but  remark  the  king's  inflexible  temper,  together  with 
the  indiscretion  of  his  friends,  especially  his  divines,  at  a  time  when  his  crown  was 

*  Walker's  Introduct.,  p.  139,  HO.  t  WalXeT'a  Introd.,p.  115,  Querela  Cant. 


436  PREFACE. 

lost  by  the  fortune  of  war,  and  his  very  life  at  the  mercy  of  his  enemies.  Nor  is  the 
unwarrantable  stiflhess  of  the  Parliament  less  unaccountable,  when  they  saw  the  vic- 
torious army  drawing  towards  London,  flushed  with  the  defeat  of  the  Scots  and  Eng- 
lish loyalists,  and  determined  to  set  aside  that  very  uniformity  they  were  contending 
for.  If  his  majesty  had  yielded  at  first  what  he  did  at  last,  with  an  appearance  of 
sincerity ;  or  if  the  two  Houses  had  complied  with  his  concessions  while  Cromwell 
was  in  Scotland  ;  or  if  the  army  had  been  made  easy  by  a  general  indulgence  and 
toleration,  with  the  distribution  of  some  honours  and  bounty-money  among  the  ofli- 
cers,  the  crown  and  Constitution  might  have  been  saved  ;  "  but  so  many  miraculous 
circumstances  contributed  to  his  majesty's  ruin,"  says  Lord  Clarendon,*  "  that  men 
might  well  think  that  heaven  and  earth  conspired  it." 

The  objections  to  the  first  volume  of  the  History  of  the  Puritans,  by  the  author  of 
*'  The  Vindication  of  the  Government,  Doctrine,  and  Worship  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land," obliged  me  to  review  the  principal  facts  in  a  small  pamphlet,  wherein  I  have 
endeavoured  to  discharge  myself  as  an  historian,  without  undertaking  the  defence  of 
their  several  principles,  or  making  myself  an  advocate  for  the  whole  of  their  conduct. 
I  took  the  liberty  to  point  out  the  mistakes  of  our  first  Reformers  as  I  passed  along, 
but  with  no  design  to  blacken  their  memories  ;  for,  with  all  their  foibles,  they  were 
glorious  instruments  in  the  hand  of  Providence  to  deliver  this  nation  from  anti-Chris- 
tian bondage  -^  but  they  were  free  to  confess  the  work  was  left  imperfect ;  that  they 
had  gone  as  far  as  the  times  would  admit,  and  hoped  their  successors  would  bring 
the  Reformation  to  a  greater  perfection. 

But  the  state  of  the  controversy  was  entirely  changed  in  the  time  of  the  civil  wars  ; 
for  after  the  coming  in  of  the  Scots,  the  Puritans  did  not  fight  for  a  reformation  of 
the  hierarchy,  nor  for  the  generous  principles  of  religious  liberty  to  all  peaceable 
subjects,  but  for  the  same  spiritual  power  the  bishops  had  exercised ;  for  when  they 
had  got  rid  of  the  oppression  of  the  spiritual  courts,  under  which  they  had  groaned 
almost  fourscore  years,  they  were  for  setting  up  a  number  of  Presbyterian  consisto- 
ries in  all  the  parishes  of  England,  equally  burdensome  and  oppressive.  Unhappy 
extreme !  that  wise  and  good  men  should  not  discover  the  beautiful  consistency  of 
truth  and  liberty !  Dr.  Barrow  and  others  have  observed,  that  in  the  first  and  purest 
ages  of  Christianity,  the  Church  had  no  coercive  power,  and  apprehend  that  it  may 
still  subsist  very  well  without  it. 

The  body  of  Protestant  Dissenters  of  the  present  age  have  a  just  abhorrence  of  the 
persecuting  spirit  of  their  predecessors,  and  are  content  that  their  actions  be  set  in  a 
fair  light,  as  a  warning  to  posterity.  They  have  no  less  a  dread  of  returning  into  the 
hands  of  spiritual  courts,  founded  on  the  bottomless  deep  of  the  canon  law,  and  see 
no  reason  why  they  should  not  be  equally  exposed,  till  they  are  put  upon  a  better  foot ; 
though  it  is  an  unpardonable  crime,  in  the  opinion  of  some  churchmen,  to  take  notice, 
even  in  the  most  respectful  manner,  of  the  least  blemish  in  our  present  establishment, 
which,  how  valuable  soever  in  itself,  is  allowed  by  all  to  be  capable  of  amendments. 
Some  little  essays  of  this  kind  have  fired  the  zeal  of  the  Bishop  of  Litchfield  and 
Coventry,!  who,  in  a  late  charge  to  the  clergy  of  his  diocess,  is  pleased  to  lament  over 
the  times  in  the  following  mournful  language  :  "  At  so  critical  a  juncture,"  says  his 
lordship,  "  when  common  Christianity  is  treated  with  an  avowed  contempt  and  open 
profaneness  ;  when  an  undisguised  immorality  prevails  so  very  generally  ;  when  there 
is  scarce  honesty  enough  to  save  the  nation  from  ruin ;  when,  with  regard  to  the  Es- 
tablished Church  in  particular,  the  royal  supremacy  is  professedly  exposed,  as  incon- 
sistent with  the  rights  of  conscience,  even  that  supremacy,  which  was  the  ground- 
work of  the  Reformation  among  us  from  popery,  which  was  acknowledged  and  sworn 
to  by  the  old  Puritans,  though  now,  inconsistently  enough,  disowned  and  condemned 
in  the  new  history  and  vindication  of  them  and  their  principles  ;  when  so  destructive 
an  attempt  has  been  made  on  the  legal  maintenance  of  the  clergy  by  the  late  Tithe 
Bill,  and,  consequently,  on  the  fate  of  the  Christian  religion  among  us  ;  when  an  at- 
tempt has  been  lately  made  on  the  important  outworks  of  our  ecclesiastical  establish- 
"Oient,  the  Corporation  and  Test  Acts,  with  the  greatest  insolences  towards  the  Church, 
and  most  undutiful  menaces  to  the  civil  government ;  when  the  Episcopal  authority 

*  Vol.  v.,  p.  258.  t  Dr.  SmaUbrook. 


PREFACE.  437 

has  been  wellnigh  undermined,  under  a  pretence  of  reforming  the  ecclesiastical 
courts  ;  and  if  that  order  had  been  rendered  useless,  as  it  must  have  been  when  it 
had  lost  its  authority,  then  the  revenues  would  have  been  soon  thought  uspless ;  and 
m  the  result  of  things,  the  order  itself  might  have  been  considered  as  superfluous, 
and  perhaps,  in  due  time,  thought  fit  to  be  abolished  ;  when  churches  have  been 
put  into  such  a  method  of  repair  as  would  end  in  their  ruin  in  a  little  time  ;  and  when 
the  correction  of  the  abuses  of  the  matrimonial  licenses  has  been  laboured  in  so  ab- 
surd a  manner  as  to  permit  the  marriage  of  minors  without  consent  of  their  parents  or 
guardians  ;  when  these  melancholy  circumstances  have  so  lately  concurred,  it  is 
natural  to  infer  our  zeal  for  the  Church  should  be  in  proportion  to  its  danger ;  and  if 
these  are  not  proper  occasions  for  zeal  for  our  ecclesiastical  constitution,  it  is  not  easy 
to  assign  circumstances  that  may  justly  demand  it."*  How  fine  and  subtle  are  these 
speculations !  I  have  not  observed  any  insolences  towards  the  Church,  or  undutiful 
menaces  to  the  civil  government  in  the  late  writings  of  the  Dissenters  ;  but  if  one  pin 
of  the  hierarchy  be  removed  by  the  wisdom  of  the  Legislature,  the  whole  building  is 
supposed  to  fall,  and  all  religion  along  with  it.  His  lordship,  therefore,  advises  his 
clergy  to  study  the  Bishopt  of  London's  Codex,  in  order  to  defend  it ;  and  it  can  do 
them  no  real  prejudice  to  examine,  at  the  same  time,  the  principles  of  law  and  equity 
on  which  it  is  founded.^  As  to  the  Dissenters,  his  lordship  adds,  "  However,  it  will 
become  vis  of  the  clergy,  in  point  of  prudence,  not  to  give  any  just  suspicions  of  our 
disgust  to  the  legal  toleration  of  them,  while  they  keep  within  due  bounds ;  that  is, 
while  they  do  not  break  in  upon  the  privileges  and  rights  of  the  Established  Church, 
by  declaring  against  all  legal  establishments,  or  the  legal  establishment  of  the  Church 
of  England  in  particular,  or  by  not  being  quiet  with  the  present  limits  of  their  tolera- 
tion, or  by  affecting  posts  of  authority,  and  thereby  breaking  down  the  fences  of  the 
Church,  and  placing  themselves  on  a  level  with  it."§  But  whether  this  would  remain 
a  point  of  prudence  with  his  lordship,  if  the  boundaries  of  his  episcopal  power  were 
enlarged,  is  not  very  difficult  to  determine. 

The  Dissenters  have  no  envy  nor  ill-will  to  the  Churches  of  England  or  Scotland, 
established  by  law  (attended  with  a  toleration  of  all  peaceable  Dissenters),  any  far- 
ther than  they  encroach  on  the  natural  or  social  rights  of  mankind ;  nor  are  they  so 
weak  as  not  to  distinguish  between  high  dignities,  great  authority,  and  large  revenues 
secured  by  law,  and  a  poor  maintenance  arising  from  the  voluntary  contributions  of 
the  people,  that  is,  between  an  establishment  and  a  toleration. 

But  I  am  to  attend  to  the  charge  of  inconsistency  brought  against  myself.  I  had 
observed,  upon  the  reign  of  the  bloody  Queen  Mary,||  that  an  absolute  supremacy  over 
the  consciences  of  men,  lodged  with  a  single  person,  might  as  well  be  prejudicial  as 
serviceable  to  true  religion  ;  and  in  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Queen  ElizabethjH 
that  the  powers  then  claimed  by  the  kings  and  queens  of  England  were  in  a  manner 
the  same  with  those  claimed  by  the  popes  in  the  times  preceding  the  Reformation, 
except  the  administration  of  the  spiritual  offices  of  the  Church.  This  was  that  su- 
premacy which  was  the  groundwork  of  the  Reformation  ;  of  which  I  say,  let  the 
reader  judge  how  far  these  high  powers  are  agreeable  or  consistent  with  the  natural 
rights  of  mankind.  His  lordship  calls  this  a  professed  exposing  the  royal  suprema- 
cy, and  the  rather,  because  "  that  supremacy  was  acknowledged  and  sworn  to  by  the 
old  Puritans  themselves,  though  now,  inconsistently  enough,  disowned  and  condemned 
by  their  historian."  But  surely  his  lordship  should  have  informed  his  clergy,  at  the 
same  time,  in  what  sense  the  Puritans  took  the  oath,  when  it  was  before  his  eyes  in 
the  same  page  ;  and  my  words  are  these :  "  The  whole  body  of  the  papists  refused 
the  oath  of  supremacy,  as  inconsistent  with  their  allegiance  to  the  pope  ;  but  the  Pu- 
ritans took  it  under  all  these  disadvantages,  with  the  queen's  explication  in  her  in- 
junctions, that  is,  that  no  more  was  intended  than  that  her  majesty,  under  God,  had 
the  sovereignty  and  rule  over  all  persons  born  in  her  realm,  either  ecclesiastical  or 
temporal,  so  as  no  foreign  power  had,  or  ought  to  have,  any  superiority  over  them."** 
Where  is  the  inconsistency  of  this  conduct  of  the  old  Puritans,  or  their  new  histo- 

*Charge,  p.41,42,  44.  t  Dr.  Gibson. 

t  See  a  late  excellent  examination  of  the  Codex  Juris  Eccl.  Angl. 

«  Charge,  p.  46.  U  Hist.  Pur.,  vol.  i.,  p.  58.  ^  Ibid.,  p.  99,  100. 

*  *  Hist.  Pur.,  vol.  i.,  p.  93.     See  Strype's  Ann.,  vol.  i.,  p.  159. 


438  PREFACE. 

rian  ?     Or,  where  is  the  Dissenter  in  England  who  is  not  ready  to  swear  to  it  with 
this  explication  ? 

But  his  lordship  is  pleased  to  reason  upon  this  head  ;  and  in  order  to  support  that 
absolute  supremacy  which  was  the  groundwork  of  the  Reformation,  affirms,  that  "  all 
Christian  kings  and  emperors  have  the  same  power  of  reforming  religion,  and  are  un- 
der the  same  obligations  as  the  Jewish  kings  were  in  cases  of  the  like  nature,"*  with- 
out producing  the  least  evidence  or  proof;  whereas  his  lordship  knows  that  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Jews  was  a  theocracy  ;  that  God  himself  was  their  king,  and  the  laws 
of  that  nation  strictly  and  properly  the  laws  of  God,  who  is  Lord  of  conscience,  and 
may  annex  what  sanctions  he  pleases.  Their  judges  and  kings  were  chosen  and 
appointed  by  God,  not  to  make  a  new  codex  or  book  of  laws  either  for  Church  or 
State,  but  to  keep  the  people  to  the  strict  observation  of  those  laws  and  statutes  that 
he  himself  had  given  them  by  the  hand  of  Moses. 

His  lordship  is  pleased  to  ask,  "  If  any  high  pretender  to  spiritual  liberty  and  the 
rights  of  conscience  should  inquire  what  authority  the  respective  Jewish  and  Chris- 
tian powers  had  to  interpose  in  matters  that  regarded  the  rights  of  conscience,  sii  ce, 
in  fact,  their  assumed  supremacy  was  a  usuirpation  of  those  natural  rights  ?"f  I  an- 
swer, that  with  regard  to  the  Jews,  it  was  no  usurpation,  for  the  reasons  before  men- 
tioned ;  and  when  his  lordship  shall  prove  a  transfer  of  the  same  power  to  all  Chris- 
tian princes,  the  controversy  will  be  brought  to  a  short  issue.  "  But  will  it  not  be 
replied,"  says  the  bishop,  "  that  those  kings  and  emperors  were  intrusted  by  God 
with  the  care  of  the  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  civil  constitution  ?"J  If  by  the  care 
of  the  constitution  he  meant  no  more  than  the  preserving  their  subjects  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  their  inalienable  rights,  nobody  denies  it ;  but  if,  under  this  pretence,  they 
assume  a  sovereign  and  arbitrary  power  of  modelling  the  ecclesiastical  constitution 
according  to  their  pleasure,  and  of  enforcing  their  subjects'  obedience  by  canons 
and  penal  laws,  I  should  doubt  whether  they  are  obliged  to  comply,  even  in  things 
not  absolutely  sinful  in  themselves,  because  it  may  derogate  from  the  kingly  office  of 
Christ,  who  is  sole  king  and  lawgiver  in  his  own  kingdom,  and  has  not  delegated 
this  branch  of  his  authority  to  any  vicar-general  upon  earth.  But  I  readily  agree  with 
his  lordship,  that  if  any  high  pretender  to  the  rights  of  conscience  should  have  asked 
the  first  Christian  emperors  by  what  authority  they  took  on  themselves  the  alteration 
or  change  of  religion,  they  would  have  thought  the  question  unreasonable,  and  wor- 
thy of  censure  j  they  would  have  affirmed  their  own  sovereignty,  and  have  taught 
the  bold  inquirers  as  Gideon  did  the  men  of  Succoth,  with  briers  and  thorns  of  the 
wilderness. 

The  bishop  goes  on  :  "  Let  us  now  transfer  this  power  of  Jewish  kings  and  Chris- 
tian emperors  to  our  own  kings,  and  the  case  will  admit  of  an  easy  decision."§  If, 
indeed,  an  absolute  supremacy  in  matters  of  religion  be  the  natural  and  inalienable 
right  of  every  Christian  king  and  emperor,  the  dispute  is  at  an  end  ;  but  if  it  depend 
upon  a  transfer,  we  must  beg  pardon  if  we  desire  his  lordship  to  produce  his  com- 
mission for  transferring  the  same  powers  that  Almighty  God  gave  the  Jewish  kings 
of  his  own  appointment  to  the  first  Christian  emperors,  who  were  neither  chosen  by 
God,  nor  the  people,  nor  the  Senate  of  Rome,  but  usurped  the  supreme  authority  by 
the  assistance  of  the  military  arm,  and  were  some  of  them  the  greatest  tyrants  and 
scourges  of  mankind. 

His  lordship  adds,  "  Have  not  the  English  kings  since  the  Reformation  actually 
been  invested  with  the  same  supremacy  as  the  Jewish  kings  and  Christian  emperors 
were  ?"|1  I  answer,  such  a  supremacy  is,  in  my  judgment,  inconsistent  with  our  pres- 
ent Constitution  and  the  laws  in  being.  The  supremacy  claimed  by  King  Henry 
VIII.  and  his  successors,  at  the  Reformation,  was  found  by  experience  too  excessive, 
and  therefore  abridgred  in  the  reigns  of  King  Charles  I.  and  King  William  III.  No 
one  doubts  but  that  the  kings  of  England  are  obliged  to  protect  religion  and  defend 
the  establishment  as  long  as  the  Legislature  think  fit  to  continue  it ;  but  as  they  may 
not  suspend  or  change  it  by  their  sovereign  pleasure,  so  neither  may  they  publish 
edicts  of  their  own  to  enforce  it,  as  was  the  case  of  the  first  Christian  emperors.  The 
reader  will  excuse  this  digression,  as  necessary  to  support  a  principal  fact  of  my 
history. 

*  Charge,  p.  20.  t  Ibid.,  p.  21.  t  Ibid.,  p.  22.  Ud.  ibid.  II  Ibid. 


^ 


PREFACE.  439 

I  am  sufficiently  aware  of  the  delicacy  of  the  affairs  treated  of  in  this  volume,  and  of 
the  tenderness  of  the  ground  I  go  over ;  and  though  I  have  been  very  careful  of  my 
temper  and  language,  and  have  endeavoured  to  look  into  the  mysterious  conduct  of 
the  several  parties  with  all  the  indifference  of  a  spectator,  I  find  it  very  difficult  to 
form  an  exact  judgment  of  the  most  important  events,  or  to  speak  freely  Avithout  of- 
fence ;  therefore,  if  any  passionate  or  angry  writer  should  appear  against  this,  or  any 
'  ©f  the  former  volumes,  I  humbly  request  the  reader  to  pay  no  regard  to  personal  re- 
flections, or  to  any  insinuations  of  any  ill  designs  against  the  established  religion  or 
the  public  peace,  which  are  entirely  groundless.  I  am  as  far  from  vindicating  the 
;  spirit  and  conduct  of  the  warmer  Puritans  as  of  the  governing  prelates  of  those 
'  times  ;  there  was  hard  measure  on  both  sides,  though,  if  we  separate  politics  from 
principles  of  pure  religion,  the  balance  will  be  very  much  in  favour  of  the  Puritans. 
In  historical  debates  nothing  is  to  be  received  upon  trust,  but  facts  are  to  be  exam- 
ined, and  a  judgment  formed  upon  the  authority  by  which  those  facts  are  supported ; 
15y  this  method  we  shall  arrive  at  truth  ;  and  if  it  shall  appear  that  in  the  course  of 
this  long  history  there  are  any  considerable  mistakes,  the  world  may  be  assured  I 
will  take  the  first  opportunity  to  retract  or  amend  them,  having  no  private  or  party 
views,  no  prospect  of  preferment  or  other  reward  for  my  labours  than  the  satisfaction 
of  doing  some  service  to  truth,  and  to  the  religious  and  civil  liberties  of  mankind ; 
and  yet,  after  all,  I  must  bespeak  the  indulgence  and  candour  of  my  readers,  which 
those  who  are  sensible  of  the  labour  and  toil  of  collecting  so  many  materials,  and 
ranging  them  in  their  proper  order,  will  readily  allow  to  one  who  sincerely  wishes 
the  prosperity  and  welfare  of  all  good  men,  and  that  the  violence  and  outrage  of  these 
unhappy  times,  which  brought  such  confusion  and  misery  both  on  king  and  people, 
may  never  be  imitated  by  the  present  or  any  future  age. 

Daniel  Neal. 
London,  Nov.  4,  1735. 


PART    II. 


CHAPTER  I. 

FROM  THE  BATTLE    OF  EDGEHILL  TO   THE  CALLING 
THE  ASSEMBLY  OF  DIVINES  AT  WESTMINSTER. 

The  king  having  recruited  his  army  at  Ox- 
ford, after  the  battle  of  Edgehill,  by  the  assist- 
ance of*the  University,  who  now  gave  his  maj- 
esty all  their  money,  as  they  had  before  done 
their  plate,  resolved  to  pursue  his  march  to 
London,  in  order  to  break  up  the  Parliament 
and  surprise  the  city  ;  while  the  Earl  of  Essex, 
imagining  the  campaign  was  ended,  lay  quiet 
about  Warwick,  till,  being  informed  of  the  king's 
designs,  he  posted  to  London,  and  ordered  his 
forces  to  follow  with  all  expedition.  The  earl 
arrived  November  7,  1642,  and  was  honourably 
received  by  both  houses  of  Parliament,  who 
presented  him  with  a  gratuity  of  £5000,  and,  to 
strengthen  his  army,  passed  an  ordinance  that 
such  apprentices  as  would  list  in  their  service 
should  be  entitled  to  a  freedom  of  the  city  at 
the  expiration  of  their  apprenticeship,  equally 
■with  those  who  continued  with  their  masters. 
In  the  beginning  of  November,  the  king  took 
possession  of  Reading  without  the  least  resist- 
ance, the  Parliament  garrison  having  abandon- 
ed it,  which  alarmed  both  houses,  and  made 
them  send  an  express  to  desire  a  safe- conduct 
for  a  committee  of  Lords  and  Commons  to  at- 
tend his  majesty  with  a  petition  for  peace  ;* 
the  committee  waited  on  his  majesty  at  Coin- 
brook,  fifteen  miles  from  London,  and,  having 
received  a  favourable  answer,!  reported  it  to 

*  Rushworth,  vol.  i.,  p.  58. 

+  "  He  seemed  to  receive  the  petition  with  great 
willingness,  and  called  God  to  witness,  with  many 
protestations,  that  he  was  tenderly  compassionate  of 
his  bleeding  people,  and  more  desirous  of  nothing 
than  a  speedy  peace." — May's  Parliamentary  History, 
b.  iii.,  p.  33.  The  immediate  subsequent  conduct  of 
the  king  was  certainly  not  consistent  with'such  pro- 
fessions; yet  Dr.  Grey  is  displeased  with  Mr.  Neal 
for  insinuating  that  it  was  a  lareach  of  promise,  and 
accuses  him  of  not  giving  the  fairest  account  of  this 
action,  which,  he  says,  the  king  sufficiently  justified. 
But  when  the  doctor  passed  this  censure,  it  seerns 
that  he  had  not  looked  forward  to  the  next  para- 
graph, where  the  motives  of  the  king's  behaviour 
are  stated.  The  committee  deputed  by  the  Parlia- 
ment to  Colnbrook  consisted  of  the  Earls  of  Nor- 
thumberland and  Pembroke,  Lord  Wainman,  Mr. 
Pierpont,  Sir  John  Ipsley,  and  Sir  John  Evelyn : 
when  the  king  refused  to  admit  the  last  gentleman, 
because  he  had  named  him  a  traitor  the  day  before, 
the  Parliament,  though  extremely  displeased  with 
the  exception,  so  as  to  vote  it  a  breach  of  privilege, 
yet,  from  their  ardent  desire  of  accommodation,  per- 
mitted the  petition  to  be  presented  without  Sir  John 
Evelyn. — May,  h.  iii.,  p.  32.  This  yielding  conduct 
le-ives  the  king  more  inexcusable,  as  it  serves  to 
show  the  sincerity  of  the  Parliament  in  their  over- 
tures ;  and  Lord  Clarendon  says  that  it  was  believed 
by  many,  that  had  the  king  retired  to  Reading,  and 
•waited  there  for  the  answer  of  Parliament,  they 

Vol.  I.— K  k  k 


the  two  houses,  who  immediately  gave  orders 
to  forbear  all  acts  of  hostility,  and  sent  a  mes- 
senger to  the  king  to  desire  the  like  forbear- 
ance on  his  part ;  but  the  committee  had  no 
sooner  left  Colnbrook  than  his  majesty,  taking 
the  advantage  of  a  thick  mist,  advanced  to 
Brentford,  about  seven  miles  from  London,* 
which  he  attacked  with  his  whole  army,  No- 
vember 13,  and  after  a  fierce  and  bloody  ren- 
counter with  the  Parliament  garrison,  wherein 
considerable  numbers  were  driven  into  the 
Thames  and  slain,  he  got  possession  of  the 
town,  and  took  a  great  many  prisoners.  The 
consternation  of  the  citizens  on  this  occasion 
was  inexpressible,  imagining  the  king  would 
be  the  next  morning  at  their  gates ;  upon  which 
the  lord-mayor  ordered  the  trained-bands  im- 
mediately to  join  the  Earl  of  Essex's  forces, 
which  were  just  arrived  at  Turnham  Green, 
under  the  command  of  Major-general  Skippon, 
and  there  being  no  farther  thoughts  of  peace, 
every  one  spirited  up  his  neighbour,  and  all  re- 
solved, as  one  man,  to  live  and  die  together. 
Major  Skippon  went  from  regiment  to  regiment, 
and  encouraged  his  troops  with  such  short,  sol- 
dierlike speeches  as  these  :  "  Come,  my  boys  ! 
my  brave  boys !  I  will  run  the  same  hazards  with 
you  ;  remember,  the  cause  is  for  God  and  the 
defence  of  yourselves,  your  wives,  and  children. 
Come,  my  honest,  brave  boys  !  let  us  pray  heart- 
ily, and  fight  heartily,  and  God  will  bless  us." 
When  they  were  drawn  up,  they  made  a  body 
of  about  twenty-four  thousand  men  eager  for 
battle  ;  but  their  orders  were  only  to  be  on  the 
defensive,  and  prevent  the  king's  breaking 
through  to  the  city.  The  two  armies  having 
faced  each  other  all  day,  his  majesty  retreated 
in  the  night  to  Kingston,  and  from  thence  to 
Reading,  where  having  left  a  small  garrison,  he 
returned  to  Oxford  about  the  beginning  of  De- 
cember with  his  Brentford  prisoners,  the  chief 
of  whom  were   condemned  to  die,t  and  had 

would  immediately  have  withdrawn  their  garrison 
from  Windsor,  and  delivered  that  castle  to  his  maj- 
esty for  his  accommodation,  to  have  carried  on  the 
treaty  he  had  proposed. — History,  vol.  ii.,  p.  73.  The 
motives  on  which  the  king  acted  in  the  action  at 
Brentford,  which  Mr.  Neal  has  compressed  into  one 
paragraph,  Dr.  Grey,  by  large  quotations  on  different 
authorities,  has  extended  through  four  pages,  which 
affords  a  parade  of  confuting  Mr.  Neal. — En. 

*  Whitelocke,  p.  62. 

t  Rushworth,  vol.  v.,  p.  93. 

The  persons  named  by  Rushworth,  whom  Mr. 
Neal  quotes,  were  Clifton  Catesby,  John  Lilburne, 
and  Robet  Vivers.  Dr.  Grey  says  that  "  it  does  not 
appear  that  these  three  were  taken  prisoners  at 
Brentford."  He  should  have  added,  from  this  place 
in  Rushworth,  to  which  the  reference  is  here  made ; 
for  in  p.  83  Rushworth  informs  his  readers,  with  re- 
spect to  Lilburne  in  particular,  that  he  owned  that 
he  was  at  Brentford  ;  and  by  the  others  being  inclu- 
ded in  the  same  sentence,  it  is  probable  that  they 


442 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


been  executed  for  high  treason,  if  the  two 
houses  had  not  threatened  to  make  reprisals.* 
The  Parliament,  to  prevent  a  like  surprise  of 
the  city  for  the  future,  empowered  the  lord- 
mayor  to  cause  lines  of  cii*cumvallation  to  be 
drawn  around  it,  and  all  the  avenues  fortified. 

It  was  not  without  reason  that  the  two 
houses  complained  of  the  king's  extraordinary 
conduct  on  this  occasion,  which  was  owing  to 
the  violent  counsels  of  Prince  Rupert  and  Lord 
Digby,  animated  by  some  of  his  majesty's 
friends  in  the  city,  who  imagined  that  if  the 
royal  army  appeared  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
London,  the  Parliament  would  accept  of  his 
majesty's  pardon  and  break  up,  or  else  the  con- 
fusions would  be  so  great  that  he  might  enter 
and  carry  all  before  him ;  but  the  project  hav- 
ing failed,  his  majesty  endeavoured  to  excuse  it 
in  the  best  manner  he  could:  he  alleged  that, 
there  being  no  cessation  of  arms  agreed  upon, 
he  might  justly  take  all  advantages  against  his 
enemies.  He  insisted,  farther,  upon  his  fears 
of  being  hemmed  in  by  the  Parliament's  forces 
about  Colnbrook,  to  prevent  which,  it  seems, 
he  marched  seven  miles  nearer  the  city.  Lord 
Clarendon  says,t  Prince  Rupert  having  ad- 
vanced to  Hounslow  without  order,  his  majes- 
ty, at  the  desire  of  the  prince,  marched  for- 
ward to  disengage  him  from  the  danger  of  the 
forces  quartered  in  that  neighbourhood  ;  which 
is  so  very  improbable,  that,  in  the  opinion  of 
Mr.  Rapin,  it  is  needless  to  refute  it.J  Upon 
the  whole,  it  is  extremely  probable  the  king 
came  from  Oxford  with  a  design  of  surprising 
the  city  of  London  before  the  Earl  of  Essex's 
army  could  arrive  ;  but,  having  missed  his  aim, 
he  framed  the  best  pretences  to  persuade  the 
people  that  his  marching  to  Brentford  was  only 
in  his  own  defence. 

Though  his  majesty  took  all  occasions  to 
make  offers  of  peace  to  his  Parliament,  in  hopes 
the  nation  would  compel  them  to  an  agreement, 
by  leaving  him  in  possession  of  all  his  preroga- 
tives, it  is  sufficiently  evident  he  had  no  inten- 
tions to  yield  anything  to  obtain  it  ;^  for  in  his 

were  involved  in  the  same  charge  of  acting  against 
the  king  at  Brentford. 

*  On  the  authority  of  Lord  Clarendon  and  Mr. 
Echard,  Dr.  Grey  charges  the  chaplains  of  the  Par- 
hament  army.  Dr.  Downing  and  Mr.  Marshal,  with 
publicly  avowing  "  that  the  soldiers  lately  taken  at 
Brentford,  and  discharged  by  the  king  upon  their 
oaths  that  they  would  never  again  bear  arms  against 
him,  were  not  obliged  by  that  oath,"  and  with  ab- 
solving them  from  it.  The  doctor  is  also  displeased 
with  Mr.  Oldmixon  for  treating  this  account  as  a 
falsehood,  but  he  suppresses  the  grounds  of  Mr. 
Oldmison's  censure  of  it,  which  are  these :  in  the 
first  place,  that  there  was  no  occasion  to  use  these 
arts,  when  the  prisoners  amounted  to  but  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  men,  which  could  not  be  wanted  when 
the  city  of  London  was  pouring  out  recruits ;  and, 
then,  priestly  absolution  was  not  the  practice,  nor  the 
power  of  it  the  claim,  of  Puritan  divines. — Rush- 
worth,  vol.  v.,  p.  59.  Oldmixon's  History  of  the  Stu- 
arts, p.  214. — Ed.  t  History,  p.  74. 

X  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  465,  foho  edition. 

^  Without  controverting  Mr.  Neal's  authority,  Dr. 
Grey  calls  this  a  bold  assertion,  and  appeals  to  va- 
rious messages  for  an  accommodation  which  the 
king  sent  to  the  Parliament.  But  of  what  avail  to 
prove  a  yielding  and  accommodating  temper  are 
speeches  without  actions  ?  or  softening  overtures, 
unless  they  be  followed  up  by  mild  and  pacific  meas- 
U'es  adopted  with  sincerity,  and  adhered  to  with 


letter  to  Duke  Hamilton,  dated  December  2, 
1642,  he  says,  "  he  had  set  up  his  rest  upon  the 
justice  of  his  cause,  being  resolved  that  no  ex- 
tremity or  misfortune  should  make  him  yield ; 
for,"  says  his  majesty,  "  I  will  be  either  a  glo- 
rious king  or  a  patient  martyr ;  and  as  yet  not 
being  the  first,  nor  at  this  present  apprehending 
the  other,  I  think  it  no  unfit  time  to  express  this 
my  resolution  to  you."*  The  justice  of  the 
cause  upon  which  his  majesty  had  set  up  his 
rest  was  his  declaration  and  promise  to  govern 
for  the  future  according  to  the  laws  of  the  land  ; 
but  the  point  was  to  know  whether  this  might 
be  relied  upon.  The  two  houses  admitted  the 
laws  of  the  land  to  be  the  rule  of  government,! 
and  that  the  executive  power  in  time  of  peace 
was  with  the  king  ;$  but  his  majesty  had  so  oft- 
en dispensed  with  the  laws  by  the  advice  of  a 
corrupt  ministry,  after  repeated  assurances  to 
the  contrary  thereof,  that  they  durst  not  con- 
fide in  his  royal  word,  and  insisted  upon  some 
additional  security  for  themselves  and  for  the 
Constitution. ij  On  the  other  hand,  his  majesty 
averred  the  Constitution  was  in  no  danger  from 
him,  but  from  themselves,  who  were  acting  ev- 
ery day  in  defiance  of  it.  To  which  it  was  an- 
swered, that  it  was  impossible  the  laws  should 
have  their  due  course  in  time  of  war  as  in  the 
height  of  peace,  because  this  must  effectually 
tie  up  their  hands.  Neither  party  by  law  could 
raise  money  upon  the  subject  without  each 
other's  consent ;  the  king  could  not  do  it  with- 
out consent  of  Parliament,  nor  the  Parliament 
without  the  royal,  assent,  and  yet  both  had  prac- 
tised it  since  the  opening  of  the  war.  To  have 
recourse,  therefore,  to  the  laws  of  a  well-settled 
government  in  times  of  general  confusion,  was 
weak  and  impracticable.  Besides,  his  majesty 
refused  to  give  up  any  of  his  late  ministers  to 

firmness/  Did  Charles  I.  act  with  this  consistency? 
Let  them  who  are  acquainted  with  the  history  of  his 
reign  answer  the  question.  Even  Lord  Clarendon 
owns  his  behef  that,  in  matters  of  great  moment,  an 
opinion  that  the  violence  and  force  used  in  procuring 
bills  rendered  them  absolutely  void,  influenced  the 
king  to  confirm  them. — History,  vol.  i.,  p.  430.  What 
confidence  could  be  placed  in  the  professions  and 
sincerity  of  a  man  who  could  be  displeased  with  the 
Earl  of  Northumberland  because  he  would  not  per- 
jure himself  for  Lord-lieutenant  Strafford? — Sydney's 
State  Papers,  quoted  by  Dr.  Harris,  Life  of  Charles  L, 
p.  79,  who  has  fully  stated  the  evidence  of  Charles's 
dissimulation  and  want  of  faith.  See  also  Ati  Essay 
towards  a  True  Idea  of  the  Character  and  Reign  of 
Charles  I.,  p.  94,  &C. — Ed. 

*  Duke  of  Hamilton's  Memoirs,  b.  iv.,  p.  203. 

t  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  466. 

i  "  Our  laws  hwe  nowhere,  that  I  know  of,  dis- 
tinguished," says  Dr.  Grey, "  between  times  of  peace 
or  war,  with  regard  to  the  king's  executive  power." 
This  is  true  ;  but  it  was  the  infelicity  of  the  times  of 
which  Mr.  Neal  writes,  that  there  arose  new  ques- 
tions out  of  the  present  emergency  for  which  the 
standing  laws  had  made  no  provision,  and  difficulties 
to  which  they  did  not  apply. — Ed. 

ij  "Mr.  Neal,"  says  Dr.  Grey,  "has  not  produced 
one  single  proof  in  support  of  this  assertion,  and  1 
challenge  him  to  instance  in  particulars."  This  may 
appear  a  bold  challenge  from  a  writer  who  professed 
to  be  conversant  in  the  history  of  those  times.  But 
as  the  doctor  has  thrown  it  out,  we  will  produce  an 
instance  of  the  king's  violation  of  his  word.  He 
gave  his  assent  to  the  Petition  of  Right,  a  kind  of 
second  Magna  Charta,  which  he  immediately  viola- 
ted, and  continued  to  do  for  twelve  years  together. 
— Essay  towards  a  True  Idea,  &c.,  p.  94. — Ed. 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


443 


the  justice  of  Parliament ;  for  in  his  letter  to 
Duke  Hamilton,  he  says,  that  "  his  abandoning 
the  Earl  of  Strafford  had  gone  so  near  him,  that 
he  was  resolved  no  consideration  should  make 
him  do  the  like  again."  Upon  these  resolutions 
he  decliaed  the  mediation  of  the  Scots  commis- 
sioners, which  gave  the  several  parties  engaged 
against  him  a  fair  opportunity  of  uniting  their 
interests  with  that  nation. 

This  was  a  nice  and  curious  affair.     The 
friends  of  the  Parliament,  who  were  agreed  in 
the  cause  of  civil  liberty,  were  far  from  being 
of  one  mind  in  points  of  church  discipline  ;  the 
major  part  were  for  episcopacy,  and  desired  no 
more  than  to  secure  the  Constitution  and  re- 
form a  few  exorbitances  of  the  bishops  ;  some 
were  Erastians,  and  would  be  content  with  any 
form  of  government  the  magistrate  should  ap- 
point ;  the  real  Presbyterians,  who  were  for  an 
entire  change  of  the  hierarchy  upon  the  foot  of 
Divine  right,  were  as  yet  but  few,  and  could 
carry  nothing  in  the  House.    It  was  necessary, 
therefore,  in  treating  with  the  Scots,  who  con- 
tended earnestly  for  their  kirk  government,  to 
deliver  themselves  in  such  general  expressions 
hat  each  party  might  interpret  them  as  they 
vere  inclined,  or  as  should  be  expedient.    This 
contented  the  Scots  for  the  present,  and  left  the 
Parliament  at  full  liberty,  till  they  saw  what 
terms  they  could  make  with  the  king.     Nor 
could  the  churchmen  be  dissatisfied,  because 
they  knew  if  they  could  put  a  period  to  the  war 
without  the  Scots,  the  two  houses  would  not 
call  in  their  assistance,  much  less  submit  to  a 
kirk  discipline  with  which  they  had  no  manner 
of  acquaintance  ;  and  therefore  Lord  Clarendon 
was  of  opinion,*  that  even  at  the  treaty  of  Ux- 
hridge,  if  the  Parliament  could  have  obtained 
an  act  of  oblivion  for  what  was  past,  and  good 
security  for  the  king's  government  by  law,  the 
affair  of  religion  might  easily  have  been  com- 
promised ;  but  it  required  all  the  prudence  and 
sagacity  the  two  houses  were  masters  of  to 
keep  so  many  different  interests  in  points  of  re- 
ligion united  in  one  common  cause  of  liberty 
and  the  Constitution,  at  a  time  when  great  num- 
bers of  the  king's  friends,  in  the  very  city  of 
London,  were  forming  conspiracies  to  restore 
him  without  any  terms  at  all. 

The  king's  affairs  had  a  promising  aspect  this 
winter.  His  forces  in  the  North,  under  the  Earl 
of  Newcastle,  were  superior  to  those  of  Lord 
Ferdinando  Fairfax.  In  the  nrestern  and  mid- 
land counties  there  were  several  sieges  and 
rencounters,  with  various  success,  but  nothing 
decisive.  Divers  counties  entered  into  associ- 
ations for  their  mutual  defence  on  both  sides. t 
The  four  northern  counties  of  Northumberland, 
Cumberland,  Westmoreland,  and  Durham  asso- 
ciated for  the  kmg ;{  after  which  the  two  houses 
encouraged  the  like  in  those  that  owned  their 


*  Dr.  Grey  asks,  "  Where  does  Lord  Clarendon 
discover  this  opinion  ?  As  he  (t.  e.,  Mr.  Neal)  is  faulty 
even  when  he  quotes  his  authorities,  I  am  unwilling 
to  take  his  word  when  he  makes  no  reference  at  all." 
What  will  the  reader  think  of  the  candour  of  this  in- 
sinuation, when  he  is  told  that  the  passages  to  which 
Mr.  Neal  refers  are  to  be  found  hi  p.  581  and  594  of 
the  second  volume  of  Lord  Clarendon's  History,  and 
that  they  are  expressly  quoted,  and  the  references 
are  pointed  out  in  Mr.  Neal's  account  of  the  treaty  at 
Uxbridge  ?— Ed. 

t  Rushworth,  vol.  v.,  p.  66.  X  Ibid.,  p.  64. 


authority,  and  appointed  generals  to  command 
their  troops  ;  the  chief  of  which  was  the  east- 
ern association  of  Essex,  Cambridgeshire,  the 
isle  of  Ely,  Hertford,  Norfolk,  Suffolk,  and  the 
city  of  Norwich,  whose  militia  were  trained 
and  ready  to  march  where  necessity  should  re- 
quire within  their  several  limits.  In  some  parts 
of  England  the  inhabitants  resolved  to  stand 
neuter,  and  not  be  concerned  on  either  side  ; 
but  the  Parliament  condemned  and  disannulled 
all  such  agreements. 

As  the  two  houses  depended  upon  the  assist- 
ance of  the  Scots,  his  majesty  had  expectations 
of  foreign  aids  from  the  queen,  who  had  endeav- 
oured, by  the  influence  of  her  son-in-law  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  to  engage  the  states  of  Hol- 
land in  the  king's  interest,  but  they  wisely  de- 
clared for  a  neutrality  ;  however,  they  connived 
at  her  private  negotiations,  and  gave  her  a  gen- 
eral passport,  by  virtue  whereof  she  transport- 
ed a  very  large  quantity  of  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion to  Burlington  Bay,  and  conveyed  them  to 
the  king  at  York.  His  majesty,  also,  in  order 
to  bring  over  the  Irish  forces  under  the  com- 
mand of  the  Duke  of  Ormond,  consented  to  a 
truce  with  the  Irish  rebels  [signed  September 
15,  1643],  in  which  he  allowed  the  Catholics  to 
remain  in  possession  of  what  they  had  conquer- 
ed since  the  Rebellion,  to  the  great  grief  of  the 
Protestants,  who  hy  this  means  were  legally 
dispossessed  of  their  estates;  a  most  unpopu- 
lar action,  in  favour  of  a  people  who,  by  their 
late  massacre,  were  become  the  very  reproach 
and  infamy  of  human  nature  !*  Thus  the  whole 
kingdom  was  marshalled  into  parties,  with  their 
drawn  swords,  eager  to  plunge  them  into  each 
other's  breasts,  t 

The  Parliament's  cause  having  a  dark  and 
threatening  aspect,  the  Lords  and  Commons 
were  not  forgetful  to  implore  the  Divine  bless- 
ing upon  their  counsels  and  arms ;  for  which 
purpose  they  published  an  ordinance,  February 
15,  1642-3,  exhorting  to  the  duty  of  repentance, 
as  the  only  remedy  to  prevent  public  calamities. 
It  was  drawn  up  by  some  of  the  Puritan  divines ; 
and  because  Bishop  Kennet  has  branded  it  with 
the  reproachful  characters  of  cant,  broad  hypoc- 
risy, and  a  libel  against  the  Church,  I  will  trans- 
cribe the  substance  of  it  in  their  own  words  : 

"  That  flourishing  kingdoms  have  been  ruin- 
ed by  impenitent  going  on  in  a  course  of  sin, 

*  To  wipe  off  the  reflections  which  this  transac- 
tion brings  on  the  character  of  Charles  I.,  Dr.  Grey  is 
large  in  producing  authorities  to  show  that  the  situ- 
ation of  the  Protestants  and  of  the  army  in  Ireland, 
through  the  length  of  the  war  and  the  failure  of  sup- 
plies from  England,  required  a  cessation  of  arms. 
But  if  the  reader  would  see  a  full  investigation  of 
this  business,  he  should  consult  Mrs.  Macaulay's 
History,  vol.  iv.,  8vo,  p.  63-90.  Two  circumstances 
will  afford  a  clew  into  the  policy  and  design  of  this 
truce.  To  prevent  opposition  to  it  in  the  Irish  coun- 
cil, tlie  members  who  were  suspected  of  an  attach- 
ment to  the  Parliament  of  England  were  committed 
close  prisoners  to  the  castle ;  and  the  king  derived 
from  it,  as  the  price  of  granting  it,  £38,000,  to  assist 
him  to  carry  on  the  war  against  his  Protestant  sub- 
jects in  England.  I  will  only  add,  that  the  main 
point  aimed  at  by  the  rebels,  and  which  the  king  en- 
couraged them  to  expect,  was  a  new  Parliament; 
which,  as  the  kingdom  was  circumstanced,  would 
have  put  the  whole  power  of  government  into  their 
hands. — Mrs.  Macaulay,  p.  845. 

t  Rushworth,  vol.  v.,  p.  S37-539,  548. 


iu 


HISTORY    OF   THE    PURITANS. 


the  sacred  story  plainly  tells  us  ;  and  how  near 
to  rum  our  sinful  nation  now  is,  the  present  lam- 
entable face  of  it  does  too  plainly  show.  And 
though  we  should  feel  the  heavy  stroke  of  God's 
judgments  yet  seven  limes  more,  it  is  our  duty 
to  accept  the  punishment  of  our  iniquities,  and 
to  say,  Righteous  art  thou,  0  Lord,  and  just 
are  thy  judgments.  Yet,  because  the  Lord, 
who  is  just,  is  also  merciful,  and  in  his  infinite 
mercy  has  left  the  excellent  and  successful  rem- 
edy of  repentance  to  nations  brought  near  the 
gates  of  destruction  and  despair,  oh !  let  not 
England  be  negligent  in  the  application  of  it. 
Humble  addresses  of  a  penitent  people  to  a  mer- 
ciful God  have  prevailed  with  him :  they  have 
prevailed  for  Nineveh  when  sentence  seemed  to 
be  gone  out  against  her,  and  may  also  prevail 
for  England. 

"It  is  therefore  thought  necessary,  by  the 
Lords  and  Commons  in  Parliament  assembled, 
that  all  his  majesty's  subjects  be  stirred  up 
to  lay  hold  of  this  only  and  unfailing  remedy  of 
repentance,  freely  acknowledging,  and  hearti- 
ly bewailing  with  deepest  humiliation,  both 
their  own  personal  sins  and  those  of  the  na- 
tion ;  a  confession  of  national  sins  being  most 
,  agreeable  to  the  national  judgments  under  which 
the  land  groans,  and  most  hkely  to  be  effectual 
for  the  removing  of  them. 

"  Among  the  national  sins  are  to  be  reckoned 
the  contempt  of  God's  ordinances,  and  of  holi- 
ness itself;  gross  ignorance,  and  unfruitfulness 
under  the  means  of  grace  ;  multitudes  of  oaths, 
blasphemies,  profanation  of  the  Sabbath  by  sports 
and  games  ;  luxury,  pride,  prodigality  in  apparel, 
oppression,  fraud,  violence,  &c. ;  a  connivance, 
and  almost  a  toleration  of  the  idolatry  of  popery, 
the  massacre  of  Ireland,  and  the  bloodshed  of 
the  martyrs  in  Queen  Mary's  time,  which,  hav- 
ing been  a  national  sin,  still  calls  for  a  national 
confession. 

"  Now,  that  all  the  sin  and  misery  of  this 
polluted  and  afflicted  nation  may  be  bitterly  sor- 
rowed for,  with  such  grief  of  heart  and  prepa- 
redness for  a  thorough  reformation  as  God  may 
be  pleased  graciously  to  accept,  it  is  ordained 
that  all  preachers  of  God's  Word  do  earnestly 
inculcate  these  duties  on  their  hearers,  that  at 
length  we  may  obtain  a  firm  and  happy  peace 
both  with  God  and  man  ;  that  glory  may  dwell 
in  our  land  ;  and  the  prosperity  of  the  Gospel, 
with  all  the  privileges  accompanying  it,  may 
crown  this  nation  unto  all  succeedmg  ages."* 

The  reverend  prelate  above  mentioned  makes 
the  following  remark  upon  this  ordinance : 
"  When  once  the  two  houses  could  descend  to 
have  such  fulsome  penitential  forms  put  upon 
them,  to  adopt  and  to  obtrude  in  their  name  upon 
the  nation,  it  was  a  sure  sign  that  all  that  was 
sound  and  decent  in  faith  and  worship  was  now 
to  be  commanded  into  enthusiasm  and  endless 
schisms."  I  leave  the  reader  to  examine  wheth- 
er he  can  find  any  ground  for  so  severe  a  cen- 
sure. 

Though  the  king  had  rejected  the  Scots'  me- 
diation, and  set  up  his  rest  upon  the  justice  of 
his  cause,  he  was  pleased,  before  the  beginning 
of  the  campaign,  to  admit  of  a  treaty  with  his 
two  houses,  for  which  purpose  he  sent  a  safe- 
conduct  of  six  lords,  and  as  many  commoners, 
with  their  attendants,  to  repair  to  him  at  Ox- 


*  Rush  worth,  vol.  v.,  p.  141. 


ford,  who,  being  admitted  to  an  audience  in  one 
of  the  colleges,  produced  the  following  propo- 
sals, which  were  read  by  the  Earl  of  Northum- 
berland : 

1.  "That  the  armies  may  be  disbanded  on 
both  sides,  and  the  king  return  to  his  Parliament. 

2.  "  That  delinquents  may  submit  to  a  legal 
trial,  and  judgment  of  Parliament. 

3.  "  That  all  papists  be  disbanded  and  dis- 
armed. 

4.  "  That  his  majesty  will  please  to  give  his 
consent  to  the  five  bills  hereafter  mentioned. 

5.  "  That  an  oath  may  be  established  by  act 
of  Parliament,  wherein  the  papists  shall  abjure 
and  renounce  the  pope's  supremacy,  transub- 
stantiation,  purgatory,  worshipping  the  conse- 
crated host,  crucifixes,  and  images ;  and  the  re- 
fusing such  oath  lawfully  tendered  shall  be  a 
sufficient  conviction  of  recusancy.  That  your 
majesty  will  graciously  please  to  consent  to  a 
bill  for  the  education  of  papists  in  the  Protestant 
religion.  And  to  another  bill  for  the  better  put- 
ting the  laws  in  execution  against  them. 

6.  "  That  the  Earl  of  Bristol  and  Lord  Her- 
bert may  be  removed  from  your  majesty's  coun- 
cils, and  from  the  court. 

7.  "  That  the  militia  may  be  settled  in  such 
manner  as  shall  be  agreed  upon  by  both  houses. 

8.  "  That  the  chief-justices  and  judges  of  the 
several  courts  of  law  may  hold  their  place  quam 
diu  se  bene  gesserint. 

9.  "  That  such  persons  as  have  been  put  out 
of  the  commissions  of  the  peace  since  April  1, 

1642,  may  be  restored,  and  that  those  whom  the 
Parliament  shall  except  against  be  removed. 

10.  "  That  your  majesty  will  please  to  pass 
the  bill  now  presented,  to  secure  the  privileges 
of  Parliament  from  the  ill  consequences  of  the 
late  proceedings  against  the  Lord  Kimbolton  and 
the  five  members. 

11.  "  That  an  act  may  be  passed  for  satisfy- 
ing such  public  debts  as  the  Parliament  has  en- 
gaged the  public  faith  for. 

12.  "  That  your  majesty  will  please  to  enter 
into  alliances  with  foreign  Protestant  powers 
for  the  defence  of  the  Protestant  religion,  and 
recovering  the  Palatinate. 

13.  "That  in  the  general  pardon,  all  offences 
committed  before  the  10th  of  January,  1641, 
which  have  been  or  shall  be  questioned  in  the 
House  of  Commons  before  the  10th  of  January, 

1643,  be  excepted.  That  all  persons  concerned 
in  the  Irish  rebellion  be  excepted,  as  likewise 
William  earl  of  Newcastle,  and  George  lord 
Digby. 

14.  "  That  such  members  of  Parliament  as 
have  been  turned  out  of  their  places  since  the 
beginning  of  this  Parliament  may  be  restored, 
and  may  have  some  reparation  upon  the  petitioa 
of  both  houses."* 

These  things  being  granted  and  performed, 
we  shall  be  enabled,  say  they,  to  make  it  our 
hopeful  endeavour  that  your  majesty  and  your 
people  may  enjoy  the  blessings  of  peace,  truth, 
and  justice. 

The  bills  mentioned  in  the  fourth  proposition 
were  these : 

The  first  is  entitled,  "  An  act  for  the  suppres- 
sion of  divers  innovations  in  churches  and 
chapels  in  and  about  the  worship  of  God,  and 
for  the  due  observation  of  the  Lord's  Day,  and 


♦  Rushworth,  vol.  v.,  p.  165,  166. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    PURITANS. 


445 


the  better  advancement  of  preaching  God's  Holy 
Word  in  all  parts  of  this  kingdom." 

It  enacts,  "  That  all  altars  and  rails  be  taken 
away  out  of  churches  and  chapels  before  April 
18,  1643,  and  that  the  communion-table  be  fixed 
in  some  convenient  place  in  the  body  of  the 
church.  That  all  tapers,  candlesticks,  basins, 
crucifixes,  crosses,  images,  pictures  of  saints, 
and  superstitious  inscriptions  in  churches  or 
churchyards,  be  taken  away  or  defaced. 

"  That  all  damages  done  to  the  churches,  or 
windows  of  churches,  by  the  removal  of  any  of 
the  aforesaid  innovations,  be  repaired  by  the 
proper  officers  of  the  parish  or  chapel. 

"This  act  is  not  to  extend  to  any  image,  pic- 
ture, or  monument  for  the  dead." 

It  enacts  farther,  "  That  all  bowing  towards 
the  altar,  or  at  the  name  of  Jesus,  shall  be  for- 
borne ;  and  for  the  better  observation  of  the 
Sabbath,  that  all  dancing,  gaming,  sports  and 
pastimes,  shall  be  laid  aside.  That  every  min- 
ister that  has  cure  of  souls  shall  preach,  or  ex- 
pound the  Scriptures,  or  procure  some  other 
able  divine  to  preach  to  his  congregation  every 
Lord's  Day  in  the  forenoon ;  and  it  shall  be  law- 
ful for  the  parishioners  to  provide  for  a  sermon 
in  the  afternoon,  and  a  lecture  on  the  week-day, 
where  there  is  no  other  lecture  or  preaching  at 
the  same  time  ;  and  if  any  person  oppose  or  hin- 
der them,  he  shall  forfeit  40*.  to  the  poor."* 

The  second,  entitled,  "  An  act  for  the  utter 
abolishing  and  taking  away  of  all  archbishops, 
bishops,  their  chancellors,  and  commissaries," 
&c.,  has  been  already  inserted  in  the  former 
part  of  this  history,  t 

The  third  is  entitled,  "  An  act  for  punishing 
scandalous  clergymen,  and  others." 

It  ordains,  "  That  the  lord-chancellor,  or  lord- 
keeper,  for  the  time  being,  shall  award  com- 
missions under  the  great  seal  to  persons  of 
worth  and  credit  in  every  county  of  England 
and  Wales ;  which  commissioners,  or  any  three 
or  more  of  them,  shall  have  power  to  inquire  by 
the  oaths  of  twelve  lawful  men  of  the  said  coun- 
ty of  the  following  offences  in  the  clergy,  viz., 
not  preaching  six  times  at  least  in  a  year,  by 
any  ecclesiastical  persons  having  cure  of  souls 
under  the  age  of  sixty,  and  not  hindered  by 
sickness  or  imprisonment ;  of  blasphemy,  per- 
jury, or  subornation  of  perjury,  fornication,  adul- 
tery, common  alehouse  or  tavern  haunting, 
drunkenness,  profane  swearing  or  cursing,  done 
or  committed  within  three  years  past,  by  any 
parson  or  vicar,  or  other  person  having  cure  of 
souls,  or  by  any  lecturer,  curate,  stipendiary, 
schoolmaster,  or  usher  of  any  school.  The 
commissioners  shall  take  information  by  articles 
in  writing  :  the  party  complaining  to  be  bound 
in  a  recognizance  of  £10  to  prosecute  at  a  time 
appointed  ;  the  articles  of  complaint  being  first 
delivered  to  the  party  complained  of  twenty  days 
before  the  trial,  that  he  may  prepare  for  his  de- 
fence. Upon  conviction,  by  the  verdict  of 
twelve  men,  the  party  complained  of  shall  be 
deprived  of  his  spiritual  promotions,  and  be  ad- 
judged a  disabled  person  in  law,  to  have  and  en- 
joy the  same  incumbency  or  ecclesiastical  pro- 
motion. This  act  to  continue  till  November  1, 
1645,  and  no  longer."^ 

*  Husband's  Collections,  fol.,  119. 

t  Vol.  ii.,  p.  498,  499. 

i  Husband's  Collections,  fol.,  140. 


The  fourth  is  entitled,  "  An  act  against  the- 
enjoying  pluralities  of  benefices  by  spiritual  per- 
sons, and  nonresidence." 

It  enacts,  "  That  all  persons  that  have  two 
or  more  benefices  with  cure  of  souls,  of  what 
yearly  value  soever  they  be,  shall  resign  them 
all  but  one  before  April  1,  1643,  any  license, 
toleration,  faculty,  or  dispensation  to  the  con- 
trary notwithstanding. 

"  That  if  any  spiritual  person,  having  cure  of 
souls,  shall  be  absent  from  his  cure  above  ten 
Sundays,  or  eighty  days  in  a  year,  except  in 
case  of  sickness,  imprisonment,  or  except  he  be 
a  reader  in  either  university,  or  be  summoned 
to  convocation,  and  be  thereof  lawfully  con- 
victed in  any  court  of  justice,  that  his  living 
shall  be  deemed  void,  and  the  patron  have  pow- 
er to  nominate  another  person,  as  if  the  former 
incumbent  was  dead." 

The  fifth,  for  calling  an  assembly  of  learned 
and  godly  divines,  to  be  consulted  with  by  the 
Parliament  for  the  settling  of  the  government 
and  liturgy  of  the  Church,  and  for  the  vindica- 
tion and  clearing  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Church 
of  England  from  false  aspersions  and  interpret- 
ations, will  be  inserted  at  large  when  we  come 
to  the  sitting  of  the  Assembly. 

To  the  forementioned  propositions  and  bills, 
his  majesty,  after  a  sharp  reply*  to  the  pream- 
ble, returned  the  following  answer  :  that  though 
many  of  them  were  destructive  of  his  just  pow- 
er and  prerogative,  yet  because  they  might  be 
mollified  and  explained  upon  debates,  he  is 
pleased  to  agree  that  a  time  and  place  be  ap- 
pointed for  the  meeting  of  commissioners  on 
both  sides  to  discuss  them,  and  to  consider  the 
following  proposals  of  his  own  :t 

1.  "That  his  majesty's  revenues,  magazines, 
towns,  forts,  and  ships  may  be  forthwith  resto- 
red. 

2.  "  That  whatsoever  has  been  done  or  pub- 
lished contrary  to  the  known  laws  of  the  land, 
and  his  majesty's  legal  rights,  may  be  renounced 
and  recalled. 

3.  "  That  whatever  illegal  power  over  his 
majesty's  subjects  has  been  exercised  by  either, 
or  both  houses,  or  any  committee,  may  be  dis- 
claimed, and  all  persons  that  have  been  impris- 
oned by  virtue  thereof  be  forthwith  discharged. 

4.  "  That  a  good  bill  may  be  framed  for  the 
better  preserving  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
from  the  scorn  and  violence  of  Brownists,  Ana- 
baptists, and  other  sectaries,  with  such  clauses 
for  the  ease  offender  consciences  as  his  majes- 
ty has  formerly  offered. t 

5.  "  That  all  persons  to  be  excepted  out  of 
the  general  pardon  shall  be  tried  per  -pares,  ac- 
cording to  common  course  of  law,  and  that  it 
be  left  to  that  to  acquit  or  condemn  them. 

6.  "  That  in  the  mean  time  there  be  a  cessa- 
tion of  arms,  and  free  trade  for  all  his  majesty's 
subjects  for  twenty  days." 

His  majesty  desired  the  last  article  might  be 
first  settled,  by  which  he  proposed  not  only  to 
gain  time,  but  to  provide  himself  with  several 
necessaries  from  London,  and  to  convoy  safely 

*  Dr.  Grey  disputes  the  propriety  of  this  epithet, 
applied  to  the  king's  reply.  The  reader  may  judge 
of  it  by  referring  to  Lord  Clarendon's  History,  vol.  ii., 
p.  123,  &c.— Ed.  t  Rushworth,  vol.  v.,  p.  169. 

X  The  king  had  never  made  any  offer  of  this  kind 
but  in  general  terms. — Mrs.  Macaulay. — Ed. 


446 


HISTORY  OF  THE    PURITANS. 


to  Oxford  the  ammunition  and  other  stores  the 
queen  had  lately  landed  at  Burlington  Bay,*  but 
the  Parliament  were  too  sensible  of  his  designs 
to  consent  to  it.  They  therefore  empowered 
their  commissioners  to  begin  with  the  first  prop- 
osition, concerning  restoring  the  revenues  of  the 
crown,  and  the  delivery  of  his  majesty's  maga- 
zines, towns,  forts,  and  ships,  &.c.  All  which 
they  were  authorized  to  agree  to,  on  condition 
the  persons  with  whom  he  would  intrust  them 
were  such  as  they  could  confide  in.  To  which 
the  king  replied,  that  the  oaths  of  the  officers 
were  a  sufficient  security,  and  if  they  abused 
their  trust  he  would  leave  them  to  the  law.  The 
commissioners  then  went  upon  the  other  arti- 
cles, and  spun  out  the  treaty  till  the  12th  of 
April  without  concluding  one  smgle  point.  The 
kmg  would  be  restored  to  the  condition  he  was 
in  before  the  war,  upon  a  bare  promise  that  he 
would  govern  for  the  future  according  to  law  ; 
but  the  Parliament  were  resolved  not  to  trust 
themselves  nor  the  Constitution  in  his  hands 
without  the  redress  of  some  grievances  and  a 
better  security.  Mr.  Whitelocke  says,  that  the 
commissioners  (of  which  he  was  one)  having 
been  with  the  king  one  evening  till  midnight, 
gave  his  majesty  such  reasons  to  consent  to  a 
Very  material  point,  which  would  have  much 
conduced  to  a  happy  issue  and  success  of  the 
treaty,  that  he  told  them  he  was  fully  satisfied, 
and  promised  to  let  them  have  his  answer  in 
writing,  according  to  their  desire,  next  morn- 
ing, t  But  when  the  commissioners  were  with- 
drawn, some  of  the  king's  bedchamber,  and  they 
went  higher,  fearing  the  king's  concessions 
would  tend  to  peace,  never  left  persuading  him 
till  he  had  altered  his  resolution,  and  gave  orders 
for  the  following  answer  to  be  drawn  up,  direct- 
ly contrary  to  what  he  had  promised  the  com- 
missioners.J 

"  As  soon  as  his  majesty  is  satisfied  concern- 
ing his  own  revenue,  magazines,  ships,  and  forts, 
in  which  he  desires  nothing  but  that  the  just 
known  legal  rights  of  his  majesty,  devolved  to 
hun  from  his  progenitors,  and  of  the  persons 
trusted  by  him,  which  have  violently  been  taken 
from  both,  be  restored  to  him  and  them — 

"  As  soon  as  all  the  members  of  both  houses 
shall  be  restored  to  the  same  capacity  of  sitting 
and  voting  in  Parliament  as  they  had  on  the 
1st  of  January,  1641,  the  same  right  belonging 
unto  them  by  their  birthrights,  and  the  free 
elections  of  those  that  sent  them  ;  and  having 
been  voted  from  them  for  adhering  to  his  maj- 
esty in  these  distractions  ;  his  majesty  not  in- 

*  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  476,  foUo. 

t  Whitelocke's  Memoirs,  p.  65. 

j  Dr.  Grey  censures  Mr.  Neal  for  not  giving  his 
reader  Mr.  Whitelocke's  account  of  the  king's  great 
civility  to  the  Parliament  commissioners.  We  will 
supply  the  omission.  "  The  commissioners  were  al- 
lowed by  his  majesty  a  very  free  debate  with  him, 
and  had  access  to  him  at  all  times.  He  used  them 
with  great  favour  and  civility  ;  and  his  general,  Ru- 
then,  and  divers  of  his  lords  and  officers,  came  fre- 
quently to  their  table.  The  king  himself  did  them  the 
honour  sometimes  to  accept  of  part  of  their  wine  and 
provisions,  which  the  earl  (viz.,  of  Northumberland) 
sent  to  him  when  they  had  anything  extraordinary." 
Whitelocke  adds,  "  In  this  treaty  the  king  manifest- 
ed his  great  parts  and  abilities,  strength  of  reason, 
and  quickness  of  apprehension,  with  much  patience 
in  hearing  what  was  objected  against  him,  wherein 
he  allowed  all  heedom."— Memorials,  p.  65.— Ed. 


tending  that  this  should  extend  either  to  the 
bishops,  whose  votes  have  been  taken  away  by 
bill,  or  to  such  in  whose  places,  upon  new- 
writs,  new  elections  have  been  made  : 

"  As  soon  as  his  majesty  and  both  houses 
may  be  secured  from  such  tumultuous  assem- 
blies as,  to  the  great  breach  of  the  privileges 
and  the  high  dishonour  of  Parhaments,  have 
formerly  assembled  about  both  houses,  and 
awed  the  members  of  the  same,  and  occasion- 
ed two  several  complaints  from  the  House  of 
Lords,  and  two  several  desires  of  that  house  to 
the  House  of  Commons,  to  join  in  a  declaration 
against  them,  the  complying  with  which  desire 
might  have  prevented  all  the  miserable  distrac- 
tions which  have  ensued  ;  which  security  his 
majesty  conceives  can  be  only  settled  by  ad- 
journing the  Parliament  to  some  other  place,  at 
the  least  twenty  miles  from  London,  the  choice 
of  which  his  majesty  leaves  to  both  houses, 

"  His  majesty  will  then  most  cheerfully  and 
readily  consent  that  both  armies  be  immedi- 
ately disbanded,  and  give  a  present  meeting  to 
both  houses  of  Parliament,  at  the  same  time  and 
place,  at  and  to  which  the  Parliament  shall 
agree  to  be  adjourned  : 

"  His  majesty  beingconfident  that  the  law  will 
then  recover  its  due  credit  and  estimation,  and 
that  upon  a  free  debate,  in  a  full  and  peaceable 
convention  of  Parliament,  such  provisions  will 
be  made  against  seditious  preaching  and  print- 
ing against  his  majesty,  and  the  established 
laws,  which  hath  been  one  of  the  chief  causes 
of  the  present  distractions  ;  and  such  care  will 
be  taken  concerning  the  legal  and  known  rights 
of  his  majesty,  and  the  property  and  liberty  of 
his  subjects,  that  whatsoever  hath  been  pub- 
lished or  done  in,  or  by  colour  of,  any  illegal 
declarations,  ordinances,  or  order  of  one  or 
both  houses,  or  any  committee  of  either  of 
them,  and  particularly  the  power  to  raise  arms 
without  his  majesty's  consent,  will  be  in  such 
manner  recalled,  disclaimed,  and  provided 
against,  and  no  seed  will  remain  for  the  like  to 
spring  out  of  for  the  future,  to  disturb  the  peace 
of  the  kingdom,  and  to  endanger  the  very  being 
of  it,"* 

This  resolute  answer  broke  off  the  treaty, 
and  left  the  quarrel  to  he  decided  by  the  sword ; 
upon  which  Bishop  Kennet  makes  the  following 
remark :"  It  is  to  be  lamented  that  some  of 
the  king's  most  intimate  friends  were  against 
his  concluding  a  peace,  and  others  were  against 
his  obtaining  an  absolute  victory.  They  were 
afraid  he  should  comply,  lest  his  prerogative 
might  not  be  great  enough  to  protect  him  ;  and 
yet  afraid  he  should  conquer,  lest  he  might  be 
tempted  to  assume  an  arbitrary  power."t  It  is 
plain  from  hence,  that  by  peace  the  king  meant 
nothing  but  being  restored  to  all  the  preroga- 
tives of  his  crown  as  before  the  war,  without 
any  additional  security  ;  and  that  there  was  no 
room  for  a  treaty  till  the  previous  question  was 
determined,  "  Whether  there  was  just  reason 
to  confide  in  the  king,  and  restore  him  to  his 
rights  upon  his  bare  promise  of  government  by 
law  for  the  future!"  For  all  the  propositions 
necessarily  led  to  this  point,  and  till  this  was 
decided  it  was  in  vain  to  lose  time  upon  the 
others. 


*  Rushworlh,  vol.  v.,  p.  259,  260. 
+  Compl.  Hist.,  p.  135. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


447 


Thus  ended  the  year  1642,  in  which  died  the 
famous  Tobias  Crisp,  D.D.,  third  son  of  Ellis 
Crisp,  of  London,  Esq.  He  was  born  in  Bread- 
street,  London,  1600,  educated  at  Eton  School, 
and  having  taken  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts 
at  Cambridge,  retired  to  Oxford,  and  was  in- 
corporated into  Baliol  College  in  the  beginning 
of  February,  1626.  In  the  year  1627  he  became 
Rector  of  Brinkworth,  in  Wiltshire,  and  a  few 
years  after  proceeded  D.D.  At  Brinkworth  he 
was  much  followed  for  his  edifying  manner  of 
preaching,  and  for  his  great  hospitality.  Upon 
the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  he  was  obliged  to 
fly  to  London  to  avoid  the  insolences  of  the 
king's  soldiers,  where,  his  peculiar  sentiments 
about  the  doctrines  of  grace  being  discovered, 
he  met  with  a  vigorous  opposition  from  the  city 
divines.  The  doctor  in  his  younger  years  had 
been  a  favourer  of  Arminianism,  but  changing 
his  opinions,  he  ran  into  the  contrary  extreme 
of  Antinomianism.  He  was  certainly  a  learn- 
ed and  religious  person,  modest  and  humble  in 
his  behaviour,  fervent  and  laborious  in  his  min- 
isterial work,  and  exact  in  his  morals.  Mr. 
Lancaster,  the  publisher  of  his  works,  says 
"  that  his  life  was  so  innocent  and  harmless 
from  all  evil,  so  zealous  and  fervent  in  all  good, 
that  it  seemed  to  be  designed  as  a  practical  con- 
futation of  the  slander  of  those  who  would  in- 
sinuate that  his  doctrine  tended  to  licentious- 
ness." The  doctor  was  possessed  of  a  very 
large  estate,  with  which  he  did  a  great  deal  of 
good ;  but  being  engaged  in  a  grand  dispute 
against  several  opponents  (if  we  may  believe 
Mr.  Wood)  he  overheated  himself,  and  fell  sick 
of  the  smallpox,  of  which  he  died  February  27, 
1642,  and  was  buried  in  the  family  vault  in 
Bread-street,  London.*  In  his  last  sickness  he 
was  in  a  most  comfortable  and  resigned  frame 
of  mind,  and  declared  to  them  that  stood  by  his 
firm  adherence  to  the  doctrines  he  had  preach- 
ed ;  that  as  he  had  lived  in  the  belief  of  the  free 
grace  of  God  through  Christ,  so  he  did  now, 
with  confidence  and  great  joy,  oven  as  much  as 
his  present  condition  was  capable  of,  resign  his 
life  and  soul  into  the  hands  of  his  heavenly  Fa- 
ther. He  published  nothing  in  his  lifetime,  but 
after  his  death  his  sermons  were  published,  in 
three  volumes,  from  his  own  notes,  which,  with 
some  additions,  were  reprinted  by  his  son,  in 
one  volume  quarto,  about  the  year  1689,  and 
gave  occasion  to  some  intemperate  heats  among 
the  Nonconformist  ministers  of  those  times. 

Towards  the  end  of  this  year  died  Robert 
Lord  Brooke,  a  virtuous  and  religious  gentle- 
man, a  good  scholar,  and  an  eminent  patriot, 
but  a  determined  enemy  of  the  hierarchy.  In 
the  beginning  of  the  war  he  took  part  with  the 
Parliament,  and  being  made  lord-lieutenant  of 
the  counties  of  Warwick  and  Stafford,  put  him- 
self at  the  head  of  twelve  hundred  men,  and 
marched  against  the  Earl  of  Chesterfield,  at 
Litchfield,  whom  he  dislodged  from  the  town, 
March  1,  but  next  day,  as  he  was  looking  out 
of  a  window  with  his  beaver  up,  and  giving  di- 
rection to  his  soldiers  to  assault  St.  Chad's 
Church,  adjoining  to  the  close  where  the  Earl 
of  Chesterfield's  forces  lay,  a  musket-ball  struck 
him  near  the  left  eye,  of  which  he  instantly 
died.     The  Parliamentary  Chroniclef  calls  him 

*  Wood's  Athen.  Oxon.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  12,  13. 
t  P.  272. 


"  the  most  noble,  and  ever-to-be-honoured  and  • 
renowned  pious  Lord  Brooke,  whose  most  illus- 
trious name  and  memory,  both  for  his  piety, 
prudence,  incomparable  magnanimity,  and  he- 
roic martial  spirit,  for  his  loyalty  to  the  king, 
and  fidelity  to  the  country,  deserves  to  remain 
deeply  engraven  in  letters  of  gold  on  high-erect- 
ed pillars  of  marble."*  On  the  other  hand-, 
Archbishop  Laud,  in  his  Diary,t  has  some  very 
remarkable  observations  upon  his  death,  which 
show  the  superstition  of  that  prelate.  "  First," 
says  his  grace,  "  I  observe  that  this  great  and 
known  enemy  to  cathedral  churches  died  thus 
fearfully  in  the  assault  of  a  cathedral ;  a  fear- 
ful manner  of  death  in  such  a  quarrel !  Sec- 
ondly, that  this  happened  upon  St.  Chad's  Day, 
of  which  saint  the  cathedral  bears  the  name. 
Thirdly,  that  this  lord,  coming  from  dinner, 
about  two  years  since,  from  the  Lord  Herbert's 
house  in  Lambeth,  upon  some  discourse  of  St. 
Paul's  Church,  then  in  their  eye  upon  the  wa- 
ter, said  to  some  young  lords  that  were  with 
him,  that  he  hoped  to  live  to  see  that  one  stone 
of  that  building  should  not  be  left  upon  another ; 
but  that  church  stands  yet,  and  that  eye  is  put 
out  that  hoped  to  see  the  ruins  of  it."t 

While  the  treaty  of  Oxford  was  depending, 
his  majesty's  friends  in  the  city  were  contriving 
to  bring  him  to  London,  and  deliver  the  Parlia- 
ment into  his  hands. ^  Mr.  Tomkins,  Chalon- 
er,  and  Waller,  a  member  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, in  conjunction  with  some  others,  were  to 
carry  off  the  king's  children,  to  secure  the  most 
active  members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  as 
Mr.  Pym,  Hampden,  Strode,  &c.,  to  seize  the 
Tower  and  the  gates  of  the  city,  with  the  mag- 
azines, and  to  let  in  a  party  of  the  royal  forces, 
who  were  to  be  at  hand  ;  for  all  which  they  had 
the  king's  commission,  dated  March  16,  1643. 
The  day  of  rising  was  to  be  the  last  Wednes- 
day in  May  :  but  the  plot  being  discovered  by  a 
servant  of  Tomkins's  before  it  was  ripe  for  ex- 
ecution, the  conspirators  were  apprehended  and 
tried ;  Tomkins  and  Chaloner  confessed  the 
facts,  and  were  executed ;  but  Waller  purchased 
his  life  for  £10,000,  and  was  banished.il 

Upon  this  discovery,  both  houses  resolved  to 
strengthen  themselves  by  a  new  covenant  or 
vow,  which  was  tendered  first  to  their  own 
members,  then  to  the  army,  and  such  of  the 
people  as  were  willing  to  take  it. IT  In  it  they 
declare  their  abhorrence  of  the  late  plot,  and 
engage  not  to  lay  down  their  arms  as  long  as 
the  papists  were  protected  from  justice,  but  to 
assist  the  Parliament  according  to  their  abili- 
ties in  the  just  defence  of  the  Protestant  reli- 
gion and  the  liberties  of  the  subject,  against 


*  Parliamentary  Chronicle,  p.  272.  t  P-  211. 

I  It  was  the  opinion  of  some  of  the  Royalists,  and 
especially  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  that  the  bullet 
was  directed  by  St.  Chad.  It  is  observable  that  the 
same  man  who  was  by  one  party  looked  upon  as  a 
monument  of  Divine  vengeance  (see  South' s  Sermons, 
serm.  i.,  p.  270),  was  by  the  other  reverenced  as  a 
saint.  Baxter  has  placed  him  in  heaven  {Saints' 
Everlasting  Rest,  p.  82,  83,  edit.  1649),  together  with 
White,  Pym,  and  Hampden. — Granger's  History  of 
England,  vol.  ii.,  p.  144,  8vo.  See  also  Mrs.  Macau- 
lay's  History,  vol.  iii.,  p.  417,  418,  note,  8vo.— Ed. 
Baxter's  opinion  of  a  man's  spiritual  state  ishkely  to 
be  regarded  as  a  good  authority.— C. 

6  Rushworth,  vol.  v..  p.  322.  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p. 
487,  folio.        II  Ibid.,  p.  326,  327.        IT  Ibid.,  p.  325,. 


448 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


the  forces  raised  by  the  king  without  their  con- 
sent. Nevertheless,  the  king's  friends  were 
not  disheartened  from  entering  into  several 
other  combinations  against  tlie  Parliament ; 
one  was  discovered  in  August,  and  another  to- 
wards the  latter  end  of  the  year  :  even  the 
lower  sort  of  women,  to  the  number  of  two  or 
three  thousand,  with  white  silk  ribands  in  their 
hats,  went  in  a  body  to  Westminster  with  a 
petition  for  peace  upon  the  king's  terms,  and 
could  not  be  dispersed  without  the  military 
arm  :*  all  which  was  occasioned  by  the  corre- 
spondence the  king  held  in  London,  notwith- 
standing the  ordinance  the  Parliament  had  pub- 
lished in  April  last,  to  prevent  spies  and  intel- 
ligences from  Oxford  or  the  royal  army  coming 
to  any  part  of  the  Parliament's  quarters. 

The  king  having  failed  in  his  designs  of  sur- 
prising the  city,  resolved  at  last  to  starve  the 
citizens  into  their  duty  ;  for  which  purpose  he 
issued  a  proclamation,  July  17,  prohibiting  all 
intercourse  of  trade  and  commerce  with  them, 
and  expressly  forbidding  all  persons  to  travel  to 
London,  or  to  carry  any  goods,  merchandise,  or 
provisions  thither  without  special  license  from 
himself  t  By  another  proclamation  [Oct.  17], 
his  majesty  forbids  his  subjects  of  Scotland, 
and  all  foreign  kingdoms  and  states  in  amity 
with  him,  to  bring  any  ammunition,  provision, 
goods,  or  merchandise  of  any  sort,  to  London, 
or  any  other  town  or  city  in  rebellion  against 
him.  The  prohibiting  foreign  merchandises 
had  very  little  influence  upon  the  trade  of  the 
city,  because  the  Parliament  were  masters  of 
the  seas  ;  but  the  town  of  Newcastle  being  gar- 
risoned by  the  king,  the  Londoners  were  dis- 
tressed the  following  winter  for  coals,  which 
obliged  them  to  have  recourse  to  the  digging 
turf,  and  cutting  down  all  fell  wood  on  the  es- 
tates of  delinquents  within  sixty  miles  of  Lon- 
don. By  another  proclamation,  his  majesty 
forbade  all  his  subjects,  upon  pain  of  high  trea- 
son, to  obey  the  orders  of  Parliament ;  and  all 
tenants  to  pay  their  rents  to  such  landlords  as 
adhered  to  the  rebellion,  but  to  reserve  them 
for  his  majesty's  use. 

After  this  account  of  things,  it  is  reasonable 
to  suppose  that  very  extraordinary  burdens 
must  be  laid  upon  the  people  on  both  sides  to 
support  the  expenses  of  the  war.  The  Parlia- 
ment at  Westminster  excised  everything,  even 
the  necessaries  of  life  :  all  butchers'  meat  paid 
one  shilling  in  twenty  ;  every  rabbit  a  half-pen- 
ny ;  and  pigeons  one  penny  in  the  dozen.  The 
king's  Parliament  at  Oxford  did  the  like  in  his 
majesty's  quarters  ;  and  by  an  ordinance  of 
March  26  following,  all  persons  within  the  cit- 
ies of  London  and  Westminister,  and  the  bills 
of  mortality,  were  to  pay  the  weekly  value  of 
one  meal  a  week,  on  every  Tuesday,  for  the 
public  service,  which  they  were  gupposed  to 
abate  in  their  families.  J  Such  were  the  hard- 
ships of  the  times  ! 

The  king's  affairs  this  summer  were  very 
prosperous,  and  threatened  the  ruin  of  his  ene- 
mies ;  for,  besides  his  army,  which  had  been 


*  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  357,  foho. 

t  Husband's  Collections,  folio,  237,  366. 

t  For  a  more  minute  detail  of  the  ways  by  which 
the  Parliament  raised  money,  see  Dr.  Grey,  vol.  ii.,  p. 
42,  &c.,  and  Historical  Account  of  all  Taxes,  p.  296, 
297. 


recruiting  in  the  winter,  the  queen  furnished 
him  with  foreign  money,  and  with  two  thou- 
sand foot,  a  thousand  horse,  a  hundred  wagons 
laden  with  ammunition  of  all  sorts,  six  pieces 
of  cannon,  and  two  mortars  ;  upon  which  the 
House  of  Commons  impeached  her  of  high  trea- 
son, for  levying  forces  without  consent  of  Par- 
liament. In  the  month  of  April  the  Earl  of  Es- 
sex besieged  and  took  the  town  of  Reading, 
from  whence  he  marched  within  ten  miles  of 
Oxford,  where  Prince  Rupert,  with  a  party  of 
horse,  beat  up  his  quarters,  and  killed  the  fa- 
mous Mr.  Hampden  in  Chalgrave-field  ;  after 
which  Essex  retired,  and  put  his  sickly  forces 
into  quarters  of  refreshment.*  In  the  North  the 
king's  armies  had  a  train  of  successes.  Lord 
Fairfax  was  defeated  by  the  Earl  of  Newcastle, 
at  Atherstone  Moor,  June  30,  and  Sir  William 
Waller  at  the  battles  of  Lansdown  and  Round- 
away-down,  July  5  and  13,  which  was  followed 
with  the  loss  of  Weymouth,  Dorchester,  Port- 
land Castle,  Exeter,  and  almost  all  the  West. 
About  the  latter  end  of  July,  Prince  Rupert  be- 
sieged and  took  the  city  of  Bristol,  and  the 
king  himself  sat  down  before  Gloucester  [Au- 
gust 10],  which  so  alarmed  the  two  houses  that 
the  shops  in  London  were  ordered  to  be  shut 
till  the  siege  was  raised,  and  a  strong  body  of 
the  train-bands  despatched  19  join  the  Earl  of 
Essex's  broken  troops,  who,  by  this  means, 
were  in  a  condition,  in  fifteen  days,  to  march 
to  the  relief  of  that  important  city ;  upon  the 
earl's  approach  the  king  raised  the  siege-,  and 
Essex  entered  the  town  when  reduced  to  the 
last  extremity ;  and  having  supplied  it  with 
necessaries,  after  three  days  returned  towards 
London. "  The  king  being  joined  by  Prince  Ru- 
pert with  five  thousand  horse,  got  before  him 
to  Newbury,  where  both  armies  engaged  with 
pretty  equal  success,  till  night  parted  them, 
when  his  majesty  retired  to  Oxford,  and  left  the 
way  open  for  the  earl  to  pursue  his  march. t  In 
this  battle  the  city  trained-bands,  by  their  un- 
daunted bravery,  are  said  to  have  gained  im- 
mortal honour.  But  it  is  the  opinion  of  most 
historians  that  if,  instead  of  sitting  down  before 
Gloucester,  the  king  had  marched  his  victori- 
ous army  directly  to  London,  after  the  taking 
of  Bristol,  he  might  have  put  an  end  to  the  war, 
the  Parliament  being  in  no  readmess  to  oppose 
him  ;  however,  it  is  certain  that  about  this 
time  the  royal  cause  was  in  the  height  of  its 
prosperity,  and  the  Parliament's  at  so  low  an 
ebb  that  they  were  obliged  to  throw  themselves 
into  the  hands  of  the  Scots.  It  is  no  part  of  my 
design  to  give  a  particular  description  of  sieges 
and  battles,  or  a  recital  of  the  military  exploits 
of  the  heroes  of  these  times,  any  farther  than 
to  inform  the  reader  of  the  true  situation  of  af- 
fairs, and  to  enable  him  to  form  a  just  idea  of 
the  grounds  and  reasons  of  those  extraordinary 
measures  that  each  party  took  for  the  support 
of  their  cause.  Let  us  now,  therefore,  attend 
the  affairs  of  the  Church. 

The  clergy  on  both  sides  had  a  deep  share  in 
the  calamities  of  the  times,  being  plundered, 
harassed,  imprisoned,  and  their  livings  seques- 
tered, as  they  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 
The  king's  party  were  greatly  incensed  against 
the  Puritan  clergy,  as  the  chief  incendiaries  of 

*  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  477,  foho. 
t  Rushworth,  vol.  v.,  p.  293,  294. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


449 


the  people  and  trumpeters  of  rebellion.  Such 
as  refused  to  read  the  king's  proclamations  and 
orders  against  the  Parliament  were  apprehend- 
ed, and  shut  up  in  the  common  jails  of  York, 
and  other  places  within  his  majesty's  quarters. 
When  any  parties  of  the  royal  army  got  pos- 
session of  a  town  that  adhered  to  the  Parlia- 
ment, they  inquired  presently  for  the  minister's 
house,  which  was  rifled  and  plundered  of  every- 
thing that  was  valuable,  and  himself  imprison- 
ed, if  he  could  be  found  ;  but  the  incumbents 
usually  took  care  to  avoid  the  danger  by  flying 
to  the  next  Parliament  garrison.  A,bove  thirty 
Puritan  ministers  took  shelter  in  the  city  of 
Coventry  after  the  fight  of  Edgehill.  Great  num- 
bers came  to  London  with  their  families  in  a 
naked  and  starving  condition,  leaving  their 
books,  and  everything  they  could  not  bring 
away,  to  the  mercy  of  the  king's  soldiers.  The 
prisoners  underwent  uncommon  hardships,  and 
would  have  been  executed  as  rebels  if  the  Par- 
liament had  not  threatened  reprisals. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Episcopal  clergy  w^ere 
no  less  harassed  by  the  Parliament  soldiers ; 
these  being  in  possession  of  the  best  livings  in 
the  Church,  were  liable  to  sufl^er  the  greatest 
damage ;  multitudes  of  them  left  their  cures 
and  took  sanctuary  in  the  king's  armies  or  gar- 
risons, having  disposed  of  their  goods  and  chat- 
tels in  the  best  manner  they  could.  Others, 
■who  had  rendered  themselves  obnoxious  by 
their  sermons  or  declarations  for  the  king,  were 
put  under  confinement  in  Lambeth,  Winchester, 
Ely,  and  most  of  the  bishops'  houses  about  Lon- 
don ;  and  for  want  of  room,  about  twenty,  ac- 
cording to  Dr.  Walker,  were  imprisoned  on 
board  of  ships  in  the  River  Thames,  and  shut 
down  under  decks,  no  friend  being  suffered  to 
come  to  them.*  The  same  writer  observes, 
that  about  one  hundred  and  ten  of  the  London 
clergy  were  turned  out  of  their  livings  in  the 
years  1642  and  1643,  and  that  as  many  more 
fled  to  prevent  imprisonment ;  yet  it  ought  to 
be  remembered,  that  none  were  turned  out  or 
imprisoned  for  their  adhering  to  the  doctrine 
or  discipline  of  the  Church  of  England  till  after 
the  imposing  of  the  Scots  covenant,  but  for  im- 
morality, false  doctrine,  nonresidence,  or  for 
taking  part  with  the  king  against  the  Parlia- 
ment. However,  it  is  to  be  lamented  that  sev- 
eral pious  and  worthy  bishops,  and  other  cler- 
gymen, who  withdrew  from  the  world,  and  were 
desirous  to  live  peaceably  without  joining  either 
side,  suffered  afterward  in  copamon  with  the 
rest  of  their  brethren  ;  their  estates  and  livings 
being  sequestered,  their  houses  and  goods  plun- 
dered by  ungovernable  soldiers,  and  themselves 
reduced  to  live  upon  the  fifths,  or  a  small  pension 
from  the  Parliament,  either  because  they  could 
not  take  the  covenant,  or  comply  with  the  new 
directory  for  public  worship.  Among  these  we 
may  reckon  the  most  Reverend  Archbishop  Ush- 
er, Bishop  Morton,  Hall,  and  many  others. 
When  the  bishops'  lands  were  seized  for  the 
service  of  the  war,  which  was  called  Bellum 
Episcopale,  or  the  Bishops'  War,  it  was  not 
possible  to  show  favour  to  any  under  that  char- 
acter ;  and  though  the  two  houses  voted  very 
considerable  pensions  to  some  of  the  bishops  in 
lieu  of  their  lands  that  were  sequestered,  due 
care  was  not  taken  of  the  payment ;  nor  would 


*  Walker's  Suffermg  Clergy,  part  ii.,  p.  180. 
Vol.  I. — L  l  l 


several  of  their  lordships  so  far  countenance  the 
votes  of  the  houses  as  to  apply  for  it. 

In  order  to  account  for  these  things,  it  will 
be  necessary  to  set  before  the  reader  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  several  committees  of  religion 
from  the  beginning  of  the  present  Parliament. 
It  has  been  remembered  that  a  grand  commit- 
tee, consisting  of  the  whole  House  of  Commons, 
was  appointed  November  6,  1640,  to  inquire 
into  the  scandalous  immoralities  of  the  clergy,* 
of  which  the  famous  Mr.  White,  member  of 
Parliament  for  Southwark,  a  good  lawyer,  and, 
accordmg  to  Mr.  Whitelocke,  an  honest,  a  learn- 
ed, and  faithful  servant  of  the  public,  was  chair- 
man. Great  numbers  of  petitions,  with  articles 
of  misbehaviour,  were  brought  before  them,  re- 
lating to  superstition,  heresy,  or  the  immorality 
of  their  ministers,  insomuch  that  the  House  was 
forced  to  branch  the  committee  into  several 
subdivisions  for  the  quicker  despatch  of  busi- 
ness. November  19,  1640,  a  sub-committee 
was  appointed  "  to  consider  how  there  may  be 
preaching  ministers  set  up  where  there  are 
none  ;  how  they  may  be  maintained  where 
there  is  no  maintenance,  and  all  other  things  of 
that  nature ;  also  to  inquire  into  the  true 
grounds  and  causes  of  the  scarcity  of  preaching 
ministers  throughout  the  kingdom,  and  to  con- 
sider of  some  way  of  removing  scandalous  min- 
isters, and  putting  others  in  their  places  ;"  for 
which  purposes  the  knights  of  shires  and  bur- 
gesses of  the  several  corporations  were  ordered 
to  bring  informations,  within  six  weeks,  of  the 
state  of  religion  in  their  respective  counties. 
The  sub-committee  consisted  of  sixty-one  mem- 
bers, together  with  the  knights  and  burgesses 
of  Nortiiumberland,  Wales,  Lancashire,  Cum- 
berland, and  the  burgesses  of  Canterbury.  Mr. 
White  was  chairman  of  this,  as  well  as  of  the 
grand  committee  ;  they  had  their  regular  meet- 
ings in  the  Court  of  Wards,  and  from  the  powers 
above  mentioned,  were  sometimes  called  the 
committee  for  preaching  ministers,  but  more 
usually  for  scandalous  ministers.  They  had  the 
inspection  of  all  hospitals  and  freeschools,  and 
were  authorized  to  consider  of  the  expediency 
of  sending  commissions  into  the  several  coun- 
ties to  examine  such  clergymen  as  were  accu- 
sed, and  could  not  with  convenience  be  brought 
up  to  London. 

But  presentments  against  the  clergy  came  in 
so  fast,  that,  for  the  despatch  of  business,  they 
were  obliged  to  divide  again  into  several  smaller 
committees,  which,  from  the  names  of  the  gen- 
tlemen in  the  respective  chairs,  were  called  Mr. 
White's,  Corbet's,  Sir  Robert  Harlow's,  and  Sir 
Edward  Deering's  committees,  &c.t  Within  a 
short  space  above  two  thousand  petitions  were 
brought  before  them,  of  which  Mr.  Corbet's  com- 
mittee had  no  less  than  nine  hundred.  Great 
complaints  have  been  made  of  their  severity  by 
those  who  will  not  believe  the  clergy  were  so 
corrupt  as  really  they  were,  nor  remember  the 
political  principles  for  which  most  of  them  suf- 
fered. The  forms  of  proceeding  in  the  commit- 
tee were  certainly  unexceptionable,  for  they 
were  obliged  to  give  proper  notice  to  the  party 
accused  to  make  his  appearance  ;  the  witnesses 
were  usually  examined  upon  oath  in  his  pres- 
ence ;  a  copy  of  the  articles  was  given  him  if 
desired,  and  a  reasonable  time  assigned  to  pre- 


Walker's  Attempt,  p.  63. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  65. 


450 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


pare  for  his  defence.*    The  articles  of  inquiry 
on  which  they  proceeded  were,  I.  Scandalous 
immoralilies  of  life,  as  drunkenness,  swearing, 
inconlinency,  and   sometimes   blasphemy  and 
sodomy.     2.  False  or  scandalous  doctrine,  i.e., 
popish  and  Arminian,  these  being  understood  to 
be  inconsistent  witli  the  Articles  of  the  Church 
of  England.     3.  Profanation  of  the  Sabbath  by 
reading  and  countenancing  the  Book  of  Sports. 
4.  Practising   and   pressing   the    late    innova- 
tions after  they  had  been  censured  by  the  Par- 
liament as  illegal.     5.  Neglect  of  their  cures  by 
not  preaching  according  to  their  duty.     6.  Ma- 
lignancy and  disaffection  to  the  Parliament,  dis- 
covered by  their   assisting   his   majesty  with 
money,  and  persuading  others  to  do  so  ;   by 
reading  the  king's  declarations,  and  refusing  to 
read  the  Parliament's ;   by  not  observing  the 
Parliament's  fasts,  but  calling  them  rebels,  trai- 
tors, and  wishing  the  curse  of  God  upon  them 
and  their  cause.     These  were  apprehended  rea- 
sonable matters  of  inquiry,  and  just  grounds  of 
exception,  as  matters  stood  between  the  king 
and  the  two  houses.      And,  after  all,  the  final 
determination  was   not  with   the  committee ; 
their  opinion,  with  the  evidence,  was  first  laid 
before  the  grand  committee,  then  it  was  report- 
ed to  the  whole  House,  and  finally  referred  to 
the  House  of  Lords   before   it  was  decisive. 
One  would  think  here  should  be  little  room  for 
complaint,  and  yet  there  was  too  much  passion 
and  prejudice  on  both  sides,  which  was  owing 
to  the  confusion  of  the  times  and  the  violent 
resentments  of  each  party.     The  commission- 
ers were  too  forward  in  exposing  the  failings  of 
the  clergy,  and  encouraging  witnesses  of  slender 
credit ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  clergy  were  in- 
sufferably rude  to  the  committee,  defaming  their 
witnesses,  and  threatening  revenge,  for  being 
obliged  to   plead   their'  cause  before   laymen. 
However,  few  clergymen  were  sequestered  by 
the  committee  for  scandalous  ministers  before 
it  was  joined  with  that  for  plundered  ministers  ; 
an  account  of  which  I  shall  lay  before  the  reader, 
after  I  have  given  two  or  three  examples  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  present  committee,  from  the 
relations  of  those  clergymen  who  have  left  be- 
hind them  an  account  of  their  sufferings. 

The  first  is  Mr.  Symmonds,  of  llayne,  in  Es- 
sex, who  acknowledges  that  he  was  sequester- 
ed for  preaching  and  publishing  that  "  the  king, 
being  the  supreme  magistrate,  hath  immediate 
dependance  on  God,  to  whom  alone  he  is  ac- 
countable.—That  authority  is  a  sacred  thing, 
and  essential  to  the  king's  person. — That  re- 
sistance is  against  the  way  of  God,  destructive 
to  the  whole  law  of  God,  inconsistent  with  the 
spirit  of  the  Gospel,  the  perpetual  practice  of 
Christianity,  the  calling  of  ministers,  common 
prudence,  the  rule  of  humanity,  nature  itself, 
reason,  the  oath  of  allegiance,  and  even  the 
late  protestation. "+    Besides,  he  had  notorious- 
ly defamed  the  Parliament,  and  pressed  his  au- 
ditors to  believe  the  king's  declarations,  "  be- 
cause a  Divine  sentence  was  in  his  mouth,  and 
he   cannot   err.     And    that,   if  David's   heart 
smote  him  for  cutting  off  Saul's  garment,  what 
would  it  have  done  if  he  had  kept  him  from  his 
castles,  towns,  and  ships !"    For  which  reasons, 
the  Lords  and  Commons  in  Parliament  assem- 


bled ordered  [March  3,  1642]  his  living  to  be 

sequestered  into  the  hands  of  Robert  Atkins, 
M.A.,  who  was  appointed  to  preach  every 
Lord's  Day  till  farther  order.  Mr.  Symmonds 
endeavoured  to  discredit  the  evidence,  but  was 
so  far  from  disowning  the  charge,  that  he  after- 
ward vindicated  it  in  a  pamphlet,  entitled  "  The 
Loyal  Subject's  Belief" 

A  second  gentleman,  who  has  left   an   ac- 
count of  his  sufferings,  i?  the  Rev.  Mr.  Squire, 
of  Shoreditch ;    he   was   articled   against    for 
"  practising  and  pressing  the  late  innovations, 
for  saying  the  papists  were  the  king's  best  sub- 
jects, because  of  their  loyalty  and  liberality  ;  for 
declaring  that  none  should  come  to  the  sacra- 
ment unless  they  were  as  well  affected  to  the 
king  as  the  papists;  for  comparing  his  majes- 
ty to  the  man  that  fell  among  thieves,  being 
wounded  in  his  honour,  and  robbed  of  his  cas- 
tles  and  the   hearts  of  his  people ;   that  the 
priest  passing  by  was  the  Protestant,  the  for- 
ward professor  the  Levite,  but  the  papist  was 
the  good  Samaritan ;  and  for  affirming  that  the 
king's  subjects,  and  all  that  they  had,  were  at 
his  command."*     Mr.  Squire  denied  some  of 
these  articles,  and  extenuated  others  ;  he  pro- 
cured a  certificate  from  several  of  his  parish- 
ioners of  his  diligence  in  preaching,  in  catechi- 
sing, and   in   beating  down   popery  for  thirty 
years  past,  all  which  might  be  true ;  but  Dr. 
Walker  admits!  that  from  the  beginning  of  the 
war  he  was  a  most  strenuous  champion  for  al- 
legiance,  that   is,   for  passive  obedience  anl 
nonresistance,  and  most  earnestly  exhorted  his 
people  to  the  practice  of  it,  which,  as  the  times 
then  were,  might  be  a  suflicient  reason  for  the 
Parliament  to  silence  him. 

The  other  clergyman  is  Mr.  Finch,  of  Christ 
Church,  who  was  articled  against  for  extortion, 
superstition,  nonresidence,  and  neglect  of  his 
cure,  and  for  being  a  common  swearer,  tavern- 
hunter,  and  drunkard,  which  was  proved  by 
very  substantial  evidence.  Dr.  Walker's  de- 
fence of  this  gentleman  is  very  remarkaijle: 
"  Common  charity,"  says  he,  "  will  oblige  every 
one  to  give  more  credit  to  the  bare  word  of  a 
clergyman,  though  in  his  own  vindication,  thaa 
to  Uiat  of  his  known  and  professed  enemies. "t 
And  yet,  in  the  next  page,ij  he  owns  he  was 
not  satisfied  with  Mr.  Finch's  character,  nor  ia. 
some  parts  of  his  defence,  in  which  he  thinks 
he  does  by  no  means  acquit  himself  from  hav- 
ing been  a  man  of  an  ill  life.  His  case  was 
reported  by  the  grand  committee  to  the  House 
of  Commons,  and  by  them  to  the  Lords,  who 
all  agreed  he  was  unfit  to  hold  any  ecclesiasti- 
cal living. 

It  must  be  left  with  the  impartial  world  to 
judge  whether  the  Parliament  had  reason  to 
sequester  these  clergymen  in  their  own  defence. 
The  last  was  a  man  of  an  immoral  life,  and  the 
two  former,  allowing  them  to  be  otherwise  good 
men,  were  certainly  incendiaries  against  the 
two  houses,  and  preached  up  those  doctrines 
which  were  inconsistent  with  the  Constitutioa 
and  freedom  of  this  country,  as  most  of  the  pa- 
rochial clergy  at  that  time  did. 

The  committee  for  plundered  ministers  took 
its   rise  from   those    Puritan  clergymen  who, 


*  Walker's  Attempt,  p.  81. 

t  Walker's  Suffering  Clergy,  p.  67. 


*  Walker's  Suffering  Clergy,  p.  67. 

1  Ibid.,  p.  176.  t  Walker's  Attempt,  p.  7L 

^  Ibid.,  p.  72. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


451 


being  driven  from  their  cures  in  the  country  by 
the  king's  soldiers,  fled  to  London  with  their 
families,  leaving  their   substance  and  house- 
hold furniture  to  the  mercy  of  the  enemy  ;  these 
being  reduced  to  very  great  exigencies,  applied 
to  the  Parliament  for  relief;  the  Commons  first 
ordered  a  charitable  collection  for  them  at  their 
monthly  fast,  and  four  days  after,  viz.,  Decem- 
ber 31,  1642,  appointed  a  committee  to  consider 
of  the  fittest  way  "  for  the  relief  of  such  godly 
and  well-affected  ministers  as  have  been  plun- 
dered ;  and  what  malignant   clergymen  have 
benefices  in  and  about  the  town,  whose  benefices 
being  sequestered,  may  be  supplied  by  others 
who  may  receive  their  profits."     The  commit- 
'     tee  consisted  of  Mr.  Solicitor-general,  Mr.  Mar- 
tyn,  Sir  Gilbert  Gerrard,  Sir  William  Armyn, 
Mr.   Prideaux,  Mr.   Holland,  Mr.  Rouse,  Mr. 
Case,  Mr.  Knightly,  Sir  William  Hayman,  Mr. 
Wentworth,  Mr.  Ruthen,  Mr.  Wheeler,  and  Mr. 
Spurstow,  to  whom  were  afterward  added  some 
others  ;   among  whom.  Dr.  Walker  supposes, 
was  the  famous  Mr.  White,  who  sat  in  the  chair 
of  this  committee,  March  2,  1642-3.    The  com- 
missioners were  upon  their  o^th  ;  any  four  had 
a  power  to  act ;  they  were  distinguished  by  the 
name  of  the  "  committee  for  plundered  minis- 
lers  ;"  but  the  Royalists,  by  v/ay  of  reproach, 
called  them  the  '*  committee  for  plundering  min- 
isters."  They  began  their  meetings  in  the  Court 
of  Exchequer,  January  2,  in   the    afternoon  ; 
two  days  after,  they  were  Qrdered  to  examine 
the  complaints  against  Dr.  Soam,  minister  of 
T^vittenham  and  Stains,  to  send  for  parties  and 
j      witnesses,  to  consider  of  proper  persons  to  sup- 
•  '  ply  their  cures,  to  apply  the  revenues  to  their 
use  if  they  found  it  necessary,  and  to  report 
the  proceedings  to  the  House.     July  27,  1643, 
they  were  empowered  to  consider  of  informa- 
tions   against    scandalous    ministers,    though 
there  were  no  malignancy  proved  against  them, 
and  to  put  out  such  whose  scandal  was  suffi- 
ciently proved  ;  from  which  time  the  committee 
for  scandalous  and  plundered  ministers  were, 
in  a  sort,  united,  and  so  continued  to  the  end 
of  the  Long  Parhament.* 

In  order  to  silence  the  clamours  of  the  Roy- 
alists, and  justify  the  severe  proceedings  of 
these  committees,  it  was  resolved  to  print  the 
cases  of  those  whom  they  ejected,  and  submit 
their  conduct  to  the  public  censure  ;  according- 
ly, towards  the  latter  end  of  the  year,  Mr.  White, 
the  chairman,  published  a  pamphlet,  entitled 
■'The  first  Century  of  scandalous  malignant 
Priests,  made  and  admitted  into  Benefices  by 
the  Prelate  in  whose  Hands  the  Ordination  of 
Ministers  and  Government  of  the  Church  had 
been  ;  or,  a  Narration  of  the  Causes  for  which 
the  Parliament  has  ordered  the  Sequestration  of 
the  Benefices  of  several  Ministers  complained 
of  before  them  for  Viciousness  of  Life,  Errors 
in  Doctrine,  contrary  to  the  Articles  of  our  Reli- 
gion, and  for  practising  and  pressing  supersti- 
tious Innovations  against  Law,  and  for  Malignan- 
cy against  the  Parliament."  The  author,  in  his 
preface,  says,  the  reason  of  his  appearing  in 
print  was,  "that  the  Parliament  might  appear 
just  in  their  doings,  that  the  mouth  of  iniquity 
might  be  stopped  ;  that  all  the  world  might  see 
that  the  tongues  of  them  that  speak  evil  of  the 
Parliament  are  set  on  fire  of  hell ;  that  they 

*  Walker's  Attempt,  p.  37. 


hide  themselve  under  falsehood,  and  make  lies 
their  refuge."    And  then  adds,  "  that  the  gross- 
est faults  which  were  charged  on  the  clergy 
were  proved  by  many  witnesses,  seldom  less 
than  six."     The  whole  century  were  convicted 
of  mali-gnity,  or  disaffection  to  the  Parliament ; 
and  about  eighty  of  them  of  scandalous  immo- 
ralities in  their  lives.     Dr.  Walker  has  endeav- 
oured to  recover  the  reputation  of  seven  or  eight, 
and  would  insinuate  that  the  rest  were  con- 
victed upon  too  slender  evidence,  the  witnesses 
not  being  always  upon  oath,  nor,  in  his  opinion, 
of  sufficient  credit  to  impeach  a  clergyman ; 
that  some  of  the  crimes  were  capital,  and  there- 
fore, if  they  had  been  proved,  must  have  touched 
not  only  the  livings,  but  the  lives  of  the  crimi- 
nals ;  and  that  the  Parliament,  who  set  up  for 
precise  morals,  accepted  the  mere  verbal  evi- 
dence of  the  most  infamous  people.     However, 
the  doctor  himself  has  admitted  and  confirmed 
the  centurist's  account  of  many  of  the  scanda- 
lous ministers,  by  the  inquiries  he  has  made 
into  their  characters  in  the  places  from  whence 
they  were  ejected.    Mr.  Fuller  confesses  "  that 
several  of  the  offences  of  the  clergy  were  so 
foul,  that  it  is  a  shame  to  report  them,  crying 
to  justice  for  punishment."     But  then  adds,  in 
favour  of  others,  "  that  witnesses  against  them 
were  seldom  examined  on  oath.    That  many  of 
the  complainers  were  factious  people.     That 
some  of  the  clergy  were  convicted  for  deliver- 
ing doctrines  that  were  disputable,  and  others 
only  for  their  loyalty."*     Bishop  Kennet  says, 
that  several  of  them  were  vicious  to  a  scandal. 
And  Mr.  Archdeacon  Echard   is  of  the   same 
mind.     But  Mr.  Baxter's   testimony  is  more 
particular  and  decisive,  who  says,  "  that  in  all 
the  countries  where  he  was  acquainted,  six  to 
one  at  least,  if  not  many  more,  that  were  se- 
questered by  the  committees,  were  by  the  oaths 
of  witnesses  proved  insufficient  or  scandalous, 
or  especially  guilty  of  drunkenness  and  swear- 
ing.    This  I  know,"  says  the  reverend  author, 
"  will  displease  the  party,  but  I  am  sure  that 
this  is  true."t 

It  is  impossible  to  account  for  the  particular 
proceedings  of  all  the  committees,  of  which 
great  outcries  have  been  made  by  the  friends 
of  the  sufferers.  "  If  the  meanest  and  most  vi- 
cious parishioners  could  be  brought  to  prefer  a 
petition  against  their  parson  to  the  House  of 
Commons,  how  falsely  soever,"  says  Lord  Clar- 
endon, "  he  was  sure  to  be  prosecuted  for  a 
scandalous  minister.''^  His  lordship  adds, 
"  that  the  committees  accepted  of  the  evidence 
not  only  of  mean  people,  but  of  them  who 
were  professed  enemies  of  the  discipline  of  the 
Church  ;  that  they  baited  the  clergy  with  rude 
and  uncivil  language  ;  that  they  obliged  them 
to  a  long  and  tedious  attendance,  and  were  very 
partial  in  voting  them  out  of  their  livings,  right 
or  wrong."  In  another  place  he  says,  "that 
these  complaints  were  frequently  exhibited  by 
a  few  of  the  meanest  of  the  people  against  the 
judgment  of  the  parish."  The  like  representa- 
tion is  made  by  most  of  the  Royalists  ;  but  the 
writers  on  the  side  of  the  Parliament  deny  the 
charge,  and  complain  as  loudly  of  the  contempt- 
uous behaviour  of  the  king's  clergy  to  the  cora- 

*  Church  History,  b.  xi.,  p.  207. 

t  Baxter's  Life,  p.  74. 

$  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  p.  65. 


452 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


missioners,  treating  them  as  a  combination  of 
illiterate  laymen,  who  had  nothing  to  do  with 
the  Church — nay,  as  rebels  and  traitors.  Some 
refused  to  obey  their  summons,  and  others  who 
appeared  took  their  time  in  examining  the  spell- 
ing of  words,  the  propriety  of  grammar,  and 
other  little  evasions,  foreign  to  the  purpose. 
They  declared  roundly  they  did  not  own  the 
tribunal  before  which  they  stood  ;  they  insulted 
the  witnesses,  and  threatened  reprisals  out  of 
court,  when  things  should  revert  to  their  former 
channel ;  and,  upon  the  whole,  behaved  as  if  they 
had  engrossed  all  the  law,  learning,  and  good 
sense  of  the  nation  to  themselves.  The  com- 
missioners, provoked  at  this  usage,  were  obliged 
to  behave  with  some  sharpness,  in  order  to  sup- 
port their  own  authority ;  they  would  not  in- 
dulge them  the  peculiar  privilege  they  claimed 
as  clergymen,  nor  allow  them,  as  scholars,  to 
debate  the  truth  of  those  doctrines  of  which 
they  were  accused,  but  confined  them  to  mat- 
ters of  fact.  When  they  excepted  against  the 
witnesses  as  ignorant  mechanics,  factious,  schis- 
matical,  enemies  to  the  Church,  &c.,  they  over- 
ruled their  exceptions,  as  long  as  there  were  no 
legal  objections  to  their  competency  or  credi- 
bility. 

With  regard  to  the  country  committees,  the 
commissioners  were  chosen  out  of  the  deputy- 
lieutenants  and  the  best  country  gentlemen  in 
the  Parliament  interest.  Most  of  the  crimes 
for  which  the  clergy  were  sequestered  were 
confessed  by  themselves  ;  superstition  or  false 
doctrine  were  hardly  ever  objected,  far  the 
greatest  part  being  cast  out  for  malignity  ;  and 
yet  the  proceedings  of  the  sequestrators  were 
Dot  always  justifiable,  for  whereas  a  court  of 
judicature  should  rather  be  counsel  for  the  pris- 
oner than  the  prosecutor,  the  commissioners 
considered  the  king's  clergy  as  their  most  dan- 
gerous enemies,  and  were  ready  to  lay  hold  of 
all  opportunities  to  discharge  them  their  pulpits. 

But,  whatever  might  be  the  excesses  or  par- 
tiality of  particular  committees,  no  reasonable 
blame  can  be  laid  upon  the  two  houses,  whose 
instructions  were,  in  my  opinion,  unexception- 
able ;  the  words  of  the  ordinance  are  these  : 
"And  to  the  end  that  those  who  will  appear 
before  the  committee  may  have  the  witnesses 
examined  in  their  presence,  it  is  farther  ordain- 
ed, that  summonses,  with  sufficient  warning 
of  the  time  and  place  when  and  where  the 
charge  against  them  shall  be  proved,  be  either 
given  to  their  persons  or  left  at  their  houses  ; 
and,  if  they  desire  it,  they  shall  have  a  copy  of 
the  articles  against  them,  with  a  convenient 
time  to  give  in  their  answer  under  their  hands, 
which,  together  with  their  charge,  and  the 
proofs  upon  every  particular  of  it,  the  said  dep- 
uty-lieutenants and  committees  of  Parliament 
shall  send  up  to  the  committee  of  this  House 
appointed  to  provide  for  plundered  ministers, 
which  committee  shall,  from  time  to  time, 
transmit  them  to  this  House."*  And,  farther, 
to  prevent  all  abuses,  it  is  ordained,  in  the  or- 
dinance for  sequestration,  "  that  if  any  person 
or  persons  find  themselves  aggrieved  with  any 
acts  done  by  the  sequestrators,  their  agents,  or 
deputies,  and  shall  not  therein  be  relieved  by 
the  sequestrators,  upon  complaint  made  to  them, 
or  any  two  or  more  of  them,  then,  upon  infor- 


Husband's  Collections,  p.  311. 


mation  given  to  both  houses  of  Parliament,  or 
to  the  committee  of  Lords  and  Commons  afore- 
mentioned, sucli-  farther  order  shall  be  taken 
therein  as  shall  be  agreeable  to  justice."*  Here 
was  an  appeal  from  a  lower  to  a  higher  court ; 
and  to  prevent  a  scrutiny  into  the  lives  and 
manners  of  the  clergy,  when  their  witnesses 
might  be  dead,  they  were  limited  to  such  crimes 
as  liad  been  committed  within  three  years  be- 
fore the  beginning  of  the  present  Parliament ; 
so  that,  if  tlie  committees  observed  their  orders, 
there  could  be  little  cause  of  complaint ;  yet, 
as  no  one  will  undertake  to  vindicate  all  their 
proceedings,  we  must  not,  on  the  other  hand, 
give  ear  to  the  petulant  and  angry  complaints 
of  every  discontented  clergyman.!  I  shall  only 
observe,  farther,  that  these  country  committees 
hardly  began  to  sit  till  the  latter  end  of  the  year 
1643  or  the  beginning  of  1644  ;  that  they  exer- 
cised their  power  very  sparingly  while  the  war 
was  in  suspense,  but  when  the  royal  forces  had 
been  beat  out  of  the  field,  and  victory  declared 
on  their  side,  they  proceeded  with  more  free- 
dom, especially  against  those  who  had  made 
themselves  parties  in  the  war. 

Very  different  accounts  are  given  of  the  num- 
bers and  quality  of  the  ejected  clergy  by  their 
several  friends.  Lord  Clarendon  says  that  all 
the  learned  and  orthodox  divines  of  England 
were  deemed  scandalous.  And  Dr.  Walker 
has  taken  a  great  deal  of  pains  to  increase  their 
numbers  and  vindicate  their  characters.  By 
this  account  one  would  think  most  of  them 
were  of  the  first  rank  and  character ;  but  Mr. 
Baxter,}  who  was  much  better  acquainted  with 
them,  says,  "  that  when  the  Parliament  purged 
the  ministry,  they  cast  out  the  grosser  sort  of 
insufficient  and  scandalous  ones,  and  also  some 
few  civil  men  who  had  assisted  in  the  wars 
against  the  Parliament,  or  set  up  bowing  to  al- 
tars, and  such  innovations,  but  they  left  in  near 
one  half  of  the  ministers  that  were  not  good 
enough  to  do  much  service,  nor  bad  enough  to 
be  utterly  intolerable.  These  were  a  company 
of  poor,  weak  preachers,  who  had  no  great  skill 
in  divinity  nor  zeal  for  godliness,  but  preached 
weekly  that  that  was  true,  and  were  free  from 
notorious  sins."  This  seems  a  pretty  fair  re- 
lation of  the  matter ;  however,  we  shall  have 
occasion  to  consider  it  more  fully  hereafter. 

Besides  the  sequestration  of  benefices,  the 
Parliament  considered  the  king's  clergy  as  par- 
ties in  the  war,  and  seized  their  estates,  both 
real  and  personal,  under  that  character,  towards 
defraying  the  expenses  of  it ;  for  this  purpose 
they  passed  the  following  ordinance,  April  1, 
1643,  tiie  preamble  to  which  sets  forth, i)  "  that 
it  is  most  agreeable  to  common  justice  that  the 
estates  of  such  notorious  delinquents  as  have 
been  the  causes  or  instruments  of  the  public 
calamities,  which  have  hitherto  been  employed 
to  the  fomenting  and  nourishing  of  this  mis- 
erable distraction,  should  be  converted  and 
applied  towards  the  support  of  the  common- 
wealth. 

"  Be  it  therefore  enacted,  that  the  estates,  as 
well  real  as  persona!,  of  all  such  bishops,  deans, 
deans  and  chapters,  prebends,  archdeacons,  and 
of  all  other  persons,  ecclesiastical  or  temporal, 


*  Husband's  Collections,  p.  15. 
t  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  p.  81. 
^  Husband's  Collections,  fol.  13. 


t  Life,  p.  95. 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITAJNS. 


453 


who  have  or  shall  raise  arms  against  the  Par- 
hament,  or  have  been  or  shall  be  in  actual  war 
against  the  same  ;  or  who  have  or  shall  volun- 
taril}'  contribute  money,  horse,  plate,  arms,  am- 
munition, or  other  aid  or  assistance,  towards 
the  maintenance  of  any  force  raised  against  the 
Parliament,  or  for  the  plundering  the  king's  sub- 
lects  who  have  willingly  contributed  or  yielded 
obedience  to  the  commands  of  both  houses  of 
Parliament,  and  of  all  such  who  have  joined  or 
shall  join  in  any  oath  or  association  against  the 
Parliament,  &c.,  shall  be  seized  into  the  hands 
of  sequestrators,  to  be  named  by  both  houses 
of  Parliament,  which  sequestrators,  or  their 
deputies,  are  to  seize  into  their  hands,  as  well 
all  the  money,  goods,  chattels,  debts,  and  per- 
sonal estates,  and  all  the  manors,  lands,  tene- 
ments, hereditaments,  rents,  revenues,  and  prof- 
its of  all  the  said  delinquents  before  specified, 
and  also  two  parts  of  all  the  personal  and  real 
estates  of  every  papist ;  and  to  let,  set,  and 
demise  the  same  from  year  to  year,  as  the  re- 
spective landlords  or  owners  thereof  might  have 
done.  And  the  authority  of  both  houses  is  en- 
gaged to  save  them  harmless  from  paying  any 
rents  to  their  landlords,  being  delinquents  ;  and 
all  the  moneys,  rents,  and  revenues  that  shall 
arise  from  this  ordinance,  shall  be  applied  to 
the  maintenance  of  the  army  and  forces  raised 
by  the  Parliament,  and  such  other  uses  as  shall 
be  directed  by  both  houses  of  Parliament  for 
the  benefit  of  the  commonwealth." 

August  19,  1643,  this  ordinance  was  farther 
explained,  as  including  in  the  number  of  delin- 
quents such  as  absented  from  their  usual  places 
of  abode  or  betook  themselves  to  the  king's 
forces,  such  as  should  embezzle  or  conceal  any 
of  their  effects  to  avoid  payment  of  taxes  and 
assessments  to  the  Parliament,  or  who  kept 
out  of  the  way  so  that  no  tax  could  be  levied 
upon  them,  or  who  concealed  or  harboured  the 
goods  or  persons  of  delinquents,  or  who  should 
seize  or  molest  any  persons  for  obeying  or  exe- 
cuting any  of  the  Parliament's  orders.*  A 
clause  was  then  added  to  the  ordinance,  em- 
powering the  commissioners  to  allow  to  the 
wives  and  children  of  such  delinquents,  for 
their  maintenance,  any  portion  of  their  goods, 
provided  it  did  not  exceed  one  fifth  part.  This 
clause  was  construed  to  extend  to  the  wives 
and  children  of  all  clergymen  who  were  ejected 
their  livings  on  any  account  whatsoever.  The 
commissioners  were  also  to  seize  two  thirds  of 
the  estates  of  papists,  both  real  and  personal, 
and  for  the  discovering  of  them,  were  to  tender 
to  such  as  they  suspected  the  following  oath  : 

"  I,  A.  B.,  do  abjure  and  renounce  the  pope's 
supremacy  and  authority  over  the  Catholic 
Church  in  general,  and  over  myself  in  particu- 
lar. And  I  do  believe  that  there  is  not  any 
transubstantiation  in  the  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  or  in  the  elements  of  bread  and 
wine,  after  consecration  thereof  by  any  person 
whatsoever.  And  I  do  also  believe  that  there 
is  not  any  purgatory,  or  that  the  consecrated 
Host,  crucifixes,  or  images  ought  to  be  wor- 
shipped, or  that  any  worship  is  due  to  any  of 
them.  And  I  also  believe  that  salvation  can- 
not be  merited  by  works  ;  and  all  doctrines  in 
affirmation  of  the  said  points  I  do  abjure  and 
renounce,   without    any  equivocation,   mental 

*  Scobel's  Collections,  p.  49. 


reservation,  or  secret  evasion  whatsoever,  ta- 
king the  words  by  me  spoken  according,  to  the 
common  meaning  of  them. 

"  So  help  me  God." 

Divers  clergymen  of  considerable  learning 
and  blameless  lives,  sound  Protestants  and 
good  preachers,  lost  their  estates  and  liveli- 
hoods by  falling  within  the  compass  of  this  or- 
dinance. How  far  such  severities  are  justifi- 
able by  the  law  of  arms,  in  a  time  of  civil  war 
and  confusion,  I  shall  not  determine.  It  had 
been  well  if  those  who  would  have  given  secu- 
rity for  their  peaceable  behaviour  could  have 
been  distinguished.  But  what  could  the  Par- 
liament do  in  their  circumstances  with  men 
who  were  always  dealing  in  politics,  privately 
sending  the  king  money,  preaching  publicly  that 
he  was  above  law,  and  stirring  up  the  people  to 
sedition  and  disaffection  to  those  powers  by 
whom  they  were  protected  1  If  others  suffered 
in  this  manner,  it  was  a  very  hard  measure. 
Their  estates  might  have  been  double  taxed,  as 
those  of  papists  and  nonjurors  have  since  been  ; 
but  to  take  away  their  whole  property,  and  re- 
duce them  to  a  fifth,  and  this  at  the  mercy  of  se- 
questrators, was  extremely  rigorous  and  severe. 

However,  his  majesty  pursued  the  same 
measures,  and  gave  directions  to  seize  the 
lands  and  goods  of  the  Parliamentarians,  as  ap- 
pears by  his  proclamation  of  April  7  and  May  8, 
wherein  he  forbids  all  his  subjects  to  submit  to 
their  orders  ;  and  by  another,  dated  May  15, 
1643,  complains  "  that  divers  of  his  clergy,  em- 
inent for  piety  and  learning,  because  they  pub- 
lish his  royal  and  just  commands  and  declara- 
tions, and  will  not  (against  the  known  laws  of 
the  land  and  their  own  consciences)  submit  to 
contributions,  nor  publicly  pray  against  us  and 
our  assistants,  but  conform  to  the  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer  established  by  law,  and  preach 
God's  Word  according  to  the  purity  of  it,  and 
in  their  sermons  will  not  teach  sedition,  nor 
publish  illegal  commands  and  orders  for  fo- 
menting the  unnatural  war  levied  against  us, 
are  some  of  them  driven  from  their  cures  and 
habitations,  others  silenced  and  discharged  from 
their  cures,  and  persecuted,  and  their  curates, 
if  orthodox,  displaced,  in  whose  places  factious 
and  seditious  persons  are  introduced.  His  maj- 
esty, therefore,  forbids  all  his  subjects  to  hinder 
any  of  his  clergy  from  exercising  their  func- 
tions, or  to  displace  them  ;  and  if  any  trans- 
gress this  command,  his  majesty  declares  them 
assistants  of  the  rebellion,  and  will  proceed 
against  them  according  to  law,  as  soon  as  he 
can  apprehend  them,  and,  in  the  mean  time,  will 
give  direction  for  taking  their  lands  and  goods 
into  safe  custody."*  Such  were  the  extrem- 
ities on  both  sides ! 

The  silencing  so  many  clergymen  at  once 
made  it  very  difficult  to  find  persons  qualified 
to  fill  the  vacant  pulpits.  This  was  an  incon- 
venience that  attended  the  reformation  of  Queea 
Elizabeth,  and  was  thfe  case  of  the  Established 
Church  again  in  the  year  1662,  when  near  two 
thousand  ministers  were  ejected  on  account  of 
their  nonconformity.  Lord  Clarendon,  with  his 
usual  candour,  says,  "  that  from  the  beginning 
of  this  Parliament  he  is  confident  not  one  learn- 
ed or  orthodox  man  was  recommended  by  them 
to  the  Church  of  England  ;"  and  yet  some  of 

-  Husband's  Collections,  p.  177. 


454 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


the  greatest  ornaments  of  the  Church  for  learn- 
ing and  good  sense,  in  the  reign  of  King  Charles 
II.,  were  of  their  promotion,  as  Bishop  Rey- 
nolds, Bishop  Wilkins,  Dr.  Lightfoot,  Dr.  Cud- 
wortii,  Dr.  Wallis,  and  others.  Mr.  Baxter,  who 
was  a  more  competent  judge  in  this  respect, 
says,*  "  that  though  now  and  then  an  unwor- 
thy person,  by  sinister  means,  crept  into  the 
places  of  the  ejected  ministers,  yet  commonly 
those  whom  they  put  in  were  such  as  set  them- 
selves laboriously  to  seek  the  saving  of  souls. 
Indeed,  the  one  half  of  them  were  very  young  ; 
but  that  could  not  be  helped,  because  there 
were  no  others  to  be  had  ;  the  Parliament  could 
not  make  men  learned  or  godly,  but  only  put 
in  the  learnedest  and  ablest  they  could  have  ; 
and  though  it  had  been  to  be  wished  that  they 
might  have  had  leisure  to  ripen  in  the  universi- 
ties, yet  many  of  them  did,  as  Ambrose,  teach 
and  learn  at  once  so  successfully,  as  that  they 
much  increased  in  learning  themselves  while 
they  profited  others,  and  proportionably  more 
than  many  in  the  universities  do."  Those  cler- 
gymen who  had  been  silenced  and  imprisoned 
by  Archbishop  Laud  were  set  at  liberty  and 
promoted  ;  some  who  had  fled  to  Holland  and 
New-England,  on  account  of  nonconformity,  re- 
turned home,  and  were  preferred  to  consider- 
able lectures  in  the  city,  or  to  livings  that  had 
been  sequestered.  The  Parliament  entertained 
and  promoted  several  Scots  divines,  and  yet, 
after  all,  wanted  a  supply  for  several  vacant 
benefices,  which  obliged  them  to  admit  of  some 
unlearned  persons  and  pluralists,  not  of  choice, 
but  through  necessity ;  for  when  things  were 
more  settled,  the  Assembly  of  Divines  declared 
against  both  ;  and  it  deserves  to  be  remember- 
ed, that  the  Parliament,  instead  of  giving  their 
divines  an  absolute  and  full  possession  of  the 
sequestered  livings,  reserved  to  themselves  a 
right  in  their  warrants  to  displace  them  if  they 
saw  occasion,  which  shows  their  great  pru- 
dence and  caution,  for  by  this  means  it  was  in 
their  power,  upon  the  conclusion  of  peace,  to 
restore  those  who  had  been  ejected  merely  for 
their  attachment  to  the  king,  without  any  in- 
justice to  the  present  possessor.  To  put  some 
stop  to  the  clamours  of  the  Royalists  at  Oxford, 
who  gave  out  that  the  Parliament  admitted 
butchers,  cobblers,  bricklayers,  and  those  who 
had  no  call  from  God  or  man,  they  ordained, 
July  27,  1643,  "that  the  committees  should  not 
nominate  any  person  to  vacant  benefices  but 
such  as  should  be  examined  and  approved  by 
the  Assembly  of  Divines  then  sitting  at  West- 
minster." Upon  the  whole,  it  is  evident  that 
the  two  houses  did  the  best  they  could  in  their 
present  circumstances,  and  pernaps  better  than 
the  Royalists  did  at  the  Restoration,  1660,  when, 
accordmg  to  Dr.  Walker,  all  the  sequestered 
clergy  who  survived  were  restored  to  their  liv- 
ings, even  those  who  had  been  convicted  of 
the  most  scandalous  immoralities,  without  any 
marks  of  repentance  or  amendment. 

The  Parliament's  affairs  being  low,  and  their 
counsels  divided,  they  not  only  applied  to  Heav- 
en, by  extraordinary  fastings  and  prayers,  but 
went  on  vigorously  with  their  intended  refor- 
mation. They  began  with  the  Sabbath,  and  on 
March  22,  1642-3,  sent  to  the  lord-mayor  of  the 
city  of  London  to  desire  him  to  put  in  execu- 

*  Hist,  of  Life  and  Times,  p.  74. 


tion  the  statutes  for  the  due  observation  of  the 
Lords  Day;  his  lordship,  accordingly,  issued  his 
precept  the  very  next  day  to  the  aldermen,*  re- 
quiring them  to  give  strict  charge  to  the  church- 
wardens and  constables  within  their  several 
wards,  that  from  henceforth  "  they  do  not  per- 
mit or  suffer  any  person  or  persons,  in  time  pf 
Divine  service,  or  at  any  time  on  the  Lord's 
Day,  to  be  tippling  in  any  tavern,  inn,  tobacco 
shop,  alehouse,  or  other  victualling-house  what  • 
soever  ;  nor  suffer  any  fruiterers  or  herb-wom- 
en to  stand  with  fruit,  herbs,  or  other  victuals 
or  wares,  in  any  streets,  lanes,  or  alleys,  or  any 
other  ways  to  put  things  for  sale,  at  any  time  o 
tliat  day,  or  in  the  evening  of  it ;  or  any  milk- 
woman  to  cry  milk  ;  nor  to  suffer  any  persons 
to  unlade  any  vessels  of  fruit,  or  other  goods, 
and  carry  them  on  shore  ;  or  to  use  any  unlaw^ 
ful  exercises  or  pastimes  ;  and  to  give  express 
charge  to  all  innkeepers,  taverns,  cook-shops, 
alehouses,  &c.,  within  their  wards,  not  to  en- 
tertain any  guests  to  tipple,  eat,  drink,  or  take 
tobacco,  in  their  houses  on  the  Lord's  Day,  ex- 
cept innkeepers,  who  may  receive  their  ordi- 
nary guests  or  travellers,  who  come  for  tho 
despatch  of  their  necessary  business  ;  and  if 
any  persons  offend  in  the  premises,  they  are  to 
be  brought  before  the  lord-mayor,  or  one  of  his 
majesty's  justices  of  the  peace,  to  be  punished 
as  the  law  directs."  This  order  had  a  very 
considerable  influence  upon  the  city,  which  be- 
gan to  wear  a  different  face  of  religion  to  what 
It  had  formerly  done.t  May  5  the  book  tolera- 
ting sports  upon  the  Lord's  Day  was  ordered  to 
be  burned  by  the  hands  of  the  common  hang- 
man in  Cheapside,  and  other  usual  places  ;  and 
all  persons  having  any  copies  in  their  hands 
were  required  to  deliver  them  to  one  of  the 
sheriffs  of  London  to  be  burned. 

Next  to  the  Lord's  Day,  they  had  a  particular 
regard  to  their  monthly  fast :  April  24,  all  con- 
stables, or  their  deputies,  were  ordered  to  re- 
pair to  every  house  within  their  respective  lib- 
erties, the  day  before  every  public  fast,  and 
charge  all  persons  strictly  to  observe  it  accord- 
ing to  the  said  ordinances.  And  upon  the  day 
of  the  public  fast,  they  were  enjoined  to  walk 
through  their  said  liberties,  to  search  for  per- 
sons who,  either  by  following  the  work  of  their 
calling,  or  sitting  in  taverns,  victualling,  or  ale- 
houses, or  any  other  ways,  should  not  duly  ob- 
serve the  same ;  and  to  return  their  names  to 
the  committee  for  examination,  that  they  might 
be  proceeded  against  for  contempt.  The  fast 
was  observed  the  last  Wednesday  in  every 
month,  the  public  devotions  continued  with  lit- 
tle or  no  intermission  from  nine  in  the  morning 
till  four  in  the  afternoon,]:  and  (as  has  been  al- 
ready observed)  with  uncommon  strictness  and 
rigour. 

*  Husband's  Collections,  p.  7.  f  Ibid.,  p.  159. 

t  These  services  were  protracted,  undoubtedly,  to 
a  tiresome  and  unreasonable  length,  and  became  the 
subject  of  ridicule  to  the  royal  party ;  of  which  this 
proposal,  in  a  pamphlet  entitled  "New  Orders  New," 
is  a  proof:  viz.,  "  that  every  year  there  shall  be  the 
Roundheads'  feast  celebrated,  a  well-lungod,  long- 
biealhed  cobbler  shall  preach  a  sermon  six  hours,  and 
his  prayers  two  hours  long,  and  at  every  mess  in  thus 
least  shall  be  presented  a  godly  dish  of  turnips,  be^ 
cause  it  is  very  agreeable  to  our  natures  :  for  a  turnip 
hath  a  round  head,  and  the  anagram  of  a  Puritan  is  a 
larnip." — Dr.  Grey,  p.  70,  note. — Ed. 


HISTORY    OF  THE  PURITANS. 


4ii5 


Besides  the  stated  fasts,  it  was  usual,  upon 
extraordinary  emergencies,  to  appoint  occasional 
ones ;  as  when  the  army  was  going  upon  any 
hazardous  enterprise,  or  were  within  sight  of 
the  enemy,  or  under  very  disadvantageous  cir- 
cumstances. When  the  Earl  of  Essex  was  shut 
up  in  Cornwall,  the  two  houses  appointed  a  day 
of  fasting  and  prayer  in  six  churches  within 
the  lines  of  communication,  and  in  such  other 
churches  where  it  should  be  desired  ;  and  the 
crowds  of  serious,  attentive  hearers  on  such  oc- 
casions was  almost  incredible. 

The  king,  apprehending  the  Parliament's 
monthly  fast  was  perverted  from  its  original  de- 
sign, and  turned  into  a  nursery  of  rebellion, 
was  pleased  to  dissolve  it,  and  appoint  another, 
for  the  reasons  contained  in  the  following  proc- 
lamation from  Oxford,  dated  October  5,  1643  : 
"When  a  general  fast  was  first  propounded  to 
us  in  contemplation  of  the  miseries  of  our  king- 
dom of  Ireland,  we  readily  consented  to  it. 
But  when  we  observe  what  ill  use  has  been 
made  of  these  public  meetings,  in  pulpits,  in 
prayers,  and  in  the  sermons  of  many  seditious 
lecturers,  to  stir  up  and  continue  the  rebellion 
raised  against  us  within  this  kingdom,  we 
thought  fit  to  command  that  such  a  hypocritical 
fast,  to  the  dishonour  of  God,  and  slander  of 
true  religion,  be  no  longer  continued  and  coun- 
tenanced by  our  authority.  And  yet  we,  being 
desirous  to  express  our  own  humiliation  and  the 
humiliation  of  our  people,  for  our  own  sins,  and 
the  sins  of  the  nation,  are  resolved  to  continue 
a  monthly  fast,  but  not  on  the  day  formerly  ap- 
pointed. Vv'^e  do,  therefore,  hereby  command, 
that  from  henceforth  no  fast  be  held  on  the  last 
Wednesday  in  the  month,  as  for  many  months 
it  has  been  ;  nor  on  any  other  day  than  is  here- 
by appointed  by  us.  But  we  do  expressly  charge 
and  command,  that  in  all  churches  and  chapels, 
&c.,  there  be  a  solemn  fast  religiously  observed 
on  the  second  Friday  in  every  month,  with  pub- 
lic prayers  and  preaching  where  it  may  be  had, 
that  as  one  man  we  may  pour  out  our  prayers 
to  God,  for  the  continuance  of  his  gracious  pres- 
ence and  blessing  upon  us,  and  for  establishing 
a  happy  peace  ;  for  which  purpose  we  have 
caused  devout  forms  of  prayer  to  be  composed 
and  printed,  and  intend  to  disperse  them,  that 
they  may  be  used  in  all  parts  of  our  kingdom."* 
Agreeably  to  this  proclamation,  the  king's  friends 
in  the  counties  of  Cornwall  and  Devonshire  took 
an  oath,  and  entered  into  an  association  upon 
sundry  articles,  of  which  this  was  one  :  That  if 
any  minister  shall  refuse,  or  wilfully  neglect,  to 
observe  the  fast  appointed  by  his  majesty,  or 
shall  not  read  the  service  and  prayers  appointed 
for  that  fast,  and  being  carried  before  a  justice 
of  peace,  shall  not  promise  and  protest  for  their 
future  conformity,  he  shall  be  forthwith  secured, 
and  his  estates  sequestered  ;  the  like  course  to 
be  taken  with  such  ministers  as  absent  them- 
selves that  day,  unless  upon  sickness,  or  other 
cause  allowed  by  two  justices  of  peace ;  and 
■with  those  that  will  not  read  such  books  as  shall 
be  appointed  to  be  read  by  his  majesty  ;  and  the 
constables  are  to  certify  their  defaults  to  the 
next  justice  of  the  peace. t  This  was  a  new 
hardship  upon  clergy  and  people,  for  the  Parlia- 
ment having  enjoined  the  continuance  of  the 


fast  on  Wednesday,  the  Royalists  were  obliged 
to  an  open  separation,  by  changing  it  to  Friday. 
Thus  the  devotions  of  the  kingdom  were  divi- 
ded, and  Almighty  God  called  into  the  quarrel 
on  both  sides. 

The  next  thing  the  Parliament  undertook 
was  the  removal  of  those  monuments  of  super- 
stition out  of  churches,  &c.,  which  had  been 
voted  down  the  last  year,  but  without  any  con- 
siderable effect,  because  of  the  dissent  of  the 
House  of  Lords. .  In  the  beginning  of  May,  Sir 
Robert  Harlow,  by  order  of  the  two  houses,  took 
down  the  crosses  in  Cheapside,  Charing  Cross, 
and  St.  Paul's  Cross,*  which  was  a  pulpit  of 
wood  covered  with  lead  in  form  of  a  cross,  and. 
mounted  on  several  steps  of  stone  about  the 
middle  of  St.  Paul's  churchyard,  where  the  first 
Reformers  used  to  preach  frequently  to  the  peo- 
ple ;  and  upon  a  farther  representation  of  the 
Assembly  of  Divines,  they  passed  the  following 
ordinance  :  "  That  before  the  1st  of  November 
all  altars  and  tables  of  stone  shall  be  utterly  ta- 
ken away  and  demolished  ;  and  all  communion- 
tables removed  from  the  east  end  of  every 
church,  chapel,  or  place  of  public  worship,  and 
be  set  in  some  other  fit  and -convenient  place  or 
places  of  the  body  of  the  church  or  chapel ;  and 
all  rails  whatsoever  which  have  been  erected 
near  to,  or  before,  or  about,  any  altar  or  commu- 
nion-table, in  any  of  the  said  churches  or  chap- 
els, shall  before  the  said  day  be  taken  away, 
and  the  chancel-ground  of  every  such  church, 
or  chapel,  or  other  place  of  public  prayer,  which 
has  been  within  these  twenty  years  raised  for 
any  altar  or  communion-table  to  stand  upon, 
shall  before  the  said  day  be  laid  down  and  lev- 
elled as  it  was  before ;  and  all  tapers,  candle- 
sticks, and  basins  shall  before  the  said  day  be 
removed  and  taken  away  from  the  communion- 
table in  every  church,  chapel,  or  place  of  pub- 
lic prayer,  and  not  to  be  used  again  afterward. 
And  all  crucifixes,  crosses,  images,  and  pictures, 
of  any  one  or  more  persons  of  the  Trinity,  or  of 
the  Virgin  Mary  :  and  all  other  images,  and  pic- 
tures of  saints,  or  superstitious  inscriptions  in 
or  upon  any  of  the  said  churches,  churchyards, 
or  other  places  belonging  to  the  said  churches 
or  churchyards,  or  in  any  other  open  place, 
shall,  before  the  said  1st  of  November,  be  taken 


*  Husband's  Collections,  p.  353. 
I  Rushworth,  vol.  ii.,  p.  381,  382. 


*  The  zeal  showed  lor  pulUng  down  the  crosses 
gave  occasion   for  the  publication  of  a  humorous 
piece,  entitled  "  A  Dialogue  betwixt  the  Cross  in 
Cheap  and  Charing  Cross,  comforting  each  other,  as 
fearing  their  Fall  in  these  uncertain  Times."    It  was 
also  bantered  in  a  pamphlet,  with  this  title,  "  New 
Orders  New,  agreed  upon  by  the  Parliament  of 
Roundheads,  confirmed  by  the  Brethren  of  the  new 
Separation,  assembled  at  Roundheads'  Hall  without 
Cripplegate,  with  the  great   Discretion  of  Master 
Long-breath,   an    upright,    new   inspired    Cobbler, 
Speaker  of  the  House.     Avowed  by  Ananias  Dul- 
man,  alias  Prick  Ears."    Of  the  strain  of  this  piece, 
the  following  passage  is  a  specimen  :  "  That  we  have 
no  crosses,  for  they  are  mere  popery,  and  tend  to  the 
confusion  and  opposition  of  Scripture  ;  especially  let 
the  sight  of  Cheapside  Cross'  be  a  detestation  unto 
you  all,  and  let  these  streets  that  are  called  Crosses, 
as  Red  Cross-street,  and  White  Cross-street,  &c., 
be  turned  otherwise,  and  called  after  the  name  of 
some  of  our  own  family,  as  Green,  Spencer,  &c.,  and 
call  it  rather  Green-street,  than  Red  Cross-street, 
&c.    That  thus,  all  profaneness  being  rooted  and  ex- 
tirpated from  our  conventions,  nothing  but  holiness 
may  remain  among  us." — Dr.  Grey,  vol.  ii.,  p.  80,  81, 
note. — Ed. 


456 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS. 


away  and  defaced  by  the  proper  officers  that 
have  the  care  of  such  churches.     And  it  is  far- 
ther ordained,  that  the  walls,  windows,  grounds, 
and  other  places  that  shall  be  broken,  impaired, 
or  altered,  by  any  the  means  aforesaid,  shall  be 
made  up  and  repaired  in  good  and  sufficient 
manner,  in  all  and  every  the  said  parish  church- 
es, chapels,  or  places  of  public  prayer  belonging 
to  the  parish,  by  the  church-wardens  for  the 
time  being,  and  in  any  cathedral  or  collegiate 
church  or  chapel  by  the  deans  or  sub-deans ; 
and  in  the  inns  of  court,  by  the  benchers  and 
readers  of  the  same,  at  the  cost  and  charge  of 
all  and  every  such  person  or  persons,  bodies 
politic,  or  corporations,  to  whom  the  charge  of 
repair  does  usually  belong,  upon  penalty  of  4s. 
to  the  use  of  the  poor,  for  the  space  of  twenty 
days  after  such  default ;  and  if  default  be  made 
after  December  1,  the  justice  of  peace  of  the 
county  or  city  shall  have  power  to  perform  it. 
Provided  that  this  ordinance  shall  not  extend 
to  any  image,  picture,  or  coat  of  arms,  in  glass, 
stone,  or  otherwise,  in  any  church,  chapel,  or 
churchyard,  set  up  by,  or  engraven  for  a  monu- 
ment of,  any  king,  prince,  nobleman,  or  other 
dead  person,  which  has  not  been  commonly  re- 
puted or  taken  for  a  saint."* 

This  ordinance  is  of  the  same  tenour  with  the 
bill  against  innovations,  presented  to  the  king 
at  the  treaty  of  Oxford,  and  does  not  much  dif- 
fer from  Queen  Elizabeth's  injunctions  at  the 
Reformation :  there  were  some  disorders  and 
tumults  in  putting  it  in  execution,  and  great 
neglect  of  repairs ;  but  if  the  reader  will  look 
back  to  the  superstitious  decorations  and  orna- 
ments of  the  cathedrals  mentioned  in  the  Ibr- 
mer  volume  of  this  work,  lie  will  see  there  was 
some  need  of  a  reformation.  December  14,  the 
commissioners  cleared  the  Cathedral  of  Canter- 
bury of  all  the  images,  and  paintings  in  the 
■windows.  Heylin  says  the  rabble  violated  the 
monuments  of  the  dead,  spoiled  the  organs,  took 
down  the  rails,  &c.,  and  affronted  the  statue  of 
our  blessed  Saviour,  t  December  30,  they  re- 
moved the  pictures,  images,  and  crucifixes  in 
Henry  VII. 's  chapel ;  and  about  Lady  Day  the 
paintings  about  the  walls  and  windows  were 
defaced,  and  the  organs  taken  down  in  presence 
of  the  committee  of  the  House.  The  Cathedral 
of  St.  Paul's  was  stripped  about  the  same  time, 
the  candlesticks,  crucifixes,  and  plate  being 
sold  for  the  service  of  the  war  ;  and  within  a 
few  months  most  of  the  cathedrals  throughout 
England  underwent  the  same  fate.J  If  the 
Parliament,  instead  of  leaving  this  work  to  the 
officers  of  every  parish,  had  put  it  into  the  hands 
of  some  discreet  persons,  to  give  directions 
■what  might  remain  and  what  was  fit  to  be  re- 
moved, all  the  mischiefs  that  have  been  com- 
plained of  might  have  been  prevented  ;  the 
monuments  of  the  dead  might  have  remained 
entire,  and  a  great  many  fine  paintings  been 
preserved.  Dr.  Heylin  charges  the  officers  with 
sacrilege,  and  fixes  the  Divine  vengeance  upon 
them  as  a  terror  to  others,  one  of  them  being 


*  Husband's  Collections,  fol.  307. 

t  Hist.  Presbytery,  p.  450. 

t  Dr.  Grey  gives  various  examples  of  the  rude  vio- 
lence and  indiscriminate  destruction  witli  wliich  this 
■was  done.  His  authorities  are,  Bishops  Hall,  Heylin, 
Dugdale,  and  a  work  entitled  Mercurius  Rusticus. 
—Ed. 


killed  in  pulling  down  the  cross  in  Cheapside, 
and  another  hanged  soon  after  he  had  pulled 
down  the  rich  cross  in  Abingdon.  But  without 
remarking  on  the  doctor's  prognostications,  it 
might  be  very  proper  to  remove  these  images 
and  crosses,  because  of  the  superstitious  resort 
of  great  numbers  of  people  to  them  ;  though  it 
ought  to  have  been  done  in  a  peaceable  inanner, 
without  any  damage  to  the  truly  venerable  re- 
mains of  antiquity. 

The  paper  combat  between  the  two  parties  at 
Oxford  and  London  was  carried  on  with  no  less 
fury  than  the  war  itself;  numberless  pamphlets 
were  scattered  up  and  down  the  kingdom,  big 
with  disaffection  and  scandal  against  the  two 
houses  ;  to  put  a  stop  to  which,  the  Commons, 
by  an  order  of  March  6,  1642-3,  had  empowered 
the  Committee  of  Examinations  to  search  for 
printing-presses  in  such  places  where  they  had 
cause  to  suspect  they  were  employed  against 
the  Parliament,  and  to  break  them  in  pieces, 
and  destroy  the  materials.  They  were  also  to 
seize  the  pamphlets,  and  to  commit  the  printer 
and  vender  to  prison.  But  this  order  not  being 
effectual,  another  was  published,  June  14, 1643, 
the  preamble  to  which  sets  forth,  "  that  the 
former  orders  of  Parliament  to  prevent  the 
printing  and  dispersing  scandalous  pamphlets 
having  been  ineffectual,  it  is  ordained  that  no 
person  or  persons  shall  print  any  book  or  pam- 
phlet without  license  under  the  hands  of  such 
persons  as  shall  be  appointed  by  Parliament, 
nor  shall  any  book  be  reprinted  without  the  li- 
cense and  consent  of  the  owner,  and  the  printer 
to  put  his  name  to  it ;  the  Company  of  Station- 
ers and  the  Committee  of  Examinations  are  re- 
quired to  make  strict  inquiry  after  private  press- 
es, and  to  search  all  suspected  shops  and  ware- 
houses for  unlicensed  books  and  pamphlets,  and 
to  commit  the  offenders  against  this  order  to 
prison,  to  be  punished  as  the  Parliament  shall 
direct."*  The  names  of  the  licensers  appointed 
by  this  ordinance  were  these  : 

For  books  of  divinity. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Thomas  Gataker. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  J.  Downham. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Callicut  Downing. 
The  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  Temple. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Joseph  Caryl. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Edmund  Calamy. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Carter,  of  Yorkshire. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Charles  Herle. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  James  Crauford. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Obadiah  Sedgwick. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Batchelor. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  John  Ellis,  Jun. 

For  law-books. 
Sir  John  Brampston.  Mr.  Serg.  Phesant. 

Mr.  Serg.  Rolls.  Mr.  Serg.  Jermyn. 

For  physic  and  surgery- — The  president  and  four 
censors  of  the  College  of  Physicians  for  the  time  be- 
ing. 

For  civil  and  canon  law. — Sir  Nath.  Brent,  or  any 
three  doctors  of  the  civil  law. 

For  heraldry,  titles  of  lionour,  and  arms. — One  of  the 
three  kings  at  arms. 

For  philosophy,  history,  poetry,  morality,  and  arts. — 
Sir  Nath.  Brent,  Mr.  Langley,  and  Mr.  Famaby, 
schoolmasters  of  St.  Paul's. 

For  small  pamphlets,  pictures,  cj-c. —  The  clerk  of  the 
Company  of  Stationers  for  the  time  being ;  and 

For  mnthcmatics,  almanacs,  and  prognostications. — 
The  reader  of.  Gresham  College  for  the  time  being. 


*  Rushworth,  vol.  v.,  p.  335. 


HISTORY    OF   THE   PURITANS. 


457 


But  neither  this  nor  any  other  regulation  of 
the  press  could  restrain  the  Oxonians  from  dis- 
persing their  mercuries  and  diurnals  over  the 
■whole  kingdom,  as  long  as  the  university  was 
in  the  king's  hands. 


CHAPTER  II. 

FROM  THE  CALLING  THE    ASSEMBLY  OF  DIVINES  AT 
WESTMINSTER  TO  THE  OXFORD  PARLIAMENT. 

It  has  been  observed,  that  at  the  setting 
down  of  this  Parliament,  the  resolution  of  the 
leading  members  was  to  remove  the  grievances 
of  the  Church  as  well  as  State,  and  for  this  pur- 
pose to  address  the  king  to  call  an  assembly  of 
divines  to  reform  the  liturgy  and  discipline. 
To  forward  this  design,  the  London  ministers, 
in  their  petitions  in  the  year  1641,  prayed  the 
houses  to  be  mediators  to  his  majesty  for  a  free 
synod,  and  the  Commons  accordingly  mention- 
ed it  in  their  grand  remonstrance  of  December 
1,  1641.  "We  desire,"  say  they,  "that  there 
may  be  a  general  synod  of  the  grave,  pious, 
learned,  and  judicious  divines  of  this  island,  as- 
sisted with  some  from  foreign  parts  professing 
the  same  religion  with  us,  who  may  consider  cff 
all  things  necessary  for  the  peace  and  good  gov- 
ernment of  the  Church,  and  to  represent  the  re- 
sult of  their  consultations  to  be  allowed  and  con- 
firmed, and  to  receive  the  stamp  of  authority." 
In  the  treaty  of  Oxford  a  bill  was  presented  to 
the  same  purpose,  and  rejected  ;  some  time  af- 
ter. Dr.  Burges,  at  the  head  of  the  Puritan  cler- 
gy, applied  again  to  Parliament,  but  the  houses 
"were  unwilling  to  take  this  step  without  the 
king's  concurrence,  till  they  were  reduced  to 
the  necessity  of  calling  in  the  Scots,  who  insist- 
ed that  "  there  should  be  a  uniformity  of  doc- 
trine and  discipline  between  the  two  nations." 
To  make  way  for  which,  the  houses  turned  their 
bill  into  an  ordinance,  and  convened  the  assem- 
bly by  their  own  authority.* 

The  ordinance  bears  date  June  12,  1643,  and 
is  the  very  same  with  the  Oxford  bill,  except  in 
the  point  of  lay-assessors,  and  of  restraining  the 
assembly  from  exercising  any  jurisdiction  or 
authority  ecclesiastical  whatsoever.  It  is  enti- 
tled, 

"  An  ordinance  of  the  Lords  and  Commons  in 
Parliament,  for  the  calling  of  an  assembly  of 
learned  and  godly  divines,  and  others,  to  be 
consulted  with  by  the  Parhament,  for  settling 
the  government  and  liturgy  of  the  Church  of 
England,  and  for  vindicating  and  clearing  of 
the  doctrine  of  the  said  Church  from  false  as- 
persions and  interpretations."! 

The  preamble  sets  forth, 

"  That  whereas  among  the  infinite  blessings 


*  It  is  a  just  remark  of  Mr.  Palmer,  that  the  As- 
sembly of  Divines  at  Westminster  was  not  a  convo- 
cation according  to  the  diocesan  way  of  govern- 
ment, nor  was  it  called  by  the  votes  of  the  ministers 
according  to  the  Presbyterian  way  ;  but  the  Parlia- 
ment chose  all  the  members  themselves,  merely  with 
a  view  to  have  their  opinion  and  advice  for  settling 
the  government,  liturgy,  and  doctrine  of  the  Church 
of  England.  And  they  were  confined  in  their  de- 
bates to  such  things  as  the  Parliament  proposed. — 
Nonconformists'  Memorial,  vol.  i..  Introduction,  p.  7. — 
Ed. 

t  Rushworth,  vol.  ii.,  part  in.,  or  vol.  v.,  p.  337. 
Vol.  I. — M  m  m 


of  Almighty  God  upon  this  nation,  none  is  or 
can  be  more  dear  to  us  than  the  purity  of  our 
religion  ;  and  forasmuch  as  many  things  as  yet 
remain  in  the  discipline,  hturgy,  and  govern- 
ment of  the  Church,  which  necessarily  require 
a  more  perfect  reformation.  And  whereas,  it 
has  been  declared  and  resolved,  by  the  Lords 
and  Commons  assembled  in  Parliament,  that  the 
present  church  government  by  archbishops, 
bishops,  their  chancellors,  commissaries,  deans, 
deans  and  chapters,  archdeacons,  and  other  ec- 
clesiastical officers  depending  on  the  hierarchy, 
is  evil,  and  justly  offensive  and  burdensome  to 
the  kingdom,  and  a  great  impediment  to  refor- 
mation and  growth  of  religion,  and  very  preju- 
dicial to  the  state  and  government  of  this  king- 
dom, that  therefore  they  are  resolved  the  same 
shall  be  taken  away,  and  that  such  a  govern- 
ment shall  be  settled  in  the  Church  as  may  be 
agreeable  to  God's  holy  Word,  and  most  apt  to 
procure  and  preserve  the  peace  of  the  Church 
at  home,  and  nearer  agreement  with  the  Church 
of  Scotland,  and  other  Reformed  churches 
abroad.  And  for  the  better  effecting  hereof,  and 
for  the  vindicating  and  clearing  of  the  doctrine 
of  the  Church  of  England  from  all  false  calum- 
nies and  aspersions,  it  is  thought  'fit  to  call  an 
assembly  of  learned,  godly,  and  judicious  di- 
vines, to  consult  and  advise  of  such  matters 
and  things  touching  the  premises  as  shall  be 
proposed  to  them  by  bot'n  houses  of  Parliament ; 
and  to  give  their  advice  and  counsel  therein  to 
both,  or  either  of  the  said  houses,  when  and  as 
often  as  they  shall  be  thereunto  required. 

"  Be  it  therefore  ordained  by  the  Lords  and 
Commons  in  this  present  Parliament  assembled, 
that  all  and  every  the  persons  hereafter  in  this 
ordinance  named  [the  ordinance  here  names 
the  persons],  and  such  other  persons  as  shall 
be  nominated  by  both  houses  of  Parliament,  or 
so  many  of  them  as  shall  not  be  letted  by  sick- 
ness or  other  necessary  impediment,  shall  meet 
and  assemble,  and  are  hereby  required  and  en- 
joined, upon  summons  signed  by  the  clerks  of 
both  houses  of  Parliament,  left  at  their  several 
respective  dwellings,  to  meet  and  assemble  at 
Westminster,  in  the  chapel  called  King  Henry 
the  Seventh's  Chapel,  on  the  first  of  July,  1643, 
and  after  the  first  meeting,  being  at  least  of  the 
number  of  forty,  shall  from  time  to  time  sit,  and 
be  removed  from  place  to  place  ;  and  also  that 
the  said  assembly  shall  be  dissolved  in  such 
manner  as  by  both  houses  of  Parliament  shall 
be  directed.  And  the  said  assembly  shall  have 
power  and  authority,  and  are  hereby  enjoined, 
from  time  to  time,  during  this  present  Parlia- 
ment, or  till  farther  order  be  taken  by  both  the 
said  houses,  to  confer  and  treat  among  them- 
selves of  such  matters  and  things  concerning 
the  liturgy,  discipline,  and  government  of  the 
Church  of  England,  or  the  vindicating  and  clear- 
ing of  the  doctrine  of  the  same  from  all  false 
aspersions  and  misconstructions,  as  shall  be 
proposed  by  either  or  both  houses  of  Parliament, 
and  no  other  ;  and  to  deliver  their  advices  and 
opinions  touching  the  matters  aforesaid  as  shall 
be  most  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God,  to  both 
or  either  houses  from  time  to  time,  in  such 
manner  as  shall  be  required,  and  not  to  divulge 
the  same  by  printing,  writing,  or  otherwise, 
without  consent  of  Parliament." 
If  any  difference  of  opinion  aroste,  they  were 


458 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


to  represent  it  to  Parliament  with  their  reasons, 
that  the  houses  might  give  farther  direction. 
Four  shillings  per  day  were  allowed  for  each 
one  during  his  attendance.  Dr.  William Twisse, 
of  Newbury,  was  appointed  prolocutor,  and  in 
case  of  his  sickness  or  death,  the  Parliament 
reserved  to  themselves  the  choice  of  another. 
The  ordinance  concludes  with  the  following 
proviso :  "  Provided,  always,  that  this  ordinance 
shall  not  give  them,  nor  shall  they  in  this  as- 
sembly assume  or  exercise,  any  jurisdiction, 
power,  or  authority  ecclesiastical  whatsoever, 
or  any  other  power  than  is  herein  particularly 
expressed." 

Then  follow  the  names  of  thirty  lay-asses- 
sors, viz.,  ten  lords  and  twenty  commoners,  and 
one  hundred  and  twenty-one  divines. 

N.B.  The  lay-assessors  had  an  equal  liberty 
of  debating  and  voting  with  the  divines,  and 
were  these  : 

Peers. 

Algernon,  earl  of  Northumberland. 

William,  earl  of  Bedford. 

William,  earl  of  Pembroke  and  Montgomery. 

William,  earl  of  Salisbury. 

Henry,  earl  of  Holland. 

Edward,  earl  of  Manchester. 

William,  lurd-^scount  Say  and  Seal. 

Edward,  lord-viscount  Conway. 

Philip,  lord  Whai'ton. 

Edward,  lord  Howard,  of  Escrick. 

Commoners. 
John  Selden,  Esq. 
Francis  Rouse,  Esq. 
Edmund  Prideaux,  Esq. 
Sir  Henry  Vane,  knight  senior. 
Sir  Henry  Vane,  knig-ht  junior.  ^ 

John  Glynne,  Esq.,  recorder  of  London. 
John  Wliite,  Esq. 
Bulstrode  Whitelocke,  Esq. 
Humphry  Salway,  Esq. 
Oliver  St.  John,  Esq. 
Sir  benjamin  Rudyard,  knight. 
John  Pym,  Esq. 
Sir  John  Clotworthy,  knight. 
Sir  Thomas  Harrington,  knight. 
William  Wheeler,  Esq. 
William  Pierpoint,  Esq. 
Sir  John  Evelyn,  knight. 
John  Maynard,  Esq. 

Mr.  Sergeant  Wild.  • 

Mr.  Young. 
Sir   Matthew  Hale,    afterward    lord-chief-justice   of  the 

King's  Bench   [appeared,  says  Anthony  Wood,  among 

the  lay-assessors]. 

Lay-assessors  from  Scotland. 

Lord  Maitland,  afterward  Duke  Lauderdale. 

Earl  Lothian. 

A.  Johnston,  called  Warriston. 

The  divines  were  chosen  out  of  such  lists  as 
the  knights  and  burgesses  brought  in,  of  per- 
sons best  qualified  in  their  several  counties,  out 
of  which  the  Parliament  agreed  upon  two ; 
though,  according  to  Dr.  Calamy,  some  counties 
had  only  one. 

A  list  of  the  Assembly  of  Divines  at  Westmin- 
ster, in  alphabetical  order  :  ' 

Those  with  **  gave  constant  attendance  ;  those  with  * 
sat  in  the  Assembly  and  took  the  protestation,  but  with-' 
drew,  or  seldom  appeared :  those  w^th  no  star  did  not  ap- 
pear at  all. 

To  supply  the  vacancies  that  happened  by  death,  seces- 
sion, or  otherwise,  the  Parliament  named  others  from  time 
to  time,  who  were  called  superadded  divines. 

**  The  Reverend  Dr.  William  Twisse,  of  Newbury, 
was  appointed  by  Parliament  prolocutor. 

**  The  Reverend  Dr.  Cornelius  Burgcs,  of  Watford,  Mr. 
John  White,  of  Dorchester,  A.M.,  assessors. 

'  The   Reverend  Mr.  Henry  Roborough,  Mr.  Adoniram 
Byfi-eld,  A.M.,  scribes,  but  had  no  votes. 
**  The  Rev.  John  Arrowsmith,  of  Lynn,  afterward  D.D., 
and  master  of  Peterhouse,  Cambridge. 


**  Mr.  Simeon  Ash,  of  St.  Bride's,  or  Basingshaw 

**  Mr.  Theodore  Backhurst,  of  Overton,  Waterville. 

'*  Mr.  Thomas  Bayly,  B.D.,  of  .Manningford-Bruce. 

**  Mr.  John  Bond,  a  superadded  divine. 
*  Mr.  Boulton,  sujieradded. 

*'  Mr.  Oliver  Bowler,  B.D.,  of  Sutton. 

**  Mr.  William  Bridge,  A.M.,  of  Yarmouth. 

The  Right  Reverend  Dr.  Ralph  Brownrigge,  bishop  «f 
E.xon. 
Mr.  Richard  Buckley. 

**  Mr.  Anthony  Burgos,  A.M.,  of  Sutton-Colefieli. 

**  Mr.  Jeremiah  Burroughs,  A.M.,  of  Stepney. 

■'•'*  Mr.  Richard  Byfield,  A.M.,  superadded. 

**  Edmund  Calamy,  B.D.,  Aldermanbury. 

**  Mr.  Thomas  Case,  Milk-street. 

Mr.  Richard  Capel,  of  Pitchcombe,  AM. 

**  Mr.  Joseph  Caryl,  A.M.,  Lincoln's  Imi. 

**  Mr.  William  Carter,  of  London. 

**  Mr.  Thomas  Carter,  of  Oxon. 

'*  Mr.  William  Carter,  of  Dynton,  Bucks. 

**  Mr.  John  Cawdrey,  A.M.,  St.  Martin's  Fields. 

**  Humphrey  Chambers,  D.D.,  of  Claverton. 

■■*  Francis  Cheynel,  D.D.,  of  Petworth. 

**  Mr.  Peter  Clarke,  A.M.,  of  Carnaby. 

**  Mr.  Richard  Clayton,  of  Showel. 

*'  Mr.  Francis  Coke,  of  Yoxhall. 

**  Mr.  Thomas  Coleman,  A.M.,  of  Bliton. 

'"  John  Conant,  of  Lymington,  D.D.,  afterward  Archdea 
con  of  Norwich,  and  Prebendary  of  Worcester. 

**  Mr.  Edward  Corbet,  A.M.,  Merton  College,  Oxon. 

**■  Robert  Crosse,  D.D.,  afterward  Vicar  of  Cliew,  Somer- 
set. 

**  Mr.  Philip  Delme,  superadded. 
Mr.  Thomas  Dillingham,  of  Dean. 

*  Calibute  Downing,  D.D.,  of  Hackney. 
Mr.  William  Dunning,  of  Godalstoii. 

**  The  Reverend  Mr.  John  Drury,  superadded. 

Mr.  Edward  Ellis,  B.D  ,  Oilfield. 

Mr.  John  Erie,  of  Bishopstone. 
**  Daniel  Featley,  D.D.,  of  Lambeth. 
**  Mr.  Thomas  Ford,  A.M.,  superadded. 
**  Mr.  John  Foxcroft,  of  Gotham. 

Mr.  Hamilton  Gammon,  A.M.,  of  Cornwall 
■**  Thomas  Gataker,  B.D.,  Rotherhithe. 
**  Mr.  Samuel  Gibson,  of  Burleigh. 
**  Mr.  John  Gibbon,  of  Waltham. 
**  Mr.  Georfx.  Gippes,  of  Aylston. 
**  Thomas  Goodwin,  D.D.,  of  London,  afterward  President 

of  Magdalen  College,  Oxon. 
**  Mr.  William  Goad,  superadded. 
**  Mr.  Stanley  Gower,  of  Brampton-Biyan. 
**  William  Gouge,  D.D.,  of  Blackfriars. 
**  Mr.  William  Greenhill,  of  Stepney. 
**  Mr.  Green,  of  Pentecomb. 

John   Hacket,  D.D.,  of  St.  Andrew's,  Holborn,  after- 
ward Bishop  of  Litchfield. 

Henry  Hammond,  D.D.,  of  Penshurst,  Kent. 
**  Mr.  Henry  Hall,  B.D.,  Norwich. 
**  Mr.  Humphrey  Hardwicke,  superadded. 

*  John  Harris,  D.D.,  prebendary  of  Winchester,  warden 

of  Wickham. 

**  Robert  Harris,  D.D.,  of  Hanwell,  President  of  Triiiity 
College,  Oxon.  ^ 

**  Mr.  Charles  Herle,  A.M.,  Winwick,  afterward  prolocu- 
tor. 

**  Mr.  Richard  Heyrick,  A.M.,  of  Manchester. 

**  Thomas  Hill,  D.D.,  of  Tichraarsh,  afterward  Master  of 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge. 

*  Samuel  Hildersham,  B.D.,  of  Felton. 
''  Mr.  Jasper  H  ekes,  A.M.,  of  Lawrick. 

**  Mr.  Thomas  Hodges,  B.D.,  of  Kensington. 

*  Richard  Holdsworth,  D.D.,  master  of  Emanuel  College, 

Cambridge. 
*'  Joshua  Hoyle,  D.D.,  of  Dublin,  Ireland. 

Mr.  Henry  Hutton. 
**  Mr.  John  Jackson,  A.M.,  of  Queen's  College,  Cambridge. 

*  Mr.  Johnson. 

Mr.  Lance,  Harrow,  Middlesex. 
**  Mr.  John  Langley,  oi^  West  Tuderley,  prebendary,  Gloti- 

cester. 
**  Mr.  John  Ley,  A.M.,  Great  Budworth. 
**  The  Reverend  John  Lightfoot,  D.D.,  of  Ashby,  master 

of  Catharine  House. 

*  Richard  Love,  D.D.,  of  Ekinton. 

*  Mr.  Christopher  Love,  A.M.,  superadded. 
Mr.  William  Lyford,  A.M.,  Sherbourne. 

*  Mr.  John  de  la  March,  minister  of  the  French  Church 
**  Mr.  Stephen  Marshal,  B.D.,  of  Finchingfield. 

*  Mr.  William  Massam,  superadded. 
3\Ir.  John  Maynard,  A.M.,  superadded. 

**  Mr.  William  Mew,  B.D.,  of  Essington. 
**  Mr.  Thomas  Micklethwait,  Cheriburton. 

George  Morley,  D.D.,  afterward  Bishop  of  Winchester. 
.  Mr.  William  Moreton,  Newcastle. 

*  Mr.  Moore. 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS. 


**  Mr.  Matthew  Newcomen,  Dedham. 

*  Mr.  William  Newseore,  superadded. 

William  Nicholson,  D.D.,  afterward  Bishop  of  Glouces- 
ter. 

Mr.  Henry  Nye,  of  Clapham. 
**  Mr.  Philip  Nye,  of  Kimbolton. 

Mr.  Herbert  Palmer,  B.D.,  Ashwell,  afterward  asses- 
sor. 

Mr.  Henry  Painter,  of  Exeter. 

Mr.  Christopher  Parkly,  of  Hawarden. 
**  Mr.  Edward  Peal,  of  Compton. 
**  Mr.  Andrew  Pern,  of  Wilby,  Northampton. 
**  Mr.  John  Philips,  Wrentham. 
**  Mr.  Benjamin  Pickering,  East-Hoatly. 
**  Mr.  Samuel  de  la  Place,minister  of  the  French  Church. 
**  Mr.  William  Price,  of  St  Paul's,  Coveut  Garden. 

John  Prideaux,  D.D.,  bishop  of  Worcester. 
**  Nicholas  Proffet,  of  Marlborough.  . 

Mr.  John  Pyne,  of  Bereferrars. 
**  Mr.  William  Rathband,  of  Highgate. 
**  Mr.  William  Reyner,  B.D.,  Egham. 
**  Edward  Reynolds,  of  Brampton,  D.D.,  afterward  Bish- 
op of  Norwich . 
**  Mr.  Arthur  Salway,  Severn  Stoke. 

Robert  Saundefson,  D.D.,  afterward  Bishop  of  Lincoln. 
**  Mr.  Henry  Scudder,  of  Colingboume. 
**  Lazarus   Seaman,  B.D.,  of  London,  Master  of  Peter- 
house,  Cambridge. 
**  Mr.  Obadiah  Sedgwick,  B.D.,  Coggeshall. 

Mr.  Josias  Shute,  B.D.,  Lombard-street. 
**  The  Reverend  Mr.  Sydrach  Sympson,  London. 
**  Peter  Smith,  D.D.,  of  Barkway. 
**  William  Spurstow,  D.D.,  of  Hampden. 
**  Edmund  Staunton,  D.D.,  of  Kingston. 
**  Mr.  Peter  Sterry,  London. 

**  Mr.  John  Strickland,  B.D.,  New  Sarum,  superadded. 
**  Matthew  Styles,  D.U.,  Eastcheap. 
**  Mr.  Strong,  Westminster,  superadded. 
**  Mr.  Francis  Taylor,  A.M.,  Yalding. 
**  Thomas  Temple,  D.D.,  of  Battersey. 
**  Mr.  Thomas  Thoroughgood,  Massingham. 
**  Mr.  Christopher  Tisdale,  Uphurstboume. 

Mr.  Henry  Tozer,  B.D.,  Oxon. 
**  Anthony  Tuckney,  D.D.,  of  Boston,  afterward  Master 

of  St.  John's  College,  Oxon,  and  Regius  professor. 
**  Mr.  Thomas  Valentine,  B.D.,  Chalfort,  Saint  Giles's. 
**  Mr.  Richard  Vines,  A.M.,  of  Calcot,  Master  of  Pem- 
broke House,  Cambridge. 

The  most  Reverend  Dr.  James  Usher,  archbishop  of  Ar- 
magh. 
**  Mr.  George  Walker,  B.D.,  St.  John  the  Evangelist. 

Samuel  Ward,  D.D.,  master  of  Sidney  College,  Cam- 
bridge. 
**  Mr.  John  Wallis,  afterward  D.D.,  and  scribe. 
**  Mr.  John  Ward,  superadded. 

Mr.  James  Welby,  Sylatten. 

*  Thomas  Westfield,  D.D.,  bishop  of  Bristol. 
**  Mr.  Jeremiah  Whitaker,  A.M.,  Stretton. 

Mr.  Francis  Whiddon,  Moreton. 
**  Henry  Wilkinson,  Senior,  D.D.,  Waddeson,  afterward 

Margaret  professor,  Oxon. 
**  Mr.  Heniy  Wilkinson,  Junior,  B.D.,  St.  Dunstan's. 
**  Mr.  Thomas  Wilson,  Otham. 

*  Thomas  Wincop,  D.D.,  Elesvporth. 

**  John  Wincop,  D.D.,  St.  Martin's  in  the  Fields. 

**  Mr.  Francis  Woodcock,  proctor  of  the  Unirersity  of 

Cambridge. 
**  Mr.  Thomas  Young,  Stow  Market. 

Ministers  from  Scotland. 

**  Mr,  Alexander  Henderson. 
**  Mr,  George  Gillespie, 
**  Mr.  Samuel  Rutherford. 
**  Mr.  Robert  Bayly. 

Before  the  Assembly  sat,  the  king,  by  his  roy- 
al proclamation  of  June  22,  forbade  their  meet- 
ing for  the  purposes  therein  mentioned,  and 
declared  that  no  act  done  by  them  ought  to  be 
received  by  his  subjects  :  he  also  threatened  to 
proceed  against  them  with  the  utmost  severity 
of  the  law;*  nevertheless,  sixty-nine  assem- 
bled in  King  Henry  the  Seventh's  Chapel  the 
first  day,  according  to  summons,  not  in  their 
canonical  habits,  but  chiefly  in  black  coats  and 
bands,  in  imitation  of  the  foreign  Protestants.t 

*  Dr.  Grey  refers  to  the  25th  of  Henry  VIII.,  cap. 
six.,  or  the  Act  of  Submission  of  the  Clergy,  to  prove 
this  assembly  illegal. — Ed. 

t  The  account  of  the  Assembly's  order  of  proce- 


459 

Few  of  the  Episcopal  divines  appeared,  and 
those  who  did  after  some  time  withdrew,  for 
the  following  reasons  : 


dure,  given  by  Baillie,  is  so  graphic  and  complete, 
that  I  cannot  do  better  than  extract  the  euthe  pas- 
sage. 

"  The  like  of  that  Assembly  I  never  did  see,  and, 
as  we  hear  say,  the  like  was  never  in  England,  nor 
anywhere  is  shortly  like  to  be.  They  did  sit  in 
Henry  the  VII. 's  Chapel,  in  the  place  of  the  Convo- 
cation ;  but,  since  the  weather  grew  cold,  they  did 
go  to  the  Jerusalem  Chamber,  a  fair  room  in  the 
Abbey  of  Westminster,  about  the  size  of  the  college 
front-hall,  but  wider.  At  the  one  end,  nearest  the 
door,  and  along  both  sides,  are  stages  of  seats,  as  in 
the  new  Assembly  House  at  Edinburgh,  but  not  so 
high ;  for  there  will  be  room  but  for  live  or  six  score. 
At  the  uppermost  end  there  is  a  chau-  set  on  a  frame, 
a  foot  from  the  earth,  for  the  Mr.  Prolocutor,  Dr. 
Twisse.  Before  it,  on  the  ground,  stand  two  chairs 
for  the  two  Mr.  Assessors,  Dr.  Burgess  and  Mr. 
White.  Before  these  two  chairs,  through  the  length 
of  the  room,  stands  a  table,  at  which  sit  the  two 
scribes,  Mr.  Byfield  and  Mr.  Roborough.  The 
house  is  well  hung  (with  tapestry),  and  has  a  good 
fire,  which  is  some  dainties  at  London.  Opposite 
the  table,  upon  the  prolocutor's  right  hand,  there  are 
three  or  four  ranks  of  benches.  On  the  lowest  we 
five  do  sit.  Upon  the  other,  at  our  backs,  the  mem- 
bers of  Parliament  deputed  to  the  Assembler.  On 
the  benches  opposite  to  us,  on  the  prolocutor's  left 
hand,  going  from  the  upper  end  of  the  house  to  the 
chimney,  and  at  the  other  end  of  the  house  and  back 
of  the  table,  till  it  come  about  to  our  seats,  are  four 
or  five  stages  of  benches,  upon  which  their  divines 
sit  as  they  please  ;  albeit,  commonly  they  keep  the 
same  place.  From  th6  chiurney  to  the  door  there 
are  no  seats,  but  a  void  space  for  passage.  The 
lords  of  the  Parliament  use  to  sit  on  chairs,  in  that 
void,  about  the  fire.  We  meet  every  day  of  the 
week  but  Saturday.  We  sit  commonly  from  nine 
till  one  or  two  afternoon.  The  prolocutor,  at  the 
beginning  and  end,  has  a  short  prayer.  The  uian, 
as  the  world  knows,  is  very  learned  in  the  questions 
he  has  studied,  and  very  good,  beloved  of  all,  and 
highly  esteemed  ;  but  merely  bookish,  not  much,  as 
it  seems,  acquainted  with  conceived  prayer,  and 
among  the  unfittest  of  all  the  company  for  any  ac- 
tion ;  so  after  the  prayer  he  sits  mute.  It  was  the 
canny  conveyance  (skilful  management)  of  those 
who  guide  most  matters  for  their  own  interest,  to 
plant  such  a  man  of  purpose  in  the  chair.  The  one 
assessor,  our  good  friend  Mr.  White,  has  keeped  in 
of  the  gout  since  our  coming ;  the  other.  Dr.  Bur- 
gess, a  very  active  and  sharp  man,  supplies,  so  far 
as  is  decent,  the  prolocutor's  place.  Ordinarily 
there  will  be  present  above  threescore  of  their  di- 
vines. These  are  divided  into  three  committees,  in 
one  of  which  every  man  is  a  member.  No  man  is 
excluded  who  pleases  to  come  to  any  of  the  three. 
Every  committee,  as  the  Parliament  gives  order  in 
writing  to  take  any  purpose  to  consideration,  takes 
a  portion,  and  in  their  afternoon  meeting  prepares 
matters  for  the  Assembly,  sets  down  their  minds  in 
distinct  propositions,  backing  their  propositions  with 
texts  of  Scripture.  After  the  prayer,  Mr.  Byfield, 
the  scribe,  reads  the  proposition  and  Scriptures, 
whereupon  the  Assembly  debates  in  a  most  grave 
and  orderly  way. 

"  No  man  is  called  up  to  speak  ;  but  whosoever 
stands  up  of  his  own  accord,  speaks  so  long  as  he 
will,  without  interruption.  If  two  or  three  stand  up 
at  once,  then  the  divines  confusedly  call  on  his 
name  whom  they  desire  to  hear  first :  on  whom  the 
loudest  and  maniest  voices  call,  he  speaks.  No  man 
speaks  fo'anybut  to  the  prolocutor.  They  harangue 
long,  and  very  learnedlie.  They  study  the  questions 
well  beforehand,  and  prepare  their  speeches  ;  but 
withal  the  men  are  exceeding  prompt  and  well-spo- 
ken. I  do  marvel  at  the  very  accurate  and  extem- 
poral    rephes    that  many  of  them  usually  make. 


460 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


Obj.  1.  "  Because  the  Assembly  was  prohib- 
ited by  the  royal  proclamation  ;  which  Dr. 
Twisse,  in  his  seimon  at  the  opening  the  As- 
sembly, lamented,  but  hoped  in  due  time  his 
majesty's  consent  might  be  obtained." 

Answ.  To  which  it  was  replied,  "  That  the 
Constitution  at  present  was  dissolved  ; .  that 
there  were  two  sovereign  contending  powers 
in  the  nation,  and  if  the  war  in  which  the  Par- 
liament was  engaged  was  just  and  necessary, 
they  might  assume  this  branch  of  the  prerog- 
ative, till  the  nation  was  settled,  as  well  as  any 
other." 

Obj.  2.  "Because  the  members  of  the  As- 
sembly were  not  chosen  by  the  clergy,  and, 
therefore,  could  not  appear  as  their  representa- 
tives." 

Answ.  To  which  it  was  answered,  "  That 
the  Assembly  was  not  designed  for  a  national 
synod,  or  representative  body  of  the  clergy,  but 
only  as  a  committee,  or  council  to  the  Parlia- 
ment, to  give  their  opinion  touching  such  church 
matters  as  the  houses  should  lay  before  them  ; 
they  had  no  power  of  themselves  to  make  laws 
or  canons,  or  determine  controversies  in  mat- 
ters of  faith.  They  were  to  enter  upon  no  busi- 
ness but  what  the  Parliament  appointed,  and 
when  they  had  done  they  were  to  offer  it  to  the 
two  houses  only  as  their  humble  advice ;  and 
surely  the  Parliament  might  choose  their  own 
council,  without  being  obliged  to  depend  upon 
the  nomination  of  the  clergy." 

Obj.  3.  "  But  as  great  an  exception  as  any 
v^as  their  dislike  of  the  company,  and  of  the 

Wiieu,  upon  every  proposition  by  itself,  and  on  every 
te.xt  of  Scripture  that  is  brought  to  confirm  it,  every 
man  who  will  has  said  his  whole  mind,  and  the  re- 
plies, duplies,  and  triplies  are  heard,  then  the  most 
part  call,  '  To  the  question.'  Byfield,  the  scribe,  ri- 
ses from  the  table,  and  comes  to  the  prolocutor's 
chair,  who,  from  the  scribe's  book,  reads  the  propo- 
sition, and  says,  '  As  many  as  are  of  opinion  that  the 
question  is  well  stated  in  the  proposition,  let  them 
say,  Ay  ;'  when  ay  is  heard,  he  says,  '  As  many  as 
think  otherwise,  say,  No.'  If  the  difference  of 
'  Ays'  and  '  Nos'  be  clear,  as  usually  it  is,  then  the 
question  is  ordered  by  the  scribes,  and  they  go  on  to 
debate  the  first  Scripture  alleged  for  proof  of  the 
proposition.  If  the  sound  of  Ay  and  No  be  near 
equal,  then  says  the  prolocutor,  '  As  many  as  say 
Ay,  stand  up  ;'  while  they  stand,  the  scribe  and 
others  number  them  in  their  minds  ;  when  they  sit 
down,  the  Nos  are  bidden  stand,  and  they  likewise 
are  numbered.  This  way  is  clear  enough,  and  saves 
a  great  deal  of  time,  which  we  spend  in  reading  our 
catalogue.  When  a  question  is  once  ordered,  there 
is  no  more  debate  of  that  matter  ;  but  if  a  man  will 
wander  from  the  subject,  he  is  quickly  taken  up  by 
Mr.  Assessor,  or  many  others,  confusedly  crying, 
'  Speak  to  order,  to  order.'  No  man  contradicts  an- 
other expressly  by  name,  but  most  discreetly  speaks 
to  the  prolocutor,  and,  at  most,  holds  to  general 
terms :  '  The  reverend  brother  who  lately,  or  last, 
spoke,  on  this  hand,  on  that  side,  above,  or  below.' 
I  thought  meet,  once  for  all,  to  give  you  a  taste  of 
the  outward  form  of  their  Assembly.  They  follow 
the  way  of  their  Parliament.  Much  of  their  way  is 
good,  and  worthy  of  our  imitation  ;  only  their  long- 
somoness  is  woful  at  this  time,  when  their  Church 
and  kingdom  lie  under  a  most  lamentable  anarchy 
and  confusion.  They  see  the  hurt  of  their  length, 
but  cannot  get  it  helped  ;  for  being  to  establish  a  new 
platform  of  worship  and  discipline  to  their  nation 
for  all  time  to  come,  they  think  they  cannot  be  an- 
swerable, if  solidly,  and  at  leisure,  they  do  not  ex- 
amine every  point  ihereoV—Baillie,  vol.  ii.,  p.  108, 
109.— C 


business  which  they  had  to  transact ;  there 
was  a  mixture  of  laity  with  the  clergy  ;  the 
divines  were,  for  the  most  part,  of  a  Puritanical 
stamp,  and  enemies  to  the  hierarchy  ;  and  their 
business  (they  apprehended)  was  to  pull  down 
that  which  they  would  uphold." 

Answ.  "  This  being  not  designed  for  a  legal 
convocation,  but  for  a  council  to  the  Parliament 
in  the  reformation  of  the  Church,  they  appre- 
hended they  had  a  power  to  join  some  of  their 
own  members  with  such  a  committee  or  coun- 
cil, without  intrenching  upon  the  rights  of  con- 
vocation. The  divines,  except  the  Scots  and 
French,  were  in  Episcopal  orders,  educated  in 
our  own  universities,  and  most  of  them  gradu- 
ates ;  their  business  was  only  to  advise  about 
such  points  of  doctrine  and  church  discipline  as 
should  be  laid  before  them,  in  which  the  Epis- 
copal divines  might  have  been  of  service,  if 
they  had  continued  with  the  Assembly,  to  which 
they  were  most  earnestly  invited." 

I  believe  no  set  of  clergy,  since  the  begin- 
ning of  Christianity,  have  suffered  so  much  in 
their  characters  and  reputations*  as  these,  for 
their  advices  to  the  two  houses  of  Parliament. 
In  his  majesty's  proclamation  of  June  22,  the 
far  greater  part  of  them  are  said  to  be  men  of 
no  learning  or  reputation.  Lord  Clarendon  ad- 
mitst  "  about  twenty  of  them  were  reverend 
and  worthy  persons,  and  episcopal  in  their 
judgments  ;  but  as  to  the  remainder,  they  were 
but  pretenders  to  divinity;  some' were  infa- 
mous in  their  lives  and  conversations,  and  most 
of  them  of  very  mean  parts  and  learning,  if  not 
of  scandalous  ignorance,  and  of  no  other  repu- 
tation than  of  malice  to  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land." His  lordship  would  insinuate  that  they 
understood  not  the  original  text,  because  the 
learned  Mr.  Selden  sometimes  corrected  the 
English  translation  of  their  little  pocket  Bibles, 
and  put  them  into  confusion  by  his  uncommon 
acquaintance  with  Jewish  antiquities ;  as  if  that 
great  man  would  have  treated  a  convocation 
with  more  decency  and  respect. t     But  Arch- 


*  '•  And  no  set  of  clergy,"  says  Dr.  Grey,  "  ever 
deserved  it  more ;"  and  to  show  this,  he  quotes  a 
virulent  invective  again'st  them  by  Gregory  Williams, 
bishop  of  Ossory.  "  You  may  judge  of  them  by  their 
compeers,  Goodwin,  Burroughs,  Arrowsmith,  and 
the  rest  of  their  ignorant,  factious,  and  schismatical 
ministers,  that,  together  with  those  intruding  mechan- 
ics (who,  without  any  calling  from  God  or  mah,  do 
step  from  their  butcher's  board,  or  horse's  stable, 
into  the  preacher's  pulpit),  are  the  bellows  which 
blow  up  this  fire,  that  threatened  the  destruction  of 
our  land  ;  like  Sheba's  trumpet,  to  summon  the  peo- 
ple to  rebellion,  and  like  the  dragon  in  the  Revela- 
tions, which  gave  them  all  his  poison,  and  made 
them  eloquent  to  disgorge  their  malice,  and  cast  forth 
floods  of  slander  after  those  that  keep  loyally  to  their 
sovereign,  belch  forth  their  unsavory  reproaches 
against  those  that  discovered  their  affected  igno- 
rance and  seditious  wickedness  in  defence  of  truth." 
—  Grey's  Exam,  of  Neal,  vol.  ii.,  p.  91. — C. 

t  Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  p.  530. 

t  Bishop  Warburton  has  no  doubt  but  Mr.  Sel- 
den would  have  treated  a  convocation  with  more  de- 
cency and  respect.  For  his  lordship  adds,  "he  had 
infinitely  more  esteem  for  the  learning  of  the  Episco- 
pal clergy,  though,  perhaps,  no  more  love  for  their 
persons."  In  what  estimation  Mr.  Selden  held  the 
learning  of  the  Episcopal  clergy,  has  been  shown  vol. 
u.,  p.  128,  note.  With  what  respect  he  was  likely  to 
speak  of  a  convocation,  the  reader  will  judge  from 
the  following  passage  in  his  Table  Talk,  p.  37,  in 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


bishop  Laud's  account  is  still  more  extrava- 
gant, for  though  it  is  notorious  the  Assembly 
would  not  allow  a  toleration  to  those  whom  they 
called  sectaries,  yet  his  grace  says,  "  The  great- 
est part  of  them  were  Brownists  or  Independ- 
ents, or  New-England  ministers,  if  not  worse, 
or,  ,at  best,  enemies  to  the  doctrine  and  disci- 
phne  of  the  Church  of  England;"  whereas,  in 
truth,  there  was  not  above  six  Independents  in 
the  Assembly,  and  not  one  New-England  minis- 
ter that  I  know  of.  If  the  reader  will  carefully 
peruse  the  list,  he  will  find  in  it  some 'of  the 
most  considerable  lawyers  and  ablest  divines 
of  the  last  age  ;  and  though  they  might  have 
mistaken  notions  of  church  discipline,  and  were 
no  better  acquainted  with  the  rights  of  con- 
science and  private  judgment  than  their  prede- 
cessors the  bishops,  yet,  with  all  their  faults, 
impartial  posterity  must  acknowledge  the  far 
greater  number  were  men  of  exemplary  piety 
and  devotion,  who  had  a  real  zeal  for  the  glory 
of  God  and  the  purity  of  the  Christian  faith 
and  practice.  Mr.  Echard  confesses  that  Lord 
Clarendon  had,  perhaps,  with  too  much  sever- 
ity, said  that  some  of  these  divines  were  infa- 
mous in  their  lives  and  characters  ;  but  Mr. 
Baxter,  who  was  better  acquainted  with  them 
than  his  lordship  or  any  of  his  followers,  af- 
firms "  that  they  were  men  of  eminent  learning, 
godliness,  ministerial  abilities,  and  fidelity."* 

the  edition  of  1777,  under  the  word  Clergy :  '•  The 
clergy  and  laity  together  are,"  says  he,  "  never  like 
to  do  well ;  it  is  as  if  a  man  were  to  make  an  excel- 
lent feast,  and  should  have  his  apothecary  and  his 
physician  come  into  the  kitchen  :  the  cooks,  if  they 
were  let  alone,  would  make  excellent  meat,  but  then 
comes  the  apothecary,  and  he  puts  rhubarb  into  one 
sauce,  and  agaric  into  another  sauce.  Chain  up  the 
clergy  on  both  sides."  That  he  had  no  high  opinion 
of  the  power  and  authority  of  a  convocation,  may  be 
concluded  from  his  comparing  it  to  "a  court  leet, 
where  they  have  a  power  to  make  by-laws,  as  they 
call  them  ;  as  that  a  man  shall  put  so  many  cows  or 
sheep  in  the  common ;  but  they  can  make  nothing 
that  is  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  kingdom." — Un- 
der the  word  Convocation,  p.  45. — Ed. 

*  "  This  synod,"  he  says,  "  was  not  a  convocation 
according  to  the  diocesan  way  of  government,  nor 
was  it  called  by  the  votes  of  the  mmisters,  accord- 
ing to  the  Presbyterian  way  ;  but  the  Parliament, 
not  intending  to  call  an  assembly  which  should  pre- 
tend a  Divine  right  to  make  obliging  laws  or  canons 
to  bind  their  brethren,  but  an  ecclesiastical  council, 
to  be  advisers  to  themselves,  did  think  that  they  best 
knew  who  were  the  fittest  to  give  them  advice,  and, 
therefore,  chose  them  all  themselves.  Two  were  to 
be  chosen  out  of  each  county ;  but  some  few  coun- 
ties (I  know  not  upon  what  reason)  had  but  one. 
*  *  *  And  because  they  would  seem  impartial,  and 
have  each  party  to  have  liberty  to  speak,  they,  over 
and  above  the  number,  chose  many  Episcopal  divines, 
even  the  learnedest  of  them  in  the  land,  as  Arch- 
bishop Usher,  primate  of  Ireland,  Dr.  Holdsworth, 
Dr.  Hammond,  Dr.  Wincop,  Bishop  Westford,  Bish- 
op Prideaux,  and  many  more.  But  they  would  not 
come,  because  it  was  not  a  legal  convocation,  and 
because  the  king  declared  himself  against  it ;  Dr. 
Van  Fealty,  and  very  few  more  of  that  party,  came 
(but  at  last  he  was  charged  with  sending  intelligence 
to  the  king's  quarters,  at  Oxford,  of  what  was  done 
in  the  synod  and  Parliament,  and  was  imprisoned, 
which  much  reflected  on  the  Parliament,  because, 
whatever  his  facts  were,  he  was  so  learned  a  man 
as  was  sufficient  to  dishonour  those  he  suffered  by). 
The  prolocutor,  or  moderator,  was  Dr.  William 
Twisse  (a  man  very  famous  for  his  scholastic  wit 
and  writings,  in  a  very  smooth,  triumphant  style) ; 


461 

The  Assembly  was  opened  on  Saturday,  July 
1,  1643,  with  a  sermon  preached  by  Dr.  Tiwsse 

the  divines  there  congregated  were  men  of  eminent 
learning,  and  godliness,  and  ministerial  abilities,  and 
fidelity,  and  being  not  worthy  to  be  one  of  them  my- 
self, 1  may  the  more  freely  speak  that  truth  which  I 
know,  even  in  the  face  of  malice  and  envy,  that,  as 
far  as  I  am  able  to  judge  by  the  information  of  all 
history  of  that  kind,  and  by  any  other  evidences  left 
us,  the  Christian  world,  since  the  days  of  the  apos- 
tles, had  never  a  synod  of  more  excellent  divines 
(taking  one  thing  with  another)  than  this  synod  and 
the  Synod  of  Dort  were.  *  *  * 

''  For  my  own  part,  as  highly  as  I  honour  the  men, 
I  am  not  of  their  mind  in  every  point  of  the  govern 
ment  which  they  would  have  set  up  ;  and  some 
words  in  their  catechism  I  could  wish  had  been  more 
clear ;  and,  above  all,  I  could  wish  that  the  Parlia 
ment,  and  their  more  skilful  hand,  had  done  more 
than  was  done  to  heal  our  breaches,  and  had  hit  upon 
the  right  way  either  to  unite  with  the  Episcopal  and 
Independents  (which  was  possible,  as  distant  as  they 
are),  or,  at  least,  had  pitched  on  the  terms  that  are 
fit  for  universal  concord,  and  left  all  to  come  in  upon 
those  terms  that  would.  But,  for  all  this  dissent,  I 
must  testify  my  love  and  honour  to  the  persons  of 
such  great  sincerity  and  eminent  ministerial  suffi 
ciency  as  were  Gataker,  Vines,  Burgess,  White,  and 
the  greater  part  of  that  Assembly." — Sylvester's  Box 
ter,  part  i.,  p.  73. 

"  I  disliked,"  says  the  honest  Puritan,  "the  course 
of  some  of  the  more  rigid  of  them  that  drew  too  neai 
the  way  of  prelacy,  by  grasping  at  a  kind  of  secular 
power ;  not  using  it  themselves,  but  binding  the  ma- 
gistrates to  confiscate  or  imprison  men,  merely  be- 
cause they  were  excommunicated,  and  so  corrupting 
the  true  disciphne  of  the  Church,  and  turning  the 
communion  of  saints  into  the  communion  of  the  mul 
titude,  that  must  keep  in  the  Church  against  theh 
wills,  for  fear  of  being  undone  in  the  world ;  when, 
as  a  man,  whose  conscience  cannot  feel  a  just  ex- 
communication unless  it  be  backed  with  confiscation 
or  imprisonment,  is  no  fitter  to  be  a  member  of  a 
Christian  Church  in  the  communion  of  saints,  than 
a  corpse  is  to  be  a  member  of  a  corporation.  It's 
true,  they  claim  not  this  power  as  jure  diviuo  (though 
some  say  that  the  magistrate  is  bound  to  execute 
these  penalties  on  men,  merely  as  excommunicate), 
nor  no  more  do  the  prelates,  when  yet  the  writ  de  ex- 
communicato capiendo  is  the  life  of  all  their  censures. 
But  both  parties  too  much  debase  the  magistrate,  by 
making  him  their  mere  executioner ;  whereas  he  is  the 
judge  wherever  he  is  the  executioner,  and  is  to  try 
each  cause  at  his  own  bar  before  he  be  obliged  to 
punish  any;  and  they  corrupt  the  discipline  of  Christ 
by  mixing  it  with  secular  force,  and  they  reproach 
the  keys,  or  ministerial  power,  as  if  it  were  a  leaden 
sword,  and  not  worth  a  straw,  unless  the  magis- 
trate's sword  enforce  it  (and  what,  then,  did  the  prrni- 
itive  Church  for  three  hundred  years  '.).  And,  worst 
of  all,  they  corrupt  the  Church  by  forcing  in  the  rab- 
ble of  the  unfit  and  unwilling,  and  thereby  tempt 
many  godly  Christians  to  schisms  and  dangerous 
separations. 

"  In  all  this  I  deny  not  but  that  the  magistrate  must 
restrain  all  sorts  of  vice  ;  but  not  as  a  hangman  only, 
that  executeth  the  judgment  of  another,  nor  eo  nomi- 
ne, to  punish  a  man  because  he  is  excommunicate 
(that  is  most  heavily  punished  already  by  others), 
till  magistrates  keep  the  sword  themselves,  and  learn 
to  deny  it  to  every  angry  clergyman  that  would  do 
his  own  work  by  it,  and  leave  them  to  their  own 
weapons,  the  Word  and  spiritual  keys;  valeant  quan- 
tum valere  posstint,  the  Church  shall  never  have  unity 
and  peace." — Sylvester's  Baxter,  part  ii.,  p.  142. 

Dr.  Price  remarks  that,  "  Happily  for  the  interests 
of  religion,  there  was  another  party  in  the  Assembly, 
the  members  of  which  added  to  the  personal  virtues 
and  ministerial  diligence  of  the  Presbyterians,  more 
expansive  views  and  a  more  liberal  creed.  They 
were  known  by  the  name  of  Independents,  and  had 


462 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


in  King  Henry  VH.'s  Chapel,  both  houses  of 
Parliament  being  present.  The  ordinance  for 
their  convention  was  then  read,  and  the  names 
of  the  members  called  over,  after  which  they 
adjourned  to  Monday,  and  agreed  on  the  follow- 
ing rules : 

(1.)  "  That  every  session  begin  and  end  with 
a  prayer. 

(2.)  "That  after  the  first  prayer,  the  names 
of  the  Assembly  be  called  over,  and  those  that 
are  absent  marked  ;  but  if  any  member  comes 
in  afterward,  he  shall  have  liberty  to  give  in  his 
name  to  the  scribes. 

(3.;  "That  every  member,  before  his  admis- 

for  some  time  a  very  arduous  and  perplexing  duty  to 
perform.  Their  numbers  were  at  first  so  limited  as 
to  present  but  little  ground  to  hope  that  they  would 
be  able  successfully  to  resist  the  scheme  of  the 
Presbyterians  ;  but  what  they  wanted  in  numerical 
strength  was  supplied  by  the  consummate  skill  and 
first-rate  ability  of  their  leaders.  They  were  distin- 
guished from  the  Presbyterians  by  maintaining  the 
absolute  independence  of  each  church,  so  far  as  ju- 
risdiction and  discipline  are  concerned,  and  by  deny- 
ing the  communication  of  spiritual  power  in  ordina- 
tion. They  not  only  rejected  the  jus  divinum  of  prel- 
acy, but  discarded,  as  equally  papistical,  the  theory 
which  vested  ecclesiastical  authbrity  in  the  synodi- 
cal  meetings  of  church  oflScers.  The  number  of  In- 
dependent ministers  in  the  Assembly  did  not  exceed 
ten  or  twelve,  of  whom  Goodwin,  Nye,  Burroughs, 
Simpson,  and  Bridges  were  the  chief  These  men 
■had  been  trained  amid  the  privations  of  exile,  and 
their  characters  had  hence  assumed  a  firmness  and 
determination,  which  qualified  them  fearlessly  to  re- 
sist the  now  dominant  Presbyterians.  During  the 
supremacy  of  Laud,  they  had  sought  refuge  in  Hol- 
land, where  their  minds  were  braced  and  their  scrip- 
tural views  confirmed.  It  was  not,  therefore,  to  be 
expected  that,  in  returning  to  their  native  country, 
they  would  acquiesce  in  the  tyranny  of  those  breth- 
ren who  had  contrived  to  escape  the  vigilant  and  re- 
morseless usurpations  of  that  primate.  They  con- 
sequently demanded  for  themselves  and  others  the 
right  of  private  judgment,  and  of  unrestricted  liberty 
of  worship.  They  were  the  honest  and  consistent 
expounders  of  the  principles  of  religious  liberty,  when 
a  large  body  of  the  Puritans  showed  themselves  to 
be  unworthy  of  their  high  vocation.  The  reasonings 
of  the  Independents  were  broader  and  more  compre- 
hensive than  those  of  their  predecessors.  They 
were  founded  on  the  acknowledged  principles  of  hu- 
man nature,  and  were  equally  applicable  to  all  the 
diversified  cases  which  could  arise.  Abandoning  the 
partial  and  unsatisfactory  ground  which  had  been 
taken  by  the  Puritans,  they  intrenched  themselves 
behind  the  nature  of  man  and  the  character  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  would  enter  into  no  compromise  which 
endangered  the  highest  and  best  interests  of  the  hu- 
man  family.  They  became,  in  consequence,  the  ral- 
lying-point  of  the  minor  sects,  whom  the  Presbyteri- 
ans sought  to  repress.  Against  many  of  their  dog- 
mas they  protested  as  strongly  as  the  more  power- 
ful party  ;  but  for  their  right  to  form  and  propagate 
their  opinions,  they  honestly  contended.  Hence 
their  claims  on  the  gratitude  and  admiration  of  pos- 
terity. The  principles  for  which  Locke  and  suc- 
ceedmg  philosophers  triumphantly  pleaded  were 
brought  forth  to  public  view,  and  instilled  into  the 
national  mind  by  the  despised  sectaries  of  the  West- 
minster Assembly." 

For  the  other  side  of  this  subject  at  large,  I  refer 
the  reader  to  Wetherington's  History  of  the  West- 
minster Assembly,  where  he  will  find  the  cause  of 
the  Presbyterian  party  zealously  advocated.  1  have, 
in  loco,  quoted  bis  representation  of  tlie  characters 
of  the  four  Scotch  commissioners,  and  if  that  volume 
had  not  been  reprinted  at  a  cheap  price,  would  very 
cheerfully  insert  his  entire  view  of  the  subject.— C. 


sion  to  sit  and  vote,  do  take  the  following  vow 
or  protestation : 

"  I,  A.  B.,  do  seriously  and  solemnly,  in  the 
presence  of  Almighty  God,  declare  that,  in  this 
Assembly  whereof  I  am  a  member,  I  will  not 
maintain  anything  in  matter  of  doctrine  but 
what  I  believe  in  my  conscience  to  be  most 
agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God  ;  or  in  point  of 
discipline,  but  what  I  shall  conceive  to  conduce 
most  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  good  and 
peace  of  his  Church." 

And,*to  refresh  their  memories,  this  protesta- 
tion was  read  in  the  Assembly  every  Monday 
morning. 

(4.)  "That  the  appointed  hour  of  meeting  be 
ten  in  the  morning;  the  afternoon  to  be  re- 
served for  committees. 

(5.)  "  That  three  of  the  members  of  the  As- 
sembly be  appointed  weekly  as  chaplains  ;  one 
to  the  House  of  Lords,  another  to  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  a  third  to  the  committee  of  both 
kingdoms.  The  usual  method  was  to  take  it 
by  turns,  and  every  Friday  the  chaplains  were 
appointed  for  the  following  week. 

(6.)  "  That  all  the  members  of  the  Assembly 
have  liberty  to  be  covered,  except  the  scribes," 
who  some  time  after  had  also  this  liberty  in- 
dulged them. 

Besides  these,  the  Parliament,  on  the  Thurs- 
day following,  sent  them  some  farther  regula- 
tions.    As, 

(I.)  "That  two  assessors  be  appointed  with 
the  prolocutor,  to  supply  his  place  in  case  of 
absence  or  sickness,  viz..  Dr.  Cornelius  Burges, 
and  the  Rev.  Mr.  John  White,  of  Dorchester. 

(2.)  "  That  scribes  be  appointed,  who  are  not 
to  vote  in  the  Assembly,  viz.,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Ro- 
borough  and  Mr.  Byfield.' 

(3.)  "That  every  member,  on  his  first  en- 
trance into  the  Assembly,  take  the  fore-men- 
tioned protestation. 

(4.)  "  That  no  resolution  be  given  upon  any 
question  the  same  day  wherein  it  was  first  pro- 
posed. 

(5.)  "  What  any  man  undertakes  to  prove  as 
a  necessary  truth  in  religion,  he  shall  make 
good  from  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

(6.)  "No  man  shall  proceed  in  any  dispute 
after  the  prolocutor  has  enjoined  him  silence, 
unless  the  Assembly  desire  he  may  go  on. 

(7.)  "  No  man  shall  be  denied  the  liberty  of 
entering  his  dissent  from  the  Assembly,  with 
his  reasons  for  it,  after  the  point  has  been  de- 
bated ;  from  whence  it  shall  be  transmitted  to 
Parliament,  when  either  house  shall  require  it. 

(8.)  "  All  things  agreed  upon  and  prepared 
for  the  Parliament  shall  be  openly  read,  and 
allowed  in  the  Assembly,  and  then  offered  as 
their  judgment,  if  the  majority  assent ;  provi- 
ded that  the  opinions  of  the  persons  dissenting, 
with  their  reasons,  be  annexed,  if  they  desire 
it,  and  the  solution  of  those  reasons  by  the  As- 
sembly." 

The  proceedings  being  thus  settled,  the  Par- 
liament sent  the  Assembly  an  order  to  review 
the  Thirty-nine  Articles  of  the  Church  ;  but  be- 
fore they  entered  upon  business,  viz.,  July  7, 
they  petitioned  the  two  houses  for  a  fast,  on  a  . 
day  when  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bowles  and  Matthew 
Newcomen  preached  before  them.  Upon  which 
petition  Bishop  Kennet  passes  the  following  se- 
vere censure  :  "  Impartially  speaking,  it  is  stuff- 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


.463 


ed  with  schism,  sedition,  and  cruelty."  I  will, 
therefore,  set  the  substance  of  the  petition  be- 
fore the  reader  in  their  own  language,  that  he 
may  form  his  own  judgment  upon  it,  and  upon 
the  state  of  the  nation. 

"To  the  Right  Honourable  the  Lords  and 
Commons  assembled  in  Parliament :  The  hum- 
ble petition  of  divers  ministers  of  Christ,  in  the 
name  of  themselves,  and  sundry  others,  hum- 
bly showeth, 

"  That  your  petitioners,  upon  serious  consid- 
eration, and  deep  sense  of  God's  heavy  wrath 
lying  upon  us,  and  hanging  over  our  heads,  and 
the  whole  nation,  manifested  particularly  by 
the  two  late  sad  and  unexpected  defeats  of  our 
forces  in  the  north  and  in  the  west,  do  appre- 
hend it  to  be  our  duty,  as  watchmen  for  the 
good  of  the  Church  and  kingdom,  to  present  to 
your  religious  and  prudent  consideration  these 
ensuing  requests,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ, 
your  Lord  and  ours. 

First,  "  That  you  will  be  pleased  to  command 
a  public  and  extraordinary  day  of  humiliation 
this  week,  throughout  the  cities  of  London, 
Westminster,  the  suburbs  of  both,  and  places 
adjacent  within  the  weekly  bills  of  mortality, 
that  every  one  may  bitterly  bewail  his  own 
sins,  and  cry  mightily  to  God,  for  Christ's  sake, 
to  remove  his  wrath,  and  to  heal  the  land  ; 
with  professedly  new  resolution  of  more  full 
performance  of  the  late  covenant,  for  the  amend- 
ment of  our  ways. 

Secondly,  "That  you  would  vouchsafe  in- 
stantly to  take  into  your  most  serious  consid- 
eration how  you  may  more  speedily  set  up 
Christ  more  gloriously  in  all  his  ordinances 
within  this  kingdom,  and  reform  all  things 
amiss  throughout  the  land,  wherein  God  is 
more  specially  and  more  immediately  dishon- 
oured, among  which  we  humbly  lay  before  you 
these  particulars  : 

1.  "That  the  brutish  ignorance  and  palpable 
darkness  possessing  the  greatest  part  of  the 
people  in  all  places  of  the  kingdom  may  be 
remedied,  by  a  speedy  and  strict  charge  to  all 
ministers  constantly  to  catechise  all  the  youth 
and  ignorant  people  within  their  parishes. 

2.  "  That^he  grievous  and  heinous  pollution 
of  the  Lord's  Supper,  by  those  who  are  grossly 
ignorant  and  notoriously  profane,  may  be  hence- 
forth, with  all  Christian  care  and  due  circum- 
spection, prevented. 

3.  "That  the  bold  venting  of  corrupt  doc- 
trines, directly  contrary  to  the  sacred  law  of 
God,  may  be  speedily  suppressed. 

4.  "  That  the  profanation  of  any  part  of  the 
Lord's  Day,  and  the  days  of  solemn  fasting, 
by  buying,  selling,  working,  sporting,  travel- 
ling, or  neglecting  of  God's  ordinances,  may  be 
remedied,  by  appointing  special  officers  in  eve- 
ry place  for  the  due  execution  of  all  good  laws 
and  ordinances  against  the  same. 

5.  "  That  there  may  be  a  thorough  and  speedy 
proceeding  against  blind  guides  and  scandalous 
ministers  ;  and  that  your  wisdom  would  find 
out  some  way  to  admit  into  the  ministry  such 
godly  and  hopeful  men  as  have  prepared  them- 
selves and  are  willing  thereunto,  without  which 
there  will  suddenly  be  such  a  scarcity  of  able 
and  faithful  ministers,  that  it  will  be  to  little 
purpose  to  cast  out  such  as  are  unable,  idle,  or 
scandalous. 


6.  "  That  the  laws  may  be  quickened  against 
swearing  and  drunkenness,  with  which  the  land 
is  filled  and  defiled,  and  under  which  it  mourns. 

7.  "  That  some  severe  course  be  taken 
against  fornication,  adultery,  and  incest,  which 
do  greatly  abound. 

8.  "That  all  monuments  of  idolatry  and  su- 
perstition, but  more  especially  the  whole  body 
and  practice  of  popery,  may  be  totally  abolished. 

9.  "That  justice  may  be  executed  on  all  de- 
linquents, according  to  your  rehgious  vow  and 
protestation  to  that  purpose. 

10.  "  That  all  possible  means  may  be  used  for 
the  speedy  relief  and  release  of  our  miserable 
and  extremely  distressed  brethren,  who  are 
prisoners  in  Oxford,  York,  and  elsewhere,  whose 
heavy  sufferings  cry  aloud  in  the  ears  of  our 
God  ;  and  it  would  lie  very  heavy  on  the  king- 
dom should  they  miscarry,  suffering  as  they  do 
for  the  cause  of  God. 

"  That  so  God,  who  is  now  by  the  sword 
avenging  the  quarrel  of  his  covenant,  beholding 
your  integrity  and  zeal,  may  turn  from  the 
fierceness  of  his  wrath,  hear  our  prayers,  go 
forth  with  our  armies,  perfect  the  work  of  ref- 
ormation, forgive  our  sins,  and  settle  truth  and 
peace  throughout  the  kingdom. 

"  And  your  petitioners  shall  ever  pray,"  &c.* 

Pursuant  to  this  petition,  Friday,  July  21, t  was 
appointed  for  a  fast,  when  the  Reverend  Mr. 
Hill,  Mr.  Spurstow,  and  Mr.  Vines  preached 
before  both  houses  of  Parliament  and  the  As- 
sembly together  ;  and  the  fast  was  observed 
with  great  solemnity  in  all  the  churches  within 
the  limits  above  mentioned. 

Next  day  a  committee  of  divines  was  appoint- 
ed to  consider  what  amendments  were  proper 
to  be  made  in  the  doctrinal  articles  of  the 
Church  of  England,  and  report  them  to  the  As- 
sembly, who  were  ten  weeks  in  debating  upon 
the  first  fifteen,  before  the  arrival  of  the  Scots 
commissioners  ;  the  design  was  to  render  their 
sense  more  express  and  determinate  in  favour 
of  Calvinism.  It  is  not  necessary  to  trouble 
the  reader  with  the  theological  debates  ;  but 
the  articles,  as  they  were  new-modelled,  being 
rarely  to  be  met  with,  I  have  placed  them  in 
the  Appendix,  with  the  original  articles  of  the 
Church  in  opposite  columns,  that  the  reader,  by 
comparing  them,  may  judge  whether  the  alter- 
ations are  real  improvements. t 

As  the  Assembly  were  for  strengthening  the 
doctrines  of  the  Church  against  Arminianism, 
they  were  equally  solicitous  to  guard  against 
the  opposite  extreme  of  Antinomianism,  for 
which  purpose  they  appointed  a  committee  to 
peruse  the  writings  of  Dr.  Crisp,  Eaton,  Salt- 
marsh,  and  others ;  who,  having  drawn  out  some 
of  their  most  dangerous  positions,  reported 
them  to  the  Assembly,  where  they  were  not 
only  condemned,  but  confuted  in  their  public 
sermons  and  writings. 

At  this  time  the  interest  of  the  Parliament 
was  so  reduced,  they  were  obliged  to  call  in  the 
assistance  of  the  Scots.  The  conservators  of 
the  peace  of  that  kingdom  had  appointe-V  a  con- 
vention of  the  states  June  22,  under  pretence 
of  securing  their  country  against  the  power  gf 

*  Rushworth,  vol.  v.,  p.  344. 
t  "  July  7,"  Dr.  Grey  says,  "  was  the  day  on  which 
Mr.  Bowles  and  Newcomen  preached." — Ed. 
X  Appendix,  No.  7. 


464 


HISTORY  OF  THE    PURITANS. 


the  royal  army  in  the  north,*  and  a  general  as- 
sembly, August  2,  to  consider  the  state  of  reli- 
gion. His  majesty  would  have  prevented  their 
meeting,  but  that  being  impracticable,  he  gave 
orders  to  limit  their  consultations  to  the  con- 
cerns of  their  ovi^n  country  >  but  the  Parliament 
of  England  sent  the  Earl  of  Rutland,  Sir  Will- 
iam Armyn,  Sir  H.  Vane,  Mr.  Hatcher,  Mr. 
Darley,  and  two  divines  from  Westminster, 
viz.,  Mr.  Marshal  and  Mr.  Nye,  with  letters  to 
each  of  these  assemblies,  desiring  their  assist- 
ance in  the  war,  and  the  assistance  of  some  of 
their  divines  with  those  at  Westminster,  to  set- 
tle a  uniformity  of  religion  and  church  govern- 
ment between  the  two  nations.  To  enforce 
these  requests,  they  delivered  a  letter  from  the 
Assembly,  "  setting  forth  the  deplorable  condi- 
tion of  the  kingdom  of  England,  which  was  upon 
the  edge  of  a  most  desperate  precipice,  ready 
to  be  swallowed  up  by  Satan  and  his  instru- 
ments. They  represent  the  cruelty  of  their 
enemies  against  such  as  fall  into  their  hands, 
being  armed  against  them  not  only  as  men,  but 
as  Christians,  as  Protestants,  and  as  reformers, 
and  that  if  they  should  be  given  up  to  their 
rage,  they  fear  it  wdl  endanger  the  safety  of  all 
the  Protestant  churches.  In  a  deeper  sense  of 
this  danger,"  say  they,  "  than  we  can  express, 
"we  address  you  in  the  bowels  of  Christ  for  your 
most  fervent  prayers  and  advice,  what  farther 
to  do  for  the  making  our  own  and  the  king- 
dom's peace  with  God,  and  for  the  uniting  the 
Protestant  party  more  firmly,  that  we  may  all 
serve  God  with  one  consent,  and  stand  up 
against  antichrist  as  one  man.'"t 

The  commissioners  arrived  at  Edinburgh  Au- 
gust 9,  and  were  favourably  received  by  the 
Assembly,  who  proposed,  as  a  preliminary,  that 
the  two  nations  should  enter  into  a  perpetual 
covenant  for  themselves  and  their  posterity, 
that  all  things  might  be  done  in  God's  house 
according  to  his  will ;  and  having  appointed 
some  of  their  number  to  consult  with  the  Eng- 
lish commissioners  about  a  proper  form,  they 
chose  delegates  for  the  Westminster  Assembly, 
and  unanimously  advised  the  convention  of 
states  to  assist  the  Parliament  in  the  war,  for 
the  following  reasons : 

1.  "  Because  they  apprehend  the  war  was  for 
religion.  2.  Because  the  Protestant  faith  was 
in  danger.  3.  Gratitude  for  former  assistances 
at  the  time  of  the  Scots  reformation  required  a 
suitable  return.  4.  Because  the  Churches  of 
Scotland  and  England  being  embarked  in  one 
bottom,  if  one  be  ruined  the  other  cannot  sub- 
sist. 5.  The  prospect  of  uniformity  between 
the  two  kingdoms  in  discipline  and  worship 
will  strengthen  the  Protestant  interest  at  home 
and  abroad.  6.  The  present  Parliament  had 
been  friendly  to  the  Scots,  and  might  be  so 
again.  7.  Though  the  king  had  so  lately  estab- 
lished their  religion  according  to  their  desires, 
yet  they  could  not  confide  in  his  royal  declara- 
tions, having  so  often  found  facta  verbis  con- 
trariaVX 

*  Yet  these  conservators  issued  out,  in  the  king's 
name,  a  proclamation  for  all  persons  from  sixteen  to 
sixty  years  old  to  appear  in  arms.  "  At  which,"  says 
Rushworth,  "the  king  was  much  incensed." — Dr. 
Grey.  Who  will  not  own  that  he  had  great  reason 
to  resent  his  name  being  used  against  himself? — Ed. 
t  Rushworth,  vol.  v.,  p.  463,  466,  469. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  472,  &c. 


I  The  instructions  of  the  commissioners  sent 
'  to  the  Assembly  at  Westminster  were,  to  pro- 
mote the  extirpation  of  popery,  prelacy,  heresy, 
schism,  skepticism,  and  idolatry,  and  to  en- 
deavour a  union  between  the  two  kingdoms  in 
one  confession  of  faith,  one  form  of  church  gov- 
ernment, and  one  directory  of  worship. 

The  committee  for  drawing  up  the  solemn 
League  and  Covenant  delivered  it  into  the  As- 
sembly August  17,  where  it  was  read  and  high- 
ly applauded  by  the  ministers  and  lay-elders, 
none  opposing  it  except  the  king's  commission- 
ers ;  so  that  it  passed  both  the  Assembly  and 
convention  in  one  day,*  and  was  despatched 
next  morning  to  Westminster,  with  a  letter  to  the 
two  houses,  wishing  that  it  might  be  confirmed 
and  solemnly  sworn  and  subscribed  in  both 
kingdoms,  as  the  surest  and  strictest  obligation 
to  make  them  stand  and  fall  together  in  the 
cause  of  religion  and  liberty. 

Mr.  Marshal  and  Nye,  in  the  letter  to  the  As- 
sembly of  August  18,  assure  their  brethren  the 
Scots  clergy  were  entirely  on  the  side  of  the  Par- 
liament in  this  quarrel  against  the  popish  and 
Episcopal  faction;  that  there  were  between 
twenty  and  thirty  of  the  prime  nobility  present 
when  the  Covenant  passed  the  Convention  ;  and 
that  even  the  king's  commissioners  confessed 
that  in  their  private  capacity  they  were  for  it, 
though  as  his  majesty's  commissioners  they 
were  bound  to  oppose  it.  So  that  if  the  English 
Parliament  (say  they)  comply  with  the  form  of 
this  covenant,  we  are  persuaded  the  whole  body 
of  the  Scots  kingdom  will  live  and  die  with 
them,  and  speedily  come  to  their  assistance. 

When  their  commissioners  arrived  at  Lon- 
don, they  presented  the  Covenant  to  the  two 
houses,  who  referred  it  to  the  Assembly  of  Di- 
vines, where  it  met  with  some  little  opposition  : 
Dr.  Featly  declared  hd  durst  not  abjure  prelacy 
absolutely,  because  he  had  sworn  to  obey  his 
bishop  in  all  things  lawful  and  honest,  and, 
therefore,  proposed  to  qualify  the  second  article 
thus  :  "  I  will  endeavour  the  extirpation  of  po- 
pery and  all  antichristian,  tyrannical,  or  inde- 
pendent prelacy ;"  but  it  was  carried  against 
him.  Dr.  Burgess  objected  to  several  articles, 
and  was  not  without  some  difficulty  persuaded 
to  subscribe  after  he  had  been  suspended.  The 
prolocutor,  Mr.  Gataker,  and  many  others,  de- 
clared for  primitive  episcopacy,  or  for  one  sta- 
ted president,  with  his  presbyters,  to  govern  ev- 
ery church ;  and  refused  to  subscribe  till  a  pa- 
renthesis was  inserted,  declaring  what  sort  of 
prelacy  was  to  be  abjured,  viz.,  "  [church  gov- 
ernment by  archbishops,  bishops,  deans  and 
chapters,  archdeacons,  and  all  other  officers 
depending  upon  them]."t  The  Scots,  who  had 
been  introduced  into  the  Assembly  September 
15,  were  for  abjuring  episcopacy  as  simply  un- 


*  "  Wise  observers,"  Bishop  Burnet  adds,  "  won- 
dered to  see  a  matter  of  that  importance  carried 
through  upon  so  little  deliberation  or  debate.  It  was 
thought  strange  to  see  all  their  consciences  of  such 
a  size,  so  exactly  to  agree  as  the  several  wheels 
of  a  clock ;  which  made  all  apprehend  there  was 
some  first  mover  that  directed  all  those  other  mo- 
tions :  this,  by  the  one  party,  was  imputed  to  God's 
extraordinary  providence,  but,  by  others,  to  the  pow- 
er and  policy  of  the  leaders,  and  the  simphcity  and 
fear  of  the  rest." — Memoirs  of  the  Duke  of  Hamilton, 
p.  239.— Ed. 

t  Calamy's  Abridgment,  p.  81. 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS. 


465 


lawful,  but  the  English  divines  were  generally 
against  it. 

Bishop  Burnet  says  our  commissioners  press- 
ed chiefly  for  a  civil  league,  but  the  Scots  would 
have  a  religious  one,  to  which  the  English 
Mere  obliged  to  yield,  taking  care,  at  the  same 
time,  to  leave  a  door  open  for  a  latitude  of  in- 
terpretation.* Sir  Henry  Vane  put  the  word 
"league"  into  the  title,  as  thinking  that  might 
be  broken  sooner  than  a  covenant ;  and  in  the 
first  article  he  inserted  that  general  phrase  of 
reforming  "according  to  the  Word  of  God,"  by 
Which  the  English  thought  themselves  secure 
from  the  inroads  of  presbytery ;  but  the  Scots 
relied  upon  the  next  words,  "  and  according  to 
the  practice  of  the  best  Reformed  churches,"  in 
which  they  were  confident  their  discipline  must 
be  included.  When  Mr.  Colman  read  the  Cove- 
nant before  the  House  of  Lords,  in  order  to 
their  subscribing  it,  he  declared,  that  by  prel- 
acy all  sorts  of  episcopacy  was  not  intended, 
but  only  the  sort  therein  described.  Thus  the 
•wise  men  on  both  sides  endeavoured  to  outwit 
each  other  in  wording  the  articles,  and  with 
these  slight  amendments  the  Covenant  passed 
the  Assembly  and  both  houses  of  Parliament ; 
and  by  an  order,  dated  September  21,  was 
printed  and  published  as  follows  : 

"  A  solemn  League  and  Covenant  for  Reforma- 
tion and  Defence  of  Religion,  the  Honour  and 
Happiness  of  the  King,  and  the  Peace  and  Safety 
of  the  three  Kingdoms  of  England,  Scotland, 
and  Ireland. 

"  We,  noblemen,  barons,  knights,  gentlemen, 
citizens,  burgesses,  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  and 
commons  of  all  sorts,  in  the  kingdoms  of  Eng- 
land, Scotland,  and  Ireland,  by  the  providence 
of  God  living  under  one  king,  and  being  of  one 
reformed  religion,  having  before  our  eyes  the 
glory  of  God,  and  the  advancement  of  the  king- 
dom of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  the 
honour  and  happiness  of  the  king's  majesty, 
and  his  posterity,  and  the  true  public  liberty, 
safety,  and  peace  of  the  kingdoms,  wherein 
every  one's  private  condition  is  included  ;  and 
calling  to  mind  the  treacherous  and  bloody 
plots,  conspiracies,  attempts,  and  practices  of 
the  enemies  of  God  against  the  true  religion, 
and  the  professors  thereof  in  all  places,  espe- 
cially in  these  three  kingdoms,  ever  since  the 
reformation  of  religion  ;  and  how  much  their 
rage,  power,  and  presumption  are  of  late  and 
at  this  time  increased  and  exercised,  whereof 
the  deplorable  estate  of  the  Church  and  king- 
dom of  Ireland,  the  distressed  estate  of  the 
Church  and  kingdom  of  England,  and  the  dan- 
gerous estate  of  the  Church  and  kingdom  of 
Scotland,  are  present  and  public  testimonies  ; 
we  have  (now  at  last),  after  other  means  of  sup- 
plication, remonstrance,  protestations,  and  suf- 
ferings, for  the  preservation  of  our  lives  and 
our  religion  from  utter  ruin  and  destruction, 
according  to  the  commendable  practice  of  these 
kingdoms  in  former  times,  and  the  example  of 
God's  people  in  other  nations,  after  mature  de- 
liberation, resolved  and  determined  to  enter 
into  a  mutual  and  solemn  league  and  covenant, 
wherein  we  all  subscribe,  and  each  one  of  us 
for  himself,  with  our  hands  lifted  up  to  the  most 
high  God,  do  swear, 

»  Duke  of  Hamilton's  Memoirs,  p.  237,  240. 
Vol.  I.— N  n  n 


I. 

"  That  we  shall  sincerely,  really,  and  con- 
stantly, through  the  grace  of  God,  endeavour,  in 
our  several  places  and  callings,  the  preservation 
of  the  Reformed  religion  in  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land, in  doctrine,  worship,  discipline,  and  gov- 
ernment, against  our  common  enemies  ;  the 
reformation  of  religion  in  the  kingdoms  of 
England  and  Ireland,  in  doctrine,  worship,  dis- 
cipline, and  government,  according  to  the  Word 
of  God,  and  the  example  of  the  best  Reformed 
churches  ;  and  we  shall  endeavour  to  bring  the 
Church  of  God  in  the  tliree  kingdoms  to  the 
neare.'5t  conjunction  and  uniformity  in  religion, 
confessing  of  faith,  form  of  church  government, 
directory  for  worship,  and  catechising,  that  we, 
and  our  posterity  after  us,  may,  as  brethren, 
live  in  faith  and  love,  and  the  Lord  may  delight 
to  dwell  in  the  midst  of  us. 

n. 

"  That  we  shall  in  like  manner,  without  re- 
spect of  persons,  endeavour  the  extirpation  of 
popery,  prelacy  (that  is,  church  government  by 
archbishops,  bishops,  their  chancellors  and  com- 
missaries, deans,  deans  and  chapters,  archdea- 
cons, and  all  other  ecclesiastical  officers  de- 
pending on  that  hierarchy),  superstition,  here- 
sy, schism,  profaneness,  and  whatsoever  shall 
be  found  to  be  contrary  to  sound  doctrine  and 
the  power  of  godliness,  lest  we  partake  in  other 
men's  sins,  and  thereby  be  in  danger  to  receive 
of  their  plagues  ;  and  that  the  Lord  may  be 
one,  and  his  name  one,  in  the  three  kingdoms. 

III. 

"We  shall,  Avith  the  same  reality,  sincerity, 
and  constancy,  in  our  several  vocations,  en- 
deavour with  our  estates  and  lives,  mutually  to 
preserve  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  Parlia- 
ments, and  the  liberties  of  the  kingdoms,  and 
to  preserve  the  king's  majesty's  person  and  au- 
thority, in  the  preservation  and  defence  of  the 
true  religion  and  liberties  of  the  kingdoms,  that 
the  world  may  bear  witness  with  our  conscien- 
ces of  our  loyalty,  and  that  we  have  no  thoughts 
or  intentions  to  diminish  his  msjesty's  just 
power  and  greatness. 

IV. 

"  We  shall  also,  with  all  faithfulness,  endeav- 
our the  discovery  of  all  such  as  have  been  or 
shall  be  incendiaries,  malignants,  or  evil  instru- 
ments, by  hindering  the  reformation  of  religion, 
dividing  the  king  from  his  people,  or  one  of  th,e 
kingdoms  from  another,  or  making  any  factions 
or  parties  among  the  people,  contrary  to  the 
league  and  covenant,  that  they  may  be  brought 
to  public  trial,  and  receive  condign  punishment, 
as  the  degree  of  their  offences  shall  require  or 
deserve,  or  the  supreme  judicatories  of  both 
kingdoms  respectively,  or  others  having  power 
from  them  for  that  effect,  shall  judge  convenient. 


"And  whereas  the  happiness  of  a  blessed 
peace  between  these  kingdoms,  denied  in  for- 
mer times  to  our  progenitors,  is,  by  the  good 
providence  of  God,  granted  unto  us,  and  has 
been  lately  concluded  and  settled  by  both  Par- 
liaments, we  shall,  each  one  of  us  according  to 
our  places  and  interests,  endeavour  that  we 


466 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


may  remain  conjoined  in  a  firm  peace  and 
union  to  all  posterity,  and  that  justice  may  be 
done  on  all  the  wilful  opposers  thereof,  in  man- 
ner expressed  in  the  precedent  articles. 

VI. 

"  We  shall  also,  according  to  our  places  and 
callings,  in  this  common  cause  of  religion,  lib- 
erty, and  peace  of  the  kingdom,  assist  and  de- 
fend all  those  that  enter  into  this  league  and 
covenant,  in  the  maintaining  and  pursuing  there- 
of; and  shall  not  sufTer  ourselves,  directly  or  in- 
directly, by  whatsoevercombination,  persuasion, 
or  terror,  to  be  divided  and  withdrawn  from  this 
blessed  union  and  conjunction,  whether  to  make 
defection  to  the  contrary  part,  or  give  ourselves 
to  a  detestable  indifferency  or  neutrality  in  this 
cause,  which  so  much  concerneth  the  glory 
of  God,  the  good  of  the  kingdoms,  and  hon- 
our of  the  king;  but  shall  all  the  days  of  our 
lives  zealously  and  constantly  continue  therein 
against  all  opposition,  and  promote  the  same, 
according  to  our  power,  against  all  lets  and  im- 
pediments whatsoever ;  and  what  we  are  not 
able  ourselves  to  suppress  or  overcome,  we 
shall  reveal  or  make  known,  that  it  may  be 
timely  prevented  or  removed. 

"  And  because  these  kingdoms  are  guilty  of 
many  sins  and  provocations  against  God,  and 
his  son  Jesus  Christ,  as  is  too  manif(§st  by  our 
present  distresses  and  dangers,  the  fruits  there- 
of, we  profess  and  declare,  before  God  and  the 
world,  our  unfeigned  desire  to  be  humbled  for 
our  own  sins,  and  for  the  sins  of  these  king- 
doms ;  especially  that  we  have  not  as  we  ought 
valued  the  inestimable  benefit  of  the  Gospel  ; 
that  we  have  not  laboured  for  the  purity  and 
power  thereof ;  and  that  we  have  not  endeav- 
oured to  receive  Christ  in  our  hearts,  nor  to 
walk  worthy  of  him  in  our  lives,  which  are  the 
cause  of  other  sins  and  transgressions  so  much 
abounding  among  us;  and  our  true  and  unfeign- 
ed purpose,  desire,  and  endeavour,  for  ourselves, 
and  all  others  under  our  charge,  both  in  public 
and  private,  in  all  duties  we  owe  to  God  and 
man,  to  amend  our  lives,  end  each  one  to  go 
before  another  in  the  example  of  a  real  reforma- 
tion, that  the  Lord  may  turn  away  his  wrath 
and  heavy  indignation,  and  establish  these 
churches  and  kingdoms  in  truth  and  peace. 
And  this  covenant  we  make  in  the  presence  of 
Almighty  God,  the  searcher  of  all  hearts,  with 
a  true  intention  to  perform  the  same,  as  we 
shall  answer  at  that  great  day  when  the  secrets 
of  all  hearts  shall  be  disclosed ;  most  humbly 
beseeching  the  Lord  to  strengthen  us  by  his 
Holy  Spirit  for  this  end,  and  to  bless  our  desires 
and  proceedings  with  such  success  as  may  be 
a  deliverance  and  safety  to  his  people,  and  en- 
couragement to  the  Christian  churches,  groan- 
ing under,  or  in  danger  of,  the  yoke  of  the  anti- 
Christian  tyranny,  to  join  with  the  same  or  like 
attestation  and  covenant,  to  the  glory  of  God, 
the  enlargement  of  the  kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  the  peace  and  tranquillity  of  Christian  king- 
doms and  commonwealths."* 

Monday,  September  25,  1643,  was  appointed 
for  subscribing  this  Covenant,  when  both  hous- 
es, with  the  Scots  commissioners  and  Assem- 
bly of  Divines,  being  met  in  the  Church  of  St. 
Margaret's,  Westmmster,  the  Rev.  Mr.  White, 

*  Rushworth,  vol,  v.,  p.  478. 


of  Dorchester,  opened  the  solemnity  with  prayer  ; 
after  him,  Mr.  Henderson  and  Mr.  Nye  spoke  ia 
justification  of  taking  the  Covenant  from  Scrip- 
ture precedents,  and  displayed  the  advantage 
the  Church  had  received  from  such  sacred  com- 
binations.    Mr.  Henderson  spoke  next,*  and  de- 

*  The  four  ScoUish  divines  were,  in  every  respect, 
distinguished  men,  and  would  have  been  so  regarded 
in  any  age  or  country.  Alexander  Henderson  was, 
however,  cheerfully  admitted  to  be,  beyond  compar- 
ison, the  most  eminent.  His  learning  was  extensive 
rather  than  minute,  corresponding  to  the  character 
of  his  mind,  of  which  the  distinguishing  elements 
were  dignity  and  comprehensiveness.  When  called 
to  quit  the  calm  seclusion  of  the  country  parish 
where  ho  had  spent  so  many  years,  and  to  come  to 
the  rescue  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  in  her  hour  of 
need,  he  at  once  proved  himself  able  to  conduct  and 
control  the  complicated  movementsof  an  awakening' 
empire.  Statesmen  sought  his  counsel ;  but,  with, 
equal  propriety  and  disinterestedness,  he  refused  to 
concern  himself  with  anything  beyond  what  belonged 
to  the  Church,  although  the  very  reverse  has  often 
been  asserted  by  his  prelatic  calumniators.  Though 
long  and  incessantly  engaged  in  the  most  stirring- 
events  of  a  remarkably  momentous  period,  his  ac- 
tions, his  writings,  his  speeches,  are  all  character- 
ized by  calmness  and  ease,  without  the  slightest  ap- 
pearance of  heat  or  agitation,  resultmg,  unquestion- 
ably, from  that  aspect  of  character  generally  termed 
greatness  of  mind  but  which  would,  in  him,  be  more 
properly  characterized  by  describing  it  as  a  rare  com- 
bination of  intellectual  power,  moral  dignity,  and 
spiritual  elevation.  It  was  the  condition  of  a  mighty 
mind,  enjoying  the  peace  of  God  which  passeth  un- 
derstanding, a  peace  which  the  world  had  not  given,, 
and  could  not  take  away. 

George  Gillespie  was  one  of  that  peculiar  class  of 
men  who  start,  like  meteors,  into  sudden  splendour, 
shine  with  dazzling  brilliancy,  then  suddenly  set  be- 
hind the  tomb,  leaving  their  compeers  equally  to  ad- 
mire and  to  deplore.  When  but  in  his  twenty-fifth 
year,  he  published  a  book  against  what  he  termed 
the  "  English  Popish  Ceremonies,"  which  Charles 
and  Laud  were  attempting  to  force  upon  the  Church 
of  Scotland.  This  work,  though  the  production  of 
a  youth,  displayed  an  amount  and  accuracy  of  learn- 
ing which  would  have  done  honour  to  any  man  of 
the  most  mature  years  and  scholarship.  In  the  As- 
sembly of  Divines,  though  much  the  youngest  mem- 
ber there,  he  proved  himself  one  of  the  most  able 
and  ready  debaters,  encountering,  not  only  on  equal 
terms,  but  often  with  triumphant  success,  each  with 
his  own  weapons,  the  most  learned,  subtle,  and  pro- 
found of  his  antagonists.  He  must  have  been  no 
common  man  who  was  ready,  on  any  emergency,  to 
meet,  and  frequently  to  foil,  by  their  own  acknowl- 
edgment, such  men  as  Selden,  Lightfoot,  and  Cole- 
man, in  the  Erastian  controversy,  and  Goodwin  and 
Nye  in  their  argument  for  Independency.  But  the 
excessive  activity  of  his  ardent  and  energetic  mind 
wore  out  his  frame  ;  and  he  returned  from  his  labours 
in  the  Westminster  Assembly,  to  see  once  more  the 
Church  and  the  land  of  his  fathers,  and  to  die. 

Samuel  Rutherford  gained,  and  still  holds,  an  ex- 
tensive reputation  by  his  religious  works;  but  he 
was  not  less  eminent,  in  his  own  day,  as  an  acute 
and  able  controversialist.  The  characteristics  of  his 
mind  were  clearness  of  intellect,  warmth  and  ear- 
nestness of  affection,  and  loftiness  and  spirituality  of 
devotional  feeling.  He  could  and  did  write  vigor- 
ously against  the  Independent  system,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  love  and  esteem  the  men  who  held  it. 
In  his  celebrated  work,  "Lex  Rex,"  he  not  only  en 
tered  the  regions  of  constitutional  jurists,  but  even 
produced  a  treatise  unrivalled  yet  as  an  exjiositiou 
of  the  true  principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 
His  "  Religious  Letters"  have  been  long  admired  by 
all  who  could  understand  and  feel  what  true  religion 
is,  though  grovellmg  and  impure  minds  have  striven 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


467 


dared  that  the  States  of  Scotland  had  resolved 
to  assist  the  Parliament  of  England  in  carrying 
on  the  ends  and  designs  of  this  covenant ;  then 
Mr.  Nye  read  it  from  the  pulpit,  with  an  audible 
voice,  article  by  article,  each  person  standing 
uncovered,  with  his  right  hand  lified  up  bare  to 
heaven,  worshipping  the  great  name  of  God, 
and  swearing  to  the  performance  of  it.*  Dr. 
Gouge  concluded  the  solemnity  with  prayer,  after 
which  the  House  of  Commons  went  up  into  the 
chancel,  and  subscribed  their  names  in  one  roll 
of  parchment,  and  the  Assembly  in  another,  in 
both  which  the  Covenant  was  fairly  transcribed. 
Lord's  Day  following  it  was  tendered  to  all  per- 
sons within  the  bills  of  mortality,  being  read  in 
the  several  churches  to  their  congregations,  as 
above. 

October  15,  it  was  taken  by  the  House  of 
Lords,  after  a  sermon  preached  by  Dr.  Temple, 
from  Nehemiah,  x.,  29,  and  an  exhortation  by 
Mr.  Colman.  October  29,  it  was  ordered  by  the 
Committee  of  States  in  Scotland  to  be  sworn  to, 
and  subscribed  all  over  that  kingdom,  on  pen- 
alty of  the  confiscation  of  goods  and  rents,  and 
such  other  punishment  as  his  majesty  and  the 
Parliament  should  inflict  on  the  refusers. t  All 
the  lords  of  the  council  were  summoned  to  sign 
the  Covenant  November  2,  and  those  who  did 
not,  to  appear  again  the  14th  of  the  same  month, 
under  the  severest  penalties,  when  some  of  the 
king's  party,  not  attending,  were  declared  ene- 
mies to  religion,  and  to  their  king  and  country  ; 
November  18,  their  goods  were  ordered  to  be 
seized,  and  their  persons  apprehended  ;  upon 
which  they  fled  into  England.  Such  was  the 
unbounded  zeal  of  that  nation  !  February  2 
following,  the  Covenant  Vvas  ordered  to  be  ta- 
fcen  throughout  the  kingdom  of  England,  by  all 


to  blight  their  reputation  by  dwelling  on  occasional 
'Jbrms  of  expression,  not  necessarily  unseemly  in  the 
homeliness  of  phrase  used  in  familiar  letters,  and 
conveying  nothing  offensive  according  to  the  lan- 
guage of  the  times.  His  powers  of  debate  were  very 
considerable,  being  characterized  by  clearness  of  dis- 
tinction in  stating  his  opinions,  and  a  close,  syllogis- 
tic style  of  reasoning,  both  the  result  of  his  remarka- 
ble precision  of  thought. 

Robert  Baillie,  sowell  known  by  his  "Letters  and 
Journals,"  was  a  man  of  extensive  and  varied  learn- 
ing, both  in  languages  and  in  systematic  theology. 
He  rarely  mingled  in  debate ;  but  his  sagacity  was 
valuable  in  deliberation,  and  his  great  acquirements, 
studious  habits,  and  ready  use  of  his  pen,  rendered 
him  an  important  member  of  such  an  assembly.  The 
singular  ease  and  readiness  of  Baillie  in  composition 
enabled  him  to  maintain  what  seems  like  a  universal 
correspondence ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  present 
in  a  vivid,  picturesque,  and  e.xquisitely  natural  style, 
the  very  form  and  impress  of  the  period  in  which  he 
lived,  and  the  great  events  in  which  he  bore  a  part. 
And  when  it  was  necessary  to  refute  errors  by  ex- 
hibiting them  in  their  real  aspect,  the  vast  reading 
and  retentive  memory  of  Baillie  enabled  him  to  pro- 
duce what  was  needed  with  marvellous  rapidity  and 
correctness.  Scarcely  ever  was  any  man  more  qual- 
ified to  "catch  the  manners  living  as  they  rise," and, 
at  the  same  time,  to  point  out  with  instinctive  saga- 
city what  in  them  was  wrong  and  dangerous. 

Such  were  the  Scottish  commissioners;  and  it 
may  easily  be  believed  that  they  acted  a  very  im- 
portant and  influential  part  in  the  Westminster  As- 
sembly of  Divines. — History  of  the  Westminster  Assem- 
bly of  Divines,  by  Rev.  W.  M.  Hetherington,  p.  125-7. 
— C.  *  Rushworth,  vol.  v.,  p.  475. 

t  Duke  of  Hamilton's  Memoirs,  p.  240. 


persons  above  the  age  of  eighteen  years ;  and 
the  Assembly  were  commanded  to  draw  up  an 
exhortation  to  dispose  people  to  it,  which  being 
approved  by  both  houses,  was  published,  under 
the  title  of 

"  An  Exhortation  to  the  taking  of  the  solemn 
League  and  Covenant  for  Reformation  and  De- 
fence of  Religion,  the  Honour  and  Happiness  of 
the  King,  and  the  Peace  and  Safety  of  the  three 
Kingdoms  of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland, 
and  for  satisfying  such  Scruples  as  may  arise 
in  the  taking  of  it ;  assented  to  by  the  House, 
and  ordered  to  be  printed." 

"  Die  Veneris,  February  9,  1643. 

"  If  the  power  of  religion,  or  solid  reason  ;  if 
loyalty  to  the  king,  and  piety  to  their  native 
country,  or  love  to  themselves,  and  natural  af- 
fection to  their  posterity ;  if  the  example  of 
men  touched  with  a  deep  sense  of  all  these  ;  or 
extraordinary  success  from  God  thereupon,  can 
awaken  an  embroiled,  bleeding  remnant  to  em- 
brace the  sovereign  and  only  means  of  their 
recovery,  there  can  be  no  doubt  but  this  solemn 
League  and  Covenant  will  find,  wheresoever  it 
shall  be  tendered,  a  people  ready  to  entertain  it 
with  all  cheerfulness  and  duty. 

"And  were  it  not  commended  to  the  king- 
dom by  the  concurrent  encouragement  of  the 
honourable  houses  of  Parliament,  the  Assembly 
of  Divines,  the  renowned  city  of  London,  multi- 
tudes of  other  persons  of  eminent  rank  and  qual- 
ity of  this  nation,  and  the  whole  body  of  Scot- 
land, who  have  all  willingly  sworn  and  sub- 
scribed it  with  rejoicing  at  the  oath,  so  gra- 
ciously seconded  from  heaven  already,  by  blast- 
ing the  counsels,  and  breaking  the  power,  of  the 
enemy  more  than  ever,  yet  it  goeth  forth  in  its 
own  strength  with  such  convincing  evidence  of 
equity,  truth,  and  righteousness,  as  may  raise  in 
all  (not  wilfully  ignorant  or  miserably  seduced) 
inflamed  affections  to  join  with  their  brethren 
in  this  happy  bond,  for  putting  an  end  to  the 
present  miseries,  and  for  saving  both  king  and 
Idngdom  from  utter  ruin,  now  so  strongly  and 
openly  laboured  by  the  popish  faction,  and  such 
as  have  been  bewitched  by  that  viperous  and 
bloody  generation."* 

It  then  proceeds  to  answer  objections  against 
taking  the  Covenant ;  as, 

Obj.  1.  That  it  obliges  to  the  extirpation  of 
prelacy,  which  stands  as  yet  by  the  known 
laws  of  the  land. 

Answ.  The  life  and  soul  of  the  hierarchy  is  al- 
ready taken  away,  nothing  of  jurisdiction  re- 
maining ;  and  since  it  is  but  a  human  constitu- 
tion, if  it  be  found  a  grievance,  we  may  certain- 
ly endeavour  its  extirpation  in  a  lawful  way. 

Obj.  2.  It  is  said  to  be  inconsistent  with  the 
oath  of  canonical  obedience. 

Answ.  If  men  have  sworn  obedience  to  the 
laws  of  the  land,  may  they  not  endeavour  by 
lawful  means  the  repealing  those  laws,  if  they 
are  found  inconvenient  1  or  if  any  ministers 
have  taken  oaths  not  warranted  by  the  laws  of 
God  and  the  land,  ought  they  not  to  repent  of 
them  1 

Obj.  3.  But  the  Covenant  crosses  the  oath  of 
supremacy  and  allegiance. 

Answ.  This  is  false,  for  it  binds  to  the  pres- 

*  Rushworth,  vol.  v.,  p.  475.  Husbarid's  Collec- 
tions, p.  424. 


468 

ervation  of  the  king's  person  and  authority,  in 
the  defence  of  the  rehgion  and  liberties  of  the 
kingdom. 

Obj.  4.  But  it  is  done  without  the  king's  con- 
sent. 

Answ.'  So  was  the  protestation  of  May  5, 
which  went  through  the  whole  kingdom,  his 
majesty  not  excepting  against  it,  though  he 
was  then  at  Whitehall.  The  same  has  been 
done  by  the  united  Netherlands  under  King 
Philip :  and  more  lately  in  Scotland,  his  maj- 
esty himself  declaring,  by  act  of  Parliament, 
that  they  had  done  nothing  but  what  became 
loyal  and  obedient  subjects. 

Dr.  Barwick  says*  that  some  persons  in  the 
University  of  Cambridge  published  an  answer 
to  this  exhortation,  which  I  have  not  seen  ; 
but  if  the  reader  will  look  forward  to  the  year 
1647,  he  will  find  the  reasons  of  the  University 
of  Oxford  against  it,  confirmed  in  convocation, 
the  validity  of  which  he  will  judge  of  for  him- 
self. It  is  certain  most  of  the  religious!  part 
of  the  nation,  who  apprehended  the  Protestant 
religion  in  danger,  and  were  desirous  of  redu- 
cing the  hierarchy  of  the  Church,  were  zealous 
for  the  Covenant.  Others  took  it  only  in  obe- 
dience of  the  Parliament,  being  sensible  of  the 
distressed  circumstances  of  their  afTairs,  and 
that  the  assistance  of  the  Scots  was  to  be  ob- 
tained on  no  other  terms,  t  But  as  it  was  a 
test  of  a  mixed  nature,  and  contained  some  ob- 
ligations upon  conscience,  which  wise  and  hon- 
est men  might  reasonably  scruple,  who  were 
otherwise  well  affected  to  the  Protestant  reli- 
gion and  the  liberties  of  their  country,  the  im- 
posing it  as  a  test  can  never  be  justified, 
though  it  appears  most  of  the  Episcopal  di- 
vines who  made  the  greatest  figure  in  the 
Church  after  the  Restoration  did  not  refuse  it. 

Together  with  the  Exhortation  of  the  Assem- 
bly, the  following  orders<^  and  instructions  were 
dispersed  over  the  kingdom  : 

Ordered,  "  That  copies  of  the  Covenant  be 
sent  to  all  commanders-in-chief,  and  governors 
of  towns,  forts,  garrisons,  and  soldiers,  that  it 
may  be  taken  by  all  soldiers  under  their  com- 
mand. 

"That  copies  be  sent  to  the  committees  of 
Parliament,  in  the  several  counties  that  are 
under  the  power  of  the  Parliament,  and  that  the 
committees,  within  six  days,  disperse  the  said 
copies,  and  cause  them  to  be  delivered  to  the 
ministers,  church-wardens,  or  constables  of  the 
several  parishes. 

"  That  the  several  ministers  be  required  to 
read  the  Covenant  to  the  people  the  next  Lord's 
Day  after  they  have  prepared  the  people  to 
take  it. 

"  That  the  committees  of  Parliament  take  it 
themselves  within  seven  days  after  they  have 


HISTORY    OF   THE    PURITANS. 


*  Life  of  Barwick,  p.  35. 

t  "That  is,"  says  Bi.-shop  Warburton,  "the  Pun- 
tan  :  for  Puritanism  and  religion  are  convertible 
terms  with  this  historian."  This  evidently  appears 
to  be  remarked  with  a  sneer,  and  to  impeach  the  im- 
partiality of  Mr.  Neal.  But,  in  answer  to  the  remark, 
it  may  be  observed,  that  it  is  not  candid  to  interpret 
Mr.  Neal's  words  as  if  he  limited  all  seriousness  of 
character  to  the  Puritans  ;  and  then  the  question  is, 
whether  the  fact  was  not  as  Mr.  Neal  states  it '!  if  it 
were,  his  language  is  irreprehensible. — Ed. 

%  Rapin,  vol.  xii.,  p.  133. 

^  Husband's  Collections,  p.  420. 


received  the  copies,  and  then  disperse  them- 
selves throughout  their  counties,  so  as  three  or 
four  of  them  may  be  together  at  the  several 
places  appointed  for  the  people  to  lake  it.  That 
they  summon  all  the  ministers,  church  ward- 
ens, constables,  and  other  officers  to  that  place, 
and  after  a  sermon  preached  by  a  minister 
whom  they  shall  appoint,  they  shall  cause  the 
said  minister  to  tender  the  Covenant  to  all 
such  ministers  and  other  officers,  to  be  taken 
and  subscribed  in  the  presence  of  the  com- 
mittee. 

"The  said  ministers  are  then  to  be  required 
to  tender  the  Covenant  to  all  the  rest  of  their 
parishioners  next  Lord's  Day  ;  and  if  any  min- 
ister refuse  or  neglect  to  appear  at  the  said 
summons,  or  refuse  to  take  the  said  Covenant, 
the  committee  shall  appoint  another  minister  to 
do  it  in  his  place. 

"  If  any  minister  refuse  to  take  or  tender  the 
Covenant,  or  if  any  other  person  refuse  to  take 
it  after  a  second  tender,  upon  two  Lord's  Days, 
their  names  shall  be  returned  to  the  commit- 
tee, and  by  them  to  the  House  of  Commons  ; 
and  all  persons  that  absent  themselves  after  no- 
tice given,  shall  be  returned  as  refusers." 

The  English  in  foreign  parts  were  not  ex- 
empted from  this  test ;  directions  were  sent  to 
Mr.  Strickland,  the  Parliament's  agent  at  the 
Hague,  to  tender  it  to  all  the  English  in  those 
countries,  and  to  certify  the  names  of  such  as 
refused.*  Here  the  elector-palatine  took  it, 
and,  after  some  time,  came  into  England,  and 
condescended  to  sit  in  the  Assembly  of  Divines. 
December  20, 1643,  it  was  ordered  by  the  Lords 
and  Commons,  that  no  person  should  be  capa- 
ble of  being  elected  a  common  councilman  of 
the  city  of  London,  or  so  much  as  a  voice  in 
such  elections,  who  has  not  taken  the  Cove- 
nant.t  On  the  29th  of  January,  1644,  it  was 
ordered  by  the  Commons,  that  the  solemn 
League  and  Covenant  be,  upon  every  day  of  fast- 
ing and  public  humiliation,  publicly  read  in  ev- 
ery church  and  congregation  within  the  king- 
dom ;  and  every  congregation  is  enjoined  to 
have  one  fairly  printed  in  a  large  letter,  in  a  ta- 
ble fitted  to  be  hung  up  in  a  public  place  of  the 
church  or  congregation,  to  be  read  by  the  peo- 
ple. All  young  ministers  were  required  to  take 
the  Covenant  at  their  ordination  ;  none  of  the 
laity  were  continued  in  any  office  of  trust,  ei- 
ther civil  or  military,  who  refused  it.  When  the 
war  was  ended,  all  the  noblemen,  knights,  gen- 
tlemen, and  officers  who  had  opposed  the  Par- 
liament, were  obliged  to  submit  to  it  before 
they  were  admitted  to  composition.  Notwith- 
standing all  this  severity.  Dr.  Calamy  says,  Mr. 
Baxter  kept  his  people  from  taking  the  Cove- 
nant, as  fearing  it  might  be  a  snare  to  their 
consciences  ;  nay,  he  prevented  its  being  much 
taken  in  the  county  he  lived  in,  by  keeping  the 
ministers  from  offijring  it  to  their  people,  ex- 
cept the  city  of  Worcester,  where  he  had  no 
great  interest. t 

The  king  could  not  be  unacquainted  with 
these  proceedings,  for  the  Covenant  lay  before 
the  Parliament  and  Assembly  almost  a  month, 
during  which  time  his  majesty  took  no  public 

*  Whitelocke,  p.  79.  Parliamentary  Chronicle, 
p.  172.  t  Husband's  Collections,  p.  404. 

X  Abridgment,  p.  104. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


469 


notice  of  it  ;  but  a  fortnight  after  it  had  been 
subscribed  by  both  houses,  and  by  all  the  cler- 
gy and  laity  within  the  bills  of  mortality,  he  is- 
sued out  the  following  proclamation,  dated  from 
Oxford,  October  9,  in  the  nineteenth  year  of 
his  reign. 

"  Bt/  the  King 

"  Whereas  there  is  a  printed  paper,  entitled 
•  A  solemn  League  and  Covenant  for  Reforma- 
tion and  Defence  of  Religion,'  &c.,  pretended 
to  be  printed  by  order  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, September  21,  which  Covenant,  though  it 
seems  to  make  specious  expressions  of  piety 
and  religion,  is  in  ^ruth  nothing  else  but  a  trai- 
torous and  seditious  combination  against  us 
and  the  established  religion  and  laws  of  this 
kingdom,  in  pursuance  of  a  traitorous  design 
and  endeavour  to  bring  in  foreign  force  to  in- 
vade this  kingdom ;  we  do,  therefore,  straitly 
charge  and  command  all  our  loving  subjects,  of 
what  degree  or  quality  soever,  upon  their  alle- 
giance, that  they  presume  not  to  take  the  said 
seditious  and  traitorous  Covenant.  And  we  do 
likewise  hereby  farther  inhibit  and  forbid  all 
our  subjects  to  impose,  administer,  or  tender 
the  said  Covenant,  as  they,  and  every  one  of 
them,  will  answer  the  contrary  at  their  utmost 
and  extremest  perils."* 

His  majesty  sent  the  like  declaration  into 
Scotland,  to  which  the  states  of  that  kingdom 
paid  no  farther  regard  than  to  send  him  the 
reasons  of  their  conduct,  with  their  advice  to 
his  majesty  to  take  the  Covenant  himself. 

Great  complaints  have  been  made,  and  not 
without  reason,  of  the  execution  this  test  did 
upon  the  king's  clergy  throughout  the  kingdom. 
It  was  a  new  weapon  put  into  the  hands  of  the 
committees,  which  enabled  them  with  more 
ease  and  certainty  to  detect  malignant  or  dis- 
affected ministers  ;  for  instead  of  producing  a 
number  of  witnesses,  as  had  been  the  method 
hitherto,  they  now  tendered  the  Covenant, 
which  the  others  refusing,  gave  occasion  to 
the  general  report  that  the  clergy  were  turned 
out  of  their  livings  only  for  refusing  the  Cove- 
nant, whereas  their  sequestration  was  ground- 
ed upon  other  causes  ;  or,  at  least,  the  articles 
of  immorality  or  disaffection  to  the  Parliament 
weje  almost  always  joined  with  it.  When  the 
Covenant  passed  through  the  Parliament  quar- 
ters, in  some  towns  it  was  neglected,  in  others 
the  incumbent  avoided  it  by  withdrawing  for  a 
few  weeks,  and  getting  another  to  officiate. 
Some  who  refused  were  displaced,  and  the 
names  of  those  who  absented  were  returned  to 
the  Parliament,  but  little  or  nothing  came  of 
it.  The  writer  of  the  life  of  Bishop  Saunderson 
says  that  in  the  associated  counties  of  Cam- 
bridgeshire, &n.,  all  were  ejected  who  refused 
the  Covenant,  that  is,  all  to  whom  it  was  ten- 
dered ;  for  though  it  was  pressed  pretty  closely 
in  some  places  notorious  for  disaffection,  in 
others  that  had  been  quiet  it  was  little  regard- 
ed. The  Earl  of  Manchester  had  particular  in- 
structions to  tender  the  Covenant  to  the  Cam- 
bridge scholars,  and  yet  the  commissioners  im- 
posed it  only  upon  such  who  had  adhered  to  the 
king,  or  of  whose  disaffection  they  had  suffi- 
cient evidence,  several  who  behaved  peaceably 
being  permitted  to  keep  their  places,  who  would 

*  Rushworth,  vol.  v.,  p.  482. 


certainly  have  refused  it.  It  has  been  observed 
already,  that  Mr.  Baxter  prevented  its  being 
much  taken  in  Worcestershire ;  and  no  doubt 
there  were  men  of  moderation  and  influence 
who  did  the  same  in  other  counties.  Those 
clergymen  who  had  declared  for  the  king  were 
usually  put  to  the  trial ;  but  reputed  Calvinists, 
of  sober  lives,  who  had  stood  neuter,  were  fre- 
quently overlooked  ;  so  that  the  beneficed  cler- 
gy suffered  by  the  Covenant,  rather  as  parties 
in  the  war,  than  as  friends  of  the  hierarchy. 
However,  it  being  a  religious  test,  the  imposing 
it  was,  in  my  opinion,  unwarrantable,  and  a  very 
great  hardship,  especially  as  it  was  for  some 
time  a  door  of  entrance  into  ecclesiastical  pref- 
erments for  such  young  divines  as  had  no  con- 
cern in  the  war.  A  test  of  a  civil  nature  would 
have  answered  all  the  ends  of  civil  government, 
without  shackling  the  consciences  of  men,  which 
ought  always  to  be  left  free,  and  open  to  con- 
viction. But  if  the  Puritan  powers  bore  hard 
upon  the  Loyalists  in  imposing  the  Covenant, 
the  king's  clergy  were  even  with  them  at  the 
Restoration,  when  they  obliged  them  publicly 
to  abjure  it,  or  quit  their  preferments. 

The  necessity  of  the  king's  affairs  having 
obliged  him  to  arm  the  papists,  and  commission 
the  Duke  of  Ormond  to  agree  to  a  cessation  of 
arms  with  the  Irish  Catholics,  in  order  to  draw 
off  his  forces  from  thence,  his  majesty  fell  un- 
der the  suspicion  of  favouring  that  religion,  es- 
pecially when  it  appeared  that  not  only  the 
Protestant  soldiers,  but  the  Irish  rebels,  were 
transported  with  them.  Mr.  Whitelocke*  says 
several  of  their  officers  and  soldiers  came  over 
with  the  king's  army ;  that  a  month  or  two  af- 
ter, eight  hundred  native  Irish  rebels  landed 
at  Weymouth,  under  the  Lord  Inchequin,  and 
another  party  at  Beaumaris,  which  committed 
great  spoils,  destroying  with  fire  what  they 
could  not  carry  off.  Another  party  landed  near 
Chester,  under  the  Earl  of  Cork,  and  fifteen 
hundred  were  cast  away  at  sea  :  these  wretch- 
es brought  hither  the  same  savage  disposition 
which  they  had  discovered  in  their  own  coun- 
try ;  they  plundered  an(J  killed  people  in  cold 
blood,  observing  neither  the  rules  of  honour 
nor  the  law  of  arms.t  The  Scotch  forces  in 
the  north  of  Ireland  entered  into  a  confedera- 
cy to  stand  by  each  other  against  the  cessa- 
tion ;  the  Parliament  of  England  protested 
against  it,  and  published  a  declaration  inform- 
ing the  world  that  his  majesty  had  broke 
through  his  royal  promise,  of  leaving  the  Irish 


*  P.  75,  76,  78,  79.     Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  486,  folio. 
Clarendon,  vol.  ii.,  part  i.,  p.  439. 

t  Dr.  Grey  contrasts  this  charge  against  the  Irish 
rebels  with  instances  of  the  conduct  of  the  Enghsh 
adherents  to  the  Parliament.  He  brings  forward 
with  this  view  the  murder  of  Dr.  Walter  Raleigh, 
dean  of  Windsor,  by  the  man  to  whose  custody  he 
was  committed  ;  and  of  Colonel  Bulkley,  by  Major 
Cheadle  :  the  perpetrators  in  each  case  were  acquit 
ted.  The  doctor  also  refers  to  the  petition  of  the 
Irish  Catholics  to  the  king  in  1612,  complaining  of 
the  violences  and  cruelties  of  which  they  were  the 
objects.  It  is  sufficient  to  observe,  that  the  cruelty 
of  one  party  does  not  exculpate  the  other.  On  which- 
ever side  acts  of  injustice  and  cruelty  are  committed, 
humanity  will  lament  it,  and  equity  will  reprobate  it. 
Such  is  the  nature  of  war,  such  is  the  envenomed 
spirit  that  irritates  civil  contests,  each  party  is,  gen- 
erally, very  guilty  ;  and  it  may  not  be  often  easy  to 
ascertain  the  proportion  of  guiU. — Ed. 


470 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


war  to  them ;  they  forbade  all  masters  of  ships 
to  bring  over  any  officers  or  soldiers,  on  penal- 
ly of  the  forfeiture  of  their  vessels,  and  gave 
letters  of  marque  to  merchants  and  others,  who 
would  fit  out  ships  at  their  own  expense,  em- 
powering them  to  take  to  their  own  profit  all 
such  ships  and  goods  as  they  should  meet  com- 
ing over  with  soldiers  or  warlike  stores  for  the 
king.  Next  year  an  ordinance  was  published, 
that  no  quarters  should  be  given  to  any  Irish 
papist  taken  in  arms  against  the  Parliament ; 
all  officers  were  to  except  them  out  of  their 
capitulations,  and  upon  making  them  prisoners, 
were  immediately  to  put  them  to  death. 

This  unhappy  management  of  the  king  alien- 
ated the  alTections  of  great  numbers  of  his  friends 
who  had  the  Protestant  religion  at  heart ;  many 
who  wished  well  to  his  person  deserted  him  upon 
this  occasion,  and  made  their  peace  with  the 
Parliament,  as  the  Earls  of  Holland,  Bedford, 
Clare,  Carlisle,  Sir  Edward  Deering,  and  others; 
this  last  gentleman  published  the  reasons  of 
his  conduct  to  the  world,  the  principal  of  which 
were,  the  Irish  cessation,  his  majesty  preferring 
popish  officers  to  chief  places  of  trust  and  hon- 
our, and  the  language  of  the  Oxford  clergy  and 
others  that  the  king  should  come  no  other  way 
to  his  palace  but  by  conquest.*  There  was 
certainly  a  very  malignant  spirit  among  those 
gentlemen  at  this  time,  as  appears  by  their  form 
of  thanksgiving,  or,  rather,  imprecation,  for  the 
taking  of  Bristol,  and  the  success  of  the  Earl 
of  Newcastle's  army  in  the  north  :  "  0  Lord," 
say  they,  "  though  oar  sins  cry  aloud,  hear  them 
not,  but  look  to  the  righteousness  of  our  cause ; 
see  the  seamless  coat  of  thy  son  torn  ;  the 
throne  of  thine  anointed  trampled  upon  ;  thy 
Church  invaded  by  sacrilege,  and  thy  people 
miserably  deceived  by  lies ;  see  it,  O  God,  as 
see  it  thou  dost,  and  vindicate  what  thou  seest 
on  the  heads  of  those  who  lead  these  wretch- 
es." Many  of  the  Earl  of  Newcastle's  soldiers, 
in  the  north;  upon  news  of  the  Irish  cessation, 
threw  down  their  arms  and  offered  a  composi- 
tion ;  and,  if  we  may  believe  the  Parliamentary 
Chronicle,!  this  single  action  lost  the  king  all 
the  northern  counties.  To  put  a  stop  to  the 
clamours  of  the  people,  and  prevent  any  farther 
desertions,  his  majesty  resolved  to  support  his 
own  character  as  a  Protestant,  and  accordingly 
made  the  following  protestation  in  presence  of 
the  congregation  at  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  im- 
mediately before  his  receiving  the  sacrament 
from  the  hands  of  Archbishop  Usher  : 

"  My  Lord, 
"  I  espy  here  many  resolved  Protestants,  who 
may  declare  to  the  world  the  declaration  I  do 
now  make.  I  have,  to  the  utmost  of  my  pow- 
er, prepared  my  soul  to  be  a  worthy  receiver, 
and  may  I  so  receive  comfort  from  the  blessed 
sacrament  as  I  do  intend  the  establishment  of 
the  true  Reformed  Protestant  religion,  as  it 
stood  in  its  beauty  in  the  happy  days  of  Quoen 
Elizabeth,  without  any  connivance  at  pop'jry. 
I  bless  God  that,  in  the  mid^t  of  these  public 
distractions,  I  have  still  liberty  to  communicate. 
And  may  this  sacrament  be  my  damnation  if 
my  heart  do  not  join  with  my  lips  in  this  prot- 
estation."t 


*  Rushworth,  vol.  v.,  p.  383.         t  Part  iii.,  p.  86. 
t  Rushworth,  p.  346.     Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  490,  folio. 


How  consonant  was  this  with  his  majesty's 
actions,  when  within  a  few  days  he  agreed  to  a 
cessation  with  the  Irish  papists  for  a  year,  and 
a  toleration  of  their  religion  !  All  men  knevsr 
that  his  majesty  not  only  connived  at  popery, 
but  indulged  it  as  far  as  was  in  his  power ;  his- 
torians, therefore,  are  at  a  loss  to  reconcile  thia 
solemn  appeal  to  Heaven  with  the  king's  piety 
and  sincerity.  The  Parliament  was  so  appre- 
hensive of  the  consequences  of  bringing  ovei 
the  Irish  papists,  that,  by  an  order  of  November 
22,  they  desired  the  Assembly  of  Divines  to 
write  letters  to  the  foreign  churches  of  Holland, 
France,  and  Switzerland,  and  other  places,  to 
inform  them  of  the  artifices  of  his  majesty's 
agents  ;  of  the  constant  employment  of  Irish 
rebels,  and  other  papists,  to  be  governors,  com- 
manders, and  soldiers  in  his  armies  :  of  the 
many  evidences  of  their  intentions  to  introduce 
popery,  to  hinder  the  intended  reformation,  and. 
to  condemn  other  Protestant  churches  as  un- 
sound because  not  prelatical ;  and  that  the 
Scots  commissioners  be  desired  to  join  with 
them.  In  pursuance  of  this  order,  the  Assem- 
bly wrote  the  following  letter,  dated  November 
30,  1643  : 

"To  the  Belgic,  French,  Helvetian,  and  other 
Reformed  Churches. 

"  Right  reverend  and  dearly  beloved  in  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ, 

"  We,  the  Assembly  of  Divines,  and  others, 
convened  by  the  authority  of  both  houses  of 
Parliament,  with  the  commissioners  from  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  do 
heartily  salute  you  in  the  Lord.  We  doubt  not 
but  the  sad  reports  of  the  miseries  under  which 
the  Church  and  kingdom  of  England  do  bleed, 
and  wherevi^ith  we  are  ready  to  be  swallowed 
up,  is  long  since  come  to  your  ears  ;  and  it  is 
probable  the  same  instruments  of  Satan  and 
Antichrist  have,  by  their  emissaries,  endeavour- 
ed to  represent  us  as  black  as  may  be  among 
yourselves.*  And  we  sometimes  doubt  whether 
we  have  not  been  wanting  to  our  own  inno- 
cence, and  your  satisfaction,  in  being  thus  long 
silent ;  but  pardon  us,  dear  brethren,  if  this  cup 
of  trembling  wherewith  our  spirits  have  been 
filled  to  amazement,  and  our  wrestling  with  ex- 
treme difficulties  ever  since  our  meeting,  has 
hindered  from  that  which  was  our  duty ;  and 
give  us  leave  now  a  little  to  ease  our  grief,  while 
we  relate  the  desolation  made  by  the  anti- 
Christian  faction,  who  arc  for  hindering  the 
work  of  reformation,  and  for  introducing  and 
cherishing  popery  ;  and  are  now  arrived  to  that 
strength,  that  if  the  Lord  do  not  speedily  help 
us,  we  shall  be  altogether  laid  waste  by  them. 

"  How  great  a  hand  they  [the  prelates]  have 
had  in  the  miseries  of  other  Reformed  church- 
cy,  in  the  destruction  of  the  Palatinate,  in  the 
loss  of  Rochelle,  are  so  fully  known  and  felt  by 
you  all,  that  we  need  not  speak  anything  of  them. 
And  we  suppose  their  inveterate  hatred  against 
you  all  is  sufficiently  manifest,  in  that  multi- 
tudes of  them  have  refused  to  acknowledge  any 
of  you  for  churches  of  Christ  because  you  are 
not  prelatical,  and  thereby,  as  they  conceive, 
want  a  lawful  vocation  of  ministers.  Sure  we 
are,  that  among  ourselves,  scarce  one  thing 
can  be  thought  of  which  may  be  supposed  an 

*  Rushworth,  p.  371. 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


argument  of  their  design  to  advance  popery,  that 
has  not  been  attempted.  The  laws  against  po- 
pery have  been  suspended  ;  judges  forbid  to 
proceed  against  condemned  priests  ;  Jesuits  set 
free  ;  houses  of  superstition  in  Ireland  and  Eng- 
land have  been  set  up,  and  not  discountenanced ; 
notorious  papists  harboured  about  the  court  and 
pi'eferred  ;  many  released  from  legal  penalties, 
and  their  prosecutors  discountenanced  ;  agents 
have  been  sent  into  Italy,  and  nuncios  from 
Rome  received,  0fhile  the  most  zealous  Prot- 
estants have  been  persecuted  ;  many  prelates 
and  clergymen  have  publicly  preached,  and  en- 
deavoured to  leaven  the  people  with  all  points 
of  popery,  except  the  supremacy,  and  introdu- 
ced abundance  of  corrupt  innovations  into  the 
worship  of  God  ;  for  noncompliance  with  which 
many  have  been  forced  to  fly  for  refuge  to  the 
jemote  parts  of  the  world. 

"  They  imposed  upon  the  kingdom  of  Scot- 
land a  new  popish  service-book  and  canons,  to 
•which  when  that  nation  would  not  submit,  they 
prevaded  with  his  majesty  to  proclaim  them 
rebels,  and  raise  an  army  against  them,  to  which 
all  the  papists,  and  those  who  were  popishly  af- 
fected, contributed  ;  and  had  not  the  Lord,  by 
his  blessing  on  the  Scots'  arms,  and  by  the  call- 
ing of  this  Parliament,  prevented  it,  the  two 
nations  had  been  imbruing  their  hands  in  each 
other's  blood. 

"  But  though  we  hoped,  through  the  goodness 
of  God,  and  his  blessing  upon  this  Parliament, 
whose  hearts  were  inclined  to  a  more  perfect 
reformation,  that  our  winter  had  been  passed, 
yet,  alas  !  we  find  it  to  be  quite  otherwise.  We 
know  our  sins  have  deserved  all,  and  if  we  die 
and  perish,  the  Lord  is  righteous  ;  to  his  hand 
we  submit,  and  to  him  alone  we  look  for  healing. 
The  same  anti-Christian  faction  not  being  dis- 
couraged by  their  want  of  success  in  Scotland, 
have  stirred  up  a  bloody  rebellion  in  Ireland, 
wherein  above  one  hundred  thousand  Protest- 
ants have  been  destroyed  in  one  province  with- 
in a  few  months.  They  have  alienated  the  heart 
of  his  majesty  from  his  Parliament,  and  pre- 
vailed with  him  to  withdraw  and  raise  an  army, 
which  at  first  pretended  only  to  be  made  up  of 
Protestants,  but  soon  after  papists  were  armed 
by  commission  from  the  king  ;  many  great  pa- 
pists were  put  into  places  of  public  command, 
and  the  body  of  all  the  papists  have  joined  his 
majesty  with  all  their  might;  they  profess  and 
exercise  their  religion  publicly  in  several  parts 
of  the  kingdom,  and  go  up  and  down  plunder- 
ing, murdering,  and  spoiling  of  their  goods  all 
such  as  adhere  to  the  Parliament,  and  to  the 
cause  of  religion.  Nor  has  the  Parliament  been 
able,  by  their  petitions  and  remonstrances,  to 
recover  his  majesty  out  of  their  hands,  or  bring 
these  men  to  deserved  punishment,  but  the 
sword  rages  almost  in  every  corner  of  this  wo- 
ful  land. 

"  And  to  complete  our  miseries,  they  have 
prevailed  with  his  majesty  so  far  to  own  the 
rebels  in  Ireland,  as  not  only  to  call  them  his 
Roman  Catholic  subjects  now  in  arms,  but  to 
grant  them  a  cessation  of  arms  for  a  year,  and 
to  hold  what  they  had  gotten,  with  liberty  to 
strengthen  themselves  with  men,  money,  ariips, 
ammunition,  &c.,  whereby  they  are  enabled  not 
only  to  destroy  the  remnant  of  Protestants  in 
Ireland,  but  to  come  over  hither  (as  many  of 


471' 

them  are  already)  to  act  the  same  butchery  upon 
us. 

"  In  the  midst  of  these  troublesome  times  the 
two  houses  of  Parliament  have  called  this  As- 
sembly, to  give  them  our  best  counsel  for  the 
reformation  of  the  Church,  requiring  us  to  make 
God's  Word  only  our  rule,  and  to  endeavour 
the  nearest  conformity  to  the  best  Reformed 
churches,  and  uniformity  to  all  the  churches  of 
the  three  kingdoms. 

"  The  Church  and  kingdom  of  Scotland  have 
made  offer  of  their  humble  mediation  to  the  king 
for  a  pacification,  which  being  rejected,  both 
nations  have  entered  into  a  mutual  league  and 
covenant ;  and  the  Scots  have  resolved  to  join 
in  arms  with  their  brethren  in  England,  for 
their  mutual  preservation  from  the  common 
enemy,  and,  so  far  as  in  them  lieth,  for  the 
safety  of  their  native  king.  They  have  also 
sent  their  commissioners  hither,  for  uniformity 
of  religion  in  the  churches  of  both  kingdoms. 

"  And  we,  their  commissioners,  do  exceed- 
ingly rejoice  to  behold  the  foundation  of  the 
house  of  God,  not  only  in  doctrine,  but  in  church 
government,  laid  before  our  eyes  in  a  reverend 
assembly  of  so  wise,  learned,  and  godly  divines. 
And  we  find  ourselves  bound,  in  all  Christian 
duty,  as  well  as  by  our  late  Covenant,  to  join  in 
representing  to  the  Reformed  churches  abroad 
the  true  condition  of  affairs  here  against  all 
mistakes  and  misinformations. 

"  And  now,  dear  brethren,  we  beg  of  you, 
first,  to  judge  aright  of  our  innocence  and  in- 
tegrity in  this  our  just  defence  ;  if  our  enemies 
say  that  we  are  risen  up  in  rebellion  to  de- 
prive the  king  of  his  just  power  and  greatness, 
and  to  bring  anarchy  and  confusion  into  the 
Church  of  Christ,  we  doubt  not  but  our  solemn 
Covenant  (a  copy  of  which  we  humbly  present 
you  herewith)  will  sufficiently  clear  us.  Let 
the  righteous  Lord  judge  between  us,  whom  we 
implore  to  help  us  no  farther  than  we  cart  plead 
these  things  in  sincerity. 

"  Secondly,  That  you  would  sympathize  with 
us  as  brethren,  who  suffer  in  and  for  the  same 
cause  wherein  yourselves  have  been  oppressed. 

"  Thirdly,  That  you  would  conceive  of  our 
condition  as  your  own  common  cause,  which, 
if  it  be  lost  with  us,  yourselves  are  not  like 
long  to  escape,  the  quarrel  being  not  so  much 
against  men's  persons  as  against  the  power  of 
godliness  and  the  purity  of  God's  Word.  The 
way  and  manner  of  your  owning  us  we  leave  to 
yourselves,  only  we  importunately  crave  your 
fervent  prayers,  both  public  and  private,  that 
God  would  bring  salvation  to  us  ;  that  the 
blessings  of  truth  and  peace  may  rest  upon  us  ; 
that  these  three  nations  may  be  joined  as  one 
stick  in  the  hands  of  the  Lord ;  and  that  we 
ourselves,  contemptible  builders,  called  to  re- 
pair the  house  of  God  in  a  troublesome  time, 
may  see  the  pattern  of  this  house,  and  com- 
mend such  a  platform  to  our  Zerubbabels  as 
may  be  most  agreeable  to  his  sacred  Word, 
nearest  in  conformity  to  the  best  Reformed 
churches,  and  to  establish  uniformity  among 
ourselves ;  that  all  mountains  may  become 
plains  before  them  and  us,  that  then  all  who 
now  see  the  plummet  in  our  hands,  may  also 
behold  the  top-stone  set  upon  the  head  of  the 
Lord's  house  among  us,  and  may  help  us  with 
shouting  to  cry,  Grace,  grace  to  it. 


iT2 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


"  Thus  much  we  have  been  commanded  to 
inform  you  of,  reverend  brethren  (and  by  you 
all  faithful  Christians  under  your  charge),  by 
the  honourable  House  of  Commons,  in  whose 
name,  and  in  our  own,  we  bid  you  heartily  fare- 
well in  the  Lord. 

"  Your  most  affectionately  devoted  brethren 
in  Christ, 

William  Twisse,  Prolocutor. 

Cornelius  Burges,  John  White,  Assessors. 

Henry  Roborough,  Adoniram  I3yfield, 

Scribes. 
John   Maitland,   A.   Johnston,   Alexander 
Henderson,  Samuel  Rutherford,  Robert 
Bailie,  George  Gillespie,  Commissioners 
of  the  Church  of  Scotland.^'' 

The  inscription  was,  "  To  the  reverend  and 
learned  Pastors  and  Elders  of  the  Classes  and 
Churches  of  the  Province  of  Zealand,  our  much- 
honoured  Brethren." 

Letters  of  the  same  import  were  sent  to  the 
several  churches  of  the  Seven  Provinces  ;  to 
the  churches  of  Geneva  ;  the  Protestant  Can- 
tons of  Switzerland  ;  the  churches  of  Hesse, 
Hanau,  and  Hainault ;  and  to  the  Protestant 
congregation  at  Paris  ;  all  which  were  received 
with  respect,  and  answered  by  the  several 
classes.*  But  the  churches  of  Bohemia,  Tran- 
sylvania, Poland,  Silesia,  and  Austria,  and  other 
cities  and  principalities  of  Germany,  were  not 
written  to.  The  answer  from  the  French 
church  at  Paris  was  read  in  the  Assembly  the 
beginning  of  March  ;  from  Switzerland  June  12, 
1644 ;  and  from  Genevat  at  the  same  time ; 
from  the  classes  of  Amsterdam  and  Guelder- 
land  June  29 ;  and  Mr.  Whitelocke  observes, 
that  the  Netherland  divines  expressed  not  only 
their  approbation  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
Parliament  and  Assembly  touching  the  Cove- 
nant, but  desired  to  join  with  the  two  kingdoms 
therein. 

The  king,  apprehending  himself  misrepre- 
sented to  the  foreign  churches  in  that  part  of 
the  Assembly's  letter  which  insinuates  a  design 
to  introduce  popery,  and  being  advised  to  vin- 
dicate his  character  from  that  imputation,  caus- 
ed a  manifesto  to  be  drawn  up  in  Latin  and 
English,  to  all  foreign  Protestants,  which, 
though  not  published  till  the  beginning  of  next 
year,  may  be  properly  inserted  in  this  place. 

"  Charles,  by  the  special  providence  of  Al- 
mighty God,  King  of  England,  Scotland,  France, 
and  Ireland,  Defender  of  the  Faith,  &c.,  to  all 
those  who  profess  the  true  Reformed  Protest- 
ant religion,  of  what  nation,  degree,  or  con- 
dition soever  they  be,  to  whom  this  present 
declaration  shall  come,  greeting. 

"  Whereas  we  are  given  to  understand  that 
many  false  rumours  and  scandalous  letters  are 
spread  up  and  down  among  the  Reformed 
churches  in  foreign  parts  by  the  politic,  or, 
rather,  the  pernicious  industry  of  some  ill-af- 
fected persons,  that  we  have  an  inclination  to 
recede  from  tliat  orthodox  religion  which  we 
were  born,  baptized,  and  bred  in,  and  which  we 
have  firmly  professed  and  practised  throughout 

*  History  of  the  Stuarts,  p.  232. 

t  "  Diodati,  the  prince  of  divinity  there,"  Bishop 
Warburlon  says,  "  returned  a  very  temperate  answer, 
noway  inconsistent  with  the  re-estabhshment  of 
Episcopacy." — Ed. 


the  whole  course  of  our  life  to  this  moment ; 
and  that  we  intend  to  give  way  to  the  introduc- 
tion and  public  exercise  of  popery  again  into 
our  dominions,  which  most  detestable  calumny, 
being  grounded  upon  no  imaginable  foundation, 
hath  raised  these  horrid  tumults,  and  more  Ihaa 
barbarous  wars,  throughout  this  flourishing 
island,  under  pretence  of  a  kind  of  reformation 
which  is  incompatible  with  the  fundamental 
laws  and  government  of  this  kingdom  ;  we  de- 
sire that  the  whole  Christian^orld  should  rest 
assured  that  we  never  entertained  the  least 
thought  to  attempt  such  a  thing,  or  to  depart  a 
jot  from  that  holy  religion,  which,  when  we  re- 
ceived the  crown  and  sceptre  of  this  kingdom, 
we  took  a  most  solemn  sacramental  oath  to 
profess  and  protect.  Nor  does  our  constant 
practice,  and  daily  presence  in  the  exercise  of 
this  religion,  with  so  many  asseverations  at  the 
head  of  our  armies,  and  the  public  attestatioa 
of  our  batons,  with  the  circumspection  used  ia 
the  education  of  our  royal  offspring,  besides 
divers  other  undeniable  arguments,  only  de- 
monstrate this,  but  also  that  happy  alliance  of 
marriage  we  contracted  between  our  eldest 
daughter  and  the  illustrious  Prince  of  Orange 
most  closely  confirms  the  reality  of  our  intea- 
tions  herein  ;  by  which  it  appears  that  oar 
endeavours  are,  not  only  to  make  a  professioti 
thereof  in  our  own  dominions,  but  to  strengthea 
it  abroad  as  much  as  lieth  in  our  power.* 

"  This  most  holy  religion  of  the  Anglican 
Church,  ordained  by  so  many  convocations  of 
learned  divines,  confirmed  by  so  many  acts  of 
Parliament,  and  strengthened  by  so  many  royal 
proclamations,  together  with  the  ecclesiastical 
discipline  and  liturgy,  which  the  most  eminent 
Protestant  authors,  as  well  as  G«5rmans,  French, 
Danes  and  Swedes,  Dutch  and  Bohemians,  do 
with  many  eulogies,  and  not  without  a  kind  of 
envy,  approve  and  applaud  in  their  public  wri- 
tings, particularly  in  the  transactions  of  the 
Synod  of  Dort,  wherein  (besides  others  of  our 
divines  who  were  afterward  prelates)  one  of 
our  bishops  assisted,  to  whose  dignity  all  due 
respect  and  precedency  were  given  ;  this  reli- 
gion, we  say,  which  our  royal  father,  of  blessed 
memory,  doth  publicly  assert  in  his  famous  con- 
fession addressed  to  all  Christian  princes,  with 
the  hierarchy  and  liturgy  thereof,  we  solemnly 
protest,  that,  by  the  help  of  God,  we  will  en- 
deavour, to  our  utmost  power  and  last  period 
of  our  life,  to  keep  entire  and  inviolable ;  and 
will  be  careful,  according  to  our  duty  to  heavea 
and  the  tenour  of  our  oath  at  our  coronation, 
that  all  ecclesiastics,  in  their  several  degrees 
and  incumbencies,  shall  preach  and  practise. 
Wherefore  we  command  all  our  ministers  of 
state  beyond  the  seas,  as  well  ambassadors  as 
residents,  agents,  and  messengers ;  and  we  de- 
sire all  the  rest  of  our  loving  subjects  that  so- 
journ in  foreign  parts,  to  communicate  and  as- 
sert this  our  solemn  and  sincere  protestation, 
when  opportunity  of  time  and  place  shall  be  of- 
fered. 

"  Given  in  our  University  and  city  of  Oxford, 
"  May  14,  1644." 

This  declaration  did  the  king  little  service 
among  foreign  Protestants,  for  though  it  as- 
sured them  his  majesty  would  not  turn  papist, 


*  Rushworth,  vol.  v.,  p.  752. 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


473 


it  convinced  them  that  no  alteration  in  the  Eng- 
lish hierarchy  was  to  be  expected.  His  mar- 
rying his  daughter  to  the  Prince  of  Orange  was, 
perhaps,  the  only  evidence  of  his  charity  for  the 
Dutch  reformation  ;  but  his  appeal  to  the  edu- 
cation of  his  children  was  trifling,  when  all  the 
world  knew  they  were  under  popish  instructers, 
in  pursuance  of  a  marriage  contract,  till  twelve 
or  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  had  received  im- 
pressions not  to  be  easily  clTaced.  His  insinu- 
ating to  the  foreign  churches  that  their  most 
learned  divines  preferred  the  English  hierarchy 
to  the  government  of  their  own  countries,  con- 
vinced them  they  ought  to  be  more  sparing  of 
their  compliments  for  the  future  to  persons 
who  would  draw  such  conclusions  from  them. 
As  to  the  Synod  of  Dort,  no  precedency  was 
given  to  the  bishop  on  account  of  his  Episcopal 
character,  but  as  a  baron  of  the  English  Parlia- 
ment.* Nor  is  there  anything  in  the  declara- 
tion that  might  encourage  the  foreign  clergy  to 
hope  his  majesty  would  own  their  churches, 
ministers,  or  sacraments,  or  unite  with  them 
against  the  common  enemy  of  the  Reformation, 
any  more  than  before  these  unhappy  troubles 
began. 

All  the  Episcopal  divines  left  the  Assembly 
before  the  bringing  in  of  the  Covenant,  except 
Dr.  Featly,  who  was  expelled  for  holding  cor- 
respondence with  Archbishop  Usher  at  Oxford, 
and  for  revealing  their  proceedings,  contrary  to 
the  express  words  of  the  ordinance,  which  obli- 
ges them  "  not  to  divulge,  by  printing,  or  wri- 
ting, or  otherwise,  their  opinions  or  advices, 
touching  the  matters  proposed  to  them  by  Par- 
liament, without  the  consent  of  both  or  either 
house."  The  doctor  was  a  learned  man,  and 
a  Calvinist,  upon  which  account  the  Assembly 
paid  him  a  high  regard,  and  indulged  him  in  all 
his  speeches  in  favour  of  Episcopacy,  and 
against  the  Covenant,  some  of  which  were  af- 
terward published  to  the  world.  They  appoint- 
ed him  to  answer  to  a  popish  pamphlet,  called 
the  Safeguard  ;  and  he  bore  a  part  in  the  anno- 
tations on  the  Bible,  which  go  under  the  name 
of  the  Assembly.  Lord  Clarendon  says  the 
king  sent  him  a  letter  forbidding  him  to  sit  any 
longer,  but  that  the  doctor  excused  it  in  a  letter 
to  Archbishop  Usher,  which,  being  intercepted, 
he  was  committed  prisonert  to  Lord  Peter's 

*  Dr.  Grey  will  have  it  that  the  contrary  was  the 
fact,  and  quotes  Bishop  Carleton.  But  the  quota- 
tion goes  to  prove  no  more  than  that  the  foreign  di- 
vines at  the  synod,  in  their  conversations  with  him, 
expressed  their  approbation  of  the  Episcopal  govern- 
ment of  the  Enghsh  Church,  and  their  wishes  to 
have  the  same  order  estabhshed  among  themselves. 
Jiut  Mr.  Neal's  representation  does  not  seem  to  be 
accurate.  The  case  of  precedency,  according  to 
Brandt,  appears  to  have  stood  thus:  when  the  synod 
met,  the  two  commissioners  of  the  States  took  place 
near  the  chimney,  on  the  right  hand.  The  English 
divines  sat  on  the  left.  An  empty  seat  was  kept  for 
the  French.  The  third  place  was  appointed  for  the 
deputies  of  the  Palatinate,  aad  so  on.  Ne.xt  to  the 
commissioners  on  the  right  the  professors  of  divinity 
took  place,  and  then  the  ministers  and  elders  of  the 
country,  according  to  the  rank  of  each  province.  So 
that  the  precedency  which  the  English  bishop  had 
naturally  arose  from  his  rank  among  the  English  di- 
vines ;  to  whom,  in  general,  was  assigned  the  first 
seat  on  the  left  hand. — History  of  the  Reformation, 
abridged,  vol.  if,  p.  397. — Ed. 

t  The  imprisonment  of  Dr.  Featly,  Mr.  Baxter  ob- 
VOL.  I.— O  0  o 


house,  in  Aldersgate-street,  as  a  spy  .-  the  arch- 
bishop, at  the  same  time,  being  declared  incapa- 
ble of  sitting  in  the  Assembly  for  the  like  rea- 
son. And  here  was  an  end  of  all  the  public 
concern  the  Episcopal  party  had  m  the  govern 
ment  of  the  Church  till  the  Restoration. 

From  the  time  of  taking  the  Covenant,  wo 
may  date  the  entire  dissolution  of  the  hierarchy, 
though  it  was  not  as  yet  abolished  by  an  ordi- 
nance of  Parliament.  There  were  no  ecclesi- 
astical courts,  no  visitations,  no  wearing  the 
habits,  no  regard  paid  to  the  canons  or  cere- 
monies, or  even  to  the  common  prayer  itself. 
The  Archbishopof  Canterbury,  by  an  ordinance 
of  May  16,  had  been  forbid  to  collate  any  bene- 
fices in  his  gift  but  to  persons  nominated  by 
Parliament ;  for  disobedience  to  which  he  was, 
by  another  ordinance  of  June  10,  "suspended 
ah  officio  et  beneficio,  and  from  all  archiepiscopal 
jurisdiction,  till  he  should  be  acquitted  or  con- 
victed of  the  high  treason  of  which  he  was  im- 
peached ;  and  as  to  such  livings,  dignities,  pro- 
motions, &c.,  in  the  said  archbishop's  gift  or 
collation,  as  are,  or  shall  hereafter,  become  void, 
institution  or  induction  shall  henceforward  be 
given  by  the  archbishop's  vicar-general,  or  any 
other  having  authority  on  his  behalf,  upon  the 
nomination  and  recommendation  of  both  houses 
of  Parliament."  By  this  extraordinary  method 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Corbet  was  inducted  into  the  liv- 
ing of  Chatham,  "  ratione  suspensionis  dom. 
Guil.  ArchiepiscopiCant.  et  sequestrationis  tem- 
poralium  archiepiscopatus  in  manibus  supremae 
curiae  Parliamenti,  jam  existentis,"  "  by  reason 
of  the  suspension  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, and  the  sequestration  of  the  temporalities 
of  his  archbishopric  into  the  hands  of  the  pres- 
ent high  court  of  Parliament,  the  same  belong- 
ing to  their  gift."  But  this  ordinance  was  ot 
no  long  continuance,  for  upon  the  sitting  of  the 
Assembly  of  Divines,  church  business  went 
through  their  hands  ;  the  parishes  elected  their 
ministers,  the  Assembly  examined  and  appro- 
ved of  them,  and  the  Parliament  confirmed  them 
in  their  benefices  without  any  regard  to  the 
archbishop  or  his  vicar.  Thus  the  Earl  of  Man- 
chester filled  thte  vacant  pulpits  in  the  associa- 
ted counties  ;  and  when  Lord  Fairfax  was  au- 
thorized to  supply  those  in  the  north,  by  an  or- 
dinance of  February  27,  the  preamble  says, 
"  The  houses  being  credibly  informed  that 
many  ministers  in  the  county  of  York  were  not 
only  of  a  scandalous  life,  but,  having  left  their 
churches  and  cures,  had  withdrawn  themselves 
wilfully  from  the  same,  and  joined  such  forces 
as  had  been  raised  against  the  Parliament,  and 
assisted  them  with  men,  money,  horses,  and 
arms  ;  therefore  it  is  ordained  that  Lord  Fair- 
fax be  authorized  to  fill  up  their  places  with 
such  learned  and  godly  divines  as  he  shall  think 
fit,  with  advice  of  the  Assembly."* 

This  created  a  great  deal  of  business  ;  for 
though  the  Assembly  had  not  a  parliamentary 
authority  to  ordain,  yet  the  examination  and 
approbation  of  such  clergymen  already  in  orders 
as  petitioned  for  sequestered  livings,  being  by 
express  order  of  the  two  houses  referred  to 

serves,  "much  reflected  on  the  Parliament ;  because, 
whatever  the  facts  were,  he  was  so  learned  a  man, 
as  was  sufficient  to  dishonour  those  he  suffered  by." 
— Baxter's  Life  and  Times,  p.  75. — Ed. 
*  Parliamentary  Chronicle,  part  iv.,  p.  128 


474 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


them,  they  were  obliged  to  choose  a  select  com- 
Ttnittee  for  this  work  ;  their  names  were, 

Rev.  Dr.  Gouge.  Rev.  Mr.  Conant. 

Dr.  Stanton.  Mr.  Cower. 

Dr.  Liglufoot,  Mr.  Colman. 

Dr.  Smith.  Mr.  Hill. 

Dr.  Temple.  Mr.  Corbet. 

Dr.  Tuckiiey.  Mr.  Gataker. 

Dr.  Hoyle.  Mr.  Ilerle. 

Dr.  Burgas.  Mr.  Hall. 

Dr.  Spurstovv  Mr.  Whitaker. 

Mr.  Ley.  Mr.  Bathurst. 

Mr.  Reynolds.  Mr.  Cheynel. 

The  method  of  examination  was  this  :  the 
names  of  the  ministers  who  petitioned  for  liv- 
ings, or  were  recommended  by  either  house  of 
Parliament,  being  published  in  the  Assembly  two 
or  three  days  before  the  examination,  liberty  was 
given  in  that  time  to  make  exceptions  to  their 
characters  ;  if  nothing  was  objected,  they  were 
examined  by  the  committee,  or  any  five  of 
them,  who  reported  their  qualifications  to  the 
House,  upon  which  each  candidate  received  a 
certificate  from  the  Assembly  to  the  following 
effect : 

"According  to  an  order  bearing  date , 

from  the  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons 
for  plundered  ministers,  to  the  committee  of  di- 
vines for  the  examinatian  of  A.  B.,  concerning 
his  fitness  to  be  admitted  to  the  benefit  of  the 
sequestration  of  the  Church  of ,  in  the  coun- 
ty of ,  and  so  to  ofliciate  in  the  cure  there- 
of, these  are  to  certify  the  said  committee  of 
plundered  ministers,  that,  upon  examination  of 
the  said  A.  B.,  and  some  trial  of  his  gifts  and 
abilities,  we  conceive  him  fit  to  officiate  in  the 
cure  of ,  in  the  county  aforesaid.  In  wit- 
ness whereof  we  have  hereunto  subscribed  our 
names." 

The  scribes  of  the  Assembly  were  ordered  to 
keep  a  record  of  all  orders  and  certificates  con- 
cerning ministers  recommended  to  sequestra- 
tors, and  to  enter  them  in  a  register-book.  This 
continued  for  about  a  year,  till  the  new  direc- 
tory and  form  of  church  government  took  place. 

Towards  the  latter  end  of  this  year  died  Will- 
iam Chillingworth,  AM.,  ^hom  I  mention,  not 
as  a  Puritan,  but  as  a  witness  against  some  of 
those  hardships  the  present  Dissenters  complain 
of;  he  was  born  at  Oxford,  1602,  and  educated 
in  Magdalen  College,  of  which  he  became  fellow 
in  June,  1628.  He  afterward  turned  Roman 
Catholic,  and  went  to  the  Jesuits'  College  at 
St.  Omer's,  where  not  being  thoroughly  satis- 
lied  in  some  of  their  principles,  he  returned  to 
England  in  1631,  and  having  embraced  the  reli- 
gion of  the  Church  of  England,  published  an 
excellent  treatise,  entitled  "The  Religion  of 
Protestants  a  safe  Way  to  Salvation,"  for  which 
he  was  preferred  to  the  chancellorship  of  the 
Church  of  Sarum,  and  made  master  of  Wyg- 
ston  Hospital,  in  Leicester.  He  was  inserted 
in  the  list  with  other  Loyalists  to  be  created 
D.D.  in  the  year  1642,  but  came  not  thither  to 
receive  that  honour.  It  was  the  general  opinion 
of  the  times  that  he  was  a  Socinian,  but  in  his 
last  letter,  at  the  end  of  his  works,  he  appears 
an  Arian.  It  is  very  certain  he  refused  to  sub- 
scribe the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  for  some  years 
after  his  conversion,  (1.)  Because  he  did  not  be- 
lieve the  morality  of  the  fourth  commandment. 
(2.)  Because  he  did  not  agree  to  the  damnatory 
clauses  in  the  Athanasiain  creed,  and,  therefore, 


could  not  read  the  common  prayer.  He  objected 
also  to  the  twentieth  article,  "of  the  Church's 
power  to  decree  rites  and  ceremonies  ;"  to  the 
nineteenth  article,  "  that  works  done  before  the 
grace  of  Christ,  &c.,  are  not  pleasing  to  God  ;" 
and,  indeed,  says  the  writer  of  his  life,  to  the 
articles  in  general,  as  an  imposition  on  men's 
consciences,  much  like  the  authority  which  the 
Ciuirch  of  Rome  assumes.* 

Mr.  Chillingworth  blesses  God,  that  when  he 
had  entertained  some  thoughts  of  subscription, 
two  unexpected  impediments  diverted  him  from 
it;  "for,"  says  he,  "I  profess  since  I  enter- 
tained it  I  never  enjoyed  quiet,  day  nor  night, 
till  now  that  I  have  rid  myself  of  it  again  ;  and 
I  plainly  perceive,  that  if  I  had  swallowed  this 
pill,  howsoever  gilded  over  with  glosses  and 
reservations,  and  wrapped  up  in  conserves  of 
good  intentions  and  purposes,  yet  it  would  nev- 
er have  agreed   nor  stayed  with  me  ;   but   I 
should  have  cast  it  up  again,  and  with  it  what- 
soever preferment  I  should  have  gained  as  the 
wages  of  unrighteousness  ;   but  now,  I  thank 
God,  I  am  resolved  that  I  will  never  do  that 
while  I  am  living  and  in  health,  which  I  would 
not  do  if  I  was  dying ;  and  this  I  am  sure  I 
would  not  do,  and,  therefore,  whenever  I  make 
such  a  preposterous  choice,  I  will  give  you 
leave  to  believe  that  I  am  out  of  my  wits,  or  do 
not  believe  in  God."t     Notwithstanding  these 
resolutions,  he  was  prevailed  with  to  subscribe 
by  his  godfather.  Archbishop  Laud,  to  qualify 
him  for  the  above-mentioned  preferments.   How 
the  pill  was  gilded  over,  is  not  certain  ;   the 
writer  of  his  life  says  he  subscribed  as  articles 
of  peace,  not  of  belief     Mr.  Chillingworth  was 
a  quick  disputant,  and  of  very  high  principles, 
for  in  one  of  his  sermons  before  the  king  he 
says,  that  "the  most  unjust  and  tyrannical  vio- 
lence of  princes  may  not  be  rejected  ;  this  be- 
ing unlawful,  even  though  princes  be  most  im- 
pious, tyrannical,  and  idolatrous."    But  though 
his  political  principles  were  high,  he  was  low 
enough  with  regard  to  the  authority  of  councils, 
fathers,  and  convocations  in  matters  of  faith : 
adhering  steadfastly  to  that  celebrated  declara- 
tion, "  that  the  Bible  alone  is  the  religion  of  a 
Protestant."     He  was  an  excellent  mathemati- 
cian, and  served  as  engineer  in  Arundel  Castle, 
in  Sussex,  in  which  he  was  taken  prisoner,  and 
when  indisposed,  had  the  favour  of  being  lodged 
in  the  bishop's  house  at  Chichester,  where  he 
died,  January  20,  1643-4.     It  is  surprising  that 
Lord  Clarendon  should  say,  "  The  Parliament 
clergy  prosecuted  him  with  all  the  inhumanity 
imaginable,  so  that  by  their  barbarous  usage 
he  died  within  a  few  days,"t  when,  as  he  him- 
self acknowledged,  he  wanted  for  nothing,  and  ^^ 
by  the  interest  of  Dr.  Cheynel,  who  attended 
him  in  his  sickness,  was   courteously  used.^ 


*  Chillingworth's  Life,  p.  273.  t  Ibid.,  p.  79. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  314,  3-25. 

^  Dr.  Cheynel's  kindness  extended  to  the  procu 
ring  a  commodious  lodging  for  Mr.  Chillingworth,  to 
engaging  the  physician,  as  his  symptoms  grew  worse, 
to  renew  his  visits,  and  to  securing  for  him  the  rites 
of  burial,  which  some  would  have  denied  him.  ,  Yet 
he  held  the  opinions  of  Mr.  Chillingworth  in  the 
greatest  detestation,  and  treated  his  name  and  mem- 
ory with  virulence  and  asperity,  as  appears  from  the 
above  speech  at  the  intcrment'of  this  great  mnn.and 
by  a  pamphlet  he  published,  entitled  "  Chilling- 
worthi  Novissima ;  or,  the  Sickness,  PIcresy,  Death, 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


475 


The  doctor  would  have  reasoned  him  out  of 
some  of  his  principles,  but  could  not  prevail, 
and,  therefore,  at  his  interment,  after  a  reflect- 
ing speech  upon  his  character,  threw  his  book, 
entitled  "The  Religion  of  Protestants  a  safe 
Way  to  Salvation,"  into  the  grave,  saying, "  Get 
thee  gone,  thou  cursed  book,  which  has  seduced 
so  many  precious  souls  ;  earth  to  earth,  dust  to 
dust ;  get  thee  into  the  place  of  rottenness,  that 
thou  mayest  rot  with  thy  author,  and  see  cor- 
ruption." A  most  unchristian  and  uncharita- 
ble imprecation  ! 

Among  the  considerable  statesmen  who  died 
this  year  may  be  justly  reckoned  John  Hamp- 
den, Esq.,  of  Buckinghamshire,  a  gentleman  of 
good  extraction,  and  one  of  the  greatest  patri- 
ots of  his  age,  as  appears  by  his  standing  trial 
with  the  king  in  the  case  of  ship-money,  which 
raised  his  reputation  to  a  very  great  height 
throughout  the  kingdom.  He  was  not  a  man 
of  many  words,  but  a  very  weighty  speaker ; 
his  reputation  for  integrity  universal,  and  his 
affections  so  publicly  guided,  that  no  corrupt  or 
private  ends  could  bias  them.  Pie  was,  indeed, 
a  very  wise  man,  of  great  parts  and  modesty, 
and  possessed  of  the  most  absolute  spirit  of 
popularity,  says  Lord  Clarendon,  I  ever  knew. 
He  was  one  of  the  impeached  members  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  and,  in  the  beginning  of 
the  war,  took  the  command  of  a  regiment,  and 
performed  the  duty  of  a  colonel  on  all  occasions 
punctually,  being  a  man  of  great  personal  cour- 
age, not  to  be  tired  out  by  the  most  laborious, 
and  of  parts  not  to  be  imposed  upon  by  the 
most  subtle,  but  because  he  fought  against  the 
court.  Lord  Clarendon  says  (if  this  be  not  an  in- 
terpolation of  the  editors)  that  he  had  a  head  to 
contrive,  a  tongue  to  persuade,  and  a  hand  to 
execute  any  mischief-.*  which  is  very  unac- 

and  Burial  of  William  Chillingworth,"  &c.,  which 
Bishop  Warburton  calls  "  a  villanous  book ;"  and  tells 
us  that  "  Mr.  Locke  speaks  of  it  in  the  harshest  terms, 
but  not  more  severely  than  it  deserves."  The  fact 
is,  as  Bishop  Hoadley  states  it,  "  Dr.  Cheynel  was  a 
rigid,  zealous  Presbyterian ;  exactly  orthodox  ;  very 
unwilling  that  any  should  be  supposed  to  go  to  heav- 
en but  in  the  right  way.  And  this  was  that  one  way 
in  which  he  himself  was  settled ;  and  in  which  he 
seems  to  be  as  sincere,  as  honest,  and  charitable  as 
his  bigotry  and  his  cramped  notions  of  God's  pendi- 
um  could  permit  him  to  be."  Years  after  this,  Dr. 
Snape,  a  clergyman  of  name  in  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, displayed  the  like  temper  and  spirit  to  Dr. 
Cheynel,  in  the  Bangorian  controversy,  which  I  men- 
tion to  introduce  Bishop  Hoadley's  excellent  conclu- 
sion from  both  these  instances  of  bigotry,  namely, 
"  that  an  intemperate  heat  scorches  up  charity  in  one 
church  as  well  as  in  another,  and  everywhere  equal- 
ly lays  waste  the  most  amiable  duties  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  and  that  men  of  the  most  opposite  persua- 
sions, agreeing  in  the  same  narrowness  of  principles 
and  notions  of  zeal,  though  differing  from  one  anoth- 
er in  many  particulars,  even  to  a  degree  of  mutual 
destruction,  can  kindly  and  lovingly  unite  in  con- 
demning the  best  principles  of  all  religion  as  subtle 
atheism,  or  indifference,  or  infidelity,  and  in  declaring 
them  to  be  the  principles  of  all  irreligion  when  their 
several  schemes  and  systems  are  likely  to  suffer  from 
them."  So  the  sentiments  on  toleration,  charity, 
and  free  inquiry,  as  they  were  defended  by  Chilling- 
worth  and  by  Hoadley's  friend,  were  condemned  by 
Cheynel  and  Snape. — Hoadley's  Works,  vol.  ii.,  p. 
622,  folio  ;  and  Palmer's  Nonconformists'  Memorial, 
-vol.  ii ,  1).  466.— Ed. 

*  Oldmixon's  History  of  the  Stuarts,  p.  227. 

Dr.  Grey  endeavours  to  establish  the  authenticity 


countable  in  one  whom  his  lordship  had  com- 
mended as  a  person  not  only  of  cheerfulness 
and  affability,  but  of  extraordinary  sobriety  and 
strictness  of  life.  Mr.  Hampden  was  certainly, 
in  all  respects,  one  of  the  greatest  and  best  men 
of  his  age,  and  the  Parliament  sustained  an  ir- 
reparable loss  in  his  death,  which  happened 
June  24,  about  a  week  after  his  shoulder-bone 
had  been  broken  by  a  musket-ball,  in  a  skirmish 
with  Prince  Rupert's  forces  in  Calgrave  Field.* 


of  this  passage  by  a  large  quotation  from  the  Week- 
ly Miscellany,  by  Richard  Hooker,  of  the  Temple, 
Esq.  To  Mr.  Neal's  account  of  Hampden  it  may  be 
added,  that  he  was  born  in  the  year  1594,  and  died 
the  24th  of  June,  1643,  leaving  ten  children  behind 
him.  The  Parliament,  as  a  testimony  of  his  service 
to  the  public,  ordered  the  sum  of  £5000  to  be  paid 
to  his  assignees  out  of  the  excise.  Mr.  Baxter  has 
placed  him  with  the  saints  in  heaven  (Everlasting 
Rest,  p.  82,  83) ;  and  Lord  Cobham  with  the  wor- 
thies in  his  elysium  at  Stow.  Under  his  bust  is  this 
inscription : 

"JOHN  HAMPDEN, 
"  Who,  with  great  spirit  and  consummate  abilities,  be- 
gan an  opposition  to  an  arbitraiy  court,  in  defence  of 
the  liberties  of  his  country  ;  supported  them  in  Par- 
liament, and  died  for  them  in  the  field." 

He  argued  the  case  of  ship-money  with  the  judges 
for  twelve  days  together,  in  the  Exchequer  Cham- 
ber ;  and  "  had  more  reason  to  triumph,"  says  Mr. 
Granger,  "  from  his  superiority  in  the  argument,  than 
the  crown  had  for  its  victory  in  the  cause." — Bio- 
graphical History  of  England,  vol.  ii.,  p.  212,  8vo,  and 
Mrs.  Macaulai/s  History,  8vo,  vol.  ili.,  p.  432,  433, 
note,  in  which  work  the  character  of  this  great  man 
is  fully  delineated. — Ed. 

*  The  dying  language  of  Hampden  was,  "  O  Lord, 
save  my  bleeding  country.  Have  these  realms  in 
thy  special  keeping.  Confound  and  level  in  the 
dust  those  who  would  rob  the  people  of  their  liberty 
and  lawful  prerogative.  Let  the  king  see  his  error, 
and  turn  the  hearts  of  his  wicked  counsellors  from 
the  malice  and  wickedness  of  their  designs.  Lord 
Jesus,  receive  my  soul!"  Again,  recurring  to  his 
native  land,  he  prayed,  "  O  Lord,  save  my  country ! 
O  Lord,  be  merciful  to — "  here  his  speech  failed  him, 
and,  falling  back  on  his  bed,  he  expired.— i/orti  Nu- 
gent's  Hampden,  vol.  ii.,  p.  438.  Little  need  be  said 
respecting  the  character  of  John  Hampden.  It  is 
sufficiently  apparent  throughout  his  history,  and  has 
uniformly  commanded  the  respect  and  admiration 
of  impartial  men.  His  fearless  resistance  of  the 
tyranny  of  Charles,  when  that  tyranny  was  both  pow- 
erful and  mercdess  ;  the  calm  and  dignified  tone  in 
which  he  ruled  the  early  deliberations  of  the  Long 
Parliament ;  and  the  energy  and  decision  with  which 
he  sought  to  bring  the  struggle  to  an  issue  when  an 
appeal  to  arms  was  inevitable,  all  prove  him  to  have 
been  as  consummate  a  statesman  as  he  was  an  m- 
llexibly  upright  man.  Even  Clarendon,  whde  en 
deavouring  to  injure  his  reputation,  is  compelled  tc 
do  homage  to  bis  transcendent  abilities  and  surpass 
ing  prudence  of  address.  '■  He  was,  indeed,"  remarks 
the  party  historian,  "  a  very  wise  man,  and  of  great 
parts,  and  possessed  with  the  most  absolute  spirit 
of  popularity,  and  the  most  absolute  faculties  to  gov- 
ern the  people,  of  any  man  I  ever  knew."  To  a  re- 
markably equable  temper  he  united  a  self  control  and 
clearness  of  perception,  which  rendered  him  an  emi- 
nently successful  parliamentary  speaker,  while  his 
unspotted  integrity  and  firm  adherence  to  principle 
constituted  him  the  most  formidable  opponent  of  the 
court.  With  the  eye  of  a  skilful  tactician  he  sur- 
veyed the  forces  arrayed  against  him ;  allowed  them 
to  expend  their  strength,  to  pour  forth  the  vials  of 
their  wrath,  or  to  justify  themselves  behind  the  pre- 
cedents of  a  former  age ;  and  then,  when  their  vic- 
tory was  supposed  to  be  won,  and  tokens  of  exulta- 
tion were  displayed,  the  matchless  power  of  Hamp- 
den's eloquence  was  felt.    "  He  had  so  subtle  a  way 


476 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


John  Pym,  Esq.,  member  for  Tavistock  in 
all  the  Parliaments  of  King  Charles  I.,  was  a 
man  of  the  greatest  experience  in  parliamenta- 
ry affairs  of  any  man  of  his  time.  He  was  an 
admirable  speaker,  and  hy  the  gravity  of  his 
countenance  and  graceful  behaviour,  could  turn 
the  House  which  way  he  pleased ;  he  was  a 
man  of  business  and  for  moderate  measures, 
according  to  Lord  Clarendon,  till  the  king  im- 
peached him  of  high  treason.  In  his  private 
life  he  was  eminent  for  true  piety  and  exactness 
of  manners ;  and  though  inclined  to  the  Puri- 
tan party,  not  averse  to  the  hierarchy  with  some 
emendations.  He  was  one  of  the  lay-members 
of  the  Assembly  of  Divines,  and  at  the  head  of 
all  public  business,  the  fatigue  of  which  wore 
out  his  constitution,  and  put  an  end  to  his  life, 
December  8,  1643,  in  the  sixtieth  year  of  his 
age.  The  news  of  no  man's  death  was  more 
welcome  to  the  Royalists  than  his,  who  spread 
a  report  that  he  died  of  the  morbus  pediculosus  ;* 
to  confute  which  aspersion,  his  body  was  expo- 
sed to  public  view  far  many  days,  and  at  last 
interred,  in  the  most  honourable  manner,  in 
Westminster  Abbey.  A  little  before  his  death, 
he  published  his  own  vindication  to  the  world 
against  the  many  slanders  that  went  abroad 
concerning  him,  wherein  "  he  declares  himself 
a  faithful  son  of  the  Protestant  religion,  and  of 
the  orthodox  doctrme  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. He  confesses  he  had  been  for  reforming 
abuses  in  the  government  of  the  Church,  when 
the  bishops,  instead  of  taking  care  of  men's 


of  interrogating,  and,  under  the  notion  of  doubts,  in- 
sinuating his  objections,  that  he  infu.sed  his  own  opin- 
ions nito  those  from  whom  he  pretended  to  learn  and 
receive  them.  And  even  with  tli^ m  who  were  able  to 
preserve  themselves  from  his  infusions,  and  discern- 
ed those  opinions  to  be  fixed  in  him  with  which  they 
could  not  comply,  he  always  left  the  character  of  an 
ingenious  and  conscientious  person." 

To  his  profound  sagacity  as  a  statesman,  and  his 
skill  as  a  parliamentary  leader,  he  added  an  enlighten- 
ed patriotism,  and  the  sterling  virtues  of  Christianity. 
On  the  whole,  it  may  be  pronounced  with  safety, 
that  English  history  records  no  purer  or  brighter  ex- 
ample of  public  virtue  and  of  private  excellence  than 
was  exhibited  in  the  career  of  John  Hampden,  Con- 
sistent from  the  first,  that  career  was  happily  termi- 
nated before  its  lustre  had  been  dimmed,  or  its  beau- 
ty impaired  by  the  mists  of  human  passion;  and  he 
now  shines  forth  the  idol  and  the  pattern  of  all  suc- 
ceeding worthies. — Dr.  Price's  History  of  Noncon- 
formity, vol.  ii.,  p.  303-4. — C. 

*  Dr.  Grey  has  the  candour  to  discredit  this  re- 
port ;  and  says,  from  the  funeral  sermon  for  Mr.  Pym 
by  Mr.  Marshal,  that  it  was  confuted  by  the  testimo- 
ny of  near  a  thousand  people  who  saw  the  corps, 
and  of  eight  physicians  who  were  present  at  the 
opening  of  the  body.  Yet  the  doctor  repeats,  from 
Clarendon,  the  calumnies  of  those  who  accused  him 
of  raising  considerable  sums  by  dishonest  practices, 
of  corrupting  witnesses,  and  selling  his  protection 
for  bribes;  though  he  was  exculpated  before  the  tri- 
bunal of  Parliament,  vindicated  his  conduct  by  his 
own  pen,  and  left  his  private  fortune  at  so  low  an 
ebb,  that  the  Parliament  expended  a  considerable 
sum  in  the  payment  of  his  debts  ;  an  evidence  sufR- 
•^ient  of  itself  to  confute  his  enemies.  Mr.  Pym  was 
•ailed,  m  early  life,  Phoshi  delicicB,  Icpos  pmllas.  He 
ivas  commonly  called  "King  Pym;"  and  from  his 
experience  in  the  forms  of  Parliament,  his  knowledge 
rfthe  law  and  Constitution,  his  powers  of  argument 
md  elocution,  and  his  known  honesty  and  integrity, 
le  enjoyed  an  unrivalled  authority  in  the  Lower 
House.— ATrs.  Macaulay,  vol.  iv.,  p.  92,  94;  and 
Granger's  Biographical  History,  vol.  ii.,  p.  211. — Ed. 


souls,  were  banishing  their  bodies  into  the  most 
desolate  places  ;  bringing  in  new  canons,  Ar- 
minian  and  Pelagian  errors,  and  such  a  number 
of  rites  and  ceremonies  as  the  people  were  not 
able  to  bear.  When  since  that  time  they  had, 
as  much  as  in  them  lay,  fomented  the  civil  dif- 
ferences between  the  king  and  his  Parliament, 
abetting  and  encouraging  malignants  with  large 
supplies  of  men  and  money,  and  stirring  up  the 
people  to  tumults  by  their  seditious  sermons. 
For  these  reasons,"  says  he,  "  I  gave  my  opin- 
ion for  abolishing  their  functions,  which  I  con- 
ceive may  as  well  be  done  as  the  dissolution  of 
monasteries,  monks,  and  friars  was  in  King 
Henry  the  Eighth's  time.  He  concludes  with 
declaring  that  he  was  not  the  author  of  the 
present  distractions  ;  with  acknowledging  the 
king  for  his  lawful  sovereign,  but  thinks,  when 
he  was  proscribed  for  a  traitor,  merely  for  the 
service  of  his  country,  no  man  can  blame  him 
for  taking  care  of  his  own  safety,  by  flying  for 
refuge  to  the  protection  of  Parliament,  who 
were  pleased  to  make  his  case  their  own."* 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE     OXFORD     PARLIAMENT. PROGRESS     OF     THE 

WAR. VISITATION  OP  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CAM- 
BRIDGE BY  THE  EARL  OF  MANCHESTER. COM- 
MITTEES FOR  PLUNDERED,  SEQUESTERED,  AND 
SCANDALOUS  MINISTERS. 

The  campaign  being  ended  without  any  pros- 
pects of  peace,  both  parties  endeavoured  to 
strengthen  themselves  by  new  and  sovereign 
acts  of  power.  The  Parliament  experiencing 
the  want  of  a  great  seal,  for  many  purposes, 
gave  orders  that  one  should  be  made.f  They 
continued  to  list  soldiers,  to  levy  taxes,  and  to 
use  every  method   to   support   their    cause,t 

*  John  Pym,  who  died  in  December  of  the  same 
year,  was  cast  in  a  ditferent  mould  from  Hampden. 
He  was  more  moderate  in  his  ecclesiastical  views, 
and  would  probably  have  preferred  a  reduced  epis- 
copacy, such  as  Usher  advocated,  to  any  other  form 
of  church  government.  But  the  efforts  of  the  bish- 
ops to  widen  the  misunderstanding  between  the  king 
and  his  Parliament,  and  their  zeal  in  aiding  the  arms 
of  the  former,  induced  him  to  concur  in  the  abolition 
of  their  functions. 

His  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  forms  of  par- 
liamentary procedure,  combined  with  unwearied 
diligence,  extensive  researches,  matchless  skill  in 
the  arrangement  of  public  business,  and  an  unspot- 
ted integrity,  secured  him  great  influence  in  the 
House.  His  style  of  oratory  was  masculine  and 
nervous,  and  effected  its  purpose  by  a  straightfor- 
wardness and  honesty,  rather  than  by  any  brilliancy 
of  conception  or  loftiness  of  intellectual  range.  "  He 
had  a  very  comely  and  grave  way  of  expressing  him- 
self," says  Clarendon,  "  with  great  volubility  of 
words,  natural  and  proper;  and  understood  the  tem- 
per and  affections  of  the  kingdom  as  well  as  any 
man  ;  and  had  observed  the  errors  and  mistakes  in 
government,  and  knew  well  how  to  make  them  ap- 
pear greater  than  they  were." — Dr.  Price's  Hist,  of 
Noncnrifarmity.  vol.  ii.,  p.  305,  306. — C. 

t  Rushvvoith,  vol.  v.,  p.  560. 

i  "  What  was  all  this,"  says  Dr.  Grey,  "but  high 
treason '?"  To  confirm  his  opinion,  he  refers  to  Dr. 
Wood's  Institute  of  the  Laws  of  England,  and  to  the 
25th  of  Edward  III.,  cap.  ii.,  as  authorities  to  show 
that  the  acts  of  Parliament  were  acts  of  treason. 
As  if  laws  formed  to  preserve  the  allegiance  of  the 
subjects  to  a  lung  acting  constitutionally,  and  fulfill- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


477 


which  their  policy  suggested  and  their  necessi- 
ty urged.  On  the  other  hand,  the  king  raised 
contributions  witiiout  form  of  law  ;*  ordered 
the  removal  of  the  courts  of  justice  from  West- 
minster ;  and  that  he  might  seem  to  act  in  a 
parliamentary  way,  summoned  the  members 
who  had  been  expelled  the  houses,  and  all  oth- 
ers willing  to  withdraw  from  the  rebellious  city 
of  London,  to  meet  him  at  Oxford,  t  January  22, 
1643-4,  which  was,  in  effect,  disannulling  the 
act  for  continuing  of  the  present  Parliament. 
In  obedience  to  the  proclamation,  there  appear- 
ed forty-nine  peers,  and  one  hundred  and  forty- 
one  of  the  House  of  Commons,  not  reckoning 
those  employed  in  his  majesty's  service,  or  ab- 
sent with  leave.  Lord  Clarendon  sayst  the  ap- 
pearance of  both  houses  with  the  king  was  su- 
perior in  number,  as  well  as  quality,  to  those 
at  Westminster;  which  must  be  a  mistake; 
for  though  the  majority  of  peers  were  on  that 
side,  Mr.  Whitelocke>^  assures  us,  that  upon  a 
call  of  the  House  of  Commons,  the  very  day 
the  others  were  to  meet  at  Oxford,  there  were 
present  two  hundred  and  eighty  members,  not 
reckoning  one  hundred  more,  who  were  enga- 
ged in  their  service  in  the  several  counties. 
This  is  a  very  considerable  majority  ;  though 
if  there  had  been  only  forty,  the  king  could  not 
have  prorogued  or  dissolved  them  without 
their  own  consent.  However,  the  Oxford 
members  styled  themselves  the  Parliament, 
Lord  Littleton  being  speaker  for  the  peers,  and 
Sergeant  Evers  for  the  Commons. II  Their 
first  step  was  to  satisfy  the  world  they  desired 
peace,  such  a  peace,  to  use  the  king's  own 
words,ir  "  wherein  God's  true  religion  may  be 
secured  from  the  danger  of  popery,  sectaries, 
and  innovations  :  the  crown  may  possess  those 
just  prerogatives,  which  may  enable  me  to  gov- 
ern my  people  according  to  law,  and  the  sub- 
jects be  confirmed  in  those  rights  which  I  have 
granted  them  in  Parliament,  to  which  I  shall 
be  ready  to  add  such  new  graces  as  I  shall  find 
may  most  conduce  to  their  happiness."  They 
laid  an  excise  upon  tobacco,  wine,  strong  wa- 
ters, ale,  cider,  grocery  and  mercery  wares, 
soap,  salt,  and  butcher's  meat,  and  subscribed 

ing  faithfully  his  part  of  the  political  contract,  appli- 
ed to  extraordinary  emergencies,  and  to  a  sovereign 
who  had  violated  the  Constitution.  As  if  laws  made 
to  restrain  individuals  bound  the  majority  of  the  rep- 
resentative body  of  the  nation. — See  also  Rapin,  vol. 
ii.,  p.  495,  folio.— Ed. 

*  "  And  pray,"  asks  Dr.  Grey,  "  what  form  of  law 
had  the  rebels  for  raising  contributions?"  That 
form  of  law,  our  readers  will  probably  reply,  and 
that  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  which  invest  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  people  with  the  power  and  right 
of  appointing  the  ta.xes. — Ed. 

t  The  impolicy  of  this  step  is  forcibly,  though 
somevvhat  jocularly,  represented  by  Mr.  Selden  : 
"The  kmg  calling  his  friends  from  the  Parliament," 
eaid  this  great  man,  "  because  he  had  use  of  them  at 
Oxford,  is  as  if  a  man  should  have  use  of  a  little 
piece  of  wood,  and  he  runs  down  into  the  cellar,  and 
takes  the  spigot :  in  the  mean  time  all  the  beer  runs' 
about  the  house  :  when  his  friends  are  absent  the 
king  will  be  lost." —  Table-  Talk  on  the  Word  King. — 
Ed.  t  Clarendon's  Remains,  p.  165. 

^  Memoirs,  p.  70. 

II  Rushworth,  p.  567,  688.  Rapin,  p.  496,  502, 
foho.     Oldmixon's  History  of  the  Stuarts,  p.  240. 

il  On  another  occasion,  in  his  speech  to  the  in- 
habitants of  Somersetshire,  July  13, 1644. — Ed. 


considerable  sums  of  money  for  support  of  the 
war  ;  they  declared  the  Scots  then  entering 
England  with  an  army  traitors  ;  and  the  Lords 
and  Commons  at  Westminster,  guilty  of  high 
treason  for  inviting  them,  as  well  as  for  coun 
terfeiting  the  great  seal.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Parliament  at  Westminster  would  not  ac- 
knowledge the  Oxford  members,  or  receive  a 
message  from  them  under  the  character  of  a 
Parliament,  but  expelled  them  their  house,  ex- 
cept they  returned  to  their  seats  within  a  lim- 
ited time.*  April  16,  1644,  the  king  prorogued 
his  Oxford  members  to  November  following, 
when  they  fell  under  his  displeasure,  for  advi- 
sing to  pacific  measures  at  the  treaty  of  Ox- 
bridge, which  was  then  upon  the  carpet,  and  in 
a  fair  way  of  producing  an  accommodation. 
This  was  so  disagreeable  to  the  queen  and  her 
Roman  Catholic  counsellors,  that  they  never 
left  off  teazing  the  unhappy  king,  till  he  had 
dismissed  them,  and  broke  off  the  treaty ;  an 
account  of  which  he  sent  her  in  the  following 
letter,  which  seems  to  breathe  an  air  of  too 
great  satisfaction. 

"  Dear  heart, 
"  What  I  told  thee  last  week  concerning  a 
good  parting  with  our  Lords  and  Commons 
here,  was  on  Monday  last  handsomely  perform- 
ed :  now  if  I  do  anything  unhandsome,  or  dis- 
advantageous to  myself  or  friends,  in  order  to  a 
treaty,  it  will  be  merely  my  own  fault.  Now  I 
promise  thee,  if  the  treaty  be  renewed  (which 
I  believe  it  will  not)  without  some  eminent  good 
success  on  my  side,  it  shall  be  to  my  honour 
and  advantage,  I  being  now  as  well  free  from 
the  place  of  base  and  mutinous  motiont  (that 
is  to  say,  our  mungrel  Parliament  here)  as  of 
the  chief  causers,  for  whom  I  may  justly  ex- 
pect to  be  children  by  thee,  for  having  suffered 
thee  to  be  vexed  by  them."|: 

Mr.  Whitelocke  says  this  Assembly  sat  again 
at  Oxford  in  the  year  1645,  and  voted  against 
the  directory,  and  for  the  common  prayer  ;  but 
the  king's  cause  being  grown  desperate,  they 
soon  after  shifted  for  themselves,  and  made 
their  peace  at  Westminster,  upon  the  best  terms 
they  could  obtain. 

On  the  19th  of  January,  1643-4,  the  Scots 
army,  consisting  of  twenty-one  thousand  meji, 
under  the  command  of  General  Leven,  crossed 
the  Tweed  at  Berwick,  and  entered  England. 
The  two  houses  sent  a  committee  to  meet 
them,  which  being  joined  by  another  of  that 
nation,  was  called  the  Committee  of  both  King- 
doms,^ and  were  a  sort  of  camp  Parliament,  to 
direct  the  motions  of  the  army,  which  after 
some  time  united  with  the  Lord  Fairfax's  for- 
ces, and  with  those  under  the  command  of  the 
Earl  of  Manchester  and  Lieutenant-general 
Cromwell,  from  the  associated  counties.  The 
united  armies  laid  siege  to  the  city  of  York, 


*  Rushworth,  vol.  v.,  p.  383.  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p. 
497,  506,  folio. 

t  "  There  is  no  circumstance,"  observes  Bishop 
Warburton,  "  that  bears  harder  on  the  king's  con- 
duct than  this  It  is  not  to  be  conceived  that  these 
men,  who  hazarded  all  to  support  the  king's  right, 
could  advise  him  to  anything  base  in  a  mutinous 
manner.  I  doubt  that  this  is  too  strong  a  proof  that 
nothing  less  than  arbitrary  government  would  heart- 
ily satisfy  him."— Ed.  |  Rapin,  p.  512,  foho. 

<^  Rushworth,  vol.  vi.,  p.  603. 


478 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


which  Prince  Rupert  having  relieved,  occasion- 
ed the  battle  of  Marston  Moor,  wherein  the 
prince  was  routed,  with  the  loss  of  three  thou- 
sand men  and  his  whole  train  of  artillery  :  and 
thereupon  the  Marquis  of  Newcastle,  leaving 
the  royal  army,  embarked  with  divers  lords  and 
gentlemen  for  Hamburgh,  Prince  Rupert  reti- 
ring towards  Chester,  and  deserting  all  the 
northern  garrisons  to  the  mercy  of  the  enemy, 
which,  falling  into  their  hands  next  summer, 
concluded  the  war  in  those  parts. 

His  majesty,  however,  had  better  success  in 
the  west,  where,  being  strengthened  by  Prince 
Maurice,  he  followed  the  Earl  of  Essex,  and 
shut  up  his  army  within  the  narrow  parts  of 
Cornwall,  so  that  he  could  neither  engage  nor 
retreat.*  Here  the  king  invited  the  earl  to 
make  his  peace,  but  he  choosing  rather  to  re- 
tire in  a  boat  to  Plymouth,  left  his  men  to  the 
fortune  of  war.  As  soon  as  the  general  was 
gone,  the  horse,  under  the  command  of  Sir 
William  Balfour,  bravely  forced  their  way 
through  the  royal  quarters  by  night ;  but  the 
foot,  under  the  command  of  Major-general 
Skippon,  were  obliged  to  surrender  their  arms, 
artillery,  ammunition,  and  baggage^  consisting 
of  forty  brass  cannon,  two  hundred  barrels  of 
powder,  match  and  ball  proportionable,  seven 
hundred  carriages,  and  between  eight  and  nine 
hundred  arms,  and  to  swear  not  to  bear  arms 
against  the  king  till  they  came  into  Hampshire. 
This  was  the  greatest  disgrace  the  Parliament's 
forces  underwent  in  the  course  of  the  war,  the 
foot  being  forced  to  travel  in  a  naked  and  starv- 
ing condition  to  Portsmouth,  where  they  were 
supplied  with  new  clothes  and  arms.  And  now, 
again,  the  king  made  otTers  of  such  a  peace  as, 
he  says,  he  had  been  labouring  for,  that  is,  to 
be  restored  to  his  prerogatives  as  before  the 
war,  but  the  houses  would  not  submit. 

Upon  the  defeat  of  the  Earl  of  Essex,  his 
majesty  resolved  to  march  directly  for  London, 
and  upon  the  road  issued  a  proclamation,  Sep- 
tember 30,  1644,  requiring  all  his  loving  sub- 
jects to  appear  in  arms,  and  accompany  him 
in  his  present  expedition.!  This  gave  rise  to 
a  combination  of  men,  distinguished  by  the 
name  of  Clubmen,  who  associated  in  Worces- 
tershire and  Dorsetshire,  agreeing  to  defend 
themselves  against  the  orders  both  of  king  and 
Parliament.  Their  increase  was  owing  to  the 
prodigious  ravages  of  the  king's  forces  in  their 
march.  Prince  Rupert  was  a  fiery  youth,  and, 
with  his  flying  squadrons  of  horse,  burned 
towns  and  villages,  destroying  the  countries 
where  he  came, -and  indulging  his  soldiers  in 
plunder  and  blood.  In  Wales,  he  drove  away 
the  people's  cattle,  rifled  their  houses,  and 
spoiled  their  standing  corn.  Aged  and  unarm- 
ed people  were  stripped  naked,  some  murdered 
in  cool  blood,  and  others  half  hanged,  and  burn- 
ed, and  yet  suffered  to  live, J     "  Lord  Goring, 

*  Rnshworth,  vol.  v.,  p.  C91,  701,  705,  710. 

t  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  504,  folio. 

X  Whitelocke,  p.  62,  87,  103. 

The  reference  here,  in  the  former  editions  of  Mr. 
Neal,  is  to  p.  87  of  Whitelocke's  Memoirs,  where  all 
that  is  said  concerning  Prince  Rupert  is,  "  that  he 
took  in  Liverpool  a  garrison  of  the  Parliament's  in 
Lancashire,  but  they  first  shipped  all  their  arms, 
ammunition,  and  portable  goods,  and  most  of  the  of- 
ficers and  soldiers  went  on  ship-board,  while  a  few 
made  good  the  fort,  which  they  rendered  to  the 


the  king's  general  of  the  horse,  was  one  of  the 
most  finished  debauchees  of  the  age,  and  want- 
ed nothing  but  industry  to  make  him  as  emi- 
nent and  successful  in  the  highest  attempts  of 
wickedness  as  ever  any  man  was.  Wilmot, 
the  lieutenant-general,  was  as  great  a  debau- 
chee as  the  other,  and  had  no  more  regard  to 
his  promises,  or  any  rules  of  honour  and  integ- 
rity."* Sir  Richard  Grenville,  who  command- 
ed the  army  before  Plymouth,  is  represented 
by  the  noble  historian  as  having  been  exceed- 
ing barbarous  and  cruel  in  Ireland,  hanging  up 
old  men  and  women  of  quality,  even  though 
they  were  bed-rid,  if  he  did  not  find  the  plunder 
he  expected ;  when  he  came  into  the  west,  he 
exercised  all  kinds  of  cruelty,  and  would  some- 
times make  one  of  the  company  hang  all  the 
rest,  contrary  to  the  Jaw  of  arms,  t 

The  licentiousness  of  the  king's  soldiers  was 
not  inferior  to  that  of  their  officers  :  for  having 
no  regular  pay,  they  committed  rapines  and 
plunders,  without  distinction  of  friends  or  foes  ; 
and  were  infamous  for  the  most  execrable 
oaths,  and  all  kinds  of  impiety.  "  Lord  Goring's 
horse,"  says  the  noble  historian,  "  committed 
horrid  outrages  and  barbarities  in  Hampshire, 
and  infested  the  borders  of  Dorsetshire,  Somer- 


prince  upon  quarter,  yet  were  all  put  to  the  sword." 
"  This,  hideed,"  says  Dr.  Grey, "  was  bad  enough,  but 
not  quite  so  bad  as  Mr.  Neal  has  represented  it.  Not 
one  word  of  stripping  aged  and  unarmed  people  na- 
ked, or  murdering  people  in  cold  blood,  or  of  half 
hanging  or  burning  others.  A  dismal  character  of 
Prince  Rupert  this,  indeed,  had  we  not  reason  to 
call  the  truth  of  it  in  question."  The  references 
which  we  have  now  supplied  will  show  that  the 
truth  of  this  character  ought  not  to  have  been  ques- 
tioned, and  that  it  was  drawn  from  facts  stated  by 
Mr.  Whitelocke  ;  from  whom  we  will  give  another 
instance  of  the  severity  with  which  Prince  Rupert, 
at  the  commencement  of  his  military  career,  pursued 
his  conquests,  and  of  the  cruelty  of  the  royal  party 
from  the  beginning,  before  mutual  provocations  had 
inflamed  their  passions,  or  they  had  been  familiarized 
to  scenes  of  blood.  When  the  prince  had  taken  the 
magazine  of  the  county,  at  Cirencester,  and  one 
thousand  one  hundred  prisoners,  he  sent  these  cap- 
lives,  tied  together  with  cords,  almost  naked,  beaten 
and  driven  along  like  dogs,  in  triumph  to  Oxford, 
where  the  king  and  the  lords  looked  on  them,  and 
too  many  smiled  at  their  misery. — Memoirs,  p.  64. — 
Ed. 

*  The  reader  will  be  surprised  when  he  is  told 
that  Dr.  Grey  discredits  this  character  of  the  Lieuten- 
ant-general Wilmot,  though  it  is  given  from  Lord 
Clarendon,  and  opposes  to  it  a  narrative  of  his  lord- 
ship,* in  vvhich  he  relates,  that  Wilmot,  when  he 
was  before  Marlborough,  gave,  not  only  his  life,  but 
his  liberty,  to  a  spy  whom  he  had  apprehended. 
This  Dr.  Grey  extols  as  a  generous  act,  when,  ac- 
cording to  the  statement  he  himself  gives  of  it  from 
Clarendon,  it  was  to  be  ascribed  to  Wilmot's  policy 
and  generalship.  For,  before  he  dismissed  the  spy, 
he  ordered  his  forces  to  be  drawn  up  before  him  in 
the  most  convenient  place,  and  bid  the  fellow  to  look 
well  upon  them,  and  observe,  and  return  to  the  town 
and  report  what  he  had  seen,  with  a  threat  to  the 
magistrates  if  the  garrison  did  not  surrender,  and  a 
promise  of  security  if  it  submitted.'  The  represent- 
ations which  the  man  made  were  of  some  advantage 
to  the  views  of  the  royal  party.  Yet  this  conduct 
of  Wilmot,  which  seems  to  have  been  a  mancEUvrc 
only,  in  order  to  disparage  Mr.  Neal's  delineation  of 
his  general  character,  is  pompously  represented  by 
Dr.  Grey  as  a  singular  instance  of  honour  and  gener- 
osity.— Ed.  t  Clarendon,  vol.  ii.,  p.  534. 


*  Clarendon,  vol  li.,  p-  537,  555. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


4r9 


setshire,  and  Devon  with  unheard-of  rapines, 
so  that  the  people,  who  were  well  devoted  to  the 
king,  wished  for  the  accession  of  any  force  to 
redeem  them."*  They  raised  vast  contrihu- 
tioris  in  several  counties,  without  any  other 
pretence  but  the  king's  sovereign  pleasure.  In 
Cornwall  they  levied  £700  a  week  ;  in  Devon- 
shire £2200  a  week,  and  proportionably  in  other 
parts. t  As  the  army  marched  along  the  coun- 
try they  seized  the  farmers'  horses,  and  carried 
them  away  without  any  consideration.  At 
Barnstable  they  plundered  the  town  and  hang- 
ed the  mayor,  though  it  was  surrendered  upon 
articles.  At  Evesham,  the  king  sent  the  mayor 
and  aldermen  prisoners  to  Oxford.  At  Wood- 
house,  in  Devonshire,  they  seized  fourteen  sub- 
stantial west-country  clothiers,  who  were  not 
in  arms,  and  hanged  them,  by  way  of  reprisal 
for  some  Irish  rebels  that  had  been  executed 
according  to  the  ordinance  of  Parliament.  In 
short,  wherever  they  came  they  lived  at  free 
quarter,  and  took  but  everything  they  could, 
and,  therefore,  no  wonder  the  Clubmen  united 
in  their  own  defence. 

The  king  thought  to  have  reached  London 
hefore  the  Parliament  could  recruit  their  army, 
but  the  two  houses  sent  immediately  six  thou- 
sand arms  and  a  train  of  artillery  to  Ports- 
mouth, with  new  clothing  for  the  Cornish  sol- 
diers. They  ordered  Sir  William  Waller  and 
the  Earl  of  Manchester  to  join  them,  and  de- 
spatched thither  five  thousand  of  the  city  train- 
bands, under  the  command  of  Sir  Jams  Har- 
rington, by  which  accession  they  were  enabled 
to  face  liis  majesty's  army  at  Newbury,  Octo- 
ber 27  ;  and  having  forced  the  town,  which  the 
king  had  fortified,  after  a  smart  engagement, 
they  took  nine  of  his  cannon  and  several  col- 
ours ;  but,  under  covert  of  the  night,  his  maj- 
esty secured  the  rest  of  his  artillery  in  Den- 
nington  Castle,  and  retreated  with  his  broken 
army  to  Oxford.  The  Parliament  generals  left 
a  body  of  troops  to  block  up  the  castle,  being 
assured  it  must  surrender  in  the  winter  for 
want  of  provisions,  when,  on  a  sudden,  a  party 
of  the  king's  horse  raised  the  blockade  and  car- 
ried off  the  artillery  to  Oxford.  This  occasion- 
ed great  murmuring  at  London,  and  quarrels 
among  the  generals,  Essex,  Manchester,  and 
Cromwell,  which  ended  in  the  new-modelling 
of  the  army,  as  will  be  seen  under  the  next 
year. 

While  the  royal  army  was  little  better  than 
a  company  of  banditti,  or  public  robbers,  the 
Parliament's  were  kept  under  the  strictest  dis- 
cipline, and  grew  up,  for  the  most  part,  into 
great  diligence  and  sobriety,  which,  says  Lord 
Clarendon,  begot  courage  and  resolution  in 
them,  and  notable  dexterity  in  achievements 
and  exercises. I     Most  of  their  officers  were 


*  Clarendon,  vol.  it.,  p.  G31.  f  Ibid,,  p.  643. 

t  Clarendon,  vol.  ii.,  p.  348.  This,  Dr.  Grey  ar- 
gues, does  not  agree  with  what  Lord  Clarendon 
says  in  another  place,  viz.,  in  his  History,  vol.  ii.,  p. 
46  and  55,  and  he  insinuates  that  it  is  ndt  true.  As 
if  what  Mr.  Neal  advances  must  be  false,  even  when 
he  quotes  Lord  Clarendon  for  his  assertions,  because 
it  is  apparently  repugnant  to  the  representations  else- 
where given  by  his  lordship's  pen  ;  as  if  it  were  in- 
cumbent on  Mr.  Neal  to  reconcile  this  noble  writer 
to  himself  But  the  veracity  of  Mr.  Neal,  and  the 
consistency  of  Lord  Clarendon  with  himself,  would 
not  have  been  impeached  by  Dr.  Grey  had  he  exam- 


men  of  religion  ;*  their  soldiers  possessed  with 
a  belief  that  their  cause  was  the  cause  of  God, t 
and  that  they  fought  for  the  Protestant  religion 
and  Magna  Charta ;  however,  there  were  among 
them  men  of  dissolute  lives,  who  fought  only 
for  pay  and  plunder  :  strange  complaints  being 
sent  up  froin  Bedfordshire,  Buckinghamshire, 
and  Sussex,  of  the  disorders  of  the  common 
soldiers,  the  Parliament  appointed  a  committee 
to  inquire  into  the  facts,  and  make  examples  of 
the  offenders,  which  put  an  effectual  stop  to 
the  growing  mischief  And  as  the  Parliament 
was  enabled,  by  the  inexhaustible  treasure  of 
the  city  of  London,  to  give  their  soldiers  regu- 
lar pay,  they  had  them  under  such  strict  gov- 
ernment that  they  were  little  or  no  burden  to 
the  towns  and  villages  where  they  were  quar- 
tered, t 

Upon  the  whole,  the  Parliament  affairs  were 
low  at  the  end  of  this  year,  and  their  counsels 
divided  by  reason  of  the  length  of  the  war,  and 
the  king's  were  much  worse ;  for  though  he 
had  triumphed  over  the  Earl  of  Essex  in  Corn- 
wall, and  was  master  of  the  open  country  in 
the  west,  he  had  no  accession  of  real  strength, 
nor  had  taken  any  considerable  garrisons  ;  the 
entrance  of  the  Scots  broke  his  army  in  the- 
north,  and  lost  him  that  part  of  the  kingdom, 
whereby  the  Parliament  were  enabled  to  draw 
off  their  forces  to  the  west ;  and  the  worst  cir- 
cumstance of  all  was,  that  his  majesty,  having 
exhausted  his  treasure,  had  no  way  of  raising 
a  supply,  which  obliged  him  to  connive  at  his 
soldiers'  living  at  free  quarter  ;  his  officers,  be- 
ing poor,  quarrelled  in  the  royal  presence,  and 
carried  their  resentments  to  such  a  height  that 
the   king  himself  could  not   reconcile   them, 


ined  the  passage  to  which  Mr.  Neal  refers ;  by  which 
it  appears  that  both  the  king's  and  the  Parliament's 
army,  at  different  periods,  were  of  different  charac- 
ters ;  and  the  description  which  they  deserved  at  one 
time  did  not  apply  to  another.  The  passage  which 
Mr.  Neal  now  quotes  referred  to  a  later,  and  the 
passage  below,  to  which  Dr.  Grey  directs  his  reader, 
refers  to  a  former  period.  His  lordship  says,  "  Those 
under  the  king's  commanders  grew  insensibly  into 
all  the  license,  disorder,  and  impiety  with  which 
they  had  reproached  the  rebels ;  and  they  into  great 
discipline,  diligence,  and  sobriety." — Ed. 

*  ''Of  pretended  sanctity,"  says  Dr.  Grey,  "in 
which  none  could  e.xceed  them.  They  were  praying 
and  preaching  when  the  enemy  wa.s  at  a  distance, 
and  literally  made  long  prayers  to  devour  widows' 
houses."  He  refers,  then,  to  his  own  appendix  for 
an  instance  of  their  fanatical  humour ;  but  the  au- 
thorities which  he  here  produces  relate  to  the  Scot- 
tish, not  the  English  army. — Ed. 

t  This  repre.sentalion.  Dr.  Grey  thinks,  is  contra- 
ry to  Mr.  Neal's  character  of  them  in  chap,  vii.,  from 
Mr.  Baxter,  who  says,  "  that  the  greatest  part  of  the 
common  soldiers  were  ignorant  men,  of  little  reli- 
gion." But  the  doctor  neither  reverts  to  the  time 
when  this  was  said,  namely,  in  1646,  after  the  army 
had  been  new-modelled,  nor  observes  what  follows 
in  Mr.  Baxter,  which  shows  that  these  ignorant,  irre- 
ligious men  were  many  of  them  such  as  had  belonged 
to  the  royal  corps;  "abundance  of  them  such,"  says 
he.,  "  as  had  been  taken  prisoners,  or  turned  out  of 
garrisons  under  the  king,  and  had  been  soldiers  in 
his  army." — Baxter'' s  Life,  p.  53. — Ed. 

X  Dr.  Grey,  to  confute  these  assertions  of  Mr. 
Neal,  refers  to  papers  which  he  has  given  in  the  ap- 
pendix to  his  second  volume ;  but  the  complaints 
brought  forward  in  these  papers  are  made  of  the 
Scottish  army,  and  to  transactions  of  the  following 
year,  viz.,  1645. — Ed. 


4S0 


HISTORY  OF  THE    PURITANS. 


which  had  a  very  ill  aspect  on  the  succeeding 
campaign.*  The  Parliament  generals,  also, 
were  censuring  each  other's  conduct  in  the 
House,  on  occasion  of  the  escape  of  the  king's 
artillery  from  Bennington  Castle.  The  Earl  of 
Essex's  party  was  charged  with  a  design  of 
protracting  the  war,  in  order  to  an  accommo- 
dation, while  others,  being  weary,  were  for  put- 
tmg  it  to  a  decisive  issue.  In  short,  both  par- 
ties were  in  confusion  and  distress  ;  they  were 
divided  among  themselves,  some  being  for 
peace,  and  others  for  carrying  on  the  war  to 
the  last  extremity.  All  property  was  in  a  man- 
ner lost,  the  farmers  paying  no  rent  to  their 
landlords  ;  nor  could  any  man  be  secure  of 
what  he  possessed,  except  he  buried  it  under 
ground.  The  spirits  of  the  contending  parties 
were  as  much  exasperated  as  ever,  and  there 
w-as  no  seeing  the  end  of  their  troubles. 

To  return  to  the  Church.  The  state  of  the 
controversy  about  ecclesiastical  discipline  was 
now  changed  ;  for  whereas  before  the  entrance 
of  the  Scots  the  Parliament  insisted  only  upon 
a  reformation  of  the  hierarchy,  now  they  were 
engaged  to  attempt  the  total  extirpation  of  it, 
and  to  establish  another  scheme  for  both  king- 
doms in  its  room  ;  though  it  was  a  considerable 
time  before  this  could  be  perfected.  In  the 
mean  while,  they  resolved  to  purge  the  Univer- 
sity of  Cambridge,  which  was  the  headquarters 
of  their  forces,  that  they  might  have  a  succes- 
sion of  clergymen  training  up  in  the  principles 
they  had  espoused. 

The  town  of  Cambridge  was  in  the  interest 
of  the  Parliament,  but  the  colleges  were  so 
many  little  garrisons  for  the  king,  and  sanctua- 
ries of  disaffection  ;  the  university  press  was  at 
his  majesty's  disposal,  and  their  sermons  filled 
with  invectives  against  the  two  houses.  Fre- 
quent quarrels  happened  between  the  townsmen 
and  scholars,  which  would  have  ended  in  the 
ruin  of  the  university,  had  not  the  Parliament 
forbid  the  offering  any  violence  to  the  colleges, 
chapels,  libraries,  and  schools,  under  severe 
penalties.!  Indeed,  the  committee  enjoined  the 
proper  officers  of  the  parish  to  put  in  execution 
the  ordinance  for  destroying  the  relics  of  super- 
stition, whereby  the  paintings  in  windows,  im- 
ages of  the  Deity,  and  a  gl-eat  deal  of  carved 
work,  were  demolished  ;  at  which  the  masters 
and  fellows  were  so  incensed,  that  when  they 
were  ordered  to  repair  the  damages,  they  per- 
emptorily refused,  and  were  fined  40*.  a  college, 
as  the  ordinance  directed. J 

The  heads  of  the  university  raised  a  great 
clamour  at  this  pretended  invasion  of  their 
rights,  as  if  the  Parliament  intended  to  seize  all 
their  revenues,  and  destroy  the  very  fountains  of 
learning  ;  whereupon  the  houses  published  the 
following  ordinance,  January  6,  1643-4,  decla- 
ring "  that  none  of  the  estates,  rents,  and  reve- 
nues of  the  university,  or  of  the  colleges  and 
halls  respectively,  shall  be  sequestered  or  seized 
upon,  or  in  any  wise  disposed  of,  by  virtue  of 
the  ordinance  for  sequestering  the  estates,  rents, 
and  revenues  of  delinquents,  but  shall  remain 
to  the  university,  and  the  respective  halls  and 
colleges,  to  all  intents  and  purposes  as  if  the 
said  ordinance  had  not  been  made  ;  and  the 

*  Clarendon,  vol.  ii.,  389-391. 

t  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  p.  168. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  Ill ;  and  Dr.  Grey,  vol.  ii.,  p.  141. 


rents  and  revenues,  &c.,  are  ordered  to  be  ap- 
proved of  by  the  Earl  of  Manchester,  and  to  be 
applied  to  their  proper  uses  as  heretofore.  But 
if  any  of  the  heads,  fellows,  scholars,  or  other 
officers  were  convicted  of  delinquency,  the  re- 
ceiver was  to  pay  tiieir  dividend  into  the  hands 
of  the  committee  of  sequestrations."* 

Tills  committee  was  founded  upon  an  ordi- 
nance of  January  22,  for  regulating  the  Univer- 
sity of  Cambridge,  and  for  removing  scandalous 
ministers  in  the  seven  associated  counties  :  the 
preamble  sets  forth,  "  that  the  service  of  the 
Parliament  was  retarded,  the  people's  souls 
starved,  by  the  idle,  ill-affected,  and  scandalous 
clergy  of  the  University  of  Cambridge,  and  the 
associated  counties ;  and  that  many  who  were 
willing  to  give  evidence  against  them,  not  be- 
ing able  to  bear  the  charges  of  a  journey  to 
London,  the  Earl  of  Manchester  was  therefore 
empowered  to  appoint  committees  in  all  the  as- 
sociated counties,  to  consist  of  ten  persons,  be- 
ing deputy-lieutenants,  or  such  as  had  been 
nominated  to  committees  by  some  former  ordi- 
nance of  Parliament ;  five  of  these  were  a  quo- 
rum, and  they  were  empowered  to  call  before 
them  all  provosts,  masters,  and  fellows  of  col- 
leges, all  students  and  members  of  the  univer- 
sity, all  ministers  in  any  of  the  counties  of  the 
association,  all  schoolmasters  that  were  scan- 
dalous in  their  lives,  or  ill  affected  to  the  Par- 
liament, or  fomenters  of  this  unnatural  war,  or 
that  shall  wilfully  refuse  obedience  to  the  orders 
of  Parliament,  or  that  have  deserted  their  ordi- 
nary places  of  residence,  not  being  employed  in 
the  service  of  the  king  and  Parliament.  The 
said  committee  was  also  empowered  to  send 
for  witnesses,  and  to  examine  any  complaints 
against  the  forementioned  delinquents  upon 
oath,  and  to  certify  the  names  of  the  persons 
accused  to  the  Earl  of  Manchester,  with  charge 
and  proof,  who  shall  have  power  to  eject  such 
as  he  shall  judge  unfit  for  their  places  ;  to  se- 
quester their  estates,  means,  and  revenues,  and 
to  dispose  of  them  as  he  shall  think  fit,  and 
place  others  in  their  room,  being  first  approved 
by  the  Assembly  of  Divines  sitting  at  West- 
minster. He  had  also  power  to  order  the  Cov- 
enant to  be  administered  where  he  thought  fit, 
and  to  assign  the  fifths  of  sequestered  estates 
for  the  benefit  of  their  wives  and  children. "t 
The  ordinance  makes  no  mention  of  the  doc- 
trine or  discipline  of  the  Church,  seeming  to  be 
levelled  only  against  those  who  took  part  with 
the  king  in  the  war. 

The  Earl  of  Manchester,  who  was  at  the  head 
of  these  sequestrations,  was  styled,  in  the  life- 
time of  his  father.  Lord  Kimbolton,  and  was 
one  of  the  impeached  members  of  the  House  ot 
Commons:  Lord  Clarendon  observes,t  that  "he 
was  of  a  genteel  and  generous  nature  ;  that  his 
natural  civility  and  good  manners  flowed  to  all 
men,  and  that  he  was  never  guilty  of  any  rude- 
ness, even  to  those  whom  he  was  obliged  to 
oppress  ;  that  he  longed  and  heartily  wished  for 
the  restoration,  and  never  forfeited  that  grace 
and  favour  to  which  his  majesty  received  him 
after  his  return."  The  earl  repaired  in  person 
to  Cambridge,  about  the  middle  of  February, 
with  his  two  chaplains,  Mr.  Ashe  and  Mr.  Good, 
and  by  his  warrant  of  the  24th  instant,  required 


*  Husband's  Collections,  p.  409.       t  Ibid.,  p.  415 
t  Clarendon,  vol.  i.,  p.  183;  vol.  ii.,  p.  211,  212. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


481 


the  heads  of  the  several  colleges  and  halls  to 
Bend  him  their  statutes,  with  the  names  of  all 
their  members,  and  to  certify  who  were  present 
and  who  absent,  with  the  express  time  of  their 
discontinuance.*     Two  days  after,  the  othcers 
of  each  college  and  hall  were  ordered  to  give 
speedy  advertisement  to  the  masters,  fellows, 
scholars.  &c.,  to  repair  to  Cambridge  by  the  10th 
of  March,  in  order  to  answer  such  inquiries  as 
should  be  made  by  himself  or  his  commission- 
ers.    But  the  earl  being  informed  that  this  no- 
tice was  too  short,  the  time  was  prolonged  to 
the  3d  of  April,  when  the  earl  summoned  Mr. 
Tunstal  and  Mr.  Palgrave,  fellows  of  Corpus- 
Christi  College,  to  appear  before  the  commis- 
sioners at  the  Bear  Inn,  in  Cambridge,  on  pen- 
alty of  ejectment.     Warrants  of  the  same  na- 
ture  were  sent  to   several  of  the   fellows  of 
Caius,  St.  John's,  Queen's,  Peterhouse,  Sidney, 
Trinity,  Christ's,  Magdalen,  and  Jesus  Colleges  ; 
and  to  Pembroke  and  Clare  Hall ;  who,  not  ap- 
pearing according  to  the  summons,  were,  by  a 
warrant  of  April  8,  ejected,  to  the  number  of 
sixty-five.     The  reasons  assigned  for  their  ex- 
pulsion were,  nonresidence,  and  not  returning 
upon  due  summons,  and  several  other  political 
misdemeanors. t     If  the  parties  ejected  return- 
ed after  this,  they  were  required  not  to  continue 
in  the  university  above  three  days,  on  pain  of 
imprisonment,  and  confiscation  of  their  goods  ; 
their  names  were  put  out  of  the  butteries,  and 
the  profits  of  their  places  reserved  for  their  suc- 
cessors.    Not  one  fellow  or  student  in  Trinity 
Hall  or  Katherine  Hall  was  turned  out,  but  all 
Queen's  College  was  evacuated. 

The  Covenant,  which  was  read  March  18, 
1644,  in  the  churches  and  chapels  of  the  town 
and  university,  and  tendered  to  the  inhabitants 
and  soldiers,  was  not  offered  to  the  whole  uni- 
versity, but  only  to  such  of  whose  disaffection 


they  had  sufficient  evidence.  Archbishop  Til- 
lotson  says,  the  greatest  part  of  the  fellows  of 
King's  College  were  cxemi)ted,  by  the  interest 
of  Dr.  Whichcote  ;  and  no  doubt  others  who 
had  behaved  peaceably  obtained  the  same  fa- 
vour.* Dr.  Berwick,  author  of  the  Querela 
Cantabrigiensis,  a  famous  loyalist,  mentions  an 
oath  of  discovery  for  the  university,  like  that  of 
the  oath  ex  officio;  but  Mr.  Fuller,  the  historian, 
about  the  year  1653,  having  requested  an  ac- 
count of  this  oath  from  Mr.  Ashe,  the  earl's 
chaplain,  he  returned  for  answer,  that  he  le- 
membered  no  such  thing.  Mr.  Fuller  adds,  that 
he  is  upon  just  grounds  daily  confirmed  in  Lis 
confidence,  that  neither  the  Earlof  iManchester, 
nor  any  other  under  him,  by  his  command  or 
consent,  enforced  such  an  oath.t 

The  whole  number  of  graduates  expelled  the 
university  in  this  and  the  following  years,  by 
the  Earl  of  Manchester  and  his  commissioners, 
including  masters  and  fellows  of  colleges,  were, 
according  to  Dr.  Walker,  near  two  hundred,  be- 
sides inferior  scholars,  which  were  something 
more  than  one  half;}  for  the  same  author  tells 
us  in  another  place, ^J  there  were  about  three 
hundred   and   seventy-five   fellowships   in  the 
several  houses  of  the  university ;   above  one 
hundred'  and  fifty  kept  their  places,  and  far  the 
greatest  part  of  the  rest  had  deserted  their  sta- 
tions, and  fled  to  the  king.     There  were  six 
heads  of  colleges  out  of  sixteen  that  complied, 
viz.,  Dr.  Bainbrigge,  of  Christ's  College;   Dr. 
Eden,  of  Trinity  Hall ;   Dr.  Richard   Love,  of 
Ben'et  College  ;  Dr.  Brownrigge,  of  Katherine 
Hall,  ejected  in  the  year  1645  ;  Dr.  Bachcroft, 
of  Caius  College  ;  and  Dr.  Rainbow,  of  Magda- 
len College.     The  ten  who  were  ejected  by  the 
Earl  of  Manchester,  March  13,  or  some  little 
time  after,  with  the  names  of  their  successors, 
are  contained  in  the  following  table  : 


Masters  turned  out. 
Dr.  John  Cosins,  from 
Dr.  Thomas  Pask, 
Dr.  Benjamin  Laney, 
Dr.  Samuel  Collins, 
Dr.  Edward  Martin, 
Dr.  Richard  Stern, 
Dr.  William  Beale, 
Dr.  Thomas  Comber, 
Dr.  R.  Holdsworth, 
Dr.  Samuel  Ward, 

Anno  1645. 
Dr.  Ralph  Brownrigge, 


Colleges. 
Peter  House, 
Clare  Hall, 
Pembroke  Hall, 
King's  College, 
Queen's  College, 
Jesus  College, 
St.  John's  College, 
Trinity  Hall, 
Emanuel  College, 
Sidney  College, 


Succeeded  bij 
Dr.  Lazarus  Seaman. 
Dr.  Ralph  Cudworth. 
Mr.  Richard  Vines. 
Dr.  Benjamin  Whichcote. 
Mr.  Herb.  Palmer. 
Dr.  T.  Young. 
Dr.  J.  Arrowsmith. 
Dr.  Thomas  Hill. 
Dr.  Ant.  Tnckney. 
Dr.  Richard  Minshull. 
Dr.  W.  Spuistow,  and  afterward 
Dr,  Lightfoot.li 


It  has  been  objected  to  the  proceedings  of  the 
commissioners,  that  they  were  not  according  to 
the  statutes  of  the  university  ;  to  which  he  re- 
plied, that  the  nation  was  in  a  state  of  war  ;  that 
these  gentlemen  were  declared  enemies  to  the 
proceedings  of  Parliament ;  that  they  instilled 
into  their  pupils  the  unlawfulness  of  resisting 
the  king  upon  any  pretence  whatsoever,  and 
preached  upon  these  subjects  to  the  people.  It 
-was  therefore  necessary  to  take  the  education 
of  the  youth  out  of  their  hands,  which  could  not 
be  done  any  other  way  at  present ;  but  in  all 
future  elections  they  returned  to  the  statutes. 
It  has  been  said,  farther,  that  it  was  a  great 
loss  to  learning,  because  those  who  succeeded 
were  not  equal  to  those  who  were  ejected.  + 

*  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  p.  112. 
+  Ibid.,  p.  131,  160. 
X  Walker's  Attempt,  p.  114. 
Vol.  I.— P  f  r 


Katherine  Hall, 

Had  this  been  true,  it  is  no  sufficient  reason  for 
keeping  them  in  their  places,  in  a  time  of  war, 
if  they  were  enemies  to  the  Constitution  and 
liberties  of  their  country.  But  the  best  way  of 
determining  the  question  as  to  their  learning  is 
by  comparing  their  respective  characters. 

Dr.  Cosins  had  been  sequestered  by  the  Par- 
liament in  the  year  1640,  for  his  high  principles, 
and  was  retired  to  France,  where  he  continued 
till  the  Restoration,  and  was  then  preferred  to 


♦  Introduction  to  the  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  p. 

113.  t  Appeal,  p.  72. 

X  Introduction  to  the  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  p. 

114.  (j  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  p.  163. 

li  Dr.  Barwick,  in  the  life  of  his  brother,  com- 
plains, that  when  the  most  learned  men  were  dis- 
placed from  their  professorships,  they  ''put  block- 
heads, for  the  most  part,  and  senseless  scoundrels  in  their 
places)'  Let  the  reader  examine  this  hst,  and  e.sti 
mate  the  justness  of  this  allegation.— jL«/c,  p.  32.— L. 


482 


HISTORY    OF   THE    PURITANS. 


the  rich  bishopric  of  Durham  :  he  was  a  learn- 
ed n..in,  of  an  open,  frank,  and  generous  temper, 
and  well  versed  in  the  canons,  councils,  and 
fathers.* 

Dr.  Paske  lived  peaceably  and  cheerfully  un- 
der the  Parliament,  and  was  reinstated  in  ail 
nis  livings  at  the  Restoration,  except  the  mas- 
tership of  his  college,  which  he  quitted  to  his 
son.  The  Querela  Cantab,  says  he  was  emi- 
nent for  learning  ;  but  1  do  not  remember  that 
he  has  .given  any  specimens  of  it  to  the 
world,  t 

Dr.  Laney  was  first  chaplain  to  Dr.  Neil,  and 
afterward  Prebendary  of  Westminster  ;  he  was 
one  of  the  lung's  divines  at  the  treaty  of  Ux- 
bridge,  and  attended  upon  King  Charles  II.  in 
his  exile  ;  after  the  Restoration  he  was  suc- 
cessively Bishop  of  Peterborough,  Lincoln,  and 
Ely,  and  was  more  favourable  to  the  Noncon- 
formists than  most  of  his  brethren.  He  has 
some  sermons  extant,  and  a  small  treatise 
against  Hobbes. 

Dr.  Collins  was  regius  professor,  Provost  of 
King's  College,  and  Rector  of  Fenny-Ditton ; 
of  which  last  he  was  deprived  by  the  Earl  of 
Manchester,  for  his  steady  adherence  to  the 
royal  cause.  He  kept  his  provostship  till  the 
year  1645,  and  his  professorship  much  longer. 
He  died  in  the  year  1651,  and  had  the  reputa- 
tion of  a  great  scholar,  says  Dr.  Barwick,  and 
his  name  was  famous  in  foreign  universities, 
though  he  has  transmitted  very  little  down  to 
posterity.^ 

Dr.  Martin  was  one  of  Archbishop  Laud's 
chaplains,  and  one  of  Mr.  White's  scandalous 
ministers  ;  he  was  accused  not  only  of  prac- 
tising the  late  innovations,  and  of  being  in  the 
scheme  of  reconciling  the  Church  of  England 
with  Rome,  but  of  stealing  wheatsheaves  out 
of  the  field  in  harvest,  on  the  Sabbath  day,  and 
in  laying  them  to  his  tithe  stock.  He  was  very 
high  in  his  principles,  and  was  imprisoned  for 
sending  the  university  plate  to  the  king.  After 
his  enlargement  he  retired  to  France,  and  at 
the  Restoration  was  preferred  to  the  deanery 
of  Ely.  Lloyd  says  he  was  a  godly  man,  and 
excellently  well  skilled  in  the  canon,  civil,  and 
common  law ;  but  Mr.  Prynne  gives  him  a 
very  indifferent  character,  and  Bishop  Kennet 
acknowledges  his  principles  were  rigid,  and  his 
temper  sour.<J 

Dr.  Stern  was  another  of  Archbishop  Laud's 
chaplains,  and  imprisoned  for  the  same  reason 
as  the  former.  He  afterward  assisted  the  arch- 
bishop on  the  scaffold,  and  lived  retired  till  the 
Restoration,  when  he  was  made  Bishop  of  Car- 
lisle, and,  in  1664,  Archbishop  of  York.  II  He  had 
a  sober,  honest,  mortified  aspect,  but  was  of 
very  arbitrary  principles  and  a  very  unchari- 
table temper;  for  when  Mr.  Ba.xter,  at  the  Sa- 
voy conference,  was  entreating  the  bishops  not 
to  cast  out  so  many  ministers  in  the  nation,  he 
made  this  mean  remark  to  his  brethren,  that 
Mr.  Baxter  would  not  use  the  word  kingdom 
lest  he  should  own  a  king. IT 

Dr.  Beale  was  also  imprisoned  for  sending 
the  university  plate  to  the  king  ;  after  his  en- 

*  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  p.  68. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  153.     Calamy's  Abridgment,  p.  173. 

t  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  p.  150. 

^  Kennet's  Chronicle,  p.  670. 

II  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  p.  146.      IT  Ibid.,  p.  148. 


largement  he  retired  to  Oxford,  and  was  one  oC 
the  preachers  before  the  court,  but  upon  Ihs 
declining  of  the  king's  cause  he  retired  to  Ma- 
drid, where  he  died,  about  the  year  1651.  He 
was  a  man  of  very  high  principles,  though,  if 
we  may  believe  the  Qiierela,  a  person  of  such 
worth  as  rendered  him  above  the  reach  of  com- 
mendation.* 

Dr.  Comber  was  another  of  the  king's  chap- 
lains, though  imprisoned  and  deprived,  for  send- 
ing the  university  plate  to  the  king;  after  his 
enlargement  he  lived  privately  till  the  year 
1654,  when  he  died  ;  he  was  a  learned  man, 
and  of  great  piety  and  charity. 

Dr.  Holdsworth  had  been  a  celebrated  preach- 
er in  the  city  of  London,  and  divinity  professor 
in  Gresham  College  ;  he  was  afterward  chosea 
master  of  Emanuel  College,  Cambridge,  and 
was  a  zealous  advocate  for  the  king,  for  which 
he  was  some  time  under  confinement.  He  at- 
tended his  majesty  at  Hampton  Court  and  the 
Isle  of  Wight,  and  soon  after  died  with  grief. 
He  was  a  pious  and  charitable  man,  but  high  in 
his  principles,  and  of  a  hasty,  passionate  tem- 
per. He  published  one  sermon  in  his  lifetime, 
and  after  his  death  his  friends  published  his 
Prelectiones  and  a  volume  of  sermons. 

Dr.  Ward  was  one  of  the  English  divines  at 
the  Synod  of  Dort,  and  nominated  of  the  com- 
mittee of  divines  that  sat  in  the  Jerusalem 
Chamber,  and  of  the  Assembly  at  Westmin- 
ster, though  he  never  sat ;  he  was  a  very  learn- 
ed man,  and  died  soon  after  his  ejectment. 

Dr.  Brownrigge  was  installed  Bishop  of  Exe- 
ter 1642,  and  deprived  of  his  mastership  in  the 
year  1645,  for  some  expressions  in  his  sermon 
upon  the  king's  inauguration.  He  was  an  ex- 
cellent man,  and  of  a  peaceable  and  quiet  dis- 
position ;  after  the  war  he  was  allowed  the 
liberty  of  the  pulpit,  and  was  chosen  master 
of  the  Temple,  where  he  died  about  the  year 
1659.* 

Far  be  it  from  me  to  detract  from  the  per- 
sonal merit  of  any  of  these  sufferers,  or  from 
their  rank  in  the  commonwealth  of  learning  ; 
but  their  political  principles,  like  those  of  Arch- 
bishop Laud,  were  certainly  inconsistent  with 
the  Constitution  and  liberties  of  England,  and 
exposed  them,  very  naturally,  to  the  resent- 
ments of  the  Parliament  in  these  boisterou.s 
times. 

Those  who  succeeded  the  ejected  masters, 
having  been  first  examined  and  approved  by 
the  Assembly  of  Divines  at  Westminster,  were 
these : 

Dr.  Lazarus  Seaman,  a  very  considerable  di- 
vine, according  to  Mr.  Wood,  a  complelp  mas- 
ter of  the  Oriental  languages,  an  excellent  casu- 
ist, and  a  judicious,  moving  preacher.  He  was 
well  versed  in  the  controversy  of  church  gov- 
ernment, which  made  the  Parliament  send  him 
with  their  commissioners  to  the  Isle  of  Wight, 
where  his  majesty  was  pleased  to  take  particu- 
lar notice  of  his  abilities. t  He  was  ejected  out; 
of  his  mastership  of  Peterhouse  in  1662,  and 


*  Bishop  Brownrigge  was  one  of  the  ablest  preach 
ers  in  the  kingdom.  His  Sermons,  in  two  volumes, 
folio,  1674,  are  exceedingly  valuable;  they  are  emi- 
nently suggestive  to  a  thinking  mind,  and  there  are 
few  richer  storehouses  to  which  a  young  minister 
can  repair  for  fine  illustration  of  Gospel  truth. — C 

t  Calamy's  Abridgment  vol.  ii.,  p.  16. 


HISTORY    OF  THE   PURITANS. 


483 


died  in  1675.*  He  printed  several  sermons, 
and  "  A  Vindication  of  the  Judgment  of  the  Re- 
formed Churches  concerning  Ordination." 

Dr.  Ralph  Cudworth  is  so  universally  known 
in  the  learned  world  for  his  great  learning, 
which  he  discovered  in  his  Intellectual  System,! 
that  I  shall  only  observe,  he  conformed  at  the 
Restoration,  and  a  little  before  resigned  his 
mastership  of  Clare  Hall  into  the  hands  of  Dr. 
Dillingham,  who  continued  in  it  to  his  death. 

Mr.  Richard  Vines  was  a  very  learned  and 
excellent  divine,  a  popular  and  laborious  preach- 
er, one  of  the  Parliament  divines  at  the  treaty 
of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and  a  most  industrious  and 
useful  man  in  his  college.  He  was  turned  out 
of  his  mastership/or  refusing  the  engagement, 
and  died  before  the  Restoration. 

Dr.  Benjamin  Whichcote  was  fellow  of  Eman- 
uel College,  and,  upon  the  ejectment  of  Dr. 
Collins,  preferred  to  the  mastership  of  King's 
College,  in  which  he  continued  till  the  Restora- 
tion, and  then  conformed.  The  account  Arch- 
bishop Tillotson  gives  of  him  is  this  :  "  that  he 
was  an  excellent  tutor  and  instructer  of  youth, 
and  bred  up  many  persons  of  quality  and  oth- 
ers, who  afterward  proved  useful  and  eminent ; 
that  he  contributed  more  to  the  forming  the 
students  to  a  sober  sense  of  religion  than  any 
man  of  that  age.  He  never  took  the  Covenant ; 
and,  by  his  particular  friendship  and  interest 
with'  some  of  the  chief  visiters,  prevailed  to 
have  the  greatest  part  of  the  fellows  of  his  col- 
lege exempted  from  that  imposition. "J 

Mr.  Herbert  Palmer.  B.D.,.was  one  of  the  uni- 
versity preachers  in  1632,  and  clerk  in  convo- 
cation for  the  diocess  of  Lincoln  at  the  begin- 
ning of  this  Parliament ;  he  was  one  of  the  as- 
sessors of  the  Assembly  of  Divines  at  West- 
minster, and  on  April  11, 1644,  constituted  mas- 
ter of  Queen's  College  by  the  Earl  of  Manches- 

*  He  always  carried  about  with  him  a  small  Plan- 
tin  Hebrew  Bible  without  points.  He  had  a  deep 
and  piercing  judgment  in  all  points  of  controversial 
divinity :  nor  was  he  less  able  to  defend  than  f^nd 
out  the  truth.  Upon  the  invitation  of  an  honourable 
lady,  who  was  the  head  of  a  noble  family,  and  was 
often  solicited  by  Romish  priests  to  change  her 
religion,  he  engaged  two  of  the  most  able  priests 
they  could  pick  out,  in  a  dispute,  in  the  presence  of 
the  lord  and  lady,  for  their  satisfaction ;  and,  by  si- 
lencing them  upon  the  head  of  transubstantiation, 
was  instrumental  to  preserve  that  whole  family  stead- 
fast in  the  Protestant  religion.  Dr.  Grey  acknowl- 
edges, on  Mr.  Wood's  authority,  that  he  was  a  learn- 
ed man,  and  died  much  lamented  by  the  brethren. — 
Palmer's  Nonconformists'  Memorial,  vol.  i.,  p.  77. — Ed. 

t  This  work,  distinguished  by  the  excellence  of  its 
reasoning  and  the  variety  of  its  learning,  was  pub- 
lished to  stem  the  torrent  of  irreligion  and  atheism 
that  prevailed  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  The  au- 
thor, who  was  superior  to  all  his  contemporaries  in 
iiietaphysics,  was  father  to  the  learned  and  accom- 
plished Lady  Masham,  of  Gates,  in  Essex,  in  whose 
house  Mr.  Locke  spent  the  last  fourteen  years  of  his 
life. —  Granger's  History  of  England,  vol.  in.,  p.  283, 
8vo.— Ed. 

X  "  His  notions  of  religion  were,  like  his  charity," 
says  Mr.  Granger,  "  exalted  and  diffusive,  and  never 
limited  by  the  narrow  prejudices  of  sects  and  par- 
ties. He  was  disgusted  with  the  dryness  and  fool- 
ishness of  preaching  that  prevailed  in  his  time,  and 
encouraged  the  young  students  of  his  college  to  form 
themselves  after  the  best  models  of  Greece  and 
Home."— History  of  England,  vol.  iii.,  p.  283,  231, 
8vo. 


ter.*  He  was  very  careful  to  appoint  such  per- 
sons for  tutors  of  youth  as  were  eminent  the 
learning  and  piety  ;  and,  being  possessed  of  a 
good  paternal  estate,  was  unbounded  in  his  lib- 
erality. He  was  a  polite  gentleman,  a  com- 
plete master  of  the  French  language,  in  which 
he  could  preach  as  well  as  in  English ;  but  his 
constitution  being  infirm,  he  died  in  the  year 
1647,  when  he  was  only  forty-seven  years  of 
age.t 

Dr.  T.  Young  was  an  eminent  member  of  the 
Assembly  of  Divines,  says  Mr.  Clarke,t  a  man 
of  great  learning,  of  much  prudence  and  piety, 
and  of  great  ability  and  fidelity  in  the  work  of 
the  ministry.  He  was  a  preacher  at  Duke's 
Place,  in  London,  from  whence  he  was  prefer- 
red to  the  mastership  of  Jesus  College,  where 
he  behaved  with  great  prudence  and  piety,  till 
he  was  turned  out  for  refusing  the  engagement. 
He  was  one  of  the  authors  of  the  pamphlet 
called  Smectymnuus. 

Dr.  John  Arrowsmith  was  fellow  of  Kathe- 
rine  Hall,  and  of  an  unexceptionable  character 
for  learning  and  piety.  He  was  an  acute  dispu- 
tant, and  a  judicious  divine,  as  appears  by  his 
Tactica  Sacra,  a  book  of  great  reputation  in 
those  times.     He  died  before  the  Restoration. 

Dr.  Thomas  Hill  was  fellow  of  Emanuel  Col-- 
lege,  and  one  of  the  Assembly  of  Divines  at 
Westminster.  He  was  first  constituted  master 
of  Emanuel,  and  afterward  removed  to  Trinity 
College,  where  he  employed  all  his  zeal  in  the 
advancement  of  knowledge  and  virtue,  and  in 
keeping  up  the  college  exercises.  He  was  twice 
vice-chancellor,  and  as  solicitous  to  preserve 
the  honour  and  privilege  of  the  university  as 
any  of  his  predecessors.  He  was  a  zealous 
Calvinist,  and,  after  about  ten  years'  govern- 
ment of  his  college,  died  in  the  year  1653.^ 

Dr.  Anthony  Tuckney  had  been  vicar  of  Bos- 
ton, in  Lincolnshire,  from  whence  he  was  call- 
ed up  to  sit  in  the  Assembly  of  Divines  at 
Westminster.  In  the  year  1645,  he  was  con- 
stituted master  of  Emanuel  College.  11  In  1653, 
he  was  chosen  master  of  St.  John's,  and  upon 
the  death  of  Dr.  Arrowsmith,  regius  professor 
of  Oxford,  which  place  he  enjoyed  till  the  Res- 
toration, when  King  Charles  II.,  by  letter  un- 
der the  hand  of  Secretary  Nicholas,  ordered  him 
to  resign,  promising  him,  in  consideration  of  his 
great  pains  and  diligence  in  discharge  of  his 
duty,  £100  per  annum,  which  was  paid  by  his 
successor  till  his  death,  in  the  year  1671.  He 
left  behind  him  the  character  of  a  pious  and 
learned  man,  an  indefatigable  student,  a  candid 
disputant,  and  a  zealous  promoter  of  truth  and 
piety.  He  published  some  practical  treatises 
in  his  life  ;  and  his  Prelectiones  The<ilogicae, 
with  a  volume  of  sermons,  were  printed  after 
his  deatli^lT 

*  Clarke's  Lives,  p.  183,  annexed  to  his  General 
Martyrology. 

t  Wliat  Archbishop  Laud  urged  in  his  defence 
at  his  trial,  as  an  instance  of  his  impartiabty,  ought 
to  be  mentioned  here  to  his  credit,  namely,  that  he 
presented  Mr.  Palmer,  though  professedly  of  Puritan 
principles,  on  account  of  his  excellent  character,  to 
the  vicarage  of  Ashwell,  in  Hertfordshire,  in  1632. — 
Granger's  History  of  England,  vol.  ii.,  p.  183,  8vo.— 
Ed.  t  Clarke's  Lives,  p.  194. 

i^S  Ibid.,  p.  130,  ut  ante. 

II  Calamy's  Abridgment,  p.  77. 

%  Dr.  Tuckney  was  also  vice-chancellor  of  the 


4S4 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


Dr.  Richard  Minshull  was  fellow  of  Sidney- 
College,  and,  upon  the  death  of  Dr.  Ward,  cho- 
sen regularly,  according  to  the  statutes,  into 
the  vacant  mastership,  and  continued  therein 
till  the  Restoration,  when  he  conformed,  and 
was  confirmed  in  his  place,  which  he  filled  with 
reputation  till  his  death. 

Dr.  William  Spurstow,  one  of  the  Assembly 
of  Divines,  and  one  of  the  commissioners  at 
the  Savoy  in  the' year  1662,*  was  a  person  of 
good  learning,  of  a  peaceable  and  quiet  disposi- 
tion, and  of  great  humility  and  charity.  He 
was  turned  out  of  his  mastership  of  Katherine 
Hall  for  refusing  the  engagement,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  the  famous 

Dr.  Liglitfoot,  the  most  complete  master  of 
Oriental  learning  of  his  age  ;  the  doctor  enjoyed 
this  mastership,  with  the  sequestered  living  of 
Muchmunden,  given  him  by  the  Assembly  of 
Divines,  till  the  Restoration,  when  he  would 
have  resigned  it  back  into  the  hands  of  Dr. 
Spurstow,  but  he  declining  it,  Lightfoot  con- 
formed, and,  upon  his  application  to  the  king, 
was  confirmed  in  both  his  preferments  till  his 
death.  His  works  were  published  by  Mr.  Strype, 
in  two  volumes,  folio. 

If  it  should  be  granted  that  the  new  profes- 
sors were  not  at  first  so  expert  in  the  learning 
of  the  schools  as  their  predecessors,  that  defect 
was  abundantly  supplied  by  their  application 
and  diligence  in  their  places,  and  by  their  ob- 
serving a  very  strict  and  severe  discipline  ;  the 
tutors  were  constant  in  reading  lectures,  not 
only  in  term-time,  but  out  of  it ;  the  proctors 
and  other  officers  had  a  strict  eye  over  the  stu- 
dents to  keep  them  within  bounds,  and  oblige 
them  to  be  present  at  morning  and  evening 
prayer.  The  Lord's  Day  was  observed  with 
uncommon  rigour  ;  there  were  sermons  and 
prayers  in  all  the  churches  and  chapels  both 
morning  and  afternoon.  Vice  and  profaneness 
were  banished,  insomuch  that  an  oath  was  not 
to  be  heard  within  the  walls  of  the  University  ; 
and,  if  it  may  be  said  without  offence,  the  col- 
leges never  appeared  more  like  nurseries  of  re- 
ligion and  virtue  than  at  this  period.!  The  no- 
ble historian  confesses  the  University  of  Ox- 
ford flourished  as  much  in  learning  and  learned 
men  at  the  Restoration  as  before  the  civil  wars, 
which  is  equally  true  of  Cambridge.  And  it 
ought  to  be  remembered,  that  most  of  the  con- 
siderable divines  and  philosophers  who  flour- 
ished in  the  reigns  of  King  Charles  II.  and 
King  William  III.,  owed  their  education  to  the 
tutors  of  those  times,  for  whom  they  always  re- 
tained a  great  veneration. 

Though  the  form  of  inducting  the  new  mas- 
ters was  not  according  to  the  statutes  (as  has 
been  observed),  because  of  the  distraction  of 
the  times,  it  is  evident  this  was  not  designed 


•  University  of  Cambridge,  and,  after  the  Restoration, 
was  appointed  one  of  the  commissioners  at  the  con- 
ference at  the  Savoy.  His  modesty  was  as  distin- 
guished as  his  learning.  He  presided  over  his  col- 
lege, which  never  flourished  more  than  under  his 
government,  with  great  prudence  and  abilityj»and  is 
said  to  have  shown  more  courage  in  maintaining  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  the  university  in  the  lawless 
time  in  which  he  lived,  than  any  of  the  heads  of  hou- 
ses at  Cambridge.  —  Granger's  History  of  England, 
vol.  iii.,  p.  305,  306,  8vo.— Ed. 

*  Calamy's  Abridgment,  vol.  ii.,  p.  471. 

+  Ibid.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  74.  , 


to  be  a  precedent  for  their  successors,  as  ap- 
pears by  the  manner  of  their  investiture,  which 
was  this  :  Mr.  Lazarus  Seaman  having  been 
examined  and  approved  by  the  Assembly  of  Di- 
vines at  Westminster,  the  Earl  of  Manchester 
came  in  person  into  the  Chapel  of  Peterhousp, 
April  11,  and  did  there  declare  and  publish  Mr. 
Lazarus  Seaman  to  be  constituted  master  of 
the  said  Peterhouse,  in  the  room  of  Dr.  Cosine, 
late  master,  who  had  been  justly  and  lawfully 
ejected  ;  requiring  Mr.  Seaman  to  take  upon 
him  that  office,  putting  him  into  the  master's 
seat,  and  delivering  to  him  the  statutes  of  the 
college  in  token  of  his  investiture,  straitly 
charging  the  fellows,  &c.,  to  acknowledge  and 
yield  obedience  to  him,  "notwithstanding  he 
was  not  elected,  nor  admitted  according  to  the 
ordinary  course  prescribed  by  the  said  statutes 
in  this  time  of  distraction  and  war,  there  being 
a  necessity  of  reforming,  as  well  the  statutes 
themselves  as  the  members  of  the  said  house."t 
The  earl  then  gave  him  an  instrument  under 
his  hand  and  seal  to  the  same  effect,  and  ad- 
ministered him  an  oath  or  protestation,  which 
he  took,  in  the  following  words : 

"  I  do  solemnly  and  seriously  promise,  in  the 
presence  of  Almighty  God,  the  searcher  of  all 
hearts,  that,  during  the  time  of  my  continuance 
in  this  charge,  I  shall  faithfully  labour  to  pro- 
mote learning  and  piety  in  myself,  the  fellows, 
scholars,  and  students  that  do  or  shall  belong 
to  the  said  college,  agreeably  to  the  late  solemn 
national  League  and  Covenant,  by  me  sworn 
and  subscribed,  with  respect  to  all  the  good 
and  wholesome  statutes  of  the  said  college  and 
of  the  university,  correspondent  to  the  said 
Covenant ;  and,  by  all  means,  to  procure  the 
good,  welfare,  and  perfect  reformation,  both  of 
the  college  and  university,  so  far  as  to  me  ap- 
pertaineth." 

The  other  masters  were  introduced  into  their 
several  chairs  after  the  same  solemn  manner, 
their  warrants  bearing  date  the  11th,  12th,  or 
13th  of  April,  1644  ;  but  the  clause  of  the  Cov- 
enant was  omitted  by  those  who  did  not  take 
it,  as  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Whichcote,  and  others. 

The  vacant  fellowships  being  more  numerous, 
were  not  so  quickly  filled,  though  the  earl  took 
the  most  prudent  method  in  that  affair ;  April 
10,  he  directed  a  paper  to  the  several  colleges, 
declaring  that  "  his  purpose  was  forthwith  to 
supply  the  vacant  fellowships,  and  desiring  that 
if  there  were  any  in  the  respective  colleges 
who,  in  regard  of  degree,  learning,  and  piety, 
should  be  found  fit  for  such  preferment,  they 
would,  upon  receipt  of  that  paper,  return  him 
their  names,  in  order  to  their  being  examined 
by  the  Assembly,  and  invested  in  them."  The 
persons  thus  examined  and  presented  were 
constituted  fellows  by  warrant  under  the  hand 
and  seal  of  the  Earl  of  Manchester,  to  the 
heads  of  the  several  colleges,  in  the  following 
form  : 

"  Whereas  A.  B.  has  been  ejected  out  of  his 
fellowship  in  this  college ;  and  whereas  C.  D. 
has  been  examined  and  approved  by  the  As- 
sembly of  Divines,  these  are,  therefore,  to  re- 
quire you  to  receive  the  said  C.  D.  as  fellow  in 
the  room  of  A.  B.,  and  to  give  him  place  ac- 
cording to  his  seniority  in  the  university,  in 


*  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  p.  114, 115. 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


485 


preference  to  all  those  that  are,  or  shall  here- 
after be,  put  in  by  me."* 

I  have  before  me  the  names  of  fifty-five  per- 
sons,! who,  after  they  had  been  examined  by 
the  Assembly,  were  presented  to  the  vacant 
fellowships,  in  the  compass  of  the  year  1644  ; 
and  within  six  months  more  all  the  vacancies 
were  in  a  manner  supplied,  with  men  of  appro- 
ved learning  and  piety. 

From  this  time  the  University  of  Cambridge 
enjoyed  a  happy  tranquillity  ;  learning  flourish- 
ed, religion  and  good  manners  were  promoted, 
at  a  time  when  the  rest  of  the  nation  was  in 
blood  and  confusion.  And  though  this  altera- 
tion was  effected  by  a  mixture  of  the  civil  and 
military  power,  yet  in  a  little  time  things  re- 
verted to  their  former  channel,  and  the  stat- 
utes of  the  university  were  as  regularly  observ- 
ed as  ever.  Let  the  reader  now  judge  the  can- 
dour and  impartiality  of  the  famous  Dr.  Bar- 
wick,  author  of  the  Querela  Cantabrigiensis, 
whose  words  are  these  :  "Thus  the  knipperdo- 
lings  of  the  age  reduced  a  glorious  and  renown- 
ed university  almost  to  a  mere  Munster,  and 
did  more  in  less  than  three  years  than  the 
apostate  Julian  could  efli3Ct  in  his  reign,  viz., 
broke  the  heartstrings  of  learning  and  all  learn- 
ed men,  and  thereby  luxated  all  the  joints 
of  Christianity  in  this  kingdom.  We  are  not 
afraid  to  appeal  to  any  impartial  judge,  whether 
if  the  Goths  and  Vandals,  or  even  the  Turks 
themselves,  had  overrun  this  nation,  they  would 
have  more  inhumanly  abused  a  flourishing  uni- 
versity, than  these  pretended  advancers  of  re- 
ligion have  done  1  Having  thrust  out  one  of 
the  eyes  of  this  kingdom,  made  eloquence  dumb, 
philosophy  sottish  ;  widowed  the  arts,  drove 
the  muses  from  their  ancient  habitation,  pluck- 
ed the  reverend  and  orthodox  professors  out  of 
the  chairs,  and  silenced  them  in  prison  or  their 
graves  ;  turned  religion  into  rebellion  ;  chan- 
ged the  apostolical  chair  into  a  desk  for  blas- 
phemy ;  tore  the  garland  from  off  the  head  of 
learning  to  place  it  on  the  dull  brows  of  disloyal 
ignorance,  andunhived  those  numerous  swarms 
of  labouring  bees,  which  used  to  drop  honey- 
dews  over  all  this  kingdom,  to  place  in  their 
room  swarms  of  senseless  drones."±  Such  was 
the  rant  of  this  reverend  clergyman  ;  and  such 
the  language  and  the  spirit  of  the  ejected  Loy- 
alists ! 

While  the  earl  was  securing  the  university 
to  the  Parliament,  he  appointed  commissioners 
for  removing  scandalous  ministers  in  the  seven 
associated  counties,  empowering  them  to  act 
by  the  following  warrant : 

"  March  15,  1644. 

"  By  virtue  of  an  ordinance  of  both  houses 
of  Parliament,  bearing  date  January  22,  1643-4, 

J  do  authorize  and  appoint  you, ,  or  any 

five  of  you,  to  call  before  you  all  ministers  or 

schoolmasters  within  the  counties  of ,  that 

are  scandalous  in  their  lives,  or  ill-«iffected  to 
the  Parliament,  or  fomenters  of  this  unnatural 
war  ;  or  that  shall  wilfully  refuse  obedience  to 
the  ordinances  of  Parliament ;  or  that  have  de- 
serted their  ordinary  places  of  residence,  not 
being  employed  in  the  service  of  the  king  and 


*  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  p.  114,  115. 
t  MS.  peties  me. 

t  Querela,  Pref,  p.  2,  26,27.    Walker's  Attempt, 
p.  V15. 


Parliament,  with  full  power  and  liberty  to  send 
for  any  witnesses,  and  to  examine  complaints 
upon  oath.  And  you  are  to  certify  tho  names 
of  ministers,  with  the  charge  and  proof  against 
them,  to  me."* 

It  is  to  be  observed,  that  the  warrant  is  point- 
ed only  against  those  who  are  immoral,  or  dis- 
affected to  the  Parliament,  or  had  deserted 
their  cures ;  and  was  accompanied  with  instruc- 
tions, and  a  letter,  exhorting  them  to  the  faith- 
ful and  effectual  discharge  of  the  trust.  The 
instructions  were  to  this  effect : 

First,  "  That  they  should  be  speedy  and  ef- 
fectual in  executing  the  ordinances,  and  sit  in 
such  places  within  the  county  that  all  parties, 
by  the  easiness  of  access,  may  be  encouraged 
to  address  themselves  to  them  with  their  com- 
plaints. 

Secondly,  "  That  they  should  issue  their  war- 
rants, to  summon  before  them  such  ministers 
and  witnesses  as  the  articles  preferred  against 
them  should  require. 

Thirdly,  "  That  the  party  accused  should  not 
be  present  at  the  taking  the  depositions,  be- 
cause of  discountenancing  the  witnesses,  and 
disturbing  the  service  ;t  but  when  the  deposi- 
tions were  taken  upon  oath,  the  party  accused 
should  have  a  copy,  and  have  a  day  given  him 
to  return  his  answer  in  writing,  and  to  make 
his  defence  within  fourteen  days,  or  thereabout. 

Fourthly,  "  They  were  to  return  both  the  ac- 
cusation and  defence  to  Mr.  Good  and  Mr. 
Ashe,  the  earl's  chaplains,  and  upon  such  re- 
ceipts they  should  have  farther  directions. 

Fifthly,  "  If  the  party  accused  would  not 
appear  to  make  his  defence,  they  were  to  cer- 
tify the  cause  of  his  absence,  because,  if  they 
were  nonresidents,  or  in  arms  against  the  Par- 
liament, the  earl  would  proceed  against  them.t 

Sixthly,  "  It  being  found,  by  experience,  that 
parishioners  were  not  forward  to  complain  of 
their  ministers,  though  very  scandalous — some 
being  enemies  to  the  intended  reformation,  and 
others  sparing  their  ministers,  because  they  fa- 
voured them  in  their  tithes',  and  were  therefore 
esteemed  quiet  men— therefore  they  were  re- 
quired to  call  unto  them  some  well-affected  men 
within  every  hundred,  who,  having  no  private 
engagements,  were  to  be  encouraged  by  the 
committees  to  inquire  after  the  doctrines,  lives, 
and  conversations  of  all  ministers  and  school- 
masters, and  to  give  information  what  could 
be  deposed,  and  who  could  depose  the  same. 

Seventhly,  "  Each  commissioner  shall  have 
five  sliillings  for  every  day  he  sits;  and  the 
clerk  to  receive  some  pay,  that  he  might  not 
have  occasion  to  demand  fees  for  every  war- 
rant or  copy,  unless  the  writings  were  very 
large. 

Eighthly,  "  Upon  the  ejecting  of  any  scanda- 
lous or  malignant  ministers,  they  were  to  re- 
quire the  parishioners  to  malce  choice  of  some 
fit  and  able  person  to  succeed,  who  was  to  have 
a  testimonial  from  the  well-atfected  gentry  and 

*  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  p.  117, 

t  This  was  owing  to  the  insolent  and  unmanner- 
ly behaviour  of  some  of  the  clergy  before  the  com- 
missioners ;  for  the  ordinance  of  September  6,  1643, 
appoints  that  the  witnesses  shall  be  examined  in  their 
presence,  and  that  sufficient  warning  shall  be  given 
of  the  time  and  place  where  the  charge  agamst  them 
should  be  proved. 

X  Husband's  Collections,  p.  311. 


486 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS. 


ministry,  and  to  take  particular  care  that  no 
Anabaptist  or  Antinomian  be  recommended. 

Ninthly,  "  They  were  to  certify  tlie  true  value 
of  each  living :  as  also  the  estate,  livelihood, 
and  charge  of  children,  which  the  accused  per- 
son had,  for  his  lordship's  direction  in  the  as- 
signment of  the  fifths.     And, 

Lastly,  "  They  were  to  use  all  other  proper 
ways  and  methods  for  speeding  the  service." 

With  these  instructions  the  earl  sent  an  ex- 
hortation by  letter,  in  the  following  words  : 
"  Gentlemen, 

"  I  send  you,  by  this  bearer,  a  commission, 
with*  instructions  for  executing  the  ordinance, 
&c.,  within  your  county.  I  neither  doubt  of 
your  abilities  nor  affections  to  further  this  ser- 
vice, yet,  according  to  the  great  trust  reposed 
in  me  herein  by  the  Parliament,  I  must  be  ear- 
nest with  you  to  be  diligent  therein.  You  know 
how  much  the  people  of  this  kingdom  have 
formerly  suffered  in  their  persons,  souls,  and 
estates,  under  an  idle,  ill-affected,  scandalous, 
and  insolent  clergy,  upheld  by  the  bishops ;  and 
you  cannot  but  foresee  tliat  their  pressures  and 
burdens  will  still  continue,  though  the  form  of 
government  be  altered,  unless  great  care  be  ta- 
ken to  displace  such  ministers,  and  to  place  or- 
thodox and  holy  men  in  every  parish ;  for,  let 
the  government  be  what  it  will  for  the  form 
thereof,  yet  it  will  never  be  good  unless  the 
parties  employed  therein  be  good  themselves. 
By  the  providence  of  God,  it  now  lies  in  your 
power  to  reform  the  former  abuses,  and  to  re- 
move these  offenders.  Your  power  is  great, 
and  so  is  your  trust.  If  a  general  reformation 
follows  not  within  your  county,  assuredly  the 
blame  will  be  laid  upon  you,  and  you  must  ex- 
pect to  be  called  to  an  account  for  it  both  here 
and  hereafter.  For  my  part,  I  am  resolved  to 
employ  the  utmost  of  my  power  given  to  me  by 
the  ordinance  for  procuring  a  general  reforma- 
tion in  all  the  associated  counties,  expecting 
your  forwardness,  and  heartily  joining  with  me 
herein.*  "I  rest,"  &c. 

When  a  clergyman  was  convicted  according 
to  the  instructions  above  mentioned.,  report  was 
made  to  the  earl,- who  directed  a  warrant  to  the 
church-wardens  of  the  parish  to  eject  him  out 
of  his  parsonage,  and  all  the  profits  thereof; 
and  another  to  receive  the  tithes  and  all  the 
benefits  into  their  own  hands,  and  to  keep  them 
in  safe  custody  till  they  should  receive  farther 
orders  from  himself.t  At  the  same  time  he  di- 
rected the  parishioners  to  choose  a  proper  min- 
ister for  the  vacant  place,  and,  upon  their  pre- 
sentation, his  lordship  sent  him  to  the  Assem- 
bly of  Divines  at  Westminster,  with  an  account 
of  his  character,  for  their  trial  and  examination. 
And  upon  a  certificate  from  the  Assembly  that 
they  approved  of  him  as  an  orthodox  divine, 
and  qualified  to  officiate  in  the  pastoral  func- 
tion, his  lordship  issued  out  his  last  warrant, 
setting  forth  that  "such  a  one  having  been  ap- 
proved by  the  Assembly,  &c.,  he  did  therefore 

authorize   and  appoint   him,  the   said  ,  to 

officiate  as  minister,  to  preach,  teach,  and  cate- 
chise in  such  a  parish  during  his  (the  earl's) 
pleasure,  and  then  empower  him  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  church,  parsonage-houses,  glebe- 
lands,  and  to  receive  the  tithes  and  profits,  and 
enjoy  the  same  until  his  lordship  should  take 
*  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  p.  118.     f  Ibid.,  p.  119. 


farther  order  concerning  the  same,  requiring  all 
officers  to  aid  and  assist  him  for  that  purpose." 

If  the  committees  observed  these  articles 
there  could  be  no  reasonable  ground  of  com- 
plaint, except  of  the  sixth,  which  may  be  con- 
strued as  giving  too  much  encouragement  to 
informers  ;  but  the  methods  of  conviction  were 
unexceptionable.  The  persons  to  be  called  be- 
fore the  commissioners  were  scandalous,  or  en- 
emies to  the  Parliament ;  the  depositions  were 
upon  oath  ;  a  copy  of  them  was  allowed  the  de- 
fendant, with  time  to  give  in  his  answer  in  wri- 
ting ;  then  a  day  appointed  to  make  his  defence 
in  presence  of  the  witnesses,  to  whom  he  might 
take  exceptions ;  and,  after  all,  the  final  judg- 
ment not  left  with  the  commissioners,  but  with 
the  earl.  The  filling  the  vacant  benefice  was 
no  less  prudent ;  the  parishioners  were  to  choose 
their  own  minister,  who  was  to  produce  testi- 
monials of  his  sobriety  and  virtue  ;  the  Assem- 
bly were  then  to  examine  into  his  learning  and 
ministerial  qualifications ;  and,  after  all,  the  new 
incumbent  to  hold  his  living  only  during  pleas- 
ure ;  the  Parliament  being  willing  to  leave  open 
a  door,  at  the  conclusion  of  a  peace,  for  resto- 
ring such  Royalists  as  were  displaced  merely 
fi)r  adhering  to  the  king,  without  prejudice  to 
the  present  possessor.  One  cannot  answer  for 
particulars  under  such  uncommon  distractions 
and  violence  of  parties  ;  but  the  orders  were,  in 
my  opinion,  not  only  reasonable,  but  expedient 
for  the  support  of  the  cause  in  which  the  Par- 
liament was  engaged. 

The  committees  for  the  associated  counties 
acted,  I  apprehend,  no  longer  than  the  year 
1644,  the  last  warrant  of  ejectment  mentioned 
by  Dr.  Nalson,  bearing  date  March  17,  1644-5, 
in  which  time  affairs  were  brought  to  such  a 
settlement  in  those  parts,  that  the  Royalists 
could  give  tb  m  no  disturbance.*  The  associ- 
ated counties  says  Mr.  Fuller,  escaped  the  best 
of  all  parts  in  lis  civil  war,  the  smoke  thereof 
only  offending  ■  em,  while  the  fire  was  felt  in 
other  places.  ''he  chief  ejectments  by  the 
commissioners  in  other  parts  of  England  were 
in  the  years  1644,  1645,  and  till  the  change  of 
government  in  the  year  1649,  when  the  Cove- 
nant itself  was  set  aside,  and  changed  into  an 
engagement  to  the  new  commonwealth. 

It  is  hard  to  compute  the  number  of  clergy- 
men that  might  lose  their  livings  by  the  several 
committees  during  the  war,  nor  is  it  of  any 
great  importance,  for  the  law  is  the  same 
whether  more  or  fewer  suffer  by  it ;  and  the 
not  putting  it  in  execution  might  be  owing  to 
want  of  power  or  opportunity.  Dr.  Nalson 
says  that  in  five  of  the  associated  counties  one 
hundred  and  fifty-six  clergymen  were  ejected 
in  little  more  than  a  year;  namely,  in  Norfolk 
fifty-one,  Suffolk  thirty-seven,  Cambridgeshire 
thirty-one,  Essex  twenty-one,  Lincolnshire  six- 
teen ;  and  if  we  allow  a  proportionable  num- 
ber for  the  other  two,  the  whole  will  amount 
to  two  hundred  and  eighteen  ;  and  if  in  seven 
counties  there  were  two  hundred  and  eighteen 
sufferers,  the  fifty-two  counties  of  England,  by  a 
like  proportion,  will  produce  upward  of  sixteen 
hundred.  Dr.  Walker  has  fallaciously  increased 
the  number  of  suffering  clergymen  to  eight  thou- 
sand, even  though  the  list  at  the  end  of  his  book 
makes  out  little  more  than  a  fifth  part.  Among 
«   Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  p.  119. 


HISTORY    OF    THE   PURITANS. 


48: 


his  cathedral  clergy  he  reckons  up  several  pre- 
bends and  canonries,  in  which  he  supposes  suf- 
ferers without  any  evidence.     Of  this  sort  Dr. 
Calamy  has  reckoned  about  two  hundred.*     If 
one  clergyman  was  possessed  of  three  or  four 
dignities,  there  appear  to  be  as  many  sufferers. 
The  like  is  observable  in  the  case  of  pluralists  ; 
for  example,  Richard  Stuart,  LL.D.,  is  set  down 
as  a  sufferer  in  the  deanery  of  St.  Paul's,  as 
prebendary  of  St.  Pancras,  and  residentiary  ; 
in  the  deanery  and  prebend  of  the  third  stall  in 
Westminster  ;  in  the  deanery  of  the  royal  chap- 
el ;  in  the  provostship  of  Eton  College,  and  pre- 
bend of  Norshalton  in  the  Church  of  Salisbury  ; 
all  which  preferments  he   enjoyed,  says  Dr. 
Walker,  or  was  entitled  to,  together,  and  his 
name  is  repeated  in  the  several  places.     By 
such  a  calculation  it  is  easy  to  deceive  the 
reader,  and  swell  the  account  beyond  measure. 
The  Reverend  Mr.  Withers,!  a  late  Noncon- 
formist minister  at  Exeter,  has  taken  care  to 
make  an  exact  computation  in  the  associated 
counties  of  Suffolk,  Norfolk,  and  Cambridge- 
shire, in  which  are  one  thousand  three  hundred 
and  ninety-eight  parishes,  and  two  hundred  and 
Hfty-three  sequestrations  ;  so  that  if  these  may 
be  reckoned  as  a  standard  for  the  whole  king- 
dom, the  whole  number  will  be  reduced  consid- 
erably under  two  thousand.     He  has  also  made 
another  computation  from  the  county  of  Devon, 
in  which  are  three  hundred  and  ninety-four  par- 
ishes, and  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine  seques- 
trations, out  of  which  thirty-nine  are  deducted 
for  pluralities,  &.c.  ;  and  then  by  comparing  this 
county,  in  which  both   Dr.  Walker  and   Mr. 
Withers  lived,  with  the  rest  of  the  kingdom, 
the  amount  of  sufferers,  according  to  him,  is 
one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty-six  ; 
tut  admitting  they  should  arise  to  the  number 
of  the  doctor's  names  in  his  index,  which  are 
about  two  thousand  four  hundred,  yet  when 
such,  were  deducted  as  were  fairly  convicted, 
upon  oath,  of  immoralities  of  life,  &c.  (which 
were  a  fourth  in  the  associated  counties),  and 
all  such  as  took  part  with  the  king  in  the  war, 
or  disowneil  the  authority  of  the  Parliament ; 
preaching  up  doctrines  inconsistent  with  the 
cause  for  which  they  had  taken  arms,  and  ex- 
citing the  people  to  an  absolute  submission  to 
the  authority  of  the  crown,  the  remainder  that 
•were  displaced  only  for  refusing  the  Covenant 
must  be  very  inconsiderable.     Mr.  Baxter  says 
they  cast  out  the  grosser  sort  of  insufficient 
and  scandalous  clergy,  and  some  few  civil  men 
that  had  acted  in  the  wars  for  the  king,  and  set 
up  the  late  innovations,  but  left  in  near  one 
lialf  of  those  that  were  but  barely  tolerable. 
He  adds,  farther,  "  that  in  all  the  counties  in 
■which  he  was  acquainted  six  to  one  at  least, 
if  not  more,  that  were  sequestered  by  the  com- 
mittees, were  by  the  oaths  of  witnesses  proved 
insufficient,  or  scandalous,  or  both. "J 

But  admitting  their  numbers  to  be  equal  to 
those  Puritan  ministers  ejected  at  the  Restora- 
tion, yet  the  cause  of  their  ejectment,  and  the 
circumstances  of  the  times,  being  very  dilTer- 
ent,  the  sufferings  of  the  former  ought  not  to 
be  compared  to  the  latter  ;  though  Dr.  Walker 
is  pleased  to  say  in  his  preface,  that  "  if  the 

*  Church  and  Dissenters  compared,  p.  52. 

t  Appendix  to  his  Reply  to  Mr.  Agate,  p.  27,  28. 

i  History  of  Life  and  Times,  p.  74. 


sufferings  of  the  Dissenters  bear  any  tolera- 
ble proportion  to  those  of  the  ejected  Loyal- 
ists, in  number,  degrees,  or  circumstances,  he 
will  be  gladly  deemed  not  only  to  have  lost  all 
his  labour,  but  to  have  revived  a  great  and  un- 
answerable scandal  on  the  cause  he  has  under- 
taken to  defend."     I  shall  leave  the  reader  to 
pass  his  own  judgment  upon  this  declaration, 
after  I  have  produced  the  testimony  of  one  or 
two  divines  of  the  Church  of  England.    "  Who 
can  answer,"  says  one,  "  for  the  violence  and 
injustice  of  actions  in  a  civil  war  1     Those  suf- 
ferings were  in  a  time  of  general  calamity,  but 
these  [in  IG82]  were  ejected  not  only  in  a  time 
of  peace,  but  a  time  of  joy  to  all  the  land,  and 
after  an  act  of  oblivion,  to  which  common  re- 
joicing these  suffering  ministers  had  contribu- 
ted their  earnest  prayers  and  great  endeav- 
ours."*    "  I  must  own,"  says  another  of  the 
doctor's   correspondents,   "  that   though  both 
sides  have  been  excessively  to  blame,  yet  that 
the  severities  used  by  the  Church  to  the  Dis- 
senters are  less  excusable  than  those  used  by 
the  Dissenters  to  the  Church ;  my  reason  is, 
that  the  former  were  used  in  time  of  peace  ■ 
and  a  settled  government,  whereas  the  latter 
were  inflicted  in  a  time  of  tumult  and  confusion, 
so  that  the  plundermg  and  ravaging  endured  by 
the  church  ministers  were  owing,  many  of  them 
at  least,  to  the  rudeness  of  the  soldiers  and  the 
chances  of  war  ;  they  were  plundered  not  be- 
cause they  were  Conformists,  but  cavaliers,  and 
of  the  king's  party. "t     The  case  of  those  who 
were  sober  and  virtuous  seems  to  be  much  the 
same  with  the  nonjurors  at  the  late  revolution 
of  King  William  III. ;  and  I  readily  agree  with 
Mr.  Fuller,  that    "  moderate    men    bemoaned 
these  severities,  for,  as  much  corruption  was 
let  out  by  these  ejectments  (many  scandalous 
ministers  being  deservedly  punished),  so  at  the 
same  time  the  veins  of  the  English  Church 
were  also  emptied  of  much  good  blood. "J 

We  have  already  observed,  that  a  fifth  part 
of  the  revenues  of  these  ejected  clergymen  was 
reserved  for  the  maintenance  of  their  poor  fam- 
ilies, "  which  was  a  Christian  act,  and  which  I 
should  have  been  glad,"  says  the  divine  above 
mentioned,  "  to  have  seen  imitated  at  the  Res- 
toration."!^ Upon  this,  the  cavaliers  sent  their 
wives  and  children  to  be  maintained  by  the  Par- 
liament ministers,  while  themselves  were  fight- 
ing for  their  king.  The  houses,  therefore,  or- 
dained, September  8,  1645,  that  the  fifths  should 
not  be  paid  to  the  wives  and  children  of  those 
who  came  into  the  Parliament  quarters  without 
their  husbands  or  fathers,  or  who  were  not  bred 
in  the  Protestant  religion. II  Yet,  when  the  war 
was  over,  all  were  allowed  their  fifths,  though 
in  some  places  they  were  ill  paid,  the  incum- 
bent being  hardly  able  to  allow  them,  by  reason 
of  the  smallness  of  his  living,  and  the  devasta- 
tion of  the  war.  When  some  pretended  to  ex- 
cuse themselves  on  the  foremenlioned  excep- 
tions, the  two  houses  published  the  following 
explanation,  November  11, 1647,  viz.,  "  that  the 
wives  and  children  of  all  such  persons  whose 
estates  and  livings  are,  have  been,  or  shall  be, 


*  Conform.  First  Plea,  p.  12,  13. 
t  Calamy's  Church  and  Dissenters  compared,  p. 
23,  24.  t  Church  History,  p.  207, 

^  Calamy's  Ch.  and  Diss,  comp.,  p.  24. 
II  Husband's  Collections,  p.  726. 


4a8 


HISTORY  OF  THE    PURITANS. 


sequestered  by  order  of  either  house  of  Parlia- 
ment, shall  be  comprehended  within  the  ordi- 
nance which  allows  a  fifth  part  for  wives  and 
children,  and  shall  have  their  fifth  part  allowed 
them ;  and  the  committee  of  Lords  and  Com- 
mons for  sequestrations,  and  the  committees 
for  plundered  ministers,  and  all  other  ministers, 
are  required  to  take  notice  hereof,  and  yield 
obedience  hereunto."*  Afterward,  when  it  was 
questioned  whether  the  fifths  should  pay  their 
proportion  of  the  public  taxes,  it  was  ordained 
that  the  incumbent  only  should  pay  them.  Un- 
der the  government  of  the  Protector  Cromwell, 
it  was  ordained  that,  if  the  ejected  minister  left 
the  quiet  possession  of  his  house  and  glebe  to 
his  successor  within  a  certain  time,  he  should 
receive  his  fifths,  and  all  his  arrears,  provided 
he  had  not  a  real  estate  of  his  own  of  £30  per 
annum,  or  £500  in  money. 

After  all,  it  was  a  hard  case  on  both  sides ; 
the  incumbents  thought  it  hard  to  be  obliged  to 
all  the  duties  of  their  place,  and  another  to  go 
away  with  a  fifth  of  the  profit,  at  a  time  when 
the  value  of  church  lands  was  considerably  les- 
sened by  the  neglect  of  tillage,  and  exorbitant 
taxes  laid  upon  all  the  necessaries  of  life.  To 
which  may  be  added,  an  opinion  that  began  to 
prevail  among  the  farmers,  of  the  unlawfulness 
of  paying  tithes :  Mr.  Selden  had  led  the  way 
to  this  in  his  Book  of  Tithes,  whereupon  the  Par- 
liament, by  an  ordinance  of  November  8,  1644, 
"  strictly  enjoined  all  persons  fully,  truly,  and 
effectually,  to  set  out,  yield,  and  pay  respective- 
ly, all  and  singular  tithes,  offerings,  oblations, 
obventions,  rates  for  tithes,  and  all  other  duties 
commonly  known  by  the  name  of  tithes."  Oth- 
ers, who  had  no  scruple  about  the  payment  of 
tithes,  refused  to  pay  them  to  the  new  incum- 
bent, because  the  ejected  minister  had  the  legal 
right ;  insomuch  that  the  Presbyterian  minis- 
ters were  obliged  in  many  places  to  sue  their 
parishioners,  which  created  disturbances  and 
divisions,  and  at  length  gave  rise  to  several 
petitions  from  the  counties  of  Buckingham,  Ox- 
ford, Hertford,  <fec.,  praying  that  their  ministers 
might  be  provided  for  some  other  way.  The 
Parliament  referred  them  to  a  committee,  which 
produced  no  redress,  because  they  could  not  fix 
upon  another  fund,  nor  provide  for  the  lay-im- 
propriations. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

OF  THE  SEVERAL  PARTIES  IN  THE  ASSEMBLY  OF  DI- 
VINES— PRESBYTERIANS,  ERASTIANS,  INDEPEND- 
ENTS. THEIR  PROCEEDINGS  ABOUT  ORDINATION, 
AND  THE  DIRECTORY  FOR  DIVINE  WORSHIP.  THE 
RISE,  PROGRESS,  AND  SUFFERINGS  OF  THE  ENG- 
LISH ANTIPiEDOBAPTISTS. 

Before  we  proceed  to  the  debates  of  the  As- 
sembly of  Divines,  it  will  be  proper  to  distin- 
guish the  several  parties!  of  which  it  was  con- 

*  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  p.  100. 

t  That  the  reader  may  enjoy  the  amplest  oppor- 
tunity to  form  an  enlarged  and  impartial  view  of  this 
matter,  I  shall  insert  the  entire  account  of  the  par- 
ties which  composed  the  Assembly,  as  it  is  given  by 
the  Presbyterian  historian  Hetherington,  in  his  His- 
tory of  the  Westminster  Assembly.  This  is  done 
that  I  may  escape  the  charge  of  having  withheld  any 


stituted.*  The  Episcopal  clergy  had  entirelj 
deserted  it  before  the  bringing  in  of  the  Cove- 
light  of  history,  although  the  entire  work  is  a  prettj- 
close  abridgment  of  Neal,  allowing  for  the  needfld 
additions. 

Before  proceeding  to  relate  the  discussions  of  the 
Westminster  Assembly  of  Divines,  thus  finally  coa- 
stituted  and  prepared  for  its  duties,  it  may  be  expe- 
dient to  give  a  brief  view  of  the  parties,  by  the  cona- 
bination  of  which  it  was  from  the  lirst  composed,  by 
whose  jarring  contentions  its  progress  was  retarded, 
and  by  whose  divisions  and  mutual  hostilities  its  la- 
bours were  at  length  frustrated  and  prevented  from 
obtaining  their  due  result. 

When  the  Parliament  issued  the  ordinance  for 
calling  together  an  Assembly  of  Divines  for  consult- 
ation and  advice,  there  was,  it  will  be  remembered, 
actually  no  legahzed  form  of  church  government  ia 
England,  so  far  as  depended  on  the  Legislature. 
Even  Charles  himself  had  consented  to  the  bill  re- 
moving the  prelates  from  the  House  of  Lords ;  and 
though  the  bill  abolishing  the  hierarchy  had  not  ob- 
tained the  royal  sanction,  yet  the  greater  part  of  the 
kingdom  regarded  it  as  conclusive  on  that  point 
The  chief  object  of  the  Parliament,  therefore,  was 
to  determine  what  form  of  church  government  was 
to  be  established  by  law,  in  the  room  of  that  which, 
had  been  abolished.  And  as  their  desire  was  to  se- 
cure a  form  which  should  both  be  generally  accept- 
able, and  should  also  bear,  at  least,  a  close  resem- 
blance to  the  form  most  prevalent  in  other  Reformed 
churches,  they  attempted  to  act  impartially,  and,  in 
their  ordinance,  they  selected  some  of  each  denomi- 
nation, appointing  bishops,  untitled  Episcopalians, 
Puritans,  and  Independents.  Several  Episcopalians, 
and  at  least  one  bishop,  were  present  in  the  first 
meeting  of  the  Assembly.  But  when  the  Solemn 
League  and  Covenant  was  proposed  and  taken,  and 
when  the  king  issued  his  condemnation  of  it,  all  the 
decided  Episcopalians  left,  with  the  exception  of 
Dr.  Featly.  He  remained  a  member  of  the  Assem- 
bly for  some  time  ;  till,  being  detected  corresponding 
with  Archbishop  IJsher,  and  revealing  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Assembly,  he  was  cut  oft' from  that  ven- 
erable body  and  committed  to  prison.*  From  that 
time  forward  there  were  no  direct  supporters  of  prel- 
acy in  the  Assembly,  and  the  protracted  controver- 
sial discussions  which  arose  were  on  other  subjects, 
on  which  account  we  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
Episcopalian  controversy,  beyond  what  has  been  al- 
ready stated  in  our  preliminary  pages. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  close  alliance 
which  the  English  Parliament  sought.with  Scotland, 
and  the  ground  taken  by  the  Scottish  Convention  of 
Estates  and  General  Assembly,  in  requiring  not  only 
an  international  league,  but  also  a  religious  covenant, 
tended  greatly  to  direct  the  mind  of  the  English 
statesmen  and  divines  towards  the  Presbyterian  form 
of  church  government,  and  exercised  a  powerful  in- 
fluence in  the  deliberations  of  the  Westminster  As- 
sembly. But  let  it  be  also  remembered,  that  in  ev- 
ery one  of  the  Reformed  Continental  churches,  either 
the  Presbyterian  form,  or  one  very  closely  resem- 
bling it,  had  been  adopted ;  and  that  the  Puritans 
had  already  formed  themselves  into  presbyteries, 
held  presbyterial  meetings,  and  endeavoured  to  ex- 
ercise Presbyterian  discipline  in  the  reception,  sus- 
pension, and  rejection  of  members.  Both  the  exam 
pie  of  other  churches,  therefore,  and  their  own  al- 
ready begun  practice,  had  led  them  so  far  onward  to 
the  Presbyterian  model,  that  they  would  almost  in- 
evitably have  assumed  it  altogether  apart  from  the 
influence  of  Scotland.    In  truth,  that  influence  was 


*  The  name  of  Puritans  is  from  this  time  to  be 
sunk  ;  and  they  are  for  the  future  to  be  spoken  of  un- 
der the  distinction  of  Presbyterians,  Erastians,  and 
Independents,  who  had  all  theirdifferent  views. — Dr. 
Warner's  Ecclesiastical  History,  vol.  if,  p.  561. — Ed. 


Neal,  vol.  ii.,  p.  234,  235. 


HISTORY   OF  THF  PURITANS. 


489 


nant,  so  that  the  establishment  was  left  with- 1 
out  a  single  advocate.     All  who  remained  were 

exerted  and  felt  almost  solely  in  the  way  of  instruc- 
tion from  a  church  already  formed  to  one  in  the  pro- 
cess  of  formation ;  and  none  would  have  been  more  I 
ready  than  the  Scottish  commissioners  themselves 
to  have  repudiated  the  very  idea  of  any  other  kind  of  j 
influence.  It  may  be  said,  therefore,  with  the  most 
strict  propriety,  that  the  native  ahn  and  tendency  of 
the  Westminster  Assembly  was  to  establish  the 
Presbyterian  form  of  church  government  in  England, 
the  great  body  of  English  Puritans  having  gradually 
become  Presbyterians.  There  is  reason  to  believe 
that  both  Pyni  and  flampden  favoured  the  Presby- 
terian system ;  but  their  early  and  lamented  death 
deprived  that  cause  of  their  powerful  support,  and 
the  House  of  Commons  of  their  able  and  steady  gui- 
dance. The  chief  promoters  of  presbytery  in  the 
House  of  Commons  were,  Sir  William  Waller,  Sir 
Phihp  Stapleton,  Sir  John  Clotworthy,  Sir  Benja- 
min Rudyard,  Colonel  Massey,  Colonel  Harley,  Ser- 
geant-Maynard,  Denzil  HoUis,  John  Glynn,-  and  a 
few  more  of  less  influential  character. 

The  Independents,  or  Congregationalists,  formed 
another  party,  few  in  point  of  number,  but  men  of 
considerable  talent  and  learning,  of  undoubted  piety, 
of  great  pertinacity  in  adhering  to  Iheir  own  opin- 
ions, and,  we  are  constrained  to  say,  well  skilled  in 
the  artifices  of  intriguing  policy.  Independency  was, 
according  to  the  statement  of  its  adherents,  a  me- 
divim  between  the  Brownist  and  the  Presbyterian 
systems.  They  did  not,  with  the  Brownisis,  con- 
demn every  other  church  as  too  corrupt  and  anti- 
christian  for  intercommunion,  for  they  professed  to 
agree  in  doctrine  both  with  Ihe  Church  of  England 
in  its  articles,  and  with  the  other  Reformed  churches ; 
but  they  held  the  entire  power  of  government  to  be- 
long to  each  separate  congregation ;  and  they  prac- 
tically admitted  no  church  censure  but  admonition, 
for  that  cannot  properly  be  called  excommunication 
which  consisted  not  in  expelling  from  their  body  an 
obstinate  and  impenitent  offender,  but  in  withdravv- 
ing  themselves  from  him.  With  regard  to  their 
boast  of  being  the  first  advocates  of  toleration  and 
liberty  of  conscience,  that  will  come  to  be  examined 
hereafter ;  this  only  need  be  said  at  present,  that 
toleration  is  naturally  the  plea  of  the  weaker  party ; 
that  the  term  was  then,  has  been  since,  and  still  is, 
much  misunderstood  and  misused ;  and  that,  wher- 
ever the  Independents  possessed  power,  as  in  New- 
England,  they  showed  themselves  to  be  as  intolerant 
as  any  of  their  opponents. 

The  leading  Independents  in  thie  Westminster  As- 
sembly were.  Dr.  Thomas  Goodwin,  Phihp  Nye,  Jer- 
emiah Burroughs,  William  Bridge,  and  Sidrach  Simp- 
son. These  men  had  at  first  been  silenced  by  the 
violent  persecutions  of  Laud  and  Wren,  and  had 
then  retired  to  Holland,  where  they  continued  ex- 
ercising their  ministry  among  their  expatriated  coun- 
trymen for  several  years.  Goodwin  and  Nye  resided 
at  Arnheim,  where  they  w-ere  highly  esteemed  for 
their  piety  and  talents.  Bridge  went  to  Rotterdam, 
where  he  became  pastor  of  an  English  congrega- 
tion, previously  formed  by  the  notorious  Hugh  Pe- 
ters. Burroughs  went  also  to  Rotterdam,  and  be- 
came connected  with  a  congregation  then  under  the 
pastoral  care  of  Bridge,  in  ^vhat  was  termed  the  dif- 
ferent but  co-ordinate  office  of  teacher.  Simpson 
subsequently  joined  himself  to  the  two  preceding 
brethren,  having,  according  to  their  system,  given  an 
account  of  his  faith.  But,  though  at  first  highly  ap- 
proving the  order  of  the  church  under  the  care  of 
Mr.  Bridge,  he  subsequently  proposed  some  altera- 
tions, which  would,  as  he  thought,  promote  its  welfare 
— particularly  the  revival  of  the  prophesyings  used 
by  the  old  Puritans.  This  Mr.  Bridge  opposed,  and 
Mr.  Simpson  withdrew  from  communion  with  him, 
and  formed  a  church  for  himself*  The  quarrel, 
however,  did  not  so  terminate.     Mr.  Ward,  another 

*  Brook's  Lives  of  the  Puritans,  vol.  iii.,  p.  312. 

Vol.  I. — Q  q  q 


for  taking  down  the  main  pillars  of  the  hierar- 
chy, before  they  had  agreed  what  sort  of  build- 
ing to  erect  in  its  room. 

ejected  Puritan,  having  about  the  same  time  retirea 
to  Holland,  came  to  Rotterdam,  and  having  joined 
Mr.  Bridge's  church,  was  appointed  his  colleague  in 
the  pastoral  office.  He,  too,  wished  for  additional 
improvements;  and  as  he  did  not  retire,  like  Simp- 
son, but  continued  the  struggle.  Bridge  thought  it 
necessary  to  depose  him  from  the  ministry,  which 
his  superior  influence  in  the  congregation  enabled 
him  to  accomplish.  To  prevent  the  evil  consequen- 
ces which  might  have  resulted  from  these  unhappy 
divisions,  Goodwin  and  Nye  came  from  Arnheim, 
instituted  an  investigation  of  the  whole  matter,  and 
induced  the  two  contending  brethren  and  their  adhe- 
rents to  acknowledge  their  mutual  faults,  and  to  be 
reconciled.*  The  reconciliation,  however,  appears 
to  have  been  but  superficial,  and  to  have  required  the 
interposition  of  the  magistracy  ere  it  could  be  even 
plausibly  effected.  Such  divisions  might  have  caused 
these  divines  to  entertain  some  suspicion  that  the 
model  of  church  government  which  they  had  adopt- 
ed was  not  altogether  so  perfect  as  they  wished  it 
to  be  thought ;  but  so  far  as  their  subsequent  con- 
duct, as  members  of  the  Westminster  Assembly,  is 
concerned,  this  does  not  seem  to  have  been  the  case 
in  even  the  slightest  degree.  When  the  contest  be- 
tween the  king  and  the  Parliament  had  become  so  ex- 
treme that  the  Parliament  declared  its  own  continu- 
ation as  permanent  as  it  might  itself  think  necessary, 
and  began  to  threaten  the  abolition  of  the  whole  pre- 
latical  hierarchy,  the  above-named  five  Independent 
divines  returned  to  Plngland,  prepared  to  assist  in  the 
long-sought  reformation  of  religion,  and  to  avail  them- 
selves of  every  opportunity  which  might  occur  to 
promote  their  favourite  system.  And  admitting  them 
to  be  conscientiously  convinced  of  its  superior  excel- 
lence, they  deserve  no  censure  for  desiring  to  see  it 
universally  received.  In  every  such  case,  all  that 
can  be  wished  is,  that  each  party  should  prosecute 
its  purpose  honourably  and  openly,  in  the  fair  field  of 
frank  and  manly  argument,  with  Christian  candour 
and  integrity,  and  not  by  factious  opposition,  or  with 
the  dark  and  insidious  craft  too  characteristic  of 
worldly  politicians. 

Of  these  five  leading  Independents,  often  termed 
"  The  Five  Dissenting  Brethren,"  Goodwin  appears 
to  have  been  the  deepest  theologian,  and  perhaps  alto- 
gether the  ablest  man  ;  Nye,  the  most  acute  and  sub- 
tle, and  the  best  skilled  m  holding  intercourse  with 
worldly  politicians  ;  Burroughs,  the  most  gentle  and 
pacific  in  temper  and  character ;  Bridge  is  said  to  have 
been  a  man  of  considerable  attainments,  and  a  very  la- 
borious student ;  and  Simpson  bears  also  a  respectable 
character  as  a  preacher,  though  not  peculiarly  dis- 
tinguished in  public  debate.  To  these  Baillie  adds, 
as  Independents,  Joseph  Caryl,  William  Carter,  of 
London,  John  Philips,  and  Peter  Sterry —naming 
nine,  but  saying  that  there  were  "  some  ten  or  elev- 
en."! N^eal  adds  Anthony  Burges  and  William 
Greenhill.}  Some  of  the  views  of  the  Independents 
were  occasionally  supported  by  Herle,  Marshall,  and 
Vines,  and  some  few  others  ;  but  none  of  these  men 
are  to  be  included  in  the  number  of  the  decided  In- 
dependents. 

The  third  party  in  the  Assembly  were  the  Eras- 
tians  ;  so  called  from  Erastus,  a  physician  at  Heidel- 
berg, who  wrote  on  the  subject  of  church  govern-, 
ment,  especially  in  respect  of  excommunication,  in 
the  year  1568.  His  theory  was.  That  the  pasto- 
ral office  is  only  persuasive,  hke  that  of  a  professor 
over  his  students,  without  any  direct  power ;  that 
baptism,  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  all  other  Gospel  or- 
dinances, were  free  and  open  to  all ;  and  that  the 
minister  might  state  and  explain  what  were  the  prop- 
er qualifications,  and  might  dissuade  the  vicious  and 

*  Brook,  vol.  ii.,  p.  454  ;  Edwards's  Autopologia,  p.  115- 
117  ;  Baillie's  Dissuasive,  p.  75-77. 

t  Baillie,  vol.  ii.,  p.  110.         i  Neal,  vol.  ii.,  p.  275,  360- 


490 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


The  majority  at  first  intended  only  the  redu- 
cing episcopacy  to  the  standard  of  the  first  or 


unquahtied  from  the  communion,  but  had  no  power 
to  refuse  it,  or  to  inflict  any  kind  of  censure.  The 
punishment  of  all  offences,  whether  of  a  civil  or  a  reli- 
gious nature,  belonged,  according  to  this  theory,  ex- 
clusively to  the  civil  magistrate.  The  tendency  of 
this  theory  was,  to  destroy  entirely  all  ecclesiastical 
and  spiritual  jurisdiction,  to  deprive  the  Church  of 
all  power  of  government,  and  to  make  it  completely 
the  mere  "  creature  of  the  State."  The  pretended 
advantage  of  this  theory  was,  that  it  prevented  the 
existence  of  an  imperhim  in  imperio,  or  one  govern- 
ment within  another,  of  a  distinct  and  independent 
nature.  But  the  real  disadvantage,  in  the  most  mit- 
igated view  that  can  be  taken,  was,  that  it  reprodu- 
ced what  may  be  termed  a  civil  popery,  by  combining 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  and  giving  both 
into  the  possession  of  one  irresponsible  power,  there- 
by destroying  both  civil  and  religious  liberty,  and 
subjecting  men  to  an  absolute  and  irremediable  des- 
potism. In  another  point  of  view,  the  "Erastian  the- 
ory assumes  a  still  darker  and  more  formidable  as- 
pect. It  necessarily  denies  the  mediatorial  sover- 
eignty of  the  Lord  Jesus  Chtist  over  his  Church; 
takes  the  power  of  the  keys  from  his  office-bearers 
and  gives  them  to  the  civil  magistrate  ;  destroys  lib- 
erty of  conscience,  by  making  spiritual  matters  sub- 
ject to  the  same  coercive  power  as  temporal  affairs 
naturally  and  properly  are ;  and  thus  involves  both 
State  and  Church  in  reciprocal  and  mutually  de- 
structive sin  :  the  State,  in  usurping  a  power  which 
God  has  not  given ;  and  the  Church,  in  yielding 
what  she  is  not  at  liberty  to  yield — the  sacred  crown- 
rights  of  the  Divine  Redeemer,  her  only  Head  and 
King. 

But  as  the  Erastian  controversy  will  come  fully 
before  us  in  the  debates  of  the  Assembly,  it  is  unne- 
cessary to  enter  upon  it  here.  There  were  only  two 
divines  in  the  Assembly  who  advocated  the  Erastian 
theory  ;  and  of  these,  one  alone  was  decidedly  and 
thoroughly  Erastian.  The  divine  to  whom  this  un- 
enviable pre-eminence  must  be  assigned  was  Thom- 
as Coleman,  minister  at  Bliton,  in  Lincolnshire.  He 
was  aided  generally,  but  not  always,  by  Lightfoot,  in 
the  various  discussions  that  arose  involving  Erastian 
opinions.  Both  of  these  divines  were  eminently  dis- 
tinguished by  their  attainments  in  Oriental  literature, 
particularly  in  rabbinical  lore  ;  and  their  attachment 
to  the  study  of  Hebrew  literature  and  customs  led 
them  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Christian  Church 
was  to  be  in  every  respect  constituted  according  to 
the  model  of  the  Jewish  Church  ;  and  having  formed 
the  opinion  that  there  was  but  one  jurisdiction  in  Is- 
rael, combining  both  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  and  that 
this  was  held  by  the  Hebrew  monarchs,  they  con- 
cluded that  the  same  blended  government  ought  to 
prevail  under  the  Christian  dispensation.  Of  the 
lay-assessors  in  the  Assembly  the  chief  Erastians 
were  the  learned  Selden,  Mr.  Whitelocke,  and  Mr. 
St.  John  ;  but  though  Selden  was  the  only  one  of 
them  whose  arguments  were  influential  in  the  As- 
sembly itself,  yet  nearly  all  the  Parliament  held  senti- 
ments decidedly  Erastian,  and  having  seized  the  pow- 
er of  church  government,  were  not  disposed  to  yield  it 
up,  be  the  opinion  of  the  assembled  divines  what  it 
might.  Hence,  though  the  Erastian  divines  were 
only  two,  yet  their  opinions,  supported  by  the  whole 
civil  authority  in  the  kingdom,  were  almost  sure  to 
triumph  in  the  end.  This,  in  one  point  of  view,  was 
not  strange.  The  kingdom  had  s\iffered  so  much  se- 
vere and  protracted  injury  from  the  usurped  authori- 
ty and  power  of  the  prelates,  that  the  asserters  of 
civil  liberty  almost  instinctively  shrunk  from  even 
the  shadow  of  any  kind  of  power  in  the  hands  of  ec- 
clesiastics. A  little  less  passion  and  fear,  and  a  lit- 
tle more  judgment  and  discrimination,  might  have 
rescued  them  from  this  groundless  apprehension  ; 
and  they  might  have  perceived  that  freedom,  both 
civil  and  ecclesiastical,  would  be  best  secured  by  the 
full  and  authoritative  recognition  of  their  respective 


second  age,  but,  for  the  sake  of  the  Scots  alli- 
ance, they  were  prevailed  with  to  lay  aside  the 


jurisdictions,  separate  and  independent.  But,  indeed, 
this  is  a  truth  which  has  yet  to  be  learned  by  civil 
governments — a  truth  unknown  to  ancient  times,  in 
which  religion  was  either  an  engine  of  the  State  or 
the  object  of  persecution — a  truth  unknown  during 
the  period  of  papal  ascendency,  in  which  the  Romish 
priesthood  usurped  dominion  over  civil  governments, 
and  e.\ercised  its  tyranny  alike  over  the  persons  and 
the  conscience  of  mankind — a  truth  first  brought  to 
light  in  the  great  religious  reformation  of  the  six- 
teenth century — but  not  then,  nor  even  yet,  fully 
developed,  rightly  understood,  and  permitted  to  ex- 
ercise its  free  and  sacred  supremacy.  That  it  will 
finally  assume  its  due  dominion  over  the  minds  and 
actions  of  all  bodies  of  men,  both  civil  and  ecclesias- 
tical, we  cannot  doubt ;  and  then,  but  not  till  then, 
will  the  two  dread  counterpart  elements  of  human 
degradation,  tyranny  and  slavery,  become  alike  im- 
possible. 

Into  these  three  great  parties,  Presbyterian,  Inde- 
pendent, and  Erastian,  was  the  Westminster  As- 
sembly of  Divines  divided,  even  when  first  it  met ; 
and  it  was  inevitable  that  a  contest  should  be  waged 
among  them  for  the  ascendency,  ending  most  proba- 
bly either  in  increased  hostility  and  absolute  disrup- 
tion, or  in  some  mutual  compromise,  to  which  all 
might  assent,  though  perhaps  with  the  cordial  appro- 
bation of  none.  The  strength  of  these  parties  was 
more  evenly  balanced  at  first  than  might  have  been 
expected.  The  Puritans,  though  all  of  them  had  re- 
ceived Episcopal  ordination,  and  had  been  exercising 
their  ministry  in  the  Church  of  England  under  the 
hierarchy,  were  nearly  all  Presbyterians,  or  at  least 
quite  willing  to  adopt  that  form  of  church  govern- 
ment, though  many  of  them  would  have  consented 
to  a  modified  Episcopacy  on  the  Usserian  model. 
Their  influence  in  the  city  of  London  was  paramount, 
and  throughout  the  country  was  very  considerable  ; 
and  as  they  formed  the  most  natural  connecting  link 
with  Scotland,  they  occupied  a  position  of  very  great 
importance.  Although  the  Independents  were  but  a 
small  minority  in  the  Assembly,  yet  various  circum- 
stances combined  to  render  them  by  no  means  a  weak 
or  insignificant  party.  They  were  supported  in  the 
House  of  Peers  by  Lords  Say  and  Sele,  and  frequent- 
ly, also,  by  Lords  Brooks  and  Kimbolton,  the  latter 
of  whom  is  better  known  by  his  subsequent  title  of 
Lord  Manchester.  Philip  Nye,  one  of  the  leading 
Independents,  had  been  appointed  to  Kimbolton  by 
the  influence  of  Lord  Kimbolton,  and  continued  to 
maintain  a  constant  intercourse  with  him,  both  while 
he  was  acting  as  a  legislator,  and  when  leading  the 
armies  of  the  Parliament.  It  is  even  asserted  by 
Palmer,  in  his  "  Nonconformists'  Memorial,"  that 
Nye's  advice  was  sought  and  followed  in  the  nomina- 
tion of  the  divines  who  were  called  to  the  Assembly.  *■ 
And  when,  farther,  it  is  borne  in  mind  that  Oliver 
Cromwell  was  an  Independent,  and  acted  as  lieuten- 
ant-general under  Lord  Manchester,  it  will  easily  be 
perceived  that  Nye's  intercourse  with  the  army  was 
direct  and  influential,  and  that  thus  the  Five  Dis- 
senting Brethren  were  able  to  employ  a  mighty  po- 
litical influence.  Nor  can  the  Erastian  party  be  just- 
ly termed  feeble,  though  formed  by  not  more  than 
two  divines,  and  a  few  of  the  lay-assessors,  who  vyere 
not  always  present ;  for  both  Coleman  and  Lightfoot 
were  influential  men,  on  account  of  their  reputation 
for  learning,  in  which  they  were  scarcely  inferior  to 
Selden  himself  in  the  department  of  Hebrew  litera- 
ture. So  high  was  Selderi's  fame,  that  any  cause 
might  be  deemed  strong  which  he  supported  ;  and 
Whitelocke  and  St.  John  possessed  so  much  politi- 
cal influence  in  Parliament  that  they  could  not  fail 
to  exercise  great  power  in  every  inatter  which  they 
promoted  or  opposed.  But  the  main  strength  of  the 
Erastian  theory  consisted  in  the  combination  of  three 
potent  elements— the  natural  love  of  holding  and  ex 


*  Palmer's  NoncoDformists'  Memorial,  vol.  i.,  p. 


HISTORY  OF   THE    PURITANS. 


491 


name  and  function  of  bishops,  and  attempt  the 
establishing  a  Presbyterial  form,  which  at  length 
they  advanced  into  jus  divinum,  or  a  Divine  in- 
stitution, derived  expressly  from  Christ  and  his 
apostles.  This  engaged  them  in  so  many  con- 
troversies as  prevented  their  laying  the  top 
stone  of  the  building,  so  that  it  fell  to  pieces 
before  it  was  perfected.  The  chief  patrons  of 
presbytery,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  were 
Denzil  Hollis,  Esq.,  Sir  William  Waller,  Sir 
Philip  Stapleton,  Sir  John  Clotworthy,  Sir  Ben- 
jamin Rudyard,  Sergeant  Maynard,  Colonel 
Massey,  Colonel  Harley,  John  Glynn,  Esq.,  and 
a  few  others. 

The  Erastians  formed  another  branch  of  the 
Assembly,  so  called  from  Erastus,  a  German 
divine  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  pastor- 
al office,  according  to  him,  was  only  persua- 
sive, like  a  professor  of  the  sciences  over  his 
students,  without  any  power  of  the  keys  an- 
nexed.* The  Lord's  Supper,  and  other  ordi- 
nances of  the  Gospel,  were  to  be  free  and  open 
to  all.  The  minister  might  dissuade  the  vi- 
cious and  unqualified  from  the  communion,  but 
might  not  refuse  it,  or  inflict  any  kind  of  cen- 
sure ;  the  punishment  of  all  offences,  either  of 
a  civil  or  religious  nature,  being  reserved  to  the 
magistrate.  The  pretended  advantage  of  this 
scheme  was,  that  it  avoided  the  erecting  impe- 
rium  in  imperio,  or  two  different  powers  in  the 
same  civil  government ;  it  effectually  destroyed 
all  that  spiritual  jurisdiction  and  coercive  pow- 
er over  the  consciences  of  men,  which  had  been 
challenged  by  popes,  prelates,  presbyteries,  &;c., 
and  made  the  government  of  the  Church  a 
creature  of  the  State.  Most  of  our  first  Reform- 
ers were  so  far  in  these  sentiments  as  to  main- 
tain that  no  one  form  of  church  government  is 
f  prescribed  in  Scripture  as  an  invariable  rule  for 
future  ages,  as  Cranmer,  Redmayn,  Cox,  &c.  ; 
and  Archbishop  Whitgift,  in  his  controversy 
with  Cartwright,  delivers  the  same  opinion  : 
"  I  deny,"  says  he,  "that  the  Scripture  has  set 
down  any  one  certain  form  of  church  govern- 
ment to  be  perpetual."  Again  :  "  It  is  well 
known  that  the  manner  and  form  of  govern- 
ment expressed   in   the  Scriptures  neither  is 

ercising  power,  which  is  common  to  all  men  and  par- 
ties, tending  to  render  the  Parliament  reluctant  to 
relinquish  that  ecclesiastical  supremacy  which  they 
had  with  such  difficulty  wrested  from  the  sovereign  ; 
their  want  of  acquaintance  with  the  true  nature  of 
Presbyterian  church  government,  which  led  them  to 
dread  that,  if  allowed  free  scope,  it  might  prove  as 
oppressive  as  even  the  prelatical,  beneath  whose 
weighty  and  gaUing  yoke  the  nation  was  still  down- 
bent  and  bleeding  ;  and  the  strong  instinctive  antip- 
athy which  fallen  hufnan  nature  feels  against  the 
spirituality  and  the  power  of  vital  godliness.  It  is 
easy  to  perceive  that  the  theory  which  was  support- 
ed by  these  three  elements  in  thorough  and  vigorous 
union,  was  one  which  it  would  be  no  easy  matter  to 
encounter  and  defeat ;  or,  rather,  was  one  over  which 
nothing  but  Divine  power  could  possibly  gain  the 
victory. 

The  Scottish  commissioners  cannot  with  propriety 
be  regarded  as  forming  a  party  in  the  Westminster 
Assembly,  as  they  and  the  English  Presbyterians 
were  in  all  important  matters  completely  identified. 
Still,  it  may  be  expedient  to  give  a  very  brief  account 
of  men  who  occupied  a  position  so  important,  and 
exercised  for  a  time  so  great  an  influence  on  the  af- 
fairs of  both  kingdoms.  Their  names  have  been  al- 
ready mentioned.— Het.hering ton,  p.  116-124. — C. 

*  Baxter's  Life,  p.  139 


now,  nor  can,  nor  ought  to  be  observed,  either 
touching  persons  or  functions.  The  charge  of 
this  is  left  to  the  magistrate,  so  that  nothing  be 
contrary  to  the  Word  of  God.  The  govern- 
ment of  the  Church  must  be  according  to  the 
form  of  government  in  the  commonwealth." 
The  chief  patrons  of  this  scheme  in  the  Assem- 
bly were  Dr.  Lightfoot,  Mr.  Colman,  Mr.  Sel- 
den,  Mr.  Whitelocke  ;  and  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, besides  Selden  and  Whitelocke,  Oliver 
St.  John,  Esq.,  Sir  Thomas  Widdrington,  John 
Crew,  Esq.,  Sir  John  Hipsley,  and  others  of  the 
greatest  names. 

The  Independents,  or  Congregational  breth- 
ren, composed  a  third  party,  and  made  a  bold 
stand  against  the  proceedings  of  the  High  Pres- 
byterians ;  their  numbers  were  small  at  first, 
though  they  increased  prodigiously  in  a  few 
years,  and  grew  to  a  considerable  figure  under 
the  protectorship  of  Oliver  Cromwell.* 

We  have  already  related  their  original,  and 
carried  on  their  history  till  they  appeared  in 
public,  about  the  latter  end  of  the  year  1640. 
The  divines  who  passed  under  this  denomina- 
tion in  the  Assembly  had  fled  their  country  in 
the  late  times,  and  formed  societies  according  to 
their  own  model  in  Holland,  upon  the  States  al- 
lowing them  the  use  of  their  churches,  after  their 
own  service  was  ended,  with  liberty  of  ringing 
a  bell  to  public  worship.  Here,  as  they  declare, 
they  set  themselves  to  consult  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures as  impartially  as  they  could,  in  order  to 
find  out  the  discipline  that  the  apostles  them- 
selves practised  in  the  very  first  age  of  the 
Church  ;  the  condition  they  were  in,  and  the 
melancholy  prospect  of  their  affairs  affording  no 
temptation  to  any  particular  bias.  The  rest  of 
their  history,  with  their  distinguishing  opin- 
ions, I  shall  draw  from  their  Apologetical  Nar- 
ration, published  in  1643,  and  presented  to  the 
House  of  Commons. 

"  As  to  the  Church  of  England,"  say  they, 
"  we  profess,  before  God  and  the  world,  that 
we  do  apprehend  a  great  deal  of  defilement  in 
their  way  of  worship,  and  a  great  deal  of  un- 
warranted power  exercised  by  their  church 
governors,  yet  we  allow  multitudes  of  their  pa- 
rochial churches  to  be  true  churches,  and  their 
ministers  true  ministers.  In  the  late  times, 
when  we  had  no  hopes  of  returning  to  our  own 
country,  we  held  communion  with  them,  and 
offered  to  receive  to  the  Lord's  Supper  some 
that  came  to  visit  us  in  our  exile,  whom  we 
knew  to  be  godly,  upon  that  relation  and  mem- 
bership they  held  in  their  parish  churches  in 
England,  they  professing  themselves  to  be  mem- 
bers thereof,  and  belonging  thereto.  The  same 
charitable  disposition  we  maintained  towards 
the  Dutch  churches  among  whom  we  lived. 
We  mutually  gave  and  received  the  right  hand 
of  fellowship,  holding  a  brotherly  correspond- 
ence with  their  divines,  and  admitting  some  of 

*  "  The  Independents,"  remarks  Dr.  Lingard, "  were 
few,  and  could  only  compensate  the  pancity  of  their 
numbers  by  the  energy  and  talent  of  their  leaders. 
They  never  exceeded  a  dozen  in  the  Assembly ;  but 
these  were  veteran  disputants,  eager,  fearless,  and 
persevering,  whose  attachment  to  their  favourite  doc- 
trines had  been  riveted  by  persecution  and  exile,  and 
who  had  not  escaped  from  the  intolerance  of  one 
church  to  submit  tamely  to  the  control  of  another." 
— History  of  England,  vol.  X.,  p.  274. — C. 


492 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


the  members  of  their  churches  to  communion 
m  the  sacrament,  and  other  ordinances,  by  vir- 
tue of  their  relation  to  those  churches."* 

The  scheme  they  embraced  was  a  middle 
way  between  Brownism  and  Presbytery,  viz., 
that  "  every  particular  congregation  of  Chris- 
tians has  an  entire  and  complete  power  of  ju- 
risdiction over  its  members,  to  be  exercised  by 
the  elders  thereof,  within  itself  This,  they  are 
sure,  must  have  been  the  form  of  government 
in  the  primitive  Church,  before  the  numbers  of 
Christians  in  any  city  were  multiplied  so  far  as 
to  divide  into  many  congregations,  which  it  is 
dubious  whether  it  was  the  fact  in  the  apostles' 
times.  + 

"  Not  that  they  claim  an  entire  independency 
with  regard  to  other  churches,  for  they  agree 
that,  in  all  cases  of  offence,  the  offending  church 
is  to  submit  to  an  open  examination  by  other 
neighbouring  churches,  and,  on  their  persisting 
in  their  error  of  miscarriage,  they  then  are  to 
renounce  all  Christian  communion  with  them 
till  they  repent,  which  is  all  the  authority  or 
ecclesiastical  power  that  one  church  may  exer- 
cise over  another,  unless  they  call  in  the  civil 
magistrate,  for  whicli  they  find  no  authority  in 
Scripture,  t 

"  Their  method  of  public  worship  in  Holland 
was  the  same  with  other  Protestants  :  they 
read  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ment in  their  assemblies,  and  expounded  them 
on  proper  occasions  ;  they  offered  up  public  and 
solemn  prayers  for  kings,  and  all  in  authority ; 
and  though  they  did  not  approve  of  a  prescribed 
form,  they  admitted  that  public  prayer  in  their 
assemblies  ought  to  be  framed  by  the  medita- 
tion and  study  of  their  ministers,  as  well  as 
their  sermons  ;  the  Word  of  God  was  constant- 
ly preached ;  the  two  sacraments,  of  baptism 
to  infants  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  were  frequent- 
ly administered  ;  to  which  was  added  singing 
of  psalms,  and  a  collection  for  the  poor  every 
Lord's  Day. 

"They  profess  their  agreement  in  doctrine 
with  the  articles  of  the  Church  of  England  and 
other  Reformed  churches. 

"  Their  officers  and  public  rulers  in  the 
Church  were  pastors,  teachers,  ruling  elders 
(not  lay,  but  ecclesiastical  persons,  separated 
to  that  service),  and  deacons. 

"  They  practised  no  church  censures  but  ad- 
monition, and  excommunication  upon  obstinate 
and  impenitent  offenders ;  which  latter,  they 
apprehended,  should  not  be  pronounced  but  for 
crimes  of  the  last  importance,  and  which  may 
be  reasonably  supposed  to  be  committed  con- 
trary to  the  light  and  conviction  of  the  person's 
conscience. 

"In  conclusion,  they  call  God  and  man  to 
witness  that,  out  of  a  regard  to  the  public 
peace,  they  had  forbore  to  publish  their  peculiar 
opinions,  either  from  the  pulpit  or  press,  or  to 
improve  the  present  disposition  of  the  people  to 
the  increase  of  their  party  ;  nor  should  they 
have  published  that  apology  to  the  world,  had 
not  their  silence  been  interpreted  as  an  ac- 
knowledgment of  those  reproaches  and  calum- 
nies that  have  been  cast  upon  them  by  their 
adversaries,  but  should  have  waited  for  a  free 
and  open  debate  of  their  sentiments  in  the  pres- 


*  Apologet.  Nar.  of  the  Independents,  p.  78. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  12,  15.  t  Ibid.,  p.  18. 


ent  Assembly  of  Divines,  though  they  are  sen- 
sible they  shall  have  the  disadvantage  with  re- 
gard to  numbers,  learning,  and  the  stream  of 
public  interest ;  however,  they  are  determined, 
in  all  debates,  to  yield  to  the  utmost  latitude  of 
their  consciences,  professing  it  to  be  as  high  a 
point  of  religion  to  acknowledge  their  mistakes 
when  they  are  convinced  of  them,  as  to  hold 
fast  the  truth ;  and  vvhen  matters  are  brought 
to  the  nearest  agreement,  to  promote  such  a 
temper  as  may  tend  to  union  as  well  as  truth.*' 
"  They  therefore  beseech  the  honourable 
houses  of  Parliament  not  to  look  upon  them  as 
disturbers  of  the  public  peace,  but  to  consider 
them  as  persons  that  differ  but  little  from  their 
brethren,  yea,  far  less  than  they  do  from  what 
themselves  practised  three  years  ago.  They 
beseech  them  likewise  to  have  some  regard  to 
their  past  exile  and  present  sufferings,  and  upon 
these  accounts  to  allow  them  to  continue  in 
their  native  country,  with  the  enjoyment  of  the 
ordinances  of  Christ,  and  an  indulgence  in  some 
lesser  differences,  as  long  as  they  continue 
peaceable,  subjects. 
"Signed  by 
"  Thos.  Goodwin,  Sydrach  Simpson,  Philip 

Nye,  Jer.  Burroughs,  "William  Bridge."! 
The  Reverend  Mr.  Herle,  afterward  prolocu- 
tor of  the  Assembly,  in  his  imprimalur  to  this 
Apology,  calls  it  a  performance  full  of  peace- 
ableness,  modesty,  and  candour ;  and,  though 
he  wrote  against  it,  yet,  in  his  preface  to  his 
book,  entitled  "The  Independency  upon  Scrip- 
ture of  the  Independency  of  Churches,"  says, 
"The  difference  between  us  and  our  brethrea 
who  are  for  independency  is  nothing  so  great 
as  some  may  conceive  ;  at  most,  it  does  but 
ruffle  the  fringe,  not  any  way  rend  the  garment 
of  Christ ;  it  is  so  far  from  being  a  fundamental, 
that  it  is  scarce  a  material  difference."  The 
more  rigid  Presbyterians  attacked  the  Apology 
with  greater  severity  ;  swarms  of  pamphlets 
were  published  against  it  in  a  few  months,  some 
reflecting  on  the  persons  of  the  apologists,  and 
others  on  their  principles,  as  tending  to  break 
the  uniformity  of^the  Church  under  the  pretence 
of  liberty  of  conscience.  The  most  furious  ad- 
versaries were  Dr.  Bastwick,  old  Mr.  Vicars, 
and  Mr.  Edwards,  minister  of  Christ  Church, 
London,  who  printed  an  Antapologia  of  three 
hundred  pages  in  quarto,  full  of  such  bitter  in- 
vectives, that  the  pacific  Mr.  Burroughs  said, 
"  he  questioned  whether  any  good  man  ever 
vented  so  much  malice  against  others,  whom 
he  acknowledged  to  be  pious  and  religious  per- 
sons." But  we  shall  have  occasion  to  remem- 
ber this  gentleman  hereafter. 

Lord  Clarendon  and  Mr.  Echard  represent 
the  Independents  as  ignorant  and  illiterate  en- 
thusiasts ;  and  though  Mr.  Ilapin  confessesj  he 
knew  nothing  of  their  rise  and  progress,  he  has 
painted  them  out  in  the  most  disadvantageous 
colours,  affirming  "  that  their  principles  were 
exceeding  proper  to  put  the  kingdom  into  a 
flame  ;  that  they  abhorred  monarchy,  and  ap- 
proved of  none  but  a  Republican  government, 
and  that,  as  to  religion,  their  principles  were 
contrary  to  all  the  rest  of  the  world  ;  that  they 
would  not  endure  ordinary  ministers  in  the 
Church,  but  every  one  among  them   prayed, 


*  Apologet.  Narr.  of  the  Independents,  p.  24, 25, 27. 
t  Ibid,,  p.  30.  X  Vol.  ii.,  p.  514.  folio. 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


493 


preached,  admonished,  and  interpreted  Scrip- 
ture, without  any  other  call  than  what  himself" 
drew  from  his  supposed  gifts  and  the  approba- 
tion of  his  hearers." 

It  is  surprising  so  accurate  an  historian 
should  take  such  liberties  with  men  whose 
principles  he  was  so  little  acquainted  with  as 
to  say  the  Independents  abhorred  monarchy, 
and  approved  of  none  but  a  Republican  govern- 
ment ;  whereas  they  assure  the  world,  in  their 
Apology,  that  they  prayed  publicly  for  kings, 
and  all  in  authority.  This  was  no  point  of 
controversy  between  them  and  the  Presbyte- 
rians, for  when  they  had  the  king  in  their  cus- 
tody they  served  him  on  the  knee,  and,  in  all 
probability,  would  have  restored  him  to  the 
honours  of  his  crown,  if  he  had  complied  witli 
their  proposals.  When  they  were  reproached 
with  being  enemies  to  magistracy,  a  declara- 
tion was  pubhshed  by  the  Congregational  socie- 
ties in  and  about  London,  in  the  year  1647, 
wherein  they  declare,  "  that  as  magistracy  and 
government  in  general  are  the  ordinance  of 
God,  they  do  not  disapprove  of  any  form  of 
civil  government,  but  do  freely  acknowledge 
that  a  kingly  government,  bounded  by  just  and 
wholesome  laws,  is  both  allowed  by  God,  and 
a  good  accommodation  unto  men."*  And  if 
we  may  believe  Dr.  Welwood,t  when  the  army 
resolved  to  set  aside  the  present  king,  the  gov- 
erning party  would  have  advanced  the  Duke  of 
Gloucester  to  the  throne,  if  they  could  have  done 
it  with  safety.  With  regard  to  religion,  Rapin 
adds,  their  principles  were  contrary  to  all  the 
rest  of  the  world  ;  and  yet  they  gave  their  con- 
sent to  all  the  doctrinal  articles  of  the  Assem- 
bly's Confession  of  Faith,  and  declared,  in  their 
Apology,  their  agreement  with  the  doctrinal 
articles  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  with  all 
the  Protestant  Reformed  churches  in  their  Har- 
mony of  Confessions,  differing  only  about  the 
jurisdiction  of  classes,  synods,  and  convoca- 
tions, and  the  point  of  liberty  of  conscience. 
Our  historian  adds,  that  "  they  were  not  only 
averse  to  Episcopacy,  but  would  not  endure  so 
much  as  ordinary  ministers  in  the  Church. 
They  maintained  that  every  man  might  pray  in 
public,  exhort  his  brethern,  and  interpret  Scrip- 
ture, without  any  other  call  than  what  himself 
drew  from  his  zeal  and  supposed  gifts,  and 
without  any  other  authority  than  the  approba- 
tion of  his  hearers."  Here  his  annotator,  Mr. 
Tindal,  rightly  observes,  that  he  has  mistaken 
the  Independents  for  the  Brownists  ;  the  Inde- 
pendents had  their  stated  officers  in  the  Church 
for  pubhc  prayer,  preaching,  and  administering 
the  sacraments,  as  pastors,  teachers,  and  el- 
ders (who  were  ecclesiastics),  and  deacons  to 
take  care  of  the  poor  ;  nor  did  they  admit  of 
persons  unordained  to  any  office  to  exercise 
their  gifts  publicly,  except  as  probationers,  in 
order  to  their  devoting  themselves  to  the  minis- 
try. The  words  of  their  confession  are,  "  The 
work  of  preaching  is  not  so  peculiarly  confined 
to  pastors  and  teachers,  but  that  others  also 
gifted,  and  fitted  by  the  Holy  Ghost  for  it,  and 
approved  (being  by  lawful  ways  and  means,  by 
the  providence  of  God,  called  thereunto),  may 
publicly,  ordinarily,  and  constantly  perform  it, 
so  that  they  give  themselves  up  thereunto."! 


*  Page  8.  ■         t  Memoirs,  p.  90,  1718. 

t  Savoy  Conference,  4to,  p.  24,  art.  14. 


It  is  necessary  the  reader  should  make  these 
remarks,  to  rectify  a  train  of  mistakes  which 
runs  through  this  part  of  Mr.  Rapin's  history, 
and  to  convince  him  that  the  king's  death  was 
not  owing  to  the  distinguishing  tenets  of  any 
sect  or  party  of  Christians.  There  were,  in- 
deed, some  Republicans  and  Levellers  in  the 
army,  whose  numbers  increased  after  they  de- 
spaired of  bringing  the  king  into  their  measures, 
and  it  is  well  known  that  at  their  first  appear- 
ance Cromwell,  by  his  personal  valour,  sup- 
pressed them  with  the  hazard  of  his  life.  These 
were  chiefly  Anabaptists,  and  proved  as  great 
enemies  to  the  protector  as  they  had  been  to 
the  king.  But  there  is  nothing  in  the  principles 
of  the  Presbyterians,  Independents,  or  Anabap- 
tists, as  far  as  I  can  learn,  inconsistent  with 
monarchy,  or  that  had  a  natural  tendency  to 
put  the  kingdom  into  a  flame. 

Mr.  Baxter,  who  was  no  friend  to  the  Inde- 
pendents, and  knew  them  much  better  than  the 
above-mentioned  writers,  admits  "  that  most 
of  them  were  zealous,  and  very  many  learned, 
discreet,  and  pious,  capable  of  being  very  ser- 
viceable to  the  Church,  and  searchers  into 
Scripture  and  antiquity  ;"*  though  he  blames 
them,  on  other  occasions,  for  making  too  light 
of  ordination;  for  their  too  great  strictness  in 
the  qualification  of  church  members  ;  for  their 
popular  form  of  church  government,  and  their 
too  much  exploding  of  synods  and  councils  ;  and 
then  adds,  "  I  saw  commendable  care  of  seri- 
ous holiness  and  discipline  in  most  of  the  Inde- 
pendent churches  ;  and  I  found  that  some  Epis- 
copal men,  of  whom  Archbishop  Usher  was  one, 
agreed  with  them  in  this,  that  evcnj  bishop  was 
independent,  and  that  synods  and  councils  were 
not  so  much  for  government  as  concord."  And 
I  may  venture  to  declare  that  these  are  the 
sentiments  of  almost  all  the  Protestant  Non- 
conformists in  England  at  this  day. 

There  was  not  one  professed  Antipaedobap- 
tist  in  the  Assembly,  though  their  sentiments 
began  to  spread  wonderfully  without  doors. 
Their  teachers  were  for  the  most  part  illiterate, 
yet  Mr.  Baxter  says,t  "he  found  many  of  them 
sober,  godly,  and  zealous,  not  differing  from  their 
brethren  but  as  to  infant  baptism."  These  join- 
ing with  the  Independents  in  the  points  of  dis- 
cipline and  toleration,  made  them  the  more 
considerable,  and  encouraged  their  opposition 
to  the  Presbyterians,  who  were  for  establishing 
their  own  discipline,  without  regard  to  such  as 
differed  from  them. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  that  so  many  par- 
ties with  different  views  should  entangle  the 
proceedings  of  this  venerable  body,  and  protract 
the  intended  union  with  the  Scots  ;  though,  as 
soon  as  the  Covenant  was  taken,  they  entered 
upon  that  affair,  the  Parliament  having  sent 
them  the  following  order,  dated  October  12, 
1643. 

"  Upon  serious  consideration  of  the  present 
state  of  affairs,  the  Lords  and  Commons  assem- 
bled in  this  present  Parliament  do  order,  that 
the  Assembly  of  Divines  and  others  do  forth- 
with confer,  and  treat  among  themselves,  of 
such  a  discipline  and  government  as  may  be 
most  agreeable  to  God's  holy  Word,  and  most 
apt  to  procure  and  preserve  the  peace  of  the 
Church  at  home,  and  a  nearer  agreement  with 


*  Baxter's  Life,  p.  140,  1 13. 


t  Life,  p.  40. 


494 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


the  Church  of  Scotland,  &,c.,  to  be  settled  in 
this  Church  instead  of  the  present  church  gov- 
ernment by  archbishops,  bishops,  &c.,  which  it 
is  resolved  to  take  away  ;  and  to  deliver  their 
advice  touching  the  same  to  both  houses  of  Par- 
liament with  all  convenient  speed." 

Hereupon  the  Assembly  set  themselves  to 
inquire  into  tbe  constitution  of  the  primitive 
Church,  in  the  days  of  the  apostles,  which,  be- 
ing founded  upon  the  model  of  the  Jewish  syn- 
agogues, gave  the  Lightfoots,  the  Seldens,  the 
Colmans,  and  other  masters  of  Jewish  antiqui- 
ties, an  opportunity  of  displaying  their  superior 
learning,  by  new  and  unheard-of  interpretations 
of  Scripture,  whereby  they  frequently  discon- 
certed the  warmer  Presbyterians,  whose  plan 
of  discipline  they  had  no  mind  should  receive 
the  stamp  of  an  apostolic  sanction  in  the  Church 
of  England.* 

It  was  undoubtedly  a  capital  mistake  in  the 
proceedings  of  Parliament  to  destroy  one  build- 
ing before  they  were  agreed  upon  another.  The 
ancient  order  of  worship  and  discipline  in  the 
Church  of  England  was  set  aside  above  twelve 
months  before  any  other  form  was  appointed  ; 
during  which  time,  no  wonder  sects  and  divis- 
ions arrived  to  such  a  pitch,  that  it  was  not  in 
their  power  afterward  to  destroy  them.  Com- 
mittees, indeed,  were  appointed  to  prepare  ma- 
terials for  the  debate  of  the  Assembly,  some  for 
discipline,  and  others  for  worship,  which  were  de- 
bated in  order,  and  then  laid  aside  without  being 
perfected,  or  sent  up  to  Parliament  to  be  framed 
into  a  law.  Nothing  can  be  alleged  in  excuse 
of  this,  but  their  backwardness  to  unite  with 
the  Scots,  or  the  prospect  the  Parliament  might 
yet  have  of  an  agreement  with  the  king. 

The  first  point  that  came  upon  the  carpet  was 
the  ordination  of  ministers ;  which  was  the  more 
necessary,  because  the  bishops  refused  to  ordain 
any  who  were  nott  in  the  interest  of  the  crown  : 
this  gave  occasion  to  inquire  into  the  ancient 
right  of  presbyters  to  ordain  without  a  bishop, 
which  meeting  with  some  opposition,  the  com- 
mittee proposed  a  temporary  provision  till  the 
matter  should  be  settled,  and  offered  these  two 
queries  : 

First,  "  Whether,  in  extraordinary  cases, 
something  extraordinary  may  not  be  admitted, 
till  a  settled  order  can  be  fixed,  yet  keeping  as 
near  to  the  rule  as  possible  1" 

Secondly,  "  Whether  certain  ministers  of  this 
city  may  not  be  appointed  to  ordain  ministers 
in  the  city  and  neighbourhood,  for  a  certain 
time,  jure  fraternitatis  ?" 

To  the  last  of  which  the  Independents  enter- 
ed their  disseijt,  unless  the  ordination  was  at- 
tended with  the  previous  election  of  some 
church.  New  difficulties  being  continually  start- 
ed, upon  this  and  some  other  heads,  the  Scots 
commissioners  were  out  of  all  patience,  and  ap- 
plied to  the  city  ministers  to  petition  the  Parlia- 
ment to  call  for  the  advice  of  the  Assembly. 
The  petition  was  presented  September  18, 1644, 
in  which,  having  reminded  the  Commons  of 
their  remonstrance,  wherein  they  declare  it  was 

*  Lighlfoot's  Remains,  in  Pref.,  p.  8. 

t  Bishop  Hall  complained  that  he  was  violently 
restrained  in  his  power  of  ordination.  On  this  sin- 
gle instance  Dr.  Grey  grounds  a  general  assertion, 
that  the  bishops  were  prevented  from  ordaining  by 
the  rabble. — Ed. 


not  their  intention  to  let  loose  the  golden  reins 
of  discipline  ;  and  of  their  national  Covenant, 
wherein  they  had  engaged  to  the  most  high  God 
to  settle  a  uniformity  in  the  Church ;  they  add, 
"  Give  us  leave,  we  beseech  you,  in  pursuance 
of  our  national  Covenant,  to  sigh  out  our  sor- 
rows at  the  foot  of  this  honourable  senate. 
Through  many  erroneous  opinions,  ruinating 
schisms,  and  damnable  heresies,  unhappily  fo- 
mented in  this  city  and  country,  the  orthodox 
ministry  is  neglected,  the  people  are  .seduced, 
congregations  torn  asunder,  families  distracted, 
rights  and  duties  of  relations,  national,  civil, 
and  spiritual,  scandalously  violated,  the  power 
of  godliness  decayed,  parliamentary  authority 
undermined,  fearful  confusions  introduced,  im- 
minent destruction  threatened,  and  in  part  in- 
flicted upon  us  lately  in  the  west.  May  it  there- 
fore please  your  wisdoms,  as  a  sovereign  rem- 
edy for  the  removal  of  our  present  miseries,  and 
preventing  their  farther  progress,  to  expedite  a 
directory  for  public  worship,  to  accelerate  the 
establishment  of  a  pure  discipline  and  govern- 
ment, according  to  the  Word  of  God  and  the 
example  of  the  best  Reformed  churches,  and  to 
take  away  all  obstructions  that  may  impede  and 
retard  our  humble  desires."*  Upon  this  the 
Assembly  were  ordered  to  send  up  their  humble 
advice  upon  this  head  :  which  w^as  to  the  fol- 
lowing effect  [September  22],  viz.,  that  in  this 
present  exigency,  while  there  were  no  Presby- 
terians, yet  it  being  necessary  that  ministers 
should  be  ordained  for  the  army  and  navy,  and 
for  the  service  of  many  destitute  congregations, 
by  some  who,  having  been  ordained  themselves, 
have  power  to  join  in  the  setting  apart  of  oth- 
ers :  they  advise, 

(1.)  That  an  association  of  some  godly  min 
isters  in  and  about  the  city  of  London  be  ap- 
pointed by  public  authority,  to  ordain  ministers 
for  the  city  and  the  neighbouring  parts,  keeping 
as  near  to  the  rule  as  may  be. 

(2.)  That  the  like  associations  be  made  by 
the  same  authority  in  great  towns  and  neigh- 
bouring parishes  in  the  several  counties,  which 
are  at  present  quiet  and  undisturbed. 

(3.)  That  such  as  are  chosen,  or  appointed 
for  the  service  of  the  army  or  navy,  being  well 
recommended,  be  ordained  as  aforesaid,  by  the 
associated  ministers  of  London,  or  some  others 
in  the  country,  and  the  like  for  any  other  con- 
gregations that  want  a  minister! 

According  to  this  advice,  the  two  houses 
passed  an  ordinance,  October  3,  for  the  ordina- 
tion of  ministers  pro  ^c»i/)orc,  which  appoints  the 
following  ten  persons,  being  presbyters,  and 
members  of  the  Assembly,  to  examine  and  or- 
dain, by  imposition  of  hands,  all  those  whom 
they  shall  judge  qualified  to  be  admitted  into 
the  sacred  ministry,  viz.. 

Dr.  Cornelius  Burgess,  Mr.  Edmund  Calamy. 

assessor.  Mr.  Humphrey  Chambers. 

Mr.  George  Walker.  Mr.  John  Ley. 

Mr.  John  Conant.  Mr.  Starkcy  Gower. 

Mr.  Daniel  Cawdry.  Mr.  Henry  Roborough. 
Dr.  William  Gouge. 

And  the  following  thirteen,  being  presbyters 
of  the  city  of  London,  but  not  members  of  the 
Assembly,  viz., 


*  Rushworth,  vol.  v.,  p.  780. 
t  Vol.  Pamp.,  penes  me,  No.  68- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


495 


Rev.  Mr.  John  Downham.  Rev.  Mr.  Sam.  Clarke. 

Mr.  Tim.  Dodd.  Mr.  Fulk  Billers. 

Mr.  Tho.  Clendon.  Mr.  Leon.  Cooke. 

Mr.  Em.  Bourne.  Mr.  Richard  Lee. 

Mr.  Fr.  Roberts.  Mr.  Tho.  Horton. 

Mr.  Cha.  Offspring.  Mr.  Arthur  Jackson. 
Mr.  James  Cranford. 

And  seven  or  more  to  be  a  quorunti,  and  all 
persons  so  ordained  to  be  reputed  ministers  of 
the  Church  of  England,  sufficiently  authorized 
for  any  office  or  employment  therein,  and  capa- 
ble of  all  advantages  appertaining  to  the  same. 
Their  rules  for  examination  and  trial  of  candi- 
dates will  be  seen  the  next,  year,  when  this  af- 
fair was  fully  settled.  In  the  mean  time  an- 
other ordinance  passed  the  houses  for  the  ben- 
efit of  the  county  of  Lancaster,  whereby  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Charles  Herle,  Mr.  Richard  Herrick, 
Mr.  Hyet,  Mr.  Bradshaw,  Mr.  Isaac  Ambrose, 
and  others,  to  the  number  of  twenty-one,  had 
full  power  given  them  to  ordain  pro  tempore  in 
the  county  of  Lancaster.  And  to  obviate  the 
reproaches  of  the  Oxford  divines,  the  following 
clause  was  added  :  "  That  if  any  person  do  pub- 
licly preach,  or  otherwise  exercise  any  minis- 
terial office,  who  shall  not  be  ordained,  or  there- 
unto allowed  by  seven  of  the  said  ministers, 
their  names  shall  be  returned  to  both  houses  of 
Parliament,  to  be  dealt  with  as  they  in  their 
wisdom  shall  think  fit."  It  was  voted  farther, 
that  "  no  minister  be  allowed  to  preach  unless 
he  has  a  certificate  of  his  ordination,  or  at  least 
of  his  being  examined  and  approved  by  tlie  As- 
sembly."* And  February  16,  at  a  conference 
between  the  two  houses,  it  was  agreed  that  the 
Assembly  of  Divines  be  desired  to  admit  none 
into  their  pulpits  except  such  whose  doctrine 
they  would  be  answerable  for.  Such  was  the 
concern  of  the  Parliament  in  these  distracted 
times,  to  have  a  sober  and  well-regulated  clergy. 

Next  to  the  providing  for  a  succession  of 
ministers  by  ordination,  the  Assembly  consult- 
ed about  a  form  of  devotion.  The  old  liturgy 
being  laid  aside,  there  were  no  public  officers 
in  the  Church  :  a  committee  was  therefore  ap- 
pointed, October  17,  1643,  to  agree  upon  cer- 
tain general  heads  for  the  direction  of  the  min- 
ister in  the  discharge  of  his  office,  which,  hav- 
ing passed  through  the  Assembly,  were  sent  into 
Scotland  for  the  approbation  of  the  General  As- 
sembly, and  then  established  *by  an  ordinance 
of  Parliament  bearing  date  January  3,  1644-5, 
under  the  title  of  "  A  Directory  for  Public  Wor- 
ship." 

The  reasons  which  induced  the  Parliament 
to  discard  the  old  liturgy,  and  form  a  new  plan 
for  the  devotion  of  the  Church,  I  shall  tran- 
scribe from  their  own  preface.  "  It  is  evident," 
say  they,  "  after  long  and  sad  experience,  that 
the  liturgy  used  in  the  Church  of  England,  not- 
withstanding all  the  pains  and  religious  inten- 
tions of  the  compilers,  has  proved  an  offence  to 
many  of  the  godly  at  home,  and  to  the  Reform- 
ed churches  abroad.  The  enjoining  the  reading 
all  the  prayers  heightened  the  grievances,  and 
the  many  unprofitable  and  burdensome  ceremo- 
nies have  occasioned  much  mischief,  by  disqui- 
eting the  consciences  of  many  who  could  not 
yield  to  them.  Sundry  good  people  have  by 
this  means  been  kept  from  the  Lord's  table, 
and  many  faithful  ministers  debarred  from  the 


Parhamentary  Chronicle,  p.  152. 


exercise  of  their  ministry,  to  the  ruin  of  them 
and  their  families.  The  prelates  and  their  fac- 
tion have  raised  their  estimation  of  it  to  such  a 
height,  as  if  God  could  be  worshipped  no  other 
way  but  by  the  service-book ;  in  consequence 
of  which  the  preaching  of  the  Word  has  beea 
depreciated,  and  in  some  places  entirely  neg- 
lected. 

"  In  the  mean  time,  the  papists  have  made 
their  advantage  this  way,  boasting  that  the 
Common  Prayer  Book  came  up  to  a  compliance 
with  a  great  part  of  their  service,  by  which 
means  they  were  not  a  little  confirmed  in  their 
idolatry  and  superstition,  especially  of  late, 
when  new  ceremonies  were  daily  obtruded  upoa 
the  Church. 

"  Besides,  the  liturgy  has  given  great  encour- 
agement to  an  idle  and  unedifying  ministry, 
who  choose  rather  to  confine  themselves  to 
forms  made  to  their  hands  than  to  exert  them- 
selves in  the  exercise  of  the  gift  of  prayer,  with 
which  our  Saviour  furnishes  all  those  whom  he 
calls  to  that  office. 

"  For  these  and  many  other  weighty  consid- 
erations, relating  to  the  book  in  general,  be- 
sides divers  particulars  which  are  a  just  ground 
of  offence,  it  is  thought  advisable  to  set  aside 
the  former  liturgy,  with  the  many  rites  and  cer- 
emonies formerly  used  in  the  worship  of  God, 
not  out  of  any  affectation  of  novelty,  nor  with 
an  intention  to  disparage  our  first  Reformers, 
but  that  we  may  answer,  in  some  measure,  the 
gracious  providence  of  God  which  now  calls 
upon  us  for  a  farther  reformation  ;  that  we  may 
satisfy  our  own  consciences,  answer  the  ex- 
pectations of  other  Reformed  churches,  ease 
the  consciences  of  many  godly  persons  among 
ourselves,  and  give  a  public  testimony  of  our 
endeavours  after  a  uniformity  in  Divine  wor- 
ship, pursuant  to  what  we  had  promised  in  our 
solemn  League  and  Covenant." 

It  has  been  observed  that  the  Directory  is 
not  an  absolute  form  of  devotion,  but,  agreeably 
to  its  title,  contains  only  some  general  direc- 
tions, taken  partly  from  the  Word  of  God,  and 
partly  from  rules  of  Christian  prudence  ;  it 
points  out  the  heads  of  public  prayer,  of  preach- 
ing, and  other  parts  of  the  pastoral  function, 
leaving  the  ministers  a  discretionary  latitude  to 
fill  up  the  vacancies  according  to  his  abilities. 
It  is  divided  into  several  chapters,  and  being  a 
book  of  a  public  nature,  comprehending  all  the 
peculiarities  of  the  Presbyterian  reformation,  I 
have  given  it  a  place  in  the  Appendix.*  Mr. 
Fuller  observes,!  that  the  Independents  in  the 
Assembly  were  hardly  persuaded  to  consent  to 
it,  for  fear  of  infringing  the  liberty  of  prayer, 
yet  being  admitted  to  qualify  some  things  in  the 
preface,  they  complied.  The  committee  who 
composed  the  preface  were  Mr.  Nye,  Mr.  Bridg- 
es, iVIr.  Burges,  Mr.  Thomas  Goodwin,  all  Inde- 
pendents ;  Mr.  Vines,  Mr.  Reynolds,  Mr.  -Mar- 
shal, and  Dr.  Temple,  with  the  Scots  commis- 
sioners. 

The  Directory  passed  the  Assembly  with 
great  unanimity  ;  those  who  were  for  set  forms 
of  prayer  resolving  to  confine  themselves  to  the 
very  words  of  the  Directory,  while  others  made 
use  of  them  only  as  heads  for  their  enlarge- 
ment. 

*  Appendix,  No.  8. 

t  Church  History,  b.  xi.,  p.  222. 


•19C 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


It  may  not.  be  improper  in  this  place  to  ad- 
vise the  reader  of  the  folUnving  variations  intro- 
duced into  the  service  of  the  Church  upon  this 
occasion.  Instead  of  one  jjrcscribed  form  of 
prayer,  the  Directory  only  points  out  certain 
topics  on  which  the  minister  might  enlarge. 
Tlie  whole  Apocrypha  is  rejected  ;  private  and 
lay  baptism,  with  the  use  of  godfathers  and  god- 
mothers, and  the  sign  of  tlie  cross,  are  discon- 
tinued.* In  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per no  mention  is  made  of  private  communion, 
or  administering  it  to  the  sick.  The  altar  with 
rails  is  changed  into  a  communion-table,  to  be 
placed  in  the  body  of  the  church,  about  which 
the  people  might  stand  or  sit,  kneeling  not  be- 
ing thought  so  proper  a  posture.  The  Presby- 
terians were  for  giving  the  power  of  the  keys 
into  the  hands  of  the  ministers  and  elders,  as 
the  Independents  were  to  the  whole  brother- 
hood ;  but  Lightfoot,  Selden,  Colman,  and  oth- 
ers were  for  an  open  communion,  to  whom  the 
Parliament  were  most  inclinable,  for  all  they 
would  yield  was,  that  "  the  minister,  immedi- 
ately before  the  communion,  should  warn,  in  the 
name  of  Christ,  all  such  as  are  ignorant,  scan- 
dalous, profane,  or  that  live  in  any  sin  or  of- 
fence against  their  knowledge  or  conscience, 
that  they  presume  not  to  come  to  that  holy 
table,  showing  them  that  he  that  eateth  and 
drinketh  unworthily,  eateth  and  drinketh  judg- 
ment to  himself"  The  prohibition  of  marriage 
in  Lent,  and  the  use  of  the  ring,  are  laid  aside. 
In  the  visitation  of  the  sick,  bo  mention  is  made 
of  private  confession,  or  authoritative  absolu- 
tion. No  service  is  appointed  for  the  burial  of 
the  dead.  All  particular  vestments  for  priests 
or  ministers,  and  all  saints'  days,  are  discarded. 
It  has  been  reckoned  a  considerable  omission, 
that  the  Directory  does  not  enjoin  reading  the 
Apostles'  Creed  and  the  Ten  Commandments  ; 
Lord  Clarendon  reportst  that,  when  this  was 
observed  in  private  conversation  at  the  treaty 
of  Uxbridge,  the  Earl  of  Pembroke  said  he  was 
sorry  for  the  omission,  but  that,  upon  a  debate 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  it  was  carried  in  the 
negative  by  eight  or  nine  voices.  Which  made 
many  smile,  says  his  lordship  ;  but  the  jest  will 
be  lost,  when  the  reader  is  informed  that  the 
question  in  the  House  was  not  whether  the 
Creed  should  be  received  or  rejected,  but  wheth- 
er it  should  be  printed  with  the  Directory  for 


*  Another  variation,  not  noticed  by  Mr.  Neal,  was 
the  exclusion  of  dipping,  and  declaring  sprinkling  to 
be  sufficient.  This  was  owing  to  Dr.  Lightfoot. 
When  the  Assemby  came  to  the  vote  whether  the 
Directory  should  run  thus,  "  The  minister  shall 
take  water,  and  sprinkle  or  pour  it  with  his  hand 
upon  the  face  or  forehead  of  the  child,"  some  were 
unwilling  to  have  dipping  excluded,  so  that  the  vote 
came  to  an  equality  within  one  ;  for  the  one  side  there 
being  twenty-four,  and  for  the  other  twenty  five.  Next 
day  the  affair  was  resumed,  when  the  doctor  insisted 
on  hearing  the  reasons  of  those  who  were  for  dip- 
ping. At  length  it  was  proposed  that  it  should  be 
expressed  thus  :  that  "pouring  on  of  water,  or  sprink- 
ling, in  the  administration  of  baptism,  is  lawful  and 
sufficient."  Lightfoot  excepted  against  the  word 
"  lawful,"  it  being  the  same  as  if  it  should  be  deter- 
mined lawful  to  use  bread  and  wine  in  the  Lord's 
Supper ;  and  he  moved  that  it  might  be  expressed 
thus:  "It  is  not  only  lawful,  but  also  sufficient;" 
and  it  was  put  down  so  accordingly.  —  Robinson's 
History  of  Baptism,  p.  450,  45L — Ed.  {Tovlmin). 

t  Clarendon,  vol.  ii.,  p.  588. 


worship,  it  being  apprehended  more  proper  for 
a  confession  of  faith  ;  and  accordingly  the  Creed 
and  Ten  Commandments  were  added  to  the 
Assembly's  confession,  published  a  year  or  two 
forward.  The  ordinance  for  establishing  the 
Directory  repeals  and  makes  void  the  acts  of 
Edward  VI.  and  Queen  Elizabeth,  by  which  the 
old  liturgy  was  established,  and  forbids  the  use 
of  it  \A'ithin  any  church,  chapel,  or  place  of  pub- 
lic worship  in  England  or  Wales,  appointing 
the  use  of  the  Directory  in  its  room ;  and  thus 
it  continued  till  the  restoration  of  King  Charles 
II.,  when  the  Constitution  being  restored,  the 
old  liturgy  took  place  again,  the  ordinance  for 
its  repeal  having  never  obtained  the  royal  as- 
sent. 

It  was  a  considerable  time  before  this  great 
revolution  in  the  form  of  public  worship  took 
place  over  the  whole  kingdom.  In  some  parts 
of  the  country  the  church-wardens  could  not 
procure  a  Directory,  and  in  others  they  despi- 
sed it,  and  continued  the  old  Common  Prayer 
Book ;  some  would  read  no  form,  and  others 
would  use  one  of  their  own.  In  order,  there- 
fore, to  give  life  to  the  Directory,  the  Parlia- 
ment next  summer  called  in  all  Common  Pray- 
er Books,  and  imposed  a  fine  upon  those  minis- 
ters who  should  read  any  other  form  than  that 
contained  in  the  Directory.*  The  ordinance  is 
dated  August  23,  1645,  and  enacts  that  "  the 
knights  and  burgesses  of  the  several  counties 
of  England  and  Wales  shall  send  printed  books 
of  the  Directory,  fairly  bound,  to  the  committee 
of  Parliament  in  their  several  counties,  who 
shall  deliver  them  to  the  officers  of  the  several 
parishes  in  England  and  Wales,  by  whom  they 
shall  be  delivered  to  the  several  ministers  of 
each  parish.  It  ordains  farther,  that  the  sever- 
al ministers,  next  Lord's  Day  after  receiving 
the  Book  of  Directory,  shall  read  it  openly  in 
their  respective  churches  before  morning  ser- 
mon. It  then  forbids  the  use  of  the  Common 
Prayer  Book  in  any  church,  chapel,  or  place  of 
public  worship,  or  in  any  private  place  or  fami- 
ly, under  penalty  of  £5  for  the  first  offence,  £10 
for  the  second,  and  for  the  third  a  year's  im- 
prisonment. Such  ministers  as  do  not  observe 
the  Directory  in  all  exercises  of  public  worship 
shall  forfeit  40*. ;  and  they  who,  with  a  design 
to  bring  the  Directory  into  contempt,  or  to  raise 
opposition  to  it,  shall  preach,  write,  or  print 
anything  in  derogation  of  it,  shall  forfeit  a  sum 
of  money  not  under  £5,  nor  more  than  £50,  to 
be  given  to  the  poor.  All  Common  Prayer 
Books  remaining  in  parish  churches  or  chapels 
are  ordered  within  a  month  to  be  carried  to  the 
committee  of  the  several  counties,  to  be  dispo- 
sed of  as  the  Parliament  shall  direct. "t 

These  were  the  first-fruits  of  Presbyterian 
uniformity,  and  are  equally  to  be  condemned 
with  the  severities  and  oppressions  of  the  late 
times  ;  for  though  it  should  be  admitted  that 
the  Parliament  or  Legislature  had  a  right  to 
abrogate  the  use  of  the  Common  Prayer  Book 
in  churches,  was  it  not  highly  unreasonable  tp 
forbid  the  reading  it  in  private  families  or  clos- 
ets 1     Surely  the  devotion  of  a  private  family 

*  Who  does  not  see  the  spirit  of  persecution 
which  invariably  accompanies  all  attempts  of  a 
church  or  nation  at  uniformity  ?  Independency  has 
not  this  sin  to  answer  for. — C. 

t  Rushworth,  part  iv.,  vol.  i.,  p.  205. 


HISTORY  OF  THE    PURITANS. 


497 


eoiild  be  no  disturbance  to  the  public  ;  nor  is  it 
any  excuse  to  say  that  very  few  suffered  by  it, 
because  the  law  is  still  the  same,  and  equally 
injurious  to  the  natural  rights  of  mankind. 

Though  his  majesty's  affairs  were  very  des- 
perate after  the  battle  of  Naseby,  yet  he  had 
the  courage  to  forbid  the  use  of  the  new  Direct- 
ory, and  enjoin  the  continuance  of  the  Common 
Prayer,  by  a  proclamation  from  Oxford,  dated 
November  13,  1645,  in  which  bis  majesty  takes 
notice,  that  '*  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  be- 
ing a  most  excellent  form  of  worship,  grounded 
on  the  Holy  Scriptures,  is  a  great  help  to  devo- 
tion, and  tends  to  preserve  a  uniformity  in  the 
Church  of  England  ;  whereas  the  Directory 
gives  liberty  to  ignorant,  factious,  and  evil  men 
to  broach  their  own  fancies  and  conceits,  and 
utter  those  things  in  their  long  prayers  which 
no  conscientious  man  can  assent  to  ;  and  be 
the  minister  never  so  pious,  it  breaks  in  upon 
the  uniformity  of  public  service.  And  whereas 
this  alteration  is  introduced  by  an  ordinance 
of  Parliament,  inflicting  penalties  on  offenders, 
■which  was  never  pretended  to  be  in  their  pow- 
er without  our  consent :  now,  lest  our  silence 
should  be  interpreted  as  a  connivance  in  a  mat- 
ter so  highly  concerning  the  worship  of  God, 
and  the  established  laws  of  the  kingdom,  we  do 
therefore  require  and  command  all  ministers  in 
all  cathedral  and  parish  churches,  and  all  other 
places  of  public  worship,  that  the  said  Book  of 
Common  Prayer  be  kept  and  used  in  all  chu/ch- 
es,  chapels,  &c.,  according  to  the  statute  prima 
Eliz.,  and  that  the  Directory  be  in  no  sort  ad- 
mitted, received,  or  used  ;  and  whensoever  it 
shall  please  God  to  restore  us  to  peace,  and  the 
laws  to  their  due  course,  we  shall  require  a  strict 
account,  and  prosecution  against  the  breakers 
of  the  said  law.  And,  in  the  mean  time,  in  such 
places  where  we  shall  come  and  find  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer  suppressed  and  laid  aside, 
and  the  Directory  introduced,  we  shall  account 
all  those  that  are  aiders,  actors,  or  contrivers 
therein,  to  be  persons  disaffected  to  the  religion 
and  Ikws  established."* 

His  majesty  likewise  issued  out  warrants 
under  his  own  hand,  to  the  heads  of  the  univer- 
sity, commanding  them  to  read  Divine  service 
as  usual,  morning  and  evening ;  and  assured 
his  peers  at  Oxford  that  he  was  still  determin- 
ed to  live  and  die  for  the  privileges  of  his  crown, 
his  friends,  and  church  government. 

About  this  time  the  Anabaptists  [or,  more 
properly,  Antipaedobaptists]  began  to  make  a 
considerable  figure,  and  spread  themselves  into 
several  separate  congregations.  We  have  al- 
ready distinguished  the  German  Anabaptists 
from  the  English,  who  differed  only  from  their 
Protestant  brethren  about  the  subject  and  mode 
of  baptism  ;  these  were  divided  into  general 
and  particular,  from  their  different  sentiments 
upon  the  Arminian  controversy ;  the  former  ap- 
peared in  Holland,  where  Mr.  Smith,  their  lead- 
er, published  a  confession  of  faith,  in  the  year 
1611,  which  Mr.  Robinson,  the  minister  of  the 
Independent  congregation  at  Leyden,  answered 
in  1614  ;  but  the  severity  of  those  tiines  would 
not  admit  them  to  venture  into  England.  The 
particular  Baptists  were  strict  Calvinists,  and 
'were  so  called  from  their  belief  of  the  doctrines 


*  Rushworth,  part  iv.,  vol.  i.,  p.  207. 
Vol.  I. — R  k  r 


of  particular  election,  redemption,  &c.  They 
separated  from  the  Independent  congregation 
about  the  year  1638,  and  set  up  for  themselves, 
under  the  pastoral  care  of  Mr.  Jesse,  as  has  been 
related  ;  and  having  renounced  their  former 
baptism,  they  sent  over  one  of  their  number 
[Mr.  Bkmt]  to  be  immersed  by  one  of  the  Dutch 
Anabaptists  of  Amsterdam,  that  he  might  be 
qualified  to  baptize  his  friends  in  England  after 
the  same  manner.*  A  strange  and  unaccount- 
able conduct!  for,  unless  the  Dutch  Anabap- 
tists could  derive  their  pedigree  in  an  uninter- 
rupted line  from  the  apostles,  the  first  reviver 
of  this  usage  must  have  been  unbaptized,  and, 
consequently,  not  capable  of  communicating  the 
ordinance  to  others.  Upon  Mr.  Blunt's  return 
he  baptized  Mr.  Blacklock,  a  teacher,  and  Mr. 
Blacklock  dipped  the  rest  of  the  society,  to  the 
number  of  fifty-three,  in  this  present  year,  1644. 
"  Presuming  upon  the  patience  of  the  state," 
says  Dr.  Featly,  "  they  have  rebaptized  one  hun- 
dred men  and  women  together,  in  the  twilight, 
in  rivulets,  and  some  arms  of  the  Thames,  and 
elsewhere,  dipping  them  over  head  and  ears. 
They  have  printed  divers  pamphlets  in  defence 
of  their  heresy,"  says  the  same  author,  "  and 
challenged  some  of  our  preachers  to  a  disputa- 
tion."f  Nay,  so  wonderfully  did  this  opinion 
prevail,  that  there  were  no  less  than  forty-seven 
congregations  in  the  country  ;  and  seven  in 
London  at  this  time,  who  published  a  confes- 
sion of  their  faith,  signed  in  the  name  of  their 
congregations,  by  William  Kiflin,  Thomas  Pa- 
tience, George  Tipping,  John  Spilsbury,  Thomas 
Sheppard,  Thomas  Munden,  Thomas  Gun,  John 
Mabbet,  John  Webb,  Thomas  Kilcop,  Paul  Hob- 
son,  Thomas  Gore,  John  Philips,  and  Edward 
Heath.  In  the  year  1646  it  was  reprinted,  with 
the  additional  names  of  Dennis  le  Barbier  and 
Christopher  Durell,  minister  of  the  French  con- 
gregation in  London,  of  the  same  judgment. 

Their  confession  consisted  of  fifty-two  arti- 
cles, and  is  strictly  Calvinistical  in  the  doctri- 
nal ijart,  and  according  to  the  Independent  dis- 
cipline ;  it  confines  the  subject  of  baptism  to 
grown  Christians,  and  the  mode  to  immersion ; 
it  admits  of  gifted  lay- preachers,  and  acknowl- 
edges a  due  subjection  to  the  civil  magistrate 
in  all  things  lawful,  and  concludes  thus  :  "  We 
desire  to  live  quietly  and  peaceably,  as  becomes 
saints,  endeavouring,  in  all  things,  to  keep  a 
good  conscience,  and  to  do  to  every  man,  of 
what  judgment  soever,  as  we  would  they  should 
do  to  us  ;  that,  as  our  practice  is,  so  it  may- 
prove  us  to  be  a  conscionable,  quiet,  and  harm- 
less people  (no  way  dangerous  or  troublesome 
to  human  society),  and  to  labour  to  work  with 

*  MS.  pmes. 

t  Dr.  Featly  was  the  author  of  the  famous  pam- 
phlet entitled  "  The  Dippers  Dipped."  Its  tor;e  and 
temper  are  none  of  the  mildest,  as  may  be  judged  from 
this  extract.  Rarely  has  more  gall  and  malice  been 
concentrated  than  in  this  now  obsolete  production. 
In  wonderful  contrast  is  the  spirit  of  "  the  Confession 
of  Faith"  referred  to.  The  superscription  is,  "  Tc  all 
that  desire  the  lifting  up  of  the  name  of  the  L^>rd 
Jesus  in  sincerity,  the  poor  despised  churches  of 
God  in  London  send  greeting  with  prayers  for  their 
farther  increase  in  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus." 
This  Confession  is  ah  admirable  compend  of  sound 
doctrine,  and  appeared  in  1644.  A  fac-simile  edition 
is  now  in  the  press  of  W.  D.  Ticknor  &  Cc,  Bos- 
ton.—C. 


493 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


our  hands,  that  wc  may  not  be  chargeable  to 
any,  but  to  give  to  him  that  needeth,  both  friend 
and  enemy,  accounting  it  more  excellent  to 
give  than  to  receive.  Also  we  confess  that  we 
know  but  in  part :  to  show  us  from  the  Word 
of  God  that  which  we  see  not,  we  siiall  have 
cause  to  be  thankful  to  God  and  them.  But  if 
any  man  shall  impose  upon  us  anything  that  wc 
see  not  to  be  commanded  by  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  we  should,  in  his  strength,  rather  em- 
brace all  reproaches  and  tortures  of  men  ;  to  be 
stripped  of  all  our  outward  comforts,  and,  if  it 
were  possible,  to  die  a  thousand  deaths,  rather 
than  to  do  anything  against  the  truth  of  God, 
or  against  the  light  of  our  own  consciences. 
And  if  any  shall  call  what  we  have  said  heresy, 
then  do  we  with  the  apostle  acknowledge,  that 
after  the  way  they  call  heresy  so  worship  we 
the  God  of  our  fathers  ;  disclaiming  all  heresies 
(rightly  so  called)  because  they  are  against 
Christ ;  and  in  desiring  to  be  steadfast  and  im- 
movable, always  abounding  in  obedience  to 
Christ,  as  knowing  our  labour  shall  not  be  in 
vain  in  the  Lord." 

When  Dr.  Featly  had  read  this  confession, 
he  owned  they  were  neither  heretics  nor  schis- 
matics, but  tender-hearted  Christians,  upon 
whom,  through  false  suggestions,  the  hand  of 
authority  had  fallen  heavy  while  the  hierarcliy 
stood. 

The  advocates  of  this  doctrine  were,  for  the 
most  part,  of  the  meanest  of  the  people  ;  their 
preachers  were  generally  illiterate,  and  went 
about  the  country  making  proselytes  of  all  who 
would  submit  to  immersion,  without  a  due  re- 
gard to  their  acquaintance  with  the  principles 
of  religion,  or  their  moral  characters.  The  wri- 
ters of  these  times  represent  them  as  tinctured 
with  a  kind  of  enthusiastic  fury  against  all  that 
opposed  them.  Mr.  Baxter  says,*  "There  were 
but  few  of  them  that  had  not  been  the  opposers 
and  troublers  of  faitliful  ministers  ;  that  in  this 
they  strengthened  the  hands  of  the  profane,  and 
that,  in  general,  reproach  of  ministers,  faction, 
pride,  and  scandalous  practices,  were  fomented 
in  their  way."t  But  still  there  were  among 
them  some  learned,  and  a  great  many  sober  and 
devout  Christians,  who  disallowed  of  the  im- 
prudence of  their  country  friends.  The  two 
most  learned  divines  that  espoused  their  cause 
were  Mr.  Francis  Cornwall,  M.A.,  of  Emanuel 
College,  and  Mr.  John  Tombes,  B.D.,  educated 
in  the  University  of  Oxford,  a  person  of  incom- 


*  Baxter's  Life,  p.  102,  144. 

f  We  refer  the  reader,  for  a  more  full  account  of 
the  Baptists  of  this  period,  to  the  Supplement  in  vol. 
iii.,  where  their  history  will  be  given  in  greater  de- 
tail, and  continued  without  interruption.  Suffice  it 
to  say  here,  that  Mr.  Baxter,  great  and  excellent  as 
he  was.  had  his  weaknesses  and  prejudices,  for  which 
much  allowance  must  be  made.  Severe  as  is  what 
he  says  above  of  the  Baptists,  he  speaks  of  them,  at 
other  times,  with  more  candour  and  respect.  As  p. 
140  of  his  Life  :  "  For  the  Anabaptists  themselves 
(though  I  have  written  and  said  so  much  against 
them),  as  I  found  most  of  them  were  persons  of  zeal 
in  religion,  so  many  of  them  were  sober,  godly  peo- 
ple, and  differed  from  others  but  in  the  point  of  in- 
fant baptism  ;  or,  at  most,  in  the  noints  of  predesti- 
nation, and  free-will,  and  persQyeran«>p."  It  is  to  be 
regretted,  on  the  ground  of  the  justice  due  to  this 
people,  anil  even  to  Mr.  Baxter,  that  Mr.  Neal  should 
have  overlooliod  or  omitted  this  testimony,  so  hon- 
ourable to  both  —Ed.  {Toulmin). 


parable  parts,  well  versed  in  the  Greek  and 
Hebrew  languages,  and  a  most  excellent  dispu- 
tant. He  wrote  several  letters  to  Mr.  Selderi 
against  infant  baptism,  and  published  a  Latia 
exercilation  upon  the  same  subject,  containing 
several  arguments,  which  he  represented  to  the 
committee  appointed  by  the  Assembly  to  put  a 
stop  to  the  progress  of  this  opinion.  The  ex- 
ercitation  being  translated  into  English,  brought 
upon  him  a  whole  army  of  adversaries,  among 
whom  were  the  Reverend  Dr.  Hammond,  Dr. 
Holmes,  Mr.  Marshal,  Fuller,  Geree,  Baxter,  and 
others.  The  people  of  this  persuasion  were  more 
exposed  to  the  public  resentments,  because  they 
would  hold  communion  with  none  but  such  as 
had  been  dipped.  All  must  pass  under  this 
cloud  before  they  could  be  received  into  their 
churches  ;  and  the  same  narrow  spirit  prevails 
too  generally  among  them  even  at  this  day.* 

Besides  the  above-mentioned  writers,  the 
most  eminent  divines  in  the  City  of  London,  as 
Mr.  Vines,  Calamy,  and  others,  preached  vigor- 
ously against  these  doctrines,  which  they  had  a 
right  to  do,  though  it  was  most  unjustifiable  to 
fight  them  at  the  same  time  with  the  sword  of 
the  civil  magistrate, t  and  shut  them  up  in  pris- 
on, as  was  the  case  of  several  in  this  and  the 
following  year,  among  whom  are  reckoned  the 
Reverend  Mr.  Henry  Denn,  formerly  ordained 
by  the  Bishop  of  St.  David's,  and  possessed  of 
the  living  of  Pyeton,  in  Hertfordshire  ;  Mr. 
Coppe,  minister  in  Warwickshire,  and  some 
time  preacher  to  the  garrison  in  Comptoa 
House  ;  Mr.  Hanserd  Knollys,  who  was  several 
times  before  the  committee  for  preaching  Anti- 
nomianism  and  Antipcedobaptism  ;  and  being 
forbid  to  preach  in  the  public  churches,  he  open- 
ed a  separate  meeting  in  Great  St.  Helen's, 
from  whence  he  was  quickly  dislodged  and  his 
followers  dispersed.  Mr.  Andrew  Wyke,  in  the 
county  of  Suffolk,  was  imprisoned  on  the  same 
account,  and  Mr.  Gates,  in  Essex,  tried  ibr  his 
life,  in  Chelmsford  Assizes,  for  the  murder  of 
Anne  Martin,  because  she  died  a  few  days  after 
her  immersion,  of  a  cold  that  seized  her  at  that 
time.  Lawrence  Clarkson  was  imprisoned  by 
the  committee  of  Suffolk,  and  having  lain  in  jail 
six  months,  signed  a  recantation,  and  was  re- 
leased. The  recantation, t  as  entered  in  the 
committee's  books,  was  in  these  words  : 

*  On  this  opinion  the  editor  would  say  nothing, 
though  he  could  say  much  ;  he  would  refer  his  read- 
ers to  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. — C 

t  Nothing,  it  is  justly  observed  by  Mr.  Crosby,  is 
more  evident  than  that  the  most  distinguished  of  the 
Presbyterian  divines  preached  and  wrote  against  tol 
eration,  and  were  strenuous  advocates  for  the  inter- 
ference of  the  civil  power  to  suppress  what  they 
deemed  error.  Mr.  Baxter  always  freely  avowed 
that  "  he  abhorred  unlimited  liberty,  or  toleration  of 
all."  Dr.  Lightfoot  informed  the  House  of  Commons, 
in  a  sermon  at  St.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  that 
though  "  he  would  not  go  about  to  determine  wheth- 
er conscience  might  be  bound  or  not,  yet,  certainly, 
the  devil  in  the  conscience  might  be,  yea,  must  ba 
bound  by  the  civil  magistrate." — Crosby's  History  of 
the  English  Baptists,  vol.  i.,  p.  176,  178.  Robinsoji's 
History  of  Baptism,  p.  151. — Ed.  (Toulmin). 

t  Every  instance  of  a  recantation  which  ecclesi- 
astical history  furnishes  moves  our  pity  and  excites 
our  indignation  ;  our  pity  of  the  weakness  and  timid- 
ity from  which  it  flows,  and  our  indignation  at  the 
spirit  of  intolerance  which  can  demand  the  sacrifice 
of  principle  and  integrity.     "  Mr.  Clarkson  had  uol 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


499, 


"July  15,  1645. 
"  This  day  Lawrence  Clarkson,  formerly  com- 
mitted for  an  Anabaptist,  and  for  dipping,  does 
now,  before  the  committee,  disclaim  his  errors. 
And  whereas  formerly  he  said  he  durst  not  leave 
his  dipping,  if  he  might  gain  all  the  committee's 
estates,  now  he  says  that  he  by  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures is  convinced  that  his  said  opinions  were 
erroneous,  and  that  he  will  not,  nor  dares  not 
practice  it  again,  if  he  might  gain  all  the  com- 
mittee's estates  by  doing  it.  And  that  he  makes 
this  recantation  not  for  fear,  or  to  gain  his  lib- 
erty, but  merely  out  of  a  sense  of  his  error, 
"Wherein  he  will  endeavour  to  reform  others." 

It  must  be  granted  that  the  imprudent  behav- 
iour of  the  Baptist  lay-preachers,  who  declaim- 
ed against  human  literature  and  hireling  priests, 
crying  down  magistracy  and  a  regular  ministry, 
and  talking  in  the  most  exalted  strains  of  a  fifth 
monarchy,  and  King  Jesus,  prejudiced  the  minds 
of  many  sober  people  against  them  ;  but  still 
the  imprisoning  men  merely  on  account  of  reli- 
gious principles,  not  inconsistent  with  the  pub- 
lic peace,  nor  propagated  in  a  riotous  and  tu- 
'  multuous  manner,  is  not  to  be  justified  on  any 
pretence  whatsoever  ;  and  it  was  the  more  in- 
excusable in  this  case,  because  Mr.  Baxter 
admits*  that  the  Presbyterian  zeal  was  in  a 
great  measure  the  occasion  of  it. 

Before  we  leave  the  Assembly  for  this  year, 
it  will  be  proper  to  take  notice,  that  it  was  hon- 
oured with  the  presence  of  Charles  Lewis,  elec- 
tor palatine  of  the  Rhine,  eldest  son  of  Fred- 
eric, &c.,  king  of  Bohemia,  who  married  King 
j     James's  daughter,  and  lost  his  territories  by  the 
I     fatal   battle  oT  Prague  in  1619.     The  unhap- 
py Frederic  died  in  1632,  and  left  behind  him 
six  sons  and  five  daughters,  among  whom  were 
Prince  Rupert,  Prince  Maurice,  and  the  Prin- 
cess Sophia.     The  young  elector  and  his  moth- 
er often  solicited  the  English  court  for  assist- 
ance to  recover  their  dominions,  and  were  as 
often  complimented  with  empty  promises.     All 
the  Parliaments  of  this  reign  mention  with  con- 
cern the  calamitous  condition  of  the  Queen  of 
Bohemia  and  her  children,  and  offer  to  venture 
their  lives  and  fortunes  for  the  recovery  of  the 
Palatinate  ;  but  King  Charles  I.  did  not  approve 
aiis  sister's  principles,  who,  being  a  resolved 
Protestant,  had  been  heard  to  say,  if  we  may 
believe  L'Estrange,  that  rather  than  have  her 
^on  bred  up  in  idolatry  at  the  emperor's  court, 
ihe  had  rather  be  his  executioner.     And  Mr. 
Echard  adds,t  that  the  birth  of  King  Charles 
[[.,  in  the  year  1630,  gave  no  great  joy  to  the 
Puritans,  because,  as   one  of  them   declared, 
"  God  had  already  provided  for  them  in  the  fam- 
ily of  the  Queen  of  Bohemia,  who  were  bred  up 
in  the  Protestant  religion,  while  it  was  uncer- 
tain what  religion  King  Charles's  children  would 
follow,  being  to  be  brought  up  by  a  mother  de- 
voted to  the  Church  of  Rome."     When  the  war 
broke  out  between  the  king  and  Parliament,  the 
elector's  younger  brothers,  Rupert  and  Maurice, 


only  been  imprisoned  six  months,  but  all  the  inter- 
cession of  his  friends,  though  he  had  several,  could 
not  procure  his  release.  The  committee  were  unre- 
lenting. Nay,  though  an  order  came  down,  either 
from  a  committee  of  Parhament  or  the  chairman  of 
It,  to  discharge  him,  yet  they  refused  to  obey  it." — 
Croshy^s  History  of  English  Baptists,  vol.  i.,  preface, 
p.  \Q.—1£.T}.  {Toulmin). 

*  Baxter's  Life,  p.  103.  t  History,  p.  449. 


served  the  king  in  his  army,  but  the  elector 
himself  being  in  Holland,  took  the  Covenant, 
and  by  a  letter  to  the  Parliament  testified  his 
approbation  of  the  cause  in  which  they  were 
engaged.  This  summer  he  made  a  tour  to  Eng- 
land, and  was  welcomed  by  a  committee  of  the 
two  houses,  who  promised  him  their  best  ad- 
vice and  assistance  ;  to  whom  the  prince  made 
the  following  reply : 

"  I  hold  myself  much  obliged  to  the  Parlia- 
ment for  their  favours,  and  my  coming  is  to  ex- 
press in  person  what  I  have  often  done  by  let- 
ter, my  sincere  affections  to  them,  and  to  take 
off  such  jealousies  as  either  the  actions  of  some 
of  my  relations,  or  the  ill  effects  of  what  my  en- 
emies might  by  my  absence  cast  upon  me.  My 
wishes*  are  constant  for  the  good,  success  of 
the  great  work  you  have  undertaken,  for  a  thor- 
ough reformation  ;  and  my  desires  are  to  be 
ruled  and  governed  by  your  grave  counsels. "t 

The  Parliament  ordered  an  apartment  to  be 
fitted  up  for  the  prince  at  Whitehall,  and  voted 
him  £80001:  a  year  for  his  maintenance,  and 
£10,000  for  his  royal  mother,  till  he  should  be 
restored  to  his  electorate.  <J  While  he  stayed 
here,  he  frequently  attended  the  Assembly  in 
their  debates,  and  after  some  time  had  a  pass 
for  himself  and  forty  horse  into  the  Low  Coun- 
tries. His  sister.  Princess  Sophia,  afterward 
married  the  Duke  of  Brunswick  and  Hanover, 
whose  son,  upon  the  decease  of  Queen  Anne, 
succeeded  to  the  crown  of  Great  Britain,  by  the 
name  of  George  I. ;  the  numerous  posterity  of 
King  Charles  I.  being  set  aside  as  papists,  and 
thus  the  descendants  of  the  Queen  of  Bohemia, 
electress-palatine,  and  daughter  of  King  James 
I.,  came  to  inherit  the  imperial  crown  of  these 
kingdoms,  as  a  reward  for  their  firmness  to  the 
Protestant  religion  ;  and  may  the  same  illus- 
trious family  continue  to  be  the  guardians  of 
our  liberties,  both  sacred  and  civil,  to  the  end  of 
time  ! 

Religion  was  the  fashion  of  the  age  :  the  As- 
sembly was  often  turned  into  a  house  of  prayer, 
and  iiardly  a  week  passed  without  solemn  fast- 
ing and  humiliation  in  several  of  the  churches 
of  London  and  Westminster  ;  the  laws  against 
profaneness  were  carefully  executed  ;  and  be- 
cause the  former  ordinances  for  the  observation 
of  the  Lord's  Day  had  proved  ineffectual,  it  was 
ordained,  April  6,  that  all  persons  should  apply 
themselves  to  the  exercise  of  piety  and  religion 
on  the  Lord's  Day,  "  that  no  wares,  fruits,  herbs, 
or  goods  of  any  sort  be  exposed  to  sale,  or  cried 
about  the  streets,  upon  penalty  of  forfeiting  the 
goods.  That  no  person  without  cause  shall 
travel,  or  carry  a  burden,  or  do  any  worldly  la- 
bour, upon  penalty  of  ten  shillings  for  the  trav- 
eller, and  five  shillings  for  every  burden. II  That 
no  person  shall  on  the  I-ord's  Day  use,  or  be 
present  at,  any  wrestling,  shooting,  fowling,  ring- 
ing of  bells  fi»r  pleasure,  markets,  wakes,  church 

*  Bishop  Warburton  thinks  it  apparent,  from  many 
circumstances,  that  the  elector  had  his  eye  on  the 
crown,  matters  being  gone  too  far  for  the  king  and 
Parliament  ever  to  agree. — Ed. 

t  Oldmi.xon's  History  of  the  Stuarts,  p.  2GS 

X  It  was  ordered  October,  1645,  but  Dr.  Grey  quotes 
authority  to  prove  that  it  was  ill  paid. —  Vol.  ii..  Ap- 
pendix, No.  50. — Ed. 

(^  Oldmixon's  History  of  the  Stuarts,  p.  279. 

II  "  And  for  every  offence  in  doing  any  worldly  la- 
bour or  work." — Ed. 


500 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


ales,  dancing,  games,  orsporls  whatsoever,  upon 
penalty  of  five  shillings  to  everyone  above  four- 
teen years  of  age.  And  if  children  are  found 
offending  in  the  premises,  their  parents  or  guar- 
dians to  forfeit  twelvepence  for  every  offence. 
That  all  May-poles  be  pulled  down,  and  none 
othe"rs  erected.  That  if  the  several  fines  above 
mentioned  cannot  be  levied,  the  offending  party 
shall  be  set  in  the  stocks  for  the  space  of  three 
hours.  That  the  king's  declaration  concerning 
lawful  sports  on  the  Lord's  .Day  be  called  in, 
suppressed,  and  burned. 

"  This  ordinance  shall  not  extend  to  prohibit 
dressing  meat  in  private  families,  or  selling  vic- 
tuals in  a  moderate  way  in  inns  or  victualling 
houses,  for  the  use  of  such  who  cannot  other- 
wise be  provided  for;  nor  to  the  crying  of  milk 
before  nine  in  the. morning,  or  after  four  in  the 
afternoon."* 

The  solemn  League  and  Covenant  was  in  such 
high  repute  at  this  time,t  that  by  an  order  of 
the  House  of  Commons,  January  29,  1634,  it 
was  appointed  "  that,  on  every  fast-day  and 
day  of  public  humihation,  the  Covenant  should 
be  publicly  read  in  every  church  and  congrega- 
tion within  the  kingdom  ;  and  that  every  con- 
gregation be  enjoined  to  have  one  of  the  said 
Covenants  fairly  printed,  in  a  fair  letter,  in  a 
table  fitted  to  hang  up  in  some  public  place  of 
the  church  to  be  read."  Which  was  done  ac- 
cordmgly,  and  they  continued  there  till  the  Res- 
toration.J 

But  that  which  occasioned  the  greatest  dis- 
turbance over  the  whole  nation,  was  an  order 
of  both  houses  relating  to  Christmas  Day.  Dr. 
Lightfoot  says,  the  London  ministers  met  to- 
gether last  year  to  consult  whether  they  should 
preach  on  that  day ;  and  one  of  considerable 
name  and  authority  opposed  it,  and  was  near 
prevailing  with  the  rest,  when  the  doctor  con- 
vinced them  so  far  of  the  lawfulness  and  expe- 
diency of  it,  that  the  question  being  put,  it  was 
carried  in  the  affirmative,  with  only  four  or  five 
dissenting  voices.  But  this  year  it  happening 
to  fall  on  the  monthly  fast,  so  that  either  the 
fast  or  the  festival  must  be  omitted,  the  Par- 
liament, after  some  debate,  thought  it  most 
agreeable  to  the  present  circumstances  of  the 
nation  to  go  on  with  fasting  and  prayer  ;  and, 
therefore,  published  the  following  order  : 

"Die  Juvis,  19  Dec,  1644. 
"  Whereas  some  doubts  have  been  raised 
whether  the  next  fast  shall  be  celebrated,  be- 
cause it  falls  on  the  day  which  heretofore  was 
usually  called  the  feast  of  the  nativity  of  our 
Saviour ;  the  lords  and  commons,  in  Parlia- 
ment assembled,  do  order  and  ordain  that  pub- 
lic notice  be  given,  that  the  fast  appointed  to  be 
kept  the  last  Wednesday  in  every  month  ought 
to  be  observed,  till  it  be  otherwise  ordered  by 
both  houses  ;  and  that  this  day  in  particular 
is  to  be  kept  with  the  more  solemn  humil- 
iation, because  it  may  call  to  remembrance  our 
sins  and  the  sins  of  our  forefathers,  who  have 
turned  this  feast,  pretending  the  memory  of 
Christ,  into  an  extreme  forgetfulness  of  him, 

*  Sf.bell's  Collect.,  p. lia 

t  Dr.  Grey  gives  various  passages  from  the  ser- 
mons of  the  day  to  prove  in  what  extravagant  esti- 
mation it  was  held,  and  to  show  what  high  encomi- 
ums were  passed  upon  it. — Ed. 

X  Lend.  Min.  Test,  to  the  Truth  of  Jesus,  p.  26. 


by  giving  liberty  to  carnal  and  sensual  delights, 
being  contrary  to  the  life  which  Christ  led  here 
on  earth,  and  to  the  spiritual  life  of  Christ  in 
our  souls,  for  the  sanctifying  and  saving  where- 
of Christ  was  pleased  both  to  take  a  human 
life,  and  to  lay  it  down  again."* 

The  Royalists  raised  loud  clamours  on  account 
of  the  supposed  impiety  and  profuneness  of  this 
transaction,  as  what  had  never  before  been  heard 
of  in  the  Christian  world,  though  they  could  not 
but  know  that  this,  as  well  as  other  festivals, 
is  of  ecclesiastical  appointment  ;t  that  there  is 
no  mention  of  the  observation  of  Christmas  in 
the  first  or  second  age  of  Christianity  ;  that  the 
Kirk  of  Scotland  never  observed  it  since  the 
Reformation,  except  during  the  short  reign  of 
the  bishops,  and  do  not  regard  it  at  this  day. 
Some  of  the  most  learned  divines  among  the 
Presbyterians,  as  well  as  Independents,  were  in 
this  sentiment.  Mr.  Edmund  Calamy,  in  his 
sermon  before  the  House  of  Lords  on  this  day, 
has  these  expressions  :  "  This  day  is  commonly 
called  Christmas  Day,  a  day  that  has  hereto- 
fore been  much  abused  to  superstition  and  pro- 
faneness.  It  is  not  easy  to  say  whether  the 
superstition  has  been  greater,  or  the  profane- 
ness.  I  have  known  some  that  have  preferred 
Christmas  Day  before  the  Lord's  Day ;  some 
that  would  be  sure  to  receive  the  sacrament  on 
Christmas  Day,  though  they  did  not  receive  all 
the  year  after.  Some  thought  though  they  did 
not  play  at  cards  all  the  year  long,  yet  they 
must  play  at  Christmas,  thereby,  it  seems,  to 
keep  in  memory  the  birth  of  Christ.  This,  and 
much  more,  hath  been  the  profanation  of  this 
feast ;  and  truly,  I  think  the  superstition  and 
profaneness  of  this  day  are  so  rooted  into  it, 
that  there  is  no  way  to  reform  it  but  by  dealing 
with  it  as  Hezekiah  did  with  the  brazen  serpent. 
This  year  God,  by  his  providence,  has  buried 
this  feast  in  a  fast,  and  I  hope  it  will  never  rise 
again.  You  have  set  out,  right  honourable,  a 
strict  order  for  keeping  of  it,  and  you  are  here 
this  day  to  observe  your  own  order,  and  I  hope 
you  will  do  it  strictly.  The  necessities  of  the 
times  are  great,  never  more  need  of  prayer  and 
fasting.  The  Lord  give  us  grace  to  be  humbled 
in  this  day  of  humiliation,  for  all  our  own  and 
England's,  sins,  and  especially  for  the  old  super- 
stition and  profaneness  of  this  feast." 

About  midsummer  this  year  died  Dr.  Thomas 
Westfield,  bishop  of  Bristol,  born  in  the  Isle  of 
Ely,  1573,  educated  in  Jesus  College,  Cam- 
bridge, and  afterward  Rector  of  Hornsey,  and  of 
St.  Bartholomew  the  Great,  London,  and  Arch- 
deacon of  St.  Alban's.  In  the  year  1641  he  was 
advanced  to  the  see  of  Bristol,  which  he  ac- 
cepted, though  he  had  refused  it,  as  is  said, 
twenty-five  years  before. J  He  was  a  gentle- 
man of  great  modesty,  a  good  preacher,  an  ex- 
cellent orator.  The  Parliament  had  such  an 
esteem  for  him  that  they  named  him  one  of  the 
Assembly  of  Divines,  and  he  had  the  goodness 
to  appear  among  them  for  some  time.  Upon 
the  bishop's  complaint  that  the  profits  of  his 
bishopric  were  detained,  the  committee  ordered 
them  to  be  restored,  and  gave  him  a  pass  to  go  to 

*  Rushworlh,  vol.  v.,  p.  817. 

t  Dr.  Grey  says  that  the  observation  of  Christmas 
was  appomted  by  statute  5  and  6  Edward  VI.,  c.  iii. 
—Ed. 

}  Walker's  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  p.  3. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


501 


Bristol  to  receive  them,  wherein  they  style  him 
a  person  of  great  learning  and  merit.  He  died 
in  possession  of  his  bishopric,  June  25,  1644, 
aged  seventy-one,  and  composed  his  own  epi- 
taph, one  line. of  which  was, 

Senio  et  moerore  confectus. 
Worn  out  with  age  and  grief. 

And  another, 

Episcoporum  infimus,  peccatorum  primus. 
The  least  of  bishops,  the  greatest  of  sinners. 

Dr.  Calibute  Downing  was  born  of  an  ancient 
family  in  Gloucestershire,  about  1616  ;  he  was 
educated  in  Oriel  College,  Oxford,  and  at  length 
became  Vicar  of  Hackney,  near  London,  by  the 
procurement  of  Archbishop  Laud,  which  is  very 
strange,  if,  as  Mr.  Wood  says,  he  always  looked 
awry  on  the  Church.  In  his  sermon  before  the 
Artillery  Company,  September  1,  1640,  he  main- 
tained that,  for  the  defence  of  religion  and  ref- 
ormation of  the  Church,  it  was  lawful  to  take 
up  arms  against  the  king,  if  it  could  be  obtained 
no  other  way.  For  this  he  was  forced  to  ab- 
scond till  the  beginning  of  the  present  Parlia- 
ment. He  was  afterward  chaplain  in  the  Earl 
of  Essex's  army,  and  a  member  of  the  Assem- 
bly of  Divines,  but  died  before  he  was  forty 
years  of  age,  having  the  character  of  a  pious 
man,  a  warm  preacher,  and  very  zealous  in  the 
interest  of  his  country. 


CHAPTER!  V. 

ABSTRACT    OF    THE    TKIAL    OF    ARCHBISHOP    LAUD, 
AND    OF    THE    TREATY    OF    UXBRIDGE. 

Next  day,  after  the  establishment  of  the  Di- 
rectory, Dr.  William  Laud,  archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, received  sentence  of  death.  He  had 
been  a  prisoner  in  the  Tower  almost  three 
years,*  upon  an  impeachment  of  high  treason 
by  the  House  of  Commons,  without  once  peti- 
tioning for  a  trial,  or  so  much  as  putting  in  his 
answer  to  the  articles ;  however,  as  soon  as 
the  Parliament  had  united  with  the  Scots,  it 
was  resolved  to  gratify  that  nation  by  bringing 
him  to  the  bar  ;  accordingly.  Sergeant  Wild 
was  sent  up  to  the  House  of  Lords,  October  23, 
with  ten  additional  articles  of  high  treason,  and 
other  crimes  and  misdemeanors,  and  to  pray 
that  his  grace  might  be  brought  to  a  speedy 
trial.  We  have  already  recited  the  fourteen 
original  articles,  under  the  year  1640.  The  ad- 
ditional ones  were  to  the  following  purpose  : 

1.  "That  the  archbishop  had  endeavoured 
to  destroy  the  use  of  Parliaments,  and  to  intro- 
duce an  arbitrary  government. 

2.  "  That  for  ten  years  before  the  present 
Parliament,  he  had  endeavoured  to  advance  the 
council-table,  the  canons  of  the  Church,  and 
the  king's  prerogative,  above  law. 

3.  "  That  he  had  stopped  writs  of  prohibition 
to  stay  proceedings  in  the  ecclesiastical  courts, 
when  the  same  ought  to  have  been  granted. 

4.  "  That  he  had  caused  Sir  John  Corbet  to 
be  committed  to  the  Fleet  for  six  months,  only 
for  causing  the  petition  of  right  to  be  read  at 
the  sessions. 

*  Laud  had  become  almost  unthought  of,  and  it 
would  have  been  wise  in  the  Long  Parliament  to 
hav(!  lei't  him  in  seclusion. — C. 


5.  "  That  judgment  having  been  given  in  the 
Court  of  King's  Bench  against  Mr.  Burley,  a 
clergyman  of  a  bad  character,  for  nonrpsidence, 
he  had  caused  the  judgment  to  be  stayed,  say- 
ing he  would  never  suffer  judgment  to  pass 
upon  any  clergyman  by  7iihil  dkit. 

6.  "  That  large  sums  of  money  having  been 
contributed  for  buying  in  impropriations,  the 
archbishop  had  caused  the  feoffments  to  be 
overthrown  into  his  majesty's  exchequer,  and 
by  that  means  suppressed  the  design. 

7.  "  That  he  had  harboured  and  relieved  di- 
ve-rs  popish  priests,  contrary  to  law. 

8.  "  That  he  had  said  at  Westminster  there 
must  be  a  blow  given  to  the  Church,  such  as 
had  not  been  given,  before  it  could  be  brought 
to  conformity,  declaring  thereby  his  intention 
to  alter  the  true  Protestant  religion  established 
in  it. 

9.  "That  after  the  dissolution  of  the  last 
Parliament,  he  had  caused  a  convocation  to  be 
held,  in  which  sundry  canons  were  made  con- 
trary to  the  rights  and  privileges  of  Parliament, 
and  an  illegal  oath  imposed  upon  the  clergy, 
with  certain  penalties,  commonly  known  by  the 
ct  calcra  oath. 

10.  "  That  upon  the  abrupt  dissolving  of  the 
Short  Parliament,  1640,  he  had  told  the  king  he 
was  now  absolved  from  all  rules  of  government, 
and  at  liberty  to  make  use  of  extraordinary 
methods  for  supply."* 

I  omit  the  charge  of  the  Scots  commission- 
ers, because  the  archbishop  pleaded  the  Act  of 
Oblivion. 

The  Lords  ordered  the  archbishop  to  deliver 
in  his  answer  in  writing  to  the  above-mentioned 
article  in  three  weeks,  which  he  did,  taking  no 
notice  of  the  original  ones.t  The  trial  was  put 
off  from  time  to  time,  at  the  request  of  the  pris- 
oner, till  September  16,  when  the  archbishop 
appearing  at  the  bar,  and  having  kneeled  some 
time,  was  ordered  to  stand,  and  one  of  the  man- 
agers for  the  Commons  moved  the  Lords  that 
their  articles  of  impeachment,  with  the  arch- 
bishop's answer,  might  be  read  ;  but  when  the 
clerk  of  the  House  had  read  the  articles,  there 
was  no  answer  to  the  original  ones.  Upon 
which  Sergeant  Maynard  rose  up  and  observed, 
"  how  unjust  the  archbishop's  complaints  of  his 
long  imprisonment,  and  of  the  delay  of  his  hear- 
ing must  be,  when  in  all  this  time  he  had  not 
put  in  his  answer  to  their  original  articles, 
though  he  had  long  since  counsel  assigned  him 
for  that  purpose.  That  it  would  be  absurd  in 
them  to  proceed  on  the  additional  articles,  when 
there  was  no  issue  joined  on  the  original  ones; 
he  therefore  prayed  that  the  archbishop  might 
forthwith  put  in  his  answer  to  all  their  articles, 
and  then  they  should  be  ready  to  confirm  their 
charge  whenever  their  lordships  should  ap- 
point." 

The  archbishop  says  the  Lords  looked  hard 
one  upon  another,  as  if  they  would  ask  where 
the  mistake  was,  he  himself  saying  nothing,  but 
that  his  answer  had  not  been  called  for. J  His 
grace. would  have  embarrassed  them  farther, 
by  desiring  them  to  hear  his  counsel,  whether 
the  articles  were  certain  and  particular  enough 


*  Prynne's  Complete  History  of  the  Trial  of  Arch- 
bishop Laud,  p.  38.     .  f  Ibid.,  p.  45. 

X  Wharton's  History  of  Archbishop  Laud's  Troub- 
les, p.  214,  215. 


502 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


to  receive  an  answer.  He  moved,  likewise, 
that  if  he  must  put  in  a  new  answer,  his  former 
might  be  taken  off  the  file  ;  and  that  tliey  would 
please  to  distinguish  which  articles  were  trea- 
son, and  which  misdemeanor.  But  the  Lords 
rejected  all  his  motions,  and  ordered  him  to  put 
in  his  peremptory  answer  to  the  original  articles 
of  the  Commons  by  the  22d  instant,  which  he 
did  accordingly,  to  this  effect : 

"  As  to  the  i3th  article,  concerning  the  troub- 
les in  Scotland,  and  all  actions,  attempts,  as- 
sistance, counsel,  or  device  relating  thereto, 
this  defendant  pleadeth  the  late  Act  of  Oblivion, 
he  being  none  of  the  persons  excepted  by  the 
said  act,  nor  are  any  of  the  offences  charged 
upon  this  defendant  excepted  by  the  said  act. 

"  And  as  to  all  the  other  articles,  both  origi- 
nal and  additional,  this  defendant,  saving  to 
himself  all  advantages  of  exception  to  the  said 
articles,  humbly  saith  that  he  is  not  guilty  of 
all  or  any  the  matters,  by  the  said  articles 
charged,  in  such  manner  and  form  as  the  same 
are  by  the  said  articles  charged  against  him." 

The  trial  was  deferred  all  the  month  oi  Feb- 
ruary, as  the  archbishop  insinuates,  because 
Mr.  Prynne  was  not  ready  with  his  witnesses. 
When  it  came  on,  Lord  Grey,  of  Werk,  speaker 
of  the  House  of  Lords,  was  appoinied  president ; 
but  the  archbishop  complains  that  there  were 
seldom  more  than  sixteen  or  eighteen  peers 
at  a  time.  The  managers  for  the  Commons 
were  Mr.  Sergeant  Wild,  and  Mr.  Maynard,  Mr. 
Brown,  Mr.  Nicolas,  and  Mr.  Hill,  whom  the 
archbishop  calls  consul  bibulus,  because  he  said 
nothing  ;  their  solicitor  was  Mr.  Prynne,  the 
archbishop's  grand  enemy.  His  grace's  coun- 
sul  were  Mr.  Hern,  Mr.  Hales,  Mr.  Chute,  Mr. 
Gerard  ;  and  his  solicitor  was  his  own  secreta- 
ry, Mr.  Dell.  The  trial  was  depending  almost 
five  months,  in  which  time  the  archbishop  was 
heard  twenty  days,  with  as  much  liberty  and 
freedom  of  speech  as  could  be  reasonably  desi- 
red. When  he  complained  of  the  seizure  of  his 
papers,*  the  Lords  ordered  him  a  copy  of  all 
such  as  were  necessary  for  his  defence  ;  and 
when  he  acquainted  them  that,  by  reason  of  the 
sequestration  of  his  estate,  he  was  incapable 
of  feeing  his  counsel,  they  moved  the  commit- 
tee of  sequestrations  in  his  favour,  who  ordered 
him  £200.  His  counsel  had  free  access  to  him 
at  all  times,  and  stood  by  to  advise  him  during 
the  whole  of  his  trial. 

The  method  of  proceeding  was  this :  the 
archbishop  had  three  or  four  days'  notice  of  the 
day  of  his  appearance,  and  of  the  articles  they 
designed  to  proceed  on  ;  he  was  brought  to  the 
bar  about  ten  in  the  morning,  and  the  managers 
were  till  one  making  good  their  charge ;  the 
House  then  adjourned  till  four,  when  the  arch- 
bishop made  his  defence,  after  which  one  of  the 

*  Laud,  on  his  first  committal,  had  sent  the  key  of 
his  cabinet  to  Warner,  bishop  of  Rochester,  desiring 
him  to  burn  or  conceal  such  papers  as  might  be  prej- 
udicial to  his  own  interest  or  those  of  his  friends. 
Warner  was  engaged  for  three  hours  at  the  task,  and 
had  only  just  completed  it,  when  a  messenger  from 
the  House  of  Lords  came  to 'seal  up  the  cabinet. 
Among  the  documents  carried  off  by  Warner  was 
the  original  Magna  Charta.  This  valuable  relic  of 
antiquity  was  found  among  Warner's  papers  at  his 
death.  It  was  afterward  presented  to  Bishop  Bur- 
net, and  is  now  in  the  British  Museum. — lessees 
Hoiise  of  Stuart,  vol.  ii.,  p.  389. — C. 


managers  replied,  and  the  archbishop  returned 
to  the  Tower  between  seven  and  eight  of  the 
clock  in  the  evening. 

It  is  unhappy  that  this  remarkable  trial,  which 
contains  the  chief  heads  of  controversy  between 
the  Puritans  and  the  hierarchy,  was  not  pub- 
lished by  order  of  the  House  of  Peers,  that  the 
world  might  have  seen  the  arguments  on  both 
sides  in  their  full  strength.  Mr.  Prynne,  by  or- 
der of  the  House  of  Commons,  has  given  us 
their  evidence  to  that  branch  of  the  charge 
which  relates  to  religion,  and  the  archbishop 
has  left  behind  him  his  own  defence  on  every 
day's  hearing,  mixed  with  keen  and  satirical 
reflections  on  his  adversaries  ;  but  these  being 
detached  performances,  I  have  endeavoured  to 
reduce  the  most  material  passages  into  a  prop- 
er method,  without  confining  myself  to  the  ex- 
act order  of  time  in  which  the  articles  were  de- 
bated. 

All  the  articles  may  be  reduced  to  these  three 
general  heads.  , 

First,  "  That  the  archbishop  had  traitorously 
i.itempted  and  endeavoured  to  subvert  the 
rights  of  Parliament,  and  to  exalt  the  king's 
power  above  law. 

Secondly,  "That  he  had  traitorously  endeav- 
oured to  subvert  the  fundamental  temporal  laws 
and  government  of  the  realm  of  England,  and 
to  introduce  an  arbitrary  government  against 
law  and  the  liberties  of  the  subject. 

Thirdly,  "That  he  had  traitorously  endeav- 
oured and  practised,  to  alter  and  subvert  God's 
true  religion  by  law  established  in  this  realm, 
and  instead  thereof,  to  set  up  popish  supersti- 
tion and  idolatry,  and  to  reconcile  us  to  the 
Church  of  Rome." 

The  trial  began  March  12,  1643-4,  when  Mr. 
Sergeant  Wild,  one  of  the  managers  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  opened  the  impeachment 
with  a  smart  speech,  in  which  he  stated  and 
aggravated  the  several  crimes  charged  upon 
the  archbishop,  and  concluded  with  comparing 
him  to  Naaman  the  Syrian,  who  was  a  great 
man,  but  a  leper. 

The  archbishop,  in  his  reply,  endeavours  to 
wipe  off  the  aspersions  that  were  cast  upoa 
him,  in  a  laboured  speech  which  he  held  in  his 
hand.  He  says,  "  It  was  no  less  than  a  tor- 
ment to  him  to  appear  ip  that  place,  and  plead 
for  himself  on  that  occasion,  because  he  was 
not  only  a  Christian,  but  a  clergyman,  and,  by 
God's  grace,  advanced  to  the  greatest  place 
thi.?  Church  affords.  He  blessed  God  that  he 
was  neither  ashamed  to  live  nor  afraid  to  die  ; 
that  he  had  been  as  strict  an  observer  of  the 
laws  of  his  country,  both  in  public  and  private, 
as  any  man  whatsoever ;  and  as  for  religion, 
that  he  had  been  a  steady  member  of  the  Church 
of  England  as  established  by  law,  which  he  had 
endeavoured  to  reduce  to  decency,  uniformity, 
and  beauty  in  the  outward  face  of  it ;  but  he 
had  been  as  far  from  attempting  any  alterations 
in  favour  of  popery  as  when  his  mother  first 
bore  him  into  the  world ;  and  let  nothing  be 
spoken  but  truth,"  says  he,  "and  I  do  here 
challenge  whatsoever  is  between  heaven  and 
hell,  that  can  be  said  against  me  in  point  of  my 
religion,  in  which  I  have  ever  hated  dissimula- 
tion."*   He  then  concludes  with  a  list  of  twen- 


*  Wharton's  History  of  Archbishop  Laud's  Troub- 
les, p.  223. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    PURITANS. 


503 


ty-one  persons  whom  he  had  converted  from 
popery  to  the  Protestant  religion. 

It  was  observed  by  some,  that  if  the  passion- 
ate expressions  in  this  speech  had  been  a  ht- 
tle  qualified,  they  would  have  obtained  more 
credit  with  his  grace's  judges  ;*  but,  as  they 
■were  pronounced,  were  thought  hardly  fit  for 
'  the  mouth  of  one  who  lay  under  the  weight  of 
'  £0  many  accusations  from  the  representative 
hody  of  the  nation.! 

The  next  day  [March  13]  the  managers  for 
the  Commons  began  to  make  good  the  first 
branch  of  their  charge,  to  the  following  purpose, 
viz. : 

"  That  the  archbishop  had  traitorously  at- 
tempted to  subvert  the  rights  of  Parliament, 
and  to  exalt  the  king's  power  above  the  laws." 

In  support  of  \vhich  they  produced,  (1.)  a 
passage  out  of  his  own  diary,  December  5,  1639. 
"  A  resolution  was  voted  at  the  board  to  assist 
the  king  in  extraordinary  ways,  if,"  says  he, 
"  the  Parliament  should  prove  peevish  and  re- 
fuse." 

The  archbishop  replied,  that  this  was  the 
vote  of  the  whole  council-table,  of  which  he 
was  only  a  single  member,  and  therefore  could 
not  be  called  his  counsel.  Besides,  the  words 
had  relation  to  the  troubles  of  Scotland,  and  are 
therefore  included  in  the  Act  of  Oblivion. 

2.  "They  produced  another  expression  in  one 
of  the  archbishop's  papers  under  his  own  hand, 
in  the  beginning  of  which  he  says  that  Magna 
Charta  had  an  obscure  birth,  and  was  fostered 
by  an  ill  nurse."t 

The  archbishop  replied,  that  it  was  no  dis- 
grace to  Magna  Charta  to  say  it  had  an  obscure 
birth  ;  our  histories  confirm  the  truth  of  it,  and 
some  of  our  law-books  of  good  account  use  al- 
most the  same  expressions  ;  and  shall  the  same 
words  be  history  and  law  in  them,  and  treason 
in  mel^ 

3.  They  averred,  "  That  he  had  said  in  coun- 
cil, that  the  king's  proclamation  was  of  as  great 
force  as  an  act  of  Parliament ;  and  that  he  had 
compared  the  king  to  the  stone  spoken  of  in 
the  Gospel,  that  whosoever  falls  upon  it  shall 
be  broken,  but  upon  whomsoever  it  falls  it  will 
grind  him  to  powder." 

The  archbishop  replied,  that  this  was  in  the 
case  of  the  soap  business,  twelve  years  ago, 
and  thinks  it  impossible  those  words  should  be 
spoken  by  him  ;  nor  does  he  apprehend  the  gen- 
tlemen who  press  this  evidence  can  believe  it 
themselves,  considering  they  are  accusing  him 
as  a  cunning  delinquent.    "  So  God  forgive  these 

*  Dr.  Grey  thinks  that  the  severest  expressions 
were  justifiable  in  answer  to  so  foul-mouthed  an  im- 
peacher  as  Sergeant  Wild,  and  that  there  was  no- 
thing in  the  bishop's  speech  unbecoming  that  great 
prelate  to  speak,  or  that  assembly  to  hear. — Ed. 

t  "  To  give  him  his  due,"  says  Prynne,  "  he  made 
as  full,  as  gallant,  as  pithy  a  defence  of  so  bad  a 
cause,  and  spoke  as  much  for  himself  as  was  possi- 
ble for  the  wit  of  man  to  invent,  and  that  with  so 
much  art,  sophistry,  vivacity,  oratory,  audacity,  and 
confidence,  without  the  least  blush  or  acknowledg- 
ment of  guilt  in  anything  (animated  by  his  sealed 
pardon  lymg  by  him),  as  argued  him  rather  obstinate 
than  innocent,- impudent  than  penitent,  a  far  better 
orator,  sophister,  than  Protestant  or  Christian,  yea, 
truer  son  of  the  Church  of  Rome  than  of  the  Church 
of  England." — Canterbury's  Doom,  p.  4G2. — C. 

t  Laud's  History,  p.  229-231.  ^  Ibid.,  p.  409. 


men  the  falsehood  and  malice  of  their  oaths," 

says  he;  "but  as  to  the  allusion  to  the  stone 
in  the  Scripture,  if  I  did  apply  it  to  the  king,  it 
was  far  enough  from  treason  ;  and  let  them  and 
their  like  take  care,  lest  it  prove  true  upon 
themselves,  for  Solomon  says,  '  The  anger  of  a 
king  is  death.'  "* 

4.  In  farther  maintenance  of  this  part  of 
their  charge,  the  managers  produced  "  two 
speeches  which  his  grace  framed  for  the  king 
to  be  spoken  to  the  Parliament ;  and  his  majes- 
ty's answer  to  the  remonstrance  of  the  House 
of  Commons  in  the  year  1628,  which  was  all 
written  with  the  archbishop's  own  hand,  and 
these  words  endorsed  by  himself,  '  My  answer 
to  the  Parliament's  remonstrance.'  In  which 
papers  were  sundry  passages  tending  to  set  up 
an  absolute  power  in  the  king,  and  to  make  the 
calling  of  Parliaments  in  a  manner  useless. 
The  king  is  made  to  say  that  his  power  is  only 
from  God,  and  to  him  only  he  is  accountable 
for  his  actions  ;  that  never  king  was  more  jeal- 
ous of  his  honour,  or  more  sensible  of  the  neg- 
lect and  contempt  of  his  royal  rights.  His 
majesty  bids  the  Commons  remember,  that  Par- 
liaments are  altogether  in  his  power,  for  their 
calling,  sitting,  and  dissolution  ;  and  that,  ac- 
cording as  they  behaved  themselves,  they  should 
continue,  or  not  be.  When  some  of  the  mem- 
bers of  Parliament  had  spoken  freely  against 
the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  they  were  by  the 
king's  command  sent  to  the  Tower ;  and  his 
majesty  coming  to  the  House  of  Peers,  tells 
them  that  he  had  thought  fit  to  punish  some 
insolent  speeches  lately  spoken  against  the 
duke,  for  I  am  so  sensible  of  all  your  honours, 
(says  he),  that  he  that  touches  any  of  you. 
touches  me  in  a  very  great  measure.  Farther, 
when  the  Parliament  was  dissolved  in  the  year 
1628,  a  proclamation  was  published,  together 
with  the  above-mentioned  remonstrance,  in 
which  his  majesty  declares,  that  since  his  Par- 
liament was  not  so  dutiful  as  they  ought  to  be, 
he  was  resolved  to  live  without  them,  till  those 
who  had  interrupted  his  proceedings  should  re- 
ceive condign  punishment,  and  his  people  come 
to  a  better  temper  ;  and  that  in  the  mean  time, 
he  would  exact  the  duties  that  were  received 
by  his  father,  which  his  now  majesty  neither 
could  nor  would  dispense  with."t 

The  archbishop  replied,  that  he  did  indeed 
make  the  above-mentioned  speeches,  being  com- 
manded to  the  service,  and  followed  his  in- 
structions as  close  as  he  could.  As  for  the 
smart  passages  complained  of,  he  hopes  they 
will  not  be  thought  such  when  it  is  considered 
whose  mouth  was  to  utter  them,  and  upon  what 
occasion.  However,  if  they  be,  he  is  heartily 
sorry  for  them,  and  humbly  desires  they  may 
be  passed  by.  The  answer  to  the  remonstrance 
was  drawn  by  his  majesty's  command,  as  ap- 
pears by  the  endorsement ;  and  the  severe  pas- 
sages objected  to  were  in  his  instructions. 
When  a  Parliament  errs,  may  not  their  king 
tell  them  of  it  1  Or  must  every  passage  in  his 
answer  be  sour  that  pleases  not  U 

The  managers  proceeded  to  produce  some 
other  passages   tending  more  immediately  to 


*  Laud's  History,  p.  234. 

t  King's  Speeches,  March  27,  39,  and  May  11, 

i  Laud's  Hist.,  p.  230,  403,  404,  406. 


504 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


subvert  the  rights  of  Parliament ;  and  among 
others,  they  insisted  on  these  three  : 

1.  "  That  the  archbishop  had  said  at  the 
council-table,  after  the  ending  of  the  late  Par- 
liament, that  'now  the  king  might  make  use  of 
his  own  power,'  This  was  attested  by  Sir  Har- 
ry Vane  the  elder,  who  was  a  privy  councillor, 
and  then  present." 

The  archbishop  replied,  that  he  did  not  re- 
member the  words  ;  that  if  he  did  speak  them, 
they  were  not  treasonable  ;  or  if  they  were,  he 
ought  to  have  been  tried  within  six  months, 
according  to  the  statute  1  Eliz.,  cap.  vi.  That 
Sir  Henry  Vane  was  only  a  single  witness, 
whereas  the  law  requires  two  witnesses  for 
treason  :  besides,  he  conceived  that  this  advice 
relating  to  the  Scottish  troubles  was  within  the 
Act  of  Oblivion,  which  he  had  pleaded.  But 
last  of  all,  let  it  be  remembered,  says  the  arch- 
bishop, for  Sir  Harry's  honour,  that  he  being  a 
man  in  years,  has  so  good  a  memory,  tliat  he 
alone  can  remember  words  spoken  at  a  full 
council-table,  which  no  person  of  honour  re- 
members save  himself;  but  I  would  not  have 
him  brag  of  it,  for  I  have  read  in  St.  Austin, 
that  some,  even  the  worst  of  men,  have  great 
memories,  and  so  much  the  worse  for  having 
them.     God  bless  Sir  Henry  !* 

2.  The  archbishop  had  affirmed,  "  that  the 
Parliament  might  not  meddle  with  religion, 
without  the  assent  of  the  clergy  in  convocation. 
Now  if  this  were  so,  say  the  managers,  we 
should  have  had  no  reformation,  for  the  bishops 
and  clergy  dissented." 

The  archbishop  in  his  reply  cited  the  statute 
1  Eliz,,  cap.  i.,  which  says,  that  "  what  is  her- 
esy shall  be  determined  by  the  Parliament,  with 
the  assent  of  the  clergy  in  convocation,"  from 
whence  he  concluded,  the  Parliament  could  not 
by  law  determine  the  truth  of  doctrine  without 
the  assent  of  the  clergy  ;  and  to  this  the  man- 
agers agreed,  as  to  the  point  of  heresy,  but  no 
farther.  The  archbishop  added,  that,  in  his 
opinion,  it  was  the  prerogative  of  the  Church 
alone  to  determine  truth  and  falsehood,  though 
the  power  of  making  laws  for  the  punishment 
of  eiToneous  persons  was  in  the  Parliament, 
with  the  assent  of  the  clergy. t  Indeed,  the 
king  and  Parliament  may,  by  their  absolute 
power,  change  Christianity  into  Turkism  if 
they  please,  and  the  subjects  that  cannot  obey 
must  fly,  or  endure  the  penalty  of  the  law  ;  but 
of  right  they  cannot  do  this  without  the  Church. 
Thus  the  Parliament,  in  the  beginning  of  Queen 
Elizabeth's  reign,  by  absolute  power  abolished 
Popish  superstition  ;  but  when  the  clergy  were 
settled,  and  a  form  of  doctrine  was  to  be  agreed 
on,  a  synod  was  called,  1562,  and  the  articles 
of  religion  were  confirmed  by  Parliament,  with 
the  assent  of  the  clergy,  which  gave  all  parties 
their  just  right,  as  is  so  evident,  that  the  hea- 
thens could  see  the  justice  of  it,  for  Lucullus 
says  in  Tully,  that  the  priests  were  judges  of 
religion,  and  the  Senate  of  the  law. 

3.  "  At  a  reference  between  Dr.  Gill,  school- 
master of  St.  Paul's,  and  the  Mercers'  Company, 
the  archbishop  had  said,  that  the  company  could 
not  turn  him  out  of  the  school  without  consent 
of  his  ordinary ;  and  that,  upon  mention  of  an 
act  of  Parliament,  he  replied,  '  I  see  nothing 
will  down  with  you  but  acts  of  Parliament,  no 


*  Laud's  History,  p.  231. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  401. 


regard  at  all  to  the  canons  of  the  Church  ;  but 
I  will  rescind  all  acts  that  are  against  the  can- 
ons, and  I  hope  shortly  to  see  the  canons  and 
the  king's  prerogative  of  equal  force  with  an 
act  of  Parliament.' " 

The  archbishop  was  so  provoked  M'ith  the 
oath  of  the  witness  who  gave  this  in  evidence 
[Mr.  Samuel  Blood],  that  he  was  going  to  bind 
his  sin  on  his  soul,  not  to  be  forgiven  him  till 
he  should  ask  him  forgiveness  ;*  but  he  con- 
quered his  passion,  and  replied,  that  since,  by 
a  canon, t  no  person  is  allowed  to  teach  school 
without  the  bishop's  license,  and  that,  in  case 
of  offence,  he  is  liable  to  admonition  and  sus- 
pension, it  stands  good,  that  he  may  not  be 
turned  out  without  the  said  bishop's  knowledge 
and  approbation.     As  for  the  words,  "  that  he 
saw  nothing  would  down  with  them  but  an  act 
of  Parliament,  a-nd  that  no  regard  was  had  to 
the  canons,"  he  conceived  them  to  be  no  of- 
fence ;    for  though  the  superiority  belongs  to 
acts  of  Parliament  in  this  kingdom,  yet  certain- 
ly some   regard  is   due   to  the  canons ;    and 
therefore  he  says  again,  that  "  if  nothing  will 
down  with  men  but  acts  of  Parliament,  the  gov- 
ernment, in  many  particulars,  cannot  subsist. 
As  to  the  last  words,  of  his  rescinding  those 
acts  that  were  against  the  canons,  he  is  moral- 
ly certain  he  could  not  utter  them ;  nor  does 
he  believe  any  man  that  knows  him  will  believe 
him  such  a  fool  as  to  say  he  hoped  to  see  the 
canons  and  the  king's  prerogative  of  equal  force 
with  an  act  of  Parliament,  since  he  has  lived 
to  see  sundry  canons  rejected,  and  the  king's 
prerogative  discussed  by  law,  neither  of  which 
can  be  done  by  any  judges  to  an  act  of  Parlia- 
ment.    However,  if  such  words  should  have 
escaped  him,  he  observes  there  is  only  one  wit- 
ness to  the  charge ;  and  if  they  be  within  the 
danger  of  the  statute,  then  to  that  statute  which 
requires  his  trial  within  six  months  he  refers 
himself" 

The  managers  went  on  to  the  second  charge 
against  the  archbishop,  which  was  his  design 
"  to  subvert  the  fundamental  temporal  laws  of 
the  kingdom,  and  to  introduce  an  arbitrary  gov- 
ernment against  law  and  the  hberty  of  the  sub- 
ject." In  maintenance  whereof,  they  alleged 
"  his  illegal  pressures  of  tonnage  and  poundage 
without  act  of  Parliament,  ship-money,  coat 
and  conduct  money,  soap-money,  &c.,  and  his 
commitment  of  divers  persons  to  prison  for 
nonpayment ;  for  a  proof  of  which  there  ap- 
peared, among  others,  three  aldermen,  viz.,  Al- 
dermen Atkins,  Chambers,  and  Adams." 

The  archbishop  confessed  that,  as  to  the  bu- 
siness of  ship-money,  he  was  zealous  in  that 
afi'air,  yet  not  with  an  intent  to  violate  the  law, 
for  though  this  was  before  judgment  given  for 
the  king,  it  was  after  the  judges  had  declared 
the  legality  of  it  under  their  hands,  and  he 
thought  he  might  safely  follow  such  guides. 
He  was  likewise  of  opinion  that  tonnage  and 
poundage,  coat  and  conduct  money,  were  lawful 
on  the  king's  part ;  that  he  was  led  into  this 
opinion  by  the  express  judgment  of  some  lords 
present,  and  by  the  silence  of  others,  none  of 
the  great  lawyers  at  the  table  contradicting  it ; 
however,  that  it  was  the  common  act  of  the 
council-table,  and,  therefore,  all  were  as  culpa- 
ble  as  himself;  and  he  was  sure  this  could  not 

*  Laud's  History,  p.  236,  937.  t  Can.,  77,  79. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


505 


amount  to  treason,  except  it  were  against  the 
three  aldermen,  Atkins,  Chambers,  and  Adams.* 

They  objected,  farther,  "  sundry  depopula- 
tions and  pulling  down  houses  ;  that,  for  the  re- 
pair of  St.  Paul's,  above  sixty  dwelling-houses 
had  been  pulled  down,  by  order  of  council,  with- 
out any  satisfaction  to  the  tenants,  because 
tliey  did  not  accept  of  the  committee's  compo- 
sition. That  he  had  obliged  a  brewer  near  the 
court  not  to  burn  sea-coal,  under  penalty  of 
having  his  brewhouse  pulled  down  ;  and  that, 
by  a  like  order  of  council,  many  shopkeepers 
were  forcibly  turned  out  of  their  houses, in 
Cheapside,  to  make  way  for  goldsmiths,  who 
were  forbid  to  open  shop  in  any  other  places  of 
the  city.  When  a  commission  was  issued  un- 
der the  broad  seal  to  himself,  to  compound  with 
delinquents  of  this  kind,  Mr.  Talboys  was  fined 
£50  for  noncompliance  ;  and  when  he  pleaded 
the  statute  of  the  39th  of  Elizabeth,  the  archbish- 
op replied,  'Do  you  plead  law  here  1  either  abide 
the  order,  or  take  your  trial  at  the  Star  Cham- 
ber.' When  Mr.  Wakern  had  £100  allowed  him 
for  the  pulling  down  his  house,  he  was  soon  af- 
ter fined  £100  in  the  High  Commission  Court 
for  profanation,  of  which  he  paid  thirty."! 

This  the  archbishop  admitted,  and  replied  to 
the  rest,  that  he  humbly  and  heartily  thanked 
God  that  he  was  counted  worthy  to  suffer  for 
the  repair  of  St.  Paul's,  which  had  cost  him  out 
of  his  own  purse  above  £1200.  As  to  the 
grievances  complained  of,  there  was  a  compo- 
sition allotted  for  the  sufferers,  by  a  committee 
named  by  the  Lords,  not  by  him,  which  amount- 
ed to  8  or  £9000  before  they  could  come  at  the 
church  to  repair  it ;  so  that,  if  anything  was 
amiss,  it  must  be  imputed  to  the  lords  of  the 
council,  who  are  one  body,  and  whatsoever  is 
done  by  the  major  part  is  the  act  of  the  whole  ; 
that,  however,  here  was  some  recompense 
made  them,  whereas,  in  King  James's  time, 
when  a  commission  was  issued  for  demolishing 
these  very  houses,  no  care  was  taken  for  satis- 
faction of  any  private  man's  interest ;  and  I 
cannot  forbear  to  add,  says  the  archbishop,  that 
the  bishop,  and  dean,  and  chapter  did  ill  in 
giving  way  to  these  buildings,  to  increase  their 
rents  by  a  sacrilegious  revenue,  there  being  no 
law  to  build  on  consecrated  ground.  When  it 
was  replied  to  this,  "  that  the  king's  commis- 
sion was  no  legal  warrant  for  pulling  down 
houses  without  authority  of  Parliament,"  he 
answered,  that  houses  more  remote  from  the 
Church  of  St.  Paul's  had  been  pulled  down  by 
the  king's  commission,  only  in  King  Edward 
III.'s  time.  As  to  the  brewhouse,  the  arch- 
bishop owned  that  he  had  said  to  the  proprietor 
that  he  must  seal  a  bond  of  £3000  to  brew  no 
more  with  sea-coal ;  but  it  was  at  the  council- 
table,  when  he  was  delivering  the  sense  of  the 
board,  which  office  was  usually  put  upon  him  if 
present ;  so  that  this,  or  any  other  hardship  he 
might  suffer,  ought  not  to  be  imputed  to  him, 
but  to  the  whole  council ;  and  he  was  very  sure 
it  could  not  amount  to  treason,  except  it  were 
treason  against  a  bi-evvhouse.  The  like  answer 
he  made  to  the  charge  about  the  goldsmiths' 
shops,  namely,  that  it  was  the  order  of  council, 
and  it  was  thought  to  be  for  the  beauty  and 
grandeur  of  the  city,  and  he  did  apprehend  the 


*  Land's  History,  p.  232-234. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  235,  244,  24G,  265. 
Vol.  L— S  s  s 


council  had  a  right  to  command  in  things  of  de- 
cency, and  for  the  safety  of  the  subject,  and 
where  there  was  no  law  to  the  contrary.  As 
to  the  words  which  he  spoke  to  Mr.  Talboys, 
they  were  not  designed  to  derogate  from  the 
law,  but  to  show  that  we  sat  not  there  as  judges 
of  the  law,  but  to  offer  his  majesty's  grace  by 
way  of  composition  to  them  who  would  accept 
it,  and,  therefore,  he  had  his  option  whether  he 
would  agree  to  the  fine  we  imposed  upon  him, 
or  take  his  trial  elsewhere.  The  Commons  re- 
plied, with  great  reason,  that  no  commission 
from  the  king  could  justify  the  pulhng  down 
men's  houses,  or  oblige  them  to  part  with  their 
estates  without  act  of  Parliament. 

The  managers  objected  farther  to  the  arch- 
bishop, "  several  illegal  commitments,  and  ex- 
orbitant fines  and  censures  in  the  Star  Chamber 
and  High  Connnission  Court,  as  in  the  cases  of 
Prynne,  Burton,  Bastwick,  Huntley,  and  others ; 
and  that  when  the  persons  aggrieved  brought 
prohibitions,  he  threatened  to  lay  them  by  the 
heels,  saying,  '  Does  the  king  grant  us  power, 
and  are  we  then  prohibited!  Let  us  go  and 
complain  :  I  will  break  the  back  of  prohibitions, 
or  they  shall  break  mine.'  Accordingly,  sever- 
al persons  were  actually  imprisoned  for  deliver- 
ing prohibitions,  as  was  testified  by  many  wit- 
nesses ;  nay,  Mr.  Wheeler  swore  he  heard  the 
archbishop  in  a  sermon  say,  that  they  which 
granted  prohibitions  to  the  disturbance  of  the 
Church's  right,  God  will  prohibit  their  entrance 
into  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

The  archbishop  replied,  that  the  fines,  impris- 
onments, and  other  censures  complained  of, 
were  the  acts  of  the  several  courts  that  direct- 
ed them,  and  not  his.  That  the  reason  why 
several  persons  were  imprisoned  for  prohibi- 
tions, was  because  they  delivered  them  in  court 
in  an  unmannerly  way,  throwing  them  on  the 
table,  or  handing  them  over  the  heads  of  others 
on  a  stick,  to  the  affront  of  the  court ;  notwith- 
standing which,  as  many  prohibitions  had  been 
admitted  in  his  time  as  in  his  predecessors' ; 
and  after  all,  he  apprehended  these  prohibitions 
were  a  very  great  grievance  to  the  Church  ;  nor 
was  there  the  same  reason  for  them  now  as  be- 
fore the  Reformation,  while  the  bishops'  courts 
were  kept  under  a  foreign  power,  whereas  now 
all  power  exercised  in  spiritual  courts,  as  well 
as  in  temporal,  is  for  the  king.  As  to  the  words 
in  his  sermon,  though  he  did  not  remember 
them,  yet  he  saw  no  great  harm  in  them.  And 
here  the  archbishop  put  the  lords  in  mind  that 
nothing  had  been  done  of  late  in  the  Star  Cham- 
ber or  council-table,  more  than  had  been  done 
in  King  James  and  Queen  Elizabeth's  times 
Nor  is  there  any  one  witness  that  says  wha" 
he  did  was  with  a  design  to  overthrow  the  laws 
or  introduce  arbitrary  government ;  no,  that  h 
only  the  construction  of  the  managers,  "  fo? 
which,  and  something  else  in  their  proceedings, 
I  am  confident,"  says  he,  "  they  shall  answer 
at  another  bar."* 

Tlie  managers  objected  farther,  "the  arch- 
bishop's taking  undue  gifts,  and,  among  others, 
his  receiving  two  butts  of  sack,  in  a  cause  of 
some  Chester  men,  whom  it  was  in  his  power 
to  relieve,  by  mitigating  the  fine  set  on  them  in 
t!ie  High  Commission,  and  taking  several  large 
sums  of  money  by  way  of  composition  for  fines 

*  Laud's  History,  p.  270,  271,  273  274. 


506 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


in  the  High  Commission  Court,  making  use  of 
the  method  of  commutation,  by  virtue  of  a  pat- 
ent obtained  from  the  king,  which  took  away 
all  opportunity  from  his  majesty  of  doing  justice 
and  showing  mercy  to  his  poor  subjects,  and  in- 
vested the  archbishop  with  the  final  determina- 
tion." 

His  grace  heard  this  part  of  his  charge  with 
great  resentment  and  impatience.  "  If  I  would 
have  had  anything  to  do  in  the  base,  dirty  busi- 
ness of  bribery,"  says  he,  "  I  needed  not  be  in 
such  want  as  I  am  now."  As  to  the  sack,*  he 
protested,  as  he  should  answer  it  to  God.  that 
he  knew  nothing  of  it,  and  offered  to  confirm  it 
by  his  oath,  if  it  might  be  admitted.  He  de- 
clared that,  when  his  steward  told  him  of  Mr. 
Stone's  design,  he  absolutely  forbade  his  receiv- 
ing it,  or  anything  from  any  man  who  had  busi- 
ness before  him  ;  but  Mr.  Stone  watching  a  time 
when  his  steward  was  out  of  town,  and  the 
archbishop  at  court,  brought  the  sack,  tell- 
ing the  yeoman  of  the  wine-cellar  that  he  had 
leave  to  lay  it  in.  Afterward,  when  his  steward 
acquainted  him  that  the  sack  was  brought  in, 
he  commanded  it  should  be  carried  back  ;  but 
Mr.  Stone  entreated  that  he  might  not  be  so  dis- 
graced, and  protested  he  did  not  do  it  on  the 
account  of  the  Chester  business,  though  after 
this  he  went  home  and  put  it  on  their  account ; 
for  which  they  complained  to  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  produced  Mr.  Stone  for  their 
witness.  The  archbishop  observes,  that  Mr. 
Browne,  in  summing  up  his  charge,  did  him  jus- 
tice in  this  particular,  for  neitlier  to  the  Lords 
nor  Commons  did  he  so  much  as  mention  it. 

As  to  the  other  sums  of  money  which  he  re- 
ceived, by  way  of  composition  or  otherwise,  for 
iines  in  the  High  Commission,  he  said  that  he 
had  the  broad  seal  from  the  king  for  applying 
them  to  the  repairing  the  west  end  of  St.  Paul's, 
for  the  space  of  ten  years,  which  broad  seal 
was  then  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Holford,  and  was 
on  record  to  be  seen.  And  all  fines  in  the 
High  Commission  belonging  to  the  crown,  his 
majesty  had  a  right  to  give  them  to  what  use 
he  pleased  ;  that  as  for  himself,  he  thought  it 
his  duty  to  get  as  much  money  fojr  so  good  a 
work  as  he  could,  even  by  way  of  commutation 
for  certain  crimes  ;  which  method  of  pecuniary 
commutations  was  according  to  law,  and  the 
ancient  custom  and  practice  of  this  kingdom, 
especially  where  men  of  quality  were  offenders, 
and  he  had  applied  no  part  of  them  to  his  own 
benefit  or  advantage. 

It  was  next  objected;  "  that  he  had  made  di- 
vers alterations  in  the  king's  coronation  oath, 
and  introduced  several  unwarrantable  innova- 
tions with  relation  to  that  august  ceremony  ;  as 
particularly,  that  he  had  inserted  those  words 
into  the  oath,  '  agreeable  to  the  king's  preroga- 
tive,' with  about  twenty  other  alterations  of 
less  moment,  which  they  apprehended  to  be  a 
matter  of  most  dangerous  consequence.  That 
he  had  revived  certain  old  popish  ceremonies, 
disused  since  the  Reformation,  as  the  placing 
a  crucifix  on  the  altar,  the  consecrating  the  holy 
oil,  the  anointing  the  king  in  form  of  a  cross, 

*  Dr.  Grey  charges  Mr.  Neal  with  not  giving  the 
whole  truth  here,  and  with  being  cautious  not  to  pro- 
duce too  many  things  in  favour  of  the  archbishop. 
The  editor,  not  having  Laud's  History,  cannot  ascer- 
tain the  truth  or  candour  of  this  charge. — Ed. 


the  offering  up  the  regalia  on  the  altar,  without 
any  rubric  or  direction  for  these  things,  and  in- 
serting tlie  following  charge,  taken  verbatim  out 
of  the  Roman  pontifical  :  '  Stand,  and  hold  fast, 
from  henceforth,  the  place  to  which  you  have 
been  heir  by  the  succession  of  your  forefathers, 
being  now  delivered  to  you  by  the  authority  of 
Almighty  God,  and  by  the  hands  of  us,  and  all 
the  ijishops  and  servants  of  God  ;  and  as  you 
see  the  clergy  come  nearer  the  altar  than  oth- 
ers, so  remember,  that  in  place  convenient  you 
give  them  greater  honour,  that  the  Mediator  of 
Ggd  and  man  may  establish  you  in  the  kingly 
throne,  to  be  the  mediator  between  the  clergy 
and  the  laity,  and  that  you  may  reign  forever 
with  Jesus  Christ,  the  King  of  kings,  and  Lord 
of  lords,  who,  with  the  Father  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  liveth  and  reigneth  forever.     Amen.'  " 

The  archbishop  replied,  that  he  did  not  insert 
the  words  above  mentioned  into  the  coronation 
oath,  they  being  first  added  in  King  Edward 
VI.  or  Queen  Elizabeth's  time,  and  had  no  re- 
lation to  the  laws  of  the  kingdom,  mentioned 
before  in  the  beginning  of  the  oath,  but  to  the 
profession  of  the  Gospel,  whereby  the  king 
swears  to  maintain  his  prerogative  against  all 
foreign  jurisdictions  ;  and  if  this  be  not  the 
meaning,  yet  he  avers,  that  the  clause  was  in 
the  coronation  oath  of  King  James.  As  to  the 
other  alterations,  they  were  admitted  not  to  he 
material ;  but  his  grace  confesses,  that  when  they 
met  in  the  committee,  they  were  forced  to  mend 
many  slips  of  the  pen  in  some  places,  and  to 
make  sense  and  good  English  in  others  ;  and 
the  book  being  intrusted  with  him,  he  did  it 
with  his  own  hand,  openly  in  the  committee, 
and  with  their  approbation.  As  to  the  ceremo- 
nies of  the  coronation,  they  are  nothing  to  him, 
since  his  predecessor  crowned  and  anointed  the 
kmg  ;  indeed,  he  supplied  the  place  of  the  Dean 
of  Westminster,  and  was  obliged  to  look  after 
the  regalia,  and  conceives  the  offering  them  at 
the  altar  could  be  no  offence.  He  does  not  re- 
member the  crucifix  was  brought  out  [though 
Heylin  says  it  was] ;  and  as  to  the  prayer,  it 
was  not  taken  from  the  pontifical  by  him,  for  it 
was  used  at  King  Jam.es's  coronation,  and  being 
a  good  one,  it  is  no  matter  whence  it  was  taken. 
To  all  which  the  managers  replied,  that  it  ap- 
peared by  his  own  Diary  that  he  had  the  chief 
direction  of  all  these  innovations.* 

The  managers  went  on,  and  charged  the 
archbishop  "  with  endeavouring  to  set  up  an 
independent  power  in  the  Church,  by  attempt- 
ing to  exempt  the  clergy  from  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  civil  magistrate  ;  of  which  they  produced 
several  examples ;  one  was,  the  archbishop's 
forbidding  the  lord-mayor  of  the  city  of  London 
to  carry  the  sword  upright  in  the  Church,  and 
then  obtaining  an  order  of  council  for  submit- 
ting it  in  time  and  place  of  Divine  service.  An- 
other was  taken  out  of  the  archbishop's  Diary : 
upon  making  the  Bishop  of  London  lord-treas- 
urer, he  says,  '  No  churchman  had  it  since  Hen- 
ry VII.,  and  now,  if  the  Church  will  not  hold 
up  themselves,  under  God,  I  can  do  no  more.' 
A  third  was,  his  saying  in  the  High  Commis- 
sion that  no  constable  should  meddle  with  men 
in  holy  orders.  A  fourth  was,  his  calling  some 
justices  of  peace  into  the  High  Commission,  for 
holding   the   sessions   at    Tewkesbury  in  the 

*  Laud's  Hist.,  p.  318.    Prynne,  p.  475. 


HISTORY  OF   THE   PURITANS. 


507 


churchyard,  being  consecrated  ground,  though 
they  had  license  from  the  bishop,  and  though 
the  eighty-eighth  canon  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land gives  leave  that  temporal  courts  or  leets 
may  be  kept  in  the  church  or  churchyard.  And 
a  fifth  was,  that  he  had  caused  certain  church- 
wardens to  be  prosecuted  for  executing  the 
warrant  of  a  justice  of  peace  upon  an  alehouse- 
keeper."* 

The  archbishop  replied  in  general,  that  he 
never  attempted  to  bring  the  temporal  power 
under  the  clergy,  nor  to  free  the  clergy  from 
being  under  it ;  but  this  he  confessed,  that  he 
had  laboured  to  preserve  the  clergy  from  some 
laymen's  oppressions,  for  vis  laica  has  been  an 
old  and  a  just  complaint ;  and  this  I  took  to  be 
my  duty,  says  he,  assuring  myself  that  God  did 
not  raise  me  to  that  place  of  eminence  to  sit 
still,  and  see  his  ministers  discountenanced  and 
trampled  upon.  To  the  first  particular  he  re- 
plied, that  it  was  an  order  of  council,  and  there- 
fore not  his  :  but  it  was  a  reasonable  one,  for 
the  sword  was  not  submitted  to  any  foreign  or 
home  power,  but  to  God  only,  and  that  in  the 
place  and  at  -the  performance  of  his  holy  wor- 
ship, at  which  time  and  place  kings  submit 
themselves,  and  therefore  cannot  insist  upon 
the  emblems  of  their  power.  To  the  second 
and  third  examples  he  replied,  that  he  saw  no 
treason  or  crime  in  them.  To  the  fourth  he  re- 
plied, that  no  temporal  courts  ought  to  be  kept 
upon  consecrated  ground ;  and  that  though  some 
such  might,  upon  urgent  occasions,  be  kept  in 
the  Church,  with  leave,  yet  that  is  no  warrant 
for  a  sessions,  where  there  might  be  a  trial  for 
blood  ;  and  certainly  it  can  be  no  crime  to 
keep  off  profanation  from  churches :  but  be  it 
never  so  criminal,  it  was  the  act  of  the  High 
Commission,  and  not  his  :  nor  is  there  anything 
in  it  that  looks  towards  treason.  To  the  pros- 
ecuting the  church-wardens  he  answered,  that 
those  statutes  concerned  alehouse-keepers  only, 
and  the  reason  why  they  were  prosecuted  was, 
because,  being  church-officers,  they  did  not 
complain  of  it  to  the  chancellor  of  the  diocess  ; 
for  certainly,  standing  in  such  a  relation  to  the 
Church,  they  ought  to  have  been  as  ready  to 
inform  the  bishop  as  to  obey  the  justice  of  the 
peace. 

Lastly,  The  managers  objected  to  the  arch- 
bishop, "the  convocation's  sitting  after  the  Par- 
liament was  dissolved,  contrary  to  law  ;  their 
imposing  an  oath  on  the  subject,  and  their  ma- 
king sundry  canons,  which  had  since  been  voted 
by  both  houses  of  Parliament  contrary  to  the 
king's  prerogative,  to  the  fundamental  laws  of 
the  realm,  to  the  rights  of  Parliament,  to  the 
property  and  liberty  of  the  subject,  and  contain- 
ing matters  tending  to  sedition,  and  of  danger- 
ous consequence."t 

The  archbishop  replied,  that  the  sitting  of  the 
convocation  after  the  dissolution  of  the  Parlia- 
ment was,  in  the  opinion  both  of  judges  and 
other  lawyers,  according  to  law  ;  that,  as  they 
were  called  to  sit  in  convocation  by  a  different 
writ  from  that  which  called  them  as  bishops  to 
sit  in  Parliament,  so  they  could  not  rise  till 
they  had  a  writ  to  discharge  them.  As  for  the 
€>ath  so  much  complained  of,  it  was  according 
to  law,  or  else  they  were  misled  by  such  prece- 
dents as  were  never  excepted  against ;  for  in 


*  Laud's  Hist.,  p.  293. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  287,  292. 


the  canons  made  in  King  James's  time,  there 
was  an  oath  against  simony,  and  an  oath  for  li- 
censes for  marriages,  and  an  oath  forjudges  ia 
ecclesiastical  courts,  and  all  these  established 
by  no  other  authority  than  the  late  one.  As  to 
the  vote  of  both  houses,  which  condemned  the 
canons,  since  their  lordships  would  not  suffer 
him  to  debate  the  justice  and  equity  of  it,  he 
could  only  reply,  that  all  these  canons  were 
made  in  open  and  full  convocations,  and  are 
acts  of  that  body,  and  cannot  be  ascribed  to  him, 
though  president  of  that  synod,  so  by  me  (says 
the  archbishop)  they  were  not  made.* 

These  were  the  principal  evidences  produced 
by  the  Commons,  in  maintenance  of  the  first 
branch  of  their  charge,  viz.,  his  grace's  endeav- 
ours to  subvert  the  rights  of  Parliament,  and 
the  fundamental  temporal  laws  of  the  kingdom. 
From  whence  it  is  easy  to  observe  that,  besides 
the  sharpness  of  the  archbishop's  temper,  there 
are  three  capital  mistakes  which  run  through 
this  part  of  his  defence. 

1.  A  groundless  supposition,  that  where  the 
law  is  silent,  the  prerogative  takes  place ;  and 
that,  in  all  such  cases,  a  proclamation,  or  order 
of  council,  or  a  decree  of  the  Star  Chamber,  &c., 
is  binding  upon  the  subject ;  and  that  disobedi- 
ence to  such  proclamations  or  orders  might  be 
punished  at  discretion.  This  gave  rise  to  most 
of  the  unwarrantable  orders  by  which  the  sub- 
ject was  insufferably  oppressed  in  the  former 
part  of  this  reign,  and  to  the  exorbitant  fines 
that  were  levied  for  disobedience,  in  which  the 
archbishop  himself  was  notoriously  active. 

2.  The  false  conclusions  drawn  froni  his  be- 
ing but  a  single  member  of  the  council  or  High 
Commission,  viz.,  that  therefore  he  was  not  an- 
swerable for  their  votes  or  orders,  even  though 
he  had  set  his  hand  to  them  ;  because  what  is 
carried  by  a  majority  is  supposed  to  be  the  act 
of  the  whole  body,  and  not  of  any  particular 
member.!  According  to  which  way  of  reason- 
ing, the  Constitution  might  be  destroyed,  with- 
out a  possibility  of  punishing  the  authors. 

3.  His  wilful  misconstruction  of  the  mana- 
gers' reasonings  ;  as  when  he  replies  with  an  air 
of  satisfaction  and  triumph,  he  hopes  this  or  the 
other  particular  will  not  be  construed  treason, 
unless  it  be  against  a  brewhouse  or  an  alder- 
man, or  the  like ;  though  he  was  told  over  and 
over,  by  the  managers  for  the  Commons,  that 
they  did  not  object  these  things  to  him  as  so 
many  treasonable  acts,  but  as  proofs  and  evi- 
dences of  one  general  charge,  which  was,  a 
traitorous  attempt  and  endeavour  to  subvert 
the  fundamental  temporal  laws,  government, 
and  liberties  of  the  realm;  and  how  far  they 
have  made  good  this  part  of  their  charge  must 
be  left  with  the  reader. 

The  Commons  proceeded  next  to  the  third 
general  charge,  relating  to  religion,  in  which 
our  history  requires  us  to  be  more  particular ; 
and  here  they  aver,  "  that  the  archbishop  had 
traitorously  endeavoured  and  practised  to  alter 
and  subvert  God's  true  religion  by  law  estab- 
lished in  this  realm,  and,  instead  thereof,  to  set 
up  popish  superstition  and  idolatry,  and  to  rec- 
oncile us  to  the  Church  of  Rome." 
This  was  divided  into  two  branches  : 
1st.  "  His  introducing  and  practising  certain 
popish   innovations  and  superstitious  ceremo- 


»■  Laud's  History,  p.  282. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  437. 


508 

nies,  not  warranted  by  law,  nor  agreeable  to 
the  practice  of  the  Church  of  England  since  the 
Reformation. 

2d]y.  "His  countenancing  and  encouraging 
sundry  doctrinal  errors  in  favour  of  Arminian- 
ism  and  [lopery." 

The  managers  began  with  popish  innovations 
and  ceremonies,  in  maintenance  of  which,  they 
insisted  on  the  following  proofs  : 

(1.)  "His  countenancing  the  setting  up  of 
images  in  churches,  church- windows,  and  other 
places  of  religious  worship.  That,  in  his  own 
chapel  at  Lambeth,  he  had  repaired  the  popish 
paintings  on  the  windows,  that  had  been  de- 
stroyed at  the  Reformation,  and  made  up  the 
history  of  Christ  crucified  between  two  thieves  ; 
of  his  rising  out  of  the  grave  ;  of  his  ascension 
hito  heaven  ;  of  the  Holy  Ghost  descending  in 
form  of  a  dove;  of  Christ  raising  Lazarus  out 
of  the  grave;  and  of  God  himself  raining  down 
manna  from  heaven  ;  of  God's  giving  the  Law 
to  Moses  on  Mount  Sinai ;  of  fire  descending 
from  heaven  at  the  prayer  of  Elisha  ;  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  overshadowing  the  Virgin,  &c.,  all 
taken  from  the  Roman  missal,  with  several  su- 
perstitious mottoes  and  inscriptions.  That  he 
had  caused  divers  crucifixes  to  be  set  up  in 
churches  over  the  communion-table,  in  his 
chapel  at  Lambeth,  at  Whitehall,  and  at  the 
University  at  Oxford,  of  which  he  was  chancel- 
lor. That  in  the  parish  of  St.  Mary's  there  was, 
since  his  time,  erected  a  statue  of  the  Virgin 
Mary  cut  in  stone,  with  a  child  in  her  arms,  to 
which  divers  people  bowed  aijd  did  reverence 
as  they  went  along  the  streets,  which  could 
not  be  done  without  his  allowance  ;  nay,  so 
zealous  was  this  prelate,"  say  the  managers, 
"  in  defence  of  images,  that  he  procured  Mr. 
Sherfield  to  be  sentenced  in  the  Star  Chamber, 
for  defacing  a  church-window  in  or  near  Salis- 
bury, because  there  was  an  image  in  it  of  God 
the'Father;  all  of  which  is  contrary  to  the  stat- 
ute of  the  3d  and  4th  of  Edward  VI.,  and  the  in- 
junctions of  Queen  Elizabeth,  which  enjoin  all 
pictures,  paintings,  images,  and  other  monu- 
ments of  idolatry  and  superstition  to  be  de- 
stroyed, so  as  that  there  remain  no  memory  of 
them  in  walls,  gla.ss  windows,  or  elsewhere, 
within  any  church  or  house."* 

The  archbishop  answered  in  general,  that 
crucifixes  and  images  in  churches  were  not 
.simply  unlawful ;  that  they  were  in  use  in  Con- 
stantine's  time,  and  long  before,  and  therefore 
there  could  be  no  popery  in  them.  TertuUian 
says  they  had  the  picture  of  Christ  engraven 
on  their  chalice  in  form  of  a  shepherd  carrying 
home  a  lost  sheep  ;  and  even  Mr.  Calvin  al- 
lows an  historical  use  of  images,  Instit.,  lib.  i., 
cap.  xi.,  sect.  xii.  "  Neque  tamen  ea  supersti- 
tione  teneor  ut  nullas  prorsus  imagines  ferandas 
censeam,  sed  quia  sculptura  et  pictura,  Dei  dona 
sunt,  purum  et  legilimum  utriusque  usum  re- 
quiro."  The  archbishop  appealed  likewise  to 
the  Homilies,  p.  64,  65,  for  an  historical  use  of 
images  ;  but  if  it  sliould  be  granted,  says  he, 
that  they  are  condemned  by  the  homilies,  yet 
certainly  one  may  subscribe  to  the  homilies  as 
containing  a  godly  and  wholesome  doctrine,  ne- 
cessary for  those  times,  without  approving  ev- 
ery passage  or  sentence,  or  supposuig  it  neces- 
sary for  all  times.     I  do  not  approve  of  images 

*  Prynne's  Cant.  Doom,  p.  157,  462,  &;c. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


of  God  the  Father,  though  some  will  justify 
them  from  Dan.,  vii.,  22  ;  but  as  for  the  images 
of  things  visible,  they  are  of  use,  not  only  for 
the  beautifying  and  adorning  the  places  of  Di- 
vine worship,  but  for  admonition  and  instruc-., 
tion,  and  can  be  an  oflence  to  none  but  such 
as  would  have  God  served  slovenly  and  meanly, 
under  a  pretence  of  avoiding  superstition.* 

As  to  the  particulars,  the  archbishop  allowed 
his  repairing  the  windows  of  his  chapel  at  Lam- 
beth, and  making  out  the  history  as  well  as  he 
could,  but  not  from  the  Roman  missal,  since  he 
did  not  know  the  particulars  were  in  it,  but 
from  the  fragments  of  what  remained  in  the 
windows  since  the  Reformation  ;  but  if  they 
had  been  originally  painted  by  his  order,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  new  chapel  of  Westminster,  he 
knows  no  crime  in  it.t  The  image  of  the  Vir- 
gin Mary,  in  Oxford,  was  set  up  by  Bishop 
Owen,  and  there  is  no  evidence  that  I  counte- 
nanced the  setting  it  up,  nor  that  any  cora-^ 
plaint  was  made  to  me  of  any  abuse  of  it.  J  As 
to  Mr.  Sheffield's  case,  one  of  the  witnesses 
says  it  was  the  picture  of  an  old  man  with  a 
budget  by  his  side,  pulling  out  Adam  and  Eve  ; 
it  is  not,  therefore,  certain  that  it  was  the  im- 
age of  God  the  Father  ;  but  if  it  was,  yet  Mr. 
Sherfield  ought  not  to  have  defaced  it  but  by 
command  of  authority,  though  it  had  been  an 
idol  of  Jupiter  ;  the  orders  of  the  vestry,  which 
Mr.  Sherfield  pleads,  being  nothing  at  all  with- 
out the  bishop  of  the  diocess.i^i  The  statute  of 
Edward  VI.  has  nothing  to  do  with  images  in 
glass  windows ;  the  words  of  the  statute  are, 
"  Any  images  of  stone,  timber,  alabaster,  or 
earth,  graven,  carved,  or  painted,  taken  out  of 
any  church,  &c.,  shall  be  destroyed."  So  here 
is  not  a  word  of  glass  windows,  nor  images  in 
them. 

The  managers  for  the  Commons  replied,  that 
it  was  notoriously  false  that  the  primitive  Chris- 
tians approved  of  images,  for  Justin  Martyr, 
Clemens  Alexandrinus,  Irenaeus,  and  all  the  an- 
cient fathers  agree  that  they  had  none  in  their 
churches. II  Lactantius  says  there  can  be  no 
religion  in  a  place  where  any  image  is.  Epi- 
phanius  rent  in  pieces  an  irnage  painted  on 
cloth,  which  he  found  in  a  church,  out  of  holy 
indignation.  All  the  ancient  councils  are  against 
images  in  churches  ;  and  many  godly  emperors 
cast  them  out  after  they  began  to  be  in  use  in 
latter  times,  as  our  own  homilies  expressly  de- 
clare, Peril  of  Idolatry,  part  ii.,  p.  38.  As  for 
TertuUian,  all  that  can  be  proved  from  him  is, 
that  those  heretics  against  whom  he  wrote  had 
such  a  chalice,  not  that  the  orthodox  Chris- 
tians allowed  of  it.  Calvin  only  says  that 
he  is  not  so  superstitious  as  to  think  it  alto- 
gether unlawful  to  make  images  of  men  or 
beasts  for  a  civil  use,  because  painting  is  the 
gift  of  God.  But  he  affirms,  in  the  very  next 
section,  that  there  were  no  images  in  churches 
for  five  hundred  years  after  Christ ;  and  says 
expressly,  that  tliey  were  not  in  use  till  the 
Christian  religion  was  corrupted  and  depraved. 
He  then  adds,  that  he  accounts  it  unlawful  and 
wicked  to  paint  the  image  of  God,  because  he 
has  forbidden  it.  But  the  homilies  are  so  ex- 
press that  they  wonder  the  archbishop  can  men- 


*  Laud's  Hist.,  p.  31L     Prynne,  p.  462,  463,  479. 
t  Prynne,  p.  462.  %  Laud's  History,  p.  329. 

§  Ibid.,  p.  434.  II  Prynne,  p.  463-465. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


500 


won  them  without  blushing  ;  as  well  as  his  not 
knowing  that  the  paintings  were  according  to  the 
mass-book,  when  his  own  mass-book  is  marked 
in  those  places  with  his  own  hand.*  The  mi- 
ages  in  those  windows  were  broken  and  demol- 
ished at  the  Preformation,  by  virtue  of  our  stat- 
utes, homilies,  and  injunctions,  and  remained  as 
monuments  of  our  indignation  against  Romish 
idolatry,  till  the  archbishop  repaired  them.  The 
managers  observed  farther,  that  the  archbishop 
had  confessed  the  particulars  of  this  part  of 
their  charge,  and  had  only  excused  himself  as 
to  the  University  of  Oxford,  though  they  con- 
ceive it  impossible  he  could  be  ignorant  of 
those  innovations,  being  chancellor  and  visiter, 
and  having  entertained  the  king,  queen,  and 
elector-palatine  there  for  many  days.  As  for 
Mr.  Sherfield's  case,  they  apprehend  the  author- 
ity of  the  vestry  was  sufficient  in  a  place  ex- 
empt from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  bishop,  as  St. 
Edmund's  Church  was.  And  the  managers  are 
still  of  opinion  that  the  statute  of  Edward  VI. 
extends  to  images  in  glass  windows  ;  and  that 
which  confirms  them  in  it  is,  that  the  injunc- 
tions of  Queen  Elizabeth,  made  in  pursuance  of 
this  law,  extend  in  direct  terms  to  images  in 
glass  windows  ;  and  the  practice  of  those  times 
in  defacing  them  infallibly  proves  it. 

(2.)  Another  popish  innovation  charged  on 
the  archbishop  was  "his  superstitious  manner 
of  consecrating  chapels,  churches,  and  church- 
yards ;  they  instanced  in  Creed  Church,  of 
which  the  reader  has  had  an  account  before ; 
and  in  St.  Giles's  in  the  Fields,  which,  being 
fallen  to  decay,  was  in  part  re-edified  and  fin- 
ished in  Bishop  Mountaine's  time.  Divine  ser- 
vice and  administration  of  sacraments  having 
been  performed  in  it  three  or  four  years  before 
his  death ;  but  no  sooner  was  the  archbishop 
translated  to  the  See  of  London,  than  he  inter- 
dicted the  church,  and  shut  up  the  doors  for 
several  weeks,  till  he  had  reconsecrated  it,  after 
the  manner  of  Creed  Church,  to  the  very  great 
cost  and  charge  of  the  parish,  and  contrary  to 
the  judgment  of  Bishop  Parker  and  our  first 
Reformers."t 

"  They  objected,  farther,  his  consecrating  of 
altars  with  all  their  furniture,  as  pattens,  chali- 
ces, aUar-cloths,  &c.,  even  to  the  knife  that 
was  to  cut  the  sacramental  bread  ;  and  his  ded- 
icating the  churches  to  certain  saints,  together 
with  his  promoting  annual  revels,  or  feasts 
of  dedication,  on  the  Lord's  Day,  in  several 
parts  of  the  country,  whereby  that  holyday  was 
profaned,  and  the  people  encouraged  in  super- 
stition and  ignorance." 

The  archbishop  answered  to  the  consecra- 
tion of  churches,  that  the  practice  was  as  an- 
cient as  Moses,  who  consecrated  the  tabernacle, 
with  all  its  vessels  and  ornaments  ;  that  the 
temple  was  afterward  consecrated  by  King 
Solomon  ;  that  as  soon  as  Christian  churches 
began  to  be  built,  in  the  reign  of  Constantino 
the  Great,  they  were  consecrated,  as  Eusebius 
testifies  concerning  the  Church  of  Tyre,  in  his 
Ecclesiastical  History,  lib.  x.,  cap.  iii.,  and  so  it 
has  continued  down  to  the  present  time.  Be- 
vsides,  if  churches  were  not  consecrated,  they 
would  not  be  holy  ;  nor  does  Archbishop  Par- 
ker speak  against  consecrations  in  general,  but 

*  Peril  of  Idol.,  p.  41-43. 
t  Prynne,  p.  113,114,497. 


against  popish  consecrations,  which  mine  were 
not,  says  the  archbishop,  for  I  bad  them  from 
Bishop  Andrews.* 

As   to   the   manner. of  consecrating   Creed 
Church,  St.  Giles's,  &c.,  his  grace  confessed 
that  when  he  came  to  the  church  door,  that 
passage  in  tlie  Psalms  was  read,  "Lift  up  your 
heads,  0  ye  gates,  even  lift  them  up,  ye  ever- 
lasting doors,  that  the  King  of  glory  may  come 
in  ;"t  that  he  kneeled  and  bowed  at  his  entrance 
into  the  church,  as  Moses  and  Aaron  did  at  the 
door  of  the  tabernacle ;  that  he  declared  the 
place  holy,  and  made  use  of  a  prayer  like  one 
in  the  Roman  pontifical ;  that  afterward  he  pro- 
nounced divers  curses  on  such  as  should  pro- 
fane it,  but  denied  his  throwing  dust  into  the 
air,  in  which  he  said  the  witnesses  had  for- 
sworn  themselves,  for  the  Roman   pontifical 
does  not  prescribe  throwing  dust  into  the  air, 
but  ashes  ;  and  he  conceives  there  is  no  harm, 
much  less  treason,  in  it.J     The  practice  of  giv- 
ing the  names  of  angels  and  saints  to  churches 
at  their  dedication,  for  distinction's  sake,  and 
for  the  honour  of  their  memories,  says  his  grace, 
has  been  very  ancient,  as  appears  in  St.  Austin, 
and  divers  others  of  the  fathers  ;  but  the  dedi- 
cation, strictly  speaking,  is  only  to  God  ;  nor  is 
the  observing  the  annual  feasts  of  dedication 
less   ancient ;   the  feast  of  the  dedication  of 
the  temple  was  observed  in  our  Saviour's  time, 
and  though,  no  doubt,  it  was  abused  by  some 
among  the  Jews,  yet  our  Saviour  honoured  it 
with  his  presence.     Judge  Richardson,  indeed, 
had  made  an  order  in  his  circuit  for  putting 
down  these  wakes,  but  he  was  obliged  to  re- 
voke it  by  authority ;  and,  under  favour,  says 
the  archbishop,  I  am  of  opinion  that  the  feasts 
ought  not  to  be  put  down  for  some  abuses,  any 
more  than  all  vines  ought  to  be  rooted  up  be- 
cause some  will  be  drunk  with  the  juice  of 
them.^     The  feasts  are  convenient  for  keeping 
up  hospitality  and  good  neighbourhood  ;    nor 
can  there  be  a  more  proper  time  for  observing 
them  than  on  Sundays,  after  Divine  service  is 
ended. 

And  as  the  consecrating  of  churches,  and 
dedicating  them  to  God,  has  been  of  ancient 
usage,  so  has  the  consecration  of  altars  and 
their  furniture,  and  such  consecrations  are  ne- 
cessary, for  else  the  Lord's  Table  could  not  be 
called  holy,  nor  the  vessels  belonging  to  it  holy, 
as  they  usually  are  ;  yea,  there  is  a  holiness  in 
the  altar  which  sanctifies  the  gift,  which  it 
could  not  do,  except  itself  were  holy ;  if  there 
be  no  dedication  of  these  things  to  God,  no  sep- 
aration of  them  from  common  use,  then  there 
can  be  no  such  thing  as  sacrilege,  or  difference 
between  a  holy  table  and  a  common  one.  II  And 
as  to  the  form  of  consecrating  these  things,  I 
had  them  not  from  the  Roman  pontifical,  but 
from  Bishop  Andrews. 

The  managers  for  the  Commons  replied,  that 
if  the  temple  was  consecrated,  it  was  by  the 
king  himself,  and  not  by  the  high-priest ;  and 
if  the  tabernacle  was  consecrated,  it  was  by 
Moses  the  civil  magistrate,  and  not  by  Aaron 


*  Laud's  Historv,  p.  339,  340.     Prynne,  p.  115. 

t  The  archbishop  alleged  that  this  place  of  Scrip- 
ture had  been  anciently  used  in  consecrations,  and 
that  it  referred  not  to  the  bishop,  but  to  the  true 
King  of  glory.— I>r.  Grey.—Ev.      t  Prynne,  p.  498. 

l)  Laud's  Hist.,  p.  269.  II  Laud's  Hist.,  p.  313- 


510 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


the  high-priest ;  but  we  read  of  no  other  conse- 
crating the  tabernacle  and  its  utensils,  but 
anointing  them  with  oil,  for  which  Moses  had 
an  express  command  ;  nor  of  any  other  conse- 
crating the  temple,  but  of  Solomon's  making  an 
excellent  prayer  in  the  outward  court,  not  in 
the  temple  itself,  and  of  his  hallowing  the  mid- 
dle court  by  offerings  and  peace-offerings  ;  and 
it  is  observable  that  the  cloud  and  glory  of  the 
Lord  filled  the  temple,  so  as  the  priests  could 
not  stand  to  minister  before  Solomon  made  his 
prayer,  which  some  call  his  consecration.  But 
if  it  should  be  allowed  that  the  temple  was  con- 
secrated in  an  extraordinary  manner,  we  have 
no  mention,  either  in  Scripture  or  Jewish  wri- 
ters, of  the  consecration  of  their  synagogues, 
to  which  our  churches  properly  succeed.*  And 
after  all,  it  is  no  conclusive  way  of  arguing,  to 
derive  a  Christian  institution  from  the  practice 
of  the  Jewish  Church,  because  many  of  their 
ordinances  were  temporary,  ceremonial,  and 
abolished  by  the  coming  of  Christ. 

From  the  beginning  of  Christianity  we  have 
no  credible  authority  for  consecrating  churches 
for  three  hundred  years. t  Eusebius,  in  his  life 
of  Constantine  the  Great,  indeed  mentions  his 
consecrating  a  temple  that  he  built  over  our 
Saviour's  sepulchre  at  Jerusalem  ;  but  how  1 
with  prayers,  disputations,  preaching,  and  expo- 
sition of  Scripture,  as  he  expressly  defines  it, 
cap.  xlv.  Here  were  no  processions,  no  knock- 
ing at  the  doors  by  tlie  bishop,  crying  "  Open, 
ye  everlasting  doors  ;"  nor  casting  dust  or  ashes 
into  the  air,  and  pronouncing  the  ground  holy  ; 
no  reverencing  towards  the  altar,  nor  a  great 
many  other  inventions  of  latter  ages  :  no,  these 
were  not  known  in  the  Christian  Church  till 
the  very  darkest  times  of  popery  ;  nay,  in  those 
very  dark  times,  we  are  told  by  Otho,  the  pope's 
legate,  in  his  Ecclesiastical  Constitutions,  that 
in  the  reign  of  King  Henry  HI.  there  were  not 
only  divers  parish  churches,  but  some  cathedrals 
in  England,  which  had  been  used  for  many 
years,  and  yet  never  consecrated  by  a  bishop. 
But  it  is  plain  to  a  demonstration,  that  the 
archbishop's  method  of  consecrating  churches 
is  a  modern  popish  invention ;  for  it  is  agreed 
by  Gratian,  Platina,  the  centuriators,  and  oth- 
ers, that  Pope  Hyginus,  Gelasius,  Sylvester, 
Felix,  and  Gregory,  were  the  first  inventors  and 
promoters  of  it ;  and  it  is  nowhere  to  be  found 
but  in  the  Roman  pontifical,  published  by  com- 
mand of  Pope  Clement  VIII.,  De  Ecclesiae  Ded- 
icatione,  p.  209,  280;  for  which  reasons  it  was 
exploded  and  condemned  by  our  first  Reformers, 
and  particularly  by  Bishop  Pilkington,  in  his 
comment  upon  Haggai,  chap,  i.,  ver.  7,  8,  and 
Archbishop  Parker,  who,  in  his  Antiq.  Britan., 
expressly  condemns  the  arclibishop's  method  of] 
consecration  as  popish  and  superstitious,  p.  85 
-87.$  ' 

But  the  archbishop  says,  if  churches  are  not 
consecrated  they  cannot  be  holy,  whereas  many 
places  that  were  never  consecrated  are  styled 
holy,  as  "the  most  holy  place,"  and  the  "holy 
city  Jerusalem  ;"  and  our  homilies  say,  that  the 
Church  is  called  holy,  not  of  itself,  but  because 
God's  people  resorting  thither  are  holy,  and  ex- 
ercise themselves  in  holy  things  ;  and  it  is  evi- 
dent that  sanctification,  when  applied  to  places. 


*  Prynne,  p.  115,499,  &c. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  115-117. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  501. 


is  nothing  else  but  a  separating  them  from  com- 
mon use  to  a  religious  and  sacred  one,  which 
may  be  done  without  the  superstitious  method 
above  mentioned  ;  and  though  the  archbishop 
avers  he  had  not  his  form  of  consecration  from 
the  Roman  pontifical,  he  acknowledges  he  had  it 
from  Bishop  Andrews,  who  could  have  it  no- 
where else.* 

As  for  consecrating  altars,  pattens,  chalices, 
altar  cloths,  and  other  altar  f'urniture,  their  ori- 
ginal is  no  higher  than  the  Roman  missal  and  pon- 
tifical, in  both  which  there  are  particular  chapters 
and  set  forms  of  prayer  for  this  purpose  ;  but  to 
imagine  that  these  vessels  may  not  be  reputed 
holy,  though  separated  to  a  holy  use,  unless  thus 
consecrated,  is  without  any  foundation  in  rea- 
son or  Scripture,  and  contrary  to  the  practice 
of  the  Church  of  England,  and  the  opinion  of  our 
first  Reformers. + 

To  the  archbishop's  account  of  feasts  of  dedi- 
cation we  answer,  as  before,  that  an  example 
out  of  the  Jewish  law  is  no  rule  for  the  Chris- 
tian Church.  Ezra  kept  a  feast  at  the  dedica- 
tion of  the  temple,  when  it  was  rebuilt,  and  of- 
fered a.  great  many  burnt-offerings  (Ezra,  vi., 
16,  17),  but  it  was  not  made  an  annual  solem- 
nity ;  for  the  feastofdedication,  mentioned  John, 
X.,  22,  was  not  of  the  dedication  of  the  temple, 
but  of  the  altars,  instituted  by  Judas  Maccabeus, 
to  be  kept  annually  by  the  space  of  eight  days 
(I  Mace,  iv.,  56,  59),  which  being  of  no  Divine 
institution,  but  kept  only  by  the  superstitious 
Jews,  not  by  Christ  or  his  apostles  (who  are 
only  said  to  be  at  Jerusalem  at  that  time), 
can  be  no  precedent  for  our  modern  consecra- 
tions.t 

Pope  Felix  and  Gregory  are  the  first  that  de- 
creed the  annual  observation  of  the  dedication 
of  churches  since  our  Saviour's  time,  which 
were  observed  in  England  under  the  names  of 
wakes  or  revels,  but  were  the  occasion  of  so 
much  idleness  and  debauchery,  that  King  Hen- 
ry VIII.,  anno  1536,  restrained  them  all  to  the 
first  Sunday  in  October,  not  to  b$  kept  on  any 
other  day  ;  and  afterward,  by  the  statute  5  and 
6  Edward  VI.,  cap.  iii.,  of  holydays,  they  were 
totally  abolished.  But  these  feasts  being  revived 
again  by  degrees,  in  sundry  places  of  this  realm, 
and  particularly  in  Somersetshire,  Judge  Rich- 
ardson, when  he  was  on  the  circuit,  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  justices  of  the  peace  for  the  coun- 
ty, published  an  order  for  suppressing  them ; 
but  was  obliged  the  next  year  as  publicly  to  re- 
voke it,  and  to  declare  such  recreations  to  be 
lawful ;  and  as  a  farther  punishment  on  the 
judge,  the  archbishop  obtained  his  removal  from 
that  circuit.  It  is  very  certain  that  at  these 
revels  there  were  a  great  many  disorders,  as 
drunkenness,  quarrelling,  fornication,  and  mur- 
der; it  is  therefore  very  unlikely  they  sliould  an- 
swer any  good  purpose,  and  how  fit  they  were 
to  succeed  the  public  devotions  of  the  Lord's 
Day,  we  shall  leave  to  your  lordships'  consid^ 
eration. 

(3  )  The  managers  charged  the  archbishop 
farther  "  with  giving  orders  to  Sir  Nath.  Brent, 
his  vicar-general,  to  enjoin  the  church-wardens 
of  all  parish  churches  within  his  diocess,  that 
they  should  remove  the  cornmunion-table  from 
the  middle  of  the  chapel  to  the  upper  end,  and 

*  Prynne,  p.  502. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  128. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  Go,  &c.,  4G7,  470. 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


511 


place  it  in  form  of  an  altar,  close  to  the  wall, 
with  the  ends  north  and  south,  and  encompass 
it  with  rails,  according  to  the  model  of  cathe- 
drals. They  objected  likewise  to  his  furnish- 
ing the  altar  in  his  own  chapel,  and  the  king's 
at  Whitehall,  with  basins,  candlesticks,  tapers, 
and  other  silver  vessels,  not  used  in  his  prede- 
cessor's time  ;  and  to  the  crcdentia,  or  side-table, 
in  conformity  to  the  Roman  ceremonial,  on 
which  the  elements  were  to  be  placed  on  a 
clean  linen  cloth  before  they  were  brought  to 
the  altar  to  be  consecrated  ;  and  to  the  hang- 
ing over  the  altar  a  piece  of  arras  with  a  large 
crucifix."* 

The  archbishop  answered,  that  the  placing 
the  communion-table  at  the  east  end  of  the 
chancel  was  commanded  by  Queen  Elizabeth's 
injunctions,  which  say,  that  the  holy  table  shall 
be  set  in  the  place  where  the  altar  stood,  which 
all  who  are  acquainted  v/ith  antiquity  know 
was  at  the  east  end  of  the  chancel,  with  the 
ends  north  and  south,  close  to  the  wall,  and 
thus  they  were  usually  placed  both  in  this  and 
other  churches  of  Christendom  ;  the  innovation, 
therefore,  was  theirs  who  departed  from  the 
injunctions,  and  not  mine,  who  have  kept  to 
them.  Besides,  altars,  both  name  and  thing, 
were  in  use  in  the  primitive  churches  long  be- 
fore popery  began  ;  yea,  they  are  to  be  found 
both  in  the  Old  and  New  Testament ;  and  that 
there  can  be  no  popery  in  railing  them  in,  I 
have  proved  in  my  speech  in  the  Star  Chamber. 
However,  I  aver  that  I  gave  no  orders  nor  di- 
rections to  Sir  Nath.  Brent,  my  vicar-general, 
neither  by  letter  nor  otherwise,  to  remove  or 
rail  in  communion-tables  in  all  parish  church- 
es ;  and  I  desire  Sir  Nath.  may  be  called  to 
testify  the  truth  upon  his  oath.  Sir  Nath.  be- 
ing sworn,  the  archbishop  asked  him  upon  his 
oath,  whether  he  had  ever  given  him  such  or- 
ders. To  which  he  replied,  "  My  lords,  upon 
the  oath  I  have  taken,  I  received  an  express  di- 
rection and  command  from  the  archbishop  him- 
self to  do  what  I  did  of  this  kind,  otherwise  I 
durst  never  have  done  it."t  The  archbishop 
insisting  that  he  never  gave  him  such  orders, 
and  wondering  he  should  be  so  unworthy  as  to 
affirm  it  upon  oath.  Sir  Nath.  produced  the  fol- 
lowing letter,  under  the  archbishop's  own  hand, 
directed  to  himself  at  Maidstone  : 

"Sir, 
''  I  require  you  to  command  the  communion- 
table at  Maidstone  to  be  placed  at  the  east  or 
upper  end  of  the  chancel,  and  there  railed  in, 
and  that  the  communicants  there  come  up  to 
the  rail  to  receive  the  blessed  sacrament  ;  and 
the  like  you  are  required  to  do  in  all  churches, 
and  in  all  other  places  where  you  visit  metro- 
politically. 

"W.  Cant." 

To  which  the  archbishop,  being  out  of  coun- 
tenance, made  no  other  reply  but  that  he  had 
forgot  it.J 

As  to  the  furniture  upon  the  altar,  he  added, 
that  it  was  no  other  than  was  used  in  the  king's 
chapel  at  Whitehall  before  his  time,  and  was 
both  necessary  and  decent ;  as  is  likewise  the 
crcdentia,  or  side-table,  the  form  of  which  he  took 
from  Bishop  Andrews's  model ;  and  the  piece 

*  Prynne,  p.  62,  91,  &c.        t  Laud's  Hist.,  p.  310- 
t  Prynne,  p.  8U. 


of  arras  that  was  hung  up  over  the  altar  in- 
Passion-week  he  apprehended  was  very  prop- 
er for  the  place  apd  occasion,  such  representa- 
tions being  approved  by  the  Lutherans,  and 
even  by  Calvin  himself,  as  had  been  already" 
shown. 

The  managers  replied  to  the  antiquity  of  al- 
tars, that  though  the  name  is  often  mentioned 
in  Scripture,  yet  it  is  never  applied  to  the  Lord's 
Table  ;  but  altars  and  priests  are  put  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  Lord's  Table  and  ministers  of  the 
New  Testament,    1  Cor.,  ix.,   13,   14.     Christ 
himself  celebrated  the  sacrament  at  a  table,  not 
at  an  altar,  and  he  calls  it  a  supper,  not  a  sac- 
rifice ;  nor  can  it  be  pretended  by  any  law  or 
canon  of  the  Church  of  England,  that  it  is  call- 
ed an  altar  more  than  once,  stat.  1,  Edw.  VI., 
cap.  i.,  which  statute  was  repealed  within  threS' 
years,  and  another  made,  in  which  the  word 
altar  is  changed  into  table.     It  is  evident  from 
the  unanimous  suffrage  of  most  of  the  fathers 
that   lived   within    three  hundred  years   after 
Christ,   and   by  our    most  learned   reformers, 
that  for  above  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  after 
Christ,  there  were  no  altars  in  churches,  but 
only  tables.  Pope  Sixtus  II.  being  the  first  that 
introduced  them  ;*  and  the  canons  of  the  popish 
Council  of  Aix,  1583,  being  the  only  ones  that 
can  be   produced  for  railing  them  in  ;  one  of 
which  prescribes  thus,  "  Unumquodque  altare 
sepiatur  omnino  septo  ferreo,  vel  lapideo,  vel 
ligneo."t    "  Let   every  altar  be  encompassed 
with  a  rail  of  iron,  stone,  or  wood."    The  text, 
Heb.,  xiii,,   10,   "We  have  an  altar  whereof 
they  have  no  right  to  eat  which  serve  the  tab- 
ernacle," is  certainly  meant  of  Christ  himself, 
and  not  of  the  altar  of  wood  or  stone,  as  our 
Protestant  writers  have  proved  at  large ;  agree- 
ably to  which  all  altars  in  churches  were  com- 
manded to  be  taken  away  and  removed,  as  su- 
perstitious and  popish,  by  public  laws  and  in- 
junctions at  the  Reformation,  and  tables  were 
set  up  in  their  stead,  which  continued  till  the 
archbishop  was  pleased  to  turn  them  again  into 
altars. 

But  the  archbishop  is  pleased  to  maintain 
that  the  queen's  injunctions  prescribe  the  com- 
munion-table to  be  set  in  the  place  where  the 
altar  stood,  and  that  this  was  anciently  at  the 
east  end  of  the  choir ;  whereas,  we  affirm  that 
he  is  not  able  to  produce  one  precedent  or  au- 
thority in  all  antiquity  for  this  assertion  ;  on  the 
contrary,  we  are  able  to  demonstrate  to  your 
lordships,  that  altars  and  Lord's  tables,  among 
Jews  and  Christians,  stood  anciently  in  the 
midst  of  their  churches  or  choirs,t  where  the 
people  might  sit,  stand,  and  go  conveniently 
round  them.  So  it  was  certainly  in  the  Jewish 
Church,  as  every  one  allows  ;  and  it  was  so  in 
the  Christian  Church  till  the  very  darkest  times 
of  popery,  when  private  masses  were  introdu- 
ced.^ Eusebius,  Dionysius  Areopagita,  Chry- 
sostom,  Athanasius,  Augustine,  &c.,  affirm  that 

*  Prynne,  p.  480,  481.  t  Ibid.,  p.  62- 

t  Choir  or  chorus  has  its  denomination  from  the 
multitude  standing  round  about  the  altar  [in  modu?n 
corona;]  in  the  form  of  a  ring  or  circle.  In  the  ancient 
liturgies  they  prayed  for  all  those  that  stood  round 
about  the  altar.  The  priest  and  deac(jns  stood  round 
about  the  altar  when  they  officiated,  and  so  did  the 
bishops  when  they  consecrated  it. 

1^  Prynne,  p.  482,  484.  Vide  Bishop  Williams'a 
Life,  p.  109. 


512 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


the  table  of  the  Lord  stood  in  the  middle  of  the 
chancel,  so  that  they  might  compass  it  about  ; 
nay,  Durandus,  a  popish  writer,  informs  us,  that 
•when  a  bishop  consecrates  a  new  altar,  he  must 
go  round  about  it  seven  times  ;  by  which  it  is 
evident  it  could  not  stand  against  a  wall ;  but 
our  most  eminent  writers  against  popery,  as 
Bucer,  Bishop  Jewel,  Bishop  Babington,  Bishop 
Morton,  and  Archbishop  WjJliams,  have  proved 
this  so  evidently,  that  there  is  no  room  to  call 
it  in  question  ;  and  we  are  able  to  produce  sev- 
eral authorities  from  Venerable  Bede,  St.  Austin, 
trie  first  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  others, 
that  they  stood  thus  in  England  in  their  times. 

Nor  do  Queen  Elizabeth's  injunctions  in  the 
least  favour  the  archbishop's  practice  of  fixing 
the  communion-table  to  the  east  wall  with  rails 
about  it,  for  they  order  the  table  to  be  removed 
■when  the  sacrament  is  to  be  distributed,  and 
placed  in  such  sort  within  the  chancel,  as  where- 
by the  minister  may  be  more  conveniently  heard 
of  the  communicants,  and  the  communicants 
may  more  conveniently,  and  in  greater  num- 
bers, communicate  with  him.  Now,  if  it  be  to 
be  removed  at  the  time  of  communion,  it  is  ab- 
surd to  suppose  it  to  be  fixed  to  the  wall,  and 
encompassed  with  rails.  Besides,  the  rubric  of 
the  Common  Prayer  Book,  and  the  eighty-sec- 
ond canon  of  1603,  appoint  the  communion-ta- 
ble to  be  placed  in  the  body  of  the  church,  where 
the  chancel  is  too  small,  or  near  the  middle  of 
the  chancel,  where  it  is  large  enough  ;  and  thus 
they  generally  stood  in  all  churches,  chapels, 
and  in  Lambeth  Chapel  itself,  till  the  archbish- 
op's time,  which  puts  the  matter  out  of  ques- 
tion.* And  if  it  be  remembered  that  the  say- 
ing of  private  masses  brought  in  this  situation 
of  altars  into  the  Church  of  Rome,  contrary  to 
all  antiquity,  the  archbishops  imitating  them  in 
that  particular  must  certainly  be  a  popish  inno- 
■vation. 

The  furniture  upon  the  altar,  which  the  arch- 
bishop pleads  for,  is  exactly  copied  from  the 
Roman  pontifical  and  the  popish  Council  of  Aix, 
and  is  condemned  by  our  homilies  and  Queen 
Elizabeth's  injunctions,  which  censure,  con- 
demn, and  abolish,  as  superstitious,  ethnical, 
and  popish,  all  candlesticks,  trindals,  rolls  of 
■wax,  and  setting  up  of  tapers,  as  tending  to 
idolatry  and  superstition,  injunct.  2,  23,  25. 
Therefore,  instead  of  conforming  to  the  chapel 
at  Whitehall,  he  ought,  as  dean  of  that  chapel, 
to  have  reformed  it  to  our  laws,  homilies,  and 
injunctions. 

The  like  may  be  said  of  the  credcntia  [or  side- 
table],  which  is  taken  expressly  out  of  the  Ro- 
man Ceremoniale  and  Pontifical,  and  is  used 
among  the  papists  only  in  their  most  solemn 
masses.  It  was  never  heard  of  in  any  Protest- 
ant church,  or  in  the  Church  of  England,  till 
the  archbishop's  time  ;  and  as  for  the  stale  pre- 
text of  his  having  it  from  Bishop  Andrews,  if  it 
be  true,  we  are  certain  that  bishop  could  have 
it  nowhere  else  but  from  the  Roman  missal. t 

The  arras  hangings,  with  the  picture  of  Christ 
at  his  last  supper,  with  a  crucifix,  are  no  less 
popish  than  the  former,  being  enjoined  by  the 
Roman  Ceremoniale,  edit.  Par..  1633,  lib.  i., 
cap.  xii.,  p.  69,  70,  in  these  words :  "  Quod  si 
altare  parieti  adhsereat,  applicari  poterit  ipsi  pa- 
rieti  supra  altare  pannus  aliquis  cseteris  nobilior 

*  Prynne,  p.  467,  481.  t  Prynne,  p.  63,  468. 


et  speciosior,  ubi  intextae  sint  D.N.  Jesu  Christi, 
aut  gloriosae  Virginis,  vel  sanctorum  imagines." 
"  If  the  altar  be  fixed  to  the  wall,  let  there  be 
hangings  more  noble  and  beautiful  than  the  rest 
fastened  upon  the  wall  over  the  altar,  in  which 
are  wrought  the  images  of  Christ,  the  blessed 
Virgin,  or  the  saints."  Besides,  these  things 
being  condemned  by  our  statutes,  homilies,  and 
injunctions,  as  we  have  already  proved,  ought 
not  certainly  to  have  been  introduced  by  a  prel- 
ate, who  challenges  all  that  is  between  heaven 
and  hell  justly  to  tax  him  in  any  one  particular 
of  favouring  popish  superstition  or  idolatry. 

"  Another  innovation  charged  on  the  arch- 
bishop was  his  introducing  divers  superstitions 
into  Divine  worship,  as  bowing  towards  the  al- 
tar, bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus,  enjoining  peo- 
ple to  do  reverence  at  their  entrance  into  church, 
reading  the  sacred  service  at  the  communion- 
table, standing  up  at  the  Gloria  Patri*  and  in- 
troducing the  use  of  copes  and  church  music. 
They  objected,  farther,  his  repairing  old  cruci- 
fixes, his  new  statutes  of  the  University  of  Ox- 
ford, among  which  some  were  arbitrary,  and 
others  were  superstitious :  of  the  former  sort  are 
the  imposing  new  oaths  ;  the  statute  of  banni- 
tion  ;  referring  some  misdemeanors  to  arbitrary 
penalties,  and  obliging  students  to  go  to  prison 
on  the  vice-chancellor's  or  proctor's  command. 
Of  the  latter  sort,  are  bowing  to  the  altar,  sing- 
ing the  litany,  and  reading  Latin  prayers  in 
Lent  ;  together  with  the  above-mentioned  su- 
perstitions in  the  manner  of  Divine  worship. "t 

The  archbishop  answered,  that  bowing  in 
Divine  worship  was  practised  among  the  Jews 
(2  Chron.,  xxix.,  29);  and  the  Psalmist  says, 
"  O  come,  let  us  worship  and  bow  down  ;  let 
us  kneel  before  the  Lord  our  Maker"  (Psalm 
xcv.,  6)  :  that  it  was  usual  in  Queen  Elizabeth's 
time  ;  and  that  the  knights  of  the  garter  were 
obliged  to  this  practice  by  the  orders  of  their 
chapter.  Besides,  the  altar  is  the  chief  place 
of  God's  residence  on  earth,  for  there  it  is, 
"  This  is  my  body ;"  whereas  in  the  pulpit  it 
is  only.  This  is  my  word.  And  shall  I  bow  to 
men  in  each  house  of  Parliament,  and  not  bow 
to  God  in  his  house,  whither  I  come  to  worship 
him  1  Surely  I  must  worship  God  and  bow  to 
him,  though  neither  altar  nor  communion-table 
be  in  the  church. t 

Bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus  is  prescribed  in 
direct  terms  by  Queen  Elizabeth's  injunctions, 
No.  12,  and  by  the  eighteenth  canon  of  our 
Church  ;  and,  though  standing  up  at  the  Gloria 
Palri  is  not  prescribed  by  any  canon  of  the 
Church,  it  is  nevertheless  of  great  antiquity  ; 
nor  is  the  reading  the  second  service  at  the 
communion-table  an  innovation,  it  being  the 
constant  practice  in  cathedrals,  and  warranted 
by  the  rubric. 

The  use  of  copes  is  prescribed  by  the  twen- 
ty-fourth canon  of  1603,  which  says,  "  that  in 
all  cathedrals  and  collegiate  churches,  the  com- 

*  "  It  is  observable,"  remarks  Mrs.  Macaulay, 
"  that  the  most  obnoxious  of  those  ceremonies  which 
Laud  so  childishly  insisted  on  were  established  at 
the  Restoration,  and  have  been  ever  since  regularly 
practised  in  the  Church ;  and  that  many  of  his  most 
offensive  measures  have  been  adopted  by  revolution 
ministers,  such  as  the  nominating  clergymen  to  be 
justices  of  jieace,  with  restraints  laid  on  marriage." 
—History  of  England,  vol.  iv.,  p.  135,  the  note.—^n. 

t  Prynne,  p.  72,  &c.      X  Laud's  Hist.,  p.  313,  361. 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


513 


munion  shall  be  administered  on  principal  feast 
days,  sometimes  by  the  bishop,  if  present, 
sometimes  by  the  dean,  and  sometimes  by  tlie 
canon  or  prebendary,  the  principal  minister 
using  a  decent  cope  ;"  so  tliai  here  is  no  inno- 
vation, any  more  than  in  the  use  of  organs, 
which  our  Church  has  generally  approved  and 
use  of 

As  to  the  statutes  of  the  University  of  Ox- 
ford, it  is  honour,  more  than  enough  for«me, 
that  I  have  finished  and  settled  them  :  nor  did 
I  anything  in  them  but  by  the  consent  of  the 
convocation  ;  and  as  to  the  particulars,  there 
is  nothing  but  what  is  agreeable  to  their  char- 
ters, and  the  ancient  custom  and  usage  of  the 
university.* 

The  managers  replied,  that  bowing  to  the  al- 
tar is  popish,  superstitious,  and  idolatrous,  be- 
ing prescribed  only  by  popish  canons,  and  in- 
troduced on  purpose  to  support  the  doctrine  of 
transubstantiation,  which  the  archbishop's  prac- 
tice seems  very  much  to  countenance,  when, 
at  his  coming  up  to  the  altar  to  consecrate  the 
bread,  he  makes  three  low  bows,  and  at  his  go- 
ing away  three  more,  giving  this  reason  for  it, 
*'  Quia  hoc  est  corpus  meum,"  "  Because  this  is 
my  body ;"  whereas  he  does  not  bow  to  the 
pulpit,  because  a  greater  reverence  is  due  to  the 
body  than  to  the  Word  of  the  Lord.t  Besides, 
it  has  no  foundation  in  antiquity,  nor  has  it  been 
approved  by  any  Protestant  writers,  except  the 
archbishop's  creatures,  such  as  Dr.  Heylin, 
Pocklington,  &c.,  and  has  been  condemned  by 
the  best  writers,  as  popish  and  superstitious. 
The  black  book  of  the  knights  of  the  garter,  at 
Windsor,  is  a  sorry  precedent  for  a  Protestant 
archbishop  to  follow,  being  made  in  the  darkest 
limes  of  popery,  viz.,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  V. ; 
and  if  they  bow,  Deo  ct  altari,  to  God  and  to  his 
altar,  as  the  archbishop  in  the  Star  Chamber  is 
of  opinion  Christians  ought  to  do,  we  cannot 
but  think  it  both  popish  and  idolatrous.  His 
passages  of  Scripture  are  nothing  to  the  pur- 
pose, for  kneeling  before  the  Lord  our  maker 
has  no  relation  to  bowing  to  the  altar;  nor  is 
there  any  canon  or  injunction  of  the  Church  to 
support  the  practice. 

The  archbishop  confesses  that  there  is  nei- 
ther canon  nor  injunction  for  standing  up  at  the 
Gloria  Patri,  which  must  therefore  be  an  inno- 
vation, and  is  of  no  greater  antiquity  than  the 
office  of  the  mass,  for  it  is  derived  from  the 
Ordo  Ronianus,  as  appears  from  the  works  of 
Cassander,  p.  98. t  And,  though  bowing  at  the 
name  of  Jesus  be  mentioned  in  the  canons,  yet 
these  canons  are  not  binding,  not  being  con- 
frmed  by  Parliament,"^  especially  since  the 
homilies,  the  Common  Prayer  Book,  the  Arti- 
cles of  Religion,  and  the  Book  of  Ordination, 
■which  are  the  only  authentic  rules  of  the  Church, 
make  no  mention  of  it ;  nor  was  it  ever  intro- 
duced before  the  time  of  Pope  Gregory  X.,  who 
first  prescribed  it ;  and  from  the  Councils  of 
Basil,  Sennes,  and  Augusta,  it  was  afterward 
inserted  in  the  Roman  Ceremoniale ;  besides, 

*  Laud's  History,  p.  304. 

t  Prynne,  p.  63,  64,  474,  477,  487.       t  Ibid.,  p.  64. 

i)  Dr.  Grey  contends  here,  that  the  canons  of  a 
convocation  duly  licensed  by  the  king,  when  con- 
firmed by  royal  authority,  are  properly  the  ecclesias- 
tical laws  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  are  as 
binding  as  the  statutes  of  Parliament. — Ed. 

Vol.  I.— T  t  t 


our  best  Protestant  writers  have  condemned 
the  practice. 

Reading  the  second  service  at  the  altar,  when 
there  is  no  communion,  is  contrary  to  the  can- 
ons of  1571  and  1603,  contrary  to  the  queen's 
injunctions,  the  homilies,  the  rubric  in  the  Com- 
mon Prayer  Book,  and  was  never  practised  in 
parish  churches  till  of  late,  though  used  in  some 
cathedrals,  Avhere  the  rubric  enjoins  the  com- 
munion to  be  administered  every  Sunday  in  the 
year,  which,  being  omitted,  the  second  service 
at  the  table  was  left  to  supply  it.  The  Lord's 
Table  was  ordained  only  to  administer  the  sac- 
rament, but  the  Epistle  and  Gospel,  which  are 
the  chief  parts  of  the  second  service,  are  ap- 
pointed to  be  read  with  the  two  lessons  in  the 
reading  pew.* 

As  for  copes,  neither  the  Common  Prayer 
Book,  nor  Book  of  Ordination,  nor  homilies  con- 
firmed by  Parliament,  nor  Queen  Elizabeth's 
injunctions  in  her  first  year,  make  any  mention 
of  them,  though  they  are  evidently  derived  from 
the  popish  wardrobe,  and  the  last  Common 
Prayer  Book  of  King  Edward  VI.  expressly  pro- 
hibits them.t  The  twenty-fourth  canon  of 
1603  enjoins  only  the  chief  minister  to  wear  a 
cope  at  the  administration  of  the  sacrament, 
whereas  the  archbishop  prescribed  them  to  be 
worn  by  others  besides  the  chief  minister,  and 
as  well  when  the  sacrament  was  not  adminis- 
tered as  when  it  was.  But,  as  we  observed 
before,  those  canons  not  being  confirmed  by 
Parliament,  expired  with  King  James,  and  there 
can  be  no  warrant- for  their  present  use.  Nor 
is  the  use  of  music  in  churches,  or  chanting  of 
prayers,  of  any  great  antiquity,  being  first  intro- 
duced by  Pope  Vitalian,  A.D.  666,  and  encour- 
aged only  by  popish  prelates. J 

And  though  the  archbishop  pleads  that  the 
statutes  of  Oxford  are  agreeable  to  ancient  cus- 
tom and  usage,  we  affirm  they  contain  sundry 
innovations,  not  only  with  regard  to  the  liberty 
of  the  subject,  but  with  regard  to  religion,  for 
Latin  prayers  were  formerly  said  only  on  Ash- 
Wednesdays  before  the  bachelors  of  arts, 
whereas  now  none  others  are  to  be  said 
throughout  all  Lent ;  the  statute  for  sjnging  in 
solemn  processions  was  made  in  time  of  popery, 
and  renewed  in  these  statutes  to  keep  up  the 
practice  of  such  superstitious  perambulations  ; 
and  though  the  archbishop  with  his  wonted  as- 
surance wonders  what  these  things  have  to  do 
with  treason,  we  apprehend  that  if  they  appear 
so  many  proofs  of  a  design  to  subvertij  the  es- 

*  Prynne,  p.  492.  t  Ibid.,  p.  64,  479,  480. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  05. 

<j  Mrs.  Macaulay  thinks  that  to  the  charge  of  en- 
deavouring to  subvert  the  established  religion,  and 
to  set  up  popish  superstition  and  idolatry,  the  arch- 
bishop was  particularly  strong  in  his  defence,  and 
the  allegations  to  support  the  charge  were  particu- 
larly vague  and  trilling.  "The  truth  is,"  as  that  au- 
thor observes,  "  those  superstitious  ceremonies  which 
he  with  so  much  bhnd  zeal  had  endeavoured  to  re- 
vive, and  which  were  so  justly  ridiculed  and  abhor- 
red by  the  more  enlightened  Protestants,  were  the 
discipline  of  the  first  Reformers  in  this  country,  and 
had  the  sanction  both  of  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
power :  reformation  had  begun  in  England  at  the 
wrong  end  ;  it  was  first  adopted  and  modelled  by 
government,  instead  of  being  forced  upon  govern- 
ment by  the  general  sense  of  the  people  ;  and  thus, 
to  further  the  ambitious  views  of  the  monarch,  and 
to  gratify  the  pride  of  the  prelacy,  a  great  part  of  the 


514 


HISTORY    OF   THE    PURITANS. 


tablished  religion  of  the  Church  of  England, 
they  will  be  judged  so  in  the  highest  degree."* 

Farther,  they  charged  tlie  archbisliop  with 
advising  the  king  "to  publish  his  declaration 
for  the  use  of  sports  on  the  Lord's  Day,  in  or- 
der to  suppress  afternoon  sermons  ;  with  obli- 
ging the  clergy  of  his  diocess  to  read  it  in  their 
pulpits,  aad  punishing  those  that  refused."! 

The  archbishop  answered,  that  he  had  the 
king's  warrant  for  printing  the  Book  of  Sports  ; 
that  there  is  no  proof  that  it  was  by  his  pro- 
curement, nor  that  it  was  done  on  purpose  to 
take  away  afternoon  sermons,  since  these  rec- 
reations are  not  allowed  till  they  are  over ;  be- 
sides, the  declaration  allows  only  lawful  recre- 
ations, which  is  no  more  than  is  practised  at 
Geneva,  though,  for  his  own  part,  he  always 
observed  strictly  the  Lord's  Day.  What  he  en- 
joined about  reading  the  declaration  was  by  his 
majesty's  command,  and  he  did  not  punish 
above  three  or  four  for  not  reading  it. J 

The  Commons  replied,  that  it  was  evident, 
by  the  archbishop's  letter  to  the  Bishop  of  Bath 
and  Wells,  that  the  declaration  was  printed  by 
his  procurement,  the  warrant  for  printing  it  be- 
ing written  all  with  his  own  hand,  and  without 
date,  and,  therefore,  might  probably  be  o*btained 
afterward  ■,^  moreover,  some  of  the  recreations 
mentioned  in  it  are  unlawful  on  the  Lord's  Day, 
according  to  the  opinion  of  the  fathers,  coun- 
cils, and  imperial  laws;  and  though  Calvin  dif- 
fers from  our  Protestant  writers  about  the  mo- 
rality of  the  Sabbath,  yet  he  expressly  condemns 
dancing  and  pastimes  on  that  day.  As  for  his 
grace's  own  strict  observation  of  the  Lord's  Day, 
it  is  an  averment  without  truth,  for  he  sat  con- 
stantly at  the  council-table  on  that  day  ;  and  it 
was  his  ordinary  practice  to  go  to  bowls  in  the 
summer-time,  and  use  other  recreations  upon 
it;  nor  is  it  probable  that  the  archbishop  would 
have  punished  conscientious  ministers  for  not 
reading  the  Book  of  Sports,  if  the  thing  had  been 
disagreeable  to  his  practice,  especially  when 
there  is  no  warrant  at  all  in  the  declaration 
that  ministers  should  publish  it,  or  be  punished 
for  refusing  it ;  and  that  he  punished  no  more, 
was  not  owing  to  his  clemency  who  gave  com- 
mand to  suspend  all  that  refused,  but  the  cler- 
gy's compliance  :  for  so  zealous  was  this  arch- 
bishop and  some  of  his  brethren  in  this  effair, 
that  it  was  inserted  as  an  article  of  inquiry  in 
their  visitations,  whether  the  king's  declaration 
for  sports  has  been  read  and  published  by  the 
minister ;  and  defaulters  were  to  be  presented 
upon  oath.  Now  we  appeal  to  the  whole  Chris- 
tian world,  whether  ever  it  has  been  known 
that  any  who  have  been  called  fathers  of  the 
Church  have  taken  so  much  pains  to  have  the 
Lord's  Day  profaned,  as  first  to  advise  the  king 
to  publish  a  declaration  to  warrant  it,  then  to 
enjoin  the  clergy  to  read  it  in  their  pulpits,  and 
to  suspend,  sequester,  and  deprive  all  whose 
consciences  would  not  allow  them  to  comply, 
and  this  not  only  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God, 
but  to  the  laws  of  the  land. 

The  reader  will,  no  doubt,  remark  upon  this 

mystery  of  popery  was  retained  in  the  doctrine,  and 
a  great  part  of  the  pvippet-shows  of  the  papists  in  the 
disciphtie,  of  the  Church  of  England." — History  of 
England,  vol.  iv.,  p.  135. — Ed. 

*  Pi^ntie,  p.  478.  f  Ibid.,  p.  128,  154,  382. 

t  Laud's  Hist.,  p.  343,  344.  ()  Prynne,  p.  505. 


part  of  the  archbishop's  trial,  that  those  rites 
and  ceremonies  which  have  bred  such  ill  blood, 
and  been  contended  for  with  so  much  fierceness 
as  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the  Church  and  di- 
vide its  communion,  have  no  foundation  ia 
Scripture  or  primitive  antiquity,  taking  their 
rise,  for  the  most  part,  in  the  darkest  and  most 
corrupt  times  of  the  papacy.  I  speak  not  here 
of  such  riles  as  are  established  by  law,  as  the 
cross  in  baptism,  and  kneeling  at  the  commu- 
nion, &c.,  because  the  Commons  could  not 
charge  these  on  the  archbishop  as  criminal. 
And  it  will  be  observed  farther,  that  when  mea 
claim  a  right  to  introduce  ceremonies  for  de- 
cency of  worship,  and  impose  them  upon  the 
people,  there  can  be  no  bounds  to  a  fruitful  in- 
vention. Archbishop  Laud  would,  no  doubt, 
by  degrees,  have  introduced  all  the  follies  of  the 
Roman  Church  ;  and  admitting  his  authority  to 
impose  rites  and  ceremonies  not  raentifined  ire 
Scripture,  it  is  not  easy  to  give  a  reason  why 
fifty  should  not  be  enjoined  as  well  as  five. 

The  managers  went  on  next  to  the  second 
branch  of  their  charge,  to  prove  the  archbishop's 
design  to  subvert  the  Protestant  religion  by 
countenancing  and  encouraging  sundry  doctrinal 
errors  in  favour  of  Arminianism*  and  popery. 

And  here  they  charged  him,  first,  "  with  be- 
ing the  great  patron  of  that  part  of  the  clergy 
who  had  declared  themselves  in  favour  of  these 
errors,  and  with  procuring  their  advancement 
to  the  highest  stations  in  the  Church,  even, 
though  they  were  under  censure  of  Parliament, 
as  Dr.  Manwaring,  Montague,  &,c.  They  aver- 
red that  the  best  preferments  in  his  majesty's 
gift,  ever  since  the  archbishop's  administration, 
in  1627,  had,  by  his  advice,  been  bestowed  on 
persons  of  the  same  principles  ;  and  that  he  had 
advised  the  king  to  publish  a  declaration,  prohib- 
iting the  clergy  to  preach  on  the  five  controvert- 
ed points,  by  virtue  of  which  the  mouths  of  the 
orthodox  preachers  were  stopped,  and  some 
that  ventured  to  transgress  the  king's  declara- 
tion were  punished  in  the  High  Commission, 
when  their  adversaries  were  left  at  large  to 
spread  their  opinions  at  their  pleasure." 

The  archbishop  answered,  that  he  had  not 

*  The  reader  has  seen,  in  the  preceding  part  of  this 
reign,  and  in  that  of  James  I.,  how  Arminianism  be- 
came connected  with  the  politics  of  the  time.  There 
is  no  natural  or  necessary  union  between  Arminian- 
ism and  despotism.  And  at  the  same  time  that  the 
court  in  England  protected  and  patronised  the  Ar- 
minians,  and  in  return  received  from  them  a  sanction 
to  its  arbitrary  views,  the  reverse  took  place  in  Hol- 
land :  where  the  Arminians,  favoured  by  the  magis- 
trates of  the  States,  opposed  the  aspiring  designs  oi 
the  Stadtholder  Maurice ;  and  the  Calvinists,  on  the 
contrary,  who  were  there  called  Gomarists,  espoused 
his  interest,  and  seconded  his  ambitious  and  arbitra- 
ry measures  against  the  liberty  of  their  country. 
These  have  continued  the  dominant  party  to  this  day 
and  the  most  violent  of  them  have  not  only  the  sway 
in  the  Church,  but  their  favour  is  courted  by  the 
prince,  who  finds  his  interest  advanced  by  a  connex- 
ion with  them.  In  this  instance  the  Dutch  Calvin- 
ists, while  they  maintain  all  the  rigour  of  his  theo- 
logical system,  have  greatly  and  ignommiousiy  devi- 
ated from  the  political  principles  of  their  illustrious 
founder;  whose  characler  as  a  legislator,  more  than 
as  a  divine,  displayed  the  strength  of  his  genius  ;  and 
whose  wise  edicts  were  dictated  by  genuine  patriot- 
ism and  the  spirit  of  liberty. — Appendix  to  the  12th 
vol.  of  the  Monthly  Revitw,  enlarged,  p.  523 ;  and 
Rousseau's  Social  Compact,  p.  1 12,  note. — Eo. 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


515 


defended  any  points  of  Arminianism,  though  he 
heartily  wished,  for  the  peace  of  Christendom, 
that  these  differences  were  not  pursued  with 
such  heat  and  animosity.*  He  confessed  that 
he  had  been  taxed  in  a  declaration  of  the  House 
of  Commons  as  a  favourer  of  Arminians,  but 
without  proof,  and  he  took  it  as  a  very  great 
slander.  Nor  had  he,  to  the  best  of  his  remem- 
brance, advanced  any  such  to  ecclesiastical  liv- 
ings ;  if  they  proved  so  afterward,  it  was  more 
than  he  could  foresee  ;  but  he  had  preferred  di- 
vers orthodox  ministers,  against  whom  there 
was  no  exception.  He  denied  that  he  had  any 
hand  in  the  preferment  of  Dr.  Manwaring  or 
Montague,  who  were  under  censure  of  Parlia- 
ment, nor  is  the  Pocket-book  a  sufficient  proof 
of  it ;  he  was  of  opinion  that  Neal,  Lindsey, 
Wren,  Bancroft,  Curie,  and  others  mentioned 
in  the  charge,  were  worthy  men,  and  every  way 
qualified  for  their  preferments,  though  it  does 
not  appear  he  had  any  hand  in  bestowing  them. 
As  for  the  king's  declaration  prohibiting  the 
clergy  to  preach  the  five  points,  it  was  his  maj- 
esty's own,  and  not  his  ;  and  since  the  publish- 
ing of  it  he  had  endeavoured  to  carry  it  with  an 
equal  hand,  and  to  punish  the  transgressors  of 
it  on  one  side  as  well  as  the  other.! 

The  Commons  replied,  that  they  wondered 
at  the  archbishop's  assurance  in  denying  his 
endeavours  to  promote  Arminianism  in  the 
Church;  that  the  remonstrance  of  the  Com- 
mons was  a  sufficient  evidence  of  his  guilt,  be- 
ing confirmed  by  many  proofs,  though  his  an- 
swer to  it  proved  so  full  of  bitterness  and  sauci- 
ness,  as  throwing  scandal  on  the  whole  repre- 
sentative body  of  the  nation. t 

As  to  the  particulars,  they  say  that  his  pre- 
ferring Mr.  Downham  and  Taylor,  orthodox 
men.  to  some  benefices,  was  only  a  blind  to 
cover  his  advancing  so  many  popishly-affected 
clergymen.  It  is  known  to  all  the  world  that 
Montague  and  Manwaring  were  his  creatures  ; 
the  Pocket-book  says  that  his  majesty's  royal 
assent  to  their  preferment  was  signed  by  order 
of  this  prelate  (when  only  Bishop  of  London), 
and  himself  was  the  person  that  consecrated 
them.  It  would  be  too  long  to  go  into  particu- 
lars, but  everybody  knows  that  the  disposal  of 
all  or  most  of  the  bishoprics,  deaneries,  and 
considerable  benefices  since  the  year  1627,  have 
been  under  the  direction  of  this  archbishop  ; 
and  what  sort  of  persons  have  been  preferred 
is  apparent  to  all  men,  by  the  present  distract- 
ed condition  of  the  Churc|i  and  universities. 

The  king's  declaration  for  prohibiting  preach- 
ing on  the  five  controverted  points  was  an  ar- 
tifice of  the  archbishop's  to  introduce  the  Ar- 
minian  errors,  by  preventing  orthodox  minis- 
ters from  awakening  the  minds  of  people  against 
them.  And  whereas  he  avers  that  he  has  car- 
ried it  with  an  even  hand,  and  could  bring  wit- 
nesses from  Oxford  to  prove  it,  we  challenge 
him  to  name  one  scholar  or  minister  that  was 
ever  imprisoned,  deprived,  silenced,  prosecuted 
in  the  High  Commission,  or  cast  out  of  favour 
on  this  account ;  there  was,  indeed,  one  Rains- 
ford,  an  Arminian,j,who,  in  the  year  16.32,  was 
obliged  publicly  to  confess  his  error  in  disobey- 
ing his  majesty's  declaration,  and  that  was  all 
his  punishment ;  whereas  great  numbers  of  the 

*  Laud's  Hist.,  p.  352.     Prynne,  p.  529. 

t  Prynne,  p.  508.  %  Ibid.,  p.  520. 


other  side  have  been  persecuted,  so  as  to  be 
forced  to  abandon  their  native  country  at  a  time 
when  the  most  notorious  and  declared  Armini- 
ans were  advanced  to  the  best  preferments  in 
the  Church,  as  Montague  made  a  bishop,  Hars- 
net  an  archbishop,  Lindsey  promoted  to  two 
bishoprics,  Potter  to  a  deanery,  and  Duppa  to 
a  deanery  and  bishopric,  and  made  tutor  to 
the  prince,  &c.* 

The  managers  objected  farther  to  the  arch- 
bishop, "  that  having  obtained  the  sole  licensing 
of  the  press,  by  a  declaration  of  the  Star  Cham- 
ber in  the  year  1637,  he  had  prohibited  the  re- 
printing sundry  orthodox  books  formerly  print- 
ed and  sold  by  authority  ;  as  the  Geneva  Bible 
with  notes,  Gellibrand's  Protestant  Almanac, 
in  which  the  popish  saints  were  left  out  of  the 
calendar  and  Protestant  martyrs  put  in  their 
places  ;  that  his  chaplains  had  refused  to  license 
the  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Palatine  church- 
es. Fox's  Book  of  Martyrs,  Bishop  Jewel's 
Works,  some  part  of  Dr.  Willet's,  and  the  His- 
tory of  the  Gunpowder  Treason,  as  was  attest- 
ed by  the  clerks  of  Stationers'  Hall ;  and  this 
reason  given  for  the  refusal,  that  we  were  not 
now  so  angry  with  the  papists  as  formerly,  and 
therefore  it  was  not  proper  to  exasperate  them, 
there  being  a  design  on  foot  to  win  them  by 
mildness.  That  the  archbishop  had  suppressed 
sundry  new  books  written  against  Arminianism 
and  popery,  and  had  castrated  others,  expunging 
such  passages  as  reflected  upon  the  superstition 
and  idolatry  of  that  Church,"t  a  large  catalogue 
of  which  the  Commons  produced  ;  many  au- 
thors appeared  in  maintenance  of  this  part  of 
the  charge,  and  among  others,  Dr.  Featly,  Dr. 
Clarke,  Dr.  Jones,  Mr.  Ward,  &c.t  It  was 
said  in  particular,  "  that  he  had  expunged  di- 
vers passages,  which  bore  hard  upon  the  pa- 
pists, out  of  the  collection  of  public  prayers  for 
a  general  fast  against  the  plague  ;  and  that  in 
the  prayer-book  appointed  by  authority  for  the 
5th  of  November,  instead  of  '  Root  out  that 
Babylonish  and  antichristian  sect,  whose  reli- 
gion is  rebellion,  whose  faith  is  faction,  and 
whose  practice  is  murdering  of  soul  and  body,' 
he  had  altered  that  passage,  and  artfully  turned 
it  against  the  Puritans,  thus  :  '  Root  out  the  an- 
tichristian sect  of  them,  who  turn  religion  into 
rebellion,  and  faith  into  faction.' 

"  And  as  the  archbishop  had  castrated  some 
books,  because  they  refuted  the  doctrines  he 
would  countenance,  so  he  gave  full  license  to 
others,  wherein  the  grossest  points  of  Armini- 
anism and  popery  were  openly  asserted  ;  as 
Cosins's  Hours  of  Prayer,  Sale's  Introduction  to 
a  Devout  Life,  Christ's  Epistle  to  a  Devout 
Soul,  and  others,  in  which  the  following  doc- 
trines were  maintained:  (1.)  The  necessity  of 
auricular  confession,  and  the  power  of  priests 
to  forgive  sins.  (2.)  The  lawfulness  and  bene- 
fit of  popish  penance,  as  wearing  hair-cloth,  and 
other  corporeal  punishments.  (3.)  Absolute  sub- 
mission to  the  commands  of  priests  as  directors 
of  conscience.  (4.)  That  in  the  sacrament,  the 
body  and  blood  of  Christ  is  a  true  and  proper 
sacrifice  ;  that  the  natural  body  and  blood  of 
Christ  is  really  and  substantially  present  in  the 
eucharist ;  and  that  there  can  be  no  true  sac- 
rament or  consecration  of  it  where  there  is  no 

»  Prynne,  p.  172,511.     f  Ibid.,  p.  179, 180,182,  &c. 
i  Ibid.,  p.  254,  255,  257,  258,  &c. 


516 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


altar.  (5.)  That  crucifixes,  images,  and  pictures 
may  be  lawfully  set  up  in  churches,  and  ought 
not  to  be  removed.  (6.)  That  the  pope  is  not 
antichrist.  (7.)  That  there  are  venial  sins.  (8.) 
That  there  is  a  purgatory,  ovlimbus  ■palrum.  (9.) 
That  the  relics  of  saints  are  to  be  preserved  and 
reverenced.  (10.)  That  the  Virgin  Mary  and 
saints  are  to  be  invoked  and  prayed  to.  (11.) 
That  the  Church  of  Rome  is  the  mother-church, 
and  never  erred  in  fundamentals.  (12.)  That 
there  were  written  traditions  of  equal  authority 
•with  the  Word  of  God."*  To  which  were  add- 
ed, sundry  articles  of  Arminian  doctrine,  as  of 
free-will,  total  and  final  apostacy  from  grace ; 
examples  of  which  the  managers  produced  from 
the  several  authors. 

And  as  a  farther  encouragement  to  popery, 
they  objected  his  grace's  "  conniving  at  the  im- 
portation of  popish  books,  and  restoring  them  to 
the  owners  when  seized  by  the  searchers,  con- 
trary to  the  statute  of  3  Jacob.  I.,  by  which 
means  many  thousands  of  them  were  dispersed 
over  the  whole  kingdom ;  whereas  he  gave 
the  strictest  commands  to  his  officers  to  seize 
all  imported  Bibles  with  notes,  and  all  books 
against  Arminian  and  popish  innovations.  All 
which  put  together  amounted  to  no  less  than  a 
demonstration  of  the  archbishop's  design  to  sub- 
vert our  established  religion,  by  introducing  doc- 
trinal Arminianism  and  popery. "t 

The  archbishop  answered,  that  the  decree  of 
the  Star  Chamber  for  regulating  the  press  was 
the  act  of  the  whole  court,  and  not  his  ;  and  he 
is  still  of  opinion  that  it  was  both  a  necessary 
and  useful  act,  being  designed  to  suppress  sedi- 
tious, schismatical,  and  mutinous  books. t  As 
to  the  particulars,  he  replied  that  the  Geneva 
Bible  was  only  tolerated,  not  allowed  by  author- 
ity, and  deserved  to  be  suppressed  for  the  mar- 
ginal note  on  Exod.,  i.,  17,  which  allows  diso- 
bedience to  the  king's  command.  Gellibrand's 
Almanac  had  left  out  all  the  saints  and  apos- 
tles, and  put  in  those  named  by  Mr.  Fox,  and, 
therefore,  deserved  to  be  censured.  As  to  the 
Book  of  Martyrs,  it  was  an  abridgment  of  that 
book  I  opposed  (says  his  grace),  lest  the  book 
itself  should  be  brought  into  disuse,  and  lest 
anything  material  should  be  left  out.  But  the 
licensing  of  books  was  left  in  general  to  my 
chaplains,  for  an  archbishop  had  better  grind, 
than  take  that  work  into  his  own  hands  ;  and 
whereas  it  had  been  inferred  that  what  is  done 
by  my  chaplain  must  be  taken  as  my  act,  I  con- 
ceive no  man  can  by  law  be  punished  criminally 
for  his  servant's  act,  unless  it  be  proved  that 
he  had  a  hand  in  it. 

The  like  answer  the  archbishop  gave  to  the 
castrating  and  licensing  books — his  chaplains 
did  it ;  and  since  it  was  not  proved  they  did  it 
by  his  express  command,  they  must  answer  for 
it.  He  admits  that  he  altered  the  prayers  for 
the  5th  of  November,  and  for  the  general  fast, 
by  his  majesty's  command  ;  and  he  is  of  opinion 
the  expressions  were  too  harsh,  and  therefore 
ought  to  be  changed. 

He  denied  that  he  ever  connived  at  the  im- 
portation of  popish  books  ;  and  if  any  such  were 
restored  to  the  owners,  it  was  by  order  of  the 
High  Commission,  and  therefore  he  is  not  an- 
swerable for  it. 


*  Prynne,  p.  188,  202. 
X  Laud's  History,  p.  350. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  349. 


The  Commons  replied,  that  the  decree  for 
regulating  the  press  was  procured  by  him  with 
a  design  to  enlarge  his  jurisdiction  ;  and  though 
some  things  in  it  might  deserve  the  thanks  of 
the  stationers,  they  complain  loudly  that  books 
formerly  printed  by  authority  might  not  be  re- 
printed without  a  new  license  from  himself* 
.^s  to  particulars,  they  affirm  that  the  Geneva 
Bible  was  printed  by  authority  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth and  King  James,  cum  privilegio ;  and  in 
the  15th  Jacob,  there  was  an  impression  by 
the  king's  own  printer,  notwithstanding  the 
note  upon  Exodus,  which  is  warranted  both  by 
fathers  and  canonists.  Gellibrand's  Almanac 
was  certainly  no  offence,  and  therefore  did  not 
deserve  that  the  author  should  be  tried  before 
the  High  Commission  ;  and  if  the  queen  and 
the  papists  were  offended  at  it,  it  was  to  be  liked 
never  the  worse  by  all  good  Protestants.  The 
archbishop  is  pleased,  indeed,  to  cast  the  whole 
blame  of  the  press  on  his  chaplains  ;  but  we 
are  of  opinion  (say  the  managers)  that  the 
archbishop  is  answerable  for  what  his  chap- 
lains do  in  this  case  ;  the  trust  of  licensing 
books  being  originally  invested  in  him,  his  chap- 
lains being  his  deputies,  he  must  answer  for 
them  at  his  peril.  When  the  Archbishop  of 
York,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  I.,  was  questioned 
in  Parliament  for  excommunicating  two  ser- 
vants of  the  Bishop  of  Durham,  employed  in 
the  king's  service,  the  archbishop  threw  the 
blame  on  his  commissary,  who  was  the  person 
that  excommunicated  them  ;  but  it  was  then 
resolved  in  Parliament  that  the  commissary's 
act  was  his  own,  and  he  was  fined  four  thou- 
sand marks  to  the  king.  Now  the  commissary 
was  an  officer  established  by  law ;  but  the 
archbishop's  chaplains  are  not  officers  by  law, 
and,  therefore,  dare  not  license  anything  with- 
out his  privity  and  command. 

Besides,  it  is  apparent  these  books  were  cas- 
trated by  the  archbishop's  approbation,  for  oth- 
erwise he  w^ould  have  punished  the  licensers, 
printers,  and  publishers,  as  he  always  did  when 
information  was  given  of  any  new  books  pub- 
lished against  the  late  innovations.  His  grace 
has  forgot  his  refusing  to  license  the  Palatine 
Confession  of  Faith,  which  is  his  peculiar  hap- 
piness when  he  can  make  no  answer ;  and  it 
looks  a  little  undutiful  in  hini  to  cast  the  altera- 
tion of  the  prayers  for  November  5  on  the  king, 
when  everybody  knows  by  whom  the  king's 
conscience  was  directed. t 

And  whereas  the  archbishop  denies  his  con- 
niving at  the  importation  of  popish  books,  he 
does  not  so  much  as  allege  that  he  ordered 
such  books  to  be  seized,  as  he  ought  to  have 
done  ;  he  confesses  that  such  books  as  were 
seized  had  been  restored  by  order  of  the  High 
Commission,  whereas  it  has  been  sworn  to  be 
done  by  his  own  order ;  but  if  it  had  not,  yet 
he,  being  president  of  that  court,  ought  to  have 
crossed  those  orders,  that  court  not  daring  to 
have  made  any  such  restitutions  without  his 
consent ;  so  that  we  cannot  but  be  of  opinion 
that  the  whole  of  this  charge,  which  shows  a 
manifest  partiality  on  the  side  of  Arminianism 
and  popery,  and  the  strongest  and  most  artifi- 
cial attempts  to  propagate  these  errors  in  the 
nation,  still  remains  in  its  full  strength. 

The  managers  went  on  to  charge  the  arch 


*  Prynne,  p.  515. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  5?-2. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


517 


bishop  with  his  severe  prosecution  of  those 
clergymen  who  had  dared  to  preach  against 
the  dangerous  increase  of  Arminianism  and  po- 
pery, or  the  late  innovations  ;  they  instanced 
in  Mr.  Chauncy,  Mr.  Workman,  Mr.  Davenport, 
and  others,  some  of  whom  were  punished  in 
the  High  Commission  for  not  railing  in  the 
communion-table,  and  for  preaching  against 
images  ;  and  when  Mr.  Davenport  fled  to  New- 
England  to  avoid  the  storm,  the  archbishop  said 
his  arm  should  reach  him  there.  They  object- 
ed, farther,  "  his  suppressing  afternoon  sermons 
on  the  Lord's  Day,  and  the  laudable  design  of 
buying  in  impropriations,  which  was  designed 
for  the  encouraging  such  lecturers."* 

The  archbishop  answered,  that  the  censures 
passed  on  the  ministers  above  mentioned  was 
the  act  of  the  High  Commission,  and  not  his  ; 
and  he  confesses  their  sentences  appeared  just 
and  reasonable,  inasmuch  as  the  passages  that 
occasioned  them  were  against  the  laudable  cer- 
emonies of  the  Church,  against  the  king's  dec- 
laration, tending  to  infuse  into  the  minds  of  the 
people  groundless  fears  and  jealousies  of  po- 
pery, and  to  cast  aspersions  on  the  governors 
of  the  Church  ;  that  therefore,  if  he  did  say  his 
arm  should  reach  Mr.  Davenport  in  New-Eng- 
land, he  sees  no  harm  in  it,  for  there  is  no  rea- 
son that  the  plantations  should  secure  offenders 
against  the  Church  of  England  from  the  edge 
of  the  law ;  and  he  meddled  with  none  except 
such  as  were  Puritanical,  factious,  schismatical, 
and  enemies  to  the  good  orders  of  the  Church. + 

As  to  the  suppressing  afternoon  sermons,  the 
instructions  for  turning  them  into  catechising 
was  before  his  time,  and  he  could  not  but  ap- 
prove of  the  design,  as  a  proper  expedient  for 
preserving  peace  between  ministers  and  people, 
the  lecturers  being  for  the  most  part  factious, 
and  the  occasion  of  great  contentions  in  the 
parishes  where  they  preached.  J 

He  confessed  that  he  overthrew  the  design 
of  buying  up  impropriations,  and  thanked  God 
he  had  destroyed  it,  because  he  conceived  it  a 
plot  against  the  Church,  for  if  it  had  succeed- 
ed, more  clergymen  would  have  depended  on 
these  feoffees  than  on  the  king,  and  on  all  the 
peers  and  bishops  besides  ;  but  he  proceeded 
against  them  according  to  law,  and  if  the  sen- 
tence was  not  just,  it  must  be  the  judges'  fault, 
and  not  his. 

The  Commons  replied,  that  it  was  notorious 
to  all  men  how  cruel  he  had  been  towards  all 
those  who  had  dared  to  make  a  stand  against 
his  proceedings.  They  put  him  in  mind  of 
Prynne,  Burton,  and  Bastwick,  and  of  great 
numbers  whom  he  had  forced  into  Holland  and 
into  the  plantations  of  America,  to  avoid  the 
ruin  of  themselves  and  families ;  yea,  so  im- 
placable was  this  prelate,  that  he  would  neither 
suffer  them  to  live  in  the  land  or  out  of  it,  an 
embargo  being  laid  on  all  ministers  going  to 
New-England  ;  and  if  any  such  got  over  clan- 
destinely, he  threatened  his  arm  should  reach 
them  there.  In  vain  does  he  shelter  his  severe 
proceedings  under  the  authority  of  the  court, 
for  if  this  plea  be  admitted,  no  corrupt  judges 
or  counsellors  can  be  brought  to  justice  for  the 
most  arbitrary  proceedings  ;  but,  in  reality,  the 
act  of  the  court  is  the  act  of  every  particular 


*  Prynne,  p.  361,  302,  &c. 
t  Laud's  Hist.,  p.  332,  348. 


t  Prynne,  p.  537. 


person  that  gives  his  vote  for  it,  and  every  in- 
dividual member  is  accountable.  Many  instan- 
ces of  this  might  be  produced  ;  but  there  has 
been  one  very  lately,  in  the  case  of  ship-money, 
which  is  fresh  in  the  memory  of  all  men  ;  and 
we  do  aver,  that  the  sermons  or  books  for  which 
the  above-mentioned  persons  suffered  so  severe- 
ly, were  neither  factious  nor  seditious,  but  ne- 
cessary for  these  times,  wherein  the  Protestant 
religion  runs  so  very  low,  and  superstition  and 
popery  are  coming  in  like  a  flood.* 

As  to  the  instructions  for  suppressing  after- 
noon sermons,  whensoever  they  were  drawn 
up,  it  is  evident  he  was  the  man  that  put  them 
in  execution,  and  levelled  them  against  those 
conscientious  persons  who  scrupled  reading  the 
prayers  in  their  surplice  and  hood,  or  taking  a 
living  with  cure  of  souls  ;  all  such  persons,  how 
orthodox  soever  in  doctrine,  how  diligent  soev- 
er in  their  callings  and  pious  in  their  lives,  be- 
ing reputed  factious,  schismatical,  and  unwor- 
thy of  the  least  employment  in  the  Church,  t 

As  to  the  impropriations,  there  was  no  design 
in  the  feoffees  to  render  the  clergy  independent 
on  the  bishops,  for  none  were  presented  but 
conformable  men,  nor  did  any  preach  but  such 
as  were  licensed  by  the  bishop  ;  indeed,  the  de- 
sign being  to  encourage  the  preaching  of  the 
Word  of  God,  the  feoffees  were  careful  to  em- 
ploy such  persons  as  would  not  be  idle  ;  and 
when  they  perceived  the  archbishop  was  bent 
on  their  ruin,  Mr.  White  went  to  his  grace,  and 
promised  to  rectify  anything  that  was  amiss,  if 
the  thing  itself  might  stand.  But  he  was  de- 
termined to  desti'oy  it,  and  by  his  mighty  influ- 
ence obtained  a  decree  that  the  money  should 
be  paid  into  the  king's  exchequer,  by  which  an 
end  was  put  to  one  of  the  most  charitable  de- 
signs for  the  good  of  the  Church  that  has  been 
formed  these  many  years. t 

The  last  charge  of  the  managers  was,  "  his 
grace's  open  attempts  to  reconcile  the  Church 
of  England  with  the  Church  of  Rome,  as  ap- 
pears, first,  by  the  papal  titles  he  suffered  the 
universities  to  give  him  in  their  letters,  as 
'  sanctitas  vestra,'  your  holiness  ;  '  sanctissime 
pater,'  most  holy  father  ;  '  Spiritus  Sancti,  effa- 
sissime  plenus,'  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ;  '  sum- 
mus  pontifex,  optimus  maximusque  interris,' 
&c.  Agreeably  to  this,  he  assumed  to  himself 
the  title  of  patriarch,  or  Pope  of  Great  Britain, 
'  alterius  orbus  papa  ;'  which  gave  the  Roman- 
ists such  an  opinion  of  him,  that  they  offered 
him  twice  a  cardinal's  hat ;  though,  as  things 
then  stood,  he  did  not  think  it  prudent  to  re- 
ceive it.ij  But  Sir  H.  Mildmay  and  Sir  N.  Brent 
swore  that,  both  at  Rome  and  elsewhere,  he 
was  reputed  a  papist  in  his  heart  ;||  which  opin- 
ion was  not  a  little  confirmed,  (1.)  By  his  for- 
bidding the  clergy  to  pray  for  the  conversion 
of  the  queen  to  the  Protestant  faith.  (2.)  By 
his  owning  the  Church  of  Rome  to  be  a  true 
church  ;  by  denying  the  pope  to  be  antichrist, 
and  wishing  a  reconciliation  with  her  ;  and  af- 
firming that  she  never  erred  in  fundamentals, 
no,  not  in  the  worst  of  times.  (3.)  By  his  sow- 
ing discord  between  the  Church  of  England  and 
foreign  Protestants,  not  only  by  taking  away 
the  privileges  and  immunities  of  the  French  and 

*  Prynne,  p.  335,  &c.        t  Ibid.,  p.  370,  537,  538. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  537.  i)  Ibid.,  p.  441. 

11  Ibid.,  p.  409,  &c. 


518 


HISTORY   OF   TU'E   PURITANS. 


Dutch  churches  in  these  kingdoms,  but  by  de- 
nying their  ministers  to  be  true  ministers,  and 
their  churches  true  churches.  (4.)  By  main- 
taining an  intimate  correspondence  with  the 
pope's  nuncio  and  with  divers  priests  and  Jesu- 
its, conniving  at  the  liberties  they  took  in  the 
Clink  and  elsewhere,  and  threatening  those 
pursuivants  who  were  diligent  in  apprehending 
them ;  to  aW  which  they  added,  the  influence 
the  archbishop  had  in  marrying  the  king  to  a 
papist,  and  his  concealment  of  a  late  plot  to  re- 
duce these  kingdoms  to  popery  and  slavery."* 

To  this  long  charge  the  archbishop  gave 
some  general  answers,  in  satirical  and  provo- 
king language  :  My  lords  (says  he),  I  am  char- 
ged with  an  endeavour  to  reconcile  the  Church 
of  England  to  the  Church  of  Rome ;  I  shall  re- 
cite the  sum  of  the  evidence,  and  of  the  argu- 
ments to  prove  it.  (1.)  I  have  reduced  several 
persons  from  popery,  whom  I  have  named  in 
my  speech  ;  ergo,  I  have  endeavoured  to  bring 
in  popery.  (2.)  I  have  made  a  canon  against 
popery,  and  an  oath  to  abjure  it ;  ergo,  I  have 
endeavoured  to  introduce  it.  (3.)  I  have  been 
twice  offered  a  cardinalship  and  refused  it,  be- 
cause I  would  not  be  subject  to  the  pope  ;  ergo, 
I  have  endeavoured  to  subject  the  Church  of 
England  to  him.  (4.)  I  wrote  a  book  against 
popery  ;  ergo,  I  am  inclinable  to  it.  (5.)  I  have 
been  in  danger  of  my  life  from  a  pnpish  plot ; 
ergo,  I  cherished  it,  and  endeavoured  to  accom- 
plish it.  (6.)  I  endeavoured  to  reconcile  the 
Lutherans  and  Calvinists  ;  ergo,  I  laboured  to 
bring  in  popery. t 

To  the  particulars  he  replied,  that  whatever 
papal  power  he  had  assumed,  he  had  assumed 
it  not  in  his  own  right,  as  the  popes  did,  but 
from  the  king.  That  the  style  of  holiness  was 
given  to  St.  Augustine  and  others,  and  there- 
fore not  peculiar  to  the  pope  ;  why,  then,  should 
so  grave  a  man  as  Mr.  Brown  (says  he)  dispar- 
age his  own  nation,  as  if  it  were  impossible  for 
an  English  bishop  to  deserve  as  good  a  title  as 
another  1  As  for  the  other  titles,  they  must  be 
taken  as  compliments  for  my  having  deserved 
well  of  the  university ;  but,  after  all,  it  is  one 
thing  to  assume  papal  titles,  and  another  to  as- 
sume papal  power.  As  to  the  title  of  patriarch  or 
pope  of  the  other  world,  it  is  the  title  that  An- 
selm  says  belongs  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, and  not  so  great  a  one  as  St.  Jerome  gave 
St.  Augustine,  when  he  wrote  to  him  with  this 
title,  Beatissimo  papae  Augustino.  I  confess  I 
have  been  offered  a  cardinal's  hat,  but  refused 
it,  saying,  I  could  not  accept  it  tdl  Rome  was 
otherwise  than  it  now  is.  If,  after  this,  others 
will  repute  me  a  papist,  I  cannot  help  it. J     I 

*  Prynne,  p.  5S9. 

t  Laud's  Hist.,  p.  285,  286,  325,  &c.  Prynne,  p. 
543.     Laud's  Hist.,  p.  418,  419. 

t  It  may  be  pertinent  to  observe  here,  that,  though 
Laud  did  not  approve  the  doctrinal  articles  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  "  it  is  possible  that  one  who  dis- 
likes many  points  of  the  Romish  faith  may  j^et  be 
very  fond  of  introducing  her  tyrannical  government, 
and,  in  order  to  it,  of  amusmg  the  poor  laity  with 
the  long  train  of  her  gaudy  and  mysterious  ceremD- 
nies ;  that  while  they  stand  fondly  gazing  at  this 
lure  and  are  busied  about  impertinences,  they  may 
the  more  easily  be  circumvented  in  irrecoverable 
bondage,  by  men  of  deeper  but  more  mischievous  de- 
B\gus."—Afe>noirs  of  Hollis,  vol.  ii.,  p.  578.— Ed. 
There  are  just  such  prelates  at  the  present  moment. 


hope  I  shall  not  be  answerable  for  their  unchar- 
itableness.  Sir  Henry  Mildmay  will  witness 
how  much  I  am  hated  and  spoken  against  at 
Rome.  It  does  not  appear  that  I  forbade  min- 
isters praying  for  the  queen's  conversion ;  but 
when  I  was  told  the  queen  was  prayed  for  in 
a  factious  and  seditious  manner,  I  referred  the 
matter  to  my  visiters,  and  do  acknowledge 
that  Mr.  Jones  was  punished  in  the  High  Com- 
mission on  this  account.* 

To  the  objection  of  the  Church  of  Rome's 
being  a  true  church,  I  confess  myself  of  that 
opinion,  and  do  still  believe  that  she  never  erred 
in  fundamentals,  for  the  foundations  of  the 
Christian  religion  are  in  the  articles  of  the 
creed,  and  she  denies  none  of  them  ;  and  it 
would  be  sad  if  she  should,  for  "it  is  through 
her  that  the  bishops  of  the  Church  of  England, 
who  have  the  honour  to  be  capable  of  deriving 
their  calling  from  St.  Peter,  must  deduce  their 
succession. "t  She  is  therefore  a  true  church, 
though  not  an  orthodox  one  ;  our  religion  and 
theirs  is  one  in  essentials,  and  people  may  be 
saved  in  either.  It  has  not  been  proved  that  I 
deny  the  pope  to  be  antichrist,  though  many 
learned  men  have  denied  it ;  nor  do  I  conceive 
that  our  homOies  affirm  it ;  and  if  they  did,  I 
do  not  conceive  myself  bound  to  believe- every 
phrase  that  is  in  them.  I  confess  I  have  often 
wished  a  reconcdiation  between  the  Churches 
of  England  and  Rome  in  a  just  and  Christian 
way,  and  was  in  hopes  in  due  time  to  effect  it ; 
but  a  reconcdiation  without  truth  and  piety  I 
never  desired. J 

To  the  objection  of  the  foreign  Protestant 
churches,  I  deny  that  I  have  endeavoured  to 
sow  discord  between  them,  but  I  have  endeav- 
oured to  unite  the  Calvinists  and  Lutherans ;  nor 
have  I  absolutely  unchurched  them.  I  say,  in- 
deed, in  my  book  against  Fisher,  according  to 
St.  Jerome,  No  bishop,  no  church;  and  that 
none  but  a  bishop  can  ordain,  except  in  cases 
of  inevitable  necessity  ;  and  whether  that  be 
the  case  with  the  foreign  churches,  the  world 
must  judge. ^  The  judgment  of  the  Church  of 
England  is,  that  church  government  by  bishops 
is  unalterable,  for  the  preface  to  the  Book  of 
Ordination  says,  that  from  the  apostle's  time 
there  have  been  three  orders  of  ministers  in  the 
Church,  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons ;  now,  if 
bishops  are  the  apostles'  successors,  and  have 
continued  in  the  Church  above  sixteen  hundred 
years,  what  authority  have  any  Christian  states 
to  deprive  them  of  that  right  which  Christ  has 
given  them"!  As  to  the  French  and  Dutch 
churches  in  this  kingdom,  I  did  not  question 
them  for  their  ancient  privileges,  but  for  their 
new  encroachments,  for  it  was  not  the  design 
of  the  queen  [Elizabeth]  to  harbour  them,  un- 
less they  conformed  to  the  English  liturgy  ;  now 
I  insisted  on  this  only  with  respect  to  those 
who  were  of  the  second  descent,  and  born  in 
England  ;  and  if  all  such  had  been  obliged  to 
go  to  their  parish  churches  as  they  ought,  they 
would  not  have  done  the  Church  of  England  so 
much  harm  as  they  have  since  done. II 

To  the  fourth  objection,  I  answer  that  I  had 


only  they  are  inferior  to  Laud  in  talent  and  energy  01 
character. — C.  *  Laud's  History,  p.  383. 

t  Ibid.,  p,  392.  t  Prynne,  p.  556. 

()  Laud's  Hist.,  p.  374.     Prynne,  p.  540. 

II  Ibid.,  p.  378. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


519 


no  intimate  correspondence  with  priests  or  Jes- 
uits, nor  entertained  them  at  my  table,  know- 
ing them  to  be  such.  I  never  put  my  hand  to 
the  releasing  any  priest  out  of  prison,  nor  have 
I  connived  at  the  liberties  they  assumed  ;  the 
witnesses  who  pretended  to  prove  this  are 
either  mean  persons,  a*-  strongly  prejudiced  ; 
and  to  most  of  the  facts  there  is  but  one  wit- 
ness. As  to  the  nuncios  from  Rome,  it  was 
not  in  my  power  to  hinder  their  coming,  the 
king  having  condescended  to  it,  at  the  earnest 
request  of  the  queen  ;  nor  had  I  any  particular 
intimacy  with  them  while  they  were  here  ;  nor 
do  I  remember  my  checking  the  pursuivants 
in  doing  their  duty.  But  if  it  could  be  supposed 
that  I  said  I  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  any 
priest-catching  knaves,  I  hope  the  words  are 
not  treason  ;  nor  is  it  any  offence  not  to  be  a 
persecutor,  or  not  to  give  ill  language  to  Jesuits ; 
and  I  do  affirm  that  I  never  persecuted  any 
orthodox  ministers  or  Puritans,  though  I  may 
have  persecuted  some  for  their  schisms  and 
misdemeanors.* 

As  to  the  king's  marrying,  it  is  not  proved 
that  I  had  any  hand  in  it,  though  I  acknowledge 
the  Duke  of  Buckingham  did  me  the  honour  to 
make  me  his  confessor.  Nor  did  I  conceal  the 
late  plot  to  bring  in  popery,  but  discovered  it 
to  the  king  as  soon  as  I  had  intelligence  of  it ; 
for  the  truth  of  which  I  appeal  not  only  to  my 
letters,  but  to  the  Earl  of  Northumberland  here 
present ;  who  stood  up  and  said  he  remember- 
no  such  thing. 

The  Commons  replied  to  the  archbishop's 
general  defence,  that  he  had  been  fighting  with 
his  own  shadow,  for  they  never  objected  those 
things  to  him  for  the  purposes  which  he  men- 
tions ;  they  never  objected  his  reducing  any 
from  popery,  but  that  many  were  hardened  in 
it  by  his  means.  Nor  did  they  object  the  can- 
ons or  oath  to  prove  him  guilty  of  introducing 
popery,  but  to  quite  different  purposes.  So 
that  the  archbishop  in  these,  and  the  other  par- 
ticulars above  mentioned,  has  given  us  a  speci- 
men of  his  sophistry  and  Jesuitism,  transform- 
ing his  own  defence  into  our  charge  and  evi- 
dence, and  making  our  objections  stand  as 
proofs  of  a  fact  which  they  were  not  in  the 
least  intended  to  support. t 

To  the  particulars  they  replied,  that  the  titles 
he  had  assumed  were  peculiar  to  the  papacy  ; 
that  they  were  never  assumed  by  any  Protest- 
ant archbishop  before  himself;  nay,  that  in  the 
times  of  popery  there  are  hardly  any  examples 
of  their  being  given  to  English  bishops,  and  that 
it  is  blasphemy  to  give  the  title  of  holiness  in 
the  abstract  to  any  but  God  himself:  the  arch- 
bishop, therefore,  ought,  in  his  answers  to  the 
letters  of  the  university,  to  have  checked  them, 
whereas  he  does  not  so  much  as  mention  these 
exorbitances,  nor  find  tlie  least  fault  with  them. 
And  though  there  be  a  difference  between  pa- 
pal title  and  papal  power,  yet  certainly  his 
claiming  the  title  of  "  alterius  orbis  papa,"  pope 
of  the  other  world,  is  a  demonstration  that  he 
was  grasping  at  the  same  power  in  Great  Brit- 
ain as  the  pope  had  in  Italy ;  and  though,  for 
prudent  reasons,  he  refused  the  cardinal's  hat 
when  it  was  offered,  yet  when  he  had  made  his 
terms,  and  accomplished  that  reconciliation  be- 
tween the  two  ciiurches  that  he  was  contriving, 


*  Laud's  Hist.,  p.  394. 


t  Prynne,  p.  543. 


no  doubt  he  would  have  had  his  reward.  Sir 
Henry  Mildmay  being  summoned,  at  the  arch- 
bishop's request,  to  give  in  evidence  how  much 
he  was  hated  and  spoken  against  at  Rome,  swore 
that  when  he  was  at  Rome  some  of  the  Jesuitical 
faction  spoke  against  the  archbishop,  because 
they  apprehended  he  aimed  at  too  great  an  ec- 
clesiastical jurisdiction  forhimself;  but  the  sec- 
ulars commended  and  applauded  him,  because 
of  the  near  approaches  he  made  to  their  church, 
and  showed  himself  favourable  to  their  party. 
The  like  evidence  was  given  by  Mr.  Challoner 
and  others.* 

And  whereas  the  archbishop  had  said  that  it 
was  not  proved  that  he,  forbid  ministers  to  pray 
for  the  queen's  conversion,  the  managers  pro- 
duced Mr.  Hugh  Radcliffe,  of  St.  Martin's,  Lud- 
gate,  who  swore  that  Sir  Nathaniel  Brent,  his 
vicar-general,  at  a  visitation  at  Bow  Church, 
gave  m  charge  to  the  clergy,  in  his  hearing, 
these  words :  "  Whereas  divers  of  you,  in  your 
prayers  before  sermon,  used  to  pray  for  the 
queen's  conversion,  you  are  to  do  so  no  more, 
for  the  queen  does  not  doubt  of  her  conver- 
sion."! And  both  before  and  after,  the  arch- 
bishop himself  caused  Mr.  Bernard,  Mr  Peters, 
and  Mr.  Jones,  to  be  prosecuted  in  the  High 
Commission  on  this  account. t  The  archbishop 
having  said  that  he  never  put  his  hand  to  the 
releasing  any  priest  out  of  prison,  the  crianagers 
produced  a  warrant  under  his  own  i  ./d,  dated 
January  31,  1633,  for  the  release  of  William 
Walgrave,  deposed  to  be  a  dangerous,  seducing 
priest,  in  these  words  : 

"  These  are  to  will  and  command  you  to  set 
at  full  liberty  the  person  of  William  Walgrave, 
formerly  committed  to  your  custody,  and  for 
your  so  doing  this  shall  be  your  sufficient  war- 
rant. W.  Cant.    R.  Ebor." 

But  the  archbishop's  memory  frequently  fail- 
ed him  on  such  occasions. 

His  grace  confesses  the  Church  of  Rome  to 
be  a  true  church,  whereas  we  aver  her  to  be  a 
false  and  anti-Christian  one,  for  she  has  no 
sure  foundation,  no  true  head,  no  ordinances, 
sacraments,  or  worship,  no  true  ministry,  nor 
government  of  Christ's  institution  ;  she  yields 
no  true  subjection  to  Christ's  laws,  word,  or 
spirit,  but  is  overspread  with  damnable  errors 
in  doctrine,  and  corruptions  in  manners  and 
worship,  and  is  therefore  defined  by  our  homi- 
lies to  be  a  false  church.  Must  she  not  err  in 
fundamentals,  when  she  affirms  the  Church  to 
be  built  on  Peter,  not  upon  Christ,  and  resolves 
our  faith  into  the  Churth,  and  not  into  the 
Scriptures  ?  When  she  deifies  the  Virgin  Mary 
and  other  saints  by  giving  them  Divine  worship, 
and  obliges  us  to  adore  the  consecrated  bread 
in  the  sacrament  as  the  very  body  and  blood  of 
Christ ;  when  she  denies  the  cup  to  the  laity, 
obliges  people  to  pray  in  an  unknown  tongue, 
and  sets  up  a  new  head  of  the  Church  instead  of 
Christ,  with  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
at  his  girdle  !  What  are  these  but  fundamental 
errors,  which  nullify  the  Church  that  maintains 
them  !  The  religion  of  the  Church  of  Rome  and 
ours  is  not  one  and  the  same,  for  theirs  is  no 
Christian  religion,  but  a  heap  of  superstition  and 
idolatry ;  and  his  affirming  salvation  may  be 


*  Prynne,  p.  413. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  444. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  418. 


520 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


had  in  that  church  is  contrary  to  the  opinion 
of  our  best  Protestant  writers,  who  make  her 
damnable  errors  the  foundation  of  our  separation 
from  her.  And  though  the  archbishop  maives 
light  of  his  not  believing  the  pope  to  be  anti- 
christ, we  do  aver  that  our  statutes  and  homi- 
lies do  either  in  direct  or  equivalent  expressions 
define  him  to  be  antichrist,  and  particularly  in 
the  Subsidy  Act,  3  Jac,  penned  by  the  convoca- 
tion. 

But  can  anything  more  fully  demonstrate  the 
archbishop's  design  to  reconcile  the  Church  of 
England  with  Rome  than  his  own  confession  1 
He  says  he  has  laboured  this  matter  with  a 
faithful  and  single  heart  (Reply  to  Fisher,  p. 
388),  though  not  to  the  prejudice  of  truth  and 
piety.  But  it  must  be  observed,  that  the  arch- 
bishop's design  was  not  to  bring  over  the  Church 
of  Rome  to  us,  but  to  carry  us  over  to  them  ; 
and  what  large  advances  he  has  made  that  way 
appears  by  his  setting  up  altars,  crucifixes,  im- 
ages, and  other  innovations.  What  advance 
has  the  Church  of  Rome  made  towards  usi 
■why,  none  at  all ;  nor  is  it  possible  she  should, 
till  she  lays  aside  her  infallibility.  The  pretence, 
therefore,  of  the  Church  of  Rome's  meeting  us 
halfway,  was  a  mere  blind  to  deceive  the  people 
of  England,  till  he  had  carried  them  wholly  over 
into  her  territories.* 

The  archbishop  has  denied  his  endeavours  to 
sow  discord  among  foreign  Protestants,  and  as- 
serted his  endeavours  to  reconcile  the  Luther- 
ans and  Calvinists,  though  he  has  produced  no 
evidence  of  it ;  but  his  late  behaviour  towards 
the  Scots,  on  the  account  of  their  having  no 
bishops,  and  to  the  foreign  settlements  among 
ourselves,  is  a  sufficient  proof  of  the  contrary. 
The  maxim  that  he  cites  from  St.  Jerome,  No 
bishop,  no  church,  is  a  plain  perverting  of  his 
sense,  for  his  words  are,  "  Ubi  non  est  sacer- 
dos,  non  est  ecclesia  ;"  but  it  is  well  known 
that,  according  to  St.  Jerome,  bishops  and  pres- 
byters are  one  and  the  same  in  jurisdiction  and 
office,  and  presbyters  have  the  power  of  ordina- 
tion as  well  as  bishops  ;  and  therefore  this  is  a 
conclusion  of  the  archbishop's  framing,  which, 
if  it  be  true,  must  necessarily  unchurch  all  the 
foreign  Reformed  churches,  and  render  all  the 
ordinations  of  their  ministers  invalid,  which  is 
a  sufficient  evidence  of  his  enmity  to  them.t 

As  to  the  French  and  Dutch  churches,  who 
were  settled  by  Charter  in  the  reign  of  King  Ed- 
ward VI.,  Mr.  Bulteel's  book,  of  the  manifold 
troubles  of  those  churches  by  this  archbishop's 
prosecutions,  evidently  proves  that  he  invaded 
and  diminished  their  ancient  immunities  and 
privileges  in  all  parts  ;  and  that  he  was  so  far 
from  being  their  friend,  that  they  accounted  him 
their  greatest  enemy. 

To  the  fourth  objection,  relating  to  the  arch- 
bishop's correspondence  with  popish  priests,  we 
reply,  that  the  archbishop's  intimacy  with  Sir 
Toby  Malh'ew,  the  most  active  Jesuit  in  the 
kingdom,  has  been  fully  proved  ;  that  he  was 
sometimes  with  him  in  his  barge,  sometimes  in 
his  coach,  sometimes  in  private  with  him  in  his 
garden,  and  frequently  at  his  table. J  The  like 
has  been  proved  of  Sancta  Clara,  St.  Giles  Le- 
ander.  Smith,  and  Price,  and  we  cannot  but 
wonder  at  his  denying  that  he  knew  them  to  be 

*  Prynne,  p.  552,  &c.  t  Ibid.,  p.  541. 

i  Ibid.,  p.  448,  456,  559,  561. 


priests,  when  the  evidence  of  his  knowledge  of 
some  of  them  has  been  produced  under  his  own 
hand  ;  and  the  witnesses  for  the  others  were  no 
meaner  persons  than  the  lords  of  the  council 
and  the  high  commissioners(among  which  was 
himself),  employed  to  apprehend  priests  and  de- 
linquents ;  from  whence  we  conclude,  that  all 
the  archbishop's  predecessors,  since  the  Refor- 
mation, had  not  half  the  intimacy  with  popish 
priests  and  Jesuits  as  himself,  and  his  harbour- 
ing some  of  them  that  were  native  Englishmen 
is  within  the  statutes  of  23  Eliz.,  cap.  i.,  and  27 
Eiiz.,  cap.  ii.  It  is  very  certain  that  the  liberty 
the  Jesuits  have  enjoyed  in  prison  and  else- 
where was  owing  to  his  connivance ;  and  thought 
the  archbishop  is  so  happy  as  not  to  remember 
his  checking  the  officers  for  their  diligence  in 
apprehending  popish  priests,  yet  his  distinctioa 
between  not  persecuting  papists  and  prosecu- 
ting Puritans,  besides  the  quibble,  is  an  unan- 
swerable argument  of  his  affection  to  the  one 
beyond  the  other.* 

The  managers  produced  six  or  eight  witness- 
es to  prove  the  archbishop's  discountenancing 
and  threatening  such  as  were  active  in  appre- 
hending* priests  and  Jesuits.  And  though  he 
would  wash  his  hands  of  the  affair  of  the  pope's 
nuncio  residing  here  in  character,  and  holdin* 
an  intimate  correspondence  with  the  court,  be- 
cause himself  did  not  appear  in  it,  yet  it  is  evi- 
dent that  Secretary  Wmdebank,  who  was  the 
archbishop's  creature  and  confidant,  held  aa 
avowed  correspondence  with  them.  If  he  had 
no  concern  in  this  affair,  should  he  not,  out  of 
regard  to  the  Protestant  religion  and  Church, 
of  England,  even  to  the  hazard  of  his  archbish- 
opric, have  made  some  open  protestation,  whea 
Gregorio  Panzani  resided  here  in  character  two 
years  ;  Gregory  Con,  a  Scot,  for  three  years  and 
two  months  ;  and,  last  of  all,  Count  Rosetti,  tiJl 
driven  away  by  the  present  Parliament  It 

It  has  been  sufficiently  proved  that  the  arch- 
bishop was  concerned  in  the  Spanish  and  Frenciii 
matches,  and  in  the  instructions  given  to  the 
prince  at  his  going  to  Spain,  to  satisfy  the 
pope's  nuncio  about  King  James  having  decla- 
red the  pope  to  be  antichrist ;  for  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham  was  the  prince's  director,  and  him- 
self acknowledged  that  he  was  the  duke's  con- 
fessor. 

And  as  to  the  late  plot  of  Habernfield,  we 
have  owned,  in  our  evidences,  that  at  first  he 
discovered  it  to  the  king,  because  he  imagined 
it  to  be  a  plot  of  the  Puritans  ;  but  when  he 
found  the  parties  engaged  in  it  to  be  papists,  and, 
among  others.  Secretary  Windebeck  and  Sir  To- 
by Malhew,  his  own  creatures,  hfi  then  concealed 
his  papers,  called  it  a  sham  plot,  and  browbeat 
the  informers,  whereas  he  ought  at  least  to  have 
laid  it  before  the  Parliament,  that  they  might 
have  sifted  it  to  the  bran.  But  that  it  was  a 
real  plot,  his  own  Diary,  together  with  our  lat- 
ter discoveries,  fully  prove  ;  and  his  conceal- 
ment of  it  we  conceive  to  be  a  high  and  trea- 
sonable offence,  tending  to  subvert  the  Protest- 
ant religion,  and  subject  us  to  the  Church  of 
RomeJ 

Thus,  we  humbly  conceive,  we  have  made  a 
satisfactory  reply  to  all  the  archbishop's  an- 
swers, and  have  fully  made  good  the  whole  of 


*  Prynne,  p.  448, 458. 
J  Ibid.,  p.  564,  &c. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  44C 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


531 


our  charge,  namely,  that  the  archbishop  has 
traitorously  endeavoured  to  destroy  our  civil 
liberties,  and  to  introduce  tyranny  and  arbitrary 
power  ;  and,  secondly,  that  he  has  endeavoured 
to  subvert  the  Protestant  religion  established 
by  law  in  these  kingdoms,  and  to  subject  us  to 
the  Church  of  Rome  ;  wherefore  we  do,  in  the 
name  of  all  the  commons  of  England,  pray 
judgment  against  him  as  a  traitor. 

Before  the  arciibishop  withtlrew  from  the  bar, 
.he  moved  the  Lords  that,  considering  the  length 
of  his  trial,*  and  the  distance  of  time  between 
the  several  days  of  hearing,  they  would  allow 
him  a  day  that  he  might  set  before  their  lord- 
ships in  one  view  the  whole  of  the  Commons' 
charge,  and  his  defence  ;  to  which  they  conde- 
scended, and  appointed  September  2,  which  was 
five  weeks  from  the  last  day  of  his  trial. f  When 
the  archbishop  appeared  at  the  bar,  he  began 
■with  a  moving  address,  beseeching  their  lord- 
ships to  consider  his  calling,  his  age,  his  long 
imprisonment,  his  sufferings,  his  patience,  and 
the  sequestration  of  his  estate.  He  then  com- 
plained, (1.)  Of  the  uncertainty  and  generality 
of  the  Commons'  charge.  (2.)  Of  the  short  time 
that  was  allowed  him  for  his  answer.  (3. )  That 
he  had  been  sifted  to  the  bran,  and  had  his  pa- 
pers taken  from  him.  (4.)  That  the  things  he 
had  taken  most  pains  m  were  for  the  public 
good,  and  done  at  his  own  great  expense,  as  the 
repair  of  St.  Paul's,  and  the  statutes  of  Oxford. 
(5.)  That  many  of  the  witnesses  were  sectaries 
and  schismatics,  whereas,  by  the  canon  law,  no 
schismatic  should  be  heard  against  his  bishop. 
He  complained,  also,  of  the  number  of  witnesses 
produced  against  him,  which  were  above  one 
hundred  and  fifty ;  whereas  the  civil  law  says 
that  the  judges  should  moderate  things  so  as 
no  man  should  be  oppressed  with  tlie  multitude 
of  witnesses.  (6.)  That  he  had  been  charged 
with  passionate  and  hasty  words,  which  he  hopes 
their  lordships  will  pardon  as  human  frailties. 
(7.)  That  other  men's  actions  had  been  laid  to 
his  charge,  as  those  of  his  chaplains,  and  the 
actions  of  the  High  Commission  and  Star  Cham- 
ber, which,  he  insists,  cannot  by  any  law  be  put 
upon  him,  it  being  a  known  rule,  "  Refertur  ad 
universes  quod  publice  fit  per  majorem  partem." 
He  then  went  over  the  particular  charges  above 
mentioned,  and  concluded  with  a  request,  that 
when  the  Commons  had  replied  to  the  facts,  his 
counsel  might  be  heard  as  to  matters  of  law. 
The.  Commons  replied  to  the  archbishop's 
speech,  September  II,  and  the  same  day  his 
counsel  delivered  in  these  two  queries:  "(1.) 
Whether,  in  all  or  any  of  the  articles  charged 
against  the  archbishop,  there  be  contained  any 
treason  by  the  established  laws  of  the  kingdom  1 
(2.)  Whether  the  impeachment  and  articles  did 
contain  such  certainties  and  particularities  as 
are  required  by  law  in  cases  of  treason  ']"t    The 


*  It  had  been  drawn  out  through  more  than  three 
months,  and  he  had  been  often,  when  summoned  be- 
fore the  Lords,  sent  back  unheard.  This  had,  need- 
lessly, exposed  him  to  the  scorns  and  revihngs  of  the 
people,  and  to  an  expense  wliich  he  could  ill  bear ; 
for  he  never  appeared  but  it  cost  him  £6  or  £7  per  day. 
His  estate  and  goods  had  been  sequestered  ;  and  it 
was  not  until  towards  the  end  of  his  trial,  and  after 
repeated  solicitations,  that  the  Commons  allowed 
him  X200  to  support  his  necessary  expenses. — Mac- 
mday's  Hlslory  of  England,  vol.  iv.,  p.  138,  note. — Ed. 

t  Laud's  History,  p.  412,  419.  %  Ibid.,  p.  422. 

Vol.  I.— U  u  u 


Lords  sent  down  the  queries  to  the  Commons, 
who,  after  they  had  referred  them  to  a  commit- 
tee of  lawyers,  agreed  that  the  archbishop's 
counsel  might  be  heard  to  the  first  query,  but 
not  to  the  second.  Accordingly,  October  II, 
the  archbishop  being  present  at  the  bar,  Mr. 
Hearn  proposed  to  argue  these  two  general 
questions  :* 

(I.)  "  Whether  there  be,  at  this  day,  any  oth- 
er treason  than  what  is  enacted  by  the  statute 
25  Edward  III.,  cap.  ii.,  or  enacted  by  some 
other  subsequent  statute  !" 

(2.)  "  Whetlier  any  of  the  matters,  in  any  of 
the  articles  charged  against  the  archbishop, 
contain  any  of  the  treasons  declared  by  that 
law,  or  enacted  by  any  subsequent  law]" 

And  for  the  clearing  of  both  these  he  humbly 
insisted  that  an  "  endeavour  to  subvert  the 
laws,  the  Protestant  religion,  and  the  rights  of 
Parliament,  which  are  the  three  general  char- 
ges to  which  all  the  particulars  alleged  against 
the  archbishop  may  be  reduced,  is  not  treason 
within  the  statute  of  25  Edward  HI.,  nor  any 
other  particular  statute."! 

In  maintenance  of  this  proposition,  he  con- 
tended, first,  "  That  the  particulars  alleged 
against  the  archbishop  were  not  within  the  let- 
ter of  the  statute  of  the  25th  Edward  III.,  and 
then  argued  that  the  statutes  of  this  land  ought 
not  to  be  construed  by  equity  or  inference,  be- 
cause they  are  declarative  laws,  and  were  de- 
signed for  the  security  of  the  subject  in  his  life, 
liberty,  and  estate  ;  and  because  since  the  time 
of  Henry  IV.  no  judgment  has  been  given  in 
Parliament  for  any  treason  not  expressly  con- 
tained or  declared  in  that  or  some  other  stat- 
ute, but  by  bill ;  from  whence  it  will  follow, 
that  the  particulars  charged  against  the  arch- 
bishop, being  only  an  endeavour  to  subvert  fun- 
damental laws,  are  of  so  great  latitude  and  un- 
certainty, that  every  action  not  warranted  by 
law  may  be  extended  to  treason,  though  there 
is  no  particular  statute  to  make  it  so.  If  it  be 
replied  that  the  statute  of  25  Edward  III.  takes 
notice  of  compassing  or  imagining,  we  answer, 
it  confines  it  to  the  death  of  the  king ;  but  an 
endeavour  to  subvert  the  laws  of  the  realm  is 
no  determinate  crime  by  the  laws  of  England, 
but  has  been  esteemed  an  aggravation  of  a 
crime,  and  has  been  usually  joined  as  the  re- 
sult of  some  other  offence  below  treason. "t 

"  The  like  may  be  observed  to  the  second 
charge,  of  endeavouring  to  subvert  religion  ;  it 
is  not  treason  by  the  letter  of  any  law  estab- 
lished in  this  kingdom,  for  the  statute  of  I  Ed- 
ward VI.,  cap.  xii.,  mak^s  it  but  felony  to  at- 
tempt an  alteration  of  religion  by  force,  which 
is  the  worst  kind  of  attempt. ij 

"  As  to  the  third  charge,  of  endeavouring  to 
subvert  the  rights  of  Parliament.  We  insist  on 
the  same  reply  that  was  made  under  the  first 
head.  We  aUow  that,  by  the  statute  of  5  Jac, 
cap.  iv.,  it  is  provided  that  if  any  man  shall 
put  in  practice  to  reconcile  any  of  his  majesty's 
subjects  to  the  Pope  or  See  of  Rome,  it  shall  be 
deemed  treason  ;  but  we  conceive  this  does  not 
reach  the  archbishop,  because,  (1.)  He  is  char- 
ged only  with  an  endeavour,  whereas  in  the 
statute  it  is  putting  in  practice.  (2.)  Because 
the  archbishop  is  charged  with  reconciling  the 


*  Laud's  History,  p.  423. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  427. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  424,  425 
i)  Ibid.,  p.  429. 


522 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


Church  of  England  with  the  Church  of  Rome, 
whereas  in  the  statute  it  is  reconciling  any  of 
his  majesty's  subjects  to  the  See  of  Home  ;  now 
reconciling  with  may  as  well  be  construed  a 
reducing  Rome  to  England,  as  England  to 
Rome. 

"  Thus,"  says  Mr.  Hearn,  "  we  have  endeav- 
oured to  make  it  appear  that  none  of  the  mat- 
ters, in  any  of  the  articles  charged,  are  treason 
within  the  letter  of  the  law  ;  indeed,  the  crimes, 
as  they  are  laid  in  the  charge,  are  many  and 
great,  but  their  number  cannot  make  them  ex- 
ceed their  nature;  and  if  tliey  be  but  crimes 
and  misdemeanors  apart,  below  treason,  they 
cannot  be  made  treason  by  putting  them  togeth- 
er."* 

These  arguments  of  the  archbishop's  counsel 
staggered  the  House  of  Lords,  nor  could  the 
managers  for  the  Commons  satisfy  them  in 
their  reply  ;  they  had  no  doubts  about  the  truth 
of  the  facts,  but  whether  any  of  them  were 
treason  by  the  laws  of  the  landU  this  the 
judges  very  much  questioned,  and,  therefore, 
the  Lords  deferred  giving  judgment  till  the 
Commons  thought  fit  to  take  another  method  to 
obtain  it. 

Various  are  the  accounts  of  the  archbishop's 
behaviour  on  his  trial  ;  his  friends  and  admi- 
rers flatter  him  beyond  measure,  and  said  he 
perfectly  triumphed  over  his  accusers  ;  and  his 
grace  seems  to  be  of  the  same  mind,  when  he 
tells  us  that  all  men  magnified  his  answer  to 
the  House  of  Commons,  but  he  forbore  to  set 
down  in  what  language,  because  it  was  high.J 
Mr.  Prynne  allows-  that  "  he  made  as  full,  as 
gallant!^  and  pithy  a  defence,  and  spoke  as  much 
for  himself,  as  was  possible  for  the  wit  of  man 
to  invent  :  and  that  with  so  much  art,  sophis- 
try, vivacity,  oratory,  audacity,  and  confidence, 
without  the  least  blush,  or  acl<no\vledgment  of 
guilt  in  anything,  as  argued  him  rather  obsti- 
nate than  innocent,  impudent  than  penitent,  and 
a  far  better  orator  and  sophister  than  Protest- 
ant or  Christian. "ij     But  then  he.  imputes  his 

*  Laud's  Hist.,  p.  430. 

t  We  cannot  allow  ourselves  to  withhold  here 
from  our  reader  the  just  and  important  remarks  of  a 
late  biographer  of  the  archbishop.  "  It  appears  a 
great  detect  in  the  laws  of  a  free  and  limited  govern- 
ment, that  an  attempt  to  subvert  the  Constitution  and 
mode  of  government  should  not  be  judicially  deemed 
a  capital  offence,  punishable  as  such.  For,  in  a  just 
and  political  sense,  the  man  who  endeavours  to  en- 
slave his  countrymen,  to  deprive  them  of  their  nat- 
ural and  legal  rights  and  privileges,  and  instead  of  a 
free  constitution  of  government,  to  introduce  one 
that  is  arbitrary  and  despotic  ;  such  a  man  is,  un- 
doubtedly, guilty  of  as  high  a  crime,  and  is  as  much 
a  traitor  to  his  country,  as  he  who  attempts  to  de- 
prive the  prince  of  the  crown,  and  ought  to  be  pun- 
ished with  equal  severity." — British  Biography,  vol. 
tiv.,  p.  286.  Nay,  it  may  be  added,  that  the  severity 
of  the  punishment  ought  to  be  regulated  by  the  more 
heinous  guilt,  which  attaches  itself  rather  to  the 
former  than  to  the  latter  conduct :  by  the  latter  con- 
duct, the  blow  is  aimed  at  the  rights  and  prosperity 
of  one  person,  or,  at  most,  of  one  family  only ;  but 
the  former  conduct  robs  millions  of  their  rights,  and 
involves,  in  its  effects,  generations  to  come.  Nor 
does  it  lessen  the  guilt,  if  men,  instead  of  being  the 
agents  of  prerogative,  are  the  tools  of  influence  ;  if, 
instead  of  being  awed  into  a  subserviency  to  the 
views  of  despotism,  they  are  brought  over  to  meas- 
ures inimical  to  the  liberties  of  the  people. — Ed. 

%  Laud's  Hist.,  p.  44L  6  Prynne,  p.  462. 


boldness  to  the  king's  pardon,  which  he  had  in 

his  pocket. 

Bishop  Burnet  is  of  opinion  that  "  in  most  of 
the  particulars  the  archbishop  made  but  frivo- 
lous excuses ;  as,  that  he  was  but  one  of  many,* 
who,  either  in  council.  Star  Chamber,  or  High 
Commission,  voted  illegal  things.  Now,  though 
this  was  true,  yet  a  chief  minister,  and  one  ii\ 
high  favour,  determines  the  rest  so  much,  that 
they  are  little  better  than  machines  acted  by 
hiin.  On  other  occasions  he  says,  the  thing 
was  proved  but  by  one  witness.  Now,  how 
strong  soever  this  defence  may  be  in  law,  it  is 
of  no  force  in  an  appeal  to  the  world ;  for  if  a 
thing  be  true,  it  is  no  matter  how  full  or  defect- 
ive the  proof  is."t 

The  archbishop  himself  has  informed  us  of 
his  great  patience  under  the  hard  usage  he  met 
with  at  his  trial ;  but  his  Diary  furnishes  too 
many  examples  to  the  contrary,  for  it  appears 
from  thence  that  he  sometimes  gave  the  wit- 
nesses very  rude  language  at  the  bar,  insinua- 
ting to  the  court  that  many  of  them  were  per- 
jured ;  that  their  evidence  was  the  effect  of 
malice,  envy,  and  a  thirst  after  his  blood 
Sometimes  he  threatened  them  with  the  judg- 
ments of  God,  and  once  he  was  going  to  bind 
his  sin  upon  one  of  them,  not  to  be  forgiven  till 
he  asked  pardon  ;  but  he  recovered  himself 
He  is  pleased  sometimes  to  observe  that  his 
crimes  were  proved  only  by  one  witness  ;t  and 
yet,  at  last,  he  complains  that  he  was  oppress- 
ed with  numbers,  no  less  than  one  hundred  and 
fifty,(5  and  calls  them  "a  pack  of  such  witness- 
es as  were  never  produced  against  any  man  of 
his  place  and  calling  ;  pursuivants,  messengers, 
pillory-men,  bawds,  and  such  as  had  shifted 
their  religion  to  and  again. "11  And  yet  there 
were  among  them  men  of  the  best  fashion  and 
quality  in  the  kingdom,  as  Sir  H.  Vane,  Sen., 
Sir  H.  Mildmay,  Sir  Wm.  Balfore,  Sir  Nath. 
Brent,  vicar-general;  sundry  aldermen  of  the 
city  of  London,  and  many  excellent  divines,  as 
Dr.  Featly,  Dr.  Haywood,  the  archbishop's 
chaplain,  Mr.  Dell,  his  secretary,  Mr.  Osbaldes- 
ton,  and  others  of  an  equal,  if  not  superior  char- 
acter. When  his  grace  was  checked  at  the  bar 
for  reflecting  upon  the  witnesses,  and  put  in 
mind  by  the  managers  that  some  of  them  were 
aldermen,  some  gentlemen,  and  some  men  ot 
quahty,  he  replied,  smartly,  "That  is  nothing; 
there  is  not  an  active  separatist  in  England  but 
his  hand  is  against  me  :  both  gentlemen,  alder- 
men, and  men  of  all  conditions,  are  separated 


*  To  what  Bishop  Burnet  observes  on  this  plea, 
it  is  pertinent  to  add  the  remarks  of  a  late  writer  • 
"  that  if  it  were  admitted,  it  would  always  be  im 
practicable  to  bring  a  wicked  minister  of  state  to  jus 
tice,  for  any  proceedings  in  the  privy  council,  to 
which  the  rest  concurred  ;  and  that  it  would  not  be 
thought  a  proper  justification  of  criminals  of  an  infe- 
rior order,  in  any  court  of  justice,  if  they  were  to  al 
lege  that  there  were  other  persons  accomplices  in 
the  crimes  with  which  they  were  accused.'" — British 
Biographfi,  vol.  iv.,  p.  285. — Ed. 

t  History  of  his  Life,  p.  50,  or  p.  68,  edition  in 
12mo,  at  Edinburgh. 

X  Laud's  History,  p.  237. 

()  He  also  charged  Prynne  with  keeping  a  school 
of  instruction  for  the  witnesses,  and  tampering  with 
them  in  a  most  shameful  manner. — Macaulay's  His 
tory  of  England,  vol.  iv.,  p.  137,  note. — Ed. 

II  Laud's  Hist.,  p.  417. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


523 


from  the  Church  of  England,  and  I  would  to 
God  some  of  my  judges  were  not."* 

After  this,  it  can  hardly  be  expected  that  the 
managers  for  the  Commons  should  escape  his 
grace's  censure ;  it  must  be  admitted  that,  in  the 
course  of  their  arguments,  they  made  use  of  some 
tiarsh  expressions,  which  nothing  but  the  charac- 
ter they  sustained  could  excuse  ;t  but  it  was  no 
argument  of  the  archbishop's  patience  and  dis- 
cretion to  fight  them  at  their  own  weapons.  The 
managers  were,  Sergeant  Maynard,  one  of  the 
ablest  lawyers  of  his  age ;  he  lived  to  be  the 
father  of  his  profession  ;  and  when  the  Prince 
of  Orange  [afterward  King  William  III.]  com- 
plimented him  upon  his  having  outlived  all  his 
brethren  of  the  law,  he  made  this  handsome  re- 
ply, that,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  wonderful 
revolution  that  his  highness  had  brought  about, 
he  should  have  outlived  the  law  itself  He 
managed  the  first  part  of  the  evidence  March 
13,  16,  18,  and  28.  "  This  gentleman,"  says 
the  archbishop,  "  pleaded,  though  strongly,  yet 
fairly,  against  me."t 

Sergeant  Wild  was  the  son  of  Sergeant  George 
Wild,  of  Droitwich,  in  Worcestershire;  he  was 
afterward  reader  of  the  Inner  Temple,  a  great 
lawyer,  of  unblemished  morals.  After  the  res- 
toration of  King  Charles  II.  he  was  made  lord- 
chief-baron,  and  esteemed  a  grave  and  venera- 
ble judge,  ij     He  managed  that  part  of  the  evi- 

*  Laud's  Hist.,  p.  434. 

t  "  hike  true  lawyers,"  says  Mrs.  Macaulay, "  they 
played  their  parts  in  baiting  the  unhappy  prisoner 
with  the  most  acrimonious  and  insulting  language ; 
like  true  lawyers,  they  took  all  the  unfair  advantages 
which  their  offices  and  other  opportunities  procured 
them ;  and,  like  true  lawyers,  they  put  a  forced  and 
unwarrantable  construction  on  all  the  facts  vi'hich 
they  cited  against  him." — History  of  England,  vol. 
iv.,  p.  137,  8vo.— Ed.  X  Laud's  History,  p.  330. 

9  The  character  of  Sergeant  Wild  is  impeached, 
and  the  above  account  of  his  preferment  is  shown  to 
be  inaccurate  by  Dr.  Grey.     He  was  made  lord- 
chief-baron  of  the  exchequer  (see  Whitdocke's  Me- 
morials, p.  337),  12th  October,  1648.     In  the  protec- 
torate of  Cromwell  he  retired,  and  did  not  act.     Du- 
ring the  Rump  Parliament,  he  was  restored  to  the 
exchequer.    After  King  Charles  II.  returned,  he  lived 
nine  years  in  a  retired  condition. —  Wood's  AthencB 
Oxon. ,\ol.  i.,  p.  808.    On  the  authority  of  Wood,  Dr. 
Grey  charges  him  with  having  received  £1000  out  of 
the  privy  purse  at  Derby  House,  for  the  condemna- 
tion of  Captain  Burley,  at  Winchester,  for  causing  a 
drum  to  beat  up  for  God  and  King  Charles,  in  the 
Isle  of  Wight,  in  order  to  rescue  his  captive  king. 
The  reader  will  judge  what  credit  is  due  to  this 
charge,  when  he  is  informed  that  Captain  Burley 
was  convicted,  sentenced,  and  executed,  according 
both  to  Wood  and  Whitelocke  [Memorials,  p.  290], 
in  1647,  some  months  before  Sergeant  Wild  was  made 
a  judge.    Another  charge  brought  against  him,  from 
Lord  Clarendon  and  Wood,  is.  that  he  received  an- 
other £1000  for  the  acquittance  of  Major  Rolfe,  who 
had  a  design  to  murder  or  poison  the  king.     That 
the  reader  may  form  his  judgment  on  this  charge, 
we  will  state  the  proceedings  on  the  affair  of  Major 
Rolfe,  as  they  are  chronologically  given  by  White- 
locke.— 1648,  June  23.    A  charge  by  Osborne  against 
Colonel  Hammond  and  Captain  Rolfe  was  ordered 
to  be  printed.  July  1 1.  A  letter  was  received  from  Col- 
onel Hammond,  desiring  that  Osborne's  charge  against 
Mr.  Rolfe  may  come  to  a  speedy  hearing,  it  reflect- 
ing so  highly  upon  the  army  and  upon  him;  and  be- 
ing a  horrid  scandal,  whereof  he  clears  his  own  in- 
nocency,  and  the  officers  of  the  army,  and  Mr.  Rolfe. 
Accommodations  were  ordered  for  Mr.  Rolfe.    Au- 
gust 1.  Major  Rolfe  was  bailed.    August  12.  At  a 


dence  which  concerned  religion.  May  20,  27 ; 
June  6,  '11,  17,  20,  and  27 ;  July  20  and  24  ;  but 
"  this  gentleman,"  says  the  archbishop,  "  though 
he  had  language  good  enough  sometimes,  he 
had  little  or  no  sense.  I  had  a  characier  given 
me  before  of  him,  which  I  forbear  to  express, 
but,  by  his  proceedings  with  me,  I  found  it 
exactly  true."* 

Samuel  Browne,  Esq.,  was  an  able  and  grave 
lawyer.  In  the  reign  of  King  Charles  II.  he  was 
knighted,  and  made  Lord-chief-justice  of  the 
Common  Pleas  ;  he  summed  up  the  whole  evi- 
dence at  the  Lords'  bar.  "  His  behaviour  to- 
wards the  archbishop  was  decent  and  civil,  but 
his  pleadings  (according  to  his  grace)  very  un- 
fair."! 

Robert  Nicolas,  Esq.,  pressed  the  archbishop 
very  hard,  and,  therefore,  no  wonder  that  he 
was  displeased  with  him.  The  archbishop  al- 
lows that  he  had  some  sense,  hut  extreme  viru- 
lent and  foul  language.  He  managed  the  sec- 
ond and  fourth  branches  of  the  evidence,  April 
16,  May  14,  July  29.  This  gentleman  happen- 
ing to  call  the  archbishop  pander  to  the  whore 
of  Babylon,  the  archbishop  bids  him  remember, 
"  that  one  of  his  zealous  witnesses  against  the 
whore  of  Babylon  got  all  his  means  by  being  a 
pander  to  other  lewd  women,  and  was,  not  long 
since,  taken  in  bed  with  one  of  his  wife's  maids. 
Good  Mr.  Nicolas,"  says  he,  "do  not  dispense 
with  all  whores  but  the  whore  of  Babylon  !"t 

As  for  Mr.  Hill,  the  other  manager,  he  is  call- 
ed Consul  Bibulus,  because  he  said  nothing. 
Upon  the  whole,  the  archbishop  is  of  opinion 
that  the  managers  for  the  Commons  sought  his 
blood,  "  and  made  false  constructions ;  for 
which,"  says  he,  "  I  am  confident  they  shall 
answer  at  another  bar,  and  for  something  else 
in  these  proceedings. "ij 

Such  was  the  unhappy  spirit  of  this  prelate, 
who,  "  though  he  had  seen  the  violent  effects 
of  his  ill  counsels,  and  had  been  so  long  shut  up, 
and  so  much  at  leisure  to  reflect  upon  what  had 
passed  in  the  hurry  of  passion,  and  in  the  ex- 
altation of  his  prosperity,  yet,"  as  Bishop  Bur- 
net observes,  "  he  does  not,  in  any  one  point  of 
his  Diary,  acknowledge  his  own  errors,  nor  mix 
any  wise  or  pious  reflections  upon  the  unhappy 
steps  he  had  made."  It  was,  no  doubt,  a  great 
mortification  to  his  spirit  to  be  exposed  to  the 
people,  and  to  wait  sometimes  an  hour  or  two 
before  he  was  called  to  the  bar  ;  but  as  for  his 


conference  with  the  lords  about  Mr.  Rolfe,  the  Com- 
mons alleged  that  Mr.  Rolfe  was  committed  by  their 
lordships  without  any  cause  in  the  warrant,  and  they 
found  reason  to  clear  him.  August  31.  The  grand 
jury,  at  Southampton,  found  the  bail  against  Major 
Rolfe  ignoramus.  September  9.  There  was  an  order 
for  £150  for  Mr.  Rolfe  for  his  unjust  imprisonment. 
— Memoirs,  p.  310.  All  these  transactions  appear  to 
have  taken  place  independently  of  Sergeant  Wild, 
and  before  he  was  preferred  to  be  a  judge.  To  these 
particulars  it  mi^y  be  added,  that  the  king  himself 
acquitted  Colonel  Hammond,  involved  in  the  same 
accusation  with  Rolfe,  and  professed  a  perfect  con- 
fidence in  him  as  a  man  of  honour  and  trust. — Me- 
moirs, p.  315.  The  stress  which  Lord  Clarendon,  and 
after  him  Mr.  Echard  and  Dr.  Grey,  have  laid  on  this 
charge  against  Sergeant  Wild,  will  apologize  for  so 
minute  an  investigation  of  a  matter  not  essentially 
connected  with  the  general  truth  of  Mr.  Neal's  his- 
tory.— Ed. 

*  Laud's  History,  p.  320,  330.  f  Ibid.,  p.  390. 

}.  Ibid.  <j  Ibid.,  p.  291. 


524 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PURITANS. 


charity  and  patience  under  his  sufferings,  I  must 
leave  it  with  the  reader  to  form  his  own  judg- 
ment. 

While  the  proceedings  against  the  archbishop 
were  at  a  stand  by  reason  of  the  Lords  being 
dissatisfied  whether  the  facts  proved  against 
him  were  treason  by  statute  law,  the  citizens 
of  London  assembled,  and  presented  a  petition 
to  the  House  of  Commons,  October  28th,  signed 
with  a  great  number  of  hands,  praying  for 
speedy  justice  against  delinquents,  and  particu- 
larly against  the  archbishop  ;  which  was  no 
doubt  an  artful  contrivance  of  his  enemies.  The 
Commons,  to  prevent  all  farther  delays,  deter- 
mined not  to  press  the  Lords  for  judgment  upon 
the  trial,  but  ordered  a  bill  of  attamder  to  be 
brought  in  ;  and  when  it  had  been  twice  read 
the  archbishop  was  brought  to  the  bar  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  to  hear  the  evidence  on 
which  it  proceeded,  and  to  make  what  farther 
defence  he  thought  proper.  Mr.  Browne  sum- 
med up  the  charge,  November  2,  and  the  arch- 
bishop had  nine  days  given  him  to  prepare  his 
defence.  November  11  he  spoke  for  himself 
some  hours  at  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, and  Mr.  Browne  replied  before  the  arch- 
bishop withdrew  ;  after  which  the  bill  of  attain- 
der passed  the  House  the  very  same  day  with 
but  one  dissenting  voice,  and  that  not  upon  the 
substance  of  the  charge,  but  upon  the  manner 
of  proceeding.*  The  bill  being  sent  up  to  the 
Lords,  they  made  an  order,  December  4,  "that 
all  books,  writings,  &c.,  concerning  the  arch- 
bishop's trial  should  be  brought  in  to  the  clerk 
of  the  Parliament,"  which  being  done,  they  ex- 
amined over  again  all  the  heads  and  principal 
parts  of  the  evidence,  and  voted  each  particular 
as  they  went  forward  ;  so  tender  were  they  of 
the  life  of  this  prelate,  and  so  careful  to  main- 
tain the  honour  and  justice  of  their  proceedings. 
When  they  had  gone  through  the  whole,  they 
voted  him  guilty  of  all  facts  charged  against 
him,  in  three  branches,  namely,  "  guilty  of  en- 
deavouring to  subvert  the  laws  ;  of  endeavour- 
ing to  overthrow  the  Protestant  religion,  and 
the  rights  of  Parliaments."  After  this  they  sent 
a  message  to  the  Commons,  to  desire  them  to 
answer  the  argument  of  the  archbishop's  coun- 
sel as  to  the  point  of  law,  which  they  according- 
ly did  at  a  conference,  January  2,  when  Sergeant 
Wild,  Mr.  Browne,  and  Mr.  Nicolas,  having 
given  the  reasons  of  the  Commons  for  their  at- 
tainder, the  Lords  were  satisfied,  and  January 
4  passed  the  bill,t  whereby  it  was  ordained  that 
he  should  suffer  death  as  in  cases  of  high  trea- 
son. To  stop  the  consequence  of  this  attainder, 
the  archbishop  produced  the  king's  pardon  un- 
der the  great  seal,  signed  April  19,  12th  Car., 
but  it  was  overruled  by  both  houses.  1.  Be- 
cause it  was  granted  before  conviction.  And, 
2.  If  it  had  been  subsequent,  yet,  in  the  present 


*  It  was  greatly  against  the  archbishop  that  the 
management  of  the  trial  was  assigned  to  Prynne,  a 
man  of  sour  and  austere  principles  ;  whom  Laud  had 
made  his  enemy  by  the  severe  sentence  of  the  Star 
Chamber ;  and  who,  by  his  behaviour  on  this  occa- 
sion, showed  that  he  remembered  and  resented  the 
share  Laini  had  in  inflicting  his  past  sufferings. — Ed. 

t  Dr.  Grey  will  not  allow  the  decree  of  the  Com- 
mons to  be  called  "a  bill."  It  was,  in  his  opinion, 
an  ordinance  only,  and  that  an  imperfect  one ;  be- 
cause it  was  not  supported  by  the  royal  assent,  and, 
therefore,  he  says,  had  no  legal  force  at  all. — Ed. 


case  of  treason,  they  argued  that  tlie  king  could 
not  pardon  a  judgment  of  Parliament,  especial- 
ly as  the  nation  was  in  a  state  of  war ;  for  if 
the  king's  pardon  was  a  protection,  not  a  de- 
serter, nor  a  spy,  nor  an  incendiary  of  any  kind 
against  the  Parliament,  would  have  suffered  ia 
his  life  or  liberty.* 

All  the  favour,  therefore,  the  archbishop  could 
obtain  was,  upon  his  petition,  to  have  his  sen- 
tence altered  from  hanging  to  being  beheaded 
on  Tower  Hill,  which  was  appointed  to  be  oa 
Friday,  January  10,  when  the  archbishop  being 
conducted  to  the  scaffold,  attended  by  his  chap- 
lain. Dr.  Stern,  and  Mr.  Marshal  and  Palmer, 
sent  by  the  Parliament,t  read  his  last  speech  to 
the  people,t  which  was  a  sort  of  sermon  from 
Heb.,  xii.,  2  :  "Let  us  run  with  patience  the 
race  that  is  set  before  us,  looking  unto  Jesus 
the  author  and  finisher  of  our  faith,  who,  for 
the  joy  that  was  set  before  him,  endured  the 
cross,  despising  the  shame,  and  is  set  down  at 
the  right  hand  of  the  throne  of  God."  In  which 
he  acknowledges  himself  to  have  been  a  great 
sinner ;  but,  having  ransacked  every  corner  of 
his  heart,  he  thanks  God  that  he  has  not  found 
any  of  his  sins  deserving  death  by  any  of  the 
known  laws  of  the  kingdom,  though  he  does 
not  charge  his  judges,  because  they  are  to  pro- 
ceed according  to  evidence.  He  thanks  God 
that  he  is  as  quiet  within  as  ever  he  was  in  his 
life,  and  hopes  that  his  cause  in  heaven  will 
look  of  another  colour  than  it  does  here.  "  It 
is  clamoured  against  me,"  says  he,  "  that  I  de- 
signed to  bring  in  popery,  but  I  pray  God  that 
the  pope  do  not  come  in  by  means  of  these 
sectaries  which  clamour  so  much  against  me." 
As  for  the  king,  he  assured  the  world  that  he 
was  as  sound  a  Protestant  as  any  man  in  the 
kingdom,  and  would  venture  as  freely  for  it. 
He  complains  of  the  citizens  for  gathering  hands 
to  petitions,  and  particularly  against  himself, 
whereby  they  were  bringing  the  guilt  of  inno- 
cent blood  upon  themselves  and  their  city.  He 
laments  the  ruin  of  the  hierarchy,  and  concludes 
with  declaring  himself  a  true  Protestant,  ac- 
cording to  the  Church  of  England  established 
by  law,  and  lakes  it  upon  his  death,  that  "he 
never  endeavoured  the  subversion  of  the  laws 
of  the  realm,  nor  any  change  of  the  Protestant 
religion  into  popish  superstition  ;  nor  was  he 
an  enemy  to  Parliaments." 

In  his  last  prayer  he  desires  that  God  would 
give  him  patience  to  die  for  his  honour,  for  the 
king's  happiness,  and  the  Church  of  England. 
He  then  prays  for  the  preservation  of  the  king 

*  Whitelocke's  Memoirs,  p.  117. 

t  It  marks  a  virulent  and  bitter  spirit  in  the  con 
duct  of  this  e.xecution,  that  of  the  three  clergymen, 
whose  consolatory  attendance  and  sei-vice  at  his  exit 
Laud  petitioned  for,  but  one  was  allowed  him;  and 
this  under  the  restraint  of  the  inspection  of  two  min- 
isters appointed  by  Parliament. — Macaulay^s  History, 
vol.  iv.,  p.  144. — Ed. 

X  "  In  this  very  performance,"  observes  Mrs.  Mac- 
aulay,  "  which  was  executed  with  great  art  of  com- 
position, and  likewise  in  his  remarks  on  the  charge 
which  the  Scots  brought  against  him,  he  plainly 
shovi's  that  his  adversity  had  not  altered  his  opinions, 
nor  corrected  any  one  of  his  most  mischievous  prej- 
udices ;  and  that,  had  accident  re-established  him  in 
his  former  plenitude  of  power,  he  would  have  run,  to 
the  end  of  his  days,  the  same  persecuting  course  for 
which  he  now  suffered." — History  of  England,  vol.  iv., 
p.  140.— Ed. 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


525 


m  his  just  rights  ;  for  the  Parliament  in  their 
ancient  and  just  power  ;  for  the  Church,  that  it 
may  be  settled  in  truth  and  peace,  and  in  its 
patrimony ;  and  for  the  people,  that  they  may 
enjoy  their  ancient  laws,  and  other  liberties  ; 
and  then,  having  forgiven  his  enemies,  he  con- 
cluded with  the  Lord's  Prayer.  After  which  he 
gave  his  paper  to  Dr.  Stern,  saying,  "  Doctor,  I 
give  you  this,  to  show  your  fellow-chaplains 
that  they  may  see  how  I  am  gone  out  of  the 
world,  and  God's  blessing  and  his  mercy  be 
upon  them."  When  the  scaffold  was  cleared, 
he  pulled  off  his  doublet,  and  said,  "God's  will 
be  done  :  I  am  willing  to  go  out  of  the  world  ; 
no  man  can  be  more  willing  to  send  me  out." 
Then,  turning  to  the  executioner,  he  gave  him 
some  money,  and  bid  him  do  his  office  in  mer- 
cy ;  he  then  kneeled  down,  and  after  a  short 
prayer,  laid  his  head  on  the  block,  and  said, 
"Lord  Jesus,  receive  my  spirit;"  which  being 
the  sign,  the  executioner  did  his  office  at  one 
blow.*     The  archbishop's  corpse  was  put  into 


*  Mrs.  Macaulay's  reflections  on  this  event  appear 
to  carry  weight  and  pertinence  with  them.    "As  the 
justice  of  the  country  had  been  something  satisfied 
by  the  death  of  the  criminal  Strafford,  it  would  have 
done  honour  to  the  Parhament  to  have  left  this  aged 
prolate  the  e.xample  of  their  mercy,  rather  than  to 
have  made  him  the  monument  of  their  justice.     Per- 
petual imprisonment,  with  no  more  than  a  decent 
maintenance,  and  the  deprivation  of  his  archiepis- 
copal  function  (which,  of  course,  followed  the  abol- 
ishment of  that  kind  of  church  government),  would 
have  taken  away  his  abihties  of  doing  farther  mis- 
chief; and  the  present  prosperous  state  of  the  Par- 
liament affairs  rendered  his  death  a  circumstance 
of  no  importance  to  the  public.    It  is  plain  that  he 
fell  a  sacrifice  to  the  intolerant  principle  of  the  Pres- 
byterians, a  sect  who  breathed  as  fiery  a  spirit  of 
persecution  as  himself     It  is  farther  to  be  observed 
of  this  prelate,  that  he  is  the  only  individual  of  that 
high  office  in  the  Church  of  England  (Cranmer,  the 
martyr,  excepted)  who  ever  suffered  death  by  the 
hands  of  the  executioner  ;  though  the  turbulent  am- 
bition of  his  order  has  .disturbed  the  peace  of  society 
from  the  first  period  of  the  Church  power  to  the  pres- 
ent day." — History  of  England,  vo\.  iv.,  p.  143,  144. — 
Ed.  ( Toulmm).—Ho  enlightened  friend  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty  will  allow  his  sympathy  with  the 
sufferer  to  blind  his  judgment  to  the  obliquities  of 
his  administration.     A  medium  course  between  the 
absurd  eulogies  of  Heylen  and  the  fierce  denuncia- 
tions of  Prynne  is  best  accordant  with  the  facts  of 
his  history  and  the  claims  of  truth.     He  met  with 
the  same  harsh  and  cruel  treatment  which  he  had 
dealt  out  to  others,  and  is  mainly  indebted  to  this 
fact  for  the  interest  with  which  he  has  subsequent- 
ly been  regarded.    Utterly  estranged  from  the  spirit 
of  the  English  Constitution,  he  sought  to  level  all 
the  safeguards  of  freedom,  and  to  expose  its  citadel 
to  the  occupation  of  a  despotic  monarch.     Amid  the 
slavish  minions  of  the  court  of  Charles,  he  shone  un- 
rivalled—e.xulting  in  the  severity  of  his  measures, 
and  deriving  from  past  defeat  fresh  hostility  against 
the  liberties  of  his  country.     His  dark  and  schemins? 
spirit  disburdened  itself  only  to  the  listened  ear  oV 
Strafford,  from  whose  loftier  genius  and  more  ex- 
pansive views  Laud  anticipated  the  accomplishment 
of  his  designs.    In  the  Church,  he  ruled  with  a  rod 
of  iron.    Inaccessible  alike  to  pity  and  remorse,  he 
sought  to  crush  the  spirit  of  the  Puritans,  and  to 
restore  the  departed  glories  of  his  Church.     Incapa- 
ble of  infusing  into  it  the  vigour  of  a  healthful  piety, 
it  was  his  aim  to  increase  the  splendour  and  to  mul- 
tiply the  ceremonies  of  the  Church.    He  was  too 
proud  and  despotic  to  be  a  subordinate  of  Home,  yet 
he  would  gladly  have  assimilated  his  Church  to  the 
external  form  of  the  papacy.    Personal  ambition  was 


a  coffin,  and,  hy  the  permission  of  Parliament, 
buried  in  Barking  Church,  with  the  service  of 
the  Church  read  over  him.  The  inscription 
upon  the  coffin  was  this:  "In  hac  cistula  con- 
duntur  exuvias  Gulielmi  Laud,  archiepiLscopi 
Cantuariensis,  qui  seeuri  percussus  immortali- 
latem  adiit,  die  x°  Januarii,  Eetatis  sua;  72, 
archiepiscopatus  xii."  But  after  the  Restora- 
tion his  body  was  removed  to  Oxford,  and  de- 
posited with  great  solemnity  in  a  brick  vault, 
according  to  his  last  will  and  testament,  near 
the  altar  of  the  chapel  of  St.  John  the  Baptist 
College,  July  24,  1663. 

Thus  died  Dr.  William  Laud,  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  primate  of  all  England,  and  metro- 
politan ;  some  time  chancellor  of  the  Universi- 
ties of  Oxford  and  Dublin,  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners of  his  majesty's  exchequer,  and  privy 
counsellor  to  the  king,  in  the  seventy-second 
year  oft  his  age,  and  twelfth  of  his  archiepisco- 
pal  translation.  He  was  of  low  stature,  and  a 
ruddy  countenance ;  his  natural  temper  was 
severe  and  uncourtly,  his  spirit  active  and  rest- 
less, which  pushed  him  on  to  the  most  hazard- 
ous enterprises.  His  conduct  was  rash  and 
precipitate,  for,  according  to  Dr.  Heylin,  he  at- 
tempted more  alterations  in  the  Church  in  one 
year  than  a  prudent  man  would  have  done  in 
a  great  many.  His  counsels  in  state  affairs 
were  high  and  arbitrary,  for  he  was  at  the  head 
of  all  the  illegal  projects,  of  ship-money,  loans, 
monopolies.  Star  Chamber  fines,  &c.,  which 
were  the  ruin  of  the  king  and  Constitution. 

His  maxims  in  the  Church  were  no  less  se- 
vere, for  he  sharpened  the  spiritual  sword,  and 
drew  it  against  all  sorts  of  offenders,  intending,  ' 
as  Lord  Clarendon  expresses  it,  that  the  disci- 
pline of  the  Church  should  be  felt  as  well  as 
spoken  of  There  had  not  been  such  a  crowd 
of  business  in  the  High  Commission  Court 
since  the  Reformation,  nor  so  many  large  fines 
imposed,  as  under  this  prelate's  administration, 
with  little  or  no  abatement,  because  they  were 
assigned  to  the  repair  of  St.  Paul's,  which  gave 
occasion  to  an  unlucky  proverb,  that  the  church 
was  repaired  with  the  sins  of  the  people. 

As  to  the  archbishop's  religion,  he  declared 
himself,  upon  the  scaffold,  a  Protestant,  ac- 
cording to  the  constitution  of  the  Church  of 
England,  but  with  more  charity  to  the  Church  of 


united  with  ecclesiastical  pride,  and  political  servi- 
tude was  promoted  as  a  means  to  clerical  domina- 
tion.    Had  he  been  brought  to  trial  when  first  ar- 
rested, it  would  have  been  difficult  to  establish  any 
material  distinction  between  his  case  and  that  of 
Strafford.    They  had  been  co-workers  in  the  service 
of  an  unprincipled  tyranny  ;  and  if  the  lord-lieuten 
ant  deserved  his  doom,  no  less  a  penalty  might  justly 
have  been  inflicted  on  the  primate.     But  the  state 
necessity,  which  was  pleaded  m  the  case  of  Straf- 
ford, was  wholly  absent  from  that  of  Laud.     He  had 
sunk  into  contempt,  and  was,  therefore,  incapable  of 
mischief     Perpetual  imprisonment  might  have  been 
indicted,  but  to  take  away  his  hfe  was  a  gratuitous 
violation  of  the  letter  and  forms  of  the  Constitution. 
It  savoured  more  of  private  vengeance  than  of  public 
justice,  and  betokened  the  departure  of  those  mas- 
ter-spirits who  had  presided  over  the  earlier  deliber- 
ations of  Parliament.    Laud's  patronage  of  literature 
and  learned  men  constitutes  the  only  redeeming  fea- 
ture of  his  administration.     It  is  the  solitary  virtue 
which  sheds  a  partial  lustre  over  an  otherwise  un- 
broken course  of  misrule. —  Dr.  Price's  Hist.  Nor^ 
conformity,  vol.  ii.,  p.  301. — C.  • 


526 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PURITANS. 


Rome  than  to  the  foreign  Protestants  ;*  and 
though  he  was  an  avowed  enemy  to  sectaries 
and  lanatics  of  all  sorts,  yet  he  had  a  great  deal 
ol"  superstition  in  his  make,  as  appears  from 
lluise  passages  in  his  Diary  in  which  he  takes 
notice  of  his  dreams,  of  the  falling  down  of  pic- 
tures, of  the  bleeding  of  his  nose,  of  auspicious 
and  inauspicious  days  of  the  year,  and  of  the 
position  of  the  stars ;  a  variety  of  which  may 
be  collected  out  of  that  performance. 

His  grace  must  be  ahovved  to  have  had  a  con- 
siderable share  of  knowledge,  and  to  have  been 
a  learned  man,  though  he  was  more  a  man  of 
business  than  of  letters.!  He  was  a  great  ben- 
efactor to  the  college  in  which  he  was  educated, 
enriching  it  with  a  variety  of  valuable  man- 
uscripis,t  besides  £500  in  money. ^  He  gave 
£800  to  the  repair  of  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Paul's, 
and  sundry  other  legacies  of  the  like  naturje. 
But,  with  all  his  accomplishments,  he  was  a 
cruel  persecutor  as  long  as  he  was  in  power,  and 
the  chief  incendiary  in  the  war  between  the 
king  and  Parliament,  the  calamities  of  which 
are,  in  a  great  measure,  chargeable  upon  him. 
"  That  which  gave  me  the  strongest  prejudices 
against  him,"  says  Bishop  Burnet,  "is,  that  in 
his  Diary,  after  he  had  seen  the  ill  effects  of  his 
violent  counsels,  and  had  been  so  long  shut  up, 
and  so  long  at  leisure  to  reflect  on  what  had 
passed  in  the  hurry  of  passion,  in  the  exalta- 
tion yf  his  prosperity,  he  does  not,  in  any  one  part 
of  that  great  vjork,  acknov:ledge  his  own  errors, 
nor  mix  any  wise  or  serious  reflections  on  the  ill 
usage  he  met  with,  or  the  unhappy  steps  he  had 
made.'"  The  bishop  adds,  withal, II  "  that  he  was 
a  learned,  sincere,  and  zealous  man,  regular  in 

*  One  of  the  daughters  of  William,  earl  of  Devon- 
shire, having  turned  Catholic,  she  was  questioned 
by  Laud  upon  the  subject  of  her  conversion,  and  the 
motives  by  which  she  had  been  actuated.  She  re- 
plied, that  her  principal  reason  was  a  dislike  to 
travel  in  a  crowd.  The  meaning  being  obscure,  the 
archbishop  asked  her  what  she  meant.  "  I  perceive," 
she  said,  "  your  grace  and  many  others  are  making 
haste  to  Rome,  and,  therefore,  to  prevent  being 
crowded,  I  have  gone  before  you."— C. 

t  "  Just  the  contrary,"  says  Bishop  Warburton : 
"he  did  not  understand  business  at  all,  as  fully  ap- 
pears from  the  historian's  account  of  his  civil  admin- 
istration, and  was  a  great  master  of  religious  contro- 
versy." Mr.  Hume,  speaking  of  Laud's  learning  and 
morals,  expresses  himself  in  the  following  manner : 
"This  man  was  virtuous,  if  severity  of  manners 
alone,  and  abstinence  from  pleasure,  could  deserve 
that  name.  He  was  learned,  if  polemical  knowledge 
could  entitle  him  to  that  praise." — History  of  Great 
Britain,  vol.  v.,  p.  193. — ^Ed. 

t  These  manuscripts,  which  he  had  purchased  at 
a  prodigious  expense,  were  in  Hebrew,  Syriac,  Chal- 
dee,  Egyptian,  Ethiopian,  Arminian,  Arabic,  Persian, 
Turkish,  Russian,  Chinese,  Japanese,  Greek,  Latin, 
Italian,  French,  Saxon,  English,  and  Irish.  The 
archbishop  also  founded  an  Arabic  lecture  in  the 
University  of  Oxford,  which  began  to  be  read  in  1636. 
He  obtained  the  advowson  of  the  living  of  St.  Law- 
rence, in  Reading,  for  St.  John's  College.  He  pro- 
cured a  charter  for  Reading,  and  founded,  and  en- 
dowed with  £200  per  annum,  an  hospital  in  that  town. 
Oxford  owed  also  to  his  influence  a  large  charter, 
contirming  its  ancient,  and  investing  it  with  new 
privileges.  It  is  but  justice  due  to  his  memory  to  re- 
cord, to  the  honour  of  Laud,  these  acts  of  munifi- 
cence and  public  utility. — British  Biography,  vol.  iv., 
p.  280,  290.— Ed.  <^  Diary,  p.  56. 

II  History  of  his  Life,  vol.  i.,  p.  49,  50 ;  or  Scotch 
edit.,  p.  68. 


his  own  life,  and  humble  in  his  private  de- 
portment, but  hot  and  indiscreet,  eagerly  pur- 
suing such  matters  as  were  either  very  incon- 
siderable or  mischievous  ;  such  as  setting  the 
communion  table  by  the  east  wall  of  the  church, 
bowing  to  it,  and  calling  it  an  altar,  suppressing 
the  Walloon  privileges,  breaking  of  lectures, 
and  encouraging  of  sports  on  the  Lord's  Day, 
&c.  His  severity  in  the  Star  Chamber,  and  ia 
the  High  Commission  Court ;  but,  above  all, 
his  violent,  and,  indeed,  inexcusable  injustice, 
in  the  prosecution  of  Bishop  Williams,  were 
such  visible  blemishes,  that  nothing  but  the 
putting  him  to  death  in  so  unjust  a  manner 
could  have  raised  his  character.  His  Diary 
represents  him  as  an  abject  fawner  upon  the 
Duke  of  Buckingham,  and  as  a  superstitious  re- 
garder  of  dreams;*  his  defence  of  himself, 
written  with  so  much  care  when  he  was  in  the' 
Tower,  is  a  very  mean  performance ;  and  his 
friends  have  really  lessened  him — Heylin  by 
writing  his  life,  and  Wharton  by  publishing  his 
vindication  of  himself "  Mr.  Rapin  adds,  "Let 
the  archbishop's  favourers  say  what  they  please, 
he  was  one  of  the  chief  authors  of  the  troubles 
that  afflicted  England:  1.  By  supporting  with 
all  his  might  the  principles  of  that  arbitrary 
power  which  the  court  strove  for  several  years 
to  establish.  2.  By  using  too  much  strictness- 
and  rigidness  in  the  observance  of  trifles  in  Di- 
vine service,  and  in  compelling  everybody  to 
conform  themselves  thereto."!  To  which  I 
would  beg  leave  to  add,  that  since  nothing  re- 
lating to  the  doctrine  or  discipline  of  the  Church 
of  England  established  by  law  was  objected  to 
him  at  his  trial,  but  only  certain  innovations  ia 
the  Church,  without  or  contrary  to  law,  I  can- 
not conceive  with  what  propriety. of  language 
his  friends  and  admirers  have  canonized  hira 
as  the  blessed  martyr  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, "t 

*  "  His  superstitions,"  says  Mrs.  Macaulay,  "  were 
as  contemptible  as  those  that  belonged  to  the  weak- 
est of  women."  His  Diary  fell  into  the  hands  of 
Prynne,  in  the  search  of  the  archbishop's  papers,  and 
was  published  by  him  during  his  trial.  This  his 
grace  complained  of,  as  done  to  abash  and  disgrace 
him.  The  publication  of  it  certainly  did  not  tend  to 
soften  the  prejudices  against  him,  or  to  raise  him  in 
the  opinion  of  the  public.  It  was  done  by  an  order 
of  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons. — Ed. 

!  Rapin,  vol.  i.,  p.  507,  folio. 

i  Dr.  Grey  calls  Mr.  Neal's  delineation  of  Arch- 
bishop Laud's  character  "  a  long  invective,"  and  op- 
poses to  it  Lord  Clarendon's  character  of  this  prelate. 
Facts  will  show  who  has  drawn  it  with  truth;  and 
by  facts  we  may  decide  concerning  a  more  recent  de- 
lineation of  it  by  the  pen  of  Mrs.  Macaulay.  "  Laud, 
a  superstitious  churchman,  who  had  studied  little 
else  than  canon  law  and  the  doting  opinions  of  the 
fathers,  was  entirely  ignorant  of  the  utility,  equity, 
and  beauty  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  was  himself 
imposed  on  before  he  endeavoured  to  impose  on  oth- 
ers; and  bec.ime  a  zealous  instrument  of  tyranny, 
even  for  conscience'  sake.  The  principles  of  religion 
on  which  he  uniformly  acted  were  as  noxious  to  the 
peace  of  society  as  were  the  principles  of  the  pa- 
pists; the  same  want  of  charity,  the  same  exercise 
of  cruelty,  the  same  arrogance  of  dominion,  were 
common  to  both.  Utterly  unacquainted  with  the 
simplicity,  charily,  and  meekness  of  the  Gospel,  his 
character  was  void  of  humility  and  forgiveness;  nor 
had  he  other  rules  to  judge  of  men's  desprvings,  but 
as  they  were  more  or  less  attached  to  the  power  of 
the  Church.     Upon  the  whole,  his  character  serves 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PURITANS. 


527 


The  last  and  most  memorable  transaction  of 
this  year  was  the  treaty  of  Uxbridge.  His 
majesty  had  sent  the  two  houses  sundry  propo- 
sitions for  peace  last  summer,  which  took  them 
Tip  a  great  deal  of  tiiire  to  form  into  propositions^ 
for  his  majesty's  assent.  The  commissioners 
were,  two  lords,  four  commoners,  and  those  of 
the  Scots  commissioners  ;  they  arrived  at  Ox- 
ford November  26,  but  though  the  king  had 
given  them  a  safe-conduct,  Mr.  Whitelocke  ob- 
serves, they  met  with  very  rude  treatment  from 
the  populace,  who  saluted  them  as  they  passed 
along  the  streets  wiih  the  names  of  traitors, 
rogues,  and  rebels,  throwing  stones  and  dirt  into 
their  coaches  ;  when  they  came  to  their  inn,  they 
were  insulted  by  the  soldiers,  so  that  they  were 
obliged  to  shut  up  the  doors  till  the  king  order- 
ed them  a  guard.  When  they  delivered  their 
propositions,  his  majesty  received  them  coldly  ;* 
and  because  they  were  only  to  receive  liis  an- 
swer, told  them  a  letter  carrier  might  have 
done  as  well.t  Next  day  his  majesty  gave 
them  his  answer  in  writing  sealed  up ;  and 
when  they  desired  to  see  it,  he  replied,  with  a 
frown,  "  What  is  it  to  you,  who  are  but  to  car- 
ry what  I  send  1  If  I  will  send  the  song  of  Rob- 
in Hood,  or  Little  John,  you  must  carry  it."' 
But  at  length  they  obtained  a  copy,  which  was 
only  to  desire  a  safe-conduct  for  the  Duke  of 
Lenox  and  Earl  of  Southampton  to  come  to 
London  with  his  majesty's  answer ;  but  the  let- 
ter not  being  directed  to  the  Parliament  of  Eng- 
land, the  houses  would  not  consent  but  upon 
that  cdiidition.  The  king's  council  advised  him 
to  yiehl,  wiiich  did  not  prevail  till  his  majesty 
had  found  out  an  evasion,  and  entered  it  upon 
record  in  the  council-books,  as  appears  by  his 

as  an  eminent  example,  to  show  that  CTtensive  learn- 
ing and  abilities  are  not  incompatible  with  a  narrow 
judgment ;  and  that,  in  all  the  catalogue  of  human 
frailties,  there  are  none  which  more  corrupt  tlie 
heart,  or  deprave  the  understanding,  than  the  follies 
of  rehgwn:'— History  of  En '^l and,  vol.  IV.,  p.  134, 142, 
143.  Were  it  necessary  for  the  editor  of  Mr.  Neal  to 
subjoin  his  idea  of  Laud's  character,  he  would  be  in- 
clined to  give  it  ni  three  words ;  as  formed  of  super- 
stition, tyranny,  and  intolerance.  —  En.  His  old 
friend.  Judge  Whitelocke,  described  his  character  in 
a  few  words  :  "  He  was  too  full  of  fire,  though  a 
just  and  goodman.  His  want  of  experience  in  state 
matters,  and  his  too  much  heat  and  zeal  for  the 
Church,  had  he  proceeded  in  the  way  he  was  then 
in,  would  have  set  the  nation  on  fire."— C. 

*  This,  as  Dr.  Grey  observes,  is  not  expressly  said 
by  Whitelocke ;  whose  words  are,  "The  next  day 
they,"  i.  e.,.  the  commissioners,  "  had  access  to  his 
majesty,  who  used  them  civilly,  and  gave  to  every 
one  of  them  his  hand  to  kiss  ;  but  beseemed  to  show 
more  disdain  to  the  Scots  commissioners  than  to  any 
others  of  their  company.''  On  the  evening  of  the 
same  day,  as  Hollis  and  Whitelocke  were  paying  a 
visit  to  the  Earl  of  Lindsey,  the  king  came  into  the 
chamber,  and  treated  those  gentlemen  wiih  extraor- 
dinary respect,  entered  into  a  free  conversation  with 
them,  and  asked  their  advice  as  fnex\is.~ Memorials, 
p.  108.  Rushworth  says  that  "  the  king  received 
the  commissioners  very  obligingly,  but  seemed  more 
to  slight  the  Scots  commissioners  than  any  of  the 
rest."— Vol.  v.,  p.  841.  Even  here,  though  the  lan- 
guage of  Rushworth  is  more  descriptive  of  a  courte- 
ous and  complaisant  reception  than  is  that  of  White- 
locke, there  is  yet  an  intimation  of  somethinj  in  the 
king's  manner  to  all  the  commissioners  that  indicated 
coldness  and  indifference,  and  it  justifies  JVIr.  Neal's 
representation  of  it. — En. 

t  Whitelocke,  p.  106,  107,  109,  HO. 


letter  to  the  queen,  dated  January  2,  in  which 
he  says,  "  that  his  calling  them  a  Parliament 
did  not  imply  his  acknowledging  them  as  such  ; 
upon  which  construction,  and  no  other,"  says 
he,*  "  I  called  them  as  it  is  registered  in  the 
council-books;  and  if  there  had  been  but  two  of 
my  opinion,"  says  the  king,  "  I  would  not  have 
done  it.''t  In  another  intercepted  letter  to  the 
queen,  he  tells  her,  "  he  could  not  prevail  with. 
his  Parliament  at  Oxford  to  vote  those  at  West- 
minster no  Parliament,  but  assures  her  he  would 
not  make  peace  without  her  approbation,  nor  go 
one  jot  beyond  the  paper  she  sent  him. "J  la 
another,  the  king  informs  the  queen,  "  that  the 
Parliament  were  sending  him  propositions  for 
peace,  which,  if  she  likes,  he  thinks  may  be  the 
best  way  for  settlement  as  things  stand ;"  so 
that  the  fate  of  England  was  to  be  determined 
by  the  queen  and  her  popish  council.  Besides, 
his  majesty  was,  unhappily,  elevated  at  this  time 
by  the  divisions  at  Westminster,  which  produ- 
ced the  new  modelling  the  army ;  and  with  a 
false  and  romantic  account  of  the  successes  of 
the  Marquis  of  Montrose  in  Scotland,  which 
were  so  magnified  that  it  was  expected  the 
Scots  must  immediately  march  back  into  their 
own  country ;  whereas,  in  reahty,  they  were 
not  so  considerable  as  to  oblige  them  to  draw 
off  a  single  regiment. 

In  li^  situation  of  affairs,  it  was  agre6d,  ac- 
cording to  the  proposals  of  the  king's  commis- 
sioners, that  there  should  be  a  treaty  of  peace 
at  Uxbridge,  to  commence  January  30, 1645,  and 
to  continue  twenty  days. 

There  were  sixteen  commissioners  for  the 
king,  viz.,  nine  lords,  six  commoners,  and  one 
divine  ;  twelve  for  the  .Parliament,  and  ten  for 
the  Scots,  and  one  divine,  viz.,  Mr.  Henderson  ; 
the  king's  divine  was  Dr.  Steward,  who  was 
assisted  by  Dr.  Sheldon,  Laney,  Fern,  Potter, 
and  Hammond.  Assistant  divines  for  the  Par- 
liainent  were,  Mr.  Vines,  Marshal,  Cheynel.  and 
Chiesly.  These,  with  their  retinue,  to  the  num- 
ber of  one  hundred  and  eight  persons,  were  in- 
cluded in  the  safe-conduct. 

The  propositions  to  be  treated  of  were,  reli- 

+  Whitelocke,  p.  277. 

t  Dr.  Grey  aims  hereto  impeach,  not  the  accura- 
cy only,  but  the  veracity  of  Mr.  Neal,  whose  account 
of  the  matter  does,  indeed,  seem  to  imply  that  the 
king  was  at  length  prevailed  on  to  direct  his  answer 
to  the  Parliament  at  Westminster  ;  whereas  Dr.  Grey 
shows,  from  Rapin  and  Rushworth,  that  his  majesty- 
put  no  direction  at  all  on  it,  and  the  commissioners 
accepted  it  without  a  direction  ;  and  that,  therefore, 
the  charge  of  evasion  against  the  king  was  without 
ground.  But  Dr.  Grey  contents  himself  with  a  par- 
tial account  and  view  of  this  matter,  and  does  not  ap- 
prize his  reader  that  Rapin  also  mentions  the  expe- 
dient by  which  the  king  reconciled  to  himself  a  com- 
pliance with  the  requisition  of  the  Parliament :  the 
fact,  in  its  full  extent,  was,  that  the  commissioners, 
though  they  objected  to  the  form  and  the  want  of  di- 
rection to  the  king's  message,  yet  did  deliver  it  ta 
the  Parliament  at  Westminster,  and  were  thanked 
for  their  services.  But,  then,  the  like  exceptions  were 
made  by  both  houses,  and  it  was  resolved  not  to  grant 
the  safe-conduct  it  asked,  nor  to  receive  his  majesty's 
answer,  unless  he  should  send  to  the  Parliament  of 
England  assembled  at  Westminster.  The  trumpeter 
went  away  with  the  letter  to  this  effect  Decembers, 
and  returned  on  the  7th  with  an  answer  from  the 
king,  acknowledging  those  at  Westminster  to  be  the 
Parliament. — Rushworth,  vol.  v.,  p.  843,  844. 

t  Rushworth,  vol.  v.,  p.  943. 


523 


HISTORY   UF   THE    PURITANS. 


gion,  the  militia,  and  Ireland;  each  of  which 
was  to  be  debated  three  days  successively,  till 
the  twenty  days  were  expired. 

The  treaty  was  preceded  by  a  day  of  fasting 
and  prayer  on  both  sides  for  a  blessing,  but  was 
interrupted  the  very  first  day  by  a  sermon 
preached  occasionally  in  the  church  of  Uxbridge 
by  Mr.  Love,  then  preacher  to  the  garrison  of 
Windsor,  wlierein  he  had  said  that  they  [his 
majesty's  commissioners]  came  thither  with 
hearts  full  of  blood,  and  that  there  was  as  great 
a  distance  between  this  treaty  and  peace  as  be- 
tween heaven  and  hell.  The  commissioners 
having  complained  of  him  next  day,  the  Parlia- 
ment commissioners  laid  it  before  the  two  hous- 
es, who  sent  for  him  to  London,  where  he  gave 
this  account  of  the  affair  :  that  the  people  being 
under  a  disappointment  at  their  lecture,  he  was 
desired  unexpectedly  to  give  them  a  sermon, 
which  was  the  same  he  had  preached  at  Wind- 
sor the  day  before.*  He  admits  that  he  cau- 
tioned the  people  not  to  have  too  great  a  de- 
pend ance  upon  the  treaty,  because,  "  while  our 
enemies,"  says  he,  "  go  on  in  their  wicked 
practices,  and  we  keep  to  our  principles,  we 
may  as  soon  make  fire  and  water  to  agree  ;  and, 
I  had  almost  said,  reconcile  heaven  and  hell,  as 
their  spirits  and  ours.  They  must  grow  better, 
or  we  must  grow  worse,  before  it  is  possible  for 
us  to  agree."  He  added,  farther,  "  tlMit  there 
was  a  generation  of  men  that  carried  blood  and 
revenge  in  their  hearts  against  the  well-affected 
in  the  nation,  who  hated  not  only  their  bodies, 
but  their  souls,  and  in  their  cups  would  drink 
a  health  to  their  damnation."  Though  there 
might  be  some  truth  in  what  the  preacher  said, 
yet  these  expressions  were  unbecoming  any 
private  man  in  so  nice  a  conjuncture  ;  he  was 
therefore  confined  to  his  house  during  the  treaty, 
and  then  discharged.! 

It  was  too  evident  that  neither  party  came  to 
the  treaty  with  a  healing  spirit.  The  king's 
commissioners  were  under  such  restraints,  that 
little  good  was  to  be  expected  from  them  ;  and 
the  Parliament  commissioners  would  place  no 

*  Dugdale's  Treaty  of  Uxbridge,  p.  764. 

t  Dr.  Grey  opposes  to  the  account  which  Mr.  Neal 
gives  of  the  proceedings  against  Mr.  Love,  Lord 
Clarendon's  representation,  which  states  only,  that 
the  commissioners  seemed  troubled  at  the  charge 
against  him,  promised  to  examine  it,  and  engaged 
that  he  should  be  severely  punished  ;  but  afterward 
confessed  that  they  had  no  authority  to  punish  him, 
but  that  they  had  caused  him  to  be  sharply  repre- 
hended and  sent  out  of  town :  "  This,"  his  lordship 
adds,  "  was  all  that  could  be  obtained,  so  unwilling 
were  they  to  discountenance  any  man  who  was  will- 
ing to  serve  them." — History  of  the  Rebellion,  vo\.  ii., 
p.  579.  Dr.  Grey  remarks  here,  "This  is  Lord  Clar- 
endon's account,  who  himself  was  a  commissioner  of 
that  treaty."  The  remark  is  evidently  made  to  inti- 
mate that  Mr.  Neal's  account  is  not  true.  It  is  to  be 
regretted  that  he  has  not,  in  this  instance,  referred 
to  his  authority.  But  it  is  certain  that  Lord  Claren- 
don does  not  relate  the  whole  of  the  commissioners' 
answer  or  conduct.  The  former,  according  to  Rush- 
worth,  vol.  v.,  p.  865,  and  Dugdale,  p.  765,  was  a 
promise  "to  represent  the  complaint  against  Mr. 
Love  to  the  Parliament,  who  would  proceed  therein 
according  to  justice  ;"  and  the  latter,  it  appears  by 
"Whitelocke,  was  correspondent  to  this  engagement : 
"  For  the  Parliament,  having  notice  of  Mr.  Love's 
sermon  from  the  commissioners,  sent  for  him,  and  re- 
ferred the  business  to  an  examination."— MemorJaZs, 
p.  123.— Ed. 


manner  of  confidence  in  his  majesty's  promisca, 
nor  abate  a  tittle  of  the  fullest  security  for  them- 
selves and  the  Constitution.*  The  king,  there- 
fore, in  his  letter  to  the  queen  of  January  22, 
assures  her  of  the  utter  improbability  that  this 
present  treaty  should  produce  a  peace,  "  consid- 
ering the  great  and  strange  difference,  if  not  con- 
trariety, of  grounds  that  was  between  the  rebels' 
propositions  and  his;  and  that  I  cannot  alter 
mine,  nor  will  they  ever  theirs,  but  by  force."+ 

We  shall  only  just  mention  the  propositions 
relating  to  the  militia  and  Ireland,  our  principal 
view  being  to  religion.  The  king's  commis- 
sioners proposed  to  put  the  militia  into  the 
hands  of  trustees  for  three  years,  half  to  be 
named  by  the  king,  and  half  by  the  Parliament, 
and  then  to  revert  absolutely  to  the  crown,  on 
pain  of  high  treason.  But  the  Parliament  com- 
missioners replied,  that  by  the  king's  naming 
half  the  commissioners,  the  militia  would  be 
rendered  inactive,  and  that  after  three  years 
they  should  be  in  a  worse  condition  than  before 
the  war ;  they  therefore  proposed  that  "  the 
Parliament  should  name  the  commissioners  for 
seven  years,  and  then  to  be  settled  as  the  king 
and  Parliament  should  agree,  or  else  to  limit 
their  nomination  to  three  years  after  the  king 
and  Parliament  should  declare  the  kingdom  to 
be  in  a  settled  pcace."t  It  had  been  easy  to 
form  this  proposition,  so  as  both  parties  might 
have  complied  with  honour  and  safety,  if  they 
had  been  in  earnest  for  an  accommodation ;  but 
his  majesty's  commissioners  could  yield  no  far- 
ther. 

As  to  Ireland,  the  king's  commissioners  jus- 
tified his  majesty's  proceedings  in  the  cessation, 
and  in  sending  for  the  rebels  over  to  fill  up  his 
armies  ;  and  when  the  commissioners  on  the 
other  side  put  them  in  mind  of  his  majesty's 
solemn  promises  to  leave  that  affair  to  the  Par- 
liament, and  to  have  those  rebels  punished  ac- 
cording to  law,  the  others  replied,  "  they  wished 
it  was  in  his  majesty's  power  to  punish  all  re- 
bellion according  as  it  deserved  ;  but  since  it 
was  otherwise,  he  must  condescend  to  treaties, 
and  to  all  other  expedients  necessary  to  reduce 
his  rebellious  subjects  to  their  duty  and  obe- 
dience."^ Admirable  arguments  to  heal  divis- 
ions, and  induce  the  Parliament  to  put  the  sword 
into  the  king's  hands  .'II 

*  Rapin,  vol.  li.,  p.  510,  folio. 

t  The  quotation  from  Rapin,  as  Dr.  Grey  intimates, 
is  not  exact  or  full.  The  passage  stands  thus  :  "  I 
cannot  aher  mine,  nor  will  they  ever  theirs,  till  they 
be  out  of  hope  to  prevail  with  force,  which  a  little 
assistance,  by  thy  means,  will  soon  make  them  be; 
for  I  am  confident,  if  ever  I  could  put  them  to  a  de- 
fensive (which  a  reasonable  sum  of  money  would 
do),  they  would  be  easily  brought  to  reason." — Rush- 
worth,  vol.  vii.,  p.  944.  As  the  passage  now  appears 
at  its  full  length,  though  the  reader  should  judge  Mr. 
Neal's  manner  of  quoting  it  inaccurate,  he  will  per- 
ceive that  he  has  truly  given  the  idea  and  meaning 
of  the  king,  who  thought  of  nothing  but  of  putting 
the  Parliament  out  of  hope  of  prevailing  by  force,  by 
carrying  against  them  a  superior  force.— Ed. 

J  Rapin,  p.  513.  ()  Clarendon,  vol.  h.,  p.  592. 

II  Bishop  Warburton  treats  this  with  contimpt, 
calling  it  "  a  Ibolish  declamation.  The  subject  here 
was  Ireland,  not  the  militia."  So  Mr.  Neal  repre- 
sents it:  but  the  force  of  his  remark  turns  on  the 
propriety  of  putting  the  sword  into  the  king's  hands  ; 
and  whether  the  sword  was  worn  by  the  English  mi- 
litia or  the  Irish  rebels,  in  either  case  it  was  an  ob- 
ject of  fear  and  jealousy  to  the  Parliament.    The 


HISTORY   OF  THE  PURITANS. 


529 


The  article  of  religion  was,  in  the  opinion  of 
Lord  Clarendon,  ofless  consequence  with  many 
in  the  Parliament  house,  for  if  they  could  have 
obtained  a  security  fur  their  lives  and  fortunes, 
he  apprehends  this  might  have  been  accommo- 
dated, though,  considering  the  influence  of  the 
Scots,  and  tlie  growing  strengtli  of  the  Presby- 
terian and  Independent  parties,  it  is  very  much 
to  be  doubled.  However,  this  being  the  first 
point  debated  in  the  treaty,  and  a  Church  con- 
troversy, it  will  be  proper  to  represent  the  in- 
structions on  both  sides.  While  this  was  upon 
the  carpet.  Dr.  Steward,  clerk  of  the  closet,  and 
a  commissioner  for  the  king,  sat  covered  with- 
out the  bar,  behind  the  commissioners,  as  did 
Mr.  Henderson  behind  those  of  the  Parliament. 
The  assistant  divines  were  present  in  places 
appointed  for  them,  opposite  to  each  other. 

His  majesty's  instructions  to  hiscommission- 
ers  on  the  head  of  religion  were  these  :  "  Here," 
says  tlie  king,  "  tlie  governmenl  of  the  Church 
will  be  the  chief  question,  wherein  two  things 
are  to  be  considered,  conscience  and  policy  ; 
for  the  first,  I  must  declare,  that  I  cannot  yield 
to  the  change  of  the  government  by  bishops,  not 
only  because  I  fully  concur,  with  tlie  most  gen- 
eral opinion  of  Christians  in  all  ages,  in  Episco- 
pacy's being  the  best  government,  but  likewise 
I  hold  myself  particularly  bound,  by  the  oath  I 
took  at  my  coronation,  not  to  alter  the  govern- 
ment of  this  Church  from  what  I  found  it ;  and 
as  for  the  church  patrimony,  I  cannot  suffer  any 
diminutir)n  or  alienation  of  it,  it  being,  without 
peradventure,  sacrilege,  and  likewise  contrary 
to  my  coronation  oath  ;  but  whatsoever  shall  be 
offered  for  rectifying  abuses,  if  any  have  crept 
in,  or  for  the  ease  of  tender  consciences  (provi- 
ded the  foundation  be  not  damaged),  I  am  con- 
tent to  hear,  and  willing  to  return  a  gracious 
answer.  Touching  the  second,  that  is,  the  point 
of  policy,  as  it  is  the  king's  duty  to  protect  the 
Church,  so  the  Church  is  reciprocally  bound  to 
assist  the  king  in  the  maintenance  of  his  just 
authority.  Upon  these  views  my  predecessors 
have  been  always  careful  (especially  since  the 
Reformation)  to  keep  the  dependance  of  the 
clergy  entirely  upon  the  crown,  without  which 
it  will  scarce  set  fasten  the  king's  head;  there- 
fore, you  must  do  nothing  to  change  or  lessen 
this  natural  dependance."* 

The  commissioners  from  the  two  houses  of 
Parliament  at  Westminster,  instead  of  being  in- 
structed to  treat  about  a  reformation  of  the  hie- 
rarchy, were  ordered  to  demand  the  passing  of 
a  bill  for  abolishing  and  taking  away  Episcopal 
government ;  for  confirming  the  ordinance  for 
the  calling  and  sitting  of  the  Assembly  of  Di- 
vines ;  that  the  Directory  for  public  worship, 

reader  will  not  be  displeased  to  see  how  the  bishop 
becomes  advocate  for  the  king  on  the  charge  here 
alleged,  of  hresiking  his  promise  to  leave  the  Irish 
war  to  the  Parhameiit.  His  answer,  i.  e.,  the  king's, 
says  his  grace,  is  to  this  effect,  and  I  think  it  very 
pertinent :  "  It  is  true  I  made  this  promise,  but  it  was 
when  the  Parliament  was  my  friend,  not  my  enemy. 
They  might  be  then  intrusted  with  my  quarrel ;  but 
it  would  1)6  madness  to  think  they  now  can.  To  pre- 
vent, therefore,  their  making  a  treaty  with  the  Irish, 
and  in  their  distresses  bringing  over  their  troops 
against  me,  I  have  treated  with  them,  and  have 
brought  over  the  troops  against  them."  This  was 
speaking  like  a  wise  and  able  prince. — Ed. 

*  Rushworlh,  vol,  v.,  p.  945. 

Vol.  I, — X  I  X 


and  the  propositions  concerning  church  govern- 
ment, hereunto  annexed,  be  confirmed  as  a  part 
of  reformation  of  religion  and  uniformity  ;  that 
his  majesty  take  the  solemn  League  and  Cove- 
nant ;  and  that  an  act  of  Parliament  be  passed, 
enjoining  the  taking  it  by  all  the  subjects  of  the 
three  kingdoms.* 

The  propositions  annexed  to  these  demands 
were  these,  viz.  :  "That  tl.e  ordinary  way  of 
dividing  Christians  into  distinct  congregations, 
as  most  expedient  for  edification,  be  by  the  re- 
spective bounds  of  their  dwellings. 

"  That  the  ministers  and  other  church  offi- 
cers, in  each  particular  congregation,  shall  join 
in  the  government  of  the  Church  in  such  man- 
ner as  shall  be  established  by  Parliament. 

"That  many  congregations  shall  be  under 
one  presbyterial  government. 

"That  the  Church  be  governed  by  congrega- 
tional, classical,  and  synodical  assemblies,  in 
such  manner  as  shall  be  established  by  Parlia- 
ment. 

"That  synodical  assemblies  shall  consist 
both  of  provinci.l  and  national  assemblies." 

One  may  easily  observe  the  distance  between 
the  instructions  of  the  two  parties,  one  being 
determined  to  maintain  E|)iscopacy,  and  the 
other  no  less  resolute  for  establishing  Presby- 
tery. After  several  papers  had  passed  between 
the  commissioners  about  the  bill  for  taking 
away  Episcopacy,  it  was  debated  by  the  divines 
for  two  days  together. 

Mr.  Henderson,  in  a  laboured  speech,  endeav- 
oured to  show  the  necessity  of  changing  the 
government  of  the  Church  for  the  preservation 
of  the  State.  "That  now  the  question  was 
not  whether  the  government  of  the  Church  by 
bishops  was  lawful,  but  whether  it  was  so  ne- 
cessary that  Christianity  could  not  subsist  with- 
out it.  That  this  latter  position  could  not  be 
maintained  in  the  affirmative  without  condemn- 
ing all  other  Reformed  churches  in  Europe. 
That  the  Parliament  of  England  had  found 
Episcopacy  a  very  inconvenient  and  corrupt 
government ;  that  the  hierarchy  had  been  a 
public  grievance  from  the  Reformation  down- 
ward ;  that  the  bishops  had  always  abetted  po- 
pery, had  retained  many  superstitious  rites  and 
customs  in  their  worship  and  government ;  and, 
over  and  above,  had  lately  brought  in  a  great 
many  novelties  into  the  Church,  and  made  a 
nearer  approach  to  the  Roman  communion,  to 
the  great  scandal  of  the  Protestant  churches  of 
Germany,  France,  Scotland,  and  Holland.  That 
the  prelates  had  embroiled  the  British  island, 
and  made  the  two  nations  of  England  and  Scot- 
land fall  foul  upon  each  other.  That  the  re- 
bellion in  Ireland,  and  the  civil  war  in  England, 
may  be  charged  upon  them  ;  that  for  these  rea- 
sons the  Parliament  had  resolved  to  change 
this  inconvenient,  mischievous  government,  and 
set  up  another  in  the  room  of  it,  more  naturally 
formed  for  the  advancement  of  piety  ;  that  this 
alteration  was  the  best  expedient  to  unite  all 
Protestant  churches,  and  extinguish  the  remains 
of  popery  ;  he  hoped,  therefore,  the  king  would 
concur  in  so  commendable  and  godly  an  under- 
taking ;  and  conceived  his  majesty's  conscience 
could  not  be  urged  against  such  a  compliance, 
because  he  had  already  done  it  in  Scotland  ;  nor 
could  he  believe  that  Episcopacy  was  absolutel.^ 
*  Dugdale,  p.  706. 


530 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


necessary  to  the  support  of  the  Christian  reli- 
gion."* 

Dr.  Steward,  clerk  of  the  king's  closet,  ad- 
dressing himself  to  ihe  commissioners,  replied, 
"  he  knew  their  lordships  were  too  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  constitution  of  the  Church  of 
England,  and  the  basis  upon  which  it  stood,  to 
imagine  it  could  be  shaken  by  the  force  of  Mr. 
Henderson's  rhetoric  ;    that  he  was  firmly  of 
opinion    that   a   government  which,   from   the 
planting  of  Christianity  in  England,  had  contin- 
ued without  interruption,  tliat  a  government 
under  which  Christianity  had  spread  and  flour- 
ished to  a  remarkable  degree,  could  have  no- 
thing vicious  or  antichristian  in  its  frame  ;  that 
he  expected  that  those  who  had  sworn  them- 
selves to  an  abolition  of  this  primitive  constitu- 
tion, and  came  hither  to  persuade  their  lord- 
ships and  his  majesty  to  a  concurrence,  would 
have  endeavoured  to  prove  the  unlawfulness  of 
that  government  they  pressed  so  strongly  to 
remove  ;  but  though  in  their  sermons  and  prints 
they  gave  Episcopacy  an  antichristian  addition, 
Mr  Henderson  had  prudently  declined  charging 
so  deep,  and  only  argued  from  the  inconveni- 
ences of  that  government,  and  the  advantages 
which  would  be  consequent  on  an  alteration. 
Forasmuch   as    a   union    with   the   Protestant 
churches  abroad  was  the  chief  reason  for  his 
change,  the  doctor  desired  to  know  what  for- 
eign church  they  designed  for  a  pattern  ;  that 
he  was  sure  the  model  in  the  Directory  had  no 
great   resemblance   to   any   foreign   Reformed 
church  ;  and  though  he  would  not  enter  upon 
a  censure  of  those  communions,  yet    it  was 
well  known  that  the  most  learned  men  of  those 
churches  had  lamented  a  defect  in  their  reform- 
ation, and  that  the  want  of  Episcopacy  was  an 
unhappy  circumstance;   that  they  had  always 
paid  a  particular  reverence  to  the  Church  of 
England,  and  looked  upon  it  as  the  most  per- 
fect constiiulion,  upon  the  score  of  its  having 
retained   all  that  was  venerable  in   antiquity. 
From  hence  he  proceeded  to  enlarge  upon  the 
apostolical   institution  of  Episcojjacy,  and  en- 
deavoured to  prove,  that  without  bishops  the 
sacerdotal  character  could    not    be  conveyed, 
nor  the  sacraments  administered  to  any  signifi- 
cancy. 

"  As  to  his  majest)f's  consenting  to  put  down 
episcopacy  in  Scotland,  he  would  say  nothing, 
though  he  knew  his  majesty's  present  thoughts 
npon  tliat  subject.  But  he  observed  that  the 
king  was  farther  obliged  in  this  kingdom  than 
in  the  other ;  that  in  England  he  was  tied  by 
his  coronation  oath  to  maintain  the  rights  of 
the  Church,  and  that  this  single  engagement 
was  a  restraint  upon  his  majesty's  conscience, 
not  to  consent  to  the  abolition  of  Episcopacy,  or 
the  alienation  of  church-lands." 

Mr.  Henderson  and  Mr.  Marshal  declared  it 
to  be  false  in  fact,  and  a  downright  imposition 
upon  the  commissioners,  that  the  foreign  Prot- 
estants lamented  the  want  of  Episcopacy,  and 
esteemed  our  constitution  more  periect  than 
their  own.t     They  then  ran  out  into  a  high 

*  Clarendon,  vol.  ii.,  p.  584. 

t  These  assertions  of  Mr.  Henderson  and  Mr.  Mar- 
shal are  not  to  be  found,  as  Dr.  Grey  remarks,  in  the 
place  to  which  Mr.  Neal  refers.  Rushworth  says 
there  only  m  general,  "that  Mr.  Henderson  and  Mr. 
Marshal  answered  the  doctor,  commending  the  Pres- 


commendation  of  Presbyterial  government,  as 
that  which  had  the  only  claim  to  a  Divine  right.* 
Upon  which  the  Marquis  of  Hertford!  spoke  to 
this  effect : 

"  My  Lords, 

"  Here  is  much  said  concerning  church  gov- 
ernment in  the  general ;  the  reverend  doctors 
on  the  king's  part  affirm  that  Episcopacy  is  jurt: 
divino ;  the  reverend  ministers  on  the  other 
part  affirm  that  presbytery  is  jure  divino  ;  for 
my  part,  I  think  neither  the  one  nor  the  other,t 
nor  any  government  whatsoever  to  he  jure  divi- 
no; and  I  desire  we  may  leave  this  argument, 
and  proceed  to  debate  on  the  particular  propo- 
sals."!^ 

Dr.  Steward  desired  they  might  dispute  syl- 
logisticaliy,  as  became  scholars,  to  which  Mr. 
Henderson  readily  agreed  ;  in  that  way  they 
proceeded  about  two  days  ;  the  points  urged 
by  the  king's  doctors  were  strongly  opposed  by 
Mr.  Henderson,  Mr.  Marshal,  and  Mr.  Vines, 
and  very  learnedly  replied  to  by  his  majesty's 
divines,  vi'ho  severally  declared  their  judgments 
upon  the  apostolical  institution  of  Episcopacy  ; 
but  neither  party  were  convinced  or  satisfied. 

When  the  debate  concerning  religion  came 
on  a  second  time,  his  majesty's  commissioners 
delivered  in  their  answer  to  the  Parliament's 
demands  in  writing,  with  their  reasons  why 
they  could  not  consent  to  the  bill  for  abolishing 
Episcopacy,  and  establishing  the  Directory  in 
the  room  of  the  Common  Prayer,  nor  advise  his 
majesty  to  take  the  Covenant :  but  for  the  uni- 
ting and  reconciling  all  differences  in  matters  of 
religion,  and  procuring  a  blessed  peace,  they 
were  willing  to  consent, 

(1.)  "That  freedom  be  left  to  all  persons,  of 
what  opinion  soever,  in  matters  of  ceremony ; 
and  that  all  the  penalties  of  the  laws  and  cus- 
toms which  enjoin  these  ceremonies  be  sus- 
pended. || 

(2.)  "That  the  bishop  shall  exercise  no  act 
of  jurisdiction  or  ordination  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  presbyters,  who  shall  be  chosen  by 
the  clergy  of  each  dioccss.  out  of  the  most 
learned  and  grave  ministers  of  the  diocess  *ir 

(3  )  "  Tliat  the  bishop  keep  his  constant  resi- 
dence in  his  diocess,  except  when  he  shall  be 
required  by  his  majesty  to  attend  him  on  any 
occasion,  and  that  (if  he  be  not  hindered  by  the 
infirmities  of  old  age  or  sickness)  he  preach 
every  Sunday  in  some  church  within  his  dio- 
cess. 
(4.)  "That  the  ordination  of  ministers  shall 

byterian  way  of  government,  and  that  Episcopacy 
was  not  so  suitable  to  the  Word  of  God  as  Presby 
tery,  which  they  argued  to  he  jure  divino."  See  also 
Whitelocke's  Memorials,  p.  123.  Dr.  Grey  fills  sev- 
ral  pages  witli  quotations  from  Calvin,  Beza,  and 
other  foreign  divines,  in  favour  of  Episcopacy. — Ed. 

*  Kushworth,  p.  848. 

+  Rushworth  and  Whitelocke  add,  that  the  Ear- 
of  Pembroke  and  many  of  the  commissioners,  be- 
sides these  two  lords,  were  of  the  same  judgment, 
and  wished,  passing  over  this  point,  to  come  to  the 
particulars. —  i2u,sA(oor//('.s  Collection,  vol.  v.,  p.  849. 
Whitelocke' s  Memorials,  p.  123. — En. 

X  "The  Marquis  of  Hertford,"  says  Bishop  War- 
burton,  "seems  to  have  read  Hooker  to  more  advan 
tage  than  the  king  his  master,  who  fancied  that  great 
men  contended  for  the  jas  divinum  of  Episcopacy  in 
his  E.  P.,  in  which  he  has  been  followed  by  many 
divines  since."— Ed.  >J  Whitelocke,  p.  123. 

II  Rushworth,  p.  872.  "f  Dugdale,  p.  780. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


531 


be  always  in  a  public  and  solemn  manner,  and 
very  strict  rules  observed  concerning  the  suffi- 
ciency and  other  qualifications  of  those  men 
■who  shall  be  received  into  holy  orders  ;  and  the 
bishops  shall  not  receive  any  into  holy  orders 
without  the  approbation  and  consent  of  the 
presbyters,  or  the  major  part  of  them. 

(5.)  "  That  a  competent  maintenance  ^d  pro- 
vision be  established,  by  act  of  Parliament,  to 
such  vicarages  as  belong  to  bishops,  deans,  and 
chapters,  out  of  the  impropriations,  and  accord- 
ing to  the  value  of  those  impropriations  of  the 
several  parishes. 

(6.)  "  That  for  time  to  come  no  man  shall  be 
capable  of  two  parsonages  or  vicarages,  with 
cure  of  souls. 

(7.)  "  That,  towards  settling  the  public  peace, 
£100,000  shall  be  raised  by  act  of  Parliament, 
out  of  the  estates  of  bishops,  deans,  and  chap- 
ters, in  such  manner  as  shall  be  thought  fit  by 
the  king  and  two  houses  of  Parliament,  with- 
out the  alienation  of  any  of  the  said  lands. 

(8.)  "That  the  jurisdiction  in  causes  testa- 
mentary, decimal,  matrimonial,  be  settled  in 
such  manner  as  shall  seem  most  convenient  by 
the  king  and  two  houses  of  Parliament. 

(9.)  "That  one  or  more  acts  of  Parliament 
be  passed  for  regulating  of  visitations,  and 
against  immoderate  fees  in  ecclesiastical  courts, 
and  abuses  by  frivolous  excommunication,  and 
all  other  abuses  in  the  exercise  of  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction,  in  such  manner  as  shall  be  agreed 
upon  by  the  king  and  both  houses  of  Parlia- 
ment. 

"  And  if  your  lordships  shall  insist  upon  any 
other  thing  which  your  lordships  shall  think  ne- 
cessary for  reformation,  we  shall  very  willingly 
apply  ourselves  to  the  consideration  thereof." 
But  they  absolutely  refused  their  consent  to  the 
main  points,  viz.,  the  abolishing  Episcopacy,  es- 
tablishing the  Directory,  confirming  the  Assem- 
bly of  Divines,  and  taking  the  Covenant. 

Mr.  Rapin  observes,  upon  the  first  of  these 
concessions,  that  since  the  penal  laws  were 
not  to  be  abolished,  but  only  suspended,  it 
would  be  in  the  king's  power  to  take  ofT  the 
suspension  whensoever  he  pleased.  Upon  the 
third,  fourth,  and  fifth,  that  they  were  so  rea- 
sonable and  necessary,  that  it  was  not  for  the 
king's  honour  to  let  them  be  considered  as  a 
condescension  to  promote  the  peace  ;  and  the 
remainder,  depending  upon  the  joint  consent  of 
king  and  Parliament,  after  a  peace,  it  would 
always  be  in  the  king's  breast  to  give  or  with- 
hold his  assent,  as  he  thought  fit.* 

The  commissioners  for  the  Parliament  repli- 
ed to  these  concessions,  that  they  were  so  many 
new  propositions,  wholly  different  from  what 
they  had  proposed  ;  that  they  contained  little  or 
nothing  but  what  they  were  already  in  posses- 
sion of  by  the  laws  of  the  land  ;  that  they  were 
noway  satisfactory  to  their  desires,  nor  consist- 
ing with  that  reformation  to  which  both  na- 
tions are  obliged  by  the  solemn  League  and 
Covenant ;  therefore  they  can  give  no  other 
answer  to  them,  but  insist  to  desire  their  lord- 
ships that  the  bill  may  be  passed,  and  their 
other  demands  concerning  religion  granted  t 
The  Parliament  commissioners,  in  their  last 
papers,  say,  that  all  objections  in  favour  of  the 

*  Hi.story,  vol.  ii.,  p.  512,  513. 
t  Dugdale,  p.  783. 


present  hierarchy,  arising  from  conscience,  law, 
or  reason,  being  fully  answered,  they  must  now 
press  for  a  determinate  answer  to  their  proposi- 
tion concerning  religion. 

The  king's  commissioners  deny  that  their  ob- 
jections against  passing  the  bill  for  abolishing 
Episcopacy  have  been  answered,  or  that  they 
had  received  any  satisfaction  in  those  particu- 
lars, and  therefore  cannot  consent  to  it. 

The  Parliament  commissioners  add,  that 
after  so  many  days'  debate,  and  their  making 
it  appear  how  great  a  hinderance  Episcopal  gov- 
ernment is  and  has  been  to  a  perfect  reforma- 
tion, and  to  the  growth  of  religion,  and  how 
prejudicial  it  has  been  to  the  state,  they  hoped 
their  lordships  would  have  been  ready  to  an- 
swer their  expectations.* 

The  king's  commissioners  replied,  "It  is  evi- 
dent, and  we  conceive  consented  to  on  all  sides, 
that  Episcopacy  has  continued  from  the  apos- 
tles' time,  by  a  continued  succession,  in  the 
Church  of  Christ,  without  intermission  or  in- 
terruption, and  is  therefore ^uro  divino" 

The  Parliament  commissioners  answer,  "So 
far  were  we  from  consenting  that  Episcopacy 
has  continued  from  the  apostles'  time,  by  a  con- 
tinued succession,  that  the  contrary  was  made 
evident  to  your  lordships,  and  the  unlawfulness 
of  it  fully  proved. ''t 

The  king's  commissioners  replied,  that  they 
conceived  the  succession  of  Episcopacy  from 
the  apostles  was  consented  to  on  all  sides,  and 
did  not  remember  that  the  unlawfulness  of  it 
had  been  asserted  and  proved.!  However, 
they  apprehend  all  the  inconveniences  of  that 
government  are  remedied  by  the  alterations 
which  they  had  offered.  Nor  had  the  Parlia- 
ment commissioners  given  them  a  view  in  par- 
ticular of  the  government  they  would  substitute 
in  place  of  the  present ;  if,  therefore,  the  alter- 
ations proposed  do  not  satisfy,  they  desire  the 
matter  may  be  suspended  till  after  the  disband- 
ing the  armies,  and  both  king  and  Parliament 
can  agree  in  calling  a  National  Synod. 

The  above-mentioned  concessions  would 
surely  have  been  a  sufficient  foundation  for 
peace,  if  they  had  been  made  twelve  months 
sooner,  before  the  Scots  had  been  called  in 
with  their  solemn  League  and  Covenant,  and 
sufficient  security  had  been  given  for  their  per- 
formance ;  but  the  commissioners'  hands  were 
now  tied,  the  Parliament  apprehending  them- 
selves obliged  by  the  Covenant  to  abolish  the 
hierarchy  ;  and  yet,  if  the  commissioners  could 
have  agreed  about  the  militia,  and  the  punish- 
ment of  evil  counsellors,  the  affair  of  religion 
would  not,  in  the  opinion  of  Lord  Clarendon, 
have  hindered  the  success  of  the  treaty  ;  his 
words  are  these  :  "  The  Parliament  took  none 
of  the  points  of  controversy  less  to  heart,  or 
were  less  united  in  anything,  than  in  what  con- 
cerned the  Church  ;()  the  Scots  would  have 
given  up  everything  into  the  hands  of  the  king 
for  their  beloved  Presbytery  ;  but  many  of  the 
Parliament  were  for  peace,  provided  they  might 
have  indemnity  for  what  was  passed,  and  se^i:- 
rity  for  time  to  come. "II  And  were  not  these 
reasonable  requests'!  Why,  then,  did  not  the 
commissioners   prevail  with  the  king  to  give 


*  Dufjdale,  p.  787.        t  Ihid.,  p.  788. 

t  Ibid'.,  p.  790,  878.      ^  Clarendon,  vol.  ii.,  p.  581. 

11  Ibid.,  p.  594. 


532 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PURITANS. 


Ihein  security,  and  divide  the  Parliament,  or 
put  an  end  lo  the  war  ? 

The  last  day  of  the  treaty  the  Parliament 
i-ontinued  silting  till  nine  of  the  clock  at  night, 
in  hopes  of  hearing  something  from  their  com- 
missioners tiiat  might  encourage  them  to  pro- 
long ihe  treaty  ;  but  when  an  express  brought 
word  that  the  king's  commissioners  would  not 
yield  to  one  of  their  propositions,  they  broke 
up  Avithout  doing  anything  in  the  business. 
Each  party  laid  the  blame  upon  the  other ; 
tiie  king's  commissioners  complained  that  the 
Parliament  would  not  consent  to  prolong  the 
treaty  ;*  and  the  others,  that  after  twenty  days' 
conference  not  one  proposition  had  been  yield- 
ed. All  sober  men,  and  even  some  of  the 
king's  commissioners,  were  troubled  at  the 
event ;  but,  considering  the  state  of  the  king's 
affairs,  and  his  servile  attachment  to  the  coun- 
sels of  a  popish  queen,  it  was  easy  to  foresee 
it  could  not  be  otherwise. 

Bishop  Burnet,  in  the  History  of  his  Life 
and  Times,!  says  that  Lord  Holiis,  who  was 
one  of  the  commissioners,  told  him  "  that  the 
king's  affairs  were  now  at  a  crisis,  for  the  treaty 
of  Uxbridge  gave  him  an  opportunity  of  making 
peace  with  the  Parliament,  but  all  was  undone 
by  the  unhappy  success  of  the  Marquis  of  Mont- 
rose at  this  time  in  Scotland,  which  being  mag- 
nified to  the  king  far  beyond  what  it  really  was, 
prevailed  with  his  majesty  to  put  such  limita- 
tions on  his  commissioners  as  made  the  whole 
design  miscarry." 

Most  of  the  king's  commissioners,  who  were 
not  excepted  out  of  the  Article  of  Indemnity, 
were  for  accommodating  matters  before  they 
left  Uxbridge.  The  Earl  of  Southampton  rode 
post  from  Uxbridge  to  Oxford,  to  entreat  the 
king  to  yield  something  to  the  necessity  of  the 
times  ;  several  of  his  council  pressed  him  to  it 
on  their  knees  ;  and  it  is  said  his  majesty  was 
at  length  prevailed  with,  and  appointed  next 
morning  to  sign  a  warrant  to  that  purpose,  but 
that  Montrose's  romantic  letter,  of  his  conquest 
in  Scotland,  coming  in  the  mean  time,  made  the 
unhappy  king  alter  his  resolution. J 

*  See  a  proof  of  this  in  Dr.  Grey. — Ed. 

t  Vol.  i.,  p.  51,  Edinburgh  edition. 

j  Dr.  Grey  attempts  to  convict  .Mr.  Neal  of  false- 
hood in  each  part  of  this  paragraph.  For  the  first 
part,  the  doctor  says,  "  That,  as  far  as  he  could  learn, 
there  was  not  so  much  as  the  shadow  of  an  au- 
thority." In  reply,  it  may  be  observed,  that  though 
Mr.  Neal  has  not,  as  it  is  to  be  wished  he  had,  re- 
ferred to  his  authority,  yet  the  doctor's  assertion  is 
not  well  supported,  for  Whitelockc  informs  us,  that 
'•  on  the  I9lh  of  February  the  Earl  of  Southamp- 
ton and  others  of  the  king's  commissioners  went 
from  Uxbridge  to  Oxford,  to  the  king,  about  the  busi- 
ness of  the  treaty,  to  receive  some  farther  directions 
from  his  majesty  therein." — Memorials,  p.  127.  As 
the  treaty  closed  on  the  22d,  the  reader  will  judge 
whether  .Mr.  Neal.  speaking  of  the  object  and  expe- 
dition of  his  journey,  had  not  so  much  as  the  shadow 
of  an  authority.  With  respect  to  the  latter  part  of 
the  paragraph  concerning  Montrose,  Dr.  Grey  will 
hive  it,  that  Bishop  Burnet's  authority  makes  direct- 
ly asainsl  Mr.  Neal ;  and  then  he  quotes  from  him 
as  follows:  "  Montrose  wrote  to  the  king  that  he 
had  gone  over  the  land  from  Dan  to  Beersheba,  and 
that  he  prayed  the  king  to  come  down  in  these 
wonls,  Come  thou  and  take  the  city,  lest  I  take  it, 
and  it  be  called  by  my  name."  This  letter  was 
written,  but  never  sent,  for  he  was  routed,  and  his 
papers  taken  before  he  had  despatched  the  courier. 


But  there  was  something  more  in  the  affair 
than  this  :  Lord  Clarendon*  is  of  opinion,  that 
if  the  king  had  yielded  some  things  to  the  de- 
mands of  the  Parliament  relating  to  religion, 
the  militia,  and  Ireland,  there  were  still  other 
articles  in  reserve  that  would  have  broken  off 
the  trea^ ;  in  which  I  cannot  but  agree  with 
his  lordsiiip  ;  for,  not  to  mention  the  giving  up 
delinquents  to  the  justice  of  Parliament,  of 
which  himself  was  one,  there  had  been  as  yet 
no  debate  about  the  Roman  Catholics,  whom 
the  Parliament  would  not  tolerate,  and  the  king 
was  determined  not  to  give  up,  as  appears  from 
the  correspondence  between  himself  and  the 
queen  at  this  time.  In  the  queen's  letter,  Jan- 
uary fi,  1644-5,  she  desires  his  majesty  "  ta 
have  a  care  of  his  honour,  and  not  to  abandoa 
those  who  had  served  him  ;  for  if  you  agree 
upon  strictness  against  Roman  Catholics,  it 
will  discourage  them  from  serving  you  ;  nor 
can  you  expect  relief  from  any  Roman  Catholic 
prince. "t  In  her  letter  of  January  27,  she 
adds,  "Above  all,  have  a  care  not  to  abandon 
those  who  have  served  you,  as  well  the  bishops 
as  the  poor  Catholics."  In  answer  to  which 
the  king  writes,  January  30,  "  I  desire  thee  to 
be  confident  that  I  shall  never  make  peace  by 
abandoning  my  friends."  And,  February  15, 
"  Be  confident  that,  in  making  peace,  I  shall 
ever  show  my  confidence  in  adhering  to  the 
bishops,  and  all  our  friends."  March  5,  "  I  give 
thee  power,  in  my  name,  to  declare  to  whom 
thou  tbinkest  fit,  that  I  will  take  away  all  the 
penal  laws  against  the  Roman  Catholics  in 
England  as  soon  as  God  shall  make  me  able  to 
do  it,  so  as  by  their  means  I  may  have  so  pow- 
erful assistance  as  may  deserve  so  great  a 
favour,  and  enable  me  to  do  it."t  As  for  Ire- 
land, his  majesty  had  already  commanded  the 
Duke  of  Ormond,  by  his  letter  of  February  27, 
to  make  peace  with  the  papists,  cost  what  it 
would.  "  If  the  suspending  Poynings's  act  will 
do  it,"'  says  he,  "and  taking  away  the  penal 
laws,  I  shall  not  think  it  a  hard  bargain.  When 
the  Irish  give  me  that  assistance  the/  have 
promised,  I  will  consent  to  the  repeal  by  law.">^ 

It  appears  from  hence  that  the  peace  which 
the  king  seemed  so  much  to  desire  was  an 
empty  sound.  The  queen  was  afraid  he  might 
be  prevailed  with  to  yield  too  far ;  but  his  maj- 
esty bids  her  be  confident  of  the  contrary,  fi)r 
"  his  commissioners  would  not  be  disputed 
from  their  ground,  which  was  according  to  the 
note  she  remembers,  and  which  he  would  not 
alter."  When  the  treaty  was  ended,  he  writes 
thus  to  the  queen,  March  13:  "Now  is  come 
to  pass  what  I  foresaw,  the  fruitless  end  of  this 
treaty.  Now  if  I  do  anything  unhandsome  to 
myself  or  my  friends,  it  will  he  my  own  fault  ; 
I  was  afraid  of  being  pressed  to  make  some 

Of  course  the  doctor  means  to  conclude  that  the 
king  could  not  be  influenced  to  obstruct  the  opera- 
tion of  the  treaty  by  a  letter  which  was  never  re- 
ceived. But  it  escaped  Dr.  Grey's  attention,  that 
the  letter  which  he  quotes  was  written  more  than  a 
year  after  the  treaty  was  broken  off;  and  Mr.  Neal 
speaks,  on  the  authority  of  Bishop  Burnet,  of  an- 
other letter,  or  expresses  received,  while  the  treaty 
was  pending  :  so  that  there  is  no  contradiction  in  the 
case. — Ed.  *  Vol.  ii.,  p.  594 

t  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  511,  512,  folio  edition. 

X  Rushworth,  vol.  v.,  p.  942,  944,  946,  947. 

^  Ibid.,  p.  978,  979. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PURITANS. 


533 


mean- overtures  to  renew  the  treaty,  but  now  if 
it  be  renewed,  it  shall  be  to  my  honour  and  ad- 
vantage."* Such  was  the  queen's  ascendant 
over  the  king,  and  his  majesty's  servile  submis- 
sion to  her  imperious  dictates  ;t  the  fate  of 
three  kingdoms  was  at  her  disposal  ;  no  place 
at  court  or  in  the  army  must  be  disposed  of 
without  her  approbation ;  no  peace  must  be 
made  but  upon  her  terms  ;  the  Oxford  mongrel 
Parliament,  as  his  majesty  calls  it,  must  be 
dismissed  with  disgrace,  because  they  voted  for 
peace  ;  the  Irish  Protestants  must  be  abandon- 
ed to  destruction  ;  and  a  civil  war  permitted  to 
continue  its  ravages  throughout  England  and 
Scotland,  that  a  popish  religion  and  arbitrary 
government  might  be  encouraged  and  upheld  t 
As  a  farther  demonstration  of  this  melancholy 
remark,  his  majesty  authorized  the  Earl  of  Gla- 
morgan, by  a  warrant  under  his  royal  signet, 
dated  March  12,  1644,  to  conclude  privately  a 
peace  with  the  Irish  papists  upon  the  best  terms 
he  could,  though  they  were  such  as  his  lieuten- 
ant, the  Duke  of  Ormond,  might  not  well  be 
seen  in,  nor  his  majesty  himself  think  fit  to  own 
publicly  at  present,  engaging,  upon  the  word  of 
a  king  and  a  Christian,  to  ratify  and  perform 
whatsoever  he  should  grant  under  his  hand  and 
seal,  on  condition  they  would  send  over  into  Eng- 
land a  body  of  ten  thousand  men,  under  the 
command  of  the  said  earl.ij     The  date  of  this 

*  Rapin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  512,  folio  edition. 

t  'W'e  will  leave  with  our  readers  Bishop  Warbur 
ton's  remarks  on  this  reflection  of  Mr.  Neal.  "  Never 
was  the  observation  of  the  king's  unhappy  attach- 
ment made  in  a  worse  place.  His  honour  required 
him  not  to  give  up  his  friends  ;  and  his  religion,  viz., 
the  true  principles  of  Christianity,  to  take  off  the 
penal  laws  from  peaceable  papists ;  and  common 
humanity  called  upon  him  to  favour  those  who  had 
served  him  at  the  hazard  of  their  lives  and  fortunes." 
It  maybe  properly  added,  that  religion,  in  the  liberal 
sense  in  which  his  lordship  explains  the  term,  re- 
quired the  king  to  take  off  the  penal  laws  from  peace- 
able Puritans  as  well  as  papists.  But  in  his  majes- 
ty's dictionary  the  word  does  not  appear  to  have 
borne  so  generous  and  just  a  meaning. — Ed. 

J  Clarendon,  vol.  ii.,  p.  364. 

i)  Dr.  Grey  treats  this  account  of  the  Earl  of  Gla- 
morgan's commission  as  a  fine  piece  of  slander,  fur- 
nished by  a  tribe  of  Republican  writers  :  and  to  con- 
fute it,  he  produces  a  letter  from  the  king  to  the  lord- 
lieutenant  and  council  of  Ireland,  one  from  Colonel 
King,  in  Ireland,  and  another  from  Secretary  Nich- 
olas to  the  Marquis  of  Ormond.  There  is  no  occa- 
sion here  to  enter  into  a  discussion  of  the  question 
concerning  the  authority  under  which  the  Earl  of 
Glamorgan  acted  ;  for,  since  Mr.  Neal  and  Dr.  Grey 
wrote,  the  point  has  been  most  carefully  and  ably  in- 
vestigated by  Dr.  Birch,  in  "An  Inquiry  into  the 
Share  which  King  Charles  I.  had  in  the  Transactions 
of  the  Earl  of  Glamorgan,"  published  in  1747.  And 
the  fact  has  been  put  out  of  all  doubt  by  a  letter  of 
that  nobleman  to  the  Lord-chancellor  Hyde,  written 
a  few  days  after  King  Charles  11. 's  restoration,  which 
has  appeared  in  the  Clarendon  State  Papers,  vol.  ii., 
p.  20-203,  and  has  been  republished  in  the  second 
edition  of  the  Biographia  Britannica,  vol.  ii.,  p.  320, 
under  the  life  of  Dr.  Birch.  The  general  fact  having 
been  ascertained  beyond  all  contradiction,  the  ques- 
tion which  offers  is,  how  far  the  king  acted  crimi- 
nally in  this  transaction.  Mrs.  Macaulay  represents 
him  as  violating  every  principle  of  honour  and  con- 
science. Mr.  Hume,  on  the  contrary,  speaks  of  it  as 
a  very  innocent  transaction,  in  which  the  king  was 
engaged  by  the  most  violent  necessity.  Dr.  Birch 
considers  it  with  temper,  though  he  appears  to  think 
it  not  easily  reconcilable  to  the  idea  of  a  good  man, 


warrant  is  remarkable,  as  it  was  ac  a  time  when 
his  majesty's  affairs  were  far  from  being  des- 
perate ;  when  he  thought  the  divisions  in  the 
Parliament  house  would  quickly  be  their  ruin, 
and  that  he  had  little  more  to  do  than  to  sit 
still  and  be  restored  upon  his  own  terms,  for 
which  reason  he  was  so  unyielding  at  the  treaty 
of  Uxbridge  ;  and  yet  the  earl,  by  his  majesty's 
commission,  granted  everything  to  the  Irish, 
even  to  the  establishing  the  Roman  Catholic 
religion,  and  putting  it  on  a  level  with  the 
Protestant :  he  gave  th«m  all  the  churches  and 
revenues  they  vvere  possessed  of  since  the  Re- 
bellion, and  not  only  exempted  them  from  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Protestant  clergy,  but  allow- 
ed them  jurisdiction  over  their  several  flocks,  so 
that  the  Reformed  religion  in  that  kingdom  was 
in  a  manner  sold  for  ten  thousand  Irish  papists, 
to  be  transported  into  England  and  maintained 
for  three  years.  Let  the  reader  now  judge  what 
prospect  there  could  be  of  a  well-grounded  peace 
by  the  treaty  of  Uxbridge  !  What  security  there 
was  for  the  Protestant  religion !  How  little 
ground  of  reliance  on  the  king's  promises  !  and, 
consequently,  to  whose  account  the  calamities 
of  the  war,  and  the  misery  and  confusions  which 
followed  after  this  period,  ought  to  be  placed. 

The  day  before  the  commencement  of  the 
treaty  of  Uxbridge,  the  members  of  the  House 
of  Commons  attended  the  funeral  of  Mr.  John 
White,  chairman  of  the  grand  committee  of  re- 
ligion, and  publisher  of  the  "Century  of  Scan- 
dalous Ministers  ;"  he  was  a  grave  lawyer,  says 
Lord  Clarendon,  and  made  a  considerable  figure 
in  his  profession.  He  had  been  one  of  the  feoffees 
for  buying  in  impropriations,  for  wl>ich  he  was 
censured  in  the  Star  Chamber.  He  was  repre- 
sentative in  Parliament  for  the  borough  of  South- 
wark  ;  having  been  a  Puritan  from  his  youth, 
and,  in  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Whitelocke,*  an  hon- 
est, learned,  and  faithful  servant  of  the  public, 
though  somewhat  severe  at  the  committee  for 
plundered  ministers.  He  died  January  29,  and 
was  buried  in  the  Temple  Church  with  great 
funeral  solemnity.! 


a  good  prince,  or  a  good  Protestant.  Mr.  Walpole 
has  some  candid  and  lively  reflections  on  it :  "It  re- 
quires," he  observes,  "very  primitive  resignation  in 
a  monarch  to  sacrifice  his  crown  and  his  life,  when 
persecuted  by  subjects  of  his  own  sect,  rather  than 
preserve  both  by  the  assistance  of  others  of  his  sub- 
jects who  differ  from  him  in  ceremonials  or  articles 
of  belief.  His  fault  was  not  in  proposing  to  bring 
over  the  Irish,  but  in  havmg  made  them  necessary  to 
his  affairs.  Everybody  knew  that  he  wanted  to  do 
without  them  all  that  he  could  have  done  with  them." 
— Biographia  Britannica,  second  edition,  vol.  ii.,  p.  321, 
note.  —  Ed.  See  Rushworth,  vol.  vi.,  p.  239,  &c. 
Rapin,  p.  330.     Hist.  Stuarts,  p.  305. 

«  Memorials,  p.  122. 

t  Dr.  Grey,  on  the  authority  of  Walker,  "  charges 
Mr.  White  with  corrupt  practices  by  the  way  of  bri- 
bery ;  says  that  Dr.  Bruno  Ryves  called  him  a  for 
nicating  Brownist,  and  that  the  author  of  Persec. 
Undec.  suggests  much  worse  against  him ;  and,  on 
the  testimony  of  an  anonymous  author,  represents 
him  as  dying"  distracted,  crying  out  how  many  cler- 
gymen, their  wives  and  children,  he  had  undone 
raving  and  condemning  himself  at  his  dying  hou. 
for  his  undoing  so  many  guiltless  ministers."  Such 
representations  carry  little  weight  with  them  against 
the  testimony  of  Clarendon  and  Whitelocke,  especi- 
ally when  it  is  considered  that  the  obnoxious  part 
which  Mr.  White  acted  would  necessarily  create 
many  enemies;  some  of  whom  would  invent,  and 


5a4 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PURITANS. 


others  easily  credit,  the  most  reproachful  calumnies 
against  him.  Dr.  Calamy  and  Mr.  Withers,  whom 
Dr.  Grey  never  notices,  having  sufficiently  exposed 
the  partiality  and  credulity  of  Dr.  Walker  to  render 
ills  assertions  suspicious.  And  it  should  not  be  over- 


looked, as  a  strong  presumption  at  least  of  the  purity 
of  Mr.  White's  character  and  the  integrity  of  bis  pro- 
ceedings, that  he  appealed  to  the  public  by  his  Cen- 
tury of  Scandalous  Ministers. — Ed. 


END  OP  VOL.  I. 


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